Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

New Orleans-Style White Beans and, below,  Cajun Red Bean Breakfast Hash

                    
Last week I posted about beans and how food science can give you more options for cooking beans, or cooking them faster, maybe even make them tastier. I also posted a photo album of bean dishes I "have known and loved" on my Facebook page and one friend asked about the recipes for two of the dishes, so I'm posting them here this week. They both happen to have Louisiana flair!

About the first recipe: everyone knows about Red Beans and Rice from New Orleans, but I was interested to read about a recipe for Creole "butter beans" and rice, a spicy dish made with "slab bacon" and ham. It was in a 1975 cookbook called "The New Orleans Cookbook" by Rima and Richard Collin. The "butter beans" are actually a type of lima bean-- Gigantes, the very large Greek-style lima beans. I wanted to veganize this dish, but I had no Gigantes (have to go to Vancouver to buy them!), so I used white beans.

The second dish is fat-free recipe I developed for "Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes", for which I did the recipes, but it didn't make the final cut. Dr. Barnard wanted plenty of bean breakfast dishes, but in the end the editors nixed all of them except my bean and grain waffle recipe.  This spicy hash of red beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes is really tasty, especially with the Vegan "Ham" Gravy at the end of this post! (And, if you prefer, you can use some oil-- preferably dark sesame oil for a rich flavor-- in cooking the dish.)

Great Northern Beans

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S NEW ORLEANS-STYLE WHITE BEANS (pictured above)
Serves 6
We loved this simple dish and enjoyed it for several days running. To give the dish the sensuous feeling that the bacon would add, I used a little bit more olive oil than I might ordinarily use, plus some dark sesame oil for smoky depth of flavor. PS: I developed this recipe before I learned about the salt-soak and no-soak methods of cooking beans, outlined in last week’s blog, but feel free to adapt the recipe—I'm going to very soon!

1 lb. Great Northern beans (If you use other beans, be sure to see the Important Update at this post.)
5 cups chicken-style vegetarian broth
Aromatics:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs dark sesame oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped celery with leaves
1 Tbs chopped garlic
Seasonings:
2 Tbs soy bacon bits or chips
2 bay leaves
1 tsp liquid smoke (see this post about this ingredient)
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
freshly-ground black pepper to taste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
1/8 tsp ground mace or allspice

Soak the beans in plenty of water overnight. Drain and add to a large heavy pot with the broth. Place over medium heat.

Meanwhile, heat the oils in a large nonstick frying pan over high heat. Add the onions and stir-fry until they soften a bit.

Add the mushrooms, celery and garlic. Stir-fry further, until the vegetables are wilted and slightly-browned. Scrape the vegetables and all of the oil into the pot with the beans.

Add the Seasonings to the pot, stir well and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn down to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat until the beans are tender, but not mushy, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Serve with long grain rice.

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 294.4 calories; 24% calories from fat; 8.2g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 71.0mg sodium; 996.3mg potassium; 42.3g carbohydrates; 13.3g fiber; 2.7g sugar; 14.9g protein; 5.8 points.


Printable Recipe

BRYANNA’S CAJUN RED BEAN BREAKFAST HASH
Serves 3-4  (UPDATED October 2014)
Meat and potato hash is an old-fashioned way of serving leftovers for breakfast. This is a tasty modern take-off on that concept, using Cajun spices and the New Orleans staple, red beans. Serve with Vegan “Ham” Gravy (recipe below), or with ketchup. For a special breakfast, serve with scrambled tofu (my favorite is Julie Hasson's recipe).

6 ounces new or red (waxy) potato, diced small
6 ounces sweet potato (orange-flesh), peeled and diced small
(See Note below at beginning of recipe instructions.)
1/2 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, finely-chopped
2 green onions, finely-chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked or canned (a 19-ounce can) small red beans (or pinto beans), rinsed and drained (If you use other beans, be sure to see the Important Update at this post.)
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (for a good homemade recipe, see this one from Mother Earth News)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetarian broth

Steam the diced potatoes and sweet potatoes until just tender. (Note: You can use leftover cooked sweet potatoes and/or potatoes if you have some around.)

Use a 10-inch or so heavy skillet that can go under your oven's broiler (such as cast iron or hard-anodized). Spread the bottom to cover with dark sesame oil. Sauté the green pepper, onions, green onions, and garlic over medium-high heat until the onion is softened and starting to brown a little. Add the steamed potatoes and  sweet potatoes, and the beans. Mash the potatoes and beans coarsely right in the skillet with a potato masher. Add the Cajun seasoning, thyme and salt, and the broth. Mix well.

Turn on your oven's broiler to High and set rack about 6 inches below.



Turn down the heat under the pan on the stove to medium. Smooth the hash out evenly over the skillet and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until a crust forms on the bottom.

Cut the "cake" into four to six pieces and carefully loosen it from the pan with a thin spatula. Place the pan under the broiler heat and broil for a few minutes, checking carefully, until the top is a bit browned and crispy.  Remove from the broiler (using a good hot pad to protect your hands!)

Serve hot with "ham gravy" (see recipe below) or ketchup.

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 1/4 recipe): 200.3 calories; 1% calories from fat; 0.3g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 272.0mg sodium; 811.8mg potassium; 40.5g carbohydrates; 11.3g fiber; 3.3g sugar; 10.7g protein.

BRYANNA’S VEGAN "HAM" GRAVY
Yield: Makes about 2 1/2 cups
NOTE: If you don’t use alcohol, you can use a non-alcoholic wine (Ariel is a good brand)--a sweeter type such as Riesling--instead of the sherry.

1 1/2 cups mushroom bouillon
1/3 cup browned flour (see instructions below)
2 3/4 Tbs nutritional yeast flakes
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/2 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 Tbs dark sesame oil
1/2 Tbs brown sugar or maple syrup
1/2 Tbs ketchup
3/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp liquid smoke  (see this post about this ingredient)
freshly-ground black pepper to taste

TO MAKE BROWNED FLOUR, brown 1/3 c. unbleached flour over medium heat in a DRY cast iron pan, stirring constantly, until it is as dark as brown coffee, being careful not to burn it.

In a blender, or with a hand immersion blender, blend the mushroom broth, browned flour, nutritional yeast, water, sherry, nutritional yeast, sesame oil, soy sauce, ketchup, liquid smoke, and salt until smooth. Stir constantly in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat until it thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-5 minutes. Add freshly-ground black pepper to taste.

MICROWAVE OPTION: Pour the mixture into 1 qt. microwave-proof bowl or measuring pitcher. Cook on High for 2 minutes. Whisk vigorously so that the gravy is smooth. Cook again for 2 minutes on High. Whisk again. Cook one more time on High for 1-2 minutes. Whisk well.

NOTE: This can be made ahead and reheated.

Enjoy!

A real down-home dinner- vegan meatless loaf  with creamy lowfat mashed potatoes and vegan brown gravy. (Our favorite no-fat vegan meatless loaf recipe here. Can be GF.)

Why mashed potatoes when it's almost summer, you may ask? Because it's bloody freezing here! I'm still craving cold-weather foods. But, in any case, it gives me a chance to share something I just learned from Cook's Illustrated magazine. This magazine, BTW, is not vegetarian, but you can learn alot about food science from it, as well as good tips about cookware, ingredients, etc.

I love mashed potatoes, but I'm not about to put a stick of butter (or even my new palm-oil-free homemade vegan "butter") into a 2 lb. batch of mashed potatoes. I've been making them fat-free for years now, but I thought they could use a little "face-lift", so-to-speak. Then, I happened to read an article in Cook's Illustrated. Although their goal was not to make tasty fat-free mashed potatoes, the article helped me do just that.

They discovered that using a different cooking method from boiling worked better. In addition, they advised using a potato ricer to make the potatoes fluffier. Now, I have never owned a potato ricer, and my husband had never heard of it and thought I was nuts, but, then, he's used to me chasing after kitchen gadgets that take my fancy. I had just been talking to Julie Hasson about potato ricers and she told me they make great mashed potatoes. The article clinched it-- I was off to the local kitchen shop and laid down my $20 or so (including tax) for the nifty new model.

I often use Yukon Gold potatoes for mashed because they have a warm, slightly buttery look to them, and a rich flavor. And that's what the magazine recommended, for the same reasons. They added 1/4 cup of butter to their potatoes (instead of their usual 8 tablespoons), but I didn't use any, and they were still yummy. That way, you can either use a fat-free vegan gravy and be really virtuous, or you can melt some vegan marge (Update; try my new palm-oil-free homemade vegan "butter") on top and still not be ingesting THAT much fat.

Here is what the author had to say about the cooking method:

"Gluey potatoes are a result of starch granules that swell with water and then burst during cooking, releasing a gel that turns potatoes sticky. Cooking the potatoes with their skins on protects the starch granules, reducing the chance of a gummy mess. To give peeled potatoes the same protection [the magazine's cooks were trying to avoid needing to peel freshly-cooked hot potatoes before mashing BCG], we made two alterations to our usual technique. Steaming rather than boiling the potatoes exposes the potato pieces to less water, reducing the chance of the granules swelling to the point of bursting. Some granules, however, will inevitably burst; rinsing the potatoes midway through cooking removes the resultant gel. As a bonus, we found that this method requires less butter and dairy to achieve the same richness as conventional mashed potatoes."

It sounded a bit complicated, but it really wasn't-- and the results were great. Give it a try next time you cook potatoes for mashing.


Printable Recipe

FLUFFY FAT-FREE VEGAN MASHED POTATOES A LA COOK'S ILLUSTRATED 
Serves 4

To make these even more rich-tasting, you can blend some extra-firm SILKEN tofu with your non-dairy milk to make a sort of fat-free cream. (Some people call for non-dairy creamer, but I find most too sweet for mashed potatoes.) Another suggestion-- add some roasted garlic while mashing.

2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes (4 to 6 medium), peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks, rinsed well, and drained
about 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 2/3 plain full-fat soymilk, or almond milk, warmed (2/3 cup made them a bit too soft for me, put that's a personal preference)
NOTE: You could also use hemp milk, if you like the taste-- it is quite creamy.
Freshly-ground black pepper

Place a metal colander or steamer insert in large pot or Dutch oven. Add enough water for it to barely reach bottom of colander. Turn heat to high and bring water to boil.


Add the potato chunks, cover, and reduce heat to medium-high. Cook the potatoes for 10 minutes.


Transfer the colander to the sink and rinse the potatoes under cold water until no longer hot, 1 to 2 minutes. (Or, if you use a steamer, place it in a colander in the sink and rinse as instructed, then transfer the steamer back to the pot.)

Return the colander and potatoes to the pot, cover, and continue to cook until potatoes are soft and tip of paring knife inserted into potato meets no resistance, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Pour off water from Dutch oven.

ENERGY-SAVING ALTERNATIVE:  Micro-steam the potato chunks in a covered microwave-safe casserole.  The amount for this recipe, cut as instructed above and cook at 100% power for about 12 minutes total, rinsing as instructed above after 6 minutes, and then returning to the casserole to finish cooking. You do NOT need to add water to the casserole, BTW. 



Set the potato ricer over now-empty pot. Working in batches, transfer the potatoes to hopper of ricer or food mill and process, removing any potatoes stuck to bottom. Press all the potatoes through the ricer into the pot. (Use a food mill if you don't have a ricer.)


Using a spatula, stir in the salt until well-mixed. Stir in the warm non-dairy milk until the consistency you prefer. Season to taste with more salt, if necessary, and freshly-ground pepper. Serve hot with fat-free vegan gravy.

Enjoy!