White broad bean salad (Salatet Fassoulia)
December 26, 2009 • Category: Salads
I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to worry about today is cooking something elaborate! A simple and delicious and healthy salad of fassoulia or beans is the ticket! Just boil the beans or buy them canned and quickly whip up a lemon, garlic and olive oil dressing; throw a handful of chopped parsley and you are good to go. Plus you can serve leftovers as part of your mezze table, should you need to, as this salad is considered a mezze item. Now I realize for a lot of folks, freezing weather does not really induce one to crave a salad; no problem, just eat it warm!
These beans were harvested much earlier from our land in the Shouf mountains and frozen. Buttery and soft, it was a delight to eat them with a garlic-lemon dressing and a copious amount of extra-virgin olive oil, also from our olive trees. Not to worry, you can have a wonderful meal with store-bought beans. Serve it with a nice chunk of feta cheese, some olives and bread and feel great.
TO MAKE THE DRESSING:
- Juice of one or two lemons
- Extra-virgin olive oil, double the volume of lemon juice
- 2 or more cloves of garlic, mashed in a mortar with a pinch of salt
After mashing the garlic, place it in a bowl, add the lemon juice and mix well; add the olive oil and mix well to emulsify. Pour on the beans and add some chopped up parsley.
Comments
9 Comments • Comments Feed
Rosa says:
A lovely salad!
Cheers,
Rosa
On December 26, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Ivy says:
The simplest food are the best. We call them fassolia in Greek.
On December 27, 2009 at 3:50 am
Azita says:
these are my favorite beans. a simple light and healthy recipe!
On December 27, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Murasaki Shikibu says:
My grandma used to boil these beans for us in salted water and we used to just eat them. 🙂
On December 30, 2009 at 9:30 am
Ayline says:
I love this salad. Robust flavors. Have you been able to find this fassoulia here in the US? My mom years for them and I want to get them for her.
On July 24, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Joumana says:
Ayline: no, I can’t say that I have; here they are in season again and all the little grocers in the Chouf are selling them
On July 25, 2010 at 6:47 am
Andrew says:
I had this salad at a Lebanese restaurant in New York and had to find the recipe. Thank you!
On January 6, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Joumana says:
@Andrew: My pleasure!
On January 8, 2015 at 4:59 pm