The traditional three-bean salad – or hey! a wonderful two-bean salad when yellow beans are nowhere to be found as in my recent photo update! The recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated, they did a "recipe makeover" with fresh green beans instead of canned green beans. Me? I took Cook's Illustrated's recipe and did an even bigger makeover, making it lighter with way-way less oil and way-way less sugar. The results? Fabulous. Low Carb. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free.
~recipe updated, first published way back in 2007~
~more recently updated recipes~
How is it that so many great potluck dishes rely on canned vegetables? Maybe it's because they're dashed together before church or an afternoon gathering? No matter.
Making a three-bean salad with fresh beans – when you can, with a mix of yellow and green beans, is especially pretty! – does take longer but the outcome is, well, praise-worthy. In fact, it wouldn't take much longer to double the recipe, which is what I'll do next time, this is so good! And don't hesitate to just make the salad with just green beans, that third bean is really for color, not taste.
The recipe inspiration came from a Cook's Illustrated e-mail. I've lightened it considerably, dropping the oil from 8 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons, the sugar from 12 tablespoons first to 4 tablespoons and then to 2 tablespoons. These changes really make the salad all about the beans – and isn't that the point? After all, the recipe name isn't "Oil and Sugar Salad." I questioned the introduction of parsley but in the end, was glad I kept it in. Parsley adds important new dimensions of flavor and freshness.
FRESH THREE-BEAN SALAD
Hands-on time: 30 minutes (over the course of about 50 minutes)
Time to table: 50 minutes or 24 hours
Makes 5 cups
For time efficiency, it helps to start the bean water first, then get the liquid onto the stove, then prep the beans.
BEANS
3 quarts water
1 tablespoon table salt
8 ounces green beans, ends snapped, snapped or cut into one-inch pieces
8 ounces yellow beans (or more green beans), ditto
LIQUID
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated on a microplane
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar (reduced from 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil (reduced from 1/2 cup canola oil)
1 teaspoon table salt
Several turns freshly ground black pepper
SALAD
1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Cooked & Drained Beans
1/2 a red onion, diced or slivered small
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
COOK, SHOCK & DRAIN BEANS Bring the water to a boil. Add the salt and the beans, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender-crisp. While the beans cook, fill a large bowl with ice water, using more ice than water. When the beans are done, drain them in a colander, then plunge the colander into the ice water, fully covering the beans by swishing them around if needed. When the beans are cool, remove the colander from the ice water. Give the colander a good shake to remove lots of the water. Let drain for at least 10 minutes and more if needed.
BOIL THE LIQUID In a medium saucepan that's large enough to hold the whole salad, bring the ingredients to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
MIX THE SALAD Stir the cooked green beans, onion and parsley into the liquid in the saucepan and stir well to coat. Let rest for awhile, some of the liquid will be absorbed by the beans and the, um, beans. Otherwise transfer the salad to a storage dish and refrigerate for 24 hours for the beans and beans to absorb even more flavor, becoming just slightly "pickled".
ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES IT'S SHOCKING Did you know? The process of dropping a hot food into ice water is called "shocking". It stops the cooking and usually helps retain the pretty bright color of the foods. KIDNEY BEANS INTO THE LIQUID? Next time, I'll try to drop the rinsed and drained kidney beans into the liquid as it heats up, I think this will help them absorb more flavor. RATIO OFF? To my taste, there's too many kidney beans:green & yellow beans. Next time, I'll either use half a can of kidney beans or double the green & yellow beans. There's plenty of liquid, you'll just need to stir a little more often to distribute the liquid. BEST TIME TO SERVE? The inspiring recipe specifies serving the salad the next day – and it's definitely more like a traditional (canned bean) three-bean salad that way, sort of pickly. I preferred it served right away though didn't object to it, in the least, the next day. WISH I'D THOUGHT OF THIS This recipe would be great with Splenda, which might satisfy those who like three-bean salad slightly sweeter.
NUTRITION INFORMATION – as I make it, above
Per Half Cup, assumes that 25% of the liquid is absorbed and consumed: 40 Calories; 1g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 115mg Sodium; 7g Carb; 3g Fiber; 1g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS WW Old Points 0, WW PointsPlus 1, WW SmartPoints 1, WW Freestyle 0 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = 1 1/4 cups (5g protein).
NUTRITION INFORMATION – as written by Cook's Illustrated
Per Half Cup, made with 1/2 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar, assumes again that 25% of the liquid is absorbed and consumed: 75 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 115mg Sodium; 11g Carb; 3g Fiber; 6g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS WW Old Points 1, WW PointsPlus 2, WW SmartPoints 3, WW Freestyle 2
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MORE FAVORITE GREEN BEAN RECIPES
~ Fresh Green Bean Salad with Asian Dressing ~
~ Garlicky Romano Beans ~
~ ~
~ more green bean recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture
~ Eggplant & Bean Thai Curry ~
~ Green Bean Garden Salad ~
~ Tourlou Tourlou (Greek Baked Vegetables) ~
~ more green bean recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column
How to eat more vegetables? A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and the award-winning source of free vegetable recipes with 1200 quick and easy favorite vegetable recipes, the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point recipes and microwave vegetable recipes.
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