Black Beans For A Lazy Day Food

RESTAURANT-STYLE MEXICAN BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the oil and let heat briefly.
• Add in onions and saute for 5 to 7 minutes until soft.
• Add in minced garlic, cumin, and cayenne pepper and saute another 60 seconds.
• Add in un-drained black beans and juices from can. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot topped with fresh cilantro.

SPICY BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, salt, chile powder and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chiles, beans and broth and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans have softened and the sauce has thickened, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with cilantro leaves and Cotija.

BEST BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, combine beans, onion, and garlic, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Season with cilantro, cayenne, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.

HOW TO COOK BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• First, pick through your black beans for debris (sometimes tiny rocks can sneak in). Place the beans in a fine mesh colander or sieve and rinse very well. Pour the beans into a large Dutch oven or saucepan (4 quarts or larger in capacity).
• Add the onion, garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, salt, cumin, orange zest and red pepper flakes (if using) to the pot. Pour in the water.
• Cover the pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Remove the lid and reduce the heat to low to maintain a gentle simmer. Give the beans a stir to make sure none are stuck to the bottom of the pot, and set a timer for 1 hour. Leave the pot uncovered and adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer (you should see several small bubbles popping to the surface at any given moment).
• Once the timer goes off, test a couple of beans by using a fork to press them against the side of the pot. If they're easy to press through, taste a few (carefully! they're hot!) to see if they're sufficiently plump, tender and delicious.
• Otherwise, continue cooking, testing in 15 to 30 minute intervals as needed, until they're done. If you're running low on liquid, add water in 1-cup increments so the beans are covered at all time. (As mentioned in the post, if your beans are old, they can take several hours to cook and require a lot more water, and some very old beans may never cook through.)
• Once the beans are very tender and tasty, you can increase the heat a little to reduce the cooking liquid into a more gravy-like consistency, about 5 to 15 minutes (it will continue to thicken up as the beans cool).
• Remove the pot from the heat. Carefully remove the orange zest and both bay leaves. Use a fork to press the garlic against the side of the bowl to break it up. Add the cilantro, if using, and lime juice. Stir to combine. Season to taste with additional salt, if needed. Use as desired.
• Allow leftover beans to cool to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 to 5 days. You can also freeze leftover beans for several months.***

LAZY DAY BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Pour the oil into a large dutch oven or soup pot. Add the diced onions and carrots. Cover and cook on medium until onions are translucent and the carrots are soft.
• While the onions and carrots are cooking, pour tomato sauce, one can of black beans and the liquid only from the other 3 cans of black beans into a blender. Add the jalapeno pepper, garlic cloves and chili powder. Blend on high until smooth.
• Add the blended black bean mixture and the beans from the other three cans to the soup pot. Pour the one cup of hot water into the blender. Swish around to clean out all the bean mixture from the blender. Pour into the soup pot. Stir together all the contents of the soup pot. Cook until boiling lightly. Then turn the heat on low and simmer for about 10 minutes.