White Bean Salad with Mint and Red Onion

I am sure we are all in agreement, beans are good for you. They give you fiber and antioxidants and all kinds of other good things, none of which I can remember right now. In the winter, beans are easy. There is nothing I like better than a big old bowl of beans, especially if they have spent some quality time with a ham hock or two. But summer, not so easy. Oh, I try, I bookmark bean salads every time I find one. But when I sit down to plan my menus, I'm looking at veggies and what's in my freezer and I don't think of beans.

But not this time, this time I remembered. I had dutifully bookmarked White Bean Salad with Mint and Red Onion from the April 2009 issue of Fine Cooking. I thought it would make a nice healthy accompaniment to a grilled burger. Make me feel good about my half pound of ground beef with a mountain of cheese on it. And it did. It was fresh tasting, a lovely light salad. It was even better the next day with a sandwich for lunch. The only change I made was that I substituted a roasted red pepper for the fresh red bell pepper.

White Bean Salad with Mint and Red Onion
From Fine Cooking
Serves 4

1/2 cup small-diced red onion
3 Tbs. sherry vinegar
1 15-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed (like Great Northern or cannellini)
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh spearmint or smooth-leaf spearmint leaves
1/2 cup small-diced red bell pepper
2 Tbs. nonpareil (small) capers
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, mix the onion and vinegar; let sit for 15 minutes. In a medium bowl, mix the onions and vinegar with the beans, mint, red pepper, capers, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

If you grow mint, you know you are always looking for ways to use it's over abundance! This will be my entry for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Astrid at Paulchen's Food Blog.