Monday, August 22, 2011

another bean recipe

there are enough bean recipes on here, but i just invented this one yesterday and i like it. it is basically frijoles rancheros cooked in the style of the okra stew of mark bittman's recipe.

1. soak a pound of dried pinto beans overnight, rinsing several times before and after
2. boil them in just enough water to cover until they are soft, occasionally adding water to make sure the level doesn't go too low. i prefer a smaller amount of concentrated bean broth.
2a. make a raw tomato concassé with a pound of very ripe tomatoes, then mill it so you have a puré with no seeds or skin in it (quarter the tomatoes, let sit in a bowl with about a half teaspoon of salt to extract the juices, then mill them; or just blend the whole thing if you don't have a food mill)
3. get a pound of pork shoulder "rib" with bone in it, and a half pound of ham that has fat on it, that you have diced. put a little olive oil in a dutch oven and brown these together, so both sides of the shoulder are well browned and the ham gets a little charred on the edges.
4. remove the pork and add in a large carrot, a stick of celery, two jalapeños (optionally remove the seeds and gills) and a large onion, all chopped. cook these until the onion is soft and they are starting to get browned. 
5. deglaze the pot with a can of beer.
6. when the beer is almost all boiled off, put the pork back in, then put in the reserved beans and bean broth.
7. add the tomato puré and a teaspoon of salt, and possibly some water so that it barely covers the beans, and simmer gently for 2-3 hours, until the pork shoulder is fork tender.
8. remove the pork shoulder, take out the bone, chop the meat and put it back in the pot.
9. turn off the heat, stir in one bunch of chopped cilantro and a tablespoon of freshly ground cumin.

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