We tried to recreate the awesome black beans and rice Ian ate in St. Augustine. I soaked my beans, but not overnight. Did that boil 'em for two minutes and let them soak another hour before cooking them trick. I cribbed from one of Nigella's recipes and added cumin and coriander to the pot. Some salt, pepper, and garlic salt, too.
But it wasn't enough. Our black beans were certainly bland. We ate 'em. I'm scouring black bean soup recipes while awaiting a new cook book to arrive: Rosa's New Mexican Table (2007). One of the restaurants we ate at in Palm Beach was Rosa Mexicano. Their black beans were awesome. Everything there was.
The rice was nice. Haven't used my rice cooker that much since I bought it a few months ago. But when I do, I'm always thrilled at how well the rice comes out. Actually used Jasmine rice to go with the black beans. Ian preferred it over brown rice. And the arborio rice I cooked a few days ago was awesome, too. I love that I set the machine up, leave the house for a few hours, and return home to find my rice waiting and warm for me.
After several attempts at creating fabulous black beans, I finally had to admit that none of my efforts was as good as the Goya black bean soup.
If I'm lazy, I just heat 'em up, straight out of the can. Even though the can says "soup" - there's not a ton of liquid. I use a slotted spoon to drain off what little liquid there is, and we eat 'em as beans.
If I'm feeling fancy, I'll saute some chunky onion and pepper in a pan, then when they're nice and wilted I dump the soup on top and give it a good stir. If I really want to feel like I did something, I'll dump some extra spices (cumin, etc) in for good measure, but it's really not necessary...
I'm not the only one loving the Goya soup - tea, of Tea and Cookies, does a much nicer job of describing them. But then again, she's a food goddess....
http://teaandcookies.blogspot.com/2007/08/for-sake-of-full-disclosure.html
Posted by: lla | Thursday, 04 October 2007 at 09:08 PM