Black Bean & Mango Salad

Hello loyal food blog readers, I have forsaken you and I am sorry! I have been so busy this past month (why the heck am I busy? I graduated!) that I’ve barely had time to post. But I’m back… and with a vengeance! I vow to be more consistent in my food blog posts and I’m kicking it off with a yummy recipe! (And lots of exclamation points!)

I went to Whole Foods yesterday with the intention of buying burgers to throw on the grill for dinner and stumbled upon a great (non-burger) recipe which I will now share with you. But let’s back up a moment…. That’s right foodie readers, I bought a grill. It happened over 4th of July weekend when I went to Home Depot with the intention of buying some potting soil. As you can see I’m an impulse shopper.

Anyway, Whole Foods has this awesome little flyer called “Meals for Under $15.” Since I just invested $1000 in a trip to LA for a writing conference I figured a less than $15 meal is just what I needed. Enter Black Bean & Mango Salad. Also, there is no actual “cooking” involved, it’s all chopping and throwing in a bowl. Score.

I think chopped up mango sort of looks like cubes of cheese....

This salad was so summery and delicious and I even got to use some fresh items out of my very own garden, including cilantro which has magically stayed alive! (Apparently, fourth time’s a charm when it comes to growing cilantro plants.) The salad was also a great accompaniment to the Au Poivre burgers, but I think it would also be tasty with some grilled chicken or fish.

Fresh cilantro!

BLACK BEAN & MANGO SALAD compliments of Whole Foods

Prep time: 20 minutes Total time: 20 minutes (aka, the whole thing is prep)

Ingredients:

• 1 (28 oz) can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 large mango, peeled and chopped
• 1 small red onion, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, minced
• 1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 fresh lime, zested and juiced
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:
Mix beans, mango, onion, peppers, cilantro and garlic in large bowl. Toss with lime zest and lime juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve chilled. See how easy that was? Serves 4-6.

I also served mine with some taco chips. Yummmmm.

Happy summer, see you soon… I promise!

BBQ Bonanza!

Ok, I suppose the title of this blog post is a bit more exciting than it deserves but I had a lot of fun creating this meal. After living 2.5 years in a grill-less existence, I finally know someone with a grill! And it's starting to get warm outside,so, what better way to welcome in the spring than with a little grilling?

Three yeas ago (when I was the proud owner of a grill) I bought a cookbook full of BBQ sauces, rubs, marinades, etc. Since I moved back East, the cookbook has been gathering dust on my bookshelf, so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to crack it open again! I decided to make two things for this meal:

First, a BBQ rub. Basically that’s a mixture of dry spices that I turn into a super-spice (the elusive 6^th spice girl?) and then rub all over meat. When I told the butcher at Whole Foods what I was planning on doing, he helped me pick out a skirt steak, which he said would grill up quickly as well as have a lot of flavor. The rub I used (recipe below) had a great flavor when combined with steak, it was savory and it had a little kick. I think it would also go pretty well with chicken, especially oven baked chicken wings or chicken drumsticks (yes, I’m back on the chicken wagon!)

The second thing I made was a BBQ sauce. What intrigued me the most about this sauce is that it’s made with Coca-cola, which gave it both a sweet and spicy flavor. According to the cookbook, pot roast braised in Coca-Cola is a favorite in Venezuela. Along with the steak, I also grilled up veggie kabobs (heirloom tomatoes, green peppers, yellow peppers, mushrooms, and onion). The BBQ sauce was really tasty with the steak but it was great to dip the grilled veggies into.

Bonus about this meal: I was able to prepare four hours in advance (since the steak marinated with the rub for a few hours). Also, there is leftover rub and BBQ sauce that will last at least a month so that I can always whip up something very quickly when I’m feeling like a lazy cook but still want an air of fancy, homemade goodness.

Overall score : 8 out of 10.


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Recipe – Basic Barbecue Rub (Compliments of Barbecue! Bible : Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Bastes, Butters, and Glazes)

Ingredients –

¼ cup coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)

¼ cup (packed) dark brown sugar

¼ cup paprika

3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried onion flakes

½ - 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon celery seeds

Directions –

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir or whisk to mix. Transfer to a jar, cover, and store away from heat and light. The rub will keep for several months. Makes 1 cup.

Recipe – Coca-Cola Barbecue Sauce (Compliments of Barbecue! Bible : Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Bastes, Butters, and Glazes)

Ingredients –

1 cup Coca-cola

1 cup ketchup

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons A1 Steak Sauce

1 teaspoon onion flakes

1 teaspoon garlic flakes

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions –

Combine all the ingredients in a heavy nonreactive saucepan and gradually bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat slightly to obtain a gentle simmer. Simmer the sauce until reduced by a quarter (6-8 minutes). Use right away or transfer to a large jar, cover, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate. Makes 2 cups. Will keep for several months.

Ratatouille with Steak Au Poivre

Time to put the fancy new cookware to use! I’ve never made ratatouille before and I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten it either… honestly, before seeing this recipe I’m not sure I even really knew what it was, other than the bits and pieces I was able to glean after watching the first half of the Pixar movie. But I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it’s really just a whole bunch of chopped up fresh spices and veggies like eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms. 

This recipe was very easy, especially because I got to chop up all the fresh spices (parsley, thyme, etc.) in my little food processor so it made a very savory addition to the veggies. Then, of course, I cooked it in the oven in my fancy new Fontignac dish. Using fresh veggies and spices from Whole Foods was definitely key to this recipe and I’m pretty addicted to using all fresh ingredients now whenever I can (rather than anything canned, frozen, or dried spices) – I can’t wait for summer and farm market season!

I also chose a nice sirloin steak to accompany the ratatouille which I decided to cook “au poivre” style, coated in cracked peppercorns – I even found a recipe online for how to make the pan sauce (which was quite easy and especially delicious, thank you Julia Child!) 

I made my pan sauce with red wine rather than cognac and I added some Dijon mustard which gave it a nice kick. I think I want to keep experimenting with sauces now that I get the jist of how to make them (basically adding some gravy, alcohol, spices and such to the drippings from the steak pan).

Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Spicy Peanut Soup

Again, another one from “The Soup Bible”. (I’m really getting my money’s worth!) I picked out this recipe for a mid-week meal to accompany the current writing binge I’ve been on, plus I wanted to use up some of the carrots and shallots in my fridge that are left over from the mussels and saffron soup. My parents used to make a great spicy peanut soup with chicken but unfortunately the recipe has been lost, but this one sounded like it could probably top that one because I won’t have to cut up and cook chicken (which isn’t one of my favorite things). What this recipe lacks in meat it makes up for in veggies – it has a wonderful mixture that includes onion, garlic, potatoes, red pepper, carrots, corn, and celery, so it very much like a winter stew. (A winter stew infused with spice and peanut butter, that is.) And yes, I did really chop up all the veggies myself! The soup smelled really good and flavorful while cooking, but after it was done and I had the first bite I realized a slight problem: I seem to have underestimated the spiciness of cayenne pepper, because WHEW this soup really warms inside and out. Luckily I like spicy food and was in the mood for it and it’s not too spicy that it’s intolerable to eat (some of you would probably actually really appreciate the amount of zing that this soup has). It’s delicious though, and definitely packs a punch. Extra bonus: it’s very good the next day with some crunchy French bread! Score: 8 out of 10.

I'm looking into take a little bit of my Christmas cash and buying a new cookbook or two. Here are a few I'm considering:

Gourmet Today 

The Gourmet Slow Cooker 

The Big Book of Casseroles 

Bake Until Bubbly: The Ultimate Casserole Cookbook