Since I’m going to be busy with NaNoWriMo this month, I thought I’d go back to the past for inspiration when it comes to “Tasty Tuesdays” posts, and it seemed fitting for the first throwback “Tasty Tuesdays” recipe to be the one I featured in my very first such post I ever wrote! It was first published in my LiveJournal on 4 March 2014. Here is that post in its entirety:
Tasty Tuesdays… 4 March 2014
mood: excited (about something new)
While browsing through some blogs yesterday, I came across an entry in one that was subtitled, “T stands for Tasty this Tuesday”. This particular entry featured something called Cajeta (Mexican caramel) that the author found to be very tasty. Although I’ve never had Cajeta (and don’t even know where I might be able to get some), the combination of the words “tasty” and “Tuesday” got me thinking.
Perhaps it was because I was hungry, but this combination of words led me to the idea of posting “receipts” (an old-fashioned word for “recipes”) of tasty things on Tuesdays. Although I’ve posted a variety of entries about food throughout the years, I thought this would be a fun way for me to share some of my favourite recipes… and recipes that I want to try.
This inaugural “Tasty Tuesdays” post features a recipe that I found in one of the cookbooks that I checked out in honour of January being “National Soup Month”: “Lee Bailey’s Soup Meals: Main Event Soups in Year-round Menus”. I decided to go with this one because it reminds me of one of my favourite recipes (“Hamburger-Sausage Soup”) AND it’s one that I wanted to try during the recent winter weather (but didn’t because the pantry was bare). Without further ado, here’s the first of my “Tasty Tuesdays” receipts:
Black Bean and Macaroni Soup
(from “Lee Bailey’s Soup Meals” by Lee Bailey Copyright 1989)
I am especially fond of the combination of beans and macaroni. And with sweet red peppers — oh, boy!
1 cup dried black beans
8 cups Chicken Stock (I plan to use Vegetable Stock instead.)
2 small bay leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup drained and chopped canned tomatoes (not in paste)
2 tablespoons red wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
2 very large red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, and cut into medium dice
Garnish
Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and green onion
Wash and pick over beans. Cover with an inch of water and bring to a rapid boil. Boil for 2 minutes and turn off heat. Allow to sit, covered, for 1 hour.
Drain beans and cover with 3 cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and turn heat down to a simmer. Add bay leaves. Simmer until the beans start to get tender, about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and saute the onion until wilted and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and continue to cook for another minute or so. Scrape the onion-garlic mixture into the beans and add the tomatoes. Continue cooking, adding more stock if necessary, until the beans are done. This can take up to another hour. Add wine, sugar, pepper, and balance of the stock.
To serve, boil macaroni in very well salted water for 6 minutes. Drain and add to the bean mixture along with the diced red pepper. Simmer just long enough to completely cook the macaroni. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes before serving. This probably will not need but correct seasoning if necessary.
If you have cooked the soup too rapidly, you may have evaporated too much of the liquid. In that case, add a bit more stock. However, this should be a very thick soup.
Sprinkle with chopped flat-leaf parsley and green onion, if desired. Serves 6
So, there you have it… The results of my thinking. I plan to try this recipe for the first time once my pantry is no longer bare (read: after my next trip to the grocery store probably within the next week), and I will post pictures to prove it! If you get around to trying this recipe before I do (or even after), I would love to hear whether you thought it was worthy of the “Tasty Tuesday” label. If it’s as good as my favourite “Hamburger-Sausage Soup”, I think it’ll definitely earn that label, but only time will tell, at this point. Bon appetit, mes amis!
Well, that was my very first “Tasty Tuesdays” post ever! I wonder how this recipe would work in my Crock-Pot, my friend during NaNo-vember… Might have to give it a try — after I do a bit of online research into cooking beans in a Crock-Pot, of course!
