Camille’s Cooking: Flavorful twist on traditional bean salad

Summertime means salad time! For our salads, I shun any “rules” out there in the culinary world. My advice is to enjoy your salads as you please. Toss your favorite ingredients in a bowl, and add a lively dressing of your choice.

Also, salads should not always be defined by using a leafy lettuce for the main ingredient. There are many other kinds of salads, and my late father, who spent a career as a fitness guru and a professional massage therapist, would always make his own version of a healthy three-bean salad. Eventually, we would affectionately call it “Grandpa’s Bean Salad.”

As well as making this for family and friends, I would serve this during my time as a restaurant owner and caterer, and always to a very welcoming response. Over the years, I redeveloped it with a few more ingredients. It is light and colorful, and a great addition for any summer party or even as a healthy meal in itself.

BEAN DIJON SALAD

1 cup canned pinto beans

1 cup canned black beans

1 cup canned chickpeas

1 cup canned navy beans

1/3 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1/3 cup orange bell pepper, chopped

1/3 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Drain the beans in a colander and rinse well. Shake out all excess water. Mix beans in a large bowl with red, orange, and yellow peppers, scallions and garlic.

Whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, Dijon mustard and olive oil. Sprinkle in parsley, salt, and pepper. Toss all the ingredients together.

Serve chilled.

For more recipes, go to www.CamillesCooking.com. Loccisano can be reached at [email protected].