Karen’s White Bean Salad with Tahini Dressing
Karen Newby
Featuring:
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
In season now
Serves: 2
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 35 mins
Ingredients:
1 large aubergine, cut into 3cm/1¼in chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
2–4 eggs (optional, and depending on how many are eating)
2 x 400g/14oz cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 banana shallot, thinly sliced
2 ripe medium tomatoes, cut into 1cm/½in-thick wedges
1 tsp ground allspice
30g/1oz stoned Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
15g/½oz fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
15g/½oz fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper
GREEN TAHINI DRESSING
25g/1oz fresh parsley
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
1½ tbsp lemon juice
60g/2¼oz tahini
3 tbsp water
Recipe donated by Karen Newby from The Natural Menopause Method Cookbook (Pavilion Books). Image credit: Laura Edwards.
A super easy bean salad, with tahini and parsley both providing zinc and vitamin C, and the beans being a great source of amino acids glycine and proline, which we use to make our own collagen. The eggs are optional, if you wanted to keep it plant-based.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/425°F/Gas 7. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Add the aubergine chunks to a bowl along with the olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a good crack of black pepper. Mix to combine and then spread out on the lined baking tray. Roast for about 30–35 minutes, stirring gently halfway through, until the aubergine is cooked through and golden brown.
While the aubergine is roasting, place all the ingredients for the dressing in the small bowl of a food processor, along with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Blitz well to combine, until the consistency is that of double cream, adding a little water if needed.
Bring a small pan of water to the boil and add the eggs (if using), then simmer for 6 1/2 minutes for jammy (softboiled) eggs. Cool under cold running water and then peel. Don’t cut or pull them apart until ready to serve.
Remove the aubergine from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly, then tip into a large bowl. Add the beans, shallot, tomatoes, allspice, olives, 10g/1/4oz each of the parsley and mint and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Pour over most of the green tahini dressing (hold back about a tablespoon), mix gently to combine, then divide between serving plates. Top each portion with an egg (if using), then finish with a final drizzle of the remaining green tahini dressing and the remaining chopped herbs and serve.
COOK’S TIPS
The green tahini dressing keeps well in the refrigerator for 3–4 days and is something I use spooned over all sorts of things: roasted veg, grilled meat or fish, leafy salads, other bean salads.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
Similar recipes
Amelia’s Smashed Cream Cheese Chickpeas on Toast
Effort:
2
Complexity:
2
Cost:
2
Amelia Christie-Miller
