Holiday White Bean Salad

It’s certainly been a while! How have you all been? My family and I travelled to France at the end of June for two weeks and after we came back to Berlin, I still felt like I needed a little bit more time to settle into our new way of life, so I took another three weeks off, hardly any activity on social media either. I am feeling great after this long break and am immensely grateful that we could get out of our apartment after being ‘home-bounded’ for many months, a change of scenery surely helped us eliminated some of the anxiety and uncertainty that were built up in the past few months. We feel a lot better than a month ago and we certainly have found a new rhythm for our everyday life. Although our lives will still be affected by Coronavirus for some times to come, but we are learning everyday to better adapt to this unfortunate situation, hopefully to restore some sort of normalities. That said, our lives will never be the same again, but what about making the best out of this situation instead of complaining about it? I have been asking myself so many questions with regards to the current situation, not only about Corona, but also the matters which are happening around the world right now. It’s a constant struggle for me to find the right answer (or is there?). I will keep on trying, but until then I will do what I love most, cooking and sharing recipe here, and perhaps one day, when I decided what to do with this space going forwards, it might become an entirely different platform for me to make sense of the world.

So coming back to the recipe I like to share this week: I called it ‘Holiday White Beans Salad’ because I learned the recipe from our family friends during our holiday in France, it became one of my favourite salads since, and it will always remind me of our holiday! It has all the wonderful flavours and texture one wants for a salad: smoky, tangy, umami, refreshing and it is extremely forgiven, it tastes great as a side salad or use it as a base and add whatever you like to make it a more substantial meal – for example: add chickpeas for a little bit more texture and protein (like I did here); add cherry tomato, cucumber and feta cheese to give it more crunch as well as creaminess; I will totally add rice if I crave for a more filling meal. Whatever you add, it will be delicious and I am confident it will become your ‘staple’ recipe if not your ‘favourite’! I hope you will give this salad a try. As always, would love to know what you think, drop me a line below in the comment section or tag me on Instagram!

Until next time,

Lydia x

Notes:

**I strongly recommend you to make this salad ahead of time, a few hours at best or at least 2 hours before serving to allow the flavour to develop.

Ingredients:

serves 3 as a side

For the salad:

1 can (400g) of cooked white beans, drained and rinsed
100g cooked chickpeas (can in fine)
1 small red onion, finely diced
A handful of fresh parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped.
1 tsp. of persevered lemon (about 1/2 wedge), minced

For the dressing:

2-3 pieces of sun-dried tomato (in oil), finely minced (about 1 tbsp.) (or just use ready made pesto)
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar + 1/2 tsp.
3 tbsp. good quality extra virgin olive oil
A pinch of salt
A couple of twists of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. runny honey (agave syrup if vegan)
2 tsp. lemon juice, separated

In a small bowl, combine chopped onion, 1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar and 1 tsp. of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Let it marinate for at least 10 minutes. Set aside while you are making the dressing and the rest.

In another bowl or a glass jar, combine the rest of the dressing ingredients, stir well and have a good taste, adjust seasoning if needed.

Combine all salad ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, including the marinated red onion (juice and all), then add dressing and mix it thoroughly, have a taste again and adjust seasoning if needed. When you are happy with the taste, put the salad in the fridge for a few hours, or at least two to achieve a deeper flavour.

When ready to serve, drizzle a little bit of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice to refresh the salad again. Have a final taste and serve immediately.