hoppin poppin black bean salad

what do we have today? a couple cans of black beans..any brand, doesn't matter, a purple onion, a couple of jalapenos, a big bunch of fresh cilantro, and a couple of limes, and some extra virgin olive oil.

So you wanna open the beans and drain them in a colander. rinse them with real good with water. You don't want any of the "juice" that they came in...you want nice, clean, individual beans. Throw them in a bowl.

Now in my house, we like hot and spicy. hot and spicy anything, really, so I usually put 2 jalapenos or one large jalapeno. Chop it up real fine. I use the seeds and all. If you don't like that much heat, then discard the seeds.

Do the same with the purple onion. use your own judgement on the onion too. If it's a really large onion, just use half. I don't really measure anything, as you'll soon find out! sorry. :/

mmm, cilantro. How I love you cilantro. Again, if it's a LARGE bunch of cilantro, just use half. I used half a bunch here. I tear off the tops. Yes, you still get some stems in there, but I chop those up as well. I just don't use the whole long stems. chop it up fine.

mmm, lime. I LOVE lime. wayyy more than lemon. So here I used 2 large limes, cuz I think the more lime, the better. So roll the lime first to help loosen up the juices, then cut in half and ream that sucker. I juice it right over the bowl of beans.

So you add the jalapeno, onion, cilantro and lime juice to the bowl of beans. Add some salt & pepper. Then drizzle in some olive oil...maybe 1/4 of a cup? again, no measuring. sorry!

Mix it all up together and refrigerate to help marry all the flavors. Tho to be honest, mine never really makes it to the fridge...we eat it right away!

This is the way I eat it most of the time..in a bowl, topped with chopped avocado and some wheat crackers. But you can do lots with this...it's great on tacos....as a salsa over chicken breasts, squeezed with even more lime...the possibilities are endless!

And I need to give credit where credit is due. This original recipe came from my friend, Christo, a chef in NYC. His had red wine vinegar instead of lime, dried oregano instead of cilantro and no jalapeno. Just as good, believe me. We probably eat this at least once a week, as we're trying to cut down on our meat consumption.