recipes:three_bean

Three-Bean Salad

I use this recipe a lot, but almost never for three-bean salad! I like its “sauce” for other vegetables, like cucumbers or beets: less oil, and the sugar fixes the water so the vegetables stay crisp (which is why it is used for the beans, I suppose). So, let me present it in two parts: sauce and chunks.

Sauce	Better Homes & Gardens
Ingredient	Original Quantity	Easy to remember proportions
vinegar	2/3 Cup	4 Tb
sugar	1/2 Cup	3 Tb
salad oil (not olive oil, a less flavorful, more neutral one)	1/3 Cup	2 Tb
salt	1 tsp	1/2 tsp
pepper	1/4 tsp	pinch
Chunks	Orig. Qty.
canned green beans	1 lb. can
canned wax beans	1 lb. can
canned dark red kidney beans	1 lb. can
chopped green pepper	1/2 Cup
chopped (or thinly sliced) onion ¹⁾	1/2 Cup

Prepare ahead of time and let mixture marinate in the refrigerator overnight. The sauce stays liquid and doesn't cling much (only thinly) so making “too much sauce” doesn't really happen.
The “easy-to-remember proportions” makes enough for a cucumber or two. I generally season with a good dusting of dill (“aneth”), and a little chopped shallot if I have some on hand.
Same amount of sauce for 500g (a little over a pound) of cooked red beets, sliced, julienned, or diced.

There's also a more Mediterranean recipe that uses a yoghurt sauce but I use it less to avoid the salt.

¹⁾ from another recipe in another cookbook