New Year's: Books and Beans
When I was in my mid-20’s, I lived with someone obsessed with New Years resolutions. I couldn’t escape the plotting which often began in October and ran up until midnight on New Year's Eve. This was a serious quest, and I never felt up to the challenge.
While the concept of looking at character flaws and holes in one’s personal life is of course a noble one, its just not one I’ve ever been able to embrace. I’ve always been much more interested in culinary resolutions. So, rather than being roped in to work on “private areas of improvement”, over the years I‘ve adopted a much more humane approach to the New Year’s Resolution. I pick a cookbook and cook my way through it throughout the entire year. It’s an incredibly simple way to learn a cuisine, but one needs to be choosy.
Be sure to pick a master. I started with Diana Kennedy’s The Cuisines of Mexico, moved on to Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s The Splendid Table, hit Madhur Jaffrey’s Flavors of India and have not looked back. I could not have had better teachers.
Once you’ve made the commitment to a cuisine and have built the pantry, you are off and running. Be sure to drag your family behind. Believe me, by March they’ll catch up--even the littlest ones.
Recipe:
I’m becoming more superstitious with age, so the one thing I do not fiddle with is the tradition of eating beans on New Year’s Day. Why mess with something so logical? This is one of the first recipes of mine that my partner in crime, Lynne Rossetto Kasper, swooned over, so it has a very tender place in my heart. It is made entirely with canned goods, comes together in a snap, is sensual and lush and redolent with spices. It is also the perfect foil for a slightly too-much-wine-the-night-before stomach.
Refried Beans with Cinnamon and Clove
Excerpted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio’s Award-Winning Food Show, by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift (Clarkson Potter, April 8, 2008). Copyright © 2008 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift
Serves 4 to 6
Cook to Cook: Melting in a small amount of butter after mashing the beans brings this dish together. Don’t skip this step.
Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped into 1/4-inch dice
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, fine chopped
1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and fine chopped
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
One 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained
Two 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1-1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
1. Generously film the bottom of a 10-inch skillet with olive oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions with salt and pepper to taste until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. You want to hear a sizzle as they cook.
2. Add the garlic, jalapeño, cinnamon, and cloves, and cook the mix until it is fragrant, about 1 minute, taking care not to burn the spices. Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan. Sauté for another minute.
3. Stir in the beans and water. Bring to a fast simmer, crushing the beans with a potato masher (or the back of a large spoon) as they cook, and scraping the bottom of the pan as the beans begin to thicken. Simmer until the beans are thick, about 10 minutes. Blend in the butter, and taste for seasoning just before serving.
Mark Couch on December 28, 2008 at 09:27 AM
Now, this looks intriguing and I can't wait to try it - what a twist on refried beans and possible substitute for what we Southerners refer to as "Hoppin' John", a traditional dish served for good luck at New Years! With your permission and proper attribution, of course, I'd like to post this on my ezcooking recipe site!
Glenn Beeson on January 04, 2009 at 04:29 PM
Tonight, with our evening walk, the wife and I decided to try and cook our way through a cuisine due to your blog post. Our choice, since both of us are beginners of a sort, will be Italian. We plan to do this together and it is an interesting idea that we would not have come up with on our own; thanks for sharing.