Chopped Vegetable Salad with Sun Dried Tomato Dressing
You may remember the iconic and somewhat crude scene in Mel Brooks’ satirical
western ‘Blazing Saddles,’ in which cowboys sit around a campfire eating beans and passing
gas. That scene may well have put a generation of Americans off beans entirely! However,
eating beans and other alternative proteins is part of living a longer, healthier life. (I’m not
saying it is time to suddenly eat big bowls of beans: for the sake of your own digestive system,
work your way up to it.)
If you are making a dish with beans and you are pressed for time, canned beans are a
good substitute for dried. However, if you own an Instant Pot, in about 30 minutes you can
make your own beans without even soaking them. I think reconstituted dried beans have more
flavor than canned ones and I highly recommend them. I make batches of both black and white
beans and then freeze them in some of their cooking liquid. For this recipe, I used Rancho
Gordo’s Alubia Blanca beans (which are the same size and color as navy beans). They take just
20 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot. I use the fast release process, then drain and refrigerate
the beans while assembling the rest of the salad. If you are new to eating beans and not
familiar with Rancho Gordo, a grower of a vast variety of heirloom beans based here in
Northern California, you are in for a treat.
Usually, I serve this salad in the summer and though it isn’t officially summer until June
20 th , I am longing for warmer weather, afternoons on the water, and salads like this one.
Adapted from the cookbook Mediterranean FRESH by Joyce Goldstein, this salad recipe
interested me specifically because of the sundried tomato dressing. I hadn’t used sundried
tomatoes in quite a while and had forgotten how intense and fruity they are. Joyce suggests
adding shrimp; you could grill some and serve them on the side, but I like the idea of a lighter
salad, especially for summer. This salad holds up well enough to take to a picnic, potluck, or
barbeque—also it’s easy to double for a crowd. I wonder if anyone will guess the secret
ingredient in the salad dressing (orange juice)?
Serves: 6 as a side dish
Note: Dice all the vegetables just a bit larger than the corn kernels. This way you can enjoy all the
ingredients in one bite. See photo.
**It is best to use navy beans rather than the bigger cannellini beans.
Dressing:
¼ cup of olive oil
¼ cup of white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
For the dressing, add all the ingredients in a small jar with a tightly fitting lid and shake to
combine. Set aside while you assemble the salad.
Salad ingredients:
1 can of navy beans rinsed and drained or 2 cups cooked Alubia Blanca beans**
½ cup of diced red bell pepper
½ cup of diced yellow bell pepper
¼ cup of finely diced red onion
¼ cup of chopped flat-leafed parsley
2 Persian cucumbers peeled, cut lengthwise into 4 batons and then diced
I ear of corn shaved from the cob
2 heaping tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil,
Directions:
In a large bowl combine all the ingredients. Pour half of the dressing over the salad. Toss to
combine, taste, and add more seasoning or dressing as needed.
Will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.