Italian Bean Salad with Anchovies

Name: Bean Salad with Anchovies and Pickled Onion (Italian Style)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Canned beans 250 g; Anchovy fillets in oil 50 g; Oil from the anchovy jar 2 tbsp (without anchovies, plain olive oil); Red onion 1; Red wine vinegar as needed; Dill, parsley 5-6 sprigs; Fresh thyme 2-3 sprigs; Garlic 1 clove; Salt, black pepper to taste; Dried oregano a pinch (optional)

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45 mins

This tasty cold appetizer, a bean salad, is quick and easy to make. It is a very popular dish around the Mediterranean. Variations and special recipes for it turn up in many cuisines of the world. For quick cooking you can use ready-made canned beans and anchovies in oil. All you need to prepare is the pickled onion.

In Italy there is a recipe for a Roman bean salad whose main ingredient is borlotti beans. These are small speckled beans, grown not only in Italy. Cooked beans are sold in tins and are ready to use right away. If you have dried beans, they are easy to cook after soaking them in cold water.

The hallmark of this salad is a special dressing of anchovy or olive oil mixed with garlic, pepper and wine vinegar. Pickled red onion or shallot goes into the appetizer. The bean mixture can be a dish on its own or a side, suits a vegetarian diet well, and contains plenty of complete protein.

Bean salad is ready to eat right away. But it tastes best if you let it stand for at least an hour in a cool place, so the beans soak up the aroma and flavor of the dressing. Anchovies make an excellent addition, and the oil from their jar makes a wonderful dressing. Sometimes shrimp, cherry tomatoes and other kinds of beans are added to the salad.

The best and simplest option for the salad is to buy a jar of ready-cooked borlotti beans or ordinary white beans. Dried small beans can be cooked over low heat after soaking them in water the day before.

A chilled cooked-bean salad has very few ingredients. If you like, you can vary it with aromatic herbs, hot pepper or slices of avocado. Even a little fresh basil makes the appetizer special. A similar dish of white beans in the East is called piyaz, and it is often served as a side. In Latin America there are spicier versions of the appetizer and of a side for game steaks.

Ingredients

2 servings

Canned beans 250 g
Anchovy fillets in oil 50 g
Oil from the anchovy jar 2 tbsp (without anchovies, plain olive oil)
Red onion 1
Red wine vinegar as needed
Dill, parsley 5-6 sprigs
Fresh thyme 2-3 sprigs
Garlic 1 clove
Salt, black pepper to taste
Dried oregano a pinch (optional)

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparing the ingredients

If you cannot get Italian beans, local white or speckled small beans will do just fine.

Prepare the beans: open the can, rinse the beans under running water and let the water drain off. After that the beans are ready to go into the salad.
Soak dried beans in cold water the day before so they swell. Then cook them until done over low heat so the skins do not burst.

Pickle the onion. Peel the onion. A shallot or red onion works well, and a sweet Yalta onion gives a good result. If possible, slice the onion into rings and separate them, discarding the middle. Alternatively, you can cut the onion into thin strips. Put the slices in a cup or bowl and pour red wine vinegar over them to cover. Leave the onion to marinate for 20-25 mins.
Prepare the anchovies. Open the jar of anchovies. Pour the oil into a cup, since you will need it for the dressing. Separate the fillets into individual strips. If the fillets are large, cut them into pieces.
Genuine anchovies are not a cheap product, so you can leave them out. Even without them the bean salad will be very tasty.

Salad and dressing

Mix the beans with the anchovies, herbs and garlic. Tip the cooked beans into a mixing bowl. Peel a clove of garlic and chop it finely with a knife. Add the chopped dill and parsley, leaves only, no stems. Pull the leaves off the thyme sprigs, chop them lightly with a knife and add them to the salad. Add the anchovies. Season the mixture with a little salt and ground black pepper.

Add the onion. Gently squeeze the pickled onion rings so as not to damage them. Leave a little of the liquid for the dressing. Add the onion to the bean salad and toss lightly.
Dress the salad. Combine the reserved anchovy oil (2 tbsp) with 1 tsp of the marinade and whisk with a fork. If you are not using anchovies, you can mix 2 tbsp of plain olive oil with wine vinegar to get the simplest vinaigrette. Pour the dressing over the bean salad and toss again.
It is worth chilling the appetizer a little in a cool place and letting the beans soak up the dressing. Up to 1 hour is enough.

Serving

Pile the salad into a salad bowl or onto a plate and add herbs. If you like, add more pepper. A pinch of dried oregano will not hurt either.
Serve the salad as an appetizer or a side. It is often served with toasted bread croutons or bruschetta. Sometimes there are recipes that add canned tuna and even salted fish to the salad.

Calories and macros

265 kcal

Serving ≈ 230 g

Protein23 g38% of kcal
Fat5 g20% of kcal
Carbs25 g42% of kcal

100 g116 kcalProtein 9.9 gFat 2.4 gCarbs 10.8 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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