Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Rosie Makes A Bean Salad.

 Mr. Hawthorne has been buying jarred bean salads lately.
A lot.


I wonder why he just doesn't make his own.
Homemade's got to be better, right?

He said the beans he was eating were perfectly fine.
To me, that is a challenge.
The gauntlet has been thrown down
and I have picked it up.

Rosie's making a bean salad.

I cooked a big handful each of kidney beans,
garbanzo beans, and northern beans.
Made for a quart of cooked beans.
I cooked the beans separately in three different pots
in case the cooking times were different.
They all cooked in the same amount of time - 35 -40 minutes.
I never bother to soak my beans overnight.
All I do is rinse them,
put them in water, bring to a boil,
and reduce to simmer until al dente.
I don't salt the water either.
Mr. Hawthorne said salting beans
causes the skins to come off -
something he gleaned from Food Network.

This little factoid might come in handy.
I was just reading Deb Perelman's blog, Smitten Kitchen,
about her ethereally smooth hummus
and her trick is to peel the chickpeas.
 Might have to give this a try.

Then I cooked a cup of green beans.
Pour into boiling, salted water
and cook 2-3 minutes.
You want al dente.
If they squeak on your teeth when you bite into them,
you know you've done it right.


I also found about a cup of frozen French-cut green beans
which I cooked and added to the mix.

Gotta have some red onion.

I love the patterns of nature.

Chop the onion.


Add onion to the bean mix.

Mix well.

Next, the dressing
Dressing for beans:

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 TB Balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup Canola oil

Mix all ingredients except oil in small saucepan.
Bring to a boil, stirring, to dissolve sugar.
Let cool a bit,
then whisk in oil at a slow drizzle.
Pour over bean mixture, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
This just gets better and better.


Cider vinegar going into sugar.


Add the Balsamic vinegar.

Salt.


Lea and Perrins.


Pepper.

Garlic.


Bring to a boil, whisking.

Steamy whisky.


Very slowly,
whisk in the oil.


Pour dressing over bean mixture 
and toss to coat thoroughly.


I taste-tested before it even sat in the fridge.


And it GETS BETTER!

Crunchy, crisp green beans perfectly cooked.
The dressing had just the right amount of sweet and sour.



This is my bean salad.

This is Jake and Amos' Four Bean Salad.



Rosie's bean salad.

Which would you pick?

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