Kerouac's thread got me thinking that I should explore more ways to cook with beans, lentils peas, etc. I generally make pretty basic stuff, black beans & rice, lentil soup, etc. I only started cooking these as a adult, because my mom hates all legumes, so it was nothing I saw being prepared at home. Winter is coming here, so it will be a good time to try some new things. In summer I usually just make hummus and sometimes lentil salad.
I will start it off with typical Chilean recipe for lentils that I found at the site I mentioned, I have made pretty similar soups before, but this one sounds like it has some extra touches:
Lentajas Con Chorizo
* 12 Ounces Lentils * 2 Quarts Water * 1 Tablespoon Spanish Paprika * 1 Teaspoon Cumin * Salt And Pepper -- to taste * 1 Tablespoon Oregano * 1 Medium Bay Leaf * 1 Pound Chorizo -- sliced * 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil * 1 Large Onion -- finely chopped * 1 Large Carrot -- grated * 2 Stalks Celery -- finely chopped * 4 Cloves Garlic -- finely chopped * 1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste * 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce * 1/2 Cup Port Wine * 2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese -- grated
Directions In larege stock pot, cover lentils with water and bring to boil. Add paprika, cumin salte, pepper, oregano and bay leaf. Simmer 1 hours. Saute chorizo in oil. Add onion carrots, celery and garlic. Satue 5 mintues. During last hour of cooking, add tomato paste, soy sauce, and chorizo mixture, deglaze saute pan with port. Add to lentils, cook 1 more hour. Serve topped with cheese.
Yes, that looks lovely; I think Chilean friends have made this or a very similar dish - perhaps a bit more stew-like. The foods of the Southern Cone countries (Southern tip of the continent) are not typically very hot and spicy as in some other parts of Latin America, the seasoning is more similar to Spanish or Italian foods.
Two of my friends from that part of the world are back "home", home in quotes for one who pretty much grew up here, the son of Chilean refugees here; he is working on a project in a town to the south of Santiago. I also have an Argentine friend who is spending about half a year back home, she (C), is of his (A's) parents' generation and was a refugee herself in Barcelona, moving here later for personal reasons.
I really, really hope I can get down to the Southern Cone countries - I have places to stay in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay - just have to find either the airfare or some conference that will hire me down there. Guess this is an impetus to keep on plugging away at my Castillian/Spanish - I speak it of course, but not well enough to interpret or translate into the language - it still comes out partially in Italian!
I've braised some lamb neck pieces - want to combine the meat and braising liquid (with lots of onions, white wine and lemon) with some kind of legume; don't know whether I'd rather cook lentils - I have nice lentilles du Puy - or add some white cannellini beans I already have cooked and frozen - those are also very good in that kind of dish.
The Lentil (dahl) recipe that I posted yesterday was given to me by my Nepali Sherpa friend. His name is Dawa.
Having read Gringalais's lentil recipe (above) I realise that Dawa cooks the simplest way possible with the least ingredients. He is a mountain guide and some of his duties might include cooking for clients. Seeing that there is nothing much for sale in the high Himalayas he might only carry a meagre amount of spices with him in his backpack. Nepali porters, if left to their own devices, will eat their main meal around 10am. They will stop on the track, make a fire and cook up dahl baht. Rarely would they be able to afford to eat meat and it would be unobtainable in the mountains. So the following recipe is without frills and very basic.
Nepali Sherpa Lentils
Lentils of any variety, including mixed Onion Garlic Fenugreek Salt Tumeric Cooking oil
Wash lentils thoroughly and pick out any small stones. Put to boil in a saucepan, cover with lid. Add a little tumeric to the boiling water.
In a pan fry the fenugreek, add tumeric, stir well....add the chopped onions and garlic and cook very well, even until the mixture turns brown. This improves the taste.
When the lentils are tender and have absorbed nearly all of their water, stir in the fried mixture.
Fresh, chopped coriander on top of this would be a treat. I asked Dawa why he didn't put a chilli into the mixture. He said he did, sometimes. Certainly if a Nepali was going to eat a highly spiced chicken or goat curry he would not add a chilli to the dahl. One dish would have to be 'cool'.
Likewise this dahl can be served as a soup by adding more water. The consistency of dahl varies wherever you eat it. It is equally good thick or thin. It needs rice to accompany it or parathas (at a push)....
Maybe the cold weather is making everyone crave beans. There are two bean and two lentil soups in the soup thread right now!
I'm dying to try LaGatta's cannellini/lamb combination, and will do so as soon as I get some lamb.
Spindrift, I can't wait to try that recipe. Even though simple, the combined flavors would be richly interesting. Did your friend used powdered or fresh turmeric? Surely his area is too cold to produce turmeric, I'd think.
I admit I don't know where I got this recipe, but it makes a nice vegetarian main dish, or hefty "side". Spindrift, you are a nutritionist, correct? Wouldn't this or any legume dish need to be consumed with a "starch" to make it a complete protein?
LENTIL STUFFED PEPPERS
2/3 c Red lentils 1 one-inch piece ginger, grated 4 T Vegetable oil 1 T Ground coriander 4 medium Green bell peppers 1 1/4 cup Water 1 tsp Cumin seeds Salt & pepper 2 onions, chopped 2 T chopped cilantro 2 green chilies
Rinse lentils & soak for 30 minutes. Heat half oil in skillet. Add peppers & cook for 3 to 5 minutes till golden brown. Drain & cool. Add remaining oil to pan. Cook cumin till they begin to pop. Add onions & chilies & cook for 8 minutes. Stir in ginger & coriander. Drain lentils and add to the pan with water. Stir well & cover. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the liquid has evaporated.
Stir in salt & pepper. Add cilantro. Cut tops off peppers & remove seeds. Stuff with the lentils & replace the tops. Stand in a baking dish. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.
Union Square Cafe Cookbook: 160 Favorite Recipes from New York's Acclaimed Restaurant by Danny Meyer and Michael Romano, 1994, HarperCollins
“This is a richer version of Fagioli alla Toscana. Danny first had this savory white bean and tomato dish in a Roman trattoria and could never get a straight answer as to what the beans had to do with uccelletti, or ‘little birds”. The most sensible answer he ever got was that the dish called for the same herbs – rose- mary, sage and thyme – as most recipes suggest for roasting little birds. What- ever the case, these beans pack a lot of flavor and are well worth the lengthy simmering time. Try them with any well-seasoned meat or fowl dish (they’re great with roast quail), or have a plateful of them on their own for lunch on a chilly autumn day. All you’ll need is some crusty bread and a glass of red wine to complete the meal.”
Serves 4 to 6
1 recipe Fagioli all Toscana, through step 2 (see below) 1 cup veal stock 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced 1 teaspoon each minced [fresh] rosemary, sage, and thyme 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper
1. In a large skillet, heat the fagioli with 1 cup of their cooking liquid, the veal stock, and the olive oil. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until the starch in the beans, combined with the rapidly boiling stock, has formed a rich sauce. 2. Add the tomatoes and herbs and continue cooking 2 to 3 minutes. Finish with the Pecorino, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Try Dolcetto d’ Alba, Barbaresco, or Valpolicella with these rich-tasting beans.
Fagioli alla Toscana
Union Square Cafe Cookbook: 160 Favorite Recipes from New York's Acclaimed Restaurant by Danny Meyer and Michael Romano, 1994, HarperCollins
“With tongue in cheek, Tuscans often refer to themselves as ‘mangiafagioli’ (bean eaters) – so addicted are they to eating beans. Classically served with their beloved bistecca alla fiorentina – a hefty grilled T-bone steak slathered with olive oil and lemon – white beans are a satisfying accompaniment to roast meats and, we’ve found, even to grilled seafood and fish. Many Union Square Café guests enjoy the fagioli on their own as a hearty appetizer. Make sure to have plenty of good olive oil on hand to drizzle over the beans at the table. It is important not to undercook fagioli. Unlike pasta, beans cooked al dente are both unpleasant to eat and difficult to digest.”
Serves 4
1 cup dried cannelloni or Great Northern beans 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste 1 celery rib 1 carrot, scrubbed and cut in half lengthwise 1 medium onion, peeled, halved, and stuck with 2 cloves 1 bay leaf 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 teaspoon each minced rosemary, sage and thyme 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano Freshly ground black pepper
1. Cover the beans with cold water and soak overnight. 2. Drain the beans and place them in a saucepan with cold water to cover by at least 3 inches. Add the celery, carrot, onion halves, and the bay leaf. Bring to boil and immediately turn down to a simmer. With a slotted spoon or ladle, carefully skin off any foam that rises to the sur- face of the water. Continue simmering, covered, for 1 hour. Add the salt and continue cooking an additional 30 minutes, or until the beans are completely cooked and tender. Test for doneness by gently squeez- ing a bean between your fingers – it should give without any resistance. Discard the vegetables and, if not serving right away, let the beans cool in their cooking liquid. 3. To serve, heat the olive oil and garlic in a skillet over medium heat; be careful not to brown the garlic. Add the beans to the skillet with 1 1/2 cups of their cooking liquid. Bring to a boil, add the herbs, and three quarters of the cheese. Continue to boil briskly until the liquid reduces to form a sauce, about 10 minutes. Don’t be concerned if some of the beans disintegrate. Along with the olive oil and cheese, they will thicken and enrich the sauce. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the beans to a serving dish, sprinkle with remaining cheese and some additional extra-virgin olive oil if you like.
Imec - that recipe sounds yummy and I'm going to cook it. Many thanks. It's the added cheese at the end that's really sold it to me.
Bixa - Dawa would use powdered tumeric. I've never seen fresh tumeric. It would be a root, wouldn't it?
.....and yes, beans/lentils should be eaten alongside a carbohydrate such as rice or toast. This ensures that the balance of amino acids is in the right proportion to be absorbed as vegetable protein.
Thanks, Spindrift. Yes, turmeric is a member of the ginger family. If you ever find the rhizome for sale, it will root readily in moist soil. Keep it from freezing & you'll have a bit of India in your English garden.
Thanks for the carb/bean information. It's wonderful that two such filling and cheap foods combine to make an invaluable protein source.
Imec, I have had this dish at Union Square Cafe. Actually, it's listed on both their lunch and dinner menu under vegetables. Even though they have changed chefs a few times it is a mainstay on their menu, for good reason. It's great with lamb chops.
I just realised I can substitute lentils with daal! I can, can't I?
So now I will be able to use the bones left over from the whole Serrano ham my sister brought me on her visit
Make broth using chicken carcasses, throw in pork belly, ham rinds, broken ham bones, smoked sausages, add fried onions, diced carrots and potatoes, add daal!
Okay, I accidentally invented something today that I think has great possibilities. I am going to share it here, but I don't want to hear any gagging or unkind remarks.
I usually keep a can or two of refried beans around as a staple. (yes, I do make my own, too) There was a can with just a little left today when I decided to make a meal of the last egg & last two pieces of bread in the house. What came out of this was vegetarian meat patty!
Beat a couple of tablespoons of refried black beans with a few drops of water, some chile paste (optional) and an egg. Meanwhile, have some chopped onion frying in a little olive oil. Salt the surface where the onions are, and pour the bean/egg mixture over it. Cook gently, folding in the sides, then flipping the package. Cook through on that side.
I put mine on lightly mayonnaised bread, then toasted the sandwich, but it would make a great hamburger substitute -- it's even the right color!
HW, you cook the patty thoroughly, even browning it slightly. The texture is really nice -- firm yet tender. It doesn't taste like egg or bean, it tastes like meat.
Yeah -- these two threads started at the same time & my lentil/dahl recipe is soup, after all. Anyway, daal are (is?) a type of lentil, right?
Bixa - just so as you know - Protein (protein = amino acids) from a meat source is more readily absorbed by the body than vegetable protein. I can give a little lecture on amino acids if anyone wants to listen
This recipe, for classic baked beans, the kind many people call Boston baked beans, probably belongs in The Library because of its literary excellence. It's the work of that great comic philosopher, Don Marquis.
Don Marquis's Very Special Baked Bean Recipe
From "The Almost Perfect State" By Don Marquis Doubleday, Page & Company 1927
If you WILL eat beans, here is the way to prepare them.
First, you must have an earthenware Bean Pot, about six hands high, and of a dark bay colour. It is better if this Bean Pot is inherited from a favourite grandmother, with a porous texture (the pot, not the grandmother) that has absorbed and retained the sentimental traditions of at least three generations. But if you own no such heirloom (more precious than the rubies of an imperial crown!) a new one can be made to do.
Procure your white navy beans, and pick them over on a Friday night, not hastily or cursorily, but with love and care, one bean at a time, for this is both an art and a science on which you have embarked--it is more; it is almost a religious rite. Cast from you all split beans, all rusty or spotted beans, all too-wrinkly beans; save only such superior beans, smooth, hard, and shining, as a twelve-months' old child would love to poke up his nose.
Put these aristocrats to soak in water that has three or four tablespoonfuls of baking soda in it.
Don't ask me why the soda. I am not arguing with you. I am telling you.
Some people say that after these beans have soaked all night they are ready to bake.
These people lie.
They are not ready to bake.
They are merely ready to boil.
Boil them from ten o'clock Saturday morning until noon, in a pot with a piece of salt pork in it. And time your boiling so that on the stroke of twelve there is very little of the liquid remaining. For they must not go into the Sacred Earthenware Bean Pot, the Ancestral Amphora, too soupy or sloppy.
Put into the bottom of the Bean Pot a layer of Beans four fingers deep. Poke deeply into this one bay leaf.
Put on top of this a layer consisting of pieces of just the right kinds of salt pork.
On top of the layer of pork, dribble a thin layer of thick New Orleans molasses.
Put in another layer of beans.
Into this second layer poke four or five slender curling strips of pungent shredded onion. Put a dab of mustard on the onion.
Then a sparse layer of pork. Then another dribbled layer of molasses.
Pause and put your Ego in harmony with the Cosmic All.
Build up these successive layers of beans, pork, and molasses, alternating the subtle bay leaf with the poetic onion, until the pot is filled within two inches of the top. From time to time, a conservative sprinkle of black pepper, as you work from the bottom upward. From time to time hum a verse of "Old Hundred." Don't put in any salt; the pork salts all.
Let the top layers of pork and molasses be a bit thicker than any of the others.
Bake, slowly, in a moderate oven, from noon until six o'clock in the evening. Some say it must be a brick oven. Nonsense! Your Bean Pot itself is your bricky heat-retaining medium.
Eat from six in the evening until midnight--and without fear of indigestion. The thorough cooking has taken all that sort of thing away.
Each separate bean of all these beans retains its form--almost. Almost. Not quite. Each bean is ready to melt tenderly into amalgamation with his neighbor bean. At the touch of the serving spoon the touched beans lose their individual identity, yield up their pride, merge gently into a kind of Bean Nirvana.
Some eat them with vinegar. Very good. Others with tomato catsup. I eat them with a squeeze of lemon juice. Ambrosia!
My mother grew up in the suburbs of Boston during the last of the Depression, and she won't look at a bean. If she inherited a beautiful bean pot, it probably got left out on the curb.
The idea of baking beans has never computed in my brain. I always think of such things as having been created back when the wood stove was also the heater for the house, which kept the oven hot all day whether you were cooking anything or not. So it made perfect sense to slow bake all sorts of dishes back then.
In terms of modern energy use, it just doesn't make sense anymore. I am certainly not going to turn on my electric oven for 8 or 10 hours. The timer doesn't have more than 120 minutes on it anyway.
Mmmm those baked beans sound wonderful but I admit I've never taken quite that much time with beans. My grandmother's recipe:
1 bag white kidney or navy beans 1 small can tomato paste 1/4 cup molasses 2 teaspoons salt 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped 1 garlic clove crushed and minced 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 cup brown sugar 2 bay leaves chunk of salt pork 8 oz bacon
Clean a bag of white kidney beans and soak them 2 hours to overnight (preferred) in water which you toss and then boil beans with a couple of bay leaves and some salt pork covered one finger in fresh water (by one finger she means tip of finger on beans and water tops out around first knuckle). It is ok to add a bit of liquid now and again, but remember you don't want to have to drain the beans. When the beans are just cooked but still have a bite there should be not much water. Chop the bacon and cook it brown and crisp in a skillet, set aside to drain, and saute the onions in the leftover bacon grease until nicely caramelized, adding the garlic when almost finished so as not to burn it. Mix everything together and put in the oven in a ceramic baker. Do not use metal, it will flavor the beans.
Sorry - forgot preheat oven to 350 F and bake the beans, covered, at least 2 hours, though you can add a little water if for some reason your meal is delayed and they will be fine in there a couple of hours more.
6 bell peppers, core and seeds removed 1 cup split lentils (or Dahl) 1 pound ground meat (I like turkey) 1/2 medium onion, chopped 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped (to taste) 3 or four leaves each fresh basil and fresh sage, chopped 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped finely 1 egg boiling marinara
Saute onion til translucent, add 1 clove garlic, stir a few times and remove from heat. Mix in your other ingredients except the egg, add boiling marinara to the mix so that it is wet but not soupy. You want to be able to take a handful and mold it without it dripping, but can't really give an amount as it varies depending on how dry the meat is. If you like cheese, some farm cheese or feta is good added in. Add the egg, mix well, and stuff your peppers.
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven 1 hour and 15 minutes in a glass casserole dish with a little water splashed in the bottom. Serve topped with marinara and a little grate of parmigiano. My daughters expressed surprise this contained lentils when I first made it with them.
Oh ~~ two really lovely recipes, Gertie! I especially can't wait to try the stuffed peppers.
I agree with you about the origins of baked beans, Kerouac. It was probably a practical dish back when ovens had to be kept somewhat stoked all the time. I suspect classic cassoulet was the same kind of dish.
When I was a new cook I used to try out all kinds of things. I mostly wouldn't do any of them any more, but I'm glad I learned about the from-scratch versions. I remember that baked beans were cooked at an extremely low temperature, probably what the temp would have been in a resting wood-fired oven.
Gertie, your grandmother's version sounds very much as though she, as an experienced cook, figured out how to get the same results without the expenditure of oven time.
Some people speculate that cassoulet, a similar ember dish, first originated with Sephardic Jews. Askenazi Jews have a similar food - Cholent - in Eastern Europe. The Sephardic version was called Dafina, at least in the Maghreb. Sabbath-keeping Jews could not cook food on the Sabbath, as after all cooking is work. So to have a nice warm lunch after Sabbath synagogue service, the ladies (I presume) put beans, meats (lamb? duck? goose?) and vegetables together in an earthenware pot and left it to finish cooking in the embers overnight.
One of the Spanish words for beans is Judías (Jewish women) since it was such a common dish for them to make. They must have used old-world beans until contact with the New World.
But other people obviously could have done the same, just to wisely use scarce firewood.
As for me, I'm making a dip from tiny black "beluga" lentils, which bear that name as they glisten like beluga caviar. They cook up mushier than the refined French Lentilles du Puy, but this is an advantage in making a dip or spread. I've added fresh ginger, Spanish smoked paprika and tagine spices, as well as a tin of pitted black olives I had on hand. I'm out of garlic so have to go get some and add a sautéed onion and a bit of garlic. It is already very tasty.
One of them young people with their vegan notions fed me this... It is good, unlike some vegan stuff.
lagatta that sounds yummy yummy. I adore spicy bean dips and black olives. Do you process the olives and lentils to get a smooth consistency, perhaps with a touch of olive oil?
I bought a small smoked pork hock at Balkani, a shop owned by Romanians, at the Jean-Talon Market. All its fellow pork hocks were big, for a family-sized meal, but this little one was not too big to go into the pot with some lentilled du Puy, onions, celery, garlic, the usual stuff (I'm also going to grate a bit of fresh ginger in, at the end).
I'm not making this in the crockpot but on the stovetop as I want the lentils to cook down a bit. Hope it is successful. I am open to all suggestions! Is there anything else I should add?
And yes, gertie, one year and a half later, I do use a stick blender on the dip, and of course add olive oil.
When I cook, olive oil and garlic pretty much go without saying, unless they are out of character with the dish; for example olive oil might be wrong in many Asian dishes (obviously not including the Middle East).
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