Haricot Bean Salad with Stir-fry veg

During my fast I often crave certain things, most often they are single fruits or vegetables. However this time I had my heart and mind set on having some bean salad as soon as I was finished and had time to prepare it...

I even had the beans soaking on the last day of my cleanse - I was so adamant I was having something yummy with beans in it. Usually I am not a bean person - I like them (in other things) but could never say that I would crave them.

What I do like about beans is their versatility - you can use them in nearly anything to make a dish tasty, thicker and full of an earthy flavour. Even right now as I am writing this, I have had a couple of servings of bean salad and now have a Venison Cassoulet warming on the wood stove (also full of beans!).

So, there must be something in the beans I need right now....

For my bean salad I soaked 1 cup of haricots overnight, but other beans would do just as well such as flageolet or cannellini. These were cooked in lots of sea weed (dillisk) until they were soft and then put aside.

Next I sauted some vegetables - grated carrot, shallots, onion, leek and garlic in olive oil and water until they were a little overdone to give them more of a fragrance. I then added 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and about the same in grated lemon rind while the vegetables were still hot.

After seasoning with salt and pepper, I spooned the cooked beans into the vegetable mixture which was let sit for about half an hour to marinate. A little more olive oil was added just before serving....

It was perfect!

April

Bean salad.... 

Festive Cooking... Smoked Fish & Haricot Salad

Yesterday I spent the day experimenting with some holiday dishes that I hope to make during our festive season. I love smoked fish at this time of the year and thought about making some interesting dishes with it.

What I like about smoked fish in particular is that it's so versatile - you can add it to nearly anything and create a lovely new dish each time. Or have it on it's own on a cracker or some bread...simple or dressed up, it is a tasty addition to any meal.

Using some smoked tuna (one of my favourites) I decided to make a warm winter salad with it. Usually this goes with a cold salad, but it was being served to children and it's a cold time of the year. So, warm salad it was....

I soaked some haricot beans overnight and then cooked them in seaweed until soft but not mushy. These were then drained off and let stand for a while. In the meantime I chopped the vegetables; leeks, grated carrots, shallots, garlic, fresh parsley and sautéd them in a little olive oil until soft.

Once the vegetables were done, I added a small amount of ground cumin and pepper to the mixture (but not salt because the smoked fish is salty) and then tossed this together with the beans and seaweed. Already it was looking very tasty.

Next I warmed up the tuna in a skillet with a little oil and then broke it up into smaller pieces. These I placed on top of the bean mixture and served with fresh Rosemary Sea salt bread and butter....

It got rave reviews from my tough taste testers, so I was very pleased with it. You can also make this using fresh salad ingredients such as lettuce, spinach, finely chopped onion and olives. It's a great way to get the goodness of the beans along with the rich flavour of the smoked tuna.

April

Smoked Tuna & Haricot Salad