Cannellini Bean & Kalamata Olive Salad | Recipe

Cannellini beans are the perfect blank canvas for any salad. 

They soak up dressings beautifully and their creaminess provides the perfect contrast to crisp herbs and veggies. Throw in a scattering of salty kalamata olives and you have a delicious healthy salad that tastes even better the next day. You can replace the cannellini beans with larger butter beans if you prefer, just simmer for a little longer.

Ingredients

• 250g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight in water
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• sea salt flakes
• 1 celery stalk, diced, leaves reserved and roughly chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
• handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
• 10 kalamata olives, pitted and torn

Vinegar Dressing

• 125ml (1/2 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Serves 4-6

Method

Drain and rinse the cannellini beans and place them in a saucepan with the bay leaves and plenty of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low, then simmer for minutes. Add a good pinch of salt and simmer for a further minutes or until the beans are just tender. Drain, discard the bay leaves, and set the beans aside for 15 minutes to cool.

Meanwhile, place the vinegar dressing ingredients and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the beans, celery, onion, parsley, mint and olives to the bowl and gently toss. Transfer the salad to a serving bowl, then scatter on the reserved celery leaves and serve.

Note: You can use canned cannellini beans if you don’t have time to soak and cook them, but the flavour and texture of the dried beans will always be superior.