When we made our meal plan at the beginning of the week, we had several onions, but had used them all by Thursday when I planned to make the chickpea salad from Jane Brody. It seemed silly to go to the store just for onions so I made due with what we had. Two carrots were sliced and boiled in our indispensable cast-iron dutch oven. To these I added some smallish potatoes, cut in half, and a handful of string beans, which were a substitute for the green peas the recipe called for. I cooked everything until the potatoes were soft, then added a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas. Here the recipe calls for sauteeing onions and garlic, and instead I just threw in a few pinches of garlic salt. I then added a dollop of apple cider vinegar and some fresh herbs. All was tossed together and then divided onto two plates. It was topped with feta cheese (in place of the Swiss Brody calls for). This was really good, and was paired well with our homemade Pinot Noir.
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Variations on a Bean
The September 8 issue Boston Globe Magazine included some recipes for green beans, which we are finding an abundance of in our CSA farm box the last few weeks. I selected the "Bacon Braised Green Beans with Potatoes" for our Sunday meal. The beans were straight from the farm, as were the potatoes, albeit a different farm than the beans. I cut the recipe by about a third, since there were only two of us. I began by browning four slices of bacon, then removing them to drain on a paper towel. I removed some of the bacon fat from the indispensable cast-iron dutch oven, but left enough to use to sautee two sliced onions. To this I added one clove of minced garlic, and a bit of fresh thyme. Also added into the pot was some prepared, organic chicken broth (about 1.5 cups) and 1/4 t. baking soda. The beans were added next and simmered for about 10 minutes, then a can of tomato paste. One piece of the bacon was broken into two pieces and added back to the pot, along with the potatoes. The potatoes were small, and cut in half. Everything was cooked, covered for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes were soft. The remaining bacon pieces were chopped into smaller pieces, as were some scallions. I divided the contents of the pot onto two plates, and topped with the bacon and scallions. It was a good fall dish. I did notice that the sliced onions seemed to have disintegrated into the rest of the cooked food. The flavor was definitely there, but the slices were not to be found.
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Variations on a Bean
Soup Fritter
A couple of weeks ago, Pam wrote about a soup enjoyed by all, an improvisation involving beans and potatoes that pleased the entire family. We had it and we had some leftovers as well, but we've traveled quite a lot since then (10 states in 10 days), so there was a bit leftover still when we got home this evening.
Our fridge works very well, so the soup was still good in the food-safety sense, but as Pam offered to reheat it (adding water, as we often do in such situations), I thought that the texture would not be quite right, so I made a counter-offer, which I had considered a couple of days ago. I turned the soup into fritters.
I began by pouring the soup into our wire-mesh sieve, shaking it gently over the sink so that I mainly had beans, onions, and potatoes to put in a large bowl. There I mashed the mixture as much as I could with an old-school potato masher. I did not succeed in mashing the beans very much, but in the end this was okay.
I added about 3 tablespoons of King Arthur whole-wheat flour and one egg (beaten) that we had just purchased from Hanson Farm. I mixed this all with a spoon and then heated our indispensable cast-iron griddle, to which I applied about one tablespoon each of lime-infused and chipotle-infused olive oils from L.O.V.E.
Once the oils were hot, I spooned the mixture onto the griddle, forming two fritters. I heated them through, and turned, browning thoroughly on both sides. Even though I had sieved the original soup, I wanted to ensure thorough cooking, especially since texture had been a main concern.
I took this disgusting photograph on purpose, because it beautifully illustrates something I learned when I toured General Mills headquarters back in the 1970s: food photography is a specialty. Even food that looks good in real life often fails in photographs. Food that looks awful in real life -- as this did -- therefore looks truly unpleasant in photographs.
Do not be deterred, though: this was proclaimed "not bad" and even "pretty good," especially when topped with cool, plain yogurt from Stonyfield. The contrasting textures worked well, and the spices in the original soup came through to the final meal.
Our fridge works very well, so the soup was still good in the food-safety sense, but as Pam offered to reheat it (adding water, as we often do in such situations), I thought that the texture would not be quite right, so I made a counter-offer, which I had considered a couple of days ago. I turned the soup into fritters.
I began by pouring the soup into our wire-mesh sieve, shaking it gently over the sink so that I mainly had beans, onions, and potatoes to put in a large bowl. There I mashed the mixture as much as I could with an old-school potato masher. I did not succeed in mashing the beans very much, but in the end this was okay.
I added about 3 tablespoons of King Arthur whole-wheat flour and one egg (beaten) that we had just purchased from Hanson Farm. I mixed this all with a spoon and then heated our indispensable cast-iron griddle, to which I applied about one tablespoon each of lime-infused and chipotle-infused olive oils from L.O.V.E.
Once the oils were hot, I spooned the mixture onto the griddle, forming two fritters. I heated them through, and turned, browning thoroughly on both sides. Even though I had sieved the original soup, I wanted to ensure thorough cooking, especially since texture had been a main concern.
I took this disgusting photograph on purpose, because it beautifully illustrates something I learned when I toured General Mills headquarters back in the 1970s: food photography is a specialty. Even food that looks good in real life often fails in photographs. Food that looks awful in real life -- as this did -- therefore looks truly unpleasant in photographs.
Do not be deterred, though: this was proclaimed "not bad" and even "pretty good," especially when topped with cool, plain yogurt from Stonyfield. The contrasting textures worked well, and the spices in the original soup came through to the final meal.
Detail:
Soup Fritter
A soup enjoyed by all
I happened across this recipe for Andalusian Chickpea and Spinach Soup in the New York Times yesterday. The description says it is a "comforting soup this is still suitable for a late spring/early summer meal. With heavy rains, and cool temperatures, it seemed like the perfect day for a hearty soup. And although I had no chickpeas, figured I could adapt it with some other kind of bean. My daughter, now home from boarding school for this summer, doesn't like garbanzos in any case. I used some dried black beans instead which I was able to begin soaking when I was home for lunch, so they'd be ready when I came back from work. I followed the directions for cooking the soaked beans, and then after they'd cooked a bit over an hour, began the other preparations. I used our indispensable cast iron cooking pot to sautee the onion and garlic, then added the canned tomato and paprika, Once this cooked down a bit I added the potatoes, beans, and cooking wine, and let simmer for 1/2 an hour. Before serving I added the spinach (less than the pound called for in the recipe, but it was what I had frozen from a previous meal) and a pinch of saffron, some garlic salt, and pepper. Everyone liked this, especially served with some warm yogurt bread from our bread machine (which I was also able to start during my lunch break - living next to work sure has its advantages). Yogurt bread, by the way is about the simplest recipe found in my bread machine recipe book. Yogurt, brown sugar, flour and yeast are the only ingredients.
Detail:
A soup enjoyed by all
Skillet black beans with potatoes and tortillas
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You'd think with a geographer in the house we would use a cookbook written by someone named Nava Atlas a lot more. But, in fact I don't remember the last time I had The Vegetarian Family Cookbook out. I was actually looking for a recipe with squash (one of the few things we still have left from last summer's CSA) but didn't find anything that I could make with the rest of the ingredients we already had. I did find this recipe though, which I was able to make with some creative substitutions. I put 3 small potatoes in the microwave for about 5 minutes, until they were "done but still firm" and let them cool while I prepared the rest of the food. I sauteed the onions and garlic in lime-infused olive oil, and then added some frozen tri-colored peppers. The recipe then called for mild chiles. We had neither mild nor hot chiles on hand, so I added a few tablespoons of salsa instead. Next a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of drained and rinsed black beans, and 2 t. of cumin. While all of this simmered I peeled the now cooled potatoes and diced them. Once the potatoes were prepared I added them to the skillet along with a bit of lime juice and some corn chips. The recipe called for corn tortillas cut into strips, but I had none, and this worked out fine.
A simple and hearty dish. Next time we will use a bit less cumin.
Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili
We are experiencing some bitter cold temperatures here in New England, and we are gravitating toward nice, hot soups to warm up. Since even a trip to the grocery store, in the car, requires some minimal exposure to the elements, we looked for something we could make with ingredients we already had in the house. Since we had both sweet potatoes and black beans on hand, I went searching allrecipes.com for a sweet potato and black bean soup. This video from Chef John was easy to adapt to ingredients we had and easy to follow. I began by peeling and dicing two sweet potatoes. The cubes were tossed in with some chipotle olive oil from Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium along with some chili powder and a dash of salt. The potatoes were roasted for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Meanwhile, I took my cast iron pot and sauteed some chopped onions. To these I added some tri-colored frozen pepper slices, and a few pinches of garlic salt, along with some cilantro and other spices. Then a can of diced tomatoes was added, along with some water, a T of corn meal and a T of unsweetened cocoa powder. Once everything was cooked and blended for about 20 minutes I added one can of black beans, and the sweet potatoes. I also added some frozen mixed greens I had from last year's CSA deliveries. We get so many greens during the year that I end up freezing most of them, and then I can easily add them anytime I make a savory soup. Everything was simmered together for about 12 more minutes, and then served. This was filling, hearty, and full of texture, color and flavor. It was spicy without being overly so, and was the perfect meal for dark winter night. It paired well with the bottle of "Hot cocoa" ale we found in the back of our refrigerator. I am really not sure where it came from originally. I think it has been there for over a year.
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Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili
Green Beans Simmered with Tomato
I made this recipe several weeks ago, but just never got around to writing the blog post.
Just before our first frost (about a month ago) I picked all the unripe tomatoes from my garden and wrapped them in paper to ripen in our basement. Over the past few weeks I have been able to "harvest" the ripe tomatoes little by little. I was happy to use some of them in this simple recipe, from the ever popular Deborah Madison. Sliced onions were sauteed in olive oil for about 5 minutes, to which I then added a pound of frozen green beans, 2 diced tomatoes, a minced garlic clove, and a bit of water. This was simmered until the beans were just cooked when I added some fresh sage and parsley. Everything was simmered a few minutes more and served as a savory side dish to the rather salty and completely vegetable-less frozen chicken pie we had as our main dish. We rarely eat commercial frozen food, and this was a good example as to why.
Just before our first frost (about a month ago) I picked all the unripe tomatoes from my garden and wrapped them in paper to ripen in our basement. Over the past few weeks I have been able to "harvest" the ripe tomatoes little by little. I was happy to use some of them in this simple recipe, from the ever popular Deborah Madison. Sliced onions were sauteed in olive oil for about 5 minutes, to which I then added a pound of frozen green beans, 2 diced tomatoes, a minced garlic clove, and a bit of water. This was simmered until the beans were just cooked when I added some fresh sage and parsley. Everything was simmered a few minutes more and served as a savory side dish to the rather salty and completely vegetable-less frozen chicken pie we had as our main dish. We rarely eat commercial frozen food, and this was a good example as to why.
Detail:
Green Beans Simmered with Tomato
Lively Green Beans
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| Image from The Captain's Vintage, via eBay. See note below. |
Not Your Mother's Green Beans is one of our standards from the "Mini Moosewood" which is the second-most important item on our cookbook shelf. (See our Moosewood explanatiblon or a complete list of Moosewood mentions on this blog.)
The title of the recipe refers, of course, to green-bean comfort food with which many people -- especially Southern people -- are familiar. If any vitamins, crispness, or vegetable flavor remains in traditional green beans, it is because there were not enough hours to finish cooking them -- preferably in salt and fatty bacon. The result was often welcome in a guilty-pleasure sense, but it is just not right to have green vegetables more fattening than burgers, which is where Mollie Katzen's crew comes in.
On page 82 of the Mini Moosewood is the following simple recipe.
- Toast 1/2 cup pine nuts (we usually use chopped walnuts) and steam 1 pound of green beans.
- In a medium bowl, combine 1 large shallot or 1/4 cup chopped scallions (Pam used a leek yesterday) with 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup olive oil. Mix in 2 tablespoons parsley or basil.
- Drain the beans, toss with dressing and nuts, and top with salt (minimal) and pepper.
This can either be served warm or chilled for at least 20 minutes. We look forward to sharing this with our friends at Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium, to see if they can recommend special suggestions for the dressing. We will post ideas here.
Now for that image: when I was about 10 or 12, my grandmother bought me (and I think my brother) a t-shirt with this design. For some reason, I loved it and wore it as often as I could for far more years than I should have. The best part: it was scratch-and-sniff. That's right; years before being a genuine foodie, I willingly walked around smelling like green beans.
Detail:
Lively Green Beans
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