Black Bean and Pork Stew is Perfect for Cold Weather

My dear sister-in-law Anne once brought a pot of this stew to our Christmas gathering and it was a hit. She gave me the recipe and I made it once, but then lost track of it. Because it calls for cooking black beans from scratch, it becomes the kind of recipe that I'm not going to put on rotation...takes too much time. But it is still a fabulous recipe.

A few days ago I decided to see if I could make it using canned black beans. Having already-cooked beans shortened the time needed for making it...but would it still be delicious?

Sweetie thinks it's even better! I used four cans of organic black beans, rinsing the beans in each can in turn to get rid of the excess bean liquid. That liquid can contribute to gastric discomfort and we didn't have any Beano on hand.

Because the original recipe calls for cooking the beans with aromatics like onion, garlic and red pepper, I decided to heat up the three of the cans of the beans with those after I had sautéed the onion, garlic and red pepper in some olive oil. Then that mixture went into a Dutch oven and I added a cup of water. After stirring that around, I strained out the liquid and used it later to puree the last can of beans. 

Because the beans and aromatics left too much residue for my liking,  I rinsed out the cast iron skillet before I used the cast iron skillet to cook the meat. The cooked meat went into the Dutch oven, too. Then I deglazed the pan with the orange juice and wine and cooked it down a bit, then put that into the Dutch oven. Last, I pureed the final can of beans with the liquid from the beans and aromatics, then put the puree into the Dutch oven, and then stirred it all together. It smelled wonderful! After adjusting the seasonings, the covered Dutch oven went into the preheated oven to bake for 30 minutes. Once the stew was out of the oven I checked for flavor and texture and decided that another 1/2 cup red wine helped both. You can also check for salt and pepper, need for a bit more orange juice for the acid boost, etc.

At this point you can serve the stew with the orange segments, perhaps over saffron rice, or you can do what I did and let it cool in the pot a bit then refrigerate for a day or two. This allows the mixture to blend flavors and mellow - a normal thing when onions are involved, in my experience.

When I reheated the stew the evening I served it, I just put the pot of stew over low heat and stirred it frequently until it was hot. I forgot about the rice and just served it with the fresh orange segments. Sooo good! Depending on appetites and if you serve it with rice, this makes 4, 6, or 8 servings. It's hearty, full flavored, and delicious. I still had a lot of pots and pans to wash up, but the time cooking was reduced quite a bit. You can start it by about 4 in the afternoon and have it on the table by 5:30 or 6 if you serve it the same day. Enjoy!

Pork and Black Beans over Rice
Based on a recipe in Paula Peck's Art of Good Cooking
Serves 6

4 cans cooked black beans, 15 oz. each, rinsed in cold water
1/3 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, minced
1 large bell pepper (green, red, yellow or orange), seeded and diced
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 1 /2 pounds unsmoked pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes
¾ pound fresh pork sausage - Sweetie bought Italian style, which ended up OK
2/3 cup orange juice
½ cup dry red wine
2 -3 fresh oranges

Open the cans of beans and rinse under cold water (I used a fine-mesh strainer and rinsed a can at a time. Reserve the contents of one can to be pureed later, but do wash the beans in that can before pureeing.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add garlic, onion and bell pepper and sauté’ until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the onion mixture, three cans of rinsed beans and 1 cup water to a Dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed pot that can go in the oven. Cover the pot, and simmer about 5 minutes, then strain out the liquid and reserve.

Return the drained beans to the pot and cover to keep warm. Puree’ the remaining 1 can of beans with as much reserved bean liquid as necessary in a blender. Stir bean puree’ into cooked beans and keep warm.

Brown pork cubes and sausage in their own fat in the skillet. (Rinse the skillet if desired after cooking the onion mixture and before cooking the meat.) If very lean, use a little olive oil. Pour off fat when meats are golden all over, and, if in casing, cut sausage into 1 inch pieces. If not in casing, break up sausage into chunks. Add both meats to beans; season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Pour orange juice and wine into the skillet that the meats were browned in, and cook over high heat until liquid is reduced to less than half, scraping any brown bits in the pan into the sauce. Pour into the bean mixture and stir to combine all flavors. Place in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. If desired, add more wine and/or orange juice if taste or texture would be improved by the addition.

While pork and beans are cooking, peel the oranges, slice an inch thick and separate into segments…you’ll have about 1 ½ cups of triangles of orange.

Serve over saffron or steamed rice, if desired. Garnish with orange segments. The uncooked, juicy, sharpness of the fresh orange is essential to this dish...the rice is great, but optional.

Comfort Chicken

If you combine chilly weather with a desire to have a made-ahead and read-to-heat meal that is also comfort food, you would probably end up with this recipe, too. This Chicken Stew with Biscuit Toppers is a made-from-scratch one dish wonder. Better than a pot pie, especially the ones from the freezer section in your market. You know the ones...the crust is like cardboard and about as tasty. Better than beef stew when one of the folks who will be eating with you doesn't eat beef. Although it is a humble dish, this stew will warm you and charm you with the tender chicken, almost caramelized onions, and wonderful savory gravy. Add the heft of potatoes and sweetness of peas and you can understand why this might become one of our family's go-to recipes.

I made this for a crowd, so I used a lot of chicken - eight good sized chicken thighs as a matter of fact. I ended up with two and a half pounds of chicken chunks and a nice amount of chicken broth. I cooked down the left over broth when I finished making the stew and it's ready to be part of a nice chicken soup, so don't throw out the chicken poaching water, OK?

You can adjust the amount of aromatic vegetables and potatoes and peas to suit yourself. I used red potatoes, but you can also use Yukon gold or Idaho brown, just be sure to not over cook them. They should be tender and cooked just enough so you and pierce them with a knife. You can also cook the onions, carrots and celery in butter instead of olive oil if you prefer. The biscuits can be made with a mix like Bisquik, or you can make them from scratch or you can purchase refrigerated biscuits in a package. Just be sure to make the rest from scratch for the best flavor and because it just tastes so good!

By the way, you can eat this the same day you make it. I usually try to make it a day before because I find that dishes like this with cooked onions often taste better after sitting a day to let the flavors meld.

Chicken Stew Topped With Biscuits

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
water
4-5 medium Yukon gold potatoes or thin-skinned red potatoes
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, washed and finely chopped
2 carrots, washed, peeled, and cut into half coins
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken stock

your favorite biscuits (savory)

Rinse the chicken thighs and place in a large heavy bottomed pot. It's OK to stack them on top of each other. Cover with cold water and then bring the water to a boil, with the pot covered. Once boiling, remove lid and simmer until chicken is tender, about thirty minutes. (At this point I let the pot cool off for a short while, then placed the covered pot into the refrigerator until the next day).

Let pot cool, then removed chicken with tongs and simmer broth while you cut up the chicken. You can use this broth for the 3 cups of chicken stock later in the recipe. The chicken should be cut into bite-sized pieces. You should have about 2.5 pounds of those pieces when you are done. Set aside.

Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces and cook over medium-high heat, covered in water, until tender and just cooked enough that you can pierce them with a knife. Drain the potatoes and set aside.

In a large heavy bottomed pot heat the olive oil, then add the onion and celery and carrots. Cook over medium heat, stirring often for about 10 minutes. Onions will be translucent. Add the garlic, lower the heat, and cook another 10 minutes, stirring often, Onions will be browned here and there. Add the dried thyme and sage, salt and pepper and stir to combine with the vegetables in the pot. Cook 1 minute. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the flour, stirring constantly. Cook 1 minute, still stirring, to cook the flour. Add the chicken broth all at once, stirring constantly. Continue to stir and cook until mixture thickens. Add the cooked chicken and the potatoes and stir gently to combine and coat all with the gravy. At this point I usually cover the pot and let the stew sit in the refrigerator until the next afternoon or evening. If you do this, then gently re-heat the stew the next day and continue on with the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and make your favorite biscuits, either from scratch, from a mix or use refrigerated biscuits. Bake the biscuits according to package directions or the recipe directions.

While biscuits are baking, heat 2 cups frozen peas (the microwave works well for this). Put the stew in a large casserole dish, top with the hot peas, and put into the oven until the biscuits finish cooking. When the biscuits are baked, take the casserole from the oven, top with the biscuits, spacing the biscuits apart, then serve at once. Serve 6-8 people.

R in the Month Stew

When I was growing up we were told that the only months that were OK for eating oysters are those with an R in them. Well, it's September, so the season for oysters has begun. Truthfully, I sometimes eat oysters in other months as long as they are local ones. We have companies in our area which grow oysters year-round in Tomales Bay, so there are always some oysters in the right stage of development to be eaten. Still, old tapes are hard to dislodge. September means I can eat oysters and so I do.

Oysters are an acquired taste. If you eat them raw, it is like a slurp of sea brine with a little bit of muscle thrown in. It's hard to imagine why anyone ate them in the first place, but once you get to like them they get a hold on you. I could eat them all the time. Unfortunately they, like most seafood these day, are somewhat expensive, so I save them for a treat.

Tonight's treat was Oyster Stew. Our market had jars of small ones on sale and I had green onions, celery, carrots, parsley, small red potatoes, corn and milk handy, plus some bacon. That, plus some salt, pepper and thyme is all you need to make a warm, hardy bowlful of deliciousness.

There are lots of ways to make Oyster Stew. I started by cooking the red potatoes. Mostly that was because I wanted to keep this a one pot dish. After they were cooked and draining, I used the same pot to cook some bacon, then, after fishing out the cooked bacon, I used the bacon grease to cook the onions, celery and carrots. After that it was a simple matter to drain the oysters, mix a bit of flour with the reserved liquid the oyster had been packed in, and then used that to thicken the milk/veggie combo a bit. Throw in some thyme, salt and pepper, the potatoes, the corn and heat 'em up. Right before you are ready to serve, add the rinsed oysters and stir. Set the timer for 1 minutes, stir again, and let sit one more minute. You'll see the edges of the oysters curl like ruffles on a dress. That's it! Time to ladle the stew into bowls and top with a bit of chopped Italian parsley, then dig in. Mmmm.

Elle's Oyster Stew

3-4 small red potatoes, cut into small bite-sized pieces
3 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 green onions, sliced fine, including part of the greens
1 medium carrot, diced fine
1 stalk celery, diced fine
1 jar small oysters
2-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 -2 cups frozen or fresh corn - if frozen, thaw in the microwave
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, chopped

In a large pot, cook the red potatoes in simmering water until tender. Drain and set aside.

In the same pot, cook the bacon until crisp, turning once or twice for even cooking. Remove the bacon and set aside.

In the same pot, sauté the green onions, carrot and celery in the bacon grease until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring often.

While the veggies cook, drain the oysters in a fine mesh strainer, reserving the liquid they were packed in. Rinse the oysters under cold running water. If the oysters are large, cut them in half. Set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour and the reserved oyster liquid.  Set aside.

Add the milk, thyme, salt and pepper to the pot of veggies, stirring to release any browned bits on the bottom and sides of the pot. Stir in the flour mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until liquid thickens a bit. Add the reserved potatoes, bacon, and corn. Heat thoroughly but don't boil.

2 minutes before it is time to serve the stew, make sure that the stew is hot, then add the prepared oysters. Set a timer for 1 minutes. When one minute has passed, stir the stew, then let sit a few more seconds. The oyster edges will have ruffled, so you know they are cooked. Ladle stew into bowls and top with a sprinkle of chopped parsley. Serve at once.