Note: As I’ve done before, I’m recycling part of an old recipe column from a little weekly newspaper where I wrote for many years. This salad really is tasty and easy. In fact, if you don’t want to fool with the dressing, just mix some sugar to taste in a bottle of prepared dressing and pour it over the beans. Also, I do think that a simple recipe like this would have appealed to Cinderella, although hers would probably have been perfectly fresh from the garden! (KW)
Way back in the late '80's and into the mid '90's, some form of "Three Bean Salad" showed up at virtually every carry-in. An old-faithful, it wasn't very fancy and bringing it certainly didn't announce its maker as a cooking sophisticate. Indeed, I remember that it often elicited snickers even as people filled their plates with it and gobbled it down. Eventually, good old cold bean salad somehow became too uncool to serve outside of the occasional Sunday supper.
Yet, In a twist I did not see coming, it seems that in addition to just about every cookbook published before 1990, the Internet is awash in "Three Bean Salad" recipes--only nowadays, the number and variety of beans is bigger than ever. Through much sleuthing and based on my own tastes, I came up with "Fantastic Bean Salad,” about a decade ago. So follow my lead, and feel free to play with it to accommodate your family's tastes.
This recipe easily makes about 10 generous servings. The garbanzo beans were particularly good in this dish, so use them if you have them. There are five regular-sized cans of beans in the salad, but I think you could sneak a sixth can in here and keep the dressing amount the same without drying out the mixture. You will note that I use no salt. That's because many canned beans have plenty of sodium, as does white wine vinegar.
Last, but not least, it is very popular at holiday gatherings year around.
Fantastic Bean Salad
Drain and rinse the following:
1 can black beans
1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 can yellow or wax beans
1 can green beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
Mix the beans up very thoroughly. Let them continue draining in colander and, meanwhile, mix (whisk) the following together:
1 cup white vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 cup sugar
Lots of freshly ground pepper
A couple of pinches of Cajun-style seasoning (optional)
Let the dressing blend on its own for a few minutes, and, next, dice up the following and add it to the beans, mixing thoroughly:
1 bell pepper
1 small to medium sized onion
3 to 5 stalks of celery, depending on your tastes
The celery, onion and bell pepper are very important to the success of this recipe. The crunch really transforms the taste of the salad. Anyway, now mix everything together on a large bowl and chill at least eight hours, but more is better. Stir from time to time to keep things mixed.
This is very pretty, and in a lovely container will stand out at any meal. Hope you find it fantastic!
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