Pantry Supper: Not Your Average Rice and Beans
My friend Amanda is one of those people who is totally together. She works out every morning and makes dinner every night, her shoes are never scuffed and her curls are always shiny. I suppose this could be annoying on someone who wasn't the funniest person ever, but Amanda is, so it's not. And hello, she's one of my favorite people on this green earth, so she could pretty much start eating small children, tell a rationalizing, funny joke about it, and I'd be on board.
But she doesn't eat babies, of course, she eats rice and beans. Not just any rice and beans, but rice and beans with the right accoutrement to really make them sing as a meal. Amanda uses short grain brown rice and tops the whole affair with homemade guacamole (mash up cilantro and a bit of garlic in the mortar and pestle and then mix with an avocado) and pico de gallo. And, scene. Learning that this easy-breezy bowl of peasanty deliciousness is a go-to meal for my personal model of togetherness helped a lot of things fall into place for me.
Namely that, on a weeknight, after you've come home from your kickboxing class, and the clock is fast-approaching a number dangerously close to your bedtime, you can hardly expect yourself to pour over a new recipe and measure homemade chicken stock. Rather, I should say, I cannot expect myself to do this. Deb, another personal model of togetherness, definitely can.
But after 12 hours out in the world and six hours since my last meal, I confess my mental functioning starts to break down a bit. I like to pour a glass of wine (another trick learned from Amanda), chop a couple things, stir something, and be done with it. The whole process should take no more than 40 minutes and hopefully a lot less (and that time allotment includes digging around in the cupboard for the salad spinner and washing out the saucepan I left in the sink the night before).
I like brown rice in my rice and beans, but I also confess to really loving the Goya yellow rice. I sauté one small chopped onion and two fat cloves of chopped garlic in a touch of olive oil until they are soft and translucent. Then I add two cans of black beans. I fill up an empty can about 3/4 full with water and add that to the beans along with a heaping teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder and let them simmer while the rice cooks. Sometimes I'll mash them up a bit. I stir in salsa, or whip up my own pico: juice of a lime, 1/2 purple onion diced, 2 cups grape tomatoes, quartered, a jalapeño, and a whole lot of cilantro. If I'm feeling really decadent, I'll top with some chipotle sour cream, and then I'm mmm-ing all the way to the bottom of my bowl, sanity saved and weeknight time constraints be damned.
Comments
This sounds delicious. Such a relief after all the heavy food of the holidays.
Posted by: Josie | January 14, 2008 10:05 PM
Not true! I have been sitting on my tuchus all three hours since I've been home from the gym. I'm going for a record, actually. Anyway, mmm... rice and beans.
Also, shall we try again for that project that didn't happen in 2007? I'm ready, I mean it!
Posted by: deb | January 14, 2008 10:16 PM
Mmmm your rice dish sounds amazing and the perfect end to a stressful day. I'm definitely trying this!
Posted by: Audrey | January 14, 2008 10:40 PM
We should definitely go for it in February, Deb!
Posted by: Sarah | January 15, 2008 11:43 AM
That sounds delicious! And thanks for calling it a purple onion. I do too and my mom corrects me every time. "It's a red onion she says." I always ask, "Then why is it purple?"
Posted by: Heidi | January 15, 2008 5:08 PM
Heidi! That is way too funny. Yeah, I think I go back and forth confusing myself cause I'm never sure which is right. Let's just call 'em like we see 'em, shall we? :)
Posted by: Sarah | January 15, 2008 10:33 PM
Yipee! I read your blog a year ago for a long time, then life caught up and took internet access away. I just remembered I used to read it. I am so happy to find it in great working order. Well done!
Your friend Ashley H. pointed me to it in the beginning.
Posted by: Sarah | January 15, 2008 11:19 PM
40 minutes for dinner? Crikey! I have a pile of standby recipes that take about 12 (which is how long the pasta takes to cook) and sometimes as low as 5...
Posted by: The Shopping Sherpa | January 15, 2008 11:44 PM
Sherpa, Please share! I'm all ears!
Posted by: Sarah | January 16, 2008 11:33 AM
sarah...this is why i think we'd make great friends...you, too, love to make simple spectacular. i love that you are kinda a country girl in the city...
Posted by: Ruth Simons | January 16, 2008 8:07 PM
aw, thanks, ruth. well, the simple can be spectacular, and it's the best when it is, i think.
Posted by: Sarah | January 17, 2008 9:54 AM
Soooooooo being that I am truly stuck in the Midwest despite my very southwestern roots, I had to midwesternize this. AKA I needed to make this into a crock pot meal.So I all the same ingredients except that I added leftover baked sweet potato leftovers from the night before that were seasoned with chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper- so the flavors married well anyways. I also had to add ground turkey because, well, my husband apparently needs meat protein at every meal. Made the homemade pico and chipotle sour cream. Left all the ingredients on low in the crock pot all day (oh and I used an extra two cups of water to keep it all moist) then put it in pretty bowls and garnished with the pico and sour cream and had homemade quesadillas with it- it was an extravaganza of flavors! It worked well in the crock and was relieving to come home to something briming with flavor that didnt contain velveeta, cream of mushroom, or any other midwestern delights.
Posted by: Sara Rose | January 18, 2008 12:36 PM
Very funny, Sara Rose. :) And that really does sound like an impressive extravaganza of flavors. In fact, I've been thinking about getting a slow cooker...
Posted by: Sarah | January 18, 2008 3:01 PM
A slow cooker may very well save your sanity . . . and some time that can go into enjoying home cooked meals instead of just making them.
Posted by: Sara Rose | January 26, 2008 9:33 PM