marinated bean salad

keep this in the fridge to snack on all week

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I play a game on my Instagram stories sometimes where I have people send in the forgotten ingredients they have lying around, and I come up with ideas to turn them into a meal. This peek into other people’s kitchens sort of counter-intuitively helps me get out of my own cooking ruts, as I get to think about foods that I might not usually have in my own rotation.

The other week someone submitted: “Nuts, artichoke hearts, jarred sun-dried tomatoes - that isn’t a marry me chicken recipe 😂”

I’d been seeing a lot of cold, hearty marinated bean salads lately and I could picture those jarred ingredients with their flavor-packed oils working well in that context. I wrote back a loose suggestion of how she might put them together, but the idea stuck with me and I decided to try it for myself.

With a bit of tweaking and a few additions, here’s the recipe I’ve landed on. It’s best served cold, and gets even better after an overnight in the fridge. Hope you enjoy.

Chat soon - Susanna

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What ingredients do you have lurking in your fridge or pantry? Leave a comment and I’ll see what I can come up with for you.

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More cold meals for hot days:

cucumber radish salad

tinned tuna lettuce cups

tangy green sesame slaw

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Marinated bean salad

Serves 4-6 as a side, or 2-3 as a light lunch. Even better after an overnight in the fridge.

400g white cannellini or butter beans, canned, jarred, or cooked yourself

80g jarred marinated artichokes

50g jarred sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

50g kalamata olives (sub your favorite olive variety)

1/2 small red onion (~50g)

30g arugula

1 lemon

1 tbsp white wine vinegar (sub another style of vinegar that you enjoy)

Pepper

Salt

Prep the beans

Drain and rinse the beans, then gently pat dry with a tea towel. Add to a large mixing bowl.

Add all vegetables to a bowl

Slice the artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes into bite-sized pieces if they were jarred in larger chunks. Pit and halve the olives. Thinly slice the red onion. Add all to the bowl with the beans, plus the arugula. Mix to combine.

Dress the salad

Season with a large pinch of salt, grind of pepper, and squeeze from a wedge of lemon. Pour in about a tablespoon of oil from the sun-dried tomato jar. Add a tablespoon of vinegar. Mix well and taste, season with more salt, lemon, or vinegar as necessary.

Let rest in the fridge

Let rest at least 30 minutes before eating, though overnight is even better. Store in the fridge, and over time the onion will start to pickle and the flavors will meld together even further. Mix well to re-dress with any liquid that accumulates at the bottom of the bowl.

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Thanks for being here! Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment with any questions or ideas from your own cooking life, and send this along to any friends who might like cooking with us.