Mediterranean White Bean Salad With Balsamic Caramelized Onions Recipes

Steps:

• Marinate mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and set aside while preparing other ingredients.
• In large pot, add white beans, sun dried tomatoes, basil (if desired), and artichoke hearts. Oil from sun dried tomatoes should be sufficient to keep mixture from sticking to the pot. Cook on low heat while carmelizing onions.
• In a frying pan, add peanut oil and cook on medium-high heat for a minute or two until oil is heated to desired temperature (when the fat begins to "ripple").
• Add chopped onions and stir to coat with oil. Add a pinch of salt to absorb water from onions and to speed up caramelizing.
• Continue to stir the onions. Onions will begin to stick to the pan a bit (which is good) and will begin to darken. If the onions are sticking too much, add a small amount of water to deglaze. Keep stirring.
• Continue the deglazing process until onions are a deep, rich brown. Adjust heat if onions seem to be cooking too fast, starting to burn rather than brown.
• Add garlic to onions (if desired) and cook for an additional minute only (garlic will become bitter if overcooked).
• Drain balsamic marinade from mushrooms into the frying pan with garlic and onions. Also add the raw sugar. Cook over a medium heat for a few additional minutes, stirring frequently, to completely dissolve sugar. Add marinated mushrooms and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes until mushrooms are well heated.
• Add onion/mushrooms mixture to the pot of white beans, sun dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. Simmer for several minutes to allow flavors to combine.
• Serve hot or chilled.

Steps:

• Cook the beans yourself, if you can, and drain them well. I bring the beans to a boil and let them sit for a few hours or let the beans soak overnight, drain them, then cook them the next day. These cook fairly quickly. If you can't cook the beans yourself, you can use canned large white beans.
• Mix beans and the rest of the ingredients except the spinach, avocado and feta, together and chill.
• To serve: place the spinach leaves in individual salad bowls and divide the beans amongst the plates. Top with the avocado and crumbled feta. Drizzle enough of the dressing over the salad to dress the greens.

Steps:

• In a colander in the sink, add the corn, green beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans; rinse them well then let drain.
• In a large bowl combine the onion and remaining ingredients and the mixture in the colander and stir to coat.
• Transfer to a container with a cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, stirring or shaking occasionally.
• Note: also good with yellow wax beans and a bit of black olive added - I omit the corn and substitute the yellow wax beans.

Steps:

• Toss all ingredients in a large bowl.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Let marinate at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Cover and chill.
• Return to room temperature before serving.
• Cooking time is marinating time.