Southwestern Three Bean Salad

1 . Stage

Boil the green beans: Cut the ends off the green beans and slice into pieces about an inch long. Fill a medium sized pot halfway with well salted water. Bring to a boil. Add the beans to the pot and boil for 5 minutes, or as long as it takes for the beans to get tender. Green beans can be highly variable in how long it takes to cook them to tenderness. More mature beans can take longer, up to 20 minutes.

2 . Stage

Add the pinto beans, green onions, jalapeños, garlic, cotija, and olive oil: Drain the green beans and put in the bowl with the pinto and black beans. Drizzle the olive oil over everything and toss to combine. Mix in the green onions, jalapeño, garlic, and Cotija cheese.

3 . Stage

Make the dressing, add to salad to marinate: In a separate bowl, mix the lime juice and sugar until the sugar dissolves, then add it to the salad. Coat the beans well and let marinate for at least 1 hour, preferably several hours.

4 . Stage

Before serving, toss in the cilantro: Add cilantro right before you serve and add more salt to taste if needed.