Beans

White Bean and Sage Dip

Beans, Food, Gluten-free, Party Food, Recipe, Sammich, Silly easy, Snack, Stupid Quick, Vegan

I was originally not going to post this recipe because I whipped it up in a hurry and thought it was too simple. But then I took it to a party with me last night and was surprised to find that it was a huge hit! I guess simple is often better.

Originally I was inspired to make this because I have a sage plant growing in my kitchen that was looking a little scraggly, and was desperately in need of a trim. As I’m sure you are aware, pruning your herb garden means cooking with the cast-off trimmings. I think most people think of sage primarily for things like turkey and stuffing, but since we are vegan and gluten-free, I had to come up with another way to use it. I remembered that sage pairs really well with white beans, and since I knew I had a party coming up, I figured I’d make a dip to stand in for the ubiquitous hummus platter.

Working with sage is a really enjoyable experience. If you’ve never played with fresh sage in your kitchen before, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Not only does it smell amazing, but the tactile experience is fun too. Sage is furry! And it chops up really fine without getting crushed and soggy like some other herbs can.

This dip is great with veggie crudites, the same way you’d eat hummus. But also really does well as a spread on crackers or bread. I spread my leftovers on a raw gluten-free “bread,” topped it with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and a tiny bit of fleur de sel for an open-faced sandwich. Heaven.

I used cannellini beans for this, but I think navy or great northern beans would work great too. I also opted to use garlic oil instead of putting raw garlic into the dip because I wanted only the tiniest hint of garlic, and I didn’t want it to overwhelm the sage. If you are a garlic nut, go ahead and toss a few cloves in and see how it goes.

NOTE: You can easily make your own garlic oil by slicing the cloves from a bulb of garlic and warming them gently in about a cup of oil. You don’t want them sizzling violently and jumping out of the pot, just heated through enough to infuse flavor into the oil.

White Bean and Sage Dip (or Spread)

Ingredients

½ pound (1 cup) white beans, soaked and cooked OR 2 cans beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lemon (meyer lemon if available)
½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
½ cup garlic oil or fruity olive oil
A large palmful of sage leaves, chopped fine

Method

Place the beans, lemon juice, salt, and pepper into a food processor and process until a thick paste forms. Using the feeder tube and with the food processor still running, add the oil. Continue to process until the texture is very smooth. Add the sage leaves and pulse a few times just to mix them in.

Serve as a dip or a spread. Will keep in the fridge for several days.

Makes about 3 cups

Spanish Chickpea Stew

Beans, Food, Gluten-free, One-pot meal, Party Food, Recipe, Silly easy, Vegan

So this blog has been quiet for a little while…

A few weeks ago, my husband was diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity and was advised to immediately and permanently eliminate gluten from his diet. Since I am a good wife (or at least trying to be), I decided to go gluten-free as well to support him. It has been a big adjustment for both of us, and it has also meant that I have had to give up one of my favorite hobbies: baking. But we’re finding new and exciting foods to try, and we both feel great. So this blog is probably going to take a slightly different direction from now on as I explore vegan, gluten-free foods.

To kick it off, I’m going to start with this hearty Spanish-inspired chick pea stew. When I first made this shortly after Will got the instructions to go gluten-free, he was excited. He said it filled his desire for “junk-food fast-food taste” without actually being junky. I’m not sure if that’s the best way to sell this dish, but I will tell you it is easy to make and it is damn good. The chick peas really make this a hearty and filling dish.

One of the things you will need to find in order to make this dish is a gluten-free soy chorizo. Trader Joe’s has one that is labeled gluten-free, and that’s what we used. If you aren’t concerned about gluten, then use whatever veggie sausage you like, just dice it up before adding it to the pan.

You could serve this tapas-style with a few other small dishes, I think it would go nicely with a selection of marinated olives, garlic mushrooms, and wrinkled potatoes. Or, sit down to a bowl of it with a salad on the side and some crusty gluten-free bread (does such a thing even exist??).

Spanish Chickpea Stew

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
12 oz package soy chorizo
2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped OR 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
4 cups chick peas, drained and rinsed
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 cup chopped parsley (plus extra, for garnish)
Salt & pepper, to taste

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the soy chorizo and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chick peas, tomato and paprika. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring frequently to keep everything from sticking. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, garnished with more parsley if desired.

Makes 6 servings.

Beans

Beans, Food, Gluten-free, Silly easy, Vegan, Veganmofo 2009

beans-091002-0002 Let’s talk beans.

I am a super cheapskate when it comes to some things. For example, I absolutely hate buying bread because basically all it consists of is flour, water, yeast, a tiny amount of sugar and salt, and those things are so cheap to buy! I’d rather make my own for various reasons, but the major problem I run into constantly is that bread takes a lot of time and attention, so sometimes when I am really busy I have to suck it up and just go buy a loaf.

Beans are another category of food where I am super cheap. Canned beans are expensive, tend to be high in sodium, and they are also super heavy to carry home; however, dried beans are $cheap$ and easy to use, take up less room in the cupboard, require less packaging, and buying them in quantity generally doesn’t make your arms feel like they are going to fall off when you are trying to only make just one trip from the car to the front door after grocery shopping. Again, they take time, but unlike bread, they do not have to be watched or pampered.

Cooking Beans

Using dried beans does require a certain amount of calculation though, to make sure that you end up with the amount that you need once they are soaked and cooked. Dried beans tend to plump up by a factor of 3, so as a basic rule of thumb, if you need 3 cups of cooked beans for a recipe, then you need to start with one cup of dried.

I have found that with smaller beans (like navy beans), they cook up to slightly less than 3 times their original size, so I usually add a few extra dry beans to account for that.

Some useful numbers, pulled from http://www.centralbean.com:

One 15-ounce can of beans = one and one-half cups cooked beans, drained
One pound dry beans = six cups cooked beans, drained.
One pound dry beans = two cups dry beans.
One cup dry beans = three cups cooked beans, drained.
Use 3 cups of water per cup of dry beans for soaking.

YOU MUST SOAK YOUR BEANS BEFORE COOKING!

The longer you soak, the less cooking time they will need, and the less potentially gassy you will be upon eating them. Soaking overnight generally means about an hour of cooking time.

You can also do the quicker method, which is to boil the beans for one minute, soak for one hour, then cook for an hour.

Always discard the soaking water, rinse the beans, and cook with fresh water.

When cooking beans, do not leave the water at a rolling boil or your beans will bash into each other in the pot, their skins will come off, and they will not look as pretty. The way to do it is to initially bring the water to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer.

Add about a teaspoon or more of salt to the cooking water, and also a tiny bit of oil. You can also tuck a bay leaf or two into the water.

Useful Tools

A pressure cooker is a great tool to have if you cook a lot of beans. I use mine almost exclusively for beans because it is so quick. Once the pot comes up to pressure, I can cook a load of pre-soaked garbonzo beans in about 10-13 minutes; smaller beans can take as short as 7 minutes. If you have a pressure cooker, check your manual for instructions.

A slow cooker is also really great and produces beans with superior flavor and almost zero fuss. Slow cookers vary widely so definitely read your manual.

Storing Cooked Beans

If you are going to go to the trouble to soak and cook beans, why not make a big batch and stash some away for future use? If you know you are going to use your beans in about a week or so, you can store them right in the fridge. But for longer-term storage, cover them with water and freeze them in small batches so that you can pull out and thaw just the right amount when you are ready to use them.

Nutrition

Beans are high in protein and fiber, have zero cholesterol, and provide essential vitamins and minerals. They are also relatively low in fat and calories.

Really, when you think about it…beans are great! And there are so many varieties to choose from. What’s not to love!