Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit…
Many of you requested recipes for ways to cook beans after I posted about scoring some local dried heirloom beans the day before yesterday. So I thought I’d share a few of my favorites.
I really like to eat beans as a sauce over rice more than any other way, but a hearty bean soup is also wonderful. I grew up in South America, where beans are a staple, eaten almost every meal. Probably my favorite beans are Frijoles Antioqueños – traditional food eaten throughout the country of Colombia. Generally you use bola roja beans, but those are difficult to come by here in the U.S., so you can substitute small red beans or kidney if you’d like (small red beans are more similar in texture to the Colombian beans). Colombian food is not like Mexican food, the spices are not as pronounced. They use a tiny bit just to add a little flavor, so these beans are very mild.
Frijoles Antioqueños (Antioquian Beans)
2 pounds bola roja beans (or small red or kidney beans)
4 slices chopped bacon or 1/2 lb piece of salt pork
2 green plantains, finely chopped
1 T. salt
2 T. olive oil oil
4 small tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 chopped onions
1 crushed clove of garlic
1/2 t. of cumin if desired
Pepper to taste
Wash beans and soak overnight. Place beans and bacon or salt pork in pot and cover with water. Cook for a couple hours or until tender (depends of what kind of beans you use). Add plantains and cook until soft. Add salt and mix well. In a separate pan sauté tomatoes, onions and garlic until soft and add to beans. Cook for another half an hour until all flavors have blended. These beans taste even better on the following day! Enjoy served with white rice.
They’re traditionally served as part of a Bandeja Paisa which includes: spiced ground beef, white rice, chicharrón (fried pork rinds), a fried egg, arepas (cornmeal cakes), avocado slices, chorizo (sausage) and fried green plantains.
I was going to make a bean soup with the “Jade” beans, but I decided instead to make braised beans as a side for some roasted chicken. They were fantastic, so I decided to share the recipe with you. These beans ended up being a lot like cannellini beans, so those would be a good substitute, or perhaps a smaller white bean like navy beans.
Braised White Beans
1 lb dried large white beans
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 strips of thick cut bacon – diced
1 large white onion – diced
3 cloves garlic – diced
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 cup white wine
1 quart chicken stock
3 strips lemon peel (without pith)
2 bay leaves
fresh rosemary sprig
fresh thyme sprigs
1 cup grated hard cheese (like Parmesan or Romano)
salt & pepper to taste
Add beans to a large stock pot and cover with a few quart of water, add vinegar and allow to sit overnight or for 24 hours. Drain. Return beans to pot, add a few more quarts of water and simmer for a few hours or until soft.
Dice bacon and add to large pot. Cook for a few minutes and add diced onion, cook for a few minutes and add garlic. When onions and garlic are soft, add sage and some freshly ground pepper along with a teaspoon of salt. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Add white wine to deglaze pan, stir to pick up all bits stuck to bottom of pan. Add chicken stock and boil for a few minutes. Drain beans and add to stock along with lemon peel, thyme, rosemary and a Tablespoon or two of lemon juice if desired. Simmer for an hour or until liquid reduces to a thick sauce and beans are soft and starting to fall apart. Remove stems from thyme and rosemary and bay leaves. If desired remove lemon peels and dice, add back to sauce. If you don’t want a ‘lemony’ flavor remove completely.
Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed, stir in cheese and serve warm. Delicious served alone as a side to chicken or serve with rice and a meal.
Lentils are perhaps one of my most favorite kind of bean. They’re quick and easy to cook, they don’t really require overnight soaking like most other beans. I love all different kinds of lentils from big brown ones, to tiny black ones and all the colors in between. These French green lentils are simply stunning!
Sausage Lentil Soup
1 pound of Italian sausage (I like hot Italian, chicken sausage works well also)
2 medium onions (cut to desired size)
5 carrots (cut to desired size)
1-2 cups chopped celery (cut to desired size)
(I usually use equal parts onions/carrots/celery)
5 cloves of garlic
2 T Olive oil
a mix of Italian spices to taste (whatever you prefer): (oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, sage, black pepper, fennel)
2 cups lentils (regular brown or french green)
1 cup small black lentils (if you can’t find these add more brown or omit if you like a brothier soup)
2 quart jars of chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
water if needed
1 quart of diced tomatoes
a few handfuls of fresh spinach or other greens if desired
Add sausage and olive oil to pan and slightly cook, then add chopped onions, carrots & celery cook until softened (You can cover pot if you want). Add garlic and spices (I usually add a teaspoon or two of oregano and some fennel, lots of red pepper, a good amount of black pepper and some sage). Cook for a minute or two and add brown and green lentils and chicken stock. Simmer for several hours until lentils are almost done (will be less if using French green lentils), then add small black lentils, tomatoes, greens and water if needed, cook until black lentils are finished. Then salt to taste and adjust spices if needed. Serve with freshly grated Romano cheese and a drizzle of fresh olive. Tastes best accompanied by crusty bread!
This red lentil soup is amended from a dal recipe. It’s got a wonderful middle-eastern flavor that’s really exotic. I love the color, it sure brightens up the table. The flavor of the toasted cumin seeds is not as harsh as ground cumin, so don’t be afraid of using them (I usually double the amount in the recipe). You can spice it up more if you like hot food by adding some red curry paste or some more cayenne (ground or in flakes).
Curried Red Lentil Soup
1 C. red lentils, picked over, rinsed, and drained
3 C. water
1 large tomato, cut into 8 wedges (or 8 oz. diced canned tomato)
1/4 C. olive oil or ghee
1/2 t. cumin seeds
1 medium onion (yellow or red), finely chopped
5 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 t. ground coriander
1 t. ground turmeric
1/2 t. cayenne (or less if you like it milder)
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1 T. butter
3/4 t. salt (or to taste)
1 can of coconut milk
1 pint of chicken stock
Directions
Place lentils, tomato (if using fresh tomato, if using canned add later) and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered until lentils are tender and have lost their shape, about 40 minutes (begin checking that there is still water in the pot at 30 minutes and add small batches of water as needed). Pick out any tomato skins and whisk to break up the lentils. Keep warm over low heat.
Make the tadka (Indian spice prep) as follows:
Heat oil in a medium skillet over high heat when oil is hot, add cumin seeds. After seeds have stopped sputtering, add the garlic and onion and saute over medium heat until most of the onion has turned brown, 5-10 minutes. Add the coriander, turmeric, and cayenne, stir, and pour the onion/spice mixture over the dal. Add the butter tomato (if using canned), (cilantro/parsley), and salt to the dal and simmer for another 5 minutes.
If eating as a soup add coconut milk and enough chicken broth to reach desired consistency. If eating over rice you can still add coconut milk or omit, whatever you like. Serve hot. I like to serve with naan (Indian flatbread).
If you have a great bean recipe post it on you blog and link to it below. Or add your recipe in the comment section. I’d love to try some of your favorites!
More Bean Recipes to Try:
White Bean Rosemary Soup by Ina Garten. If you like rosemary you’ll love this soup, it’s simple and delicious.
Parker’s Split Pea Soup from Barefoot Contessa. This soup is really great if you like split peas. It’s such a great color as well.
White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Dip from Smitten Kitchen. I’ve made this several times to take to parties. It’s always a hit. I’m not a huge fan of roasted red peppers and I love this!
101 Cookbooks – has tons of great bean recipes. She specializes in healthy vegetarian foods.
Refrigerator Soup Bean Recipes
Williams Sonoma Bean Recipes
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Homemade Blueberry Skillet Cake
We spend some time each summer gathering sun ripened berries and stowing them away in the freezer. They’re a delightful reminder of summer during these cold dark winter months. Our freezer is currently stocked full of blueberries, blackberries and wild black raspberries. Yesterday I decided that some blueberries would go perfectly with those lemons I got a while back. I settled on blueberry muffin cake, since it would pair perfectly with our morning coffee on a sub-zero Sunday morning.
I call it a cake because I don’t bake it in muffins tins (I have a strong aversion to all things non-stick). I like baking in a cast iron skillet, so all of my muffins are made in one batch in this cast iron skillet that’s probably twice as old as I am. I find that they bake wonderfully, it takes a little longer, but it’s well worth the extra time. Not to mention there are no muffin tins to wash, which is a big plus in my book!
I prefer my breakfast to be a little less sweet so I have developed this recipe to suit our tastes. It’s a lower sugar recipe, so if you’re looking for those sweet as candy muffins you can buy at the local coffee shop, double the sugar in this recipe. You could also sweeten them up with a crumble topping, sprinkled on top before baking or by drizzling them with some lemon juice mixed with powdered sugar after taking them out of the oven.
LEMON BLUEBERRY SKILLET CAKE
2 2/3 cup of flour (I use half whole wheat flour)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup of sugar (double this for sweeter muffins)
zest and juice from 1 lemon *
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract *
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons of room temperature buttermilk (use regular milk or cream here if desired)
3/4 cup melted coconut oil, unsalted butter,** or cooking oil of your choice (the coconut oil doesn’t impart a “coconut” taste to the muffins, but it seems to add another layer of flavor)
1 1/2 – 2 cups berries (fresh or frozen, allow to thaw a bit if using frozen)
Heat oven to 400. Put cast iron skillet in oven. In large mixing bowl combine: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Stir to combine.
In another bowl crack eggs and whisk. Add vanilla extract, buttermilk and lemon juice to eggs and stir to combine. Remove cast iron skillet from oven and melt coconut oil in skillet, swirl oil around to coat skillet. **If using butter make sure to oil skillet with shortening or oil, not butter.
Pour wet ingredients (including coconut oil) into dry ingredients and lightly fold until almost combined. When almost combined add berries and stir to incorporate. If batter is too thick add a little more buttermilk or milk. You want this batter to be too thick to pour, but not too thick to smooth into edges of pan.
Spoon batter into cast iron skillet and put in oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Baking time will be longer if eggs/milk were not at room temperature and if berries were not slightly thawed. Keep checking every 5 minutes until done. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 5-10 minutes. Slice and enjoy with coffee.
If baking in muffin tins bake for 20 minutes checking after 15.
*Optional flavor combination: cranberry & orange, cranberry & almond, strawberry & lemon, strawberry & vanilla, blackberry & lemon, black raspberry & lemon.
You can use any kind of berry in the muffins. I have used: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and even cranberries. Strawberries would also be delicious, I think I’ll try those next time, or tomorrow depending on how long this batch lasts. Change the extract or citrus flavor depending on berries used. Cranberries and oranges are a wonderful combination. Almonds compliment cranberries or cherries beautifully and lemon pairs perfectly with blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Strawberries would be heavenly with lots of vanilla.
So grab some berries from your freezer (or the grocery store freezer) and let you imagination run wild. Heat up that oven and bake up a batch of sunny muffins. Enjoy a delicious taste of summer in the middle of this cold winter weather.
What’s your favorite kind of muffin?
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Make Your Own: Ghee or Clarified Butter
We’ve been trying to find local alternatives to things we buy from far and wide. One of the things I purchase regularly is organic olive oil from California. I won’t quit buying and using olive oil since it’s a healthy and delicious, but I have been trying to find something to replace it in some recipes. A couple years ago I read about ghee. Ghee is basically clarified butter or pure butter fat. Because the milk solids have been removed it has a higher smoking point (won’t burn as easily as butter) and it is shelf stable, so it keeps much longer than butter. It’s super easy to make and it’s a delicious addition to many dishes.
Since you’re all making your own butter after yesterday’s post, I figure you’d need a way to use it up. To make ghee you need unsalted butter, you can use fresh homemade butter or store bought butter. I’d recommend finding some good quality local pastured butter of course, but you can use the regular stuff from the grocery. The final flavor and color of your ghee will depend on the quality of your butter. I generally use at least a pound of butter, usually two.
Put the butter in a large heavy bottomed saucepan, it will sputter a bit so you want some extra room and a taller pan. Then place the pot on medium heat and melt the butter without stirring. 
When you first melt it, foam will appear. The butter will sputter a bit, this is the water boiling out of the butter. Gradually as you boil the butter the foam will disappear and you’ll end up with a beautiful golden liquid that smells wonderfully buttery! Keep an eye on your ghee, you don’t want to end up with browned butter ghee. It usually takes between 20-30 minutes depending on the temperature and the amount of butter you’re melting.
It’s time to remove from the heat when you see golden brown milk solids on the bottom of the pot. You can use a spoon to move some of the foam aside to keep an eye on the milk solids. You want to remove from heat before the milk solids become too brown. Pour through a strainer fitted with some several layers of cheesecloth to strain out the butter solids (which our pets love). Then pour the ghee into a jar or container of your choice, I prefer a wide mouth mason jar.
You’ll end up with the most beautiful golden liquid. This liquid will harden when it cools becoming opaque. Depending on the temperature of your home you final product can be between the consistency of a thick liquid that you can pour to a scoop able thickness. Your ghee does not need to be refrigerated, but you can if you want to. You can use ghee like you use oil, for frying eggs, making popcorn and sauteing veggies. It makes a wonderful addition to just about any dish.
Have you ever had or made ghee?
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How to Tell if Your Sauerkraut is Finished
I blogged over at Not Dabbling yesterday about how to tell if that sauerkraut you started a while ago is finished. There were a few questions from readers about how to know. I thought perhaps some of you would have the same question, so I figured I’d share the information here as well.
After 2-4 weeks, depending on the temp, you should notice that your kraut is no longer bubbling, or is bubbling much less than it was. I usually notice that the brine starts going down instead of spilling over after 3-4 weeks. The warmer it is, the quicker your sauerkraut will finish fermenting (at 70-80 it will take 2-3 weeks at 60 it will take 4-6 weeks). Mine was finished a week or two ago, and I started mine on October 28, it took about 4 weeks to finish fermenting. You will also notice that your sauerkraut become kind of clear, or loses it’s whiteness.
Another way to decide if your sauerkraut is finished is by smell. If you don’t have a good sense of what sauerkraut smells like, buy some and smell it. Warm it a bit on the stove and the smell will become more pronounced. It smells pleasantly sour almost vinegary. You don’t want it to smell “off” or moldy.
Don’t be alarmed if some mold or scum forms on top of your kraut while it’s fermenting. Just skim it off and add some more brine. If your brine level gets low and some of the top layer of cabbage gets moldy, simply skim off that cabbage and add more brine (1 or 1.5 T. of salt for 1 quart of water for extra brine).
When your sauerkraut is finished, simply take out the jar/bag that you’re using to weigh it down, top off with brine, throw a lid on it and put it in the fridge or in your cool root cellar. Use 1 or 1.5 T. of salt for 1 quart of water for extra brine (if using kosher use more, if fine salt use less).
You can can it if you’re worried about the coolness of your root cellar or don’t have room in the fridge (to can process in a waterbath canner for 15 minutes). If you can it you kill all the good bacteria though, so it won’t be a good source of probiotics. I like my sauerkraut cooked, so I occasionally can it. Sometimes, however I just lid the jar and put it in the basement.
Do you have any great tips to know when you’re fermented products are finished?
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The First Sign of Christmas
You know that the holidays have arrived here at Chiot’s Run when you see chocolate covered cherries on the counter. I usually try to start making my famous chocolate covered cherries the week after Thanksgiving. This year, I was too busy so I started last Wednesday evening. I don’t really making cookies during this season, I spend my time making chocolate covered cherries and a few peanut butter cups. I also make a few batches of caramel corn for the wonderful people at the post office and the library.
These cherries are famous. A week or two before Thanksgiving people start asking about them, wondering if I’ve started making them yet. They want to make sure I remember to make them and they want to make sure I remember that they’re on “the list”.
Making cherries isn’t difficult, but it is time consuming, especially if you use real chocolate that you have to temper (which I use on about 2/3 of my cherries). It’s as simple as making a fondant to wrap around the cherries and then dipping them in chocolate. I’ve developed a few tips during my 10 year cherry dipping career. The fondant recipe below is the best, I’ve tried 10-15 different recipes and this is the easiest to work with because of the corn syrup. You can buy non-GMO corn syrup at your health food store if you’d like. Using anything else; milk, golden syrup, honey, maple syrup, etc. makes the fondant stickier and much harder to wrap around the cherries without a big mess!
Make sure you get the fondant fairly thin, too thick and it won’t turn into liquid. I cut the fondant into small balls and knead each piece, then flatten into a disc to wrap around each cherry. Kneading the fondant makes it smooth and warms it making it more pliable for easy wrapping. You don’t have to chill your fondant if your kitchen is cool.
I find that wrapping the disc around each cherry, then cutting off any excess before rolling works perfectly. I lightly roll them between my hands to smooth out the fondant, don’t use too much pressure or you’ll make the cherry leak juice which will turn your fondant into a sticky mess. Keeping a bowl of confectioners’ sugar close for dipping your hands and cherries into will help in case this happens. If you have a cherry that starts to produce juice too soon, simply dip in powdered sugar and then roll lightly between hands. Keep a wet rag and a dry towel around as well to clean your hands every so often. This keeps the process moving along smoothly.
I have found that putting parchment paper on the the cookie sheet and coating it with shortening makes it much easier to remove the cherries once they’re cooled and set. If you don’t do this they often stick, when when you pick them up they leave a small bit of fondant stuck to the sheet and then they start to leak juice.
Make sure you chill your cherries for at least an hour in the fridge before dipping. If you don’t allow the fondant to cool and set up, it will have a tendency to melt with the heat of the chocolate and start to drip off the cherries with the chocolate.
CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES
50 maraschino cherries, well drained
3 tablespoons room temperature butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 pounds dipping chocolate, white or dark
Combine butter, corn syrup and salt; blend until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix well. Knead until smooth and shiny; wrap in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes (if your kitchen is cool this may not be needed).
Meanwhile, drain cherries. Shape a marble-size piece of fondant around each cherry; place on wax paper-lined tray. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.
Melt chocolate according to kind you’re using (tempering real chocolate or simply melting to dipping consistency for chocolate coating). Dip cherries and place on wax paper-lined tray (I find those tiny muffin cups to be perfect, especially if you’re making different kinds (brandied & regular), they’re easy to keep separate if you use different colored cups for each kind). Store in covered container in a, cool dark place for 10 to 14 days to fully ripen and to attain the “liquidy” inside.
Brandied Cherries
Soak cherries in brandy for a minimum of 2 days (I soak mine for up to 1 year, but a week or two will do). Omit almond extract and add 1/2 teaspoon brandy flavoring or brandy instead. Follow recipe as stated above.
Next year I’m going to try to make my own maraschino cherries. I’m sure these will be even more delicious if I use fresh local cherries. I may even leave the pits in them to provide the natural almond flavor that comes from cherry stones. I’ll have to find a farm where I can pick them myself so I can make sure I get some with stems.
What are you famous for during the holidays? Or what is someone else famous for that you love?
