A Little Extra Cheese Never Hurts You should all know my obsession with beans by now so I’ll not to bore you yet again. Soak from dry, five times cheaper, etc. etc. Here’s how I make a batch of particularly creamy pinto beans suitable for parking next to Mexican red rice. If you’ve ever been to a family-style Mexican restaurant, you’ll … Read More →
Best not to count how many you eat in one sitting Prime grilling season has arrived again and around my kitchen that means “street” tacos cooked over charcoal. The fire is the easy part particularly once you have all the ‘extras’ sorted out. In my case those include a vat of garden-fresh salsa, some well seasoned beans, a little lime and coriander enhanced crema, and a … Read More →
This One Night In New Orleans... (ed. note: this is complete tinkering of the original posting on 6 December, 2016 to better address vegetarians and the finer points of roux making as well as a new video of my last batch) After reading about my bean obsession and gallo pinto theories, a viewer from the Googlytubes asked for more specifics on … Read More →
Colonial Ingredients Meet Indian Technique If you’ve heard the term succotash but never knew what it was beyond Warner Brother’s favourite expletive, let me enlighten you. Native people of North America have long benefited from corn in their diet and likewise discovered both the gardening and culinary benefits of matching it with beans. Sure you could talk about complete essential … Read More →
This week's permutation with coriander leaf & roast red pepper There are reasons I like hummus so much and have done for years before it became the hipster fad found in a zillion permutations at the ready-made counters of Whole Foods. First, it’s beans and you know my obsession there. Second, beyond infinitely pleasurable dipping, It can add a layer of protein and base flavour … Read More →
One Pot Wonders If you swear you can’t grow anything, have no space, no time, or any of the other gardening-averse excuses, just go plant some peas already. While a giant trellised row with automatic irrigation would be my preference, any neglected pot on a modestly sunny stoop will work and yield a perfect handful for stir-fry every … Read More →
Simple. Healthy. Fiesta. I’ve whinged on about the lack of Mexican food this far north plenty before. It simply doesn’t exist in the restaurant ecosystem of eastern Canada. One burrito shack and a tamale stall at the farmer’s market for a whole province, both of which have to dull down the cuisine for the tender Maritime palate, simply … Read More →
Eat Your Beans (and Spicy Rice) Rice and beans together goes by many names. “Hoppin’ John” across many parts of the US or simply “Red Beans & Rice” in New Orleans proper. Orez Shu’it in Jerusalem. And if you’ve ever been to Central America, you know about gallo pinto. There it’s on every menu and eaten all hours of the day … Read More →
Winter comfort for you and the cows Cold days call for hot food and nothing satisfies quite like a bowl of homemade chili. The history of the dish is well documented (and debated) so I’m not going down that path. Instead I’m going to bend the plethora of recipes out there into my vegetarian ways by using textured soy protein (TSP) with … Read More →
Cranberry beans - also known as cattle beans for some odd reason. Imagine my shock. Shock I tell you! When a well known cookery show recently proclaimed to all the world that “canned beans are just as good as dry” one of my culinary foundations was shaken to the core. I had heard this from ‘shortcut chefs’ in the media far too often but having done my … Read More →
