Cooking with Tekle: Leftovers into new meals. On Christmas, Tekle and I did a lovely spiral cut ham along with potatoes au gratin. Today, we dealt with the leftover ham that was still clinging to the bone as well as some juices that had settled down into a sort of jelly. My plan was traditional: Red Beans and Rice. Last night I had Akberet soak about a pound of red beans, and I woke up early so we could work the magic. Drained the water, added fresh water and the hambone, and set it to boil. In another pan, I used half again the recommended onion and substituted jalapenos for bells, because I like the flavor and I wasnt going to use more meat for this dish. I cooked the onions and peppers in oil, adding in garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, cayenne, black pepper and paprika. Cooked them until the onions were translucent, then added them in the pot of beans and ham, now simmering on the stove. Let that sit while I went to sit (knees bothering me today), and Tekle took over. He took out the ham after half an hour, let it cool and then removed the meat. The meat was diced and added back in, and the beans simmered for about two hours more. Tekle set up some white rice and let that cook, and lunch was ready. The beans were a bit soupier than I anticipated, but I went ahead and added rice to the bowl of beans I had, kind of like gumbo, and it was just fine, thank you. Tekle added a pinch of salt to the pot, unbeknownst to me, and that may well have improved things since I could taste a bit of saltiness, but it didnt dominate the flavor. Results were excellent, and we have leftovers that Ill eat for the lucky New Year. Perhaps using red beans will help rather than the lima beans Mom insisted on using. Eh, Mom wasnt perfect, but I did learn from her.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 01:30:54 +0000
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