Shake off those winter blues and bring some greens into your life, courtesy of Yotam Ottolenghi, whose easy pea and butter bean dish is a riot of fresh flavour and creamy-crispy textures.
Make some room in your lunchbox for these 27 bean salads
Green beans, broad beans, butter beans and cannellini beans shine bright in this budget-friendly and nutritious salad collection.
Tuna, risoni and olive salad
“This is a bit of a one-bowl wonder that’s really satisfying. Make it easier by using frozen beans.” – Paul Farag
Shannon Bennett's bean salad is all you'll want at work this week
“My mum used to make this salad for just about every barbecue my dad put on, and trust me, he did put a show on – everything was cremated to the point of being carbonised. Mum could take just mixed beans from a tin and add whatever season vegetables were around, add some barbecue sauce and there you’d have it! I loved it then and still do today” - Shannon Bennett.
Sweet potato, chorizo, broad bean and chickpea rice salad
This sweet potato, chorizo and broad bean salad is an impressive side or main dish.
Peach mostarda with green bean and fennel salad
The peaches in this mostarda can be replaced with nectarines, apricots, apples or pears. It’s a great way to use over-ripe fruit. It’s lovely as a salad dressing, but also delicious served as a sauce with duck, pork, chicken or salmon.
Fresh ideas
Corn
This summer, pick Australian grown corn with grassy green husks for a fresh addition to your BBQ.
Spiced pickled eggplant with green beans and feta
Eggplant is the perfect vegetable to absorb the warm spices and salty feta in this recipe.
Broad bean, quinoa, pickled lemon-skin salad
Broad beans are a source of protein and include essential vitamins of A, B1 and B2. If buying fresh, look for firm, crisp pods that don't feel like they have any air inside. This recipe serves 4 as a side.
Ligurian pesto and bean salad with creamy semolina
"Pesto means a sauce that is pounded with a mortar and pestle. Historically, it has been suggested that the ancient Romans made a version of this well-known sauce. Perhaps the most famous today is the basil pesto from Liguria. Here, I tip my cap to location, with a scattering of Ligurian olives, and to the past with some just-cooked 'Roman' beans" - Charlotte Binns-McDonald.
Say hello to spring with this prawn, sugar snaps and bean salad
A piquant herb oil ties together all the ingredients here, says Hayden.
Borlotti and green bean salad
This is a great bring-a-plate bean salad! Simple flavours working very well together.
Green beans with almonds and mint
Simple, easy and a great side dish to serve at any dinner party.
Broad bean and pea salad with freekeh and yoghurt sauce
Fresh and filling, this vegetarian salad is a great go-to dinner. This recipe is an extract from Salads and Pickles: Vegetables with more taste and less waste, by Alex Elliot-Howery and Sabine Spindler of Cornersmith (Murdoch Books), $39.99.
Crab, parsnip and warm spiced butter bean salad
Filling, full of flavour and also dairy and gluten-free for those with intolerances.
Warm bean salad with lemon butter
This salad makes for a quick and easy side to serve at any dinner party.
Salad of scallops with green beans
If seafood is your go-to, Rick Stein has created a starter that will wow you and your guests.