“Unfried” Black Beans

I love refried beans, but I’m trying to pay more attention to the amount of processing food goes through before it gets to me. Refried beans vary greatly between companies and sometimes have ingredients I wouldn’t want to use in every situation (lard and preservatives, for example, in the non-vegetarian varieties). They are often high in sodium, as are many processed foods (though I have to admit, canned beans can have a lot of added salt too).

On top of all of that, they can be pricey. I’ve found that most of what I’m paying for are things I don’t really want. The first time I realized that I could make a similar paste out of any beans I had on hand, I never looked back. I like black beans best, so this recipe features them, but pinto beans and other similar beans should work the same way. Season them any way you please, though I find that the beans have enough of their own flavor and do not require much but some salt and pepper and a bit of hot sauce or cayenne for a kick.

Note: This may work with dried beans if you soak them before hand, but I prefer canned so I’m not sure how long they should soak. If anyone knows, please feel free to chime in, as always.

Read Full Post »

Dilly Potatoes

August went by quickly. I took a vacation with family, and it ended up being a “vacation” from this site as well. It has not, however, been a vacation from cooking. In fact, as the summer has been winding down, I’ve been experimenting with entirely new techniques to add to my repertoire. Expect more to come on those soon!

I’ve been cooking with dill a lot lately. It all started with an experiment I have been planning to write about for some time. A bunch of dill, while not too pricey in my neck of the woods, is large. I split a bunch with a friend and I still had more fresh dill than I knew what to do with. After using as much of it as I could in my mysterious experiments, I still had plenty left for a fresh batch of tzatziki  sauce. I only used the fuzzy little leaves in the sauce, but I didn’t want to throw away the stems. I took a taste of one and the dilly flavor was intense. I just couldn’t throw away such flavorful stems, so I reserved them until I could figure out what to do with them.

The day, shortly after, when tiny red potatoes were on sale.  I thought of the dill stems and came up with this simple dish to make the most of the flavor. Since the recipe is so simple, I’m not going to post amounts, just general guidelines.

Read Full Post »