I’ve been craving a nice feijoada for a while and had planned to make it last weekend for some friends. My plans were thwarted by the insane amount of work all week and into the weekend. There was simply no time to search for the right meets, the right amount of black beans, etc. The fact that half the friends who were invited were vegetarian also meant that I’d have to make a vegetarian version and vegetarian feijoada is good but it isn’t feijoada. So I decided that a black bean stew would be more in order. I browsed two of Mark Bittman’s books and came up with this recipe, a combination of two of Bittman’s suggestions for black bean chili.

• 1 block firm tofu (I used one seasoned with herbs)
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp cumin*
• 1 tsp dried ancho chili powder*
• 1 tbsp Mexican chili*
• salt & pepper
• 250g mushrooms (I used a mix of brown and white button mushrooms; I sliced the bigger ones and left the small ones whole)
• 2 cans whole tomatoes with juice
• 2-3 cups dry black beans, soaked overnight and rinsed
• 2 tbsp olive oil

1. Heat a dutch over or large heavy-bottomed pot, add the olive oil and crumble the tofu in. Once the tofu is browned, add the garlic, ginger & spices and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms, close the lid and let it steam for the few minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked.

2. add tomatoes with their juices, squishing the tomatoes (you can also roughly chop them ahead of time), beans, and at least 700l of water

3. cook until the beans are cooked through, at least one hour. Add more water if necessary and test for seasoning.

4. Serve sprinkled with parsley and accompanied by a nice loaf of bread/cornbread/rice/or barley

* approximately – I basically added as much (or as little) as I liked. Start with these amounts and sample later

In preparation for the week, I decided to cook legumes yesterday (sunday) and boy, did it ever pay off. I got a bag of dry beans from my CSA this past week that included various kinds of beans and I had some chickpeas sitting around that I had been meaning to cook for a while. I soaked both (separately, of course!) on saturday night and cooked them on sunday with just a bay leaf and some kombu. This morning the chickpeas added substance to a quick couscous salad seasoned with lots of parsley, almonds, lemon juice and olive oil, which I took to work for lunch. The other beans became the basis for this wonderful bean soup with spelt noodles and kale. I seasoned it with Indian spices such as garam masala, coriander, cumin, paprika… salt & pepper to taste. It was so yummy that I had to have a second bowl and now I can’t move…

And my light lunch that day:

But my real achievement happened today. I tried making cheese for the first time! Inspired by Mark Bittman’s very simple recipe, I got so excited that immediately made a mistake. The recipe calls for only three ingredients: milk, buttermilk, and a bit of salt. All you have to do is bring the milk to near-boiling point, pour in the buttermilk to curdle it and an optional bit of salt. What did I do? I mixed the milk, buttermilk & salt before bringing it to the stove. I thought it was a loss for sure, but then when it got near boiling point I simply added a bit more buttermilk and a splash of vinegar. Luckily it curdled and I was able to proceed with the recipe, which involved much twisting of the curds wrapped tightly in cheesecloth. I don’t think I twisted enough as the result was not nearly as dry or hard as it was supposed to be but it was very nice – silky and smooth like really good ricotta cheese. I enjoyed it as one does it Catalonia: with a bit of honey and walnuts.

Ingredients:

1 can white navy beans (or any other bean), rinsed

2-3 cups spinach, washed and coarsely cut

2 garlic cloves, slices

3 tbsp sunflower seeds, lightly toasted (pine nuts would also be nice)

3 tbsp currants

1 red pepper

1/4 cup white wine (or water or stock)

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the broiler on high for a few minutes while you wash the pepper and spinach. Once the oven is hot, place the whole pepper on a cookie sheet underneath the broiler and roast it until it is charred on all sides (about 10 mins). Remove the pepper from the oven and wrap in tin foil. [This is based on the method described here]. Once the pepper is cool enough to handle, unwrap it and peel off the skin. Chop it up.

2. Soak the currants in hot water for about 10 mins.

3. Meanwhile pre-heat a skillet on medium heat and add 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until golden (be careful not to burn the garlic!)

4. Add the spinach, season with a bit of salt & pepper. Once it starts to wilt, add the white wine.

5. Once the white wine has evaporated somewhar and the spinach is wilted, add the currants (drained), sunflower seeds, & beans and mix well. Lower the heat.

6. Mix in the roasted red peppers and serve.

We had it warm and it was very tasty. The next day I added some balsamic vinegar to the leftovers and ate it as a bean salad. It was even better!