I wrote this week’s Forum on a sunny, 70-degree day, dreaming of farmers markets and sunrise hikes. Then I looked at the forecast and saw that in two days time there was a 50% chance of snow.
April does what it wants, so in honor of dreary weather and Mother Nature surprising us with hail, I’m sharing a recipe an Everett reader perfected during the COVID-19 pandemic, one he calls his “comfort food of choice.”
We’re talking a hearty pot of beans. But not just any ol’ legume.
“I discovered Anasazi Beans a few years ago during a trip to the Southwest,” Patrick St. Mary wrote. “They have a delicious flavor and are, let’s just say, easy on the digestive system.”
The cream and maroon-speckled bean can be mail-ordered from Adobe Mills via www.anasazibeans.com, but St. Mary said he has also found them (relatively) locally at The Market in Anacortes.
If you’re unable to source Anasazi beans, St. Mary said dried cranberry beans or kidney beans can be used as a substitute. He makes this recipe using his Instant Pot (which I have admittedly not purchased yet but am inching closer and closer to by the day) as well as a homemade broth using a recipe from Marco Canora’s book: “Brodo: A Bone Broth Cookbook”. The recipe can also be found here: blog.fitbit.com/marco-canoras-bone-broth-recipe/
“It’s an excellent all-purpose Bone Broth that I always keep in my freezer,” St Mary wrote. “But feel free to use store bought chicken broth instead, I won’t tell.”
Cooking dried beans (versus using canned) allows you to control the flavor and salt content. In this case, a savory backdrop of bay leaf, cumin, garlic, ham and other ingredients makes for a bone-warming pot of beans, perfect for a cold spring day. Plus, it’s incredibly easy: No soaking beans, no onion tears, no chopping a bunch of veggies (even the garlic cloves go in whole.) Just throw the ingredients in the pot, set it and, well, you’re all set.
Instant Pot Anasazi Beans
2 cups dried Anasazi Beans (or dried beans of your choice)
8 cloves garlic, peeled
4 cups Hearth Broth (or Chicken Broth)
2 dried bay leaves
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 4 oz can chopped jalapeño peppers (or chopped green chiles if you want it less spicy)
2 tablespoons dried onion
1 cup chopped ham
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley, to garnish
Place dried beans, garlic cloves, broth, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, jalapeños (or green chiles), ham, and dried onion in instant pot.
Close lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 45 minutes, then pressure release for roughly 30 minutes. Open the lid carefully.
Switch pot to soup setting. Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes to thicken. Taste and season with salt and pepper, and garnish with parsley.
Serve and enjoy!
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