White bean salad with Charmoula sauce

Charmoula sauce (original recipe: Mediterranean Fresh – Joyce Goldstein) is this eclectic and versatile sauce with fresh parsley, cilantro, ground cumin, paprika, garlic, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and olive oil. I use fresh white beans that are slow cooked and add fresh parsley, garlic and lemon juice to them and finally the green goddess paste, Charumula. The flavor of cumin and cilantro soak into the beans and a few day old beans taste even better. Charmoula is classic Moroccan but I found their influence to be strong in the Provencal markets and foods. The aromatic cumin and paprika combination with the lemon juice reminds me of the bright sunflowers which Van Gogh loved.

This salad reminds me of Van Gogh’s bright sunflowers

Start with cilantro…

chopped parsley,

and roasted cumin

Paprika from Budapest

soaked ancho chilies

sautéed onion and garlic

walnuts

all the above go in with olive oil

squeeze of lemon juice

Add above sauce to cooked white beans

add fresh parsley