Flageolet beans! I was so excited to find these, I was away last week at a Cooper UX Design Bootcamp up in Petaluma (on a farm!) where we worked on a real world project for Fair Trade USA, it was an amazing experience, very intense and I learned a great deal about user-interface design, and I also learned quite a bit about Fair Trade products. It's not just about coffee, which I think is what most people think of when something is Fair Trade Certified. They also certify textiles, grains, wines, many different ingredients grown around the world.

What we buy can really make a difference in peoples lives. I hope more products try to become Fair Trade certified. I kinda wish everything were Fair Trade certified! It's not just about being organic, it's about sustainable farming, clean water, empowering women, providing health care to farmers, education for the children of farmers, they're doing really great work and would encourage you to check out their site.

So you're probably wondering what this has to do with Flageolet beans? After the course ended I went into town, it was the first chance I had to do a little exploring (they don't call it bootcamp for nothing!) and I came across a little foodie type shop in downtown Petaluma, there they had Rancho Gordo Flageolet beans. I haven't had Flageolet for years! When I was in college I worked at a french restaurant in NYC, they served these quite often and I remember liking them a lot, so here they are, in this bean salad.

I reworked a recipe from Greens Restaurant cook book, the original recipe included white beans and was heavy on tarragon, but I didn't have tarragon so I figured dill would work as a replacement, it usually does in salads like these. And it works!

The Flageolet have a really nice creamy texture and work well with the crunch of green beans. With lemon + dill you can't go wrong. I hope you enjoy, bon appetit!

Flageolet Bean Salad

(adapted from Field of Greens)

1 cup dried Flageolet beans, sorted and soaked overnight
1 bay leaf
1/4 pound fresh green and yellow wax beans, trimmed and cut to 2" pieces on a diagonal
2 small carrots, sliced
2 tablespoons diced red onion
2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper

Drain and rinse the flageolet beans and place in medium saucepan, cover with water, add bay leaf, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 50-60 minutes, taste them around 50 minutes in, they should be tender. Remove from heat and drain, set aside to cool. While the beans are cooking blanch the vegetables. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil, add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the fresh green and yellow beans and cook for 4-5 minutes until just tender. Scoop the beans out with a slotted spoon and rinse under cold water. Cook the carrots in the same pot for 1-2 minutes. Rinse under cold water and set aside.

To make the vinaigrette, whisk together lemon juice and vinegar, slowly add the olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste.

While the flageolet are still warm, toss together with carrots, onion and dressing. Let marinate for 30-60 minutes. Add the blanched green beans and dill, serve at room temperature.

Note: This salad tastes even better the next day, I would recommend letting it sit a bit longer than 1 hour.