This is the third in an on-going series of recipes and cooking posts. For the previous two posts, see: 1. here 2. and here.

One of the things you should know about my family is that we are debt free. We don’t owe a penny to anyone, and getting out off debt was one of the best things we’ve done as a family. We did it by going all in on the Dave Ramsey method, which, is for some people and not for others, but it worked for us. We still make a budget and we still pay cash for everything, including graduate tuition, cars, gas, plane tickets, you name it.

We even went on the Dave Ramsey show to do our debt free scream, and the money we saved allowed us to go on honeymoon in Maui.

The reason I bring this up is multilayered: food is as much a reflection of where you are in your life as anything else, and also how it is useful to start with someone else’s recipe first, while you learn, but then to move on to making a dish (or a budget) your own.

There are some foods that, god-willing, I’ll probably never eat again. For my family, that probably means can-packed Chicken of the Sea tuna. My wife can’t stand it and we don’t need to use it to get good protein. And while this dish is absolutely one that we relied on while we were getting out of debt, it’s come to mean more to us.

At first, Black Beans meant sacrifice and struggle. Now it means comfort, and gratitude. As we’ve changed, our relationship to money, the food, and each other have changed too; and I’ll show how this recipe has evolved too.

Black Beans

Ingredients:

  1. 1 small white onion, diced
  2. 1 red bell pepper and 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, diced
  3. 2 cloves garlic, minced
  4. 1 can (12-16 oz) black beans, partially drained; you can completely drain them and choose to add ~1/2 cup chicken stock or water for the hydration.
  5. 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  6. Cumin, Bay Leaf, Cayenne, Paprika, and Oregano are the standard spices I’d use
  7. (optional) lime - cut first in half; one half juiced, the other half cut in to wedges for garnish
  8. (optional) cilantro finely chopped for garnish
  9. Cooked rice (for serving)

Add oil to the pan, heat over medium low and then add the onion, sweating for a few minutes. Push the onion to the sides of the pan and add the peppers, sweating for a few more minutes until soft. Add the garlic and just when it becomes fragrant (about a minute) add the black beans (and liquid if needed). Season with spices as you have them, then crank the heat to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer until excess liquid has evaporated. Serve over Rice with squeeze of lime juice and cilantro.

Super simple; the warm and bright flavors fill you up when you haven’t had much else to eat. Trust me.

Over time though, I’ve made so many permutations based on what we had available it even feels weird putting that down as some kind of ‘official’ version.

Here’s how I adapted last night: I had a can of diced tomatoes with chiles, some garlic, an open pint of heavy whipping cream from a meal I made for Meg’s Birthday, and some balsamic vinegar in the pantry.

I started a pot for the rice, brown jasmine this time, which takes a little longer to cook fully. While that was going I finely chopped the garlic and added it to hot oil in a non stick pan. Once the garlic began to get brown around the edges, I added in the whole can of diced tomatoes. The excess liquid shielded the garlic from burning and I turned the heat down for them to get acquainted. I next added the cumin, paprika, and basil, and layered those in. Next, I made a little clearing in the center of the pan, reduced the heat, and melted a tab of butter. Once that melted, I drizzled in a little balsamic vineagar for color, stirred, and reduced by half. Then I added some cream, and then the beans themselves; stirred together until well acquainted and finished it with some chopped cilantro from this weekend.

The result was a creamy, smoky, hearty dish with a smooth color. I served it on the side of the rice and some leftover Mojo Pork from saturday’s slow cooker for what was a very easy to pull off weeknight dinner.

What makes this version work is I stuck to some of the principles I’ve highlighted in this post and before:

  • Focus on using what you have, not on what you don’t have
  • Treat your kitchen with respect: use good tools and proper technique to save time, money, and get the most out of the food itself
  • Look for ways to layer flavor into simple dishes
  • Iterate recipes beyond the page to make them your own.

Black beans are a staple not simply because they are cheap or easy to make, but because the skills and mindset we developed getting out of debt - and the gratitude for having done so - get to be on full display in this dish.