Red Beans with Rice

First cold day, 18 degrees and I'm longing for warm comfort food. My family and friends in the Northern Hemisphere are laughing - 18 degrees is not cold they tell me! It sure feels like it after 6 months of hot, rain free months and I'm not sure I like wearing this many clothes. (Sorry, I'm going to ramble on a bit today).

However, this is a wonderful time of year in the garden. Stunning autumn leaves of the deciduous trees and a recent trip to Mt Lofty Botanic Garden did not disappoint.  

 When the sun comes out even on these autumn days it's still very strong. Get out from the wind and it could still be a summer's day. But as soon as that southerly hits and the leaves are tossed and turned into the air, you know that it's soon going to be winter.

Getting prepared for the colder months means we eat comfort food - and that to me means chilli and beans!   

I think of myself as a 'bean aholic' because I love beans in every shape and form. From good old Heinz baked beans, to haricot beans, black beans, kidney, broad, French and butter beans. I can make a multitude of dishes with beans - don't you find them just so versatile? Ok, well yes, too many may have a disastrous effects on some of you, but be polite ...... we wont talk about that here.   

Do not worry, I have had this dish twice in as many days and all has been fine!!!! So dispatch yourself to the kitchen and get your beans ready. This spicy, aromatic bean recipe is really flavoursome. Be warned; it's not pretty to look at and you might think twice about serving it to your friends. 
But if they are true friends then give them a treat and serve this, because they will love this, even though it does look a twee bit ugly! Don't be put off by this because the taste is sensational.

I would love to have some feed back on this recipe, so drop me a quick email or comment because I want to know if you love the recipe as much as I do. I mean, what's not to like about beans??

MASHED UP RED BEANS WITH RICE

Ingredients

2 x 400g tins of cooked red kidney beans, washed and drained

1/2 green capsicum

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

2 sticks of celery

3 cloves garlic

1 onion

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp fresh thyme chopped finely

1 tsp fresh oregano chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

1 tablespoon liquid smoke/Habenero/Tabasco Sauce (more or less to taste)

1 tbls olive oil

Take a large pan and add olive oil. While this is heating, process the onion in a food processor and add to the pan. Cook gently for a few minutes.

Again use the food processor to chop garlic, celery and green capsicum. Add this to the pan of onions, with a couple of tablespoons of water and continue to cook for 5 minutes. 

Place half the beans and half the tomatoes into the food processor and blitz until the beans are coarsely chopped. At this point it all looks a little ugly, but don't despair, it all comes together nicely. Add this to the pan, with the remainder of the beans and the tomatoes.   

Now add all the other ingredients except the hot sauce/liquid smoke/Tabasco, cover tightly and cook gently for at least 45 mins. Remember to keep checking and stirring so the beans don't get stuck to the bottom. Add a little water if the beans look too dry.

Just before you serve add a tablespoon of hot sauce, keep tasting until you get the right amount of heat for your palate.

Serve with rice, a spoonful of plain yoghurt and some chopped coriander/parsley or oregano.

Baby, it's Hot Outside!

We have experienced what the Adelaide summer can deliver already. Blazing hot 40C degrees or freezing cold and 10C degrees or anything in between. Generally we can guarantee that over the next few months we are going to see some scorching weather. That's when I have to take cooking outside - or simply turn up the fridge and not cook at all.

Are you a really, really organised person with a bucket load of pre prepared meals in the freezer, ready for this type of occasion? Or like me and many others that are very disorganised/too busy/don't have freezer room/ or any other excuse you care to use and need some interesting, nutritious, low kilojoule recipes for these occasions. Especially after the festive season when you have a fully belly!

I love salads. Nothing gives me more pleasure than heading down to the vegetable patch and picking salad vegetables, going inside to wash and prepare them. The sweetness of fresh, juicy, tomatoes warmed by the sun, cut in half and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Are you salivating yet?

I have just heard on ABC radio that the percentage of people in Australia that consume fresh vegetables is only 5%. I find that is pretty amazing and very sad, if it is true. One of the most amazing things about this country is its ability to produce beautiful vegetables and fruit.

There are so many scrumptious dishes that require little or no cooking, so lets get well prepared and have a few recipes on hand for the days and nights when it just seems too hard. Here are 2 recipes to get you started.

This first recipe is easy to prepare, I cook the Haloumi on a BBQ outside but you can cook it in a fry pan on your cooker. It takes only a few minutes, so your kitchen wont warm up.

Tomato and Olive Salsa Salad with Fried Haloumi  

Serves 4

1 packet of Haloumi
6 Green Olives
1/2 Red Onion
2 tablespoon Baby Capers
Juice and zest of a Lemon

4 Tomatoes
1/2 bunch Parsley
1/2 bunch Mint
Vegetable oil (if you are using a pan on the cooker)

To make the Salsa, chop capers, red onion, lemon zest and olives. Add lemon juice and mix together. Set this aside for at least an hour before hand so the flavours develop.

Chop the parsley and mint and mix together and place this on the bottom of your dish or plate.

Chop tomatoes thickly and place over the herbs and put the salsa on top of the tomatoes.

Cook the Haloumi (on the BBQ or frypan) until it is nicely browned on the outside but still soft on the inside and place on top of the tomatoes and serve.

Bean and Red Pepper Burgers

Makes 10 burgers - should serve 4 people

75g French  green beans
2 tbls Olive oil
1 Red pepper, cored, seeds removed and diced
2 Cloves garlic
1 heaped tsp Ground chilli powder
425g tin Red kidney beans drained and rinsed
150g Fresh breadcrumbs
100 Panko breadcrumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 egg yolk
Fresh coriander about 1/4 bunch
Extra oil for BBQ or for pan frying
Salt and pepper

Blanche green beans in a pan of salted water, or steam over a pan of water for 2 minutes. Drain, cool and chop roughly.
Saute Red pepper, garlic and chilli for 2 minutes.
Place the red pepper mixture in a blender or food processor , add red kidney beans and egg yolk, coriander and pulse until ingredients are coarsely chopped. 
Add the green beans and pulse a little more until all is combined. The mixture will look a little wet at this stage - don't despair, it will come together.
Mix in the breadcrumbs.
Put the mixture into a bowl and with floured hands shape into little cakes.
Put in the fridge for 30 minutes and then shallow fry or BBQ for about 5 minutes per side, until golden.
Serve with salad and sweet chilli sauce or homemade lemon mayonnaise!

This recipe is adapted from The Bean Book - 2001 by Hambly

I made the stuffed tomatoes with some left over sweet pilaf. If you would like the recipe leave me a comment and I will let you have it.