Tis the season for warm, filling, comforting bean dishes. The New World added a huge variety of legumes of the Phaseolus family to the global cuisine: red beans, black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, lima beans, and so on. (The legumes native to the Old World were peas, chickpeas, lentils, fava beans, adzuki or mung beans, and soya beans. Also some tree legumes like carob and tamarind) Here are a few recipes drawn from around the world to warm you this winter.
Cassoulet: The fancy French cousin of beans-and-franks.
Brown 1 sliced kielbasa and 1 lb. of lamb chops cubed (discard bone or make stock with it).
Add 1 bulb garlic, peeled and minced. Yes, the whole bulb.
1 Tbsp. rosemary
1 medium onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 diced tomato
Cook until crisp-tender. Add 3 cups cooked white beans (flageolet beans are the best, most authentic kind for this), 1 Tbsp. tomato paste, and salt and molasses to taste. Simmer 30 minutes. [I omit the tomato products and add 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar and it is very good].
Hoppin’ John: Did you eat blackeyed peas on New Year’s Day? It’s supposed to bring good luck. This tasty stew is good luck anytime.
Start by chopping up plenty of onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic, and saute it in butter. Add fresh or frozen black-eyed peas. If using dried, presoak them overnight. Add chicken broth and a ham bone, salt and pepper. Simmer 30 minutes. Either add some rice to the pot to cook, or serve the stew over cooked rice. Tomatoes or kale are popular additions.
Foul: Pronounced fool. No, it isn’t foul-tasting. And it comes in many national varieties. It is basically a hummus (see below) made with cooked fava beans instead of garbanzos, with parsley and tomatoes stirred in. Eaten for breakfast throughout the Middle East. Fava beans are a bit of a pain since they have to be soaked and peeled of their thick skins before cooking, but they are very tasty.
(Note: some people have a severe intolerance to them. An genetic enzyme deficiency causes red blood cell breakdown upon consuming this bean. Check before serving this to a crowd)
Pease pudding: Old standby of medieval and early American kitchens. Requires equipment to steam it, such as a glass or metal bowl that will fit inside your largest kettle with a little leeway. If your equipment is smaller, cut down the recipe. I like to do this in a loaf pan, so it can be sliced and browned in butter or meat juices.
Cook 4 cups of green split peas until they are very soft. Drain excess water and press through a sieve to puree. Add 1 stick of butter, 2 eggs, salt and pepper to taste, and a handful of fresh mint very finely shredded. Place in your well-greased pudding basin and cover tightly with foil. Place basin into kettle half full of water and boil 45-60 minutes until firm. Chill before slicing.
This also works if you put the covered pan in a baking dish half full of water and bake it.
Lentil stew: Do it your way!
But this is mine
1 cup lentils, 1 diced onion, 1 cup finely chopped carrots, 2 stalks of celery sliced, 2 cloves garlic sliced. Cover with water in the crockpot and cook on low 4-6 hours, or on the stove for an hour.
Petit salé aux lentilles: French bistro food I tasted in Paris.
At least one day or up to two weeks before cooking, brine the pork, such as shoulder roast, blade roast, or spare ribs. In one pint of water, simmer a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, 1 garlic clove, 12 juniper berries, 10 black peppercorns, and 1 clove for 10 minutes. In three pints of water, dissolve 1 ¾ cups salt, ¼ cup sugar, and 4 tsp. saltpetre. Strain the herb water into this and cool, submerge the meat, cover and refrigerate a minimum of 12 hours.
Remove meat from brine, rinse, and poach in water to cover for 30 minutes. (If the water is too salty for your taste, change it for fresh water after 5 minutes.) Add
1 ¾ cups lentils, one onion studded with 2 cloves, 1 clove garlic, and a bouquet garni of thyme, sage, and rosemary. Simmer 1 ½ hours until pork is tender. Remove onion and bouquet garni. If too soupy, drain the lentils. Pepper to taste. Put lentils on serving plate, slice the pork and arrange it on top. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Hummus: Basic hummus is pureed cooked garbanzos, with lots of garlic and lemon juice and some salt. Soaking the minced garlic in the lemon juice before adding it makes it mellower. Olive oil may be added for richness. You can also add tahini (sesame paste) which some would say is essential; sumac, red pepper, pine nuts, cumin, leafy herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, or just go completely nuts with anything you want. But the result should always be smooth and dippable. To achieve this, the garbanzos need to be cooked very very soft. The crock pot is your friend. Don’t try it with your Instapot, they can clog the vent. A can of them will probably still be too firm and need more cooking. A little baking soda in the cooking water softens the skins (but also reduces B vitamin content, just so you know). If you use baking soda, rinse the cooked beans before pureeing.
Great with pita chips, vegetable crudites, corn chips or crackers.
Black beans and rice: Caribbean comfort food. Cook a cup of black beans in three cups water until tender or use canned black beans.
Sauté 3 slices of bacon and 2 cloves minced garlic in 2 Tbsp. olive oil, remove and set aside. Add 1 cup raw rice and fry it golden. Add 1 cup water, 1 cup bean broth, 2 tsp. salt, 1 cup cooked beans. Cook covered until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, crumble reserved bacon and add it and the garlic, fluffing the rice with fork.
Sweet pancakes with Adzuki bean paste: Japanese dessert. Adzuki beans will be in cans at your Asian grocer. They are small red mung-type beans.
For the pancakes, mix 1/3 cup sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 Tbsp. maple syrup, 1 2/3 cup flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 2/3 cup water. Fry into small thin pancakes of equal size. Yields 12-16 pancakes.
For the bean paste, put a 9 oz. can of adzuki beans with their liquid in a saucepan, add 3 Tbsp. sugar, heat and stir until most liquid is evaporated and beans are mushy. Cool.
Spread paste on one pancake and cover with another, or spread on half of one and fold over.
What’s for dinner at your place? Do you have winter favorites?