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Three quick lunches with beans
If you're like me, you don't have a whole lot of time during the week to spend cooking dinner in the evening, much less prepare lunch for the next day.
I'm always looking for ways to streamline meal preparation so that I can have yummy food ready to go after I come home from work and when I wake up in the morning. Don't get me wrong--I love to cook. I just can't spend all of my time during the week doing it.
Paul came up with the following recipe on a whim. He's a huge fan of dill and a bigger fan of tomatoes, and since tomato season's in full swing, there's no reason to skimp on them. We make a pound of beans at one time (1 pound beans + 2 quarts water, slowcooked on low for 12 hours).
Chickpeas with dill, lemon, and tomatoes
Per serving:
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
1 T lemon juice
5 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tsp dill
salt and pepper to taste
Toss all ingredients in a Tupperware container and let marinate in the fridge until lunchtime. Serve cold.
My ninang does her chumus a little differently than usual--she removes the skin from the chickpeas for a smoother texture.
Chumus, Ninang-style
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/2 to 1 cup tahina
1-3 cloves garlic
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
Turn on a food processor. Drop in garlic cloves through the chute, then turn it off.
Add chickpeas and tahina, then pulse to incorporate garlic.
Pulse in enough olive oil to make it cohesive.
Garnish with chopped sundried tomatoes and zaatar and serve with pita chips, carrots, snap peas, etc.
Green beans and heirloom tomatoes steamed in butter and herbs
1 T butter
1-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb green, wax, or similar beans, washed (leave them a little wet)
1-2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
1-3 basil leaves, torn
dried herbs, salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (optional)
Heat a pan over medium heat.
Add butter and wait for it to melt. Once it melts, add garlic and saute for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add beans and tomatoes. Stir to coat with butter. Add dried herbs, if using.
Cover the pan, leaving a tiny crack for a little steam to escape. Wait approximately five minutes.
After about five minutes, uncover and taste the beans for doneness. I like mine on the crunchy side. They're done when they're tender.
Top with basil and sliced almonds. Serve hot. The picture shows them with soba noodles.
This can be reheated in the microwave on high for around 30 seconds.
Apple butter
Ay naku! Is it already time to start preparing for the High Holidays?
I suppose so, as Rosh Hashanah is next week, and Yom Kippur the week after.This means that it's time to break out the apples, honey, and other sweet things to celebrate a sweet new year!
Last year I got so many apples from my CSA box each week that I couldn't give them away anymore. Happily, this abundanceof apples coincided with my acquisition of a food processor, and my experiments with apple butter were born.
I learned very quickly that removing the seeds was important to do before pureeing the apples, rather than relying on an inefficient sieve to sort them out. If I had a food mill, I'd use that instead of the food processor. My apple butter turned out a little grainy because of the tiny, hard pieces of seed, but otherwise it was particularly delicious on a piece of challah toast.
At its essence, apple butter is reduced applesauce, smooth and rich on the tongue, rife with dusky caramel sweetness. If you really, really had to, you could take some store-bought applesauce, put it over a flame, stir in some spices, and wait for it to reduce to a thick, yet spreadable mass, but where's the fun in that?
Apple butter
4 lbs apples, quartered (and seeded if you're using a food processor, not if you're using a food mill or sieve)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups water (you can use orange juice for some of this. If you do, cut some of the sugar, as it will be quite sweet.)
2 lbs sugar (a little more than 2 cups granulated. Powdered sugar works just as well. The added cornstarch also helps the mixture gel together, but isn't necessary. Apples have some pectin in their cores, which is usually enough to keep the texture thick.)
1 lemon, zested and juiced (1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 teaspoon zest)
1 T cinnamon and/or 2 cinnamon sticks
1 t allspice
1 t cardamom
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1. In a large, heavy saucepan, bring apples, sugar, vinegar, and water to a boil.
2. Add cinnamon sticks and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until apples are soft. Remove cinnamon sticks, if using.
3. If using a food mill or sieve: Push apple mixture, including liquid, through mill or sieve. If using a food processor: Puree apple mixture, taking care not to overfill the workbowl.
4. Return puree to saucepan, stir in lemon and spices, and simmer on medium to medium-low heat until puree is caramel-colored and thickly coats the back of a spoon. It should spread smoothly onto a piece of toast, and definitely should not be runny. This can take around an hour. It's ready for canning once it's reached the right consistency.
Makes around a quart of apple butter, depending on how much it cooks down.
In this case, patience is deliciously rewarding. Step 4 can be done overnight in a slow cooker set on low. Best of all, it lasts if you keep it in the refrigerator. I'm still going through some of last year's batch.
Let me know how you like your apple butter in the comments.
