Mexican Bean Salad

Mexican Bean Salad

Several years ago, I dated a guy that had gone to cooking school. He constantly raved about how great of a cook he was especially when it came to Southern cooking. He went on and on (and on...) about how his red beans and rice was soooooo wonderful that I finally had to ask to taste it. Ugh, it tasted a lot like a cross between refried beans from a can and what I imagine Alpo to taste like. I ended up dumping it down the garbage disposal and just went on with life thinking I wasn't a fan of red beans and rice. That is until I had it at Taylor's Kitchen one night...I LOVED their red beans and rice and couldn't get enough of it! Since then I've had red beans and rice on numerous occasions- sometimes where it's been fantastic, sometimes when it's been mediocre but never as bad as that batch my date made for me. The lesson I learned from the "Red Beans Fiasco of 2008" is to always give food another chance before condemning it. It could be that you came across a bad batch, a bad recipe or just a bad cook. So in the spirit of my "Give It Another Chance" mantra I decided to give bean salad another whirl as well. I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant. My experiences with bean salad were mostly of the supermarket deli variety- a strong vinegar smell, overcooked mushy beans and lack of anything resembling flavor. Yuck! So imagine my surprise when I prepared a batch of this Mexican Bean Salad from Allrecipes.com for a party and I really liked it. It's colorful, flavorful and it works great as a salad or as a dip. I made a few adjustments in the ingredients' list to cater to my personal taste preferences but it was still simple to make. I liked how the corn kernels gave it some crunch, the hot sauce and chili powder added a bit of a spicy kick and the lemon juice offered up some fresh zing to balance the dish out. This salad can be thrown together pretty quickly after work, making it a great choice to bring to a potluck. You can make it even easier to put together by doing all your chopping the night before.


Mexican Bean Salad

Ingredients

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 orange bell pepper, chopped

1 (10oz.) package frozen corn*

1 small red onion, chopped

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon sea salt

1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1.2 tablespoon ground black pepper

1-2 dashes hot pepper sauce (I used Crystal)

1/2 teaspoon chili powder


Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix the beans, peppers, corn and red onion together.

2. In another bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Whisk dressing thoroughly.

3. Pour dressing over the vegetables. Mix together well.

4. Place in refrigerator to chill, giving the flavors some time to meld.


* Stick with using frozen corn which stays crisp when it thaws,  the canned stuff is a bit on the mushy side.