Frijole Rancheros or Rancher's Beans

1 pound of dried beans, pinto or black
1/2 pound bacon, cooked crisp and set aside
about 1/4 cup rendered bacon fat, with the crunchies in the bottom of the pan if possible
1 medium sized onion, peeled and partially quartered so the onion holds together
1 whole green chile pepper, whole
3-4 large cloves of garlic, peeled
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1-3 green chiles, seeded and chopped
3-4 large cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
3-4 ripe tomatoes peeled and chopped or a small can of diced tomatoes

Cover beans in cold water and then bring to a boil, boil about 15 minutes, then remove from heat, cover and allow to sit an. hour.    After the hour, add the whole onion, whole chile and who garlic cloves and bring the beans to a boil again, then reduce heat so the beans just barely simmer.   Simmer until very tender, another 45 minutes to an hour, until they are very tender.   When tender remove from the heat and set aside.   Take the whole vegetables from the pot and mash or chop finely, then add back to the beans.  

Next, take the reserved bacon fat and heat in another pan.   Add the chopped onions and green chiles, saute until they are are starting to brown, then add the garlic.   Fry just a few minutes and then add tomatoes.   Simmer this until the mixture is almost dry, stirring often.    When mixture is cooked, add it and the bacon into the beans, bring them back to a simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes or so. 

Is good with any kind of Mexican food or by itself.     If you have leftover roast pork, you can add that to the beans as well.   Makes a good meal by itself.  

White Chili

I love chili, but sometimes want something a bit different, so I make white chili instead.   It is something that is easy to make on a minutes notice if you are using canned stuff and it is quite tasty.

2 cans Great Northern Beans (4 cups home cooked)
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cans green chiles or about a cup roasted and chopped chiles (heat level according to your taste)
1 can chicken broth (2 cups)
3 tbsp. flour
3 tsp. ground cumin or chili powder
3 tbsp. oil
3 cups diced cooked chicken

Heat the oil in a dutch oven and fry the onion until lightly browned.   Stir in the flour and cumin or chili powder, then stir in the chicken broth and chopped green chiles.    Cook and stir until thickened, then add the chicken and beans.    Simmer about 10 minutes.    Serve topped with grated cheddar or Monterey jack.   Enjoy!

Black Bean Stew

I am a fan of black beans, but rarely cook them from scratch.   However, they are so much better for you made from scratch, they just take a little extra time.   When the beans are partially cooked, I like to add some extra stuff to make a delicious "stew" that is wonderful served over rice.   Here is how I do it.

1 pound bag of dried black beans, cleaned and rinsed
water

Empty the bag of beans in a large dutch oven, picking out any debris or damaged beans.   Rinse a couple of times with fresh water, then add enough water to cover the beans by a couple of inches.   Cook on high heat until they begin to boil, allow to boil for about 2  minutes.   Remove from heat, cover and allow to sit about an hour.    After the the hour, return to heat and bring up to a simmer and simmer about 1/2 an hour or until the beans are very tender.

Additions for the stew:

While the beans are sitting for their hour, take another dutch oven and heat some olive oil (a couple of tablespoons should be enough).   Then lightly brown the following ingredients in sequence:

About 2 cups cubed ham
1 smoked sausage sliced into 1 inch lengths (Polish sausage works too)
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 green pepper, cored and diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

Once all of the vegetables and meats are  browned, add 2 14-oz. cans of diced tomatoes/4 cups fresh diced tomatoes and 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, 1/2 tsp. dried oregano and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.   If you like a bit of heat  you can either add a chopped jalapeno pepper with the vegetables when you saute them or add some crushed red pepper with the other spices.    Simmer a few minutes, then add the vegetable and meat mixture to the beans when you simmer them for the last 30 minutes.   Before serving, add salt to taste, but not while the beans are cooking as salt can toughen cooking beans.   Serve over rice.

Ham and beans

Growing up in southeast Missouri we ate lots of ham and beans.   Luckily, except for my younger sister, we all loved them.   My dad especially enjoyed them, so mama would make them all the time.   She would fix either Great Northern, commonly called "white beans" or pinto, also called "brown beans".   I love them both.   I fix them often too and because it is hard to make just a few beans, I have a couple of people I share them with when I cook them.   My brother-in-law, Gary, is the main one who gets some of my beans (he is even more crazy about them than I am!), but there are also a couple of people I work with who think my beans are among the best they've eaten.

Beans have to have a side of cornbread to eat with them.  I don't know why the two taste so good together, but they do.   I also like to eat a wedge of raw onion with a bowl of beans and some folks like pickled hot peppers or pepper vinegar with their beans as well.   One woman  I work with even has to have piccalilli with her beans.   

I do admit to being a bit picky about how I cook my beans and it is usually a two day affair for me.   I also find that I get the best results when I use my crockpot, as beans are something that can't be rushed and turn out the best when done very slowly.   Please note, that it is difficult to give exact proportions for this, as there are variables beyond control, but no matter what happens, you will rarely come up with beans that aren't tasty!   Just be sure to make a lot of cornbread to go with them!


4-6 good sized chunks of ham shank or
a good meaty ham bone
water to cover, about 1 1/2  quarts

Simmer the ham shanks or ham bone about 8 hrs. on high, until the meat is ready to fall off the bone.   Remove the shanks or bone and any meat from the broth and refrigerate.   Later the meat will be taken off the bone and shredded into bite sized chunks, with any bone, skin or fat discarded.   Chill the broth and when ready to cook the beans, remove any solidified fat and discard.

 2 pounds of beans, either Great Northern or Pinto or 1 pound of each

The night before cooking the beans, rinse and pick out any bad beans and then place in a deep bowl and add twice as much water as needed to cover them.   Allow to soak over night.   Then next day, rinse and drain the beans, then place in the crockpot with the defatted ham broth and simmer on high 6-8  hours.   You want the beans to be very soft, splitting and bean broth to turn milky and no longer clear.   The texture of the beans with be almost creamy.   In fact,  you will be concerned that they are overcooked.   Add the cooked ham meat you have removed from the bones.   Allow to sit a few minutes to heat the ham up. 

Now fill a bowl with your hot cornbread, crumbled into chunks, top with the beans and lots of the bean soup, either have a chunk of raw onion on the side or top the beans with chopped raw onion and dig in!   Some good eating here!

The promised baked beans recipe

And here is the promised recipe for my baked beans. I love my baked beans fairly sweet and not too runny. I bake them long and slow and find they are quite tasty that way. Here's how I do it:

3-5 slices of bacon, roughly chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup either molasses or honey
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 heaping tbsp. brown mustard
dash of cloves
2 28-oz. cans of Bush's Best Boston Recipe Baked Beans

Fry the bacon until it is about half done, stirring frequently.   Add the onion and continue to cook until onion is golden brown.   Add the remaining ingredients, stir well and then pour/spoon into a a nice baking dish.   Bake at 350 degrees about an 1-1 1/2 hours or until the beans are dry on top, browned and smell heavenly.    If  you want to do it like Mama did it, then drape some extra bacon slices on top before putting in the oven to bake.    That browned bacon was my favorite part!