Walnut and White Bean Paté

Though this month hasn't lead itself to a lot of super creative cooking what with all the writing madly for NaNoWriMo, we did manage to have a pretty tasty and new to us recipe come up this week.  It was inspired by a recipe that was in the October Vegetarian Times Magazine.  We tweaked it for our own purposes and made some scrumptious sandwiches with thinly sliced cucumbers that I plan on making again and again - they were delicious!  I could see where this Paté could be used in quite a few ways including a variety of tea sandwiches, with crackers and thin sliced fruit for a sweeter bite or maybe olives or capers for a tangy savory taste.  You could switch out the rosemary for another fresh herb, add garlic or caramelized onions, maybe paprika or cayenne - the possibilities are endless!

Walnut and White Bean Paté


1 cup walnuts, toasted in the oven at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes then let cool
1 1/2 cup cooked white beans (I used navy this time), rinsed and drained
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
fresh rosemary to taste (about a Tablespoon), very finely chopped
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon alder smoked salt, ground fine with a mortar and pestle


Throw everything into a food processor until well blended and smooth.

CSA Shares and Simple Navy Bean Soup

I just finished a wonderful lunch of left over navy bean soup that was whipped up yesterday and I'm still nibbling on the sweet and juicy pear from our last CSA box from Full Circle Farm.

And I'm mentally jumping for joy to hear that my sister in-law and brother in-law are signing up for a share from Full Circle Farm as well!

All this thinking about CSAs has me eagerly awaiting tomorrow's box.  I've been dreaming up what I will do with all that delicious produce since I finalized my selections this weekend.  I'm especially excited about getting a double order of eggplant this week - completely out of season, but something I've been craving for a few weeks now.  I want to make the simple oven roasted eggplant with anchovy that I found in my mother in-law's Silver Spoon cookbook and I want to try my hands at a recipe I came across online for eggplant "bacon" that gets marinated and then put on the dehydrator for a while.  It sounds very intriguing.  If I'm lucky enough to have any eggplant left (doubtful) I might make up a batch of Baba Ganoush to go with the Chipotle Garlic Hummus recipe I'm planning on making.  I found that recipe in the Tassajara Cookbook I've got checked out from the library (I really want a copy of this one for my collections!).  That would give us some good picnic foods for the weekend.  Something to take along for our outing to the Seattle Tilth Spring Plant Sale that we are going to with some friends.

For tonight though I'm roasting up some parsnips and cabbage for a veggie St. Patrick's Day dinner.  Yum!

Here's the Simple Navy Bean Soup recipe:

In the morning:

2 cups dry small white navy beans
8 cups water
1 Bay or Myrtle Leaf

Put all of the above in a slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low setting.

When it's getting closer to dinner time:

2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
1-2 tsp earth balance or butter or olive oil

Saute all of the above in a large stock pot till slightly softened.  Add the beans and their broth, discarding the bay leaf.  Add smoked sea salt to taste (that's my secret ingredient!).  Bring to a simmer to blend flavors.  Right before serving stir in a 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley.

We served this with garlic bread  - the perfect thing to sop up the last of the bean broth in your bowl.  This soup tastes even better the next day!

Beans and Burritos

We've had a few nights recently where we needed a quick and tasty solution to dinner. Burritos to the rescue! The ever-evolving burrito. The endless possibility burrito. A burrito by any other name...

First you have beans. Black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, kidney beans, azuki beans, cannelini beans - the list goes on and on. There are hundreds of varieties of beans. There are whole books dedicated to the bean - such as Growing and Cooking Beans and Beans A History . And there are many jokes and lyrical saying about beans.

Beans: you either love 'em or hate 'em or they get revenge. I love beans and they seem to not mind me for the most part so I'm fortunate on that account and so I eat plenty of beans. That is a healthy thing. Beans are loaded with good for you stuff.

You can cook beans in a number of ways (pressure cooker, stove top, baked, stove top and crock pot - the latter is my favorite) and there are endless rules about cooking beans (soak first, don't soak first, change the water X-amount of times, add baking soda, don't add baking soda, cook with kombu (kelp), don't add acidic ingredients while cooking, and never ever add salt until the beans are cooked through.) Everyone has there opinion. But are they "worth a hill of beans"? That's for you to decide. I take it all with a grain of salt. Except for when it comes to salt. That's the one rule I follow when cooking beans. I never add salt until they are soft. I don't like partially cooked beans and the adage that salt keeps beans from softening properly while cooking seems to be true - for me at least.

Or you can just skip the whole cooking thing and go with the far more convenient option (n0 need to plan or think ahead) and use canned beans. I do both. I have a good supply of dry beans and other legumes all looking pretty in their canning jars in my pantry and I also have a good number of canned beans on hand. I've come to only buy one variety of canned beans though. Eden Organic. Why? They are the ONLY company that uses BPA-free cans for their beans. They pay extra to do it. There cans are made specifically for them. Here's the story behind it - it's worth a read. They would can all their other items in the same cans if they could - but the FDA doesn't allow it, as explained in the article linked above. The FDA insists on BPA-lined cans for anything acidic - like tomato products. The theory is to keep the metal from leaching into the food and making it bad for you. Ironic, considering how bad BPA is for us. (I could spend days on my soap box about stuff like this, but I'll spare you - for now.) So that is why I only buy Eden Organic canned beans.

But a burrito is more than just beans, right? I suppose it doesn't have to be but let's just assume we want more than beans wrapped in a tortilla. You could add grains. Any kind of grain would do. There's the obvious and common rice. But what about polenta, quinoa, spelt, kamut, ferro, barley. All are great options. Or no grain. Whatever you like. Next you have the option of dairy and dairy alternative options - various cheeses, sour cream, yogurt. (Sour cream is my favorite.) And salsa. All the lovely varieties of salsa out there to choose from! Two common one's in our house are Muir Glen's Organic Chipotle and their Organic Black Bean. Then there's salsa fresca or salsa verde when the garden (or farmer's market) is overflowing with tomatoes and tomotillos. Finally we come to herbs and vegis. Some favorite herbs to chop up and add to my burritos are cilantro, oregano, parsly, chives, epizote, one of the hundred varieties of thyme. Green onions, fresh corn, avocado, lettuce, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers and garlic are among my favorite vegies for burritos.

Now that we have all these toppings piled onto a tortilla we get to struggle with actually getting it closed up for slightly less messy eating. Or give up and just eat it with a fork like my husband did recently when he piled WAY to much onto the poor little tortilla to even get the sides to touch.

Have a napkin (cloth, preferably) handy and chow down.

Happy burrito making.