Friday, September 4, 2009

Maggie's Beans

My daughter-in-law's mother makes some amazing beans. She makes one batch for our daughter, Stacy and the rest of her family and she makes one batch for the rest of our family that likes hot, but not as hot as she likes it. I will give you her recipe and then in parenthesis what I do.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of pinto beans ( I use 1 pound)
Maggie buys loose beans not prepackaged so she can find the new beans. Lighter colors are fresh and clean the darker ones are older and not as fresh ( I buy packaged beans)
1 finely chopped medium size onion
4-5 finely chopped medium size tomatoes very ripe
3-4 chopped jalapenos - chopped small ( I use two)
3-4 chopped serrano peppers - chopped small ( I use none)
1 chopped habanero pepper just in case the others are not hot enough (I use none)
1 lb package of bacon ( I use 1/2 package)
1 bunch cilantro, everything even the stems she says that is the tastiest part
salt to taste
Clean and rinse beans. Put beans in a 5-6 quart pot and fill with water. If it's bigger it's o.k. because when you pour in all the ingredients you need room so it won't overflow. Plus you want plenty of water because that will end up being the tastiest part of the beans. Set it to high until they come to a boil and then set to medium-low. Beans will cook for an hour to and hour and a half until they are tender. Mae sure to look over them throughout to make sure they have plenty of water. Add water as needed to make sure they are covered. While beans are cooking prepare the other ingredients.
Chopbacon in small pieces and cook in aseparate pan. Once the bacon is crispy add chopped onion and chopped peppers. Leave the bacon greese in pan to saute' them. Then add chopped cilantro and continue cooking. Add in finely chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 min. If there isn't enough oil from th bacon, just add 1/4 cup of cooking oil so everything gets cooked well.
When bens are tender, pour everything rom the pan with bacon ingredients into the beans. After 5 minutes, taste to see how much salt is needed. The bacon will add salt so be sure to taste. The longer they cook, the tastier they get.

Thanks Maggie, we love your beans even though we tame them way too much for your taste.
Next, I want your salsa recipe. It is amazing.

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