Made these for the first time ever last evening Erin after reading your post! Colour me influenced :-) I had the beans at home and never quite knew what to do with them, believe it or not they are not a "thing" here, but they turned out a treat and got the all important "make again" vote at the table. Many thanks! Have a lovely weekend.
Would very very interested if you ever want to do a post on vegetarian cooking. We're shifting back into vegetarianism and are both working full time and really need to eat something that isn't pasta sometimes. Recipes, cook books, beloved ingredients, etc. Would welcome any wisdom you're able to share on the subject!
I am just an avid home cook who doesn't like pasta or meat and have discovered that beans or polenta are great subs for almost all pasta dishes. Beans with pesto, polenta w red sauce, etc. Delicious! Unfortunately my children only eat pasta and nuggets but my own meals taste good lol. My favorite professional sources of inspiration are 101cookbooks (Heidi Swanson) Smitten Kitchen (Deb Perelman, an omnivore bean enthusiast and the very best guide for a home cook there is) Sprouted Kitchen (Sara Forte, who now runs a weekly virtual cooking club - basically meal planning - that is excellent) and Pinch of Yum (omnivores with many veg recipes, their recipes are actually weeknight friendly)
Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach is tops for quick-ish, delicious veg meals. It’s a sublime combo of approachable and innovative, so the same humble ingredients I’ve always used, just a million times more delicious because she knows better than I how long to sauté the onion and when to add the pinch of cayenne. And the easiest bean soup in that book costs like $3 and absolutely delighted for recent wintry impromptu dinner guests.
So curious about the Vermicular Musui-Kamado Cast Iron Induction Cooker! It looks like it can do everything. How long does it take to cook rice? Have you ever used a normal electric rice cooker? How does it compare? Has James used it for making bread?
This whole post makes me want to go cook something cozy!
Thank you for gifting the two NYT bean recipes! I can’t wait to make them, they look absolutely delicious. We subscribe to NYT but not their recipes and often the paywall has me like a kid whose face is pressed up against a foggy window of a locked shop pining for the delicacies inside. Thank you for sharing the key!
Same thing cooking in this kitchen tonight. I'm making the Rancho Gordo Greek beans recipe. Husband cooks the beans in our instant pot and then I put it all together. Lots of dill and we like to add feta as well.
We are in mind meld. I have a giant pot of brothy beans on my stove at this moment, who have been simmering all day. It's Tamar Adler's world and we're just living in it! Love her chapter on beans from An Everlasting Meal. Check it out if you haven't read it.
You are so lucky that your kids love beans! I’m very jealous. My son does not unless they are pureed as in hummus or dips.
Because we are vegetarian too and eat a lot of beans/brown rice/other whole grains, I invested in a pressure cooker 15 years ago (Kuhn-Rikon, very safe). I use it constantly and highly recommend. Any homemade beans taste better than canned for sure, but pressure-cooked taste the best. I do soak all beans/grains overnight (better digestibility, better nutrition, and — especially important for brown rice — less lead) and then pretty much everything cooks in 10-12 minutes. And the pressure cooker takes up ZERO extra space because the base replaces a regular large saucepan that you can use for non-pressure cooking.
One more tip for beans: I always add a piece of kombu. It’s supposed to improve digestibility, add umami, and vitamins(B12!)/minerals.
I can also recommend Joe Yonan's truly excellent cookbook Cool Beans. It is among the most-treasured ones I own and full of bean-y inspiration. Also: You must trust Joe. Sometimes he'll call for a gobsmacking amount of garlic or cumin that gives you pause, but he is always right.
ha! should be good now, but if you're clicking from your email, alas, i can't change that link! would have to go directly here: https://eboyle.substack.com/p/saucy-beans
Me, exclusively? (No, James, too!) Or use it exclusively use it for beans? (No, we cook lots of things in it!) Or exclusively cook our beans in it? (Most often, yes, but I've made lots of pots on the stovetop in my life and if I'm using canned beans, it's usually in a cast iron skillet on the stove or roasted chickpeas in the oven!)
Made these for the first time ever last evening Erin after reading your post! Colour me influenced :-) I had the beans at home and never quite knew what to do with them, believe it or not they are not a "thing" here, but they turned out a treat and got the all important "make again" vote at the table. Many thanks! Have a lovely weekend.
Would very very interested if you ever want to do a post on vegetarian cooking. We're shifting back into vegetarianism and are both working full time and really need to eat something that isn't pasta sometimes. Recipes, cook books, beloved ingredients, etc. Would welcome any wisdom you're able to share on the subject!
I am just an avid home cook who doesn't like pasta or meat and have discovered that beans or polenta are great subs for almost all pasta dishes. Beans with pesto, polenta w red sauce, etc. Delicious! Unfortunately my children only eat pasta and nuggets but my own meals taste good lol. My favorite professional sources of inspiration are 101cookbooks (Heidi Swanson) Smitten Kitchen (Deb Perelman, an omnivore bean enthusiast and the very best guide for a home cook there is) Sprouted Kitchen (Sara Forte, who now runs a weekly virtual cooking club - basically meal planning - that is excellent) and Pinch of Yum (omnivores with many veg recipes, their recipes are actually weeknight friendly)
Great recommendations. Thank you! I think I need to quiet that part of my brain that says 'pasta goes here' or 'bean doesn't go here'.
Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach is tops for quick-ish, delicious veg meals. It’s a sublime combo of approachable and innovative, so the same humble ingredients I’ve always used, just a million times more delicious because she knows better than I how long to sauté the onion and when to add the pinch of cayenne. And the easiest bean soup in that book costs like $3 and absolutely delighted for recent wintry impromptu dinner guests.
Thank you! I'll check that out for sure!
Love beans!
So curious about the Vermicular Musui-Kamado Cast Iron Induction Cooker! It looks like it can do everything. How long does it take to cook rice? Have you ever used a normal electric rice cooker? How does it compare? Has James used it for making bread?
This whole post makes me want to go cook something cozy!
What is the truly remarkable piece of kitchen equipment? Can’t open the link from Europe....
Oops! Sorry just seeing this! Yes, Judit is right! It's the vermicular musui kamado!
Hi, I think it's this based on the address bar:
https://www.vermicular.us/shop/musui-kamado
Thank you!
interested too! neither of the links work in UK. thanks :)
Braised White Beans with Greens and Parmesan on repeat in this house 🙌🙌🙌
so goooood.
Thank you for gifting the two NYT bean recipes! I can’t wait to make them, they look absolutely delicious. We subscribe to NYT but not their recipes and often the paywall has me like a kid whose face is pressed up against a foggy window of a locked shop pining for the delicacies inside. Thank you for sharing the key!
happy to! so glad for advent of gift links!
Same thing cooking in this kitchen tonight. I'm making the Rancho Gordo Greek beans recipe. Husband cooks the beans in our instant pot and then I put it all together. Lots of dill and we like to add feta as well.
yum!
We are in mind meld. I have a giant pot of brothy beans on my stove at this moment, who have been simmering all day. It's Tamar Adler's world and we're just living in it! Love her chapter on beans from An Everlasting Meal. Check it out if you haven't read it.
haven't read in years, but yes!
You are so lucky that your kids love beans! I’m very jealous. My son does not unless they are pureed as in hummus or dips.
Because we are vegetarian too and eat a lot of beans/brown rice/other whole grains, I invested in a pressure cooker 15 years ago (Kuhn-Rikon, very safe). I use it constantly and highly recommend. Any homemade beans taste better than canned for sure, but pressure-cooked taste the best. I do soak all beans/grains overnight (better digestibility, better nutrition, and — especially important for brown rice — less lead) and then pretty much everything cooks in 10-12 minutes. And the pressure cooker takes up ZERO extra space because the base replaces a regular large saucepan that you can use for non-pressure cooking.
One more tip for beans: I always add a piece of kombu. It’s supposed to improve digestibility, add umami, and vitamins(B12!)/minerals.
eh, win some/lose some! two of three kids won't touch hummus!
I can also recommend Joe Yonan's truly excellent cookbook Cool Beans. It is among the most-treasured ones I own and full of bean-y inspiration. Also: You must trust Joe. Sometimes he'll call for a gobsmacking amount of garlic or cumin that gives you pause, but he is always right.
Morning, the creamy braised link goes to the chickpea noodle soup recipe
omg. fixed!
I’m so sorry to be *this* person, but I think it’s still going to the chickpea noodle soup?🫠
ha! should be good now, but if you're clicking from your email, alas, i can't change that link! would have to go directly here: https://eboyle.substack.com/p/saucy-beans
Oh, thank you for this tip! Makes sense, but I had no idea! :)
Do you exclusively use the cast iron induction thingy?
Me, exclusively? (No, James, too!) Or use it exclusively use it for beans? (No, we cook lots of things in it!) Or exclusively cook our beans in it? (Most often, yes, but I've made lots of pots on the stovetop in my life and if I'm using canned beans, it's usually in a cast iron skillet on the stove or roasted chickpeas in the oven!)
Ha, grammar! You answered the question I was trying to ask: I meant is that now the only way you cook beans.
no prob!
Ooh I can’t get the first recipe link to open (the simple chickpea soup)! Might just be a ‘my phone is old’ problem though!
oh, no, definitely a me problem. fixing it!