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Big Sur Bakery’s Baked Beans

09.05.2014 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

Earlier in the year, I spent some time with some of my older cookbooks, in particular The New Basics Cookbook, which was once a favorite of mine – as evidenced by its spattered pages and cracked binding – but in recent years, hasn’t really inspired me. I still use the Mac and Cheese recipe (which uses penne and gruyere), but that’s about it.

In the chapter on beans, I found a fairly simple recipe for red beans with rice, so I made it, in hopes that it might meet The Child’s approval. She adores beans, and as a result I’ve learned to appreciate – if not love – them, but we’ve gotten tired of many of my standby bean recipes.

In the New Basics recipe, the beans are supposed to bake for 90 minutes, but at the end of that time, they were still disagreeably watery. I cooked the beans for another hour, then another, and finally the texture was just right. The Child loved them.

After three and a half hours of baking, I had enough beans for one dinner (for two) and one lunch of leftovers (for one).

In my universe, that’s not enough food to warrant that kind of oven time, so I doubled the recipe and cooked it in the slow cooker, where it cooked fine, but there was still the problem of too much liquid. I made the recipe several more times, and finally got the liquid balance right. The Child adored each of my efforts.

I found it all rather bland, though I was happy enough to keep making it, since she happily continued to eat it.

I didn’t go looking for another bean recipe; in fact, I was looking for a blackberry scone recipe when I checked The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook out of the library. But on flipping through the pages, I found a baked bean recipe that promised to be a “fresher, cleaner” version of traditional baked beans – which I love but, you will not be surprised to learn, The Child does not.

The Big Sur Bakery does not lie.  These beans are everything baked beans should be – lightly sweet, lightly smoky, lightly spiced, robustly flavorful. The sweetness is not overbearing, there is no overly assertive vinegar or tomato or anything as I’ve found in some recipes. The seasoning was so perfect I found myself eating it straight from the pan, and though the beans would be great alongside pork, I made rice, something I could make quickly, so that I wouldn’t have to wait to eat those beans.

I might have had a few spoonfuls while the rice was cooking.

The recipe needs a bit of advanced planning. You won’t get the same result using canned beans, which won’t stand up to the long cooking time needed to infuse the beans with flavor. But most of the time is untended, and none of the ingredients are hard to find.

I made a couple of minor substitutions: First, I used vegetable broth instead of chicken stock, which I thought I had on hand and, well, didn’t. I substituted 1 tsp of dried herbs for the fresh oregano and thyme, same reason. And I omitted the parsley because I just don’t like it.

Also, I didn’t use freshly ground coffee – I use Folgers, so that’s what went in. Yes, I live in Seattle and I use Folgers. (I run it through a fancy French press, if that makes the idea more palatable. It makes all coffee wonderful. Really.)

I was pleased to have an ample supply of leftovers the next day. Sadly, though, I made this recipe on the first day of school, so The Child disappeared into her bedroom with her dinner, so she could continue analyzing the day via skype with her friends).  Her jury, at least, is still out.

 

Big Sur Baked Beans

 

Big Sur Bakery's Baked Beans
 
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Author: Wojtowicz/Gilson, from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook
Ingredients
  • 1 pound dried red, navy, or cranberry beans
  • 1 small onion, halved
  • 1 small carrot
  • 1 small celery stalk
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 quart chicken stock
  • 3 ounces bacon, diced (3-4 slices)
  • 3 tbsp whole-grain mustard
  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground coffee
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
Instructions
  1. Place the beans in a large bowl, cover with water and soak at room temperature overnight. Drain the beans and place them in a medium pot with the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, garlic, stock, and bacon. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the beans are tender, but not mushy, about 30-45 minutes (they will cook further in the oven). Skim off any foam that forms.
  2. Strain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Discard the onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf; set the beans aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  4. In a small bowl, combine the mustard, brown sugar, ground coffee, ground pepper, salt, and reserved cooking liquid. Combine the beans and the sauce in a baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until the beans have absorbed most of the liquid. Remove from the oven, and stir in the herbs.
Notes
I didn't have fresh herbs on hand so I used dried, as listed above. The original recipe calls for: 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley; 1 tbsp oregano; 1 tbsp thyme.
The original recipe calls for "freshly ground coffee." I used Folgers and it was fine. Folgers also makes a nice cup of coffee when used in a French press. I live in Seattle. I know coffee. Trust me.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // beans, comfort food

Spicy Three-Bean and Corn Chili

01.07.2014 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

I have a culinary crush on Thomas Keller, and in poking around on the website for Seattle’s cookbook store, I discover they have a signed copy of one of his cookbooks for sale. This seems like a good reason to leave the house during our Christmas vacation, so The Child and I abandon our new toys – briefly – and head in to the city.

 

It turns out the store doesn’t have the book I think they do – Ad Hoc at Home, in case you were wondering – but they have dozens of other signed cookbooks that they are happy to sell me. I immediately spy a signed copy of Alice Waters’ newest, which I leaf through and claim, since it has a number of vegetarian recipes, although, truthfully, I’m not sure how many of them I’d actually make. I keep looking.

 

There’s plenty to look at – all the big names are represented, many with signed copies – Ottolenghi! David Tanis! But it’s like being lost in paradise: Everything around me is wonderful, but I just want Home – the cookbook full of things I’d actually make and eat. Most of the books have one or two recipes like that, but that’s it, and those are the books I check out of the library.

 

The Child is bored. You found something, she says. Can we be done?

 

No, I tell her. Not until you find a cookbook full of recipes you would eat. Go find it.

 

She comes back five minutes later with her mission accomplished and a very pleased expression. Can we get it? It will be my first cookbook. Can I get it?

 

She’s found a tiny cookbook, beautifully and probably artisanally printed, with nothing but different recipes for strawberries. I can’t argue the point – she really would eat pretty much anything involving strawberries. I tell her it’s hers if she lets me find a cookbook too. I want something full of recipes we both want to eat.

 

She takes my Alice Waters and turns her nose up at it, and then does the same with Patricia Wells. I hand her a book full of Mac and Cheese recipes, but she pronounces them weird and points out that half of them involve meat. I finally pick up and start leafing through what I think is a baking book, Flour, Too, by Joanne Chang. I loved her first cookbook, which actually was a baking book, that I checked out of the library to try, and then made several superb recipes from (Classic Peanut Butter Cookies and Vanilla Bean Krispy Rice Treats). This new book, though, includes both sweet and savory dishes, and I sit down with it and start putting mental sticky notes on half the pages. Chili and soup and sandwiches that even The Child might eat. I hand it to her, and she doesn’t need to do more than look at the table of contents. Spiced Banana Pancakes? We’re getting it, she says.

 

The first recipe I tried was the first dinner recipe that The Child got really excited about – Three-Bean and Corn Chili. She misses chili, she tells me, and I kind of agree. It seems like an obvious thing to make for her, because she loves it and there are hundreds of recipes for vegetarian chili out there, probably thousands. Yet, I’ve never found one I liked, until now.

 

Chang’s recipe, like all her other recipes I’ve tried, isn’t complex. Although she gives directions for an overnight bean soak, she very graciously also gives directions for the rest of us –  the ones who didn’t plan our meal yesterday but really want chili right now. I made this with canned beans and it was just fine. I also didn’t use no-salt-added tomatoes, but took extra care at the end not to oversalt, tasting rather than measuring out salt. I cut all the pieces into a fairly small, even dice, and cooking was a breeze. It doesn’t have the issues that I’ve found with other vegetarian chili recipes that I’ve tried – too watery, not robust enough, not enough flavor. A lot of them feel more like soup to me than chili.

 

This chili is spicy, and those who don’t like things very spicy may wish to cut back on the amount of chili powder used (one blogger suggests cutting it by half). I thought it was fine, but The Child thought it needed to be less spicy. Still, she surprised me by proclaiming that she liked it,  and asking if I would make it again, just with a little less spice. I will definitely make it again, and play around with it until I get the spice mix just right for her – once I finish this batch. It makes a lot.

 

Spicy Three-Bean and Corn Chili

 

 

Spicy Three-Bean and Corn Chili
 
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Author: Joanne Chang
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • One 15-oz. can of cannellini beans
  • One 15-oz. can of black beans
  • One 15-oz. can of chickpeas
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 celery stalk, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
  • One 15-oz. can of corn kernels, drained and rinsed
  • One 4-oz. can of minced mild green chiles
  • Two 14½-oz. cans of "no-salt added" diced tomatoes, with juice
  • 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tbsp smoked Spanish paprika
  • 2 tsp cocoa powder
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp kosher salt
  • ½ tsp freshly ground white pepper
Instructions
  1. Drain the beans in a colander, rinse under running water, and set aside.
  2. In a large stockpot, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, sweet potato, and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the vegetables start to soften, the onion starts to turn translucent, and you can smell the vegetables cooking. Add the drained beans, corn, green chiles, tomatoes, and 4 cups of water, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the vinegar, brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, cocoa powder, cayenne, salt, and white pepper. Stir until well mixed and bring back to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the mixture thickens a bit.
  3. The chili can be ladled into bowls and served immediately, or it can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated overnight to develop flavor and texture. It can also be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up 1 month.
Notes
Chang also gives instructions for using dried beans in her book. I used canned beans for convenience and the recipe worked very well. I also didn't use "no salt added tomatoes", but you should adjust the amount of salt you add at the end if you do this.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // beans, corn, vegan, vegetarian

Tuna and White Bean Salad

06.08.2013 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

I had to change computers recently, when my old computer started making strange whirring noises and mostly, working very, very slowly. I’m pretty sure it had some sort of virus on it, too, because the browser started acting strangely. Anyway, my father – who firmly believes I should rid myself of anything associated with The Departed – decided to replace my old computer, which was lucky for me, because things just zip along now in a way they never did before, and the world is a much prettier place when viewed on my new monitor. I’m slowly moving files over from the old machine, but it’s a tedious task: the old computer is very reluctant to give them up, and complains loudly when I attempt to. I’m moving only what I must.

This is a roundabout way of saying, I lost some stuff, and it’s not my fault.

One of the things I lost was a recipe that I had saved on my desktop, for Tuna and White Bean salad. It sounded like such a lovely combination, and perhaps more important, like something The Child might eat, because those are basically two of the only things she does eat.  I think the recipe may have included artichoke hearts, a favorite of mine, but I wouldn’t swear to it.

We’ll never know, because it’s gone, and several attempt to Google that exact recipe ended in failure – although I came up with numerous other similar recipes.

Yet again, though, I got lucky: I received a review copy of Hazan Family Favorites by Giuliano Hazan. Giuliano is the son of Marcella Hazan, whose Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking really transformed my cooking, with its simple recipes and clear explanations of what to do and why when cooking them.

I was pleased to discover that not only does Hazan Family Favorites have a recipe for Tuna, Bean, and Red Onion salad, but also that it is written in similar fashion to Marcella’s masterwork, with clear explanations of what you need to know to really get a recipe right.

In this recipe, Hazan explains, you really don’t want to use the bland water-packed tuna you probably have a can of on your shelves; rather, you want to use Italian olive-oil packed tuna, and if possible, the kind that comes packed in a glass jar, as it is typically the best quality. After a lifetime spent eating the American canned stuff, it was hard for me to get my mind around the idea of flavorful tuna, and harder still when I got to the store and found several varieties of Italian glass-jarred tuna, the cheapest of which sold for $7. Still, I bought it, and was stunned to discover that this tuna was moist and very, very richly flavored.

I made the salad as directed, with the minor modification of reducing the amount of olive oil from Hazan’s version, as it seemed oily enough after 2 tbsps – though this may have been a result of me not draining the tuna sufficiently, probably because I was too busy savoring it and trying to restrain myself from eating it straight from the jar. Use your judgment on the oil, that’s all I’m saying.

I offered a plate of the salad to The Child, who pronounced it delicious, and also observed that it was the first time she had ever eaten a fresh onion that she liked. Hazan recommends soaking the onion slices for 15 minutes to cut the sharpness, and I think this is spot-on; there is still a nice kick from the fresh onion, but they aren’t overbearing.

It’s a simple dish to make, but packed with flavor, which improves the next day. Hazan claims it serves four, which it might as a starter. It made two dinners and a lunch at our house.

Tuna and White Bean Salad

 

Tuna and White Bean Salad
 
Print
Prep time
20 mins
Total time
20 mins
 
Author: Giuliano Hazan
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • ½ small red onion
  • 7 ounces canned tuna packed in olive oil, drained
  • 2 cups canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Peel the onion and thinly slice it crosswise. Put the slices into a bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak for 15 minutes.
  2. Place the tuna in a large serving bowl and break into pieces with a fork. Add the beans. Drain the water from the onions and pat dry; add onions to the bowl.
  3. Season with salt and pepper, add oil and vinegar, and toss to mix thoroughly.
Notes
I used ¼ of a large red onion, which was the only size available. I cut the amount of olive oil to 2 tbsp from Hazan's 3.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // beans, salad, tuna

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