Roasted Red Pepper and White Bean Salad

Let’s just call it non-committal. A way of easing out of one season and into another. And true to its ambiguousness, the ingredients are measured in abouts, approximates, severals, and palmfuls. If you’re a strict follow-the-recipe kind of cook, beware! But I will try to be as precise as I can.

I should also say this is an easy salad. I made this during my kitchen renovation, and used the microwave to warm the red peppers, beans, and thyme. You could serve it cold, of course, but the flavors seem to meld better when heated on low. Plus, it would go against the part this, part that character of the salad. But it’s your call…

Enough of that, however. On to the salad…

Ready? Okay, here we go.

Ingredients:

1 bunch spinach
1 can white beans, such as cannellini
2 roasted red peppers
cherry tomatoes
Parmesan cheese, in brick form
fresh thyme
fresh ground pepper
Italian dressing

1. Wash, de-stem, and spin dry your spinach. Place in a large salad bowl.

2. Slice your roasted red peppers. You can buy these in a jar, or roast them yourselves. If you choose to roast them yourself (I usually do, as they tend to have more flavor), place them on a broiler pan, and broil, turning often, until the skin has charred. Remove, place in a paper bag, and let steam. Once the peppers have cooled, remove the charred skin, and any seeds left inside. Note: It’s advisable to remove the stem before roasting the peppers. They usually burn. Sometimes, they even catch on fire!

3. Rinse your beans. Place in a medium saucepan with the roasted pepper slices. Add a palmful of fresh thyme leaves. Heat until slightly warmed, but not hot. Keep warm until use.

4. Halve several cherry tomatoes, and with your vegetable peeler, shave several slivers off your Parmesan cheese brick.

5. To assemble, toss the spinach with your favorite Italian dressing. Place the desired amount of greens on individual plates. Scatter the beans and red pepper mixture over the top. Add cherry tomatoes , Parmesan cheese, and fresh ground pepper.

Note: If you’re using canned ingredients and bottled salad dressing, try to purchase low sodium versions. Unless you like your food salty, of course.

Note 2: You’re likely to have extra beans and red peppers. Use them in another salad, or get creative, and come up with another use for them!