OK, you crazy bean lovers, post your recipes/nostalgic bean stories here

[Habbibu]

Because poor funlovingcriminal's plea for help has drowned in a tide of pulses. On you go. We're waiting...

dahl. roald. sophie. mung. i love 'em all.

borlotti beans with pancetta, chilli, garlic and tomatoes as a quick pasta sauce... fablious. and done in ten mins.

it's just you and me, habs. mostly me.

i think i once ate a salami and borlotti bean risotto

[vague]

No, no. This week we are mostly eating ...beans we have sprouted ourselves. And lentils, too.

ooh - maybe i did!

mmm, that sounds good. i am a bit of a wuss with salami, though. i like it sliced and from M&S.

how much space do i need to sprout beans?

i tend to use chorizo rather thaqn salami

i ahve a great pasta recipe which features chorizo, sunblush toms and olives mmmmmm....

DH does a fantastic bean recipe.
It requires him to soure the hard-to-find "Heniz baked bean".
Once he has found them, he gently warms them with a little Worcerter Sauce and some seasoning before serving on a bed of toast.
Yum

Frijoles! From dried pinto beans.

No, I've never soaked them overnight .

Here's what I do:
You will need a cooking pot (size depends on the amount you want), dried pinto or black beans, onion, garlic, salt, a little cooking oil, and American bacon only if desired or available.

First, you need to put your dried beans in a bowl to wash. I've found that some bags of dried beans are very dusty or have stones in the bag, so it's a good idea to just wash them out.

Fill your pot with the amount of beans you want, and then add water to the pot. I'd put a lot of water, way over the beans since the cooking beans will absorb the water. Just set the cooking time to medium heat and add slices of fresh onion (only 2 or 3), a few slivers of fresh garlic, and a tad of cooking oil to the pot, and then take enough salt to cover your palm and add that as well. Let the beans cook without disturbing them, but check on them every 15 minutes or so once the bubbling starts to make sure there is plenty of water. As the water level goes down, add more to make up for it and keep it cooking for at least 2 hours. After that, just take a small scoop of beans to try and when they're soft, they're done.

To make 'beans a la charra', you would need to have streaky bacon and fry the bacon in a separate pan before chopping it up and adding it to the cooking beans. Save the drippings on the side.

Serve the whole beans in their own soup in a bowl plain, or you can make a quick 'pico de gallo' and just mix it into the beans.

lol artichokes

artichokes you must tell him to try branston beans

they are better than heinz

really

frijoles indeed expat

sounds rude

too like cojones for my liking

I usually do about 2 - 3 cups of beans at a time.

To refry the beans, just take a flat pan, heat it up with enough oil to coat the bottom (but not too much), or use bacon drippings for really GREAT (but not so healthy) refried beans.

When the pan is really hot, put in as much of your whole beans as you want (strain the whole beans you wish to refry, so they aren't so wet), and use a masher (like for mashing potatoes) until the beans are a smooth paste. Let them simmer on the stove until they have a nice thick consistency, but aren't all dried out.

You can top refried beans with melted cheese or not (shredded mozzarella works great).

A quick meal which is great for kids is to top a corn tortilla with refried beans and cheese, then roll it up and slice it into bits they can pick up with their fingers.

good poiint, tutter. we have a reliably good chorizo guy here, a shop called Lupe De Pinto's (expat will know it from edinburgh). the problem for me with those chorizo/salami things is that sometimes they taste unpleasantly soapy to me. is that just me? i swear i can taste chemicals.

i have pinto beans in the cupboard, just one can. tell me what i can do with them, oh mehican bean queen.

no no NO tutter. branston beans are weird. only the heinz meanz beanz. lol at artichokes dh. do you think she's jools oliver?

chorizo fabulous when warmed through - goes all oily and rich

chorizo in a spanish omelette - mmmm

Right. This is from a lovely lovely book called Roast Figs, Sugar Snow by Diana Henry, and I'm trusting she doesn't mind me reproducing it here as I am also heartily recommending the book.

Serves 6:
500g haricot beans, soaked overnight.
500g salt pork or unsmoked bacon in the piece (but we just used bacon as that's all we had!)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 tsp tomato passata
3tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp molasses (we could only find molasses sugar, but it tasted fine)
3tbsp dry English mustard
3 tbsp cider vinegar
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
6 cloves
2 onions, quartered
3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley.

Drain and rinse the beans and put them in a large, heavy bottomed casserole. Add enough water to cover them by about 5cm and bring to the boil. Boil hard for 10 mins, then turn down heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about an hour, until the beans are tender but not completely soft. Check the water to ensure they don't boil dry.

Preheat oven to 140C/275F/GM1

Ciut pork or bacon into 5 cm cubes. Add to beans along with garlic, passata, maple syrup, molasses, mustard, vinegar, bay leaves and pepper (don't add salt yet as it depends on how salty the beans become because of the salt pork or bacon). Stick cloves into quartered onions and add them too. Add more water if necessary, so that the beans are covered. Replace lid, put casserole in oven and bake for 2 hours. Remove lid, stir and put the casserole back in the oven for another hour to brown and thicken. Check occasionally to check that beans aren't becoming too dry. Taste for seasoning and stir in parsley.

We had these with baked potatoes, and they were gorgeous. BabyHab hoovered them up. It is quite salty because of the bacon/pork, so I wouldn't give them to little ones frequently. I'm going to experiment on producing a less salty version.

If I just had a can of pintos, I'd probably refry them.

Bake some corn tortillas in the oven until crisp.

Top with refried beans, melted cheese, and if you like, salsa and a bit of sour creme and chive.

Voila, chalupas!

I heart Lupe Pintos.

you know they do internet ordering, expat?

Aitch, so glad you asked as I am very pleased with my nifty device (sad). We used to have a plastic tray thing but it broke, and I was shocked at the price of a new one - the shop also had a glass jar arrangement which I have cunningly replicated: wash out a large glass jar. Cut up a bit of old net curtain or muslin(J cloths won't do, they aren't porous enough). Put beans, alfalfa, quinoa, lentils in the jar. Add water. Put fabric over the top and fasten with an elastic band. Then tip up and leave to drain on the draining board. Do this x2 a day. After a few days you will have beansprouts. With larger beans, leave them to soak over night in the first instance.

Oh, yes, Aitch! A pal in the Central Belt told me they do.

Handy for out here!

For some reason, New Mexicans tend to use black beans more than pintos. Tex-Mexicans will usually use pintos.

New Mexicans also tend to use chipotle peppers and Tex-Mexicans use jalepeno or habenero.

BorlottiAitch
ExpatTheBeanBore