Ingredients
- 1 chopped head romaine lettuce (cos lettuce)
- 3 sliced green onions (spring onions)
- 1 peeled, seeded, diced cucumber
- 1 trimmed, sliced fennel bulb
- 7½ oz (210g) can butterbeans, drained
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
For the Caramelized Onions:
- 2 very thinly sliced onions
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
For the Dressing:
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Method
- First make the caramelized onions.
- Heat the oil in a skillet over a moderate heat.
- Add the balsamic vinegar, onions, salt and pepper.
- Cook until the onions are deep brown, stirring occasionally. This will take about 20 minutes.
- Let them cool.
- Whisk the balsamic vinegar, honey and lemon juice together to make the dressing.
- Whisk in the olive oil, in a steady stream. Season with salt and pepper.
- Toss the fennel, cucumber, green onions, butterbeans, caramelized onions and thyme together.
- Add the romaine to a big serving bowl and top it with the fennel mixture.
- Pour the dressing over the salad.
Notes
- A bean salad recipe might be heavy on the beans, featuring mixed legumes like kidney beans, borlotti beans, cannellini beans and chickpeas, or it might feature just one or two kinds of beans. This recipe is different again because as well as the butterbeans it contains green onion, caramelized onions (which are wonderfully soft and sweet), fennel, cucumber and more.
- The sweet, tangy dressing goes beautifully. This flavorful onion and bean salad recipe would make a nice accompaniment to grilled chicken or you could eat it with fish or seafood. If you want to use a different dressing, you can change the recipe or use a bottled one.
