Should've trusted my instincts

I've been reading through a number of bean cookbooks, so when I got to Suzanne Caciola White's The Daily Bean, I thought there might be something odd about it. She starts with a heartwarming story about how her husband was told by a naturopath doctor to eat beans 3x/day to cure his diabetes. She spends only two pages discussing how to cook beans, before launching into sections on black, white, garbanzo, red, and lentil beans. I've never seen a bean cookbook that so actively discouraged use of dried beans over canned: the author claims there is no difference. I found the recipes either repetitive or simply "puree beans and put them in this standard recipe."

In my selfless devotion to my readers, I decided to try her Black Bean Curry recipe. It sounded reasonable enough - curry powder, onion, garlic, tomatoes, black beans - but the directions were poor. It said to put the onion, garlic, tomatoes, and green pepper in all at once, which would've resulted in overcooked vegetables.

There's the germ of a nice little bean dish in this recipe, but alas, the thing in my pot right now is not it. Maybe if I'd cooked the beans overnight in my crockpot with the curry powder... The resultant "curry" is almost inedible. I wonder if Ms. White has actually cooked beans, let alone this dish. Read More......

Recent Breakfasts

I ended up taking the other half of the cranberry beans the next morning and mixing them with diced tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. What a yummy breakfast!

And then a few days ago, I took the rest of the chard mix and wilted it in a pan with a slice of rendered Niman Ranch bacon, with a little white wine. The touch of white wine (which I was mostly using to steam) was the perfect amount of acid to cut the bitterness of the greens and the unctuousness of the bacon. Incredibly filling with crazy amounts of nutrients. Hurrah! Read More......

Cranberry Beans

Some cookbook I read had a bit where the author waxed rhapsodic over fresh cranberry beans, so when I saw them at Fairway, even though I had no idea what to do with them, I bought a pound. This recipe from Epicurious convinced me they'd be tasty with a basic vinaigrette. They were a joy to shell and it took <10mins to cook them, so even though it was a late weeknight, I still had a tasty nibble at a reasonable hour.

I have all the ingredients to follow the Epicurious recipe and I might do that with the other half. For tonight's nibble though, I tossed them with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, olive oil, and sherry. To me they taste like a cross between white beans and chickpeas; it doesn't matter much if it's healthy and fast, right? Read More......