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And a mess it is indeed. I stumbled into this by buying a bunch of marked down chunks of ham at the grocery store and though, "Well, if I have ham, I might as well make beans." It's also convenient cause my 18 month old picky eater loves beans. So to cater to him, the main is a bean and rice casserole. The side is green bean salad. And the dessert is pra-beans.    1. Bean and Rice Casserole So I soaked 1/2 lb of navy beans in salted water, 15g/L, overnight, and then cooked them with 3/4lb ham chunks, leek tops, a carrot, bay leaf, and thyme.   I caramelized about 2/3 of a sweet onion in butter, using the higher heat + deglazing method. I added 4 cloves of garlic, chopped. And then rice. I gave it a quick stir and commenced cooking it in the bean liquor, topped off with chicken stock. As this went for a while, it kept building up a browned stuff stuck to the bottom, I'm assuming from the excess protein and starch hanging out in the bean liquor. It tasted good, so I just periodically scraped the bottom and stirred it back in.  I mixed the rice and beans, added 5oz sour cream, 4 chopped green onions, and 5ish oz of taleggio cut into half inch cubes and stirred in.  I threw it all in the oven and baked it at 350 uncovered for about an hour.  It's not the prettiest thing I've cooked. Rather the opposite. It is, however, tasty. A nice hearty meal with a lot of bean flavor and some creaminess. If I made it again, I'd probably increase the taleggio to about 8oz, since getting the melty pockets of it were my favorite parts. And the kids ate it and loved it. 2. Green Bean Salad So I initially was going to make lentil salad, but thought I needed something greener. I was wandering through the store, saw green beans and it suddenly struck me that green bean casserole and spinach salad with warm bacon dressing have a lot in common, and figured I'd try and sub blistered green beans into the salad instead of spinach. Then I got home and realized, they only had 2 things in common, mushroom and onions. Be that as it may, here's a green bean salad, inspired by the casserole.  In homage to casserole, I decided rather than mundane sliced onions, this would have crispy shallots. Take 4 shallots, slice thin, put in a pot with an equal quantity of oil (about 1.5c in my case) and turn it to high. As they start to bubble stir to ensure even cooking.  When they are golden brown remove from heat, salt, and drain well. Do not eat them all. Preserve the oil for some other use as it's all shallot-y now.  While all this is going on, hard boil and egg and thinly slice some mushroom. Trim and wash your beans and then toss them in a very hot skillet with a little oil. When they've got some nice black spots and have softened up some, pull from the heat and set aside. Forget to take a picture of the beans. Cook some bacon. When it's done remove it from the pan and take the pan off the heat. Whisk in mustard, black pepper, and red wine vinegar. Once emulsified, add green beans and sliced mushrooms. Toss to dress.  Put in bowl and top with crumbled bacon, chopped egg, and crispy shallots. You may now eat the rest of the crispy shallots.  This was good. My biggest questions is if there's anything served with bacon, egg, and crispy shallots that wouldn't be good though. 3. Pra-beans That's with a long A. See, they're pralines, but with crispy chickpeas instead of pecans. Drain a can of chickpeas, toss it with 1tbsp olive oil and some salt, throw in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes, pausing to shake the pan halfway through. Let them sit for a bit when you're done as they crisp up some more. This gets you about a cup of crispy beans. The praline recipe is the buttermilk pralines from Joy of Cooking, halved because you only made 1c of beans and the recipe calls for 2c pecans.  1c sugar 1/4c brown sugar 1/2tsp soda 1/2c buttermilk Cook on medium until the sugar is dissolved, and then melt in 2tbsp butter, and strap on a candy thermometer. Cook to 236f, or soft ball stage. Switch pots halfway through because dear god it's overflowing!  While that's going on, finely chop some fresh rosemary, because we're getting freaky with this. Oh, and lay out some wax paper. Or learn your kid used it all playing with playdough and lay out some lightly buttered foil. Remove from heat, add 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tbsp-2/3tbsp rosemary. Add crispy beans.  Stir until it starts to turn opaque and the drop by the tablespoon onto wax paper (foil).  They need to set up for 30 minutes or so, so use a flexible spatula to scrape the rest of the pralines mix out of the pot and just eat it as is because no one is looking.  These are good. The praline recipe is great. The rosemary addition is interesting (and inspired by the rosemary caramel bonbon at Chocolate Secrets in Dallas, seriously they're amazing) and it's probably just the right amount. You get it, but it doesn't hit you in the face. The crispy chickpeas are pretty good in here. I'm not sure it'll ever replace pecans, but this is a good substitute if you wanted to make nut-free pralines for someone. All in all, it was a pretty successful beaning, and I'll be eating casserole for the next week, and loving it. I can't get my wife to eat pra-beans. I think she doesn't like the name. More for me, I guess.
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Mar 1, 2019 16:44
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| # ? May 6, 2024 15:31 |
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Those pra-beans look loving intriguing
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Mar 1, 2019 16:59
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Yeah, for me, the pra-beans and the steamed buns are the two biggest triumphs in this NICSA. I think you get definite props for appeasing 18-mo-olds. I also couldn't get my wife to eat my dessert 
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Mar 1, 2019 17:20
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I might have to try those pra-beans, I am vacillating between horrified and intrigued
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Mar 1, 2019 21:36
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Scientastic posted:I might have to try those pra-beans, I am vacillating between horrified and intrigued I don't think they're horrifying. They taste good, albeit quite sweet. Were you so inclined, a touch of salt on the top would be a nice addition. The crispy chickpeas don't quite hit the texture I expect, but I'm having trouble picking out exactly why. Probably just not quite as nutlike as I expect. I reckon that's something that could be controlled for by a more experienced chickpea roaster.
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Mar 1, 2019 22:16
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| # ? May 6, 2024 15:31 |
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While not pretty, the casserole looks loving delicious. That's also the classiest green bean salad I have ever seen, and the pra-beans looked really, really interesting. Fabulous entry.
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Mar 2, 2019 14:40
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