Recipe: Seven Bean Salad with Lemon and Mustard Dressing

SEVEN BEAN SALAD WITH LEMON AND MUSTARD DRESSING

1 cup trimmed, cut (1-inch pieces) fresh green beans
1 cup trimmed, cut (1-inch pieces) fresh wax beans
1 cup cooked dried or rinsed canned red kidney beans
1 cup cooked dried or rinsed canned cannellini (white kidney) beans
1 cup cooked dried or rinsed canned black beans
1 cup cooked dried or rinsed canned chick peas
1 cup cooked frozen or fresh lima beans
1/2 cup chopped sweet white onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced green scallion tops
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

FOR THE LEMON AND MUSTARD DRESSING:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp grainy Dijon-style mustard
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the green beans and the wax beans in a medium saucepan of boiling salted water, uncovered, until tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold running water. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the green beans, wax beans, red kidney beans, cannellini beans, black beans, chick peas, lima beans, onion, scallion tops, and parsley.

MAKING THE DRESSING:
In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper.

TO MAKE THE SALAD:
Pour dressing over the bean mixture and toss gently. Let the salad stand for 1 hour before serving to allow the flavors to blend.

RECIPE NOTES:
"This is a wonderful bean salad recipe that's healthy, too. It's from the Light Touch Cookbook by Marie Simmons. I'll give you the recipe exactly the way the book has it, but I do make a couple of changes. I use canned beans, rather than fresh or dried, for all the beans (except the limas, which I buy frozen and cook). Since a can of beans is more than 1 cup, I usually double the recipe for the dressing. It makes a lot of salad, so it's good to take to a pot-luck dinner. But it also keeps well for a few days, so it gets eaten even if it's just for the family. Sometimes I can't find the cannellini beans in my grocery store, so I just leave them out. All the different color beans do make an attractive dish."

Source: Deb Kirwan