Spelt salad with mint-flavored beans cream and smoked scamorza cheese

• 10 minutes to prepare • 20 minutes to cook • Serves 4

 

You bring your own weather to the picnic

 

It’s officially salad season!
Today with a refreshing Spring salad made with spelt, mint and beans cream, smoked scamorza cheese.
This salad is so tasty and really benefits from the chewiness and mellow nuttiness of the spelt. Not to mention it is packed with fiber and protein, which makes it a meal by itself!

I’m no vegetarian – just check hamburgers' posts on this blog... – but I do like to cook healthy meals and I’m a huge grain fan.
I seriously can’t wait to expand my use of spelt in things other than salad.

And as for using beans in salads, that is a recent obsession for me.
I grew up liking beans raw. It was later in life that I fell in love with boiled beans, which inspired me to start adding beans' puree to my recipes (do you remember this appetizer ? Oh my god, and this first course ??).
Beans are great to boost any type of dish, really.

Also, once the spelt is cooked, this salad is made in less than 10 minutes! I don’t know about you, but this is all I want for Spring and Summer. Low maintenance recipes that are still bursting with flavor and nutrients.
All I plan to do is pack this salad, put it in my picnic basket and go enjoy it at the park or anywhere outdoors! You coming?

Here are ingredients for the 4-serving recipe:

280 g spelt
300 g frozen beans
10 mint leaves
200 g smoked scamorza cheese
EVO oil
salt and pepper

1. Start by cooking the spelt: add the grains to the pressure cooker, along with 1 liter of water and close the lid securely. Bring the cooker to high pressure, and begin timing. The spelt will need 15 minutes since now to be ready
   
2. Meanwhile cut smoked scamorza cheese into cubes. Place them in a salad bowl
3. Pour 500 ml of water in a large pot and bring to boil. As soon as the water boils, add salt and the frozen beans. Let them cook for about 5 minutes
4. Remove the beans from the heat and drop them into an ice-water bath for an immediate cool down. Drain the cooled beans and remove the tough outer skins with a knife
5. Wash the mint leaves and place them in a blender together with beans, 4 tablespoons of EVO oil, a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. Blend for few seconds until coarsely pureed
6. After the 15-minutes cooking time of spelt grains has passed, let the pressure come down naturally. Once the pressure has dropped, open the lid and check if it is done. If it is, drain the spelt and drop cold water on it. Then, collect it up in the salad bowl
7. Add the beans cream to the boiled spelt and stir to mix
8. Before serving, add more EVO oil, freshly ground pepper and salt if needed...enjoy!

In the table below Nutrition Facts are detailed for this appetizer. Data is provided per serving.

I would be vegetarian if bacon grew on trees.
(Homer Simpson)