Memorial Day bean salad

I made this one yesterday, using ingredients I had lying around, to share at a Memorial Day barbecue potluck. It was a hit, so I figured I’d write it up!

You probably don't have the same stuff in your refrigerator and/or garden, but don’t let that dissuade you. Bean salads are pretty forgiving! Just use what you’ve got.

My rough formula is acid, onion and crunch. And some sweetness is extra nice, especially if you want to please a crowd. :) No crunchy radishes? Try celery, or fennel! Don’t have any lemons? Use vinegar. And ripe, garden tomatoes (or persimmons!) would be a nice replacement for sweet, roasted red peppers.

My little balcony garden isn’t overly verdant by Memorial Day, but the tarragon comes back strong every year, and I’ve always got more than I can use in the spring. It adds something special to this salad, but basil, fennel tops, cilantro, green onions, chives, or even parsley would do the trick. Hell, try some avocado. It’s green and delicious too!

Anyhoo, here’s how I made it, but you do you.

Ingredients

• Most of a batch of thick-skinned beans (what kind? see below), cooled down or refrigerated overnight
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Zest from 1 orange
• 1T dijon mustard
• 1t sugar, or more to taste
• 1/2t smoked paprika, or more to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Olive oil
• 5oz canned tuna, drained well (if oil-packed, save the oil! we’ll use it! see below)
• 1/4 large onion
• 6 radishes
• 2 roasted bell peppers from a jar
• 5 big sprigs of fresh tarragon (if you’re shopping at the grocery store, and they’ve got those little plastic clamshell packs, a full pack would do, but more might be nice)

Tools

• Colander
• Whisk
• Small mixing bowl
• Large mixing bowl

Steps

First, cook a pot of beans

This recipe comes together pretty quickly, as long as you’ve already cooked a pot of beans.

I really like ayocote beans, a.k.a. runner beans, for a salad like this. They’re bigger, thick-skinned and thus sturdy, which is helpful because you’re going to need to give everything a good stir and don’t want the beans to break down too much. Plus they come in fun colors, though my batch was kinda plain-looking.

Yesterday, I used some fancy ayocote patachete beans from Rancho Gordo that I received as a gift. But if you’ve got a Mexican grocery store, they’ll often have ayocotes. Coronas or gigantes (from the same family as ayocotes, just bigger), or kidney beans would be a fine substitute!

Anyway, cook ‘em up, let them cool in their broth, and/or refrigerate them overnight.

When it’s time to make salad, drain the beans, reserving the broth and a handful of the beans for making soup later in the week. (Or, if you must, use all the beans and toss the broth, but just be aware that I’ll be sad about it.)

I like to put my beans into a salad spinner to get them extra-dry, so they don’t water down the dressing. If you wanna be fancy, give them a rinse under cold water before you spin them. But I usually don’t bother.

Regardless of your bean-tidiness preferences, move your beans into a big mixing bowl.

Make a viniagrette

Whisk together the mustard and lemon juice in a small mixing bowl with the sugar, paprika, orange zest, salt, and pepper. Once that’s all thoroughly combined, slowly drizzle in your olive oil, whisking constantly. Keep drizzling in the oil until you’ve got about a cup of dressing.

Alternatively, just chuck everything into a jar and shake it good, like Jacques would tell you to do. (New to viniagrettes? New to Jacques? Watch Jacques!)

A couple notes on oil: If your tuna is packed in oil, use some of the oil from the can, in addition to the olive oil, especially if it's fancy tuna! My can yesterday was a kinda watery, so I only used a little. Also, if someone gave you a nice bottle of orange- or lemon-infused olive as a gift, here’s your time to use it! And you can probably skip the zest!

A note on zest: I like to zest my citrus using microplane. But it’s a-ok to use a vegetable peeler! Just peel it off in strips, and try and not get too much of the white, bitter pith. Afterwards, chop it finely. Honestly, it’s probably prettier this way, cut into itty-bitty orange cubes. :)

Taste your dressing, and add more sugar, salt, pepper, paprika, lemon juice, etc., to your taste. It’ll be combined with nearly a pound of beans, so don’t be shy with the seasoning!

Finally, finely dice the onion and toss it into the dressing. This’ll help mellow out the sharpness of the onion, which is nice, especially for a party.

Chop your remaining vegetables, toss and refrigerate

Pull a couple roasted red bell peppers from a jar and shake them dry. Chop into 1/4-1/2” pieces, and add them to the dressing. (I like to cut everything so that they’re a little smaller than the beans.) Chop your radishes similarly, and do the same.

Break your well-drained canned tuna into smallish pieces, and add them to the dressing as well. Strip the tarragon leaves from their stems and cut into 1/8-1/4” bits, and add them too.

Give the dressing a good stir and pour over your beans. Gently toss everything together until it’s just mixed. Try not to break too many beans. (But don’t worry if you bust a few, those are for tasting.)

Serve (or wait, and then wait again, then serve!)

You could serve this immediately, but it’ll be tastier after an hour or two. So, cover the bowl with some plastic wrap, or transfer everything into a tub, and refrigerate until it’s almost time to eat.

Pull the beans from the fridge about a half hour before mealtime, and let them warm back up on the counter. Anyway, I’ll stop fussing. But, trust me! Bean salads are better when 1) they’ve had some time to marry, and 2) they’re not icebox-cold!

That’s it!

Y’all, I was gonna make this a quick post, and then I went on and on about technique. Maybe I watch too much Jacques. Well, now I’m done. Make bean salad however you like. It’s good stuff! But please make some, and send me your recipe!

(Oh, and if you've got leftovers, eat beans on toast for breakfast! Okay now I'm done.)