(no subject)
Jun. 4th, 2008 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickDinner today was a variation on Corn And Bean Salad, a tasty you have seen here as "Corn and Black Bean Salad" but which I actually make in assorted variations with enthusiasm and a relatively free hand.
How to really, for real, make Corn and Bean Salad. Not, y'know, the party recipe for pretty that you can take places and impress people with. This is the rubric that I actually make and eat at my house.
There is always corn. Most of the time, it's cheap yellow frozen corn. I use this because it's cheap and pretty. I don't like canned corn at all, so it's frozen or fresh. In high summer, I boil whole ears and cut the kernels off, but it is not always high summer. (Fresh is a lot better than frozen.)
There is always a legume component. Sometimes the beans are Progresso canned black beans, especially if I'm doing a covered dish and want to impress people with my pretty food. Mostly, for my own pleasure, the beans are either Hanover (can company) Light Red Kidney Beans or Black Eyed Peas. I adore kidney beans. I will eat them plain. I love their starchylicious goodness right out of the can. Black Eyed Peas I eat mostly so that I can RETURN to kidney beans next time.
Make the corn and bean components pretty equal. Strike a good visual balance.
There is always a hot pepper component. For preference, this is jalapeno peppers, fresh ones. Second best is the long thin not-jalapeno peppers that the grocery has. I think they're asian. Third best is chipotle chili powder, used with a heavy hand. (FYI: Kidney beans stand up better to chipotle than black eyed peas do.)
Add as many hot peppers as you think your people will be able to tolerate. I used three of the long asian peppers tonight against one can of black eyed peas and corn to match. It was hot.
There are always, always onions. If I have tomatoes, there are only fresh onions, chopped pretty fine. If I have no tomatoes, there are cooked-until-brown onions (chopped bigger) and also the fine chopped raw kind. Unless I'm doing cooking to show to other people, the onions are white. Other people get to see pretty red onions.
Half an onion sauteed, tonight, about a quarter of one fine-chopped and left raw.
If it is warm weather and I have tomatoes, there are chopped tomatoes. There are no tomatoes all winter long because I will not buy red cardboard spheres and pretend that they are tomatoes.
There is an acidic component. Usually this is lime juice from actual limes. If there is a lack of limes, it's red wine vinegar instead.
Tonight there were limes.
There is fresh cilantro. The dish is really not edible without cilantro.
Tonight the cilantro came from the volunteers in my yard.
There is salt. If there are real hot peppers, there is ancho chili powder. Lacking real hot peppers, both ancho and chipotle chili powders make an appearance in the dish.
I salt with a free hand. I chili powdered with a for-eating teaspoon until it looked good.
I had two bowls, but also have leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.
How to really, for real, make Corn and Bean Salad. Not, y'know, the party recipe for pretty that you can take places and impress people with. This is the rubric that I actually make and eat at my house.
There is always corn. Most of the time, it's cheap yellow frozen corn. I use this because it's cheap and pretty. I don't like canned corn at all, so it's frozen or fresh. In high summer, I boil whole ears and cut the kernels off, but it is not always high summer. (Fresh is a lot better than frozen.)
There is always a legume component. Sometimes the beans are Progresso canned black beans, especially if I'm doing a covered dish and want to impress people with my pretty food. Mostly, for my own pleasure, the beans are either Hanover (can company) Light Red Kidney Beans or Black Eyed Peas. I adore kidney beans. I will eat them plain. I love their starchylicious goodness right out of the can. Black Eyed Peas I eat mostly so that I can RETURN to kidney beans next time.
Make the corn and bean components pretty equal. Strike a good visual balance.
There is always a hot pepper component. For preference, this is jalapeno peppers, fresh ones. Second best is the long thin not-jalapeno peppers that the grocery has. I think they're asian. Third best is chipotle chili powder, used with a heavy hand. (FYI: Kidney beans stand up better to chipotle than black eyed peas do.)
Add as many hot peppers as you think your people will be able to tolerate. I used three of the long asian peppers tonight against one can of black eyed peas and corn to match. It was hot.
There are always, always onions. If I have tomatoes, there are only fresh onions, chopped pretty fine. If I have no tomatoes, there are cooked-until-brown onions (chopped bigger) and also the fine chopped raw kind. Unless I'm doing cooking to show to other people, the onions are white. Other people get to see pretty red onions.
Half an onion sauteed, tonight, about a quarter of one fine-chopped and left raw.
If it is warm weather and I have tomatoes, there are chopped tomatoes. There are no tomatoes all winter long because I will not buy red cardboard spheres and pretend that they are tomatoes.
There is an acidic component. Usually this is lime juice from actual limes. If there is a lack of limes, it's red wine vinegar instead.
Tonight there were limes.
There is fresh cilantro. The dish is really not edible without cilantro.
Tonight the cilantro came from the volunteers in my yard.
There is salt. If there are real hot peppers, there is ancho chili powder. Lacking real hot peppers, both ancho and chipotle chili powders make an appearance in the dish.
I salt with a free hand. I chili powdered with a for-eating teaspoon until it looked good.
I had two bowls, but also have leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.
