Roasted Vegetable and White Bean Salad

Directions

Vegetables and salad

1Place oven racks in lower middle and upper middle positions. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2Halve Brussels sprouts through the stems, then place in a large bowl. Toss with enough oil to coat, about 3 tablespoons. Season with salt and place in a single layer on a baking sheet.

3Place the carrots in the same large bowl and toss, adding more oil as needed to coat. Season with salt and place in a single layer on a second baking sheet.

4Lightly trim the root end of the cauliflower and romanesco, then cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices through the root. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons oil onto another baking sheet and lay slices in a single layer, keeping cauliflower on one side of the pan and romanesco on the other side. Avoid overcrowding the vegetables—they should not touch. (If needed use another pan for overflow.)

5Place vegetables into oven and cook until tender and caramelized, about 26 to 30 minutes. Check on the vegetables after about 12 minutes. Rotate the pans and switch their positions to ensure even browning.

6When the roasted vegetables are brown on the outside and completely tender when pierced with a knife, remove them from the oven. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

7Reserving the cooking liquid, drain beans and place into large bowl. Dress with 3 tablespoons vinaigrette and season with salt and 1 teaspoon za'atar. Add a little bean liquid to make it juicy. Taste and adjust dressing and seasoning as needed.

8To assemble salad, layer cauliflower, romanesco, carrots, and Brussels sprouts on a large platter. Drizzle with vinaigrette, sprinkle with za'atar, then spoon beans over vegetables. Sprinkle with large crumbles of feta. In a medium bowl, lightly dress cilantro, dill, and mint with 1 tablespoon vinaigrette and salt. Place atop salad and serve immediately.

Red Wine Vinaigrette

1In a small bowl or jar, let the shallot sit in the vinegar for 15 minutes, then add the olive oil, a generous pinch of salt, and a small pinch of pepper. Stir or shake to combine, then taste with one of the vegetables and adjust salt and acid as needed. Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.

A little note about cooking beans

1Cooking beans, whether dried or freshly shelled, is as simple as can be. In fact, the basic recipe for Simmered Beans can be summed up in one short sentence: Cover with water and simmer until tender.

2While fresh shelling beans can cook in about 30 minutes, it can take several hours for dried beans to transform into their most tender selves. To reduce the cooking time, soak them overnight.

3I'm a tireless champion of soaking beans in advance. And since one measure of any properly cooked starch is whether or not it's absorbed enough water to become tender, think of soaking as a head start. It's the easiest kind of cooking you'll ever have to do.

4When soaking beans, keep in mind that 1 cup of dried beans will triple in size when cooked, yielding about 6 servings. Add a palmful of salt, and a generous pinch of baking soda, which will tip the pH of the pot toward alkalinity and help coax even more tenderness from the beans. Soak beans in the same vessel in which you plan to cook them, to save yourself a dish, and either refrigerate or keep in a cool spot on the counter overnight (or over 2 nights, for chickpeas or big, creamy beans such as gigantes).