Mediterranean White Bean Salad With Balsamic Caramelized Onions

Submitted by Sesquipedalian Sapp

"White beans, caramelized onions, mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinegar, sun dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts combine for a sweetly flavorful salad that can be served warm or cold. It was a hit with my toddlers too!"

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 2 (15 1/2 ounce) cans navy beans, rinsed
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms or (8 ounce) can mushrooms, rinsed and sliced
• 1 (8 ounce) can artichoke hearts, rinsed and diced
• 3⁄4 cup sun-dried tomato packed in oil, diced
• 2 yellow onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar
• 1⁄2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
• 6 -8 leaves fresh basil, minced (optional)
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 dash salt
• 1 cup water (use as needed)

directions

1. Marinate mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and set aside while preparing other ingredients.
2. In large pot, add white beans, sun dried tomatoes, basil (if desired), and artichoke hearts. Oil from sun dried tomatoes should be sufficient to keep mixture from sticking to the pot. Cook on low heat while carmelizing onions.
3. In a frying pan, add peanut oil and cook on medium-high heat for a minute or two until oil is heated to desired temperature (when the fat begins to "ripple").
4. Add chopped onions and stir to coat with oil. Add a pinch of salt to absorb water from onions and to speed up caramelizing.
5. Continue to stir the onions. Onions will begin to stick to the pan a bit (which is good) and will begin to darken. If the onions are sticking too much, add a small amount of water to deglaze. Keep stirring.
6. Continue the deglazing process until onions are a deep, rich brown. Adjust heat if onions seem to be cooking too fast, starting to burn rather than brown.
7. Add garlic to onions (if desired) and cook for an additional minute only (garlic will become bitter if overcooked).
8. Drain balsamic marinade from mushrooms into the frying pan with garlic and onions. Also add the raw sugar. Cook over a medium heat for a few additional minutes, stirring frequently, to completely dissolve sugar. Add marinated mushrooms and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes until mushrooms are well heated.
9. Add onion/mushrooms mixture to the pot of white beans, sun dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. Simmer for several minutes to allow flavors to combine.
10. Serve hot or chilled.

Reviews

[Nic Daniau]

Very nice recipe, exceptionally well detailed (see section about cooking the onions and the mushrooms). I replaced the garlic by lemongrass and the basil by coriander and I got a tasty Thai variant!

 

[twinmama]

this recipe is great fresh, but even better on the second day - cold or heated back up. That is, if it lasts to the second day. It is very tangy, so if you like tang, you'll love this. I guess you could cut back on the balsamic if you desire less tang. very tasty! Thanks for the post.

 

[coleen114]

This was good, but not what I was going for. It was a little too dry for me and the balsamic seemed to overpower the rest of the flavors. I only tried it warm, but think that I will like it better after it has chilled overnight. Not sure what to add to make it less dry.

 

[zia reign]

thanks!

 

[vegasfemm]

This was tasty and fit into my diabetic/vegetarian menu. I omitted the sugar. It did not taste like it missed the sugar. I loved it! I wonder if this person will post more recipes. I will look forward to them.