I’m slowly but surely starting to get back on with the normal routine of things after the craziness of the last month, which is something of a relief, because I think my head might have ‘sploded if things kept up at the pace they were at. As I mentioned, my friend’s mother died, but the full on crazy didn’t stop there, because shortly afterwards (like – the evening after the memorial) I came down with what can only be described as The Worst Flu Of All Time. ALL TIME.

The flu had me laid up for a week solid, at of course – the worst time possible, since it was the week before Pantheacon. As if I wasn’t already stressed out and nervous, I now need to be rushed and frantic trying to get everything done the couple of days before, because I had been sick. Thankfully, after a couple of long days, I was able to get everything I needed to get done, done, go to Pantheacon and have a (mostly) good time. Amusingly, I did end up attending a seminar entitled “Sacred Seasons, Sacred Meals: Seasonal Food & Sustainability”, and the best thing I can say about it is that it’s inspired me to consider applying to do a seminar next year on Sustainable & Seasonal foods. Who knows if it’ll get accepted… But I think I might have to try, because it was just that bad.

One of the things that I try really hard to do as a general rule is have low-maintenance things cooking in the background while I straighten up around the house, make dinner, or whatever. Roasting a whole squash is one of those easy background processes that after you’ve done it a couple of times – you’ll think to yourself, why did I ever buy canned pumpkin? I mean, it requires next to no babysitting, it’s really hard to mess up, and the results are so easy and delicious. Cooking beans or whole grains for later use is also a good use of down time at home. I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but – if you have a couple of hours where you’re going to be at home and can breeze through the kitchen every so often – you can make beans.

In my recent fascination with all things Legume, I picked up these beans at a trip to the bulk-bins. They were simply listed as “Baby Garbanzos/Chana Dal” – which tickled my fancy a little bit, because I love trying out new things, and I’d never heard of Baby Garbanzo beans before. Upon closer inspection and a google search or two, I discovered that they’re really more like split Garbanzo beans. I had half of the pound earmarked for a Hummus, that I haven’t made yet, but for the other half I needed a little inspiration – so I looked around for some ideas and came across this site that waxes eloquent about the wonders of Chana Dal, which is where I came across the inspiration for this soup.

All things considered, if you are like me, and try to keep cooked beans and other conveniences like roasted squash in the fridge, this soup will go together so fast it will make your family’s head spin. 0-to-soup in 15 minutes or so. Not quite as quick as Campbells, sure – but not shabby at all, and much healthier and tastier. Plus, if you like it spicier, you can always kick it up a notch by adding in some extra chili powder, or what have you. The measurements on the spices are rough estimates. I strongly recommend adding spices to taste, because a lot of things can affect the flavor – age of your spices, the particular blend of curry, how hot/spicy/whatever you like it, etc…

Ingredients:

• 1 quart Pureed Butternut Squash*
• 1 quart Cooked Chana Dal in Cooking Liquid**
• 1 quart Stock or Leftover Chana Dal Cooking Liquid
• 1 onion; sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic; coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Brown Rice Vinegar (or to taste)
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1 tbs Grated Ginger
• 1 tbs Curry Powder (or to taste)
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Heat the Olive Oil in a large pot over medium heat
• Add the Onions and saute until tender and edges are beginning to turn golden
• Reduce heat and add the coarsely chopped Garlic
• Gently cook for about a minute to heat the garlic thoroughly
• Working in batches, puree the Chana Dal, onions, garlic, and butternut squash together
• Return puree to pot and add the Stock (or leftover Chana Dal Cooking Liquid, if you have it)
• Heat on low, gently, until warmed through
• Stir in the White Wine, Rice Vinegar (to taste), Ginger, Butter and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• In a small bowl, stir together the curry powder, cumin, and chili powder
• Take a spoonful or two of the soup, and stir together with the spice mixture to create a paste, this will help keep the spices from clumping instead of mixing in smoothly
• Add additional soup until paste becomes thinned
• Working to taste, add the thinned paste mixture to the soup until desired spice/heat level is reached
• Remove from Heat and stir in the Sesame Oil
• Serve Immediately

*To make your own Butternut Squash Puree, roast whole butternut squash in a 400° oven until tender. Allow to cool, remove and discard seeds and peel, and puree. One medium Butternut = appx 1 quart puree

**To cook Chana Dal, (or any other bean for that matter) Soak overnight (or atleast a few hours), place in a heavy pot with lid. Add 1 quart or so of stock, a bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary (optional), a sprig of Thyme (optional), and enough water to cover the beans by at least an inch. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer, once beans begin to soften, add a couple of liberal pinches of kosher salt, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until cooked to desired tenderness.

When I was growing up, we ate beans occasionally. Mostly from a can, and usually in the form of Soup, Chili or Baked Beans. It wasn’t until recently, however – that I really learned how yummy beans could be. I mean, when I would eat beans in chili, or soup – usually it was the flavor of the seasonings and spices, that carried the dish. Chili powder, tomato sauce, ham, etc… And the beans, ever willing to adapt to different situations, were the quiet partner in the back, soaking up flavors and adding protein. The “wind beneath the wings”, so to speak.

But beans can be more than the nearly-silent and supportive partner – and if you try out these heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo, I’m sure you’ll agree. I was first turned on to Ranch Gordo by this post about heirloom beans on the Kitchn. I told myself I’d make it a point to go out and get some as soon as possible. And I was floored by what I found. Unlike the background singers of my youth, opened from a can and added to other dishes – these beans are so delicious you won’t want to add anything to them, because they shine so brilliantly on their own. And it’s beyond simple to make – I don’t know if I’ll ever want to buy canned beans again. If you have a lazy Saturday afternoon hanging around the house and relaxing, you can have these beans for dinner.

Of course, like any dried bean – it does tend to work better if you soak the beans overnight. However, if you’re like me and you sometimes forget, just soak them for a couple of hours in the morning before cooking, and you should get most of the benefit. The picture above is the Rio Zape beans from Rancho Gordo after soaking and draining, but before cooking. They’ve plumped up a lot, and have this unique striping/swirling pattern that give them a distinctive look. After cooking, the color pattern becomes more subtle, but it’s more than made up for in flavor. I’ve never had anything quite like them, although the closest bean to the Rio Zape would probably be the pinto bean – so  in a pinch you can substitute pintos, but you’ll really be missing out, because these are much better than the pintos I’ve had in the past.

Okay, so I know I’m starting to sound like a star struck fan-girl, but you really do have to go out and give these beans a try. Or, if not these beans, then give making other beans from scratch – because the recipe I’m going to provide is pretty much the same for nearly any variety. I love to make up a batch of beans about once a week, stick them in the fridge, and use them for quick meals during the week. It does take a little bit of a time commitment in terms of someone actually being home, but they are really low on the work & complexity scale. Put in a pot, cover with liquid, simmer until done. It’s literally that simple. You can putter around in the garage, mow the lawn, watch a video, knit a sweater, or whatever else you would normally do during an afternoon at home – just popping in to the kitchen every so often to give the pot a swirl with a spoon and add water if neccessary. Then, when your significant other says “What’s for dinner?” You can dust a little flour on your nose, give them an aggrieved look, and tell them you’ve been laboring for hours making from-scratch beans just for them. Let the kudos come rolling in.

These beans would be suitable in any application where you might normally use Pintos – Chili, Soup, Refried Beans, etc… Although so far, my favorite way by far has been lightly dressed with a little bit of Feta Cheese, a drizzle of some fine quality olive oil, a sprinkle of Kosher Salt, and a thick slab of Mr. Man’s homemade French Bread. We had that for dinner the other night, with a side of sauteed mushrooms and kale from our recent FFTY box, and it was just a perfect and easy weeknight meal.

It was definitely a nice change of pace from our being-lazy-dinners we’ve had so many of lately. LOL – it feels good to be getting back in to the swing of things. We finally beat the video game we’d gotten sucked in to, and now I’m determined to try and get back in the kitchen (and on the website). I have a few things that I’m working on, and eventually I want to post about them, but for now I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it just yet.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dried Rio Zape Beans (or other Pinto-Style bean)
• 1 quart Stock (I used Scrap Stock, but you can use whatever – even water, since the beans will create their own pot liquor, too)
• 1 sprig of Rosemary
• 1 Sprig of Thyme
• Water
• Kosher Salt
• Feta
• Fine Quality Olive Oil
• Crusty Bread

Method:

• Rinse and pick over beans, discard any debris
• If possible, soak beans overnight (or atleast for a couple of hours)
• Drain and rinse beans until water runs clear
• Pour the beans in to a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid
• Add the stock, rosemary, thyme and enough water to cover the beans by atleast an inch
• Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer
• Simmer, stirring every once in a while until beans begin to soften – (add more water if neccessary to keep an inch of liquid over the beans)
• Add a couple generous pinches of kosher salt and continue cooking until tender
• Cooking time will vary depending on type/age of bean and desired level of tenderness – cook to taste
• Before Serving, fish out the stems of the rosemary and thyme and discard
• Serving Suggestion: Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and give it a light sprinkle of kosher salt (if desired) – and use the cooking liquid to dip your bread in!

Update – Used leftover beans to make refried beans – and they were the most awesomest refried beans I’ve ever ever had. Ever.

So the last twenty-four haven’t been particularly fun – I had a bout of insomnia on Wednesday night, which is always super-fun… and just as I was beginning to recover, I find out that Miss Thing has Miss-placed her phone. Her iPhone. Her iPhone that she’s only had for about six months. Her iPhone that she didn’t tell us was missing until about 11PM. Four hours after the GPS tracking shows that the battery died. Needless to say we’re unhappy with her.

Anyways, as much as I could wax eloquent about how annoyed and frustrated and disappointed and everything else that I am right now – there isn’t much I can really do except wait, check the GPS occasionally and hope that a good samaritan turns it in. Of course, the longer it’s missing, the less likely that becomes. At any rate – a replacement phone will be coming out of Miss Thing’s allowance, should it come to that.

The one bright spot in yesterday evening, was this lovely pasta we enjoyed for dinner. I’ve been kicking around a lot of ideas in my head for different winter squash recipes – and in particular, the flavors of sage, browned butter and pumpkin had been coming up frequently as something I really wanted to do. Unfortunately, something or other was always coming up and I kept putting it off. Well last night, I had cleared out everything else that was queued up ahead of it, and was finally able to put my ideas in motion.

I had leftover roasted pumpkin already prepared from when I made the Ginger Pumpkin White Chocolate Blondies, and the lentils I made up as a background process earlier in the day, which made this dish simply fly together in about a half an hour. Although Miss Thing made her usual ‘winter squash blech’ face, she did eventually own up and say that it was pretty good, and Mr. Man enjoyed it as well. As for me, well – perhaps it was the anticipation… the week or so of kicking the idea around and planning for it, because I thought it was durn near one of my favorite pasta dishes evar. It was supah yum.

If you don’t have pumpkin – I’m sure you can use any other winter squash you like – butternut, acorn, delicata, etc… with equally yummy results. Because I was using pre-cooked pumpkin, I was slightly at the mercy of it’s texture – next time I would probably peel the pumpkin and roast it in chunks in the hopes of retaining some structure. When I tossed the pumpkin I had in with everything else, it kind of broke down and coated the pasta, almost like a sauce – which was good, but not quite what I had originally intended. In any case, I’m sure it would be good either way – although it might require further testing… in fact, I believe I have some butternut on my counter from my most recent FFTY box… I wouldn’t want to appear as if I’m not being thorough… Do you think Miss Thing will revolt if I make winter squash two nights in a row?

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of Whole Wheat Pasta
• 1 qt Roasted Pumpkin; cut in to Chunks
• 1 and 1/2 cups Cooked Du Puy Lentils
• 1 stick of Butter
• 1/2 cup Feta Cheese; crumbled
• 1 large Shallot; minced
• 1 small onion; diced
• 4 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 tbs peeled, finely minced ginger
• 2 tbs Finely minced Sage
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
• Add the pasta and cook until Al Dente
• Drain the pasta and set aside
• Return the pot to the stove over medium heat
• Add the butter and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter turns golden brown in color and begins to smell nutty
• Add the onions and shallots and saute until onions are cooked through
• Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
• Remove from heat, and stir in the pasta, pumpkin, lentils, feta, sage and the Cider Vinegar
• Add Kosher Salt to taste

Over the weekend, I ended up having to run a few more errands than I would really have liked – which definitely isn’t really conducive to my Stop-Being-So-Busy-All-The-Time strategy. Fortunately, it didn’t end up being too inconvenient, and I got quite a few things done. Saturday, I ended up spending most of the afternoon shuttling Miss Thing around. She had a thing for her team that she needed to attend, which ended up taking a huge chunk out of my day. It was also unfortunate in that directly afterwards her coach tried to guilt me in to letting her go to an extra practice session that evening. blergh.

Anyhow, the next day – Sunday, Mr. Man and I decided that we were going to get back to home brewing – so we decided to take a trip over to our local brewing supply store. Our inspiration for it started in the form or a recent post I saw on Homemade Hard Cider over at The Paupered Chef. I mean – we’d been thinking about making another batch of beer for a while, but it hadn’t actually occurred to us to make Hard Cider before. Which, in retrospect, seems like a GINORMOUS oversight on our part, considering how frequently I end up buying a six pack of Hornsby (or similar). Not that I’m a lush – but you know, buying by the six pack isn’t exactly cost effective. So one thing led to another and we ended up at our local brew shop – and we walked out with two vials of yeast, hops, malt extracts and who knows what else. One vial for Mr. Man to make in to an IPA, and one vial to make Hard Cider.

So when we got home, we started the Hard Cider – and then realized that we still had Apple Mead from the year before to rack. Kind of an ‘Oh yeah!” moment. So we started to sterilize some bottles and get things moving on that while I was making dinner, and then after dinner I went out to the garage and made the cider. Which was super easy! I simply poured brown sugar, apple juice and yeast in to a Carboy and ta-da! We have Cider started. Mr. Man helped – a little. I mean, he only sterilized and washed all the brewing equipment, got everything set up for me, told me how and what to do and when to do it, transported everything around, and shook the carboy up. Thats all. But I made the Cider.

Anyways, by the time that was all done, we checked on the dishwasher and found that the load was done, so we started to get ready to rack the Mead. Atleast – we were going to, until Mr. Man asks “Oh, did you use Soap on those bottles?” Because apparently, you aren’t supposed to use soap to wash them because it leaves behind a residue. A little tidbit he could have shared with me beforehand. So we decided to wait until Monday to rack, and run the load again. And have a celebratory glass of Apple Mead. That turned in to several celebratory beers. Anyhow, long story short – the next night we bottled and now have fifty-two fifty bottles of Mead, and then tonight Mr. Man started his IPA. So in a few weeks, we’ll have some homemade Hard Cider, home brewed Beer and the Apple Mead. Yay!

The night that We, I mean I, made cider  was the same night we had this stew. It was a great night for it – we had lots of other things going on, and cooking beans is such a background process that you don’t really have to fuss with very much. Aside from the cooking time for the beans, this dish could really be thrown together in less than half an hour. For the majority of it, I was chopping and prepping one ingredient, while the one before it was cooking. It made life very easy. (Ie… while the bacon was cooking, I was chopping the leeks, while the leeks were cooking, I was mincing the garlic… etc…) Initially, I’d thought about adding arugula and maybe some carrots to this, since I had both sitting in the fridge, but then I saw this beautiful Savoy Cabbage that I received in my most recent FFTY box and just knew I wanted to do something with it. I also had the last couple of late season tomatoes that I’d picked up a week or two ago at the Farmer’s Market that I needed to do something with, so I tossed them in to the pot as well.

It turned out far better than I could have imagined. I don’t know what I was doing wrong all these years before, but I have developed an amazing love affair with beans the last month. Every pot of beans I’ve made lately has just been golden – and this dish was no exception. The Savoy and the Cannellini’s just worked so well together. Now, before anyone asks – yes, of course you can probably use canned beans. However – that said, I don’t recommend it. The cooking liquid for the beans was what made up the liquid of the stew, and it was amazing. I’m just not sure that you can get the same flavor from canned beans. So you know… be warned and all that jazz. If it makes any difference, I’m sure you could make the beans up several days before hand, and then just heat them up the day you wanted to serve them. For the tomatoes though – since I know not everyone is blessed to have fresh tomatoes when hovering around the beginning of November – In your shoes, I would absolutely throw in some canned, stewed, tomatoes. Chop ‘em up and toss them in. Heck, add the juice from the tomatoes as well, cuz that’s what I would do.

Actually – if we’re being fair here… There probably isn’t much you couldn’t change out if you wanted. The cannellini’s are so mild and easy to work with, that I think they might just become my like, favorite bean ever. Of course, I’m pretty sure I said that to Mr. Man about the last batch of beans I made, too – so, you know… I mean, I can’t help it – I’m enthused about beans! (And there’s a sentence I never saw myself saying before). I never really saw myself as getting excited about beans – but lately I have been. I see a new variety or idea for them, and I’m all “NEAT! Wonder how I can work them in!”

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Dried Cannellini Beans; rinsed, picked over, and soaked overnight
• 1 head Savoy Cabbage; quartered and chopped in to fine shreds
• 1 small fennel bulb; cut in to thin slivers
• 3 lbs fresh tomatoes (about 3 cups); diced (or appx 1 quart canned tomatoes)
• 2 leeks; whites and light green area only; thinly sliced
• 5 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 quart of Scrap Stock (or other Broth)
• 8 oz Back Bacon
• 2 tbs Olive Oil
• 1 tbs White Wine
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Pour the Stock and the drained and soaked beans in to a dutch oven with a tight fitting lid
• Add enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches
• Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat until a gentle simmer is reached
• Cover and simmer until beans begin to soften
• Add the Sprig of rosemary and some Kosher Salt, then  simmer until beans are tender (cooking times may vary depending on age of beans, length of soak etc…)
• Remove the Rosemary Sprig, Reduce heat and keep warm while preparing other ingredients
• In a large skillet; brown the bacon.
• When the bacon is done, remove from pan and set aside to drain
• Add the leeks to the pan and fry in the bacon drippings
• When the leeks are tender and beginning to turn golden, add the garlic
• Cook the leeks and garlic until the garlic is aromatic
• Add the White Wine to the Leeks and garlic and deglaze any remaining bacon bits
• Add the Leeks and garlic to the Cannellini Beans and return skillet to heat
• Add 1/2 a tbs of Olive Oil to the skillet and then add the fennel
• Saute until fennel is tender and aromatic then transfer to the cannellini beans
• Add remaining Olive Oil to the skillet, and saute the cabbage until golden and tender (can do in two batches if neccessary)
• Add the cabbage to the beans and bring to a simmer
• Chop the reserved bacon in to fine bits
• Stir in the tomatoes and cook until heated through
• Add the Cider Vinegar and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• To serve, top with crumbled Bacon Bits