Tag: side dish
Smoked Beans with Bacon
Smoked Beans with Bacon
This recipe is inspired by an old coworker of mine who ran the seafood department from years ago. He always talked about making ribs and baked beans in his smoker. He would place the ribs over the pan of beans toward the end of the smoking process and let the drippings fall into the beans. Now that I own a smoker, I decided to make that happen. I put a lbs of dried northern beans in my Instant Pot, taking only 30 minutes of cooking time, no soaking required. While that was going, I sautéed 1lb of diced bacon. I sautéed onions and garlic in the bacon grease. Then I added in tomato paste, molasses, brown sugar, and a cup of the northern bean stock that I saved. Let that simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in the beans. I placed my beans in a foil pan with deep sides. I preheated my smoker to 250 degrees. I used hickory chips for smoking. Hickory is a great all purpose wood chip with a neutral flavor. You can also use mesquite, pecan, or maple wood chips. The pan of beans will take 2 hours to smoke. I happened to have also made homemade hotdogs the same day. I placed the pan of beans underneath the hotdogs the last 30 minutes of smoking, letting the drippings go into the beans. If you don’t have a smoker, you can bake these beans in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Equipment
- instant pot
- foil pan
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried northern beans prepared according to package directions
- 1 lb bacon diced
- 1/2 medium white onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup bean stock saved from the northern beans
- 2 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
Wood Chips
- hickory wood chips
Instructions
- Sauté the bacon in a large sauté pan until crispy. Set aside.
- Sauté the onions and garlic in the bacon grease over medium high heat for 4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, molasses, brown sugar, and bean stock.
- Simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt, white pepper, and smoked paprika.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the northern beans, making sure that the beans are evenly coated in the sauce.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place your beans in a foil pan. Place the pan in the smoker for 2 hours.
Spiced Green Beans
Spiced Green Beans
Most Indian cuisine seems like it has a million ingredients and takes a lot of time to prepare. A lot of it does. Here is a great example of a dish that isn’t that. Spiced green beans is a simple dish that has only a few ingredients and takes 10 minutes to cook, but has tremendous complex flavors. Serve the green beans with a dollop of plain yogurt and some flaky parathas.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb green beans trimmed and washed
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 pinch asafoetida
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 3 dried Kashmiri chilies
- 6 curry leaves
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in the green beans. Boil for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the dried chilies, followed by the curry leaves and green beans. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Season with salt and the ground coriander. Stir. Place a cover on the pan and take off the heat. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Before serving, add in the lime juice and chopped cilantro.
Causa Rellena
Causa Rellena
Causa rellena is a Peruvian layered potato salad that is molded in a dish, chilled, then sliced. First you make mashed potatoes with lime juice, olive oil, and aji amarillo paste. The potatoes will be used for the top and bottom layer. The center layers consists of sliced avocado and tuna salad. I recommend using a higher quality canned tuna in olive oil such as yellowfin. If you aren’t a fan of tuna, you can substitute chopped chicken.To assemble, I used a Pyrex loaf pan that I normally bake banana bread in. You will need to line the pan with plastic wrap, then spray the inside with nonstick spray. Place a layer of potatoes a third of the way up the pan. Then place a layer of avocado, followed by the tuna salad. Top off with the rest of the potatoes. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours before serving to allow the casserole to firm up. When ready to serve, flip onto a plate. Cut out a slice and serve.
Equipment
- potato ricer
- plastic wrap
- loaf pan
Ingredients
Potato Layer
- 2 lbs potatoes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 tbsp aji amarillo paste
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Filling
- 2 cans yellowfin tuna in olive oil drained
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp red onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp parsley
- 1 avocado sliced
Instructions
- Mix together the tuna, mayonnaise, lime juice, onion, and parsley. Place in the refrigerator.
- Boil the potatoes until soft; about 10 minutes. Drain and let cool.
- Put the potatoes through a ricer.
- Mix in the rest of the potato layer ingredients.
- Line the inside of a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Coat with nonstick cooking spray.
- Spread a layer of the potatoes on the bottom; about a third of the way up.
- Place the sliced avocado across the potato layer.
- Pour the tuna salad over the avocado layer.
- Spread the rest of the potatoes over the tuna salad layer.
- Tighly wrap the loaf pan in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving to firm up.
- Once firm, flip onto a plate.
