Three Bean Salad
We declare that summer began on Memorial Day, though in fact the solstice waits for the third week in June. We set that quibble aside as June skies beckon us outside to take in the most golden sunshine of the year before these last days of spring turn into summer heat. In many locations, these are the last jittery school days before summer vacation, where the view of playing fields from the desk is a reward promised for finishing your work. A childhood in the sun belt brought an appreciation of the short season of spring, for it gets hot fast and stays that way. Often by July 4, it is inhospitable to be outside; by August, nearly impossible.
The school year ended around Memorial Day, and Memorial Day proper was both solemn and festive. The tiny local cemetery was on the other side of the railroad station, past a row of stone houses whose front yards were the territory of yapping dogs while foals strengthened their legs in back pastures. My grandmother wore a fussy Easter hat and lemon silk gloves to the cemetery. I carried a flat wide market basket of garden flowers for decorating graves. I was fascinated by the headstones of the war dead, which in contrast to the flat stone markers or the wooden horseshoes were cut from marble and stamped with the religious symbol of the occupant.
At the cemetery, we were met by church women similarly dressed with kids similarly in tow. While the grandmothers tended graves in secret rituals no outsiders have ever witnessed, mothers watched kids who were fidgety or subdued in equal measure, and set food on the picnic tables that are a fixture on the grassy shoulders of western cemeteries. Owing to a superstition against open fires in cemeteries, these were cold picnics. There were the requisite platters of fried chicken and arrays of pies, both waiting under screens until the grandmothers returned. There were snap-top plastic containers of cole slaw and potato salad and seven-layer salad and Waldorf salad. There were devilled eggs and corn relish and chow-chow. And, displaced from the flower basket where she had tucked them before we left the house, there were a few mason jars of my grandmother’s three-bean salad.
THREE-BEAN SALAD
If you do not want to use fresh green or wax beans, use one pint jar or can of each, adjusting the instructions below as warranted. Do not use frozen beans for this recipe.
1 cup white vinegar
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons table salt
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ tablespoon dried parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 pounds mixed green and wax beans or one pint jar or 14.5 ounce can of each
1 15 ounce can red kidney beans
1 small red onion
1 rib celery
1. Place the sugar, parsley, cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon table salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper into the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Pour the vinegar into the bowl. Use a wire whisk to mix until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add the oil in a thin stream, whisking as you go to form an emulsion. Set the dressing aside to season while you prepare the vegetables.
2. Put an in-sink colander in place and empty the fresh beans into the colander. Rinse the beans well.
3. Fill a large stock pot with water; add 1 teaspoon table salt. Place the pot on stovetop and turn the burner to medium-high.
4. Snap or snip the stem ends of the beans, placing snapped beans in a large bowl as you go. Inspect the beans as you go, discarding any that display soft brown or yellow spots or are withered.
5. Once you have snapped the beans, use a paring knife to cut beans into bite-sized pieces.
6. Once you have cut the beans, place them in the heating water, which should not yet have reached the boil. If the water has reached the boil, reduce heat. Gently cook the beans until crisp-tender, approximately 7 minutes.
7. While the beans are cooking, open the can and empty the kidney beans into the colander. Rinse well, including rinsing the can to get any beans that have stuck to the bottom of the can.
8. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on a clean cutting board reserved for vegetables. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Scrape the crescents into the bowl containing the dressing.
9. Rinse the celery rib and place lengthwise on the cutting board. Cut across the top and the bottom of the stalk; discard the calloused top and bottom of the stalk. Cut the stalk lengthwise in half; halve each half. Align the quartered celery stalks and cut across the quarters to form dice. Scraped the diced celery into the bowl containing the onion and the dressing.
10. Once the green and wax beans are cooked until crisp-tender, turn off the burner. Empty the beans into the in-sink colander containing the canned kidney beans. Gently shake the colander to mix the beans while draining them.
11. Gently add the drained beans to the dressed onion and celery. Use a silicon spatula to gently mix the salad. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours or overnight before serving.
The school year ended around Memorial Day, and Memorial Day proper was both solemn and festive. The tiny local cemetery was on the other side of the railroad station, past a row of stone houses whose front yards were the territory of yapping dogs while foals strengthened their legs in back pastures. My grandmother wore a fussy Easter hat and lemon silk gloves to the cemetery. I carried a flat wide market basket of garden flowers for decorating graves. I was fascinated by the headstones of the war dead, which in contrast to the flat stone markers or the wooden horseshoes were cut from marble and stamped with the religious symbol of the occupant.
At the cemetery, we were met by church women similarly dressed with kids similarly in tow. While the grandmothers tended graves in secret rituals no outsiders have ever witnessed, mothers watched kids who were fidgety or subdued in equal measure, and set food on the picnic tables that are a fixture on the grassy shoulders of western cemeteries. Owing to a superstition against open fires in cemeteries, these were cold picnics. There were the requisite platters of fried chicken and arrays of pies, both waiting under screens until the grandmothers returned. There were snap-top plastic containers of cole slaw and potato salad and seven-layer salad and Waldorf salad. There were devilled eggs and corn relish and chow-chow. And, displaced from the flower basket where she had tucked them before we left the house, there were a few mason jars of my grandmother’s three-bean salad.
Here is a recipe for this great take-along dish. This recipe uses fresh green and wax beans but it is perfectly acceptable to the spirit and the letter of this dish to use canned beans (especially if you canned them yourself). Many decry this dish as lowbrow but make some for your next picnic or cookout and watch everyone come back for seconds and thirds. Just remember: if the breeze carries the whispers of the ghosts of Oklahoma farm women, listen. They are telling you to make the most of June, the month in which anticipation and arrival co-exist.
THREE-BEAN SALAD
If you do not want to use fresh green or wax beans, use one pint jar or can of each, adjusting the instructions below as warranted. Do not use frozen beans for this recipe.
1 cup white vinegar
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons table salt
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ tablespoon dried parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 pounds mixed green and wax beans or one pint jar or 14.5 ounce can of each
1 15 ounce can red kidney beans
1 small red onion
1 rib celery
1. Place the sugar, parsley, cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon table salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper into the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Pour the vinegar into the bowl. Use a wire whisk to mix until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add the oil in a thin stream, whisking as you go to form an emulsion. Set the dressing aside to season while you prepare the vegetables.
2. Put an in-sink colander in place and empty the fresh beans into the colander. Rinse the beans well.
3. Fill a large stock pot with water; add 1 teaspoon table salt. Place the pot on stovetop and turn the burner to medium-high.
4. Snap or snip the stem ends of the beans, placing snapped beans in a large bowl as you go. Inspect the beans as you go, discarding any that display soft brown or yellow spots or are withered.
5. Once you have snapped the beans, use a paring knife to cut beans into bite-sized pieces.
6. Once you have cut the beans, place them in the heating water, which should not yet have reached the boil. If the water has reached the boil, reduce heat. Gently cook the beans until crisp-tender, approximately 7 minutes.
7. While the beans are cooking, open the can and empty the kidney beans into the colander. Rinse well, including rinsing the can to get any beans that have stuck to the bottom of the can.
8. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on a clean cutting board reserved for vegetables. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Scrape the crescents into the bowl containing the dressing.
9. Rinse the celery rib and place lengthwise on the cutting board. Cut across the top and the bottom of the stalk; discard the calloused top and bottom of the stalk. Cut the stalk lengthwise in half; halve each half. Align the quartered celery stalks and cut across the quarters to form dice. Scraped the diced celery into the bowl containing the onion and the dressing.
10. Once the green and wax beans are cooked until crisp-tender, turn off the burner. Empty the beans into the in-sink colander containing the canned kidney beans. Gently shake the colander to mix the beans while draining them.
11. Gently add the drained beans to the dressed onion and celery. Use a silicon spatula to gently mix the salad. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours or overnight before serving.
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