White Beans with Roasted Pepper and Tomatillos

This summer has been keeping me quite busy. I've spent nights and days at my friend's camp, gone to the beach, seen a play in the park, gone out a lot, and taken my dog for countless off leash walks on the Eastern Prom. The weather has been wonderfully hot, so I've been eating a lot of fresh vegetables and hummus. This weekend was more mild, so I took the time this afternoon to make a couple things that required the oven. The recipe below is loosely based on Puerto Rican stewed beans my sister-in-law makes and includes tomatillos, that I wanted to try cooking with again. I was happy with the results.

White Beans with Roasted Pepper and Tomatillos

4 medium tomatillos, husked and washed
1 red bell pepper, washed
2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp oregano
adobo to taste
2 cans white beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cans water
1 tsp chicken bouillon
2 tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/4 c chopped cilantro

Set your oven to broil.
Put tomatillos in a cast iron pan and put under the broiler.
Place the pepper under the broiler, turning as the skin blackens.
Once tomatillos are soft and charred on the top, remove from the oven. Place the tomatillos on a plate and scrape out the very burnt juice, but not all of it. Let the tomatillos cool and then chop.
Once the pepper is blackened on all sides, remove from oven and put in a bath of cold water. Once cool, peel, remove the seeds, and then chop.
With the cast iron pan on a burner set to medium, add the olive oil.
Once the olive oil is hot, add the shallots and cook until soft and starting to brown, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
Add the cumin seeds, oregano, and adobo and cook until fragrant.
Add beans, water, chicken bouillon, tomatoes, chopped bell pepper and chopped tomatillos.
Bring to a boil and the reduce to a simmer.
Cook, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes or until the water boils down and becomes thick.
Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro.
Serve hot.

Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

I have been in love with Eula Mae's Cajun Kitchen ever since I received it for Christmas one year (I think it was Christmas). I love the rich, spicy food! I have a secret life fantasy of living in Louisiana which mainly consists of scenes of me in 50s style dresses and big hats sipping a bourbon and listening to live jazz music. Every time I cook from her cookbook, I put on some jazz and pour myself a glass of wine and really enjoy the cooking experience. It was a little early for wine today, but it's a long weekend, so instead I made some Coffee by Design coffee (the blend made for Standard Baking), poured in a little Jamaican Rum Cream, and sipped that while I chopped and stirred.

I've become a little more comfortable with the style of cooking, so today I made a couple deviations from her recipe for Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo. I really wanted a tomato flavor, so I added a can of whole tomatoes (chopping them up, as she does for her Jambalaya). Plus, I had some leftover grilled chicken from a small dinner party I had last night and that always makes a great addition to any stew. Finally, I was itching to cook up the andouille sausage I picked up from Karl's Sausage Kitchen down in Boston last weekend. Also, as I mentioned, I love spicy food, so I upped the seasonings a bit. A little burn never hurt anyone.

Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

1 tbsp oil
1 lb andouille sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp flour
2 c chopped onions
1 c chopped green pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 c water
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, tomatoes chopped and liquid reserved
1 tsp chicken bouillon
3 c okra, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
heaping 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
15 - 20 shakes Tabasco sauce
2 c chopped, cooked chicken
1/4 c sliced green onion
cooked rice

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pot over medium high heat.
Add andouille and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
Remove andouille from pot and set aside.
Add 3 tbsp oil and flour to pot and stir constantly until smooth and the color of peanut butter.
Add onions, green pepper, and garlic and cook, stirring until soft (about 5 minutes).
Mix reserved liquid from tomatoes and water and slowly stir into the pot, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen all the brown bits.
Add chicken bouillon and bring to a boil.
Add andouille, chopped tomatoes, okra, black pepper, salt, cayenne, bay leaves and Tabasco sauce.
Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
Add chicken and green onion and cook for another 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve over cooked rice.