Roasted Pepper and Cannellini Bean Salad

Ingredients

2 large bell peppers one red, one yellow if you can find

1 poblano pepper or a third bell pepper (mine was orange)

3 15-ounce cans cannellini beans drained and rinsed (or 1 pound dried, cooked)

4 ounces very thinly sliced soppressata cut into very thin strips (optional)

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons sherry vinegar

2 garlic cloves or 1 large

1 teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh rosemary I skipped this

1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh oregano leaves or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

Freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 to 2 cups radicchio in 1/4-inch ribbons or torn into bite-size pieces

Equipment

rimmed baking sheet

big bowl

Directions

Heat your broiler. Put your peppers on a rimmed baking sheet and broil, turning occasionally, until charred on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes. [If your broiler is more annoying than effective, you can do as I do: 400-degree oven and roast the peppers for about 30 minutes, turning them every 10 so that they get blistered on all sides.] Set the peppers aside to cool until you can handle them.

In a big bowl, combine your beans and soppressata, if using. When cool enough to handle, break the peppers open over the beans and let the peppers’ juices run out. Pull the charred skin and seeds from the peppers and discard. Sometimes, I find it easiest to give each pepper strip a quick rinse under cool water to remove clinging seeds. Cut the peppers into thin strips and add to the beans, plus any more juices that collect.

Chop garlic with rosemary and oregano finely minced and add to bowl. Drizzle the oil, vinegar, and lemon juice over the salad and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, and parsley. Toss to combine everything. Here, you can add ribboned radicchio, as I do, or you can put torn pieces on a plate later and serve the bean salad on top of it. The salad is ready to eat now, but it’s even better after marinating for an hour or two.