Healthy broccoli and cranberry salad + dried cherries, red onion and grapes with a lemon-garlic-yogurt dressing + high-altitude tips.
A shiny new farmer’s market just opened up here in Incline Village (on Lake Tahoe). It’s small – with maybe 15 tents, very personal (one elderly farmer glanced dismissively at the plastic bag of baby kale I handed to him to be weighed, snorted that it wasn’t enough to weigh, and charged me $1.oo), and offers live music while you browse tables laden with just-picked peaches, tomatoes, corn and berries. I went with a friend to check it out last week, and was glad we went early. Word had gotten out, and cars were parked all along the road, families strolling up a small knoll towards the tents with their shopping bags, kids racing ahead to check out the music.
As we poked around the bustling crowd, I spied some fresh cranberry pods and grabbed a few handfuls, quickly stuffing them into a plastic bag. I cook a lot of dried legumes, and the opportunity to get them freshly harvested was a treat. I’m not partial to one bean over another, I love them all, but cranberry beans just might win the beauty contest.
Their creamy pods, lightly tinged with green, and streaked with burgundy remind me of a watercolor painting, and the beans are freckled with the same deep burgundy color. Sadly, the freckles completely blur in the cooking process, but cook up as a creamy bean, similar to a cannellini bean, that marries well with just about anything.
If you’re visiting the Incline Village area, the farmer’s market is on Wednesday afternoons from 4pm – 7pm and is located behind the Tunnel Creek Station Cafe on the way to Sand Harbor. The farmer’s market will run until the end of September.
Wimpy Tip:
This is a salad that stands on its own for the vegetarian eater, but wasn’t enough of a meal for my omnivore husband (although he kept asking if there was any of the salad left, long after it was gone). Grilled flank steak, thinly sliced, is a great match for this salad. It doesn’t require a great deal preparation either: just use your favorite rub and grill to the degree of doneness preferred. Allow it to rest for a few minutes before slicing. Flank steak can be a little tough, although it’s very flavorful, and it’s therefore critical that you slice it against the grain!
A great side dish is just a couple of ears of corn, slathered in butter with salt and pepper. Keep it simple as the salad is the true star of the meal.
Broccoli-Cranberry Bean Salad
Ingredients
Lemon - Garlic - Yogurt Dressing
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
Broccoli and Cranberry Bean Salad
- 1 cup fresh cranberry beans
- 1 cup thinly sliced celery
- 1/4 cup red onion diced
- 1/3 cup dried cherries
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 3/4 cup halved grapes
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 4 -5 cups thinly sliced broccoli florets and stems
- 1 Tbsp ground flax seed
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or asiago cheese
- Pinch or two of red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup pepitas
- 1 cup Yogurt - Garlic Dressing recipe above
Instructions
Lemon - Garlic - Yogurt Dressing
- Combine all of the ingredients together and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Broccoli and Cranberry Bean Salad
- Bring a pot of water to a simmer and add the cranberry beans. Simmer for until tender: about 20 minutes at sea level; about 50 minutes at 7000 feet above sea level. Drain and place the beans in a medium bowl.
- Add the celery, red onion, dried cherries, cooked rice, grapes, parsley, broccoli, ground flax seed, cheese, and red pepper flakes.
- Add the Yogurt - Garlic Dressing and refrigerate for at least one hour; overnight is even better. This is a salad that gets better over time.
- Serve with a sprinkle of pepitas on top.
Cookin Canuck says
That sounds like a wonderful market! And fresh beans are hard to come by…it looks as though you made good use of them with this pretty salad.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much! It’s such a sweet market. I went again yesterday and got an impromptu tutorial from another farmer on which peaches to purchase for various uses. It was great!
Rita says
Love it! So good-for-you too. I never would had considered a yogurt dressing for a salad of this type. Very creative.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
The lemony-garlicky-yogurt and the broccoli are really good together – and it just gets better over time.
apuginthekitchen says
Going to the farmers market is so much fun, your little market sounds so nice and my guess is it will quickly expanc and attract more farmers. The casserole sounds so good, I love cranberry beans and the creamy yogurt dressing sounds perfect.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
I love the small personal nature of this little farmer’s market. When I went the second time, the selection was a little different, which made me feel like we were seeing what was best that week in the fields.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Oh, I should add, Suzanne, that Myles kept asking if there was any left – long after it was gone. So it was a hit even with him!
laurasmess says
I’ve never heard of a cranberry bean. They look similar to what we call ‘borlotti beans’ over here… do you have that variety where you are? I equally adore farmer’s markets. It definitely feels like such a treat to have a bean fresh out of the pod rather than canned or dried. I love the look of your salad. The gorgeous soft, creamy beans, the crunch of the seeds (those pepitas look divine!), vegetables and rice, the tangy dressing and sweet dried cherries. Ah, this is pretty much my perfect meal (I can easily eat a big bowl of salad for a meal, any day of the week!). Thanks for this Susan. Yum!!! xx
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
I can get borlotti beans dried, but I’ve yet to see them fresh. Can you get them fresh where you are? And thanks sooo much for your kind comment about this salad. I had it 3 days in a row, and my husband is still asking when I’m making it again :-). And he’s a tough sell on healthy dishes…
lizthechef says
I adore small farmers market – the smallest one I visit here is in Coronado on Tuesday afternoons. It is all produce, nuts, flowers – no prepared foods. Your salad is lovely – I have never seen fresh cranberry beans.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
I don’t see them very often, Liz. That’s why when I saw them, I grabbed them. When I went back to the same farmer’s market this week, they didn’t have any. But they had some great wax beans, so it was a nice consolation prize 🙂
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much Marie!!
Norma Chang says
Wonderful that you found fresh cranberry bean pods. Healthy and delicious salad, book marking.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks Norma! I’m making it again for a pot luck I’m going to 🙂
Shikha says
This looks STELLAR. I’m struggling to find good salad recipes that aren’t just mounds of lettuce and will keep me full and I think I found it! I don’t know where I can find cranberry beans, though 😛
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much Shkha!! When I don’t see them fresh at the market (which means usually), I buy dried ones at my market. But really any white bean will work great in this salad: cannellini, navy white beans, all good here.
Yvonne @ bitter baker says
I really have to start making more yoghurt dressings – every time I see a recipe for one, I’m reminded of how much I like them! And I do have parsley in my garden, so I really have no excuse now 🙂
And this bean salad looks delicious, I never knew that cranberry beans even existed!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks Yvonne! I make an extra batch of this dressing now and add it to all kinds of things. I made a broccoli and brown rice casserole a couple of nights ago and added it and it was really wonderful. Usually I just see the cranberry beans in the dried form, but every once in awhile, I get lucky and see them at the market. If you can’t find them, any white bean will do great in this salad 🙂
Food to Fitness says
Looks just delicious. Thanks for the recipe.