Maybe your pantry looks like ours- stocked to the gills with all sorts of snacks, pasta, and beans. We took a peek the other day and realized we needed to put all those beans to work. If you have chickpeas, white beans (like a cannellini or navy), or black beans, you’re almost ready for dinner. Make a big batch of Best Chickpeas and you’re set for the week. Or make some Carrot and White Bean Burgers and smugly eat a delicious and super healthy dinner. Join us in our latest culinary trip to Nicaragua and make Gallopinto, an absolutely stellar use for leftover beans and rice. Don’t let those bags and cans of beans just sit there on the shelf. Put them to good use for dinner!
Best Chickpeas, Carrot and White Bean Burgers, and Gallopinto (Nicaraguan Black beans and Rice)
Best Chickpeas: Bon Appetit
Chickpeas are a staple in our kitchens; we always have a couple cans hanging around. Making our own from dry hasn’t happened that often, we hate to admit. After all, chickpeas can take a heckuva long time to cook. Now that we’re in the house all day we’re taking advantage and using this recipe to make tender, well flavored beans that taste way better than canned. If you have some time, these are worth the effort.
Tips:
- Warning- a pound of chickpeas is a lot of chickpeas. They can be frozen in one or two cup portions.
- If you do make the full pound, we did the following with our batch:
- Right out of the cooking pot, on the day of cooking, we scooped a couple cups with broth and added it to hot pasta. A little parmesan cheese and a squeeze of lemon made a comforting, filling dinner.
- Try one of our chickpea recipes from the archives:
Carrot and White Bean Burgers: Smitten Kitchen
Do not let the carrot alarm you! We trusted Deb and her expertise and were rewarded with a creamy, hearty bean burger with just a little bit of earthiness, sweetness, and health from shredded carrots. Piled with lettuce and pickled onions, this was one of the more satisfying vegetarian burgers we’ve had in a long time.
Tips:
- Give about ⅓ of the beans a quick spin in the food processor to help bind the burgers.
- Kate sadly only had one can of cannellini beans and substituted a one and a half cups of chickpeas from the Best Chickpea recipe. Some of the chickpeas tumbled out of the burger but otherwise it was delicious.
- Betsy made eight smaller burgers and they were just the right size for dipping.
Gallopinto (Nicaraguan black beans and rice): Serious Eats
Simple beans and rice is a nutritious yet comforting dinner. Yet we had never been introduced to Gallopinto, which takes beans and rice to the next level. Add some onions and stock to the rice, garlic to the beans, and then fry it all up the next day. Somehow the parts become even greater than the whole. Nicaragua and Costa Rica (and all the other countries with this dish), we can’t thank you enough!
Tips:
- Plan ahead- the rice really does need to be made the day before so it doesn’t fall apart in the pan.
- As is, this dish is delicious. But we couldn’t help thinking about an egg or some cheese.
- Don’t forget the hot sauce. Cholula was perfect for this. Maybe you have a favorite? Let us know!
From the Smorgasbord:
Are you making sourdough bread like the rest of Instagram? Here are some of Kate’s favorite accounts: (Amazon links are affiliate- thank you!)
- Alchemy Bread (Website and Instagram), also wrote Bread Baking for Beginners (Kindle or Paperback)
- Artisan Bryan (Website and Instagram)
- The Perfect Loaf aka Maurizio (Website and Instagram)
As Ten Speed Press Ambassadors, we received this link to a Baking Guide full of fun and interesting project baking. Check it out Bake This Now. (Link to pdf is at top of the page, right below the introduction.)
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