Archive for the 'beans' Category
This one’s going to be short and spicy. Pun fully intended.
There is no way to make this pretty, but damn, it’s yummy. Like hummus meets refried beans with a kick of sriracha – the perfect car snack when you need something munchy but with some semblance of nutritional value. I’m not against junky nibbles on road trips, but always feel a bit like a movie theatre floor by the time we arrive wherever it is we’re going.
No road trips this week, but plenty of eating at my desk. This.
Spicy Red Kidney Bean Dip
(adapted from Nigella Lawson, by way of the lovely Jeannette Ordas of Everybody Likes Sandwiches)
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
pinch salt
1 Tbsp. curry paste
2 Tbsp. tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 19 oz. (540 mL) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
juice of a lemon
a squirt of sriracha (the more, the spicier)
1 tsp. maple syrup or honey
In a medium skillet set over medium-high heat, heat a drizzle of oil and saute the onion and and garlic until soft. Add the salt, curry paste, tomato sauce, garam masala and cook for a few minutes, until nice and fragrant.
Put the kidney beans into the bowl of a food processor and add the cooked onion mixture. Add the lemon juice, sriracha and maple syrup and pulse until as chunky or smooth as you like. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Cool and refrigerate overnight (it’s even better the next day, and the day after that), and serve with pita chips, torn fresh pitas, tortilla chips, crackers or vegetable sticks.
April 19 2012 | appetizers and beans | 11 Comments »
This is all Sue‘s genius. She discovered that chickpeas, being as benign in flavour as they are, are more than happy to soak up some bacony goodness and sticky maple sweetness. Never considered beans for breakfast? Think again! Oh the potential of a roasted chickpea.
We’re in Vancouver tonight, having flown in to Abbotsford to teach a class at Lepp Farm Market.
Don’t you love Instagram?
Tomorrow we’ll do more cooking with beans on TV and then do a cooking demo at the Wellness Show on Friday. (Because beans are so good for you and all.) In between, the plan is to walk the sea wall, go to Bao Bei and L’Abbatoir, see some businessy people for overpriced drinks and do lots of poking about Vancouver, which is after all such a poke-aboutable city. And because we’re both sans kids, we may even stroll through the VAG without having to hush anyone or worry about light saber moves knocking down a priceless piece of art.
So those roasted chickpeas up there we made in our class, and it occurred to me that I haven’t shared them with you yet, and that maybe I should.
Roasted Chickpeas and Pecans with Bacon and Maple Syrup
1 cup (250 mL) cooked chickpeas, or 1/2 19 oz (540 mL) can, rinsed and drained
2-3 slices bacon, diced
a handful of broken pecans
1/4 cup maple syrup
light sprinkling of sea salt
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spread the chickpeas and bacon over a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake, stirring once or twice until bacon is starting to brown, and most of the fat has been rendered, about 30 minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 400°F, and add the pecans. Roast for 5 minutes, and add the maple syrup. Toss well, and return to the oven for another 3-4 minutes. The maple syrup should be thickened and bubbling. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, and allow to cool somewhat before eating.
February 15 2012 | beans and breakfast | 8 Comments »
It was -33 today. I can think of no better argument for bringing out the slow cooker.
Wait – there was a better reason. Kelsey and Phoebe and Cara (from Big Girls Small Kitchen – who’s new cookbook I became smitten with in early December when I was bedridden with a wrecked back) asked me to be a part of their slow-cooker love-in. It’s cold, and I love slow cooked food. Why not?
They’re giving away some slow cookers too, if you want to get in on the action. They’re also swapping ideas and links and pins and such, if you’re looking for slow cookin’ inspiration, which if my inbox is any indication, a lot of people are.
I must keep this short – have a story due today, which technically ends at midnight, right?
There are so many possibilities when it comes to slow cookers. So many cool things to make, but I couldn’t see past a bowl of baked beans. These are thick and sweet and tangy and everything baked beans should be, plus the beer. (As Sue puts it – feel free to swap apple juice or stock if there’s no beer in the fridge, or other members of the household protest its use this way.)
Guinness Baked Beans
a few slices of bacon, chopped (optional)
2 onions, finely chopped
2 19 oz (540 mL) cans red kidney beans, drained
2 19 oz (540 mL) cans white kidney or navy beans, drained
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 bottle Guinness, or 1 1/4 cups beef or chicken stock or apple juice
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Dijon, yellow, or grainy mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. molasses
salt and pepper, to taste
a few shakes of Tabasco sauce (optional)
In a heavy skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove it from the pan, crumble and set aside. Sauté the onion in the bacon drippings (or dump them and replace with a drizzle of oil) for about 5 minutes, until tender and beginning to turn golden.
Transfer the onions to the bowl of a slow cooker and add the beans, ketchup, barbecue sauce, Guinness, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, molasses, and a hit of salt and pepper. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Stir the bacon back into the beans right before you serve them. Makes lots.
Look who else has come to play!
FN Dish (The Food Network Blog)
Food52
The Family Dinner
Foodily
Punchfork
The Daily Meal
College Candy
Her Campus
College Lifestyles
Life2PointOh
One Bite At A Time
Mrs. Wheelbarrow
Savor the Thyme
Babble
Momtastic
Families in the Loop
NY Family Magazine
One Hungry Mama
CafeMom
Simple Bites
Gluten is my Bitch
Cookin’ Canuck
Food for my Family
Eclectic Recipes
Family Fresh Cooking
Talk Nerdy to Me
The Kids Cook Monday
Early Twenties
January 16 2012 | beans and slow cooker and vegetarian | 16 Comments »
We interrupt our regular dinner announcement to bring you these deliciously salty, spicy, munchable roasted chickpeas, which ruined our appetites for dinner anyway. I tweeted out a picture of these this afternoon, as I prepared to have four kids descend on my kitchen to taste test bean recipes for an upcoming Parents Canada spread. The immediate twitter flurry of recipe requests that ensued suggested that perhaps some of you may be interested in knowing how to roast a chickpea.
It should be a standard formula in any kitchen, I think. Especially after watching how kids devour them. If you’re looking for something salty and snackable, these beat chips all the way to the curb. Protein, fibre, they’ve got it all-and good taste, to boot. I’ll refrain from any reference to safe snacking.
Roasting chickpeas is like roasting anything else: the drier they are going in, the crispier they’ll be coming out. Open a large (19 oz.) can (or two), rinse and drain them well, and spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with canola or olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and any other seasonings you like – cumin and paprika (sweet or smoked) are good, or curry powder, or any spice mix you fancy. Roll them around to coat them more or less, and rast them at 400°F for 20-30 minutes, giving them a poke around once or twice, until golden and sizzling and crispy. They do tend to get paper towely after a couple hours, so serve them right away. Divine.
January 08 2012 | appetizers and beans and vegetarian | 13 Comments »
I’m in the Saskatoon airport. (My favourite airport in the world – small, never any lineups, a Tim Horton’s right beside the security gate, which likewise never has lineups. Cushy seats with plugins beside or under each seat, and fast, free wireless. Shouldn’t this be LA?)
I’ve just finished a 3 day tour of pulse farms and production facilities in rural Saskatchewan with Sue and a group of writers and researchers. Lunch today was at Simon’s Fine Foods, where we had a sort of hands-on cooking lesson with various pulses.
We were divvied into groups, and I got to cook with Sue and Cynthia Sass (check her out with Martha and Rachel!), but really mostly Cynthia and I chatted and I took photos while Sue did all the work.
Wait, you don’t know what a pulse is? Don’t sweat it – most of us outside the UK aren’t familiar with the term. I’m hoping Jamie will start cooking with them a little more often, so the term becomes as familiar as he made rocket. Outside of the gym, the term pulse refers to legumes – lentils, peas, chickpeas and beans. (You can learn more about pulses on the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers website.)
We’re continuing our research, learning more about how and where legumes are grown and how they’re processed by tramping about in fields, eating fresh lentils straight from their pods, talking to farmers and nutrition researchers and processors and cooks. It’s all very fascinating, and we now know more about how lentils are grown than we probably ever thought we would.
The release date of Spilling the Beans, by the way, is September 21. My parents’ anniversary. (A good omen I think, considering they’ve enjoyed a long and healthy marriage, and have taken to snuggling and smooching even more lately. Blech.)
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(OK, I wrote all that last night, got home at around midnight and discovered that I yet again left a small but essential cord -the one that connects camera and computer- in my hotel room. So sorry for the time lapse while I found another cord. I’m not actually in the Saskatoon airport anymore.)
Moroccan Chickpeas with Roasted Peppers, Parsley & Mint
Recipe courtesy of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Simon’s Fine Foods
canola oil, for cooking
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small can tomato paste
2 Tbsp raisins
1 Tbsp chopped dried apricots (we used more!)
4 cups cooked chickpeas (keep the cooking liquid)
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (we used more!)
juice of a lemon
In a large skillet, saute the onion in a skiff of canola oil over medium-high heat until soft. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, nutmeg and cayenne and cook for a minute.
Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste, raisins and apricots and a splash of cooking liquid (or tomato juice) and bring to a simmer – it should be saucy. Add the chickpeas to the pan and stir to coat. Cook for a bit to cook off any excess liquid if need be. Add the red pepper, mint and parsley and squeeze over the lemon. Toss to combine and serve warm or refrigerate until chilled – allowing the mixture to marinate for a few hours (or a day) will help the flavours improve. Makes lots.
August 11 2011 | beans | 18 Comments »
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