Bean Salad with Honeyed Quinoa

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This is my favorite time of year—when the garden is bursting and making dinner feels more like a treat than a task. Lately, we’ve been harvesting a beautiful trio of beans: green, yellow, and purple. The only downside? Those stunning purple beans lose their color when cooked. So, I set out to create a dish that keeps them raw and lets their colors shine. It didn’t take much—because to me, summer is all about simple, fresh food straight from the garden. This bean salad has a little extra flair, but trust me, it’s worth it.

Green Bean Salad, fresh from the garden cooking

Serves 2 – 3

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1 pound fresh green beans
1 cup fresh broccoli florets
1/2 cup walnuts
1 large clove garlic
3 TBS olive oil
1 cup quinoa
1 TBS honey
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt divided (more to taste if needed)
1 TBS rice vinegar
1 TBS parsley

Mince or press the garlic and add it to the olive oil with 1/2 tsp of the salt in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat and let cook for until the garlic is softened. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for about five minutes.
Set aside to let cool.
Cook the quinoa – bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cup of quinoa and return to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes. Drain.

Toast the walnuts, chop and set aside
Trim the beans and broccoli and add to a bowl

Take about 1 TBS of the garlic/oil mixture, 1/2 tsp salt and add it to the beans and broccoli and toss.

Add the honey, pepper, remaining 1/2 tsp salt and rice vinegar to the rest of the garlic/oil mixture in the pot. Stir to combine.

Add the cooked quinoa and parsley to the pot and stir well to distribute the honey mixture

To serve: put some quinoa on the plate, top with the beans and broccoli and sprinkle the walnuts on top

How Was it?

I’ve always been a big fan of fresh beans, especially raw; there’s just something so crisp and satisfying about them. The mix of green, yellow, and purple makes for an especially pretty plate. The quinoa was a perfect base, with a touch of sweetness from the honey and just the right tang from the vinegar. Cooking the garlic first softened its bite, leaving behind a mellow, savory flavor that tied everything together beautifully.