I was in Paris* last week – no, I also can’t believe that I can say sentences like that so casually, pinching myself – and it was really, really and surprisingly spring. The magnolias in the Royal Palace Garden provided us with a lace curtain of floating pink shadows, the daffodils and hyacinths popped up from the ground as if they missed us, and everyone was outside and stayed out until after midnight and this energy rose within me, chased away all the seasonal malaise (it turned out I was just cold!), and I did my best to bring all that warmth and joy back to New York with me. And despite the fact that my grumpy (sorry, “othered”) friends tried to warn me that we were experiencing a “fake spring” and to “not break down,” la la la, I said, it’s spring in my heart now – and in my kitchen, and I made a warm-weather salad. Which is to say: I’m sorry, this sudden cold spell might be my fault.
Long-time readers might recognize this as an update of one of this site’s earliest salads. Black bean confetti salad has never left my repertoire, but these days I love to accompany it more and more: with avocado, radishes and so much lime juice. I swapped the cumin for tajin (or your favorite chili powder) and made peace with cilantro. And these days I can’t help but do it with one of those chopper gadgets (which, funnily enough, I also owned in 2006 but rarely used back then; maybe I had more time on my hands?) for geometrically pleasing plant confetti cubes.
I love how this straddles the line between party snack and lunch. I brought it to a friend’s tamale-making party last fall and felt a silly motherly pride, knowing that I had sneakily provided us with veggies, protein, and fiber (to go with our giant pot of queso, for balance and all that). I overdo it and eat it for lunch when I think I don’t have time for lunch. And this week, we piled it on top of simple quesadillas for dinner. Is there anything this salad can’t do? Bring back spring, perhaps, but know that he is doing his best.
*I was there to tour the factory where they make Staub x Smitten cooking braises. Did you know that there is now a pink braising pan? My 10 year old son discovered it and turned around.
