Warm white bean salad with arugula pesto and preserved lemon from Dinner: Changing the Game (page 240) by Melissa Clark

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Noknifeskills on June 03, 2026

    Used garlic greens instead of arugula and little gem lettuce for the salad base. I topped with homemade sourdough croutons for some crunch. The fam requested I make it again (stamp of approval).

  • bernalgirl on March 23, 2026

    What a great salad! I had homemake arugula pesto which came out a little one-dimensional and the preserved lemon pepped it up nicely! I added roasted beets and loved the touch of earthy sweetness, and topped it with toasted seeds for crunch. A great lunch!

  • SpatulaCity on April 12, 2024

    Tasty! Preserved lemon isn’t usually a flavor I enjoy, but it harmonized with the arugula and became a perfect blend in this pesto. Next time I may add fresh basil or mint because I did miss that herby punch. But maybe not because it was great as is. Used homemade giant beans. Added leftover roasted chicken breast, but it would be better with tuna I think, or simply alone as written.

  • Churchim808 on July 18, 2022

    This was excellent and very healthy. Since I only cook for myself, I froze most of the pesto after preparing a single serving. It does make for a mushy bean mix unless you add a lot more than 1/3 cup pesto. I also felt like it needed some crunch so I added sliced roasted almond. I’ll eat this again later with leftover chicken or a boiled egg.

  • Tweedles81 on February 05, 2019

    This was super easy and delicious - a great, healthy weeknight dinner! I made it with two cans of beans and followed the recipe as written (but left off the optional shallots). I agree with others that adding bread would be nice, but it was great without it! We will be making this again.

  • puddlemere on January 29, 2019

    I thought this turned out very well. I also had some homemade arugula-walnut pesto already in my freezer, so I just used that and threw in some minced preserved lemon along with the beans. I also added croutons made from homemade bread, and I think they made a big difference. She calls for optional sliced shallot, so I considered making some quick-pickled shallots to put on top, but I was too hungry to wait. Next time!

  • Jane on August 24, 2018

    This wasn't a great success though it wasn't the fault of the recipe. I cooked dried cannellini beans in the Instant Pot, following Melissa's instructions from her Instant Pot book. After 25 minutes at high pressure and a natural release they were still undercooked so I brought back to high pressure for 5 minutes more with manual release. And now they were mushy. So when mixing the beans with the pesto the consistency was all wrong (I should have loosened the pesto to compensate). I did love the taste of the pesto though so I will try making this again, maybe cooking the beans for 30 minutes.

  • Lepa on July 05, 2017

    This came together quickly and was a very good, satisfying meal. Next time I will taste all the elements together before adding additional salt. I added some salt to the arugula salad but when I added the beans & pesto, it was a bit salty.

  • clcorbi on March 31, 2017

    I cheated and used some of my own homemade pesto from the freezer for this recipe. I defrosted the pesto and added in some chopped preserved lemon to taste, then proceeded with the recipe as written. This shortcut made the dinner really fast and easy to throw together! I added garlicky sourdough croutons as a garnish, as well as a few pine nuts. This wasn't anything earth-shattering, but it was good, easy and healthy.

  • ellencooks on March 28, 2017

    This was fantastic! The picture looked like there were croutons although they weren't in the recipe. But I added some breadcrumbs, toasted on olive oil with some chopped garlic and Parmesan.

  • joanhuguet on March 22, 2017

    Simple and fresh tasting. A great way to use up one of those giant clamshells of arugula that always seems to go bad. I substituted lemon zest for the preserved lemon.

You must Create an Account or Sign In to add a note to this book.

Reviews about this recipe

This recipe does not currently have any reviews.

You are reporting a broken online recipe link to EYB. Please confirm that you want the report submitted. Please also suggest the correct URL for this online recipe to the below textbox.