Warm Bean and Shrimp Salad

An Easy Weeknight Dinner or Elegant Starter

• Servings: 2 as a main or 4 as a starter.

This simple recipe combines creamy cannellini beans with quickly cooked broiled shrimp, making it an easy dinner to make on a busy weeknight.  Canned beans are combined with fresh cherry tomatoes and then topped with quickly broiled shrimp, served slightly warm.

While you can use dried cannellini beans that have been soaked and cooked in advance, I find it easier and just as tasty to use canned beans.  This is the kind of dinner that can be made almost completely from the pantry.  Just purchase a pound of jumbo shrimp and a package of cherry tomatoes on your way home from work and you'll be having dinner within an hour of getting home.

Ingredients

• 1 pound jumbo shrimp (about 15 shrimp)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 14 oz. can cannellini or Great Northern beans that have been rinsed and drained (or soak and cook to tenderness about 2 cups of beans)
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (hold in a dish after you slice them to save the juice)
• 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Red pepper flakes
• Salt

Directions

1. Peel, clean and devein the shrimp.
2. Finely mince the 4 garlic cloves. Reserve one half of the minced garlic and place the other half into a bowl, adding the cleaned shrimp, plus 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Stir to coat. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the reserved minced garlic with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the minced rosemary and a small pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat until the garlic and rosemary are fragrant and the garlic has cooked a bit but has not browned.
4. Add the beans to the pan and stir to coat. Cover and cook over low heat until the beans are warmed through, about 5 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and stir in the halved cherry tomatoes with their juice, the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine and taste for seasoning and let sit at room temperature.
6. Remove the shrimp from the refrigerator and turn on the broiler.
7. Place the shrimp in a single layer on a rack that's been placed on a rimmed sheet pan or a broiler pan.
8. Broil about 4 inches from the heat source for 3 minutes per side until the shrimp are cooked through. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.
9. Arrange individual servings of the bean and tomato mixture and place the cooked shrimp on top.
10. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.