BORLOTTI BEAN, AUBERGINE AND SOUR CHERRY
This lovely dish is part of my summer salad series. I've included multiple options for borlotti beans—fresh, dried, or jarred.
Fresh borlotti beans are a summer favourite of mine, though they aren't widely available in the UK. If you do find them, be sure to give them a try. My mum used to grow them on her allotment which was always a real treat.
Dried borlotti beans are a good option, but remember to plan ahead as they need eight hours of soaking before cooking. Jarred beans are a great alternative and are usually of higher quality than tinned, often pre-seasoned, so taste to check. Cooked beans should be creamy; and soft to bite.
This salad also incorporates sour cherry molasses, which I recently discovered from Belazu and I love using it in dressings and to finish dishes, like smoked aubergine. If you can’t find it, pomegranate molasses is a widely available substitute. The tartness and slight sweetness work beautifully in this dish.
This salad pairs wonderfully with almond tarator, which I featured in a previous post. The combination is also so delicious on toast, the dish feels decadent while being full of nutritious ingredients. Almonds, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), and a little acidity—what’s not to love?!
Enjoy this as a solo dish or part of a larger spread.
BORLOTTI BEAN AND SOUR CHERRY SALAD
Serves 4
400g cooked borlotti beans * see note below
30g sour cherries
500g aubergine, cut into 1-inch cubes
500g courgette, finely sliced
40g picked herbs (I love parsley, basil, dill)
4-5 tbsp olive oil (for cooking)
30g pine nuts, toasted
Salt to taste
DRESSING
2 cloves garlic, grated
30g sour cherry molasses (sub with pomegranate molasses)
15g sherry vinegar
45g olive oil
½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp salt
First, prepare the Borlotti Beans:
Fresh: Shell and cook in plenty of salted water with bay leaves, for about 40 minutes until tender. Drain.
Dried: Soak for 8 hours, then cook in plenty of salted water with bay leaves, for about 40 minutes until tender. Drain.
Jarred: Drain and rinse.
Make your dressing: In a large mixing bowl, combine garlic, sour cherry molasses, sherry vinegar, olive oil, and salt, and mix well. Then add in your cooked borlotti beans, and sour cherries and set aside.
Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more when necessary, you need enough to lubricate the pan and stop the aubergine from sticking. Cook the aubergine in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Fry for about 5 minutes, turning occasionally until browned and tender. Then transfer the cooked aubergine to the bowl with the dressing.
Keep the pan on the heat, adding more oil if needed. Cook courgette in batches for about 2 minutes, turning halfway, they should be lightly browned. Transfer cooked courgette to the bowl with the aubergine and borlotti beans, mix taste for seasoning adding salt if necessary. Just before serving, mix in the picked herbs.
To serve, transfer to a serving bowl, individual plates, or spread toast with tarator and pile on top.. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.
Optional, but recommended, add a good dollop of almond tarator.
ALMOND TARATOR
250g blanched almond
400g water
40g sherry vinegar
25g lemon juice
10g salt
1 clove, 5g garlic
300g olive oil
For the tarator, add all your ingredients to a blender except the oil, blend for 30 seconds, and then drizzle in your olive oil, the mixture will thicken and emulsify. Taste for seasoning, adding a squeeze more lemon and salt if you think it needs it.
Note on borlloti beans weights.
* If you’re using fresh borlotti beans, the weight in the pods will be roughly double.
* If you’re using dried borlotti beans the dried weight will be roughly half.
If they’re not bang on 400g cooked, that’s okay but so long as they’re close.
