Back in Beantown - recipe time.

In honor of Beantown, and my successful standby-on-a-full-flight journey home, I thought I'd post a quick recipe.

Yes, I did go straight to the garden as soon as I got home, but I'm too zonked right now to consider writing anything that requires serious thought or explanation. So on to the beans.

For this recipe, you need:

1. Beans (duh) -- like pole beans, snap peas, any sort of longish, skinnyish beans. I used these (blue coco snap beans from my garden). You'll need a bundle that would fit comfortably in both hands, but you can always use more if you want.

2. Eggs (3-4), hardboiled

3. Red-skinned or some other smallish potato (about 4-5 medium or 8-10 small), cut into chunks.

4. Can of anchovy fillets in olive oil, 5. a can of tuna, and 6. beans of some sort (such as cannellini or garbanzo). I used a can, but you can always boil your own.
7. Shallots or mild onion - or just an onion - sliced thinly. I used the runt onions from my garden that I failed to plant correctly (so they didn't actually grow very much). Lesson learned.8. Olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper, fresh lemon juice (1/2 lemon is sufficient, but more is nice)

9. Pitted olives of some sort, chopped up. My favorite are the olive-cured black ones, but Kalamata olives work great, too.

The very best way I've found to prepare hard-boiled eggs is to place them in an empty pot and add cold water until it covers the eggs by about an inch. Once it boils, cover and remove from heat for about 15 minutes. Then place them in cold water until they're cool enough to peel. This way you avoid dropping eggs into boiling water, burning yourself, and accidentally making egg drop soup. If you already know this marvelous kitchen tip, please excuse my ignorance, and send me another tip I should know, but don't.

Boil the potatoes that you've chopped up until they are cooked through, but still firm. Once cooked, drain and place in cold water to stop the cooking. Don't over-cook them or they will become mush. Part of the appeal of this salad is the firmness of the potato flesh contrasted with the creamy saltiness of the sauce.

Quarter the hard-boiled eggs, and add them to the drained and cool potatoes.And for the beans: you boil them, but only a little. Remove the strings/ends if necessary (the older, tougher beans may need this) and prepare a pot of boiling water. If you have purple beans, prepare to be really impressed. Invite a kid to the stove, invoke your best Abracadabra! and blow their little mind.

Watch:Then this:. . . and 30 seconds later, this:I could do this all day. Purple, green. Purple, green. purplegreenpurplegreenpurplegreeeee....
Don't get too mesmerized, or you'll overcook the poor dears. Drain when tender, and plunge into cold water to stop the cooking. When cool, drain and add to the rest of the stuff. Add the beans, olives and onions, too. Don't bother mixing yet, or you'll unnecessarily traumatize the potatoes.

(PATOP - People Against Traumatization Of Potatoes)

Then you make the tuna sauce (don't get scared off by this one):

Put the drained tuna and anchovies into a food processor/blender. Add a little olive oil (couple tablespoons) and some vinegar (1/3 cup or so), lemon juice and some pepper. You can toss in some garden herbs if you have them available (basil, parsley and a touch of cilantro work well). And blend the heck out of it until it's smooth and creamy.
Taste it. You may need to add more vinegar, lemon juice or perhaps salt, but this will be fairly salty.

Pour it all over everything else:

Stir up, and enjoy the heck out of it! (And tell me what you think.)