Monthly Cooking Thread

My grandmother made a wonderful navy bean soup, and my husband makes a good one, too. Beyond those - besides a very good canned black bean soup that Goya makes - I don’t have a lot of experience with beans.

But I’ve recently discovered heirloom beans, and want to broaden my bean horizons. They are supposed to be far superior to the mass-produced beans available in supermarkets, and two companies that offer many varieties are Zursun Beans in Idaho:

I’m especially interested in the various Black Lentils offered, and the French Flageolets; and I found a couple of recipes for those:

Karen Tedesco at Family Style Food.com, has posted this Black Lentil Salad with Feta:

1 cup each Italian parsley and cilantro leaves loosely packed (or 2 cups of either herb)

Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender or small food processor until very smooth.

Bring 4 cups water to a boil with the salt. Add the lentils and cook 20-25 minutes. Taste-test: They should be tender but not mushy. Drain well and allow to cool to room temperature.

Put the cucumbers, onion and lentils in a serving bowl. Add 1/3 cup of the dressing and toss gently. Sprinkle the salad with the mint or parsley leaves and goat cheese and toss again.

NOTES Pick through the lentils before cooking to be sure they don't contain an errant stone or twig (lentils are all-natural and plant-based and sometimes that happens) Substitute French lentils if you can't find black ones. Refrigerate leftover dressing for up to 3 days. It's delicious on any salad or as a sauce all on its own.

Both of the companies mentioned above have a lot of good recipes at their sites.

These days, with prices for food – and especially meat! – rising so much, beans are a good way to stretch our budgets, and they don’t have to be boring. Even the heirloom dried beans seem reasonably priced, considering their nutrition and flavor value.

One thing I noticed during the whole Covid thing was my boredom with food – including many things I’ve always liked a lot and made routinely. I began looking for unusual and more flavorful things that I’d made in the past, and one of the first things that came to mind was a recipe for Indonesian Gado Gado.

Gado Gado is one of the national dishes of Indonesia, and consists of raw or slightly cooked vegetables in a peanut sauce. There are probably as many variations on it as there are households that make it - many contain hard-boiled eggs - but here is a good ‘beginner’ one, adapted from Alastair Hendy’s ‘Cooking for Friends’:

2 large green apples – or you can substitute green mangoes, or papayas, peeled and seeded

Toast the peanuts in a skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan now and then, until the peanuts are lightly toaste/flecked. Remove from heat.

Crush the garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle until a paste is formed. Add the chilies and mash into the garlic paste. Add the brown sugar, and pound until everything is incorporated. Now add the crushed peanuts and pound them in, leaving some in little chunks. (Add a little lime juice if your mixture becomes too thick.) Scrape the mixture into a bowl, add the juice of 2 limes, stir to combine, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar with the juice of 1 lime.until the sugar dissolves. Cut the apple or other fruit into julienne strips. Place the herbs and fruit in the bowl with the granulated sugar and lime, and set aside.

Cut the remaining lime into sections. Place portions of the salad on individual serving plates, spoon some of the peanut dressing on top, and serve with lime wedges.

* You can also use Palm Sugar, more authentic to the recipe, if available to you.

I need to try this..

Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Meatloaf

Ingredients:
Spinach Artichoke Filling:
8oz cream cheese, softened
¼ C sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced (~ 1 tsp)
1/2 C shredded parmesan cheese
½ C shredded mozzarella cheese
1, 14oz can Reese chopped artichoke hearts, drained and squeezed to drain excess liquid
9oz frozen spinach, thawed, cooked, and squeezed to drain excess liquid
Salt and pepper to taste

Meatloaf:
1.5 lb lean ground beef (80%)
2 eggs
1 C bread crumbs
½ C shredded parmesan cheese
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1, 14oz can tomato sauce, divided

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Then stir in the ground beef, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, garlic and 7oz (half the can) of the tomato sauce until well combined.
2. On a large sheet of foil, shape the beef mixture into a 12x10-inch rectangle. Scoop ½ C of the spinach artichoke filling onto the meat and spread into an even layer, leaving 1-2 inches of space around the edges. Starting with one of 10-inch sides, roll up; press seam and ends to seal. Place seam side down in the pan.
3. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and spoon the remaining tomato sauce over the loaf.
4. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes until loaf until an instant-read thermometer reads 160°F in the center of the loaf. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.
5. Serve with your favorite sides and enjoy!

https://reesespecialtyfoods.com/recipe/spinach-artichoke-stuffed-meatloaf

Striped Fudge Cookie Sandwiches

Ingredients
2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for work surface
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache + Topping
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped and divided
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) heavy cream

Instructions
To make the cookies: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. If the dough seems too soft, you can add 1 Tablespoon flour until to make it a better consistency for rolling.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Roll each portion out onto a piece of parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat (I prefer a nonstick silicone mat) to about 1/4 inch thickness. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4 inch thick.
Stack the 2 slabs of dough, with a piece of parchment paper between them, on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours (and up to 2 days). If chilling for more than 2 hours, cover the top slab of dough with a single piece of parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Remove one of the slabs of dough from the refrigerator and, using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut into circles. Reroll the remaining slab and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with second slab of dough. You should have about 64 circles. Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter, cut a hole into the center of 32 of them. Let’s call these 32 cookies the “donut cookies” because of that center hole. Place the whole circles and the donut cookies on separate baking sheets (because the donut cookies take 1 less minute to bake), placing all cookies 2 inches apart from one another.
Bake the whole circles for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges, and the donut cookies for about 9 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through bake time. Remove from the oven. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before assembling.
To make the ganache: Place 3 ounces of chopped chocolate for the ganache into a small heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once cream begins to boil, immediately remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir gently and slowly until the ganache is smooth. Allow it to cool for 10 minutes before adding to cookies. During this time, it will slowly thicken.
Once the ganache is ready, spread about 1/2 teaspoon on each whole circle. Carefully top each with a donut cookie and press down gently to create a cookie sandwich.
To make the topping: Melt the remaining chopped chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave in 15-second increments, stopping and stirring after each until completely smooth. Drizzle over each sandwich. Allow chocolate to set completely, about 30 minutes.
Cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/striped-fudge-cookie-sandwiches/

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