There’s always one.
The summer of 2026 in Ireland was incredible. Heat, heat more heat and in the end an expectancy that this was it for real, we were at last having a great summer. Heat naturally means outdoor dining, long evenings and barbecues at every opportunity. Which in turn of course means salad.
So ladies & gentlemen of the summer of ’26 I give you the winner. THAT Salad. Credit goes firstly to me for switching the radio to Claire Byrne on Newstalk with perfect timing and hitting the food slot and then of course to the Chef Brian McDermott for sharing the recipe over the airwaves.
When I am inevitably asked for this recipe I say the key thing to remember is that there are 5 ingredients – and then you rack your brain to remember what they are, but they will come eventually. You will remember the Butter Beans first because they are an unusual enough feature in a salad (in Eire anyway) and they take this dish to more of a mains than salad territory with their substantiveness. Next you will remember the Coriander with it’s unmistakable fragrance & next level freshness (if it tastes like soap to you I am truly sorry for you, but also leave now – today is not your recipe day.) What else was there? Red Onion, Juicy Ripe Cherry Tomatoes & finally the juice of a Lemon.
Optional (my preference): I highly recommend to begin your salad prep with the red onion : slice it thinly, put it aside in a bowl dousing it generously with Red Wine Vinegar, and let it wait until it is called up for duty after all the other prep is done. This processing will render the onion a little softer in texture, and you will remove it from the vinegar when you add it in. Something else I did like to do on our particularly warm days was to store my can of butter beans in the fridge for the day and rinse them with really cold water when prepping the salad for a little welcome Chill – a step not necessary of course in the Autumn months. This salad is coming with me into cosy season. Simple to prep, so tasty and good for you.
I like the tomato presence to out-balance the quantity of butter beans so I generally use approximately 2 punnets of tomatoes.
Essential:
Your tomatoes must be bright red, plump, juicy and slightly softening. There is a very fine line when choosing tomatoes – steer clear of the watery ones. Make sure they are ripe, ripe, ripe and flavoursome.
You will need:
Tin of Butter Beans (chilled optional)
Bunch of Coriander
Cherry tomatoes, 2 punnets
1 Red onion (pickled optional)
1 Lemon
(optional Red Wine Vinegar if pickling your onions yourself)
Salt & a little olive oil (my add on)
Method:
If you are me you will begin by peeling and cutting your red onion in half, slice it thinly, then place it into a bowl with red wine vinegar – to use at the end of prep.
Into a beautiful salad bowl you will add drained butter beans.
Next up, rinse and cut your tomatoes to just the right size for a small bite (so maybe halved or quartered, you judge).
Your lush bunch of fresh coriander is to be rinsed and chopped finely, using the stalks, (lots of flavour in the stalks and they bother no-one if chopped finely)
Your bowl will now be filled with butter beans, tomatoes and coriander. Add in your red onion thinly sliced (if you skipped the pickling step) and if you did pickle it at the start now is the time to just add the onion (without the vinegar)
Lastly, you will juice the lemon and combine everything together.
Tomatoes need salt in my opinion so I do recommend a good seasoning and also a little splash of olive oil just to loosen things up a little bit.
Enjoy!
p.s. the Bonus – the present the foodie in your life will love you for. Let me say firstly I am not here to promote anyone else’s wares so I shall not be linking to where to buy this from, I’m sure a quick search will find one for you. I bought mine in a mixed hardware store and if you want to know exactly where do message me via insta.
What you are looking for is a ‘Herb Cutter Rocker with Board‘ , be warned the blades are sharp so handle with care. They make chopping herbs an absolute breeze.
x Sheila
