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Dried beans are a vital part of Latin cooking, from Spain to Central America, the Caribbean and on down to the tip of Chile, and across America from New York to Mexico to Los Angeles. You'll find them in soups, tapas, appetizers, main dishes, and even desserts. Today, Daisy prepares a few of her favorites: A Puerto Rican White Bean Soup, an Argentinean dish of Chick Peas and Swiss Chard, and a Sweet Bean dessert from the Dominican Republic, Habichuelas con Dulce.
Garbanzos con Acelgas
Italians combine all kinds of beans with all kinds of greens and cook them very simply. This is my variation on that theme. You can make it fairly dry, in which case it makes a good side dish, or leave it fairly brothy.
Makes 8 servings
1 pound dried garbanzo beans
One 6 to 8-ounce piece slab bacon or one smoked ham hock
2 bay leaves
1 large bunch Swiss chard
1/2 cup Sofrito (see "Staples")
2 tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup homemade or canned chicken broth, or as needed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Fine sea or kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
I like red chard in this dish, but you can use regular green if that's what you find in the market. You can make this several hours ahead and let it sit. In fact it gets better. The smokiness of the bacon has a chance to permeate the buttery chick peas and the chard, with a slightly bitter edge, holds its own against both. This is another place where I'd pull canned beans off the shelf in a pinch. |
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1. Soak the chickpeas in plenty of cold water to cover at least 8 hours or up to overnight.
2. Drain the chickpeas and put them, the bacon and bay leaves in a medium saucepan. Pour in enough water to cover them by 2 inches. Bring the water to a boil, then adjust the heat so it is boiling gently. Cook the beans until near tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Keep an eye on the beans; they should always be covered by liquid. When the liquid meets the level of the beans, top it off with cold water to cover by an inch or so.
3. While the chickpeas are cooking, clean the chard: Fill a clean sink with cool water Trim off any wilted or yellow leaves and cut out and discard the stems. Cut the leaves into 1-inch pieces. Swish them around in the water then drain them in a colander.
4. When the chickpeas are tender, pull out the piece of bacon and let it cool. Cut it into 1/2-inch or so dice. Put the bacon in a medium, deep skillet over medium-high heat until it starts to sizzle and brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sofrito and cook until the water is evaporated and the sofrito starts to sizzle. Add the tomatoes and stir until softened. Stir in the chard leaves and stir until wilted, then stir in the chickpeas. Pour in the broth, add the thyme and bring to a gentle boil. Cover and cook 15 minutes to give the flavors a chance to blend.
5. Uncover the pan and check out the liquid. If you'd like to serve the dish soupy, leave it as is. If you'd like to serve it a little dryer, simply boil until as much of the liquid as you like is evaporated. You can adjust the soupiness at the very end of cooking by adding additional broth.
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You'll keep coming back to these Latino
kitchen basics!
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