sundried tomato & cannellini bean salad

Snow days. A childhood memory that everyone looks back fondly on. Waking up at the crack of down with enthusiasm. Running downstairs to check the news. Impatiently waiting for your school to come up in the alphabetic list running along the bottom of the television. Cheering and dancing in your pjs when it appears on the screen. The whole day is then spent bundling up in snow gear, making snow forts, winning and losing snowball fights. Back inside for a quick warm up and hot cocoa. Then out to the snow again until nightfall. Snow days were wonderful days.

Who knew we could still have them as adults. Boston has already been hit with a few big storms this year and last Wednesday was a “snow day”. Big flakes pounded us all morning and really only stopped for an hour around noontime before it continued into the night. The city shut down and offices closed. The day wasn’t like years ago though; I didn’t venture out into the snow and spent the day playing. I worked inside responding to emails and cleaning the house. But the joy I felt in the morning when I heard my office was closed, was the same gitty feeling I had as a kid. It felt good.

As for the recipe this week, I wanted to share a simple winter salad with you. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and clean up is super easy. It’s great the same day, but also just as tasty as leftovers when the dressing really sinks in.

Serves 2
Inspired by Seven Spoons

Dressing
2 tablespoons good quality olive oil*
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
1/4 cup feta cheese
Sprinkling of lemon pepper salt

In a small bowl whisk all of the dressing ingredients together.

In a salad bowl toss together the beans, sundried tomatoes, fresh herbs, feta and lemon pepper salt. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Enjoy at room temperature or cold.

*Note: Using good quality olive oil is really essential in salads like these. You will taste the difference. I was recently gifted with a bottle of Stonehouse and absolutely love it!