White Bean Salad with Red Boat Anchovy Salt

We're drawn to ingredients that do a lot with a little. Red Boat anchovy salt might be the best example we carry. It's sea salt infused with Red Boat fish sauce: wild black anchovies caught off the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc, salted on the boat minutes after leaving the water, then slow-fermented for over a year in traditional wooden barrels. First press only, two ingredients, nothing added. The salt carries all of that.

Which means when you use it in your cooking, you're getting all of that fermentation and depth in a form that behaves exactly like salt. No fishiness, no prep, no guesswork. Just seasoning that does so much more than regular salt.

While you can use it anywhere from steak to popcorn, a simple weeknight salad is the perfect place to show you what this salt does. Creamy cannellini beans, sweet cherry tomatoes, crunchy celery, shallot, plenty of parsley. The dressing is olive oil, lemon, Dijon, and anchovy salt in place of regular salt. It comes together in minutes and holds well, which makes it just as good packed into a lunch the next day.

We use Deortegas Frantoio here, an early harvest Spanish olive oil with notes of cut grass and green almond. In a recipe this simple, a good oil makes a real difference. A few grinds of floral Kampot peppercorns over the top is the finishing touch.

A note on the beans: this salad is worth making with good ones. Look for organic tins, Italian jarred cannellini, or any brand where the beans hold their shape and have actual flavour to begin with. Better still, cook a batch yourself and freeze in portions. Two 398 ml cans is roughly 2 cups of cooked beans if you're starting from scratch.

White Bean Salad with Anchovy Salt 
Serves 2–4

1 shallot, chopped
3 tbsp fresh strained lemon juice
1/4 cup Deortegas Frantoio olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp Red Boat anchovy salt, or to taste 
2 x 398 ml cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups cooked beans)
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced on a bias, leaves reserved
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Kampot peppercorns, freshly ground

1. Put the shallot in a small bowl with the lemon juice and a pinch of anchovy salt. Let it sit while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
2. Whisk in the olive oil and Dijon to make the dressing, and season with anchovy salt.
3. Combine the beans, celery, tomatoes, and parsley in a wide bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss gently.
   
4. Finish with celery leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few grinds of Kampot pepper.