Three ingredients make this hearty meal

Three of my favorite things can be found in this white bean, arugula and shrimp salad. The salad is great warm, at room temperature or cold, so I like to make a batch on Sunday afternoon to pack up as lunch the rest of the week.

The recipe starts with a quick saute of pancetta, which is Italian cured bacon that you can purchase at the deli counter. If you have standard American smoked bacon on hand, feel free to use it in the recipe. The pancetta or bacon gives the salad a smoky flavor.

Arugula is a peppery-tasting, leafy green vegetable that I love. You can find it in bags or in plastic containers in the produce section. If you don't care for its somewhat bitter flavor, substitute baby spinach.

Place single servings of the prepared salad into plastic containers along with a lemon wedge. When ready to serve, reheat in the microwave oven or serve cold and squeeze the lemon over the top to brighten the flavors.

The salad is a good starting point to come up with variations of your own. You can leave out the shrimp, or replace it with chunks of drained albacore tuna, or substitute another bean and add herbs or other seasonings. If you like raw onion, you can toss in chopped red onion for crunch and flavor.

White Bean, Arugula and Shrimp Salad

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 slices pancetta, chopped

2 teaspoons garlic, about 3 cloves, chopped

3 16-ounce cans cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 cups arugula or baby spinach (about 1 5-ounce bag), washed and dried

1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges, optional.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.

Add the beans, season with salt and pepper and heat thoroughly. Turn off the heat and fold in the arugula and shrimp. Squeeze a lemon wedge over the top of each serving, if desired.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Reach Karin Calloway at karin.calloway@comcast.net.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/karincalloway.

GROCERY LIST

4 slices pancetta

3 16-ounce cans cannellini, great northern or navy beans

11/2 pounds fresh or frozen large shrimp (have the shrimp steamed without any seasonings at the grocer to save time)

1 bulb fresh garlic

1 5-ounce package arugula or baby spinach

1 lemon

From the pantry: Olive oil, salt and pepper

COOKING 101

PREPARING DRIED BEANS

Dried beans are economical and easy to prepare.

Dried cannellini beans are usually available only in gourmet or Italian grocery stores.

There is some debate about whether soaking beans overnight is a necessary step, and the taste and textural difference between soaked beans and those cooked straight from the package is not appreciable. The main benefit of soaking is a decrease in the cooking time. Beans can be soaked for several hours or overnight.

To cook the beans on the stove, pick over the beans to remove any broken beans or bits of stone, and then rinse them in a colander. Place the beans into a stock pot or Dutch oven, cover by an inch or two with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Cover the beans, bring them to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the beans are tender. For unsoaked white beans, this generally takes about an hour and a half to two hours. You can add flavor to the beans by cooking them with a bay leaf, some fresh sage, a clove or two of peeled garlic, chopped onion or a sprig of fresh thyme.

Beans also can be cooked in the slow cooker. Cover the beans with water (water should be two inches above the beans), season as suggested above, cover and cook on low. The beans will be tender in six to eight hours on low in most slow cookers.

BEAN COUNTS

One pound of dried beans equals 7 1/2 cups of cooked beans.

One cup of dried beans equal 3 cups of cooked beans.

One 16-ounce can of cooked white beans equals 2 cups of cooked beans.

Note: If you cook a whole pound of dried beans but need only a portion in your recipe, freeze the leftover beans in the cooking liquid. They will last for up to six months.

WHAT'S YOUR favorite fast lunch salad recipe? Share recipes at augustachronicle.com/karin.