Dish #2: Warm Chorizo and Spinach Salad (The Cook's Encyclopedia of Four Ingredient Cooking)
Dish #3: Rhubarb Stewed with Apple and Strawberries (The New Lighthearted Cookbook)
I love beans. Beans, lentils, pulses - they are my friends. They make something more of any soup, chili, salad...you name it. So I was really excited to try this eight-bean soup from my soup cookbook. Before:
1/2 cup great Northern beans
1/2 cup dry kidney beans
1/ cup dry navy beans
1/2 cup dry lima beans
1/2 cup dry butter beans
1/2 cup dry split green or yellow peas
1/2 cup dry pinto beans
1/2 cup dry lentils
1 hambone
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 can tomatoes, undrained, quartered
1 can tomato paste
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, choped
4 carrots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup dried chives
3 bay leaves
2 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1. In a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, bring beans and 5 cups water to boil. Cook 2 minutes, then remove frmo heat and let stand, covered, 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, in an 8-quart soup pot voer medium-high heat, bring hambone and cups water to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.
3. Drain beans and add to stock. Add bouillon, tomatoes, tomato paste, onion, celery, carrots, chives, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, mustard, and cayenne. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer 2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove hambone and bay leaves; add more water if desired.
So, you're going to desire to add more water. Once again I neglected to read that essential part. Because if you don't, you're going to have something that looks like this:
Complete with charred bits that burned to the bottom of the pot. Blech. Also, now I have several different variety of dried beans. Because those are everyday use items. Me <- Genius.
I didn't feel this was enough vegetable for the evening, so I made the warm chorizo & spinach salad side dish to go with it.
8 oz baby spinach leaves
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
5 oz chorio sausage, very thinly sliced
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1. Discard any tough stalks from the spinach. Pour theo il into a large skillet and add thes ausage. Cook gently for 3 minutes until the sausage slices start to shrivel slightly and color.
2. Add the spinach leaves and remove the skillet from the heat. Toss the spinach in the warm oil until it just starts to wilt. Add the sherry vinegar and a little seasoning. Toss the ingredients briefly, then serve immediately, while still warm.
Despite the fact that this recipe boasts ONLY FOUR ingredients, I was unable to find half of them in my local grocery store. I substituted hot genoa salami for chorizo, and though at any other point in time the grocery store has bazillions of BRANDS of baby spinach, I had to take home a box of baby arugula instead. Just as well, I like it better anyway. That being said, the green to red ratio in this picture does not reflect the vegetable content promised me in the original recipe book's picture. Hrmm.
Rounding out the evening was a fruit-based dessert, which always makes me feel virtuous and good (and slightly unsatisfied). Before:
1 orange
1 lb fresh or frozen rhubarb
1 large apple
1 cup water
1/4 cup (approx.) granulated sugar
2 cups fresh strawberries, halved
1/2 cup low-fat plain yogur
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
Grate rind and squeeze juice from orange. Cut rhubarb into 1" lengths. Peel, core and thinly slice apple.
In a saucepan, combine orange rind and juice, rhubarb, apple, water, and sugar; cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until fruit is tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in strawberries. Add more sugar to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature. Top each serving with a spoonful of yogurt and sprinkle with brown sugar.
You might notice that it doesn't actually contain any rhubarb. Yup. My grocery store strikes again. I decided to substitute mango for a variety of reasons. 1. It seemed to be the only thing there. 2. I love it and my boyfriend hates it and he wasn't going to be around to eat it. 3. Mango & strawberry. It's a delicious smoothie in the making. It's pretty good, although I suspect a little mushier than the intended rhubarb version.
This was a steamy night in my kitchen. Not only was I cooking for myself, but I also made a batch of brownies and a loaf of bread. The bread was an interesting recipe; full of dried prunes and bran. I refer to it as poop bread. Eating the bread and the bean soup concurrently has been interesting. And, unsurprisingly, pretty solitary.
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