As promised, I present to you the first of two recipes with fresh beans bought yesterday at the local market! It’s a fresh, unique dish perfect for countering the scorching heat of these days! Moreover, it allows you to serve a meal full of beneficial and nutritional properties, all in favor of health! The main ingredient is fresh beans, which are in season at this time of year. Their consumption is very useful for the body because, in addition to providing carbohydrates, vitamins, vegetable proteins, and minerals, which by themselves would already be enough to induce us to introduce them into our diet or increase their weekly consumption, they also contain essential amino acids. These properties make them an exceptional, rich, and complete food! And if that’s not enough, we can count among their numerous benefits diuretic, laxative, and cardiovascular properties! Not to mention the benefits offered by mackerel fillets, which, as “blue fish,” are rich in Omega-3, calcium, iron, and Vitamin A. In short, a dish like this is a godsend! I recommend taking advantage of this seasonality to indulge in feasts!!!! Follow me this week for the second proposal, which I am sure you will love!
CURIOSITY: Did you know that fresh beans are an excellent tool for preventing chronic diseases and even tumors, thanks to the vegetable proteins they contain? They are gluten-free, so they can also be consumed by celiacs, and moreover, they also represent a valid substitute for all the necessary nutrients present in cereals; they have a low glycemic index, thanks to the fact that the fibers they are rich in help absorb carbohydrates more slowly, making them very suitable for diabetics; they also have antioxidant and detoxifying properties, not to mention those in favor of bone health, which are strengthened!
Do you like legume salads? Here are some other proposals that might interest you:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
Ingredients:
- 2.2 lbs fresh borlotti beans (about 1 lb shelled)
- 9 oz cherry tomatoes
- 3 potatoes
- 1 1/2 head lettuce
- 2 oz arugula
- 1 red onion
- 3.5 oz canned mackerel in oil (in my case, spicy RIZZOLI EMANUELLI)
- 1.75 oz sweet corn, canned, drained (well drained)
- 3 leaves bay
- 1 carrot
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 5 juniper berries
- to taste dried oregano
- 1/2 lemon juice
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 pinch salt
Preparation:
Start with the most tedious operation, but overall quite fast, which is to remove the beans one by one from their pods and gather them in a colander and rinse them well (fig. 1).
Take care of the potatoes as well, washing, peeling, and cutting them into chunks (fig. 2), and the other vegetables, the lettuce cut into strips, the cherry tomatoes halved, and the onion sliced (fig. 3).
In a thick-bottomed pot, preferably clay, transfer the shelled beans along with a carrot cut into chunks, the herbs, juniper berries, and bay leaves. Cover entirely with cold water without salting* and bring to a boil (fig. 4). Then lower the heat to the minimum and cook with the lid on for 10′. After this time, add the potatoes and continue cooking for another 20′, stirring occasionally and adding a little more water, this time hot, if it evaporates (fig. 5).
A few minutes before cooking, add a pinch of salt, stir, and turn off only after tasting the beans to ensure they are cooked. Drain, remove the rosemary sprig and bay leaves, and let cool slightly (fig. 6). Once cold, combine the legumes and vegetables in a large salad bowl (fig. 7).
Also add the corn, well-drained spicy mackerel fillets, and season with a handful of dried oregano, a generous drizzle of oil, a splash of lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar. Season with salt and pepper if you like (fig. 8).
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
And voila… your fresh bean salad with spicy mackerel and potatoes is ready to be enjoyed!
Enjoy your meal from La Cucina di FeFè!
Storage
👉 You can store the fresh bean salad with spicy mackerel and potatoes in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Tips, curiosities, and suggestions
🟣 Instead of mackerel, if you prefer, you can add tuna fillets or sardines in oil, always from the RIZZOLI line.
* NO SALT! To avoid the beans’ skins breaking during cooking, do not add salt until you have verified they are cooked.
Other remedies to avoid skin breakage: some say to add a pinch of baking soda or a small piece of kombu seaweed. This seaweed can be found in stores specializing in ethnic foods and has the advantage of eliminating the annoying problem of gas after eating them.
