Three Bean Salad

Yesterday Benny and I worked on the driveway most of the day.  Cleaning, patching, coating a section…it really does need the attention.  It is coming out nicely but I was pooped.  At three o’clock I had to go to help friends who are moving their business to a new location.  I was busy taking apart store fixtures and furniture so the movers could truck it across town.  By five I was achy and tired and good for nothing.  I finished and packed up my tools and went home.

Today when I woke up I felt drained and I had to face the fact that continuing work on the driveway was out of the question.  Due to the recent rain the garden looked a little overgrown so I decided to spend an hour or so cleaning out weeds and picking whatever was ready.  (I don’t know why I feel guilty just having a cup of coffee and reading a good book like a sane person would?) After an hour of that I came in with a bucket full of snap peas slightly past their prime (but only by a day or so…) a couple of tomatoes and some cukes.   Coffee and a book now?  No.  Three bean salad.  Well, actually, two bean salad with crisp pea pods but I have always assumed writing a blog that I have 'poetic license'.

Here is the recipe:

-1 to 2 cups of snap peas

-2 cans of beans.  I like black and pinto but you can use white or kidney or even garbonzos but be sure to use two different colors!

-half an onion

-some grape tomatoes or cukes or?? whatever veggies you might have around that you would like to get rid of (within reason-don’t ask me what constitutes reasonable!)

-two cloves of garlic

-approx ½ tsp. kosher salt

-approx ¼ tsp. coarse pepper

-a touch of cayenne pepper (to taste-go easy)

-couple ounces of vinegar.  I like a combination of balsamic and apple cider but your taste dictates.(-don't ask me what dictates taste!)

-couple tablespoons olive oil.

I shelled the peas and put the small yield of tender peas in a sandwich bag in the freezer to be added to stews or soup at a later date.  Take the sweet outer shell and put them in a pot with a cup of water and bring to a boil.  Once it boils for a minute take it off the flame, pour off the water and cool the pods quickly in cold water.  This will stop the cooking process and preserve the color. 

Fine chop the garlic and onion.  Coarse chop the pods and the tomatoes.  Drain two cans of beans and combine with all the other ingredients.  Experiment with quantities of salt and spices to get to where you like it.  I like it a little spicy with the cayenne but you might not so go slowly.  Like Lizzy says, “you can always add a little but you can’t take it back out!”  And she is my cooking guru.