Moroccan Bean & Lentil Salad

Summer is bean salad season at my house. I love to have a selection of ready-to-eat salads in the fridge for snack or quick meal and bean salad holds up nicely for a couple of days. When the weather gets hot, any shortcuts to avoid heating up the kitchen is a plus in my books! Rancho Gordo beans are staple in my pantry. With their wonderful selection of heirloom beans, it’s hard to pick a favourite. However, as far as versatility goes, cannellini beans make their way to my order every time. They are the ones I automatically reach for when I want soup, salad, or stew.

I ran out of dinner ideas a couple of days ago. This doesn’t happen often but I was in between my weekly vegetable share from my CSA and running low on fresh ingredients. I soaked half a pound of cannellini beans before I went to bed and figured I would make something with these substantial beans. The next day, a recipe from 101 Cookbooks captured my attention. The Curried Bean Salad mixes together beans with black beluga lentils in an assertive vinaigrette made with curry powder, garlic, and ginger. I could almost taste the bright flavours in my mouth. Alas, I did not have any good curry powder blend at the house. What I do have, though, is a tin of ras al hanout from Crousset that I absolutely adore. From there on, I started to think Moroccan. I rummaged through the kitchen for other signature ingredients of the region and came up with pomegranate molasses, a sweet lime, and some dried apricots. These ingredients would provide layers of sweet and tart flavour. The stalks of green onion begged to be useful so in they went along with slivers of red onion and diced celery. The salad was a bold combination of savoury, sweet, and tart. I could have continue on with toasted pistachio and chopped mint for garnish but I think it would be too busy.

This salad would be a great addition to potlucks or barbeque cookouts since it is vegan and do not wilt. In fact, I recommend that you make this ahead of time for the flavour to meld. On Labour Day weekend, I’ll be racing 24h Roller Montreal, a relay race in teams of 10 for 24 hours. Fuelling for such an intense race is no easy matter since we’ll all be busy skating as fast as we could or paying close attention to the competition when we’re resting. This salad would be a good option with its mix of complex carbohydrates and proteins.

Moroccan Bean & Lentil Salad

serves 4
inspired by 101 Cookbook's Curried Bean Salad

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked cannellini beans, drained (canned or cooked from 1/2 lb dried beans)
• 1/2 cup dry black beluga lentils, picked over
• 1 bay leaf
• juice of 1 sweet lime/bergamot
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ras el hanout
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 2-3 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1/4 large red onion, thinly sliced to half moonsC4 tbsp olive oil
• black pepper to taste
• 3 stalks of green onion, thinly sliced on a bias
• 1 cup diced celery
• 12 dried apricots, chopped

Method

1. Fill medium-size pot with 2 cups of water, dry lentils, and bay leaf. Bring to boil and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes until tender but not falling apart.

2. While the lentils are cooking, prepare the vinaigrette. This is important because the flavour is best absorbed when the lentils are freshly cooked and still hot. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sweet lime juice, salt, ras el hanout, garlic, ginger, pomegranate molasses, and sherry vinegar. Toss red onion in the vinaigrette to soften.

3. When lentils are cooked, drain in a colander and discard bay leaf. Whisk olive oil into vinaigrette. Tip lentils into mixing bowl and toss until evenly coated with dressing.

4. Mix in cooked cannellini beans, green onion, celery, and dried apricot. Season with black pepper and adjust seasoning with more salt if necessary. You can serve it immediately but the flavour develops if you chill the salad in the fridge for an hour.