Charro Beans

Whenever we go out for Tex-Mex, Richard will studiously go through his bowl of charro beans and beam at every discovery of bacon or sausage. I will sometimes join in on the adventure, and (naturally) it becomes a competition of who can find the biggest piece. When I make charro beans at home, I purposely cut the sausage and bacon in large chunks. It makes the beans more substantial and the leftovers will make a great snack. Just heat up a tortilla to have with a bowl of beans and I'm good to go.  

Ingredients:

-          Pinto beans (approx. 1 lb.)

-          Thick cut bacon cut into ¾-1 inch chunks (4-8 strips)

-          Sausage (about ½ a link, cut in small chunks)

-          Large onion (diced)

-          Jalapeno (chopped) optional

-          2 Chipotles in adobo (finely chopped) optional

-          Minced garlic (3-4 cloves)

-          2 cups fresh chopped tomatoes or 1 can of diced tomatoes 

-          Cumin (about 1 tbsp.)

-          Chopped cilantro

-          Salt, pepper

Instructions

1. Rinse/sort beans; then soak beans overnight in water

2. On medium/high heat in a Dutch oven, add bacon and sausage and cook until slightly crispy

3. Add onion, jalapeno, chipotles, garlic and cook until soft

4. Add tomatoes

5. Drain beans, add to the pot and cover with 2 inches of water

6. Season with cumin, salt, pepper to taste

7. Bring pot to a boil, then reduce to about medium/high heat and cover with a lid

8. Cook beans until soft for about 1.5 hours (less time if they are soaked longer). Water should be reduced to a thick broth. If beans are not ready and water has reduced too much, just add more water and continue cooking.

9. Add chopped cilantro prior to serving 

Occupado

Deep in the heart of Texas

Tidbits of my weekend. Reasons why I love Texas.

All work no play

In case you ever wondered where I spend my weekdays, here it is (trust me, it's not always this neat):

This is a recent addition on the ledge between my cubemate and I. Lisa needed a friend, so Spiderman came along. Needless to say, Spidey owns Lisa (there is a button behind Spiderman that ejects the web 3 feet). Lisa's chest only lights up, which is fail-io during battle, but she is useful when I need to send SOS signals to my cubemate. S-O-S.

Somethymz I thinkz I yam Michael Jordan

Oh no you diiin’t! Oh yes I did!

Could yoos plz leave me alone? I needz complete silence.

In my spare time

Bacon Kimchi Fried Rice

Rich sent me this recipe which was adapted from the Momofuku cookbook. My first reaction was "OMG WHUUUUUT, must try immediately (ooo pretty pictures)."

So today after work, I went to the Chinese grocery store to get the kimchi and bacon. I really should have drove my lazy ass two minutes further down the street to the Korean grocery store, but 1. I like the Chinese store's fruit and vege selection, 2. Chinese grocery store is cheaper than the Korean one, 3. the Korean shopping center is a pain in the arse to get in and out of which triggers my brain signals to say (in robo-tone naturally) *danger*danger*avoid bad Asian drivers*danger*danger*.

I go to the where the kimchi is in the store and they only have one brand of kimchi. The jar doesn't have all that red speckled spicy goodness and looks sorta limp and non-spicy, but I don't have a choice. It is served in 2 sizes, the giant 2 liter size (which I'm sure every Korean person has in their fridge), and the regular 6 inch tall jar. Two of the little ones for me, thank you very much. Check. Next up, bacon. Apparently Asian stores don't sell American smoked prepared bacon. I had to get sliced "Pork Bellies", a.k.a. no smokiness or cured salty deliciousness. Fail. Ok so I figure pork belly is pork belly, it will have to do.

I cook my fried rice slightly different than the recipe. I like to include green onion in the rice and to garnish. Also, I always add a few sprinkles of white pepper. It makes it taste better. Otherwise, everything is pretty much the same. Sometimes (actually most of the time) I don't cook the ingredients separately because I'm too lazy. All in all, the fried rice tasted good, but if I had real American bacon and better kimchi, it would have been gorgasmic (my made up word for gourmet-orgasmic). Richard summed it up very nicely, "Yeah, it's totally the kimchi. It's not very... kimchi." So mister bacon kimchi fried rice, the next time we meet, I shall conquer you!