White Bean Salad with Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

 

Oven-Roasted tomatoes are pretty much my favorite (healthy) thing ever.  Whenever I make them, it's hard to save them for the recipe, when really I just want to eat the entire pan as a snack.  But it's definitely worth it to save them for this salad.  White beans are one of my favorite types of beans, and they are the base of this salad.  They are mixed with the sweet and tender oven-roasted tomatoes, pine nuts, lemon, and goat cheese.  This is a wonderful side dish, but it makes a great lunch or light entree served over a bed of arugula as well.  

I have had a black bean salad with roasted tomatoes saved for quite some time, but for some reason I thought of turning it into a new salad using white beans, pine nuts, and goat cheese instead of the black beans, feta, and almonds.  It just goes to show that it is incredibly versatile, and you can pretty much adapt it to any flavor profile you'd like.

I've been making more of an effort to prepare interesting and healthy side dishes lately, and this one was a triple success:  easy, healthy, and it made enough for me to enjoy for lunches for the rest of the week!  If you want to add meat and turn it into a heartier main-course salad, then I think chicken sausage, grilled chicken, or shrimp would be great as well.

White Bean Salad with Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

inspired by Super Natural Everyday, by Heidi Swanson

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes (about 2 cups)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
• 1 Tbs sugar
• salt and black pepper
• 4 cups (2 15-oz cans) cooked Cannellini Beans
• 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup crumbled Goat cheese
• Arugula, for serving (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and position the rack in the top third of the oven.  Halve each tomato and place them cut-side up on a rimmed baking sheet.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Pour over the tomatoes and top with cracked black pepper.  Cook 45 to 60 minutes, or until the tomatoes shrink a little bit and start to caramelize around the edges.  Allow to cool to room temperature before using.  The tomatoes can be refrigerated in an airtight container (with their oil) for about 1 week.

To make the salad, combine the beans, most of the tomatoes (with their oil), pine nuts, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.  Gently fold in the goat cheese, and top the salad with the rest of the tomatoes and some fresh black pepper before serving.