Black Beans And Corn... How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count Three Ways!

I'm taking black beans and corn
and going in three different directions.

 
I started out with a cup of dried black beans
and a can of corn and made three meals out of it.


#1  My homemade seasoned tortilla chips
 in a Nacho Nest chock full of stuff.

#2  My black bean and corn and avocado salad
with lime/cumin/chili dressing.

#3  My corn/bean tortilla pie.

For the basic corn/black bean mixture:

One can of drained corn.

One cup of dried black beans, cooked.

No need to soak beans over night.

I never do.

Simply rinse the beans off,

bring water to a boil over high heat,

add beans,

reduce to simmer.

Simmer 20-25 minutes.

Drain and rinse beans.

Refresh water.

Return to pot and cook about 15-20 minutes longer,

until al dente. 

 The reason for refreshing the water,

according to Julia Child,

is to minimize "intestinal motility."

#1
Seasoned tortilla chips
and BEEF!

First, I made homemade seasoned tortilla wedges.

Take about 8-10 flour tacos.

You could use flour tortillas.

The only difference is the tortillas are bigger.

Cut into wedges.

Put 2 TB olive oil and 4 TB butter on a baking sheet.

Place in oven and turn to 300°.

When butter melts,

swirl it around in the oil.

Coat each wedge in the mixture - both sides.

Sprinkle a little cumin, cayenne pepper, and saffron over top.

Bake until crisp.
20 - 25 minutes.

I topped the chips with ground beef seasoned with

cumin, oregano, cayenne, Kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper.

Then I added sliced black olives, chopped onions, and minced jalapeno.

 
 Add some of the black beans and corn
and top with grated cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese.

Run under the broiler until cheese is nice and golden and bubbly.

Now, on to #2.
My black bean salad.

Picture of Beau.

Grab an avocado, red pepper,
red onion, and some limes.

Now I have the fixin's for a Black Bean Salad:

  Black Bean Salad

3/4 cup black beans

3/4 cup corn

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

1 avocado, diced
juice of two limes

1 tomato, peeled, seeded, juiced, and diced

1-2 TB chopped cilantro, to taste

1-2 TB minced jalapeno, to taste

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

When you dice the avocado,
keep the pieces in the lime juice to keep from browning.
Season diced tomato with salt and pepper.
Mix all ingredients.
Pour dressing over and toss to coat.

Dressing

1/4 cup lime juice

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1 TB extra virgin olive oil

Whisk all ingredients.
Pour over black bean salad and toss.

Peel, seed, juice, dice, and season tomato.

Minced jalapeno.

Serve with homemade tortilla chips.

Light, bright, fresh flavors.

It's Spring!

On to #3.

My corn/bean tortilla pie.

I've made this so many times.

I'm just making a subdued version tonight.

Just to use up the black beans and corn.

This one's only 4 layers.

Usually I do 8-9  layers and use the whole can of corn
and 1 cup of dried black beans, cooked.

Corn/Black Bean Tortilla Pie

some corn

some black beans

some chopped red onion

some sliced black olives

some minced jalapeno

some flour tortillas

some grated Monterey Jack cheese

some grated Cheddar cheese

some melted unsalted butter

some sprinklings of cumin and cayenne powder

some fresh cilantro clippings

Mix whatever you have of corn, black beans, onions, olives, and jalapeno. 

Place a tortilla on your baking dish.

Give it a sprinkling of cheese, then the corn bean mixture, then some more cheese.

Top with another tortilla.

Repeat until you run out of stuff.

Brush top tortilla with melted butter and sprinkle on identifying objects in the torte.

Things like corn, black beans, jalapeno, and lots of cheese on top.
Sprinkle cumin and cayenne powder over top.
Bake in a 350° oven for about 40-45 minutes.

Hawthorne Chili And Chips.

Mr. Hawthorne is in charge of the chili.

I'm in charge of the chips.

 I was at Food Lion the other day,

typed my telephone number into the coupon machine,

and instead of getting the usual crap stuff I never use,

I got a $1 coupon for $5 worth of pork product.

And that's how the ground pork 

ended up in my cart and in today's meal.

Mr. Hawthorne made chili today.

I made homemade seasoned tortilla chips

since we had nothing but Tostito crumbles left in the bag.

And now the ugly two-headed chili monster raises its head.

Beans or not?

Sorry, Texas.

But we're going with the beans.

I like all the protein I can get in whatever form.
I'll take beans anytime.

 Mr. Hawthorne's Chili

 1 cup Navy and white northern beans, soaked over night

Refresh water, add beans, bring to boil, cover, and turn off heat.

In about 20-30 minutes,

uncover, bring to boil again, cover, and turn off heat.

Repeat as many times until beans are tender.

Mr. Hawthorne says it took about 3 hours for his beans.

It depends on personal taste.

Rinse beans and set aside.

That's how Mr. H. does his beans.

That's not how Rosie does hers.

When I want beans, I want beans today, not tomorrow,

so I never soak any beans overnight.

I rinse my beans, then stir them into boiling water.

Reduce heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes.

Rinse off beans and refresh water.

Bring to a boil again and simmer about 30 minutes.

Taste test.

I like my beans al dente.

I think I just figgered out the reason why Mr. Hawthorne does this.

He turns the beans on, sets the timer,

and tells me to turn off the beans when the buzzer goes off,

and retreats to his room to watch a movie.

He ventures out later,

turns the beans on, sets the timer, and gives me instructions,

and goes back to watch another movie.

He is on no time schedule whatsoever.

It's the lazy man's way of cooking beans.

Me?

I watch my beans every now and then

and actually change the water.

And I'm done in an hour. 

About changing the water -

Julia Child says the changing of the water

decreases "intestinal motility"

and Lord knows I don't want anymore intestinal motility

than there already is in the Hawthorne Household.

Ingredients

1 TB bacon grease, leftover from breakfast

 1 lb. ground pork

1 green pepper, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1 small can tomato sauce

2 TB ketchup

1 package Old El Paso Chili Seasoning

1/2 cup water

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a medium pan, 

sauté the pork in the bacon grease until almost brown.

Pour out any grease.

Add pepper and onion and cook until tender.

Add tomato sauce and ketchup.

(Swish out any sauce left in the can with water and add to pan.)

Add beans and heat through.

Stir in the packet of chili seasoning and the water.

Taste test.

Salt and pepper if needed.

More water, if needed to get the consistency the way you like it.

Serve with Rosie's Seasoned Tortilla Chips.

 Rosie's Seasoned Potato Chips

stack of flour tortillas, cut into wedges

unsalted butter

packet of Sazón Goya seasoning con culantro y achiote 

(Found in Hispanic aisle.)

If you don't happen to have the Goya seasoning on hand,

use a light sprinkling of cumin, oregano, paprika, and cayenne.

Heat oven to 300°.

Place about 3 TB unsalted butter on a large baking sheet

and let melt in oven while it heats up.

Lightly dredge tortilla wedges
 in the melted butter on each side

and place on baking sheet.

Sprinkling with seasoning.

Bake until wedges are crisp and lightly brown - about 30 minutes.

 Gotta have me some cilantro lovin'!
If you wanted to squeeze some lime juice on top,
I would not be averse to that.
Crème fraîche would be good too.

Friday Preparations For The Saturday Morning Crock Pot Cook Off At Ace Hardware.

Tomorrow's the day. The day of the crock pot cook off.

So today, I'm getting things in place. Tying up loose ends, making check lists, and lists to check my lists. I have my cold cooler ready. I have my hot hotter ready. Last Saturday, I made Batch #1 of chili, with venison as the base. On Sunday, I made Batch #2 of chili. I froze both batches. On Wednesday, I transferred the frozen chilis to the refrigerator to thaw out. Tomorrow morning, I'll heat up 4 parts of chili #1 with 2 parts of chili #2 on the stove top, pour into the crock pot, and take my chili to Ace Hardware.

Today, I made a few accoutrements for my chili. First, seasoned tortilla chips.

I sliced my tortillas into twelfths. Store bought tortillas on the right. Homemade tortillas on the left. Melted a stick of butter.

Added in my seasonings: 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp coriander 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp Sazon Goya con cilantro y tomate 1 tsp Sazon Goya con azafran See here for Goya seasonings.

I brushed the triangles with my seasoned butter.

Sprinkled on a bit of chopped cilantro. And baked in a 275 degree oven until lightly browned and crisp. Next, my seasoned creme fraiche.

Yesterday, I had made a pint of creme fraiche. (Upper right corner in picture above.) Very simple. 1 pint heavy cream 2 TB buttermilk 2 TB lemon juice Mix ingredients, cover, and let sit at room temperature overnight. Refrigerate. Now, I'm going to season my creme fraiche with green onion, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, and lime zest.

I only used two green onions, not the three shown. And one jalapeno, not two, shown. Grated zest of 2 limes. And cilantro.

Juice of one lime.

Lime juice gets added to creme fraiche.

Cilantro goes in.

Green onions.

And the rest of the green stuff.

Lookin' good.

Mix together, dip a chip in, and it's divine. You can taste every flavor. And it's very greeny. Next, I'm preparing my corn salsa.

1 large can diced tomatoes 1 can corn 1 can green chilies some canned jalapenos from my garden cilantro lime juice and the package of seasoning from a Taco dinner kit

Drain the 'maters.

Add the drained corn.

Add the chilies.

Add the juice of one lime.

Add the cilantro. You could add parsley if you're not fond of cilantro.

Stir in the seasoning packet from the taco dinner.

The seasoned creme fraiche, the corn salsa, and the tortilla chips are wonderful. Tomorrow, I need to grate cheddar cheese, chop some jalapenos and cilantro, and slice green onions for other additions to my chili. NOW, you KNOW Imonna have a crock-scape tomorrow. You'll just have to wait and see. Or will it be a chili-scape?

But until then, I'll just give you a hint. What's Mr. Hawthorne doing here?

Why, I believe the dear man is making Rosie some chili earrings!

We'd gone out Thursday morning on a search for scape items. I found some plastic chili peppers, then I went to a bead place where they had the earring thingies. Mr. Hawthorne got out his Dremel and drilled a tiny hole in the peppers, then strung them with copper wire and attached them to the ear thingies.

He's wearing his magnifying glasses with visor. He means business. Those are not bolts in his head.

Ta daaaaa. My earrings. Now, if that's not love, I don't know what is. Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne.

My earrings. Wish me luck, all! I'll be wearing my lucky underwear.