Butter Bean, Confit Tomato & Pickled Shallot Salad
This hearty salad is packed with big flavours: squishy, sweet confit tomatoes, tangy pickled shallots and nutty dukkah, plus fresh herbs and a zing of lemon to keep it fresh.
Choose jarred, quality beans if you can as the creamy taste and texture you get (versus tinned beans) really does make all the difference.
This is substantial (and tasty) enough to serve as a main but would also be a great side for roast meat or as part of a veggie spread - helloooo summer barbeques.
If you don’t have time to confit tomatoes, roast along with whole unpeeled garlic cloves at 200C for 25-30 minutes or until softened and bursting.
Serves 2-3
Hands on time 25 minutes, cooking time 2 hours plus cooling time
Ingredients:
Confit Tomatoes
350g cherry tomatoes, mixed colour if possible, on the vine
1 bulb garlic, halved horizontally
150-200ml olive oil
Pickled Shallots
1 banana shallot
2 tbsps apple cider vinegar (or other pale vinegar)
2 tbsps water
½ tsp pink peppercorns
¼ tsp sugar
Big pinch salt
Bean Salad
1 jar Bold Bean butter beans
30g soft herbs - mint, dill, parsley, coriander
1 ½ tbsps lemon juice
2 tsps dukkah
Method:
Arrange the garlic and tomatoes in a small roasting dish in a single layer, pour the oil over until mostly covered and roast at 150℃/130℃ fan for 2 hours. Leave to cool in the oil.
Peel and finely slice the shallot. Add to a small saucepan with the lightly crushed peppercorns and all other pickle ingredients and warm through until boiling, then turn off the heat and leave to cool while you make the rest.
Make a dressing by whisking 2 tbsps of the tomato & garlic infused oil with the lemon juice. Pick the herb leaves, leaving as whole as possible.
Drain the butter beans, rinse and drain thoroughly again. In a mixing bowl, combine the beans with the dressing, confit garlic and picked herbs.
Top the beans with the confit tomatoes, drained pickled shallots and sprinkle with dukkah. Serve with toasted crusty bread, to dunk in the infused oil.