Bean Salad

[KYHeirloomer]

At tonights Edible Gardening Club meeting, at The Aboretum, in Lexington, Bill Best will be the speaker. Bill, founder of the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, is one of the top authorities on growing beans. So, for the pot luck, I wanted to bring a bean dish, but not something that needed reheating. I decided on Piyaz, with is a Turkish white bean salad served cold.

I figure some of y'all would like it too:

Piyaz

2 cups dried white beans
Cold water
Salt
3-4 cloves garlic
2 small onions
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbls white or herbed vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup salad oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp dried mint
1 tsp dill weed
Sliced pepper rings
Hard boiled eggs

Soak the beans overnight. Rinse. Cover with new water. Cook until tender. Drain.

Meanwhile, crush the garlic with a little salt (kosher or other course salt works best) in a mortar. Halve onions lengthwise, then slice them thinly into semicircles. Add to hot beans with the lemon juice, vinegar, and combined oils. Leave until cool.

Gently mix in the chopped herbs and chill for at least a couple of hours. Garnish with sliced bell peppers and sliced or quartered hard-boiled eggs.