Grace and Ben

fabulous recipe! This is the best quinoa recipe I’ve made thus far. Thanks to allrecipes. I know Ben doesn’t like corn (for philosophical reasons), but I think this recipe will taste fine without it.

Quinoa and Black Beans
Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth (I used one can of Swanson’s)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste (don’t oversalt, the veggie broth has lots of sodium/flavor)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic. Saute until lightly browned.

2. Mix quinoa into saucepan. Add veggie broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 min.

3. Add frozen corn and simmer for 5 min more until heated through. Mix in black beans and cilantro. I didn’t use canned black beans, but I had cooked dried black beans (following Joy of Cooking) before Christmas and frozen it. After defrosting, I added about 3 cups of my black beans and it was very tasty.

This post was supposed to be a comparison of two recipes for black beans and brown rice. One I found on the internet (I don’t remember what website), but it was very simple and basic and therefore, I suspected it might not be too tasty. The second is from Joy of Cooking, which is usually my trustworthy encyclopedia of all things related to food, ingredients and cooking. However, the Joy of Cooking recipe really failed me today. It was probably my own fault for not doing some research on the internet before following the recipe exactly as written. On page 276 of the cookbook (1997 ed.), there is a recipe entitled “Black bean and rice.” It calls for “1 habanero or other fresh chili pepper, seeded and chopped, or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or more to taste.” I don’t know much about my peppers although recently, I made a disgusting lentil salad where I used jalapeno pepper (and probably should have used something else because the dish tasted like salsa). Anyways, I didn’t realize how crazy spicy a single habanero pepper is (or didn’t remember? my husband says we once bought a salsa which contained some) until after the dish was completely done and I tasted it. WOW! My mouth is still tingling 14 hours later. Four hours after I cut the peppers, I wiped my eyes with my hands (which I had thoroughly washed 3 times) and my eyes stung for 10 minutes. I was unable to open or blink them. Anyways, so the winning recipe is obviously the black beans and rice recipe I found on the internet. Click on the photo below for more details. In case you care, a photo of my inedible (fiery hot spicy) Joy of Cooking black beans and rice can found at the bottom of the page.

Mexican brown rice and black beans
Ingredients:
1 tbsp veg oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
3 c cooked brown rice
1 15 oz can black beans
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
heat oil in skillet, add garlic, chili powder and cumin
saute 3-5 min until onion is tender
add rice, beans
cook, stirring 2-3 min until mixture is thoroughly heat
serve with cheese, green onion, yogurt, salsa

Don’t make this at home:

I have been purchasing and cooking mass quantities (4 x 1 pound bags) of dried chickpeas in the last few weeks because 1) they are tasty and filling, 2) they are inexpensive, and 3) dried chickpeas have a long shelf life. Chickpeas are great for me (temporary vegetarian) because they have a nice meaty flavor and texture. However, I’ve gotten a little sick of hummus and don’t want a dish that requires 50 ingredients (like some of the tasty, but complex curries I’ve made in the past). Ben alerted me to a series of recipes in the NY Times last month that centered around chickpeas. I tried this chickpea salad recipe and it was amazing! I will certainly make it again (and perhaps share it at potlucks in the future).

Green Bean Salad with Chickpeas and Mushrooms
Ingredients:
Dry components:
1/2 lb green beans
3 oz. mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced thin (about 1.25 cup)
2 cup cooked chickpeas
1 oz. shaved Parmasean (1/4 cup)
3 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley), but you can also use chives, marjoram or tarragon
Wet components (dressing ingredients):
1 tbsp freshly squeeze lemon juice (ie. juice from 1/2 lemon)
1 tbsp vinegar (they recommend sherry vinegar, but I used rice vinegar. I think white or red wine vinegar would also work)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove finely minced
salt, pepper to taste
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used Columela brand–found at Giant supermarket)

Instructions:
1. Blanch the green beans for 4 min. Then cool in a bowl of ice water (I didn’t have ice, so I just cool with some water, then ran cold water over beans in a collander). I usually trim the stems beforehand, but the recipe says to do it after they’ve been blanched. I broke my beans in half for ease of eating.
2. Combine dry salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper together. Whisk in the olive oil.
4. Wait until just before eating/serving to toss the dressing with the dry ingredients–because the dressing will turn your green beans an ugly grey color if you put them in the fridge for a while. It’s ok to make them both separately several hours before serving and combine at the end. Just make sure you cover the dry ingredients with plastic wrap or else mushrooms will dry out (get an ugly brown crust).