Garleeky Black Beans

In my pantry today:

• 2 c cooked black beans
• 1 leek
• 2/3 head fresh garlic
• 1/3 c safflower oil
• 4 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 c water
• 1 packet of Vegetable Broth concentrate (or a bullion cube)
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cardamon
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• Basmati rice

First, thinly slice the bulb off your leek and crush/mince your garlic. Add to safflower oil and turn heat to M. Let them cook together in a deep frying pan for 10m. Add your tomatoes in fist-fulls, squeezing each fist ‘o ‘maters ever so gently over their bowl to weed out extraneous tomato snot. Fold the tomatoes into the garleek mixture, pressing them down with a spatula after they’re completely coated with oil. The stove should remain on M so that everything in the pan is in a constant state of agitation.

Add your spices — put in the turmeric first just to enjoy the bright and cheery color change your dish will have for just a moment. Then add your packet of omavegetable bullion and c of water. Stir with emphasis on flattening your tomatoes, for when the beans come into the picture there will be no more fruit-smashing. And when you feel you have smashed enough, fold in the beans and stir. Let it all boil down together into a slightly less watery nonsense, then reduce heat to L with a lid and let it ruminate for an hour. Serve serve over rice.

10 out of 10

In my pantry today:

• 1 XL sweet potato
• 2 tbsp cashew butter
• 1.5 c chicken broth
• 1 leek
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp cardamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 box plain couscous

So like most people with families, I’ve been doing other, holiday-related business all damn day. When I walked blindly into the kitchen I automatically pulled something from that “we gonna go bad if’n you don’t cook us” list. Whenever sans plan, default to the produce drawer. Cupboard, in this case. I pulled out the highest ranking “bout to go” item and set about tinkering. Tinkering… for success.

Julienne your sweet potato while the finely-sliced leek is sizzling on M. Once the edges of your leeks brown, throw in the potato and seasonings; toss until everything is real friendly together then add the broth. Turn the pan up to MH and once it begins boiling, cover and reduce heat to ML. After leaving it the hell alone for twenty minutes, return to remove and reserve both the potato and broth. Put your cashew butter in the pan and slowly add the liquid back in, stirring consistently until you’ve got the consistency of that gravy people sometimes eat on their morning biscuits. Gently fold the sweet potato back in. Serve over plain couscous. I had no idea cashew gravy could be so meaty-delicious. I give this impromptu dinner experiment a 10 out of 10 (on that 1-10 scale I’ve never actually implemented in any real or consistent way).