Tomato and bean salad with anchovies, red onion and herbs

Summer

This is a big, colourful summer salad that gets better as it sits. Once it’s made, pack it up in a large tub or lunch box and you’re good to go. I love the flavour of salty anchovies with tomatoes and beans, but if these little salted fish fillets aren’t your cup of tea, you could add chunks of tinned sardines or sustainably caught tuna. There’s no reason you couldn’t leave the fish out altogether. Sometimes I make a similar salad and add capers and boiled eggs.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 x 400g (14oz) can of haricot beans
6–8 salted anchovies in oil, drained
1 garlic clove, grated or crushed to a paste
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
a small handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
750g (1lb 10oz) mixed ripe tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
1 small–medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Give the beans a quick rinse under some cool, running water. Let them drain and set aside. Finely chop the anchovies and place them in a bowl with the garlic, Dijon mustard, sugar, red wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil and chopped parsley. Season the dressing with salt and pepper and give it a good stir.

Place the tomatoes in a large bowl. Tip in the drained beans and red onion and season everything well with sea salt and black pepper. Finally, spoon over the dressing.

Use your hands (I do anyway) to gently tumble everything together. Turn out the salad into a suitable picnicking container, or, if you’re eating in the garden, you can take it straight out on a nice, big platter.

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