My very favorite bean salad

I've been making this salad for years and years, based on a black bean fuul recipe that I first made way back in the early 90's - nearly 20 years ago! Good lord.

Fuul, or ful, in case you don't know, is a traditional recipe in Egypt and the Sudan. Usually a breakfast dish made with fava beans, olive oil, lemon, garlic, parsley and onion.

My own recipe, I think, was from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest or maybe a Moosewood Collective cookbook. Made with black beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon, tomatoes, parsley, basil and slice hardboiled eggs. I was trying SO hard to learn to like olive oil - this dish helped me like it a little better. (Now I can't imagine life without it!)

My version has evolved over time and is one of my summer time staples. You can make this with all, or nearly all, locally grown ingredients!

Brenda's Black Bean Fuul

• One can cooked black beans OR two cups of cooked black beans (I get mine from Phipps farm in Pescadero - the most wonderful little stop filled with dried beans and herbs, and fresh produce, along with an aviary, petting zoo and nursery)
• One medium sized heirloom tomato, chopped (keep the seeds and juice - everything goes in this dish!) OR a couple of cups of halved grape tomatoes
  
• Extra virgin olive oil to taste (around 1/4-1/3 cup)
  
• One lemon, zested and juiced
  
• Two to four cloves of garlic, minced or crushed (depending on your taste)
• Pinch of kosher salt
• Several twists of fresh cracked pepper
• Good handful of organic flat leaf parsley, chopped finely
• Good handful of organic, fresh basil leaves, rolled up like cigars and sliced thinly (chiffonade)

SO easy. Beans in a big bowl. Add tomatoes with their seeds and juice. Add garlic. Add lemon zest and juice. Salt and cracked pepper. Parsley and basil. Toss well. Drizzle olive oil over all and give it another good stir. Cover and refridgerator for at least an hour to let the flavors bloom (incredible if you can wait for the next day!).

Delicious over a bed of spinach or arugula. Add a little feta cheese and you'll be in heaven.