Summer in our family officially arrives when my husband packs away his long underwear and the flannel sheets are removed from the bed. It seems like overnight, the days are warmer and longer. The trees leaf out, the iris and lupine bloom, our cove hums with the drone of diesel from lobster boats setting traps and the sunsets are glorious.
This is the magic time of year when the living is easy and dining moves outdoors. Capturing every fleeting moment, we Americans love to enjoy our coffee at the sidewalk café and cocktails on the deck, lunch at the park, barbeques with friends, and picnics at the beach.
Our eating patterns shift with the onset of summer. The gardens and farmer’s market are bursting with bright crisp greens and asparagus, sweet sugar snap peas, spicy radishes, baby orange carrots, tender yellow summer squash and green zucchini, garlic scapes, fragrant fresh herbs, baby onions and bright red and yellow tomatoes. Such an abundance of good eating and good health! The perfect time to create a summer salad.
Summer salads are both my favorite to prepare and to eat. With such an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, every summer salad becomes a work of art. Fiesta Black Bean Salad is bursting with garden-fresh veggies, seasoned with a splash of lime juice and sprinkled with fresh herbs that delights the palate and excites the eye. Plus, this delicious salad is packed with protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and nutrients.
Black beans are one of my favorite beans, and the oldest cultivated legume with origins deeply rooted in the Americas. A dietary cornerstone more than 7000 years ago, black beans were eaten in soups, stews and sauces. They were valued not only for their protein and nutrients, but also for their spiritual and medicinal significance and used in rituals to promote prosperity, fertility and health. Considered a “reverse immigrant”, black beans traveled from the Americas to Europe before spreading to Africa and Asia and returning to the New World.
Consider the recipe for Fiesta Black Bean Salad as merely a guide to create your own work of art. Start with the beans. Although fresh cooked beans are nice, canned black beans work even better as the texture is softer. The choice of vegetables is what is available in the moment, the more colorful the better. Fresh corn is tasty, but frozen corn is equally delicious. Go for the green! Sugar snap peas, asparagus, celery, zucchini, even green beans. Brightly colored peppers and tomato chunks add to the fiesta. For the allium bite, try red or purple onion, garlic scapes or leeks. Like it spicy? Jalapeno peppers, canned or fresh, red pepper flakes, and chipotle powder provide plenty of heat. Be cautious and start slowly.
Fiesta Black Bean Salad tastes good fresh and best when it rests for a bit to allow the flavors to marry. This salad travels well to your favorite picnic spot or potluck and keeps for several days in the refrigerator.
The fiesta culture, like black beans, dates to ancient civilizations, often around agricultural cycles and celestial events. A fiesta has a festive atmosphere and is a vibrant tapestry of traditions, beliefs and communal bonds. I think of Fiesta Black Bean Salad as a celebration of our agrarian culinary heritage, farming community, fresh seasonal vegetables, and short Maine summer.
Fiesta Black Bean Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cans black beans about 3 ½ cups, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup corn kernels fresh or frozen
- 1 rib celery chopped (about ½ cup)
- 1 colored pepper chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut into quarters (about 1 cup)
- 1 red onion chopped about 1 cup *
- 1 garlic clove or more to taste finely chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and chopped (optional)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- ½ teaspoon or more to taste, chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Maine sea salt
- 1 large bunch cilantro finely chopped, about ½ cup
Instructions
- Assemble ingredients and tools. If using canned beans, drain and rinse them well. Add to a large bowl.
- Chop the vegetables. The vegetables and quantities listed are merely a guide, total amount of vegetables should be around 4 ½ cups.
- Add the chopped vegetables to the bowl.
- To prepare the dressing, zest and juice the lime. Add the zest to a small bowl. Add the olive oil, lime juice, cider vinegar, chili powder and Maine sea salt. Whisk together and taste the dressing and adjust the seasonings as needed.
- Finely chop cilantro.
- Add the dressing and chopped cilantro to the salad and stir gently. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight to allow the flavors to marry. Before serving, taste again and adjust the seasonings if needed.
- Serve at room temperature.
- Another option, make ahead and store for later!
- Makes 8 – 1 cup servings.