Coconut Beans + Chapatis

This simple and satisfying recipe came to us from one of our daughter's

friends from Kenya.   The chapati recipe is softer than

other homemade chappatis we have made.

Coconut Beans

4 cans black beans, drained

1 can coconut milk

1 chopped onion

1 Tablespoon oil or fat

 Salt to taste

1. Fry onion in large skillet.
2. Add drained beans.
3. Mix in  ¾ can if coconut milk
4.  Let it simmer until it cooks down, then add the remaining  ¼ can of coconut milk.
5. Serve warm with chapatis or pita bread.

Chapatis

 2 cups flour

 ¼ teaspoon salt

 ¾ - 1 cup hot water

melted butter

1. Mix flour, salt, and hot water.  Knead until elastic.
2. Divide dough into fourths.
3. Roll each into thin circles and spread thinly with melted butter.
4. Roll up like a small jelly roll and then roll it into a coil, tucking end into the middle.
5. Roll flat again.
6. Lightly oil a hot heavy skillet and fry until golden-brown on both sides.   

  

  

Full Moon Soup : Portuguese Kale, Bean and Linguica Sausage

Portugese kale soup from the best cookbook for children and their adults:  Blue Moon Soup, by Gary Goss. We tend to like more vegetables and more spices than his recipes call for, so here are our tweaks played upon his general theme.  The original recipe calls for canned kidney beans which you can certainly use, but we think it looks especially full moony with lima beans soaked overnight. 

A quicker always-on-hand version uses frozen kale and canned beans

Rinse

1 cup dried beans 

and soak overnight in

3 cups of water 

Crockpot HIGH for 4 hours.

[or substitute 1 can of  beans]

Heat skillet over medium heat, then add

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 - 2 onions
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 - 3 carrots, chopped
half of 2 - 3 cups kale, chopped
1 - 2 teaspoon dried basil
(or 1 - 2 cubes frozen basil)
1 - 2 teaspoon dried oregano
(or 1 - 2 Tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add

2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
2 pieces linguica sausage, sliced into rounds 

Sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the other half of the kale, the beans with their broth and more water if desired. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, covered, 20 minutes.

Ladle into bowls and garnish if you wish with

minced kale, optional
grated parmesan cheese, optional

Though it's very good just as it is and even better served with Cornbread.

Polenta and Red Lentils

Polenta, or corn grits, are available for me locally through Bob's Red Mill 

(a coarse cornmeal poured slowly into three times as much boiling water 

while stirring and then cooked on medium low until thick—stirring regularly 

all the while.  Season the cooked polenta with a tablespoon or so of olive oil 

and salt.).  

Red lentils are also sold by Bob’s Red Mill and can sometimes be found 

at my local grocery in the health food / bulk section.  They cook up 

into a beautifully golden, soft mashed-potato consistency and are surprisingly 

satisfying and delicious served with polenta  for breakfast or an easy supper

Slices of very ripe tomatoes would make this combination beyond delicious.

Both of the recipes below are based on the directions that used to be

 on the polenta and red lentil packages from Bob's Red Mill.

Polenta

3 Tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
2 cups polenta
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 cups water

1. In a large, deep pan over high heat bring water and sea salt to a boil; gradually stir in polenta. Reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring frequently to prevent sticking until mixture is very thick (about 30 minutes); use a long-handled spoon because mixture pops and bubbles and can burn.
2. Stir in butter (or olive oil),  and more salt if needed.
3. Oil a deep medium sized bowl, spoon polenta into bowl and let set for 10 minutes. Invert onto a flat plate. Mixture will unmold and hold its shape. Cut polenta into thick slices and serve hot.

Makes 6 Servings.

Red Lentils

1 cup onions, chopped

1 - 2 Tablespoon butter or oil

1 cup red lentils

3 cups boiling water

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1. Set water to boil.
2. Sauté onions in butter or oil.
3. Stir in lentils and sauté for a few minutes.
4. Add boiling water.  (I've also had good success by just adding to cold water and then bringing to a boil—this method may take a little longer but not much)
5. Boil gently 30 minutes, stirring often, until very soft.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

 

Makes 6 (1/2 cup) servings

Real Split Pea Soup

After long search for real split pea soup . . .

Something at least as good as the canned stuff.

Something approaching the ambrosial peppery split pea 

I had on my honeymoon, high in the Canadian Rockies, 

after a long cold hike . . .

. . . I think I've finally found it.

[NOTE: To make frozen basil cubes (at their height in summer):  chop fresh basil,

pack in ice cube tray, fill with water just to barely cover.]

 

This recipe is loosely adapted from one for Hoppin' John, a black-eyed pea stew,

in Rick Rodgers' Christmas 101.

Ham bone (I used the one leftover from our Christmas Eve dinner, with still some meaty bits left on)  

2 medium onions 

3 medium celery ribs, with leaves, chopped

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika

1 teaspoon dried basil (I used two cubes of frozen chopped basil)

1 teaspoon dried thyme (I used a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme from my winter garden)

plenty of freshly ground black pepper

a scant ⅛ teaspoon cayenne

1 lb. split peas, rinsed and drained

1.  Place ham bone, 1 onion, and 1 celery rib in crock pot and add 3 quarts cold water on HIGH.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add oil and the remaining onion and celery ribs.  Cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add garlic and spices (except pepper) and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
4. Stir in split peas.
5. Add to crockpot, set at HIGH, for 3-4 hours.  Cook until peas are soft and mush easily.
6. Remove ham bone and when cooled enough to handle, chop any remaining meat and add back to soup.
7. Blend or mash soup thoroughly.
8. Salt and pepper to taste. 

 

 

Mujdara / Brown Rice and Lentils

When I stir in buttermilk I call this Syrian Mujdara, 

when I use milk I call it Lentils and Rice.

Both ways my family calls it YUM.

adapted from Andrea Chesman's

365 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains

which is the one recipe book I would want if I could have only one.

1 cup dried green or brown lentils, rinsed

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cup uncooked brown basmati rice

2 ¾ to 3 ¼ cups water

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3 onions, thinly sliced in rings

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 ¼ cups buttermilk, kefir, yogurt or whole milk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In medium saucepan, cover lentils with water by about 3 inches and add ½ teaspoon salt.  Bring to boil, then reduce to gentle boil and cook until lentils tender but still hold their shape, about 25 minutes.  Drain lentils a little if too much water remains.
2. While lentils cook, combine rice, the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and the water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered, until rice is tender and the water has been absorbed, 15 to 30 minutes.
3. While rice and lentils cook, heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a large saucepan.  Add the onions and cook, stirring constantly, until the onions are golden, about 7 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
4. Add the cooked lentils and rice to the onions.  Add buttermilk or other milk to moisten and bind mixture.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

  

Delicious served over spears of romaine lettuce with a blue cheese vinaigrette to the side.

Civil Rice for Human Beans : Black Beans & Brown Rice

Traditional at our house for Martin Luther King Day, 

this is a simple and simply delicious way to eat black beans and rice.

based on a recipe in Andrea Chesman's 

 365 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains

BEANS
1 cup dried black beans, rinsed and soaked overnight in 4 cups water then drained

6 cups water

2 dried chipotle chiles

2 bay leaves 

RICE

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves

1 (15-oz) can diced tomatoes

 1 (3-oz) jar chopped pimientos, drained

½  cup long-grain white rice
½ cup long-grain brown rice -- jasmine (basmati) is best!

1 ¾ cups water

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1. Combine drained beans and 6 cups fresh water, chiles, and bay leaves in crockpot (or large saucepan) on HIGH for first hour, then reduce to LOW for 5 hours.  (Or bring to boil, partially covered, then reduce heat and boil gently until beans tender, not mushy, about 1 hour).  
2. Drain beans, discarding chiles and bay leaves
3. Heat olive oil.  Saute onion until limp, 3 minutes.
4. Add garlic and saute until fragrant.
5. Add tomatoes and pimientos another 1 minute.
6. Stir in uncooked rice, cooked beans, water and salt.
7. Cover and bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer until most of the water absorbed, about 15 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and stir with a fork.  Crumple a clean kitchen towel over the rice.  Replace cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

Brazilian Black Bean Soup

 We love this bean soup, adapted from one 

in Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook.  
The orange juice is not optional.  Trust me, you will love it.

2 cups dried black beans, soaked overnight in

           6 cups water

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3 cups onion, chopped

10 medium cloves garlic, crushed and minced

2 teaspoons cumin

2 to 2 ½ teaspoons salt

1 medium carrot, diced

1 medium yellow bell pepper, diced

4 sprigs fresh cilantro

1 ½ cups orange juice (fresh is really good)

black pepper, to taste

cayenne, to taste (go light)

(optional: pinch of cinnamon or cardamom)

2 medium tomatoes, diced

optional toppings:

sour cream

minced cilantro

1. Bring soaked beans to a boil, cover and simmer until tender (2+ hours).  For crockpot directions, see below.
2. Heat olive oil in skillet.  Add onion, half the garlic, cumin, salt, and carrot.  Sauté over medium heat until carrot is just tender.
3. Add remaining garlic and the bell pepper.  Sauté until everything is very tender (another 10 to 15 minutes). 
4. Add sautéed mixture to the beans, scraping in every last morsel.
5. Simmer until ready to serve, then stir in orange juice, black pepper, cayenne, and tomatoes.  Mash or purée some of the soup and return to pot.  Simmer over very low heat 10 to 15 minutes more.
6. Sprinkle in minced cilantro and serve topped with a teaspoon dollop of sour cream.  Also salsa if desired.

Delicious served with sweet potatoes baked in their skins until very soft, then split and sprinkled with fresh lime juice.

To adapt to crockpot:  Cook beans 1- 2 hours on high alone.  Then add sautéed carrot, onion, cumin, bell pepper, and garlic to crockpot.  Cook on high 4-6 hours (on low 6-8).  Right before serving, stir in orange juice, black pepper, cayenne, and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with cilantro.). 

French Country Beans

 Lemon, thyme, and sage.

Need I say more?

2 cups dried small white navy beans, picked over, washed, and soaked overnight

8 cups water

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 large carrot, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

4 sprigs fresh thyme 

6 fresh sage leaves 

3 strips lemon zest

2 cups chopped fresh or canned tomatoes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

  

1. Drain the beans.
2. Cook beans in water—cover and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat, partially cover, and simmer until the beans begin to be tender—about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
4. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the carrot, onion, celery, parsley, and garlic, and sauté until limp, about 4 minutes.  Add to the soup pot.
5. Add thyme, sage, lemon zest.  Begin checking after 1 hour.  Skim off any foam that rises to the top of the pot.
6. Remove the herbs and lemon zest.
7. Add the tomatoes. 
8. Season generously with salt and pepper.

6-8 servings

based on a recipe from 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains by Andrea Chesman (ISBN 0-452-27654-3)

To adapt to crockpot:  Cook beans 1- 2 hours on high alone.  Add sautéed carrot, onion, celery, parsley and garlic and add to crockpot.  Cook on high 4-6 hours (on low 6-8).  The last hour add the other ingredients (excluding tomatoes and salt and pepper which you’ll add right before serving). 

Christmas Pomegranate Tossed Green Salad

2 cloves garlic (rub inside of salad bowl)

1 lb fresh spinach leaves

1½ lb. mixed mesclun salad

1 C. basil, torn

½ C. dill, torn

1 bunch parsley, torn

1 bunch cilantro, torn

2+ C. blue cheese vinaigrette

2 cans (16 oz) kidney beans, drained

1 can (16 oz) garbanzo beans, drained

3-4 ripe avocados, chopped

1 bunch radishes, very thinly sliced

3 pomegranates, peeled and broken into seeds

½ C. GrapeNuts cereal

Mix all greens/ herbs with dressing.  Toss in avocados, beans, and radishes.  Sprinkle with pomegranate. Serve with GrapeNuts to sprinkle over top.

Normal Beans

Because the purpose of this Table in the Wilderness is to feed distant loved ones 

as well as those close by, here is Special Request #1 for a faraway daughter.  

(With lots of hugs and kisses!!)

Normal Beans

Soak 2 cups dry beans in 8 cups water (or 1/2 cup beans in 2 cups water -- all that matters is the proportion 1 part beans to 4 parts water).  

Though I must say, I have lately NOT soaked beans 

but just popped them right in the crock pot that morning 

and they cook up fine.  

Supposedly you get more nutrients that way.  

You may also get more gas.  

You choose.

When you're ready to put everything into crockpot, put in:

4x as much water as the amount of beans (fresh water if you've soaked)
some chopped jalapeno
some chopped onion
some sprigs of cilantro

Let everything bubble away for hours and hours until beans are soft and delicious.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Sometimes I add smoked paprika or other interesting herbs.  But keeping it simple seems to be the key to success.

 

Late Summer Succotash

The glory of a good succotash is great ingredients - so beautifully available this time of year.  I keep experimenting with recipes but I think this is the winner so far . . . though a close runner up is the recipe in Rick Rodgers Thanksgiving 101.

What makes this recipe especially fine is the unexpected splash of vinegar to brighten the flavors.    That and generous fresh basil - because why would you use any other herb in late summer? 

I like to add steamed flat Italian green beans and I adore the sweet tenderness of fresh shell beans - I prefer to shell the adorable red & white cranberry beans instead of the more usual fresh limas.  With bacon that was our neighbor's hog, basil I grew myself, and peak-of-ripeness local vegetables this, for me, is late summer in a dish. 

adapted from Epicurious: Gourmet August 1999

Late Summer Succotash

Over moderate heat cook until crisp

• ¼ lb bacon (~ 4 slices)

Drain grease and blot, setting aside 2 Tablespoons of bacon grease.  Crumble bacon into nice-sized bits.

Shell

• 2 lbs fresh cranberry beans in pod  (a delight in itself.  Now I just need to find me a rocking chair and a big wraparound porch and a little early morning birdsong)  - about 2 cups of beans

Add shelled beans to

• a small saucepan of boiling salted water

and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until just tender - about 7 minutes.  Ladle beans out of water with a slotted spoon.

Using bean water steam

• 1- 2 lbs flat Italian green beans

about 5 minutes until color is vivid.  Then lift from boiling water and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking.

Cut kernels from

• 8 ears of corn

taking care to catch the juices in a bowl or on cutting board.

Clean

• 1 - 2 lbs cherry tomatoes

cutting the larger tomatoes in half, then chop or mince

• 2 Vidalia onions
• 2 - 3 garlic cloves

Add the saved 2 tablespoons of bacon grease to skillet and cook onion over moderate heat, stirring, until softened. Add garlic and cook or 1 minute, stirring.  Add tomatoes, corn and

• 2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

Cook, stirring, until tomatoes just begin to lose their shape. 

Remove skillet from heat and gently stir in both kinds of beans and the bacon.  When a little cooled, gently stir in

• ½ cup or more of generously packed basil leaves, gently torn

Pepper to taste.  Family to table.  Enjoy to the last bite.

Orecchiette with Kale and Garbanzos + Delicata Squash + Home-bottled Grape Juice + Baked Pears

Kale?  anchovies?  Sounds like I'm trying to be deliberately unappetizing.  Let me just say - cocoa powder is not too tasty either on its own - but in combination with the right ingredients, WOW!  And that's what happens when you combine pasta, winter greens and dried beans.  I don't know why, I don't know how - but WOW!

The optional but "highly recommended" addition of tinned anchovies brings in an indescribably subtle and satisfying subtext. You don't have to tell people how incredibly nutritious this dish is, they'll absorb more of the nutrients anyway because they'll be loving every bite.

Do try this dish at least once and see for yourself. At my house, this is the never-fail, super-quick, fall-back cold weather dish when I forget to put the beans on to soak the night before and dinner is needed within the half-hour. By the time the pasta is al dente, the greens & beans are ready to go. And rather than groans and moans, this meal is met with cries of "Yum!" while at least one child sets aside a portion to take in her lunch the next day. I usually make this without the Parmesan. Sometimes without the anchovies. Sometimes I substitute sardines instead. It's good whichever way I try it.

Orecchiette, "little ears" or "mouse ears," are a beautifully rustic hand-made pasta - it looks like you could make them yourself by flattening a small marble of dough over the top of your thumb. I usually substitute shells or gnocchi when I can't find orechiette at the market - any midsize pasta that will cup satisfyingly around the garbanzo beans will do admirably.

Orecchiette with Kale and Garbanzos

adapted from my favorite cookbook author Andrea Chesman's
366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains

Chop

• 2 pounds kale (substitute broccoli rabe or collards, or a combination of greens

and then blanch in plenty of boiling salted water, until bright green and tender, 2 – 3 minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water to stop the cooking. Drain again.

In the boiling water, cook

• 1 pound orecchiette

until al dente.  Drain.

Meanwhile, chop

• 1 onion

and saute over medium heat in

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Add

• 6 anchovy fillets, mashed (optional, but highly recommended)
• 6 garlic cloves, minced

until the garlic is fragrant and golden, about 3 minutes.


Add to the pan the blanched kale and

• 3 cups cooked garbanzo beans (2 cans)

and cook until heated, about 4 minutes.  Season with

• salt (if needed)
• freshly ground black pepper

Combine pasta and vegetables.  If you wish you may sprinkle with

• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

and toss well. 

Very satisfying with either (or both):

Baked Delicata Squash

(split lengthwise and seeds scooped out, baked cut-side down with about ½-inch of water in the baking pan.  350 degrees until soft.  About 30-45 minutes.)

Baked Pears

(left whole, pricked with a fork or knife tip, baked at 350 degrees until soft.  About an hour.  Cut in half and spooned directly from the toasted skin - which we don't eat - think of it as an all-natural candywrapper. You have never tasted a pear until you have eaten one baked - its flesh transformed into a delicate custard, its juices slightly carmelized - a richness that is at the same time light and subtly spicy.  People will wonder what magic ingredient you have used.  But it's pure pear, through and through.)