Insalata Sette
Seven-Bean Salad
It's an unwritten law in Italy that you don't mix varieties
of beans, whether it's chick-peas, cannellini beans, or any other variety.
Don't ask me why - especially since these kinds of combinations are popular
even in green salad-loving countries like the United States. I was mulling
this over one day while trying to figure out how to use a new 10,000-pound
shipment of beans. Then it hit me: Why not make a bean equivalent of the mixed
green salad? It's hardly a revolutionary idea for a dish, but it's become for
me the one that represents my simple and notch-off-of-tradition approach.
The drawback here is cooking so many types of beans simultaneously. Most
people don't have seven burners the way we do in a professional kitchen. I
have a couple of solutions: Either split the cooking of the beans over two
days, refrigerating the portion you cook first overnight, and then completing
the salad the next day. Or, use fewer varieties of beans so you can cook them
all at one time. Or, the worst case scenario (in my opinion), use canned
beans, rinse them well, and go from there. I don't suggest cooking different
types of beans together, though, since every bean will have a different
cooking time.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients:
1/2 cup each of 7 different dried beans - preferably
zolfini, corona, diavolo, cannellini, sorana, borlotti, and angelo (Almost
any combination you choose will be fine; you can also use fewer types but
then cook more of each. You need 3 1/2 cups total.)
14 garlic cloves
7 sprigs fresh sage
7 sprigs fresh thyme
7 sprigs fresh rosemary
salt
3/4 cup very thinly sliced red onion
1 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup diced celery
3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
3/4 chopped fresh basil leaves
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3/4 cup seeded and diced ripe tomatoes
Preparation:
Pick over the beans to remove any stones or bad or broken
beans. Soak each variety of bean separately overnight in plenty of cold
water. (In warm weather, store the soaking beans in the refrigerator; the
heat causes them to release too much protein and shortens the salad's shelf
life.)
Drain the beans and rinse them. Place each variety in its own pot, with
plenty of water. To each pot, add 2 garlic cloves, 1 sprig each of sage,
thyme, and rosemary (you can wrap in a 6-inch square of cheesecloth, if you
like) and bring to a simmer. Cook the beans until soft (this will vary from
1 to 2 hours, depending on how fresh the beans are). Add salt. Let the beans
cool in their cooking water.
While the beans are cooling, soak the sliced onions in the vinegar for at
least 30 minutes. Drain, discarding vinegar.
Remove and discard the garlic and herb sprigs and drain the beans. In a
large bowl combine all of the beans with the celery, parsley, basil, red
onion, olive oil, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and salt to taste. Toss
well, fold in the tomatoes, and serve. (If you refrigerate the salad, before
serving, warm it for a minute or two in a skillet to bring out the flavors.)
Wine Suggestion:
This dish makes a perfect antipasto, so serve it with a
white, like Sauvignon Blanc. These days, I'm partial to Con Vento from
Castello del Terriccio.
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