I really love baked beans. Who doesn’t? What I don’t love is spending hours cooking them in a hot kitchen when it’s already 80 degrees outside. Why can’t people appreciate baked beans more in the winter when we’re all freezing? It’s a mystery.

Last week on the 4th I needed a vegetarian dish that could sit in a cooler all day. Immediately my mind jumped to baked beans, but as soon as I ruled out cooking those for 4 hours I remembered this old favorite.

I first posted this recipe over a year ago. The photos weren’t that good, the recipe wasn’t very clearly written, and my readership was drastically lower than what it is today, so I figured it’d be best to just give it a whole new post. And it definitely deserves one.

You can use three cans of any type of beans; I think the ones listed have the most neutral flavor so they take on the sauce well. To make this completely vegan, you can substitute maple syrup or agave for the honey.

Caramelized Onion and Balsamic Vinegar Bean Salad

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4-6 servings):

• 1 15oz can of chickpeas
• 1 15oz can of pinto bean
• 1 15oz can of cannellini beans
• 1 onion, julienned
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt to taste
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for finishing(optional)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine all of the different beans.
2. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium heat.
3. Add in the julienned onions and sauté for about 10-15 minutes until the onion has turned translucent and slightly crusty.
4. Remove from the heat and add it in with the beans.
5. Reduce the balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan to about half of its original volume by bringing it to a rolling boil for 5 or so minutes. If it over-reduces and starts to harden into a taffy, remove the pan from the heat and stir in some hot water to thin.
6. Add the reduced vinegar, honey, salt and extra virgin olive oil if using to the beans and onions.
7. Mix well until the sauce coats all of the beans. Serve hot or cold.

20 minutes for a tasty bowl of beans? I’ll take that.

Until I started reading food blogs, I would have sworn capers were a type of fish that came in a can that no one except for old ladies and Nigel Thornberry ate(Does anyone know what I’m talking about?). But then I saw them, green little pearls that sort of look like fish eggs, except they were being used in vegan recipes. That only confused me more.

One day I was working in my restaurant and our job was to make the salsa verde used as a pork topper. The ingredients for it are simple: Parsley, jalapenos, shallots, and capers. I asked my shift manager what capers were, figuring she’d know having gone through culinary school, but her guess was as good as mine.

I went home that night and looked it up online and found out that capers are actually buds from the caper bush that are pickled to give a tart flavor to—the perfect touch to any dish(Side note: How did people know things before the internet? Seriously, I have no clue). I was excited to find them in Trader Joes and even more excited to make a dish with them. I’m leaving town on Friday and had a few too many open cans of beans in my refrigerator so I combined them to make this delicious bean salad.

Bean Salad With Capers

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings:

• 1 cup chickpeas
• 1 cup black beans
• 1 cup cannellini beans
• 1/3 cup sliced black olives
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons capers, drained
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt to taste

Method

1. In a large bowl, toss together the beans, olives, capers, and oil until evenly mixed.
2. Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve room temperature.

If you want to make this starting with unopened cans of beans, use a full can of chickpeas, black beans, and cannellini, 1/2 cup of olives, 2 Tablespoons of capers and the same amount of oil.

Fess up: Did you know what capers are?

As excited as I am to move back to Providence in a month, there are a few things I’m going to miss. Things like Trader Joe’s and grilling. Did you know you can get zucchini any size at Trader Joe’s for just 79 cents? Between those, 3.99 watermelon and 19 cent bananas, the crew members must think I’m feeding a small colony of chimpanzees. It’s a good thing I buy the 2.99 Vahlrona chocolate to throw them off.

Because I went a little crazy on the zucchini and had the grill at my disposal I decided to make grilled zucchini boats. I’ve never made stuffed zucchini before so I didn’t know what to stuff them with; since we had beans and leftover vegetables on hand I went with that. I also topped mine with a cashew “cheese” sauce that was pretty much just cashews, water, and nutritional yeast. It’d be good with shredded cheese or even a pesto sauce, anything thick and hearty.

Vegetarian Grilled Zucchini Boats

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini
• 1/3 cup grilled or cooked vegetables
• 1/3 cup beans
• 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Shredded cheese or cheese sauce for topping(optional)

Method:

1. Cut the zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the center.
2. In a bowl, mix together the vegetables, beans, oil, salt, and pepper. Scoop the mixture into the center of the zucchini.
3. Grill over high heat for 5 minutes until the bottom has begun to char and the filling is heated.
4. If using shredded cheese, sprinkle on the top of the filling during the last minute of grilling and close the grill lid to melt it. Serve hot.