Hummus

     When J.T. and I went on our first date, although we were “just friends,” it was to Zoe’s Kitchen.  Even with all my food intolerances/allergies, I can safely eat at Zoe’s and have multiple menu options.  In my defense, I warned J.T. that Zoe’s was chic food, but he had never been and wanted to give it a try.   I can still remember that date like it was yesterday.  He ordered the turkey sandwich with pita chips and I got my usual, the chicken salad and fruit plate.  Zoe’s has become one of our favorite restaurants and J.T. has learned that the turkey sandwich is not his favorite menu item.  He jokes to this day that his pita chips tasted like cardboard, and I still laugh at the fact the he ordered a turkey sandwich.  Now, his usual meal at Zoe’s is the hummus salad plate.  This man loves hummus and I have become quite fond of it myself.  I have gotten into the habit of serving hummus on Wednesday evenings.  Once a month or so, I make a large batch of hummus and divide it into 9 or 10 half pint jars.  I freeze the hummus and pull out jars as needed for meals.  Two jars are enough to provide us with supper and lunch for the next day.  It is so easy to make and much quicker than our old Wednesday night standby, veggie burgers.  After several edible, yet flawed batches of hummus, I have finally stumbled across my perfect recipe.  Nothing is overpowering and all the flavors of tahini, garlic, and lemon work together to form a creamy, Mediterranean (as described my J.T.) puree.  

Ingredients

• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 pound chickpeas, cooked, juices reserved
• ¾ cup tahini paste
• ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, from 3 to 4 lemons
• 3 tablespoons hot sauce, such as Crystal,  not Tabasco
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 ½ teaspoons Celtic sea salt
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

1.     In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse together the garlic cloves until finely minced.  Add the remaining ingredients and pulse together until the hummus forms a creamy consistency.  Add more reserved cooking liquid if needed.  

2.     Refrigerate overnight before serving.  Yields 9 to 10 (8 ounce) jars, about 9 cups

Make ahead:  Prepare the hummus and spoon into canning jars.  The hummus may be refrigerated up to one week or frozen up to 3 months.  If freezing, be sure to use a wide mouth canning jar.  

Refried Beans

     J.T. loves Mexican food, but I only prefer to eat it occasionally and when it is prepared in my own kitchen.  I look back and laugh about our first few months of dating.  I knew J.T. loved hot and spicy Mexican flavored foods, so I threw hot sauce, chili powder, cumin and paprika into practically every dish I made.  He loved it but I grew tired of all that spice!  About a month ago, we celebrated his 29^th birthday (for the 7^th time J) and he requested homemade Mexican food.  I settled on a menu of Beef Tacos with Refried Beans.  In my own health conscious brain, I decided the refried beans would count as our vegetable for the evening.  Many people associate Mexican food as cheap food.  While it is one of the cheaper meals to purchase at a restaurant, it can be quite pricy to prepare at home.  All the fresh ingredients – tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, onions, avocados, etc. – can really add up at the grocery store.  Beans, refried beans to be exact, are always an economical choice in our kitchen.  I often tell J.T. we would starve to death if it were not for beans. 

A little side note – I actually photographed and edited the photos listed below this past February.  I photographed a lot before I began working full time, because I knew I would not be able to continue to keep up with the blog.  It has taken me this long to perfect my refried bean recipe.  My other big project right now is my cookbook.  It may never become published, but I love working on it.  As Julia Child would say “cook bookery” is difficult business.  The countless hours it takes to test recipes and write are not for the weary, but I love it and hope to make a career from it one day.  I can always dream…

Refried Beans

Serves 6

slow cooker

Ingredients

• 1 pound pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely diced
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 3 teaspoons celtic sea salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 5 ½ cups water

Directions

1. Combine the pinto beans, onion, garlic, jalapeno peppers, olive oil, chili powder, cumin, paprika, sea salt, pepper, and water in a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Use an immersion blender to puree the beans before serving.  

Make ahead:  After pureeing, transfer the beans to a large casserole dish.  Reheat, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  The beans can also be frozen.  Cool completely overnight in the refrigerator before transferring to freezer safe containers.  Freeze up to 3 months. 

Sweet Italian Sausage with Apple & Fennel Seed

     As I mentioned in my last post, J.T. and I just celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary.  Over the weekend, we took a quick getaway trip to Orange Beach.  One thing that we were most looking forward to about the trip was the food – seafood to be exact.  I didn’t grow up eating a lot of seafood and neither did J.T.  We decided to be a little adventurous with our menu selections (he was definitely more adventurous than me).  Between the two of us, we ate flounder, stuffed crab, crab claws, shrimp, scallops, snowcrab, royal reds, and crawfish.  The best place we ate was The Gumbo Shack, located in Fairhope, Alabama and featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  They had the best gumbo I have ever tasted!  After stuffing ourselves with seafood for two days, we finished off our trip with a grass feed hamburger from Lulu’s.  J.T. could teach Lulu a thing or two about cooking a hamburger!  I enjoyed our time eating out, but I was ready for a home cooked meal after our vacation.  For our first meal back, I cooked Sweet Italian Sausage with Apple & Fennel Seed.  This hearty meal of sausage and white beans is a quick and easy supper for a cold weekday evening. 

 Recipe adapted from Poor Girl Gourmet

Ingredients

·         1 teaspoon fennel seeds

·         3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

·         1 medium sweet onion, chopped

·         4 links sweet Italian chicken sausage, casings removed, and cut into 1 – inch pieces

·         ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

·         ½ cup water

·         1 Granny Smith apple, finely diced

·         ½ pound great northern beans, cooked (or 2 – 15 ounce cans)

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt

·         ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Directions

1.      Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat.  Toast the fennel seeds for exactly 2 minutes, stirring the seeds around the pan constantly.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

2.      In the same pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes, or until they begin to turn translucent.  Add the sausage to the pan and cook until it is nicely browned, at least 10 minutes.  Sprinkle in the crushed red pepper flakes and pour in the water.  Scrape any browned bits up from the bottom of the pan.

3.      Add the toasted fennel seeds, apples, and beans.  Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.  The bright green apple skin should turn a pale green.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serves 4 large portions.  

Baked White Beans

recipe loosely adapted from Greenwise Magazine

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
  
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 (16 ounce) cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
  
• ½ cup olive oil mayonnaise
  
• 1/3 cup water
  
• 1 ½ teaspoons brown rice flour
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  
• ¼ cup bread crumbs
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat canola oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onions, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
   
2. Meanwhile, whisk together mayonnaise, water, brown rice flour, rosemary, mustard, black pepper, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Add the beans and mayonnaise mixture to the sautéed onions. Mix together. Transfer to a 2 quart baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Serves 5.

Rosemary White Bean Soup

Recipe courtesy of The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried great northern beans
  
• 3 onions, chopped (4 cups)
  
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 1 large branch fresh rosemary, 6 to 7 inches
  
• 1 pound mild pork sausage
  
• 2 quarts reduced sodium chicken broth
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cover the beans with water. Soak in the refrigerator overnight. Drain.
   
2. In a medium skillet, brown the sausage, breaking apart with a wooden spoon. Drain off fat and set aside.
   
3. In a large dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté 15 minutes, or until tender. Add the garlic, rosemary, and sausage. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the beans, chicken broth, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Uncover and mash the beans lightly with a potato masher. Simmer an additional 30 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper. Serves 6.

Chickpea Patties

Ingredients

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed
  
• ½ cup flat-leaf parsley
  
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  
• 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  

 

Directions

1. In a food processor, pulse chickpeas, parsley, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper just until coarsely chopped and the mixture comes together when gently squeezed. Form into eight, ½-inch thick patties and coat with flour, tapping off excess.
   
2. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the patties, turning carefully, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
   

 
Recipe adapted from Real Simple Magazine

 Southern Slow Cooked Baked Beans

recipe courtesy of Damon Lee Fowler

Ingredients

• 2 pounds (4 cups) pea (white navy) beans, or red kidney, pintos, Great Northern, or a mixed bean assortment
• Salt
• 2 large, or 3 medium onions, 1 trimmed, quartered and peeled, 2 trimmed, split, lengthwise, peeled, and chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup unsulphured molasses
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 1½ cups of tomato sauce or catsup
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard, or more, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ½ pound thick sliced bacon

Directions

1. Sort through the beans, discarding any that are discolored or damaged, and rinse them well. Put them in a large, stainless or enameled pot. Add a heavy sprinkle of salt to the beans and cover them by at least 2 inches with cold water. Put this over medium heat and bring the beans slowly to the boiling point. Turn off the heat and let them soak until doubled in bulk, about an hour.
2. If the water is no longer covering the beans, add enough to cover them by an inch and turn on the heat to medium. Add the quartered onion. Bring it slowly back to a boil, reduce the heat to a steady simmer, and cook until tender, about 1 hour, replenishing the liquid with simmering water if necessary (do not add cold or hot tap water). When almost tender, add a tablespoon of salt and simmer at least 10 minutes longer, or until completely tender. The old cooks would take up a small spoonful of beans and blow on them: when the skin blistered, they were ready. Remove and discard onion.
3. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 250 degrees F or prepare a 4-quart slow cooker.
4. Mix together the garlic, molasses, brown sugar, tomato sauce or catsup, mustard and Worcestershire in a small mixing bowl. When the beans are tender, drain them, reserving the cooking liquid, and mix them with the onions in a bean pot, covered casserole, or the crock of the slow cooker. Stir in the seasoning mixture and, if the bacon is not very salty, a pinch of salt. Add enough of the cooking liquid to fully cover them.
5. Cut the bacon in half crosswise. Press a couple of strips into the beans and then completely cover the top with the remainder.
6. Cover and bake slowly at least 5 hours (some cook them overnight, for as long as 8 to 10 hours), adding reserved cooking liquid if the beans get too dry, or cook 1 hour on high in the slow cooker, reduce to low, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. For a crusty, browned top, uncover, and bake an hour longer or transfer from the slow cooker to a bake and serve casserole and bake at 350 for half an hour.  Yields 3 quarts, makes 12-14 servings.

 Tuscan White Beans

recipe adapted from How Easy Is That?

Ingredients

• 1 lb. dried white cannellini beans
• 1/4 c. good olive oil
• 4 c. chopped onion
• 2 c. chopped carrots
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c. chicken broth
• 1 tbs. minced fresh sage leaves
• 1 tbs. minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. The night before, soak the beans in a large bowl with water to cover by at least 2 inches.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next day, drain the beans, rinse them well, and place them in a large stockpot.  Add twice as much water as you have beans, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes, until the beans are very tender.  Skim off any foam that accumulates.  
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onion and carrots and saute for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.  Drain the beans and add them to the vegetables.  Add the chicken stock, sage, rosemary, salt and pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 12 to 15 minutes, until creamy.  Season to taste and serve hot.  Serves 6.