A simple but delicious butterbean and arugula salad with tomatoes, toasted walnuts and a roasted pepper dressing. Perfect for summer lunches and picnics!

I’ll be introducing you to a few of your new summer besties over the coming weeks – starting with this stupidly simple butterbean and arugula salad.  Spicy arugula and red onion, creamy butterbeans, juicy tomatoes, crunchy walnuts and a good drench of roasted red pepper dressing.  I’ve also added a packet of pre-cooked quinoa to ramp up the plant based protein and all round deliciousness.

I’ve been eating this on and off for the last couple of weeks, rotating with a couple of other salad recipes I’ve been working on.  Because salad really shouldn’t be a limp bit of lettuce and a few tomatoes that (some) people call ‘salad’.  And this summer salad is a little reminder that delicious food really doesn’t need to be complicated.

What you’ll need for the salad:

Arugula (or rocket) – that bright green, slightly spicy, a little bit peppery salad leaf.  You could sub another salad leaf if rocket isn’t your thing.

Red onion – so many health benefits and I love it’s sweet yet fiery flavour.

Cooked quinoa – for ease I used one of the packets of pre-cooked quinoa mixed with rice, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.  As the weather warms up I’m all about having the stove/oven on as little as possible and it makes putting this salad recipe together even more of a doddle.

Walnuts – these are the only thing you might want to cook.  But that’s as simple as tossing them around a dry pan over a medium heat for roughly 5 minutes.

Tomatoes – cherry tomatoes, vine tomatoes, plum tomatoes, and and all are perfect for this butterbean salad.

Let’s talk red pepper dressing:

Roasted red peppers – again, save yourself the hassle and mess of cooking and peeling and buy them fuss free in a jar.

Capers – these piquant little buggers give the dressing extra zing.

Lemon juice and balsamic vinegar – I’ve doubled up on the acidity for this salad dressing for even brighter, fresher flavours.

Chives and parsley – fresh if you have them, dried if you don’t.

Wholegrain mustard – this is my favourite type of mustard.  It’s got that ‘mustardy’ flavour without being to over powering.  Sub with dijon or English if you prefer.

How to make this butterbean and arugula salad:

Toast the walnuts first.  Keep an eye on them and toss them around the pan every minute or so, making sure they don’t burn.

Halve or quarter the tomatoes dependent on which size you use and peel and finely slice the onion.  Drain and rinse the butterbeans.

Once the walnuts are cool enough to handle lightly crush or roughly chop.

Put the arugula, quinoa, tomatoes, onions and butterbeans into a large bowl and toss it all together.

Drain one of the peppers from the jar and cut into smallish dice.  Finely chop the drained capers.  Put these into a bowl or jar that has a lid along with the oil, balsamic, mustard, herbs (chopped if using fresh), lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Give everything a good stir or a shake.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss the salad one more time.

Transfer to a serving bowl (or bowls) and sprinkle over the walnuts.

If you’re making the salad ahead of time, don’t dress it until you’re ready to serve it.  The dressing ingredients can be put into the jar in advance and then just shaken together when needed.

Looking for even more delicious and easy salad recipes?  Try these:

Wheat Berry Summer Salad

Herb and Lemon Tomato Salad

Spring Greens Salad

Warm Peach and Sweet Potato Salad

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