Sophie Wyburd’s Chipotle Tomatoes with White Beans and Feta
This summery salad from Sophie Wyburd has it all - sweet and smoky chipotle cherry tomatoes, creamy beans and tangy feta finished with flourish of pink pickled onions. A dish you'll have on heavy rotation all summer long.
Introduction
Bean-based meals are a staple of my midweek life. They provide a perfect blank canvas for loads of flavours and ingredients, depending on the season and my mood. This is a dreamy way to eat them in the summer months. Sweet little tomatoes are the belle of the season: delicious on their own, but also capable of holding some pretty bold flavours, like the smoky chipotle paste here. Onions are a waste of space when not properly cooked – if they’re crunchy and raw in the middle, yet slightly burnt on the outside, they add nothing. By adding splashes of water to the pan, you can speed up what can be a tedious process, and get dinner on the table quicker.
Ingredients
| 1 | large red onion |
| 3 | garlic cloves |
| 250g | cherry tomatoes on the vine |
| juice of 1 lime | |
| 1 tsp | cumin seeds |
| 400g tin of | cannellini beans |
| 1 tbsp | sour cream |
| 1 tsp | chipotle paste (I like the Gran Luchito one) |
| ½ small bunch of | coriander |
| 50g | feta |
| salt, pepper and olive oil |
Method
Peel and finely slice your onion and garlic, then halve your cherry tomatoes.
Add a quarter of your sliced onions to a small bowl. Squeeze over half the lime juice, as well as ½ teaspoon of salt, then scrunch them up to lightly pickle them.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Tip in your cumin seeds and toast them for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add the remaining sliced onions to the pan, and fry for 15 minutes until they have totally softened. If it looks like they are catching on the bottom of the ban, add a little splash of water – this will help to steam and soften them.
Drain your cannellini beans and give them a rinse. In a separate frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium heat. Add half the garlic and fry for a minute until fragrant, but don’t let it brown.
Tip in your drained cannellini beans, along with 100ml water, and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, squishing about half the beans down with your wooden spoon as you go to create a creamy texture. Add the sour cream, then season the beans to taste with salt and 10 twists of pepper. Set aside and keep warm.
Once your onions are soft, add the remaining garlic to the pan. Cook for 1 minute, then tip in the cherry tomatoes. Fry for 5 minutes, bursting a few of the tomatoes with the back of your spoon to get it nice and saucy.
Squeeze in the remaining lime juice, then stir in the chipotle paste. Season to taste with salt. Roughly chop the coriander.
Spoon your cannellini beans into bowls, then top with your saucy tomatoes. Crumble over some feta, and sprinkle on your pickled onions and chopped coriander to serve.
