A long time ago, I noticed that basil goes particularly well with white beans. It goes well with other colours of beans, but for some reason, it is best (in my opinion) with white beans. Any white beans will do - butter beans, flagolettes, haricots. I first put the ingredients together in a butter beans with basil and carrots recipe. I remember remarking (probably to myself) that this was a nice combination: carrots, butter beans and basil. You just stumble upon such things l guess; I wasn't really planning it before it happened, although when I had a rummage in the cupboard to see what we had to eat, my sense of culinary balance led me to experiment with the particular ingredients in question. That and the fact there was not much else in the cupboard, but then I probably wouldn't have been tempted to try potato, banana and caper salad, had those been the only ingredients available. I would have had the potatoes with the capers and reserved the banana for dessert.
The point is, I think you get a 'nose' for potentially successful combinations of ingredients when you have been doing experimental cooking for a while and here's what I think counts as proof for my theory: I went to visit my friend Lyuda, who is also an experimental cook (especially when she invites me round and has to do veggie) and guess what she had prepared? A salad made from haricot beans, basil and cooked carrots. When I quizzzed her about it - coz thought this was spooky - she said that it just seemed to her like it would be a good combination and, no, she had not tried it before, nor seen the recipe anywhere else.
1 tin of white beans
1 carrot
A few springs of fresh basil
A
drizzle of olive oil
A squirt (or two) of lemon juice
Salt
My favourite way to do carrots for salad is to wash them and gently boil them whole in salted water. I think this keeps the nutrients in the carrot. It certainly preserves the taste. Once the carrot is cooked, you can rinse it in cold water then easily peelit and chop it.
Mix the chopped carrots with rinsed and drained beans, chopped basil and the oil, lemon juice and salt.