Freedom Bean Salad for 25
July 3, 2010
When it comes to preparing food for holidays and family gatherings, I find myself teetering between tradition and exploration. Part of me rejoices in a Thanksgiving sideboard groaning with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, green beans, and sweet potato soufflé, yet another side sighs with boredom. When tradition becomes too routine, too predictable, too staid, then I feel we’re simply living our lives on repeat. On the other hand, I eagerly anticipate creating favorite dishes year to year. Where do we find the balance between respecting the familiar and introducing the new?
A few years ago, Aunt Judy decided she’d had it with routine and started planning new holiday menus, assigning each family a contribution. I recall processing with horror my 4th of July, 2006 assignment: coleslaw.
Coleslaw? Really, there had to be a mistake. I’d been bringing pasta salad for years. Pasta salad with Greek dressing, olives, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, feta. I’d made coleslaw exactly once, back at Windy Gap when I worked kitchen crew for Young Life. That’s when I discovered, after shoving dozens of cabbage heads through the industrial shredder and making vats of coleslaw, that I actually liked the stuff, so long as it wasn’t drowning in mayo and reeking of onions. I accepted the coleslaw challenge and poured through my cookbooks and online recipes until I found something of interest that I could twist into my own recipe.
Purple coleslaw with apples in a vinegar marinade base was the final product. Although it frightened and perplexed some more conservative diners, I was satisfied with the experiment.
This year, though, I was hoping to slide by on my usual pasta salad when I read the email from Aunt Judy more carefully. She’d assigned me marinated bean salad. I panicked. Bean salad? I didn’t know how to make bean salad. First, I usually avoided such side dishes because someone in her wisdom thought it was tasty to toss in raw onions and encouraged others to do so. Secondly, well, canned beans are rather slimy and make a glucking sound when they thump out of the can. There had to be a mistake. There wasn’t. I was assigned marinated bean salad for 4th of July. Enough to feed 20-25 people.
Dutifully, I researched the basic recipe, scribbled down essential ingredients, and moped off to the Publix at McBee Station. After reading a few labels of canned beans, I was horrified by the sodium content and walked over to the frozen sections where I loaded my basket with a healthy selection, including endame.
An hour after setting off to the market, I stood satisfied in my kitchen. Having completed assembling the ingredients, I popped the salad into the frig to marinate overnight. End result? I do like beans and marinade; I do like them, Sam-I-Am.
Freedom Bean Salad for 25
July 3, 2010
Recipe adapted from traditional ones
Shopping list: Available at Publix
2 16 oz. cans Bush’s dark red kidney beans (reduced sodium) – drain and rinse
1 lb. long green beans (frozen organic or fresh)
2 small bags frozen black eyed peas (about 15 oz. per bag)
2 small bags frozen endame (about 15 oz. per bag)
1 small jar pimientos
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Tarragon vinegar
1 cup Red wine vinegar (organic)
2 teaspoons Celery salt or 1 teaspoon each celery seed and sea salt (grind for 30 seconds in food mill)
1 1/3 raw sugar or granulated brown
Directions:
1. Combine beans and pimiento in a large bowl and gently mix.
2. Combine sugar, celery salt, olive oil, and vinegars in a saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 seconds.
3. Pour marinade over the bean mixture; gently toss until thoroughly mixed.
4. Cover and refrigerate.
July 3, 2010
When it comes to preparing food for holidays and family gatherings, I find myself teetering between tradition and exploration. Part of me rejoices in a Thanksgiving sideboard groaning with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, green beans, and sweet potato soufflé, yet another side sighs with boredom. When tradition becomes too routine, too predictable, too staid, then I feel we’re simply living our lives on repeat. On the other hand, I eagerly anticipate creating favorite dishes year to year. Where do we find the balance between respecting the familiar and introducing the new?
A few years ago, Aunt Judy decided she’d had it with routine and started planning new holiday menus, assigning each family a contribution. I recall processing with horror my 4th of July, 2006 assignment: coleslaw.
Coleslaw? Really, there had to be a mistake. I’d been bringing pasta salad for years. Pasta salad with Greek dressing, olives, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, feta. I’d made coleslaw exactly once, back at Windy Gap when I worked kitchen crew for Young Life. That’s when I discovered, after shoving dozens of cabbage heads through the industrial shredder and making vats of coleslaw, that I actually liked the stuff, so long as it wasn’t drowning in mayo and reeking of onions. I accepted the coleslaw challenge and poured through my cookbooks and online recipes until I found something of interest that I could twist into my own recipe.
Purple coleslaw with apples in a vinegar marinade base was the final product. Although it frightened and perplexed some more conservative diners, I was satisfied with the experiment.
This year, though, I was hoping to slide by on my usual pasta salad when I read the email from Aunt Judy more carefully. She’d assigned me marinated bean salad. I panicked. Bean salad? I didn’t know how to make bean salad. First, I usually avoided such side dishes because someone in her wisdom thought it was tasty to toss in raw onions and encouraged others to do so. Secondly, well, canned beans are rather slimy and make a glucking sound when they thump out of the can. There had to be a mistake. There wasn’t. I was assigned marinated bean salad for 4th of July. Enough to feed 20-25 people.
Dutifully, I researched the basic recipe, scribbled down essential ingredients, and moped off to the Publix at McBee Station. After reading a few labels of canned beans, I was horrified by the sodium content and walked over to the frozen sections where I loaded my basket with a healthy selection, including endame.
An hour after setting off to the market, I stood satisfied in my kitchen. Having completed assembling the ingredients, I popped the salad into the frig to marinate overnight. End result? I do like beans and marinade; I do like them, Sam-I-Am.
Freedom Bean Salad for 25
July 3, 2010
Recipe adapted from traditional ones
Shopping list: Available at Publix
2 16 oz. cans Bush’s dark red kidney beans (reduced sodium) – drain and rinse
1 lb. long green beans (frozen organic or fresh)
2 small bags frozen black eyed peas (about 15 oz. per bag)
2 small bags frozen endame (about 15 oz. per bag)
1 small jar pimientos
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Tarragon vinegar
1 cup Red wine vinegar (organic)
2 teaspoons Celery salt or 1 teaspoon each celery seed and sea salt (grind for 30 seconds in food mill)
1 1/3 raw sugar or granulated brown
Directions:
1. Combine beans and pimiento in a large bowl and gently mix.
2. Combine sugar, celery salt, olive oil, and vinegars in a saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 seconds.
3. Pour marinade over the bean mixture; gently toss until thoroughly mixed.
4. Cover and refrigerate.
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