Now, Here’s a Main Course Salad That is Anything But Boring.
Yeah, it’s blisteringly hot outside and I’m not in the mood to spend a lot of time in a hot kitchen. But I had some Rancho Gordo Royal Corona Beans and love them in a salad, so I soaked them overnight and put them on to cook early in the day. If you want to make this even easier, you could use a can or two of cooked and drained white beans. While they won’t be the same as the huge and creamy Royal Coronas, they’ll still be good. I also blanched a pound of fresh green beans and put them in the refrigerator to chill. That way when I went in to prep the rest of my ingredients later in the day, the kitchen was nice and cool.
As I’ve mentioned many times, salad-type meals are probably my favorite dishes to eat. Of course, I’m not referring to boring mediocre salads. I mean a forkful of something unexpected and exciting in every bite. So, besides the Royal Coronas and green beans, I decided to use cabbage for crunch, radishes for a pop of peppery flavor, a peach or nectarine for sweetness, and some scallions.
Times like this are when I find that having a pound of frozen cooked shrimp on hand comes in really handy. I gave them a quick thaw and my salad was on its way. Earlier in the day I’d decided that I needed an exceptionally bright dressing in order for this salad to really sing. I started tasting different vinegars, knowing I wanted to use fresh lime juice, too.
That’s when my son suggested using chamoy .* If you’ve never tasted this Mexican condiment, the best way to describe it comes straight from Wikipedia – salty, sweet, sour, and spiced with chilies. We use it for drizzling on fresh mangoes and it is essential in a mangonada – a delicious mango slushy type of treat.
And it also makes a fantastic salad dressing. My son’s instincts were spot on. The only things I needed to add were a little maple syrup, fresh lime juice, black pepper, and avocado oil. Talk about a wow factor. I just knew this dressing was going to be worthy of all the other elements that went into this dish.
I dressed the cabbage in a little of the dressing and let it chill while I sliced the radishes, scallions and fruit. Then it was only a matter of layering everything onto a big platter, spooning on a little of the dressing, along with a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkling on nigella seeds .*
I think you can probably imagine how all this tasted. It was as good as I’d hoped, if not better. Crusty bread rounded out this meal and days later we’re still talking about it. For me and my family this is summer eating at its best.
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Shrimp, Bean, and Peach Salad with Chamoy Dressing
4 - 6
servingsBig Royal Corona Beans, shrimp, a peach or nectarine, sliced cabbage, blanched green beans, radishes and scallions are topped with a dressing made from chamoy - a salty, sweet, sour, and spiced with chilies, Mexican condiment. Talk about good!!
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Ingredients
1/2 pound dried Rancho Gordo Royal Corona Beans
Morton kosher salt
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 bay leaves
Large pinch of red pepper flakes
Black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chamoy *
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/3 cup avocado oil
1/4 head green cabbage, very thinly sliced
5 radishes, sliced
5 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 large peach or nectarine, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
1 pound large cooked shrimp, chilled
Directions
- Soak the dried beans overnight in 8 cups water and 2 tablespoons Morton kosher salt.
- Blanch the green beans in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Let sit for a few minutes until chilled. Drain and pat dry on a clean cloth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Drain and rinse the dried brined beans. Place into a 3-4 quart pot, add water to cover by 2 inches. Stir in 1 teaspoon kosher salt, garlic cloves, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, a few grinds of black pepper, and 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil . Bring to a hard boil over high heat and let cook for 5 minutes. Cover the pot and adjust the heat in order to maintain a steady low simmer. Cook until they are thoroughly softened (mine took almost an hour). They should be creamy on the inside. Set aside and allow them to completely cool to room temperature. Strain the beans out of their liquid. I save the liquid for soup later on in the week.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the chamoy, maple syrup, lime juice, avocado oil, and several healthy grinds of black pepper.
- In a medium size bowl, stir 1/4 cup of the dressing into the sliced cabbage and chill for 30 minutes. Spread the dressed cabbage on a large platter. Top with the drained beans, green beans, radishes, scallions, shrimp, and sliced peach or nectarine. Spoon on some of the dressing, drizzle with a couple tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle on as many nigella seeds as you'd like. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side, some crusty bread, and Enjoy!