Monday, September 24, 2012

Beans Redux


Seems to take forever to actually get a post up these days. This bean dish was enjoyed last Thursday for my dinner before my InDesign class. It's starting to get exciting as I see new ways to do the book I'm working on, especially now that I have colors picked out and have collected a lot of the photos I'll be using. I tried out at least 6 cover ideas and I'm still not sure I have the right one, but at least I'm in the neighborhood, so to speak.

Anyhoo, the beans used in this recipe are the rest of the beans I cooked up for the Baked Beans. There is something very satisfying about a combination of beans and greens. It was a time saver that I could walk out the door and harvest four varieties of Swiss chard for the greens part and you can't get much fresher than that. I used the stems, too, which is what look a bit like red pepper in the photos. I would usually add garlic to this dish, cooking some minced garlic with the onions after the onions had cooked about half way, but since I was going to class I decided to just go with the onions. I still used some breath mints right before class. Onions are a bit smelly, too!

Feel free to add additional herbs, sausage or seitan, a can or helping of another kind of bean to make these even more interesting. Then dig in and have a nice, filling meal. Some whole grain bread would be great with this dish, too.


Beans and Greens

2 cups cooked beans...I used the Vallarta beans from the recipe in THIS post
1-2 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 large bunch greens, rinsed, large ribs removed, and washed well (I used chard but you could use kale, spinach, young collards, etc. instead)
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Balsamic vinegar to taste

Reheat the beans in the microwave or in a pot on the stove.

While beans are reheating heat the oil in a medium sized pot, then sautee' the onion, stirring often, until the onion is transluscent are lightly brown, about 5-8 minutes. Add the prepared greens and stir to coat with the onions. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and let cook for 2 minutes. Uncover, stir, and continue stirring until greens are limp. Add the heated beans and any bean liquid, parsley, salt and pepper. I also like a splash of balsamic vinegar with these.

Serve at once. If desired, sprinkle with more chopped parsley.
Serves 1-2

1 comment :

  1. Looks lovely. A big bowl of beany stew is so warm and satisfying. Lovely and fresh with the chard

    ReplyDelete