When I got out of bed this morning I had no idea I would be writing about…BEANS! But I’m having big time computer issues so I have reached into my bag of past blog posts for today. And since February 22 is National Margarita Day…You can get the BEST recipe for THOSE right HERE.
And what goes better with a margarita than a good old Mexican meal?
So instead of the recipe I was GOING to share…I’m sharing this blast from the past recipe for my homemade Black Beans that I fixed for a Hawkeye tailgate party! So…Here goes.
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Instead of the same-old, same-old tailgating side dishes, I decided to mix things up with my Mexican Fiesta. And no Mexican dinner is complete without some BEANS.
So on Thursday afternoon I rinsed and picked over a large bag of those hard little nuggets, and I completely covered them with water…about two inches over the beans. I soaked them overnight, and I added more water if any beans were above the water level. Then on Friday I drained and rinsed the beans and set them aside. In that same heavy bottomed pan I sauteed onions, garlic, a handful of chopped cilantro and 1 1/2 jalapeno peppers that I finely diced.
COOKING TIP: I am NOT a fan of lots of heat so I carefully removed all the seeds and the membrane inside the peppers, since that is where most of the pepper’s heat is found. And I COMPLETELY washed my hands with lots of soap to remove any residual juice from my skin. You must be very careful never to rub your eyes after handling hot peppers of ANY kind.
After the veggies were softened, I added those little black beauties back into the pot and I covered them with CHICKEN STOCK instead of water and I covered the pot and put them on very low heat to simmer, stirring often. I added more broth as needed. I also added some cumin and some chili powder…probably 1 Tablespoon of each.
COOKING TIP: DO NOT salt beans until they are fully cooked! Many chefs insist adding salt too early will keep the beans from softening!
I also stirred in some red and yellow diced peppers…
And as for the leftovers…I added dollops of them to the Nachos I made and served after the Hawkeye victory!
I know…I could have just opened a bunch of cans of black beans and started from there…but what fun is THAT? I LOVE to invent new recipes…and when I start from scratch I know exactly what I’m putting into my dishes…and ultimately into my GUESTS!
And for me, that’s worth a little extra effort.
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