A friend told me recently that one of her fondest childhood memories is of my mother’s beans.  I, too, recall them tenderly.  They were wonderfully sweet, with delightful chunks of bacon, and she made them every 4th of July.  They made an excellent potluck dish, and could feed an army.  In fact, they could feed several armies, and therein lies the secret to the nostalgia.  What brings a smile to my friend’s face, is not, sadly, the memory of excellent flavor, but of sheer quantity combined with childish ingenuity and a large supply of firecrackers.

You see, after everyone had eaten their fill of my mother’s beans, there remained a truly heroic amount left in the pot.  We children noticed this, and having exhausted all of the entertainment lighting firecrackers in the driveway could provide, we decided to see what would happen if we tried to blow up something else.

My mother found out, and never made beans again.

Having received two types of enticing beans from my CSA this year, I decided to concoct a tribute to my mother and summer potlucks past and took my inspiration from one of my favorite cooking sites, The Pioneer Woman.  Ordinarily I just drool over her delicious recipes and stellar photography, but her recipe for spicy beans inspired me to get off my duff and make something special out of my legumes.

I often think I can’t make these long-simmering recipes on a weeknight, but then I realized I can, I just need to spread the cooking out over two days.  On Monday we had nice, simple sandwiches while the beans simmered, and then on Tuesday, after only 30 minutes more of cooking, we were ready to break out the beans.

Spicy Beans

mildly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

• 4 cups dry beans (I used black-eyed peas and cranberry beans)
• 1 smoked ham shank or whole ham hock
• 1 diced onion
• 2 diced bell peppers
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 sliced jalapeño peppers
• 2 tsp. salt, or to taste
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. black pepper, or to taste

Rinse beans and place in a stock pot or dutch oven with the ham shank and water to cover by 2 inches.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and forget about it for 2 hours.  Check the water level occasionally and add more if necessary.

Add the onions, peppers (bell and jalapeño),  and garlic.  Re-cover the pot and simmer for another two hours.  (At this point, it was time for bed for me, so I gave the beans a rest overnight, and finished the next day)

Add salt, chili powder, and pepper to your beans, and then slap the lid back on to simmer for 20-30 more minutes.  Meanwhile, mix up a batch of your favorite cornbread.  I like Mark Bittman’s, because I like everything Mark Bittman does.  With any luck, your cornbread and beans will get done at just about the same time.

Slice your cornbread through the middle and make a nice bed on your plate, then ladle some beans over, and top with a nice dollop of sour cream (these are spicy beans, after all).  Then, listen to this song.

The next day, you may be surprised to find you still have an enormous pot of beans.  Don’t despair, and put away the fire crackers.  Simply spread out a nice bed of tortilla chips, top with beans, a diced tomato, half a diced avocado, cheddar cheese and/or queso fresco, and some pickled jalapeños.  Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes or until cheese melts and beans are warmed through.  Then, top with more sour cream, and enjoy!

Still got beans?  Of course you do!  For my part, tomorrow I’m planning to make a nice breakfast burrito featuring beans, beans, beans!  After that, I’m out of ideas.  Help me out, guys.  What else can I do with beans? Help me make my mother proud!  (I really did love your beans, Mom.)

I have to say, the idea of stuffed bell peppers usually leaves me cold.  The stuffed peppers I have consumed in my life have been, without exception, bland and disappointing. The disappointment is particularly keen because the idea has such potential!  There exists a large cavern within every single bell pepper on the planet, just waiting to be filled with something; why it should always be ground beef and rice is completely beyond me.

Well, forget all that!  The time has come for a truly exciting and delicious stuffed pepper, and this is it!  Potatoes are mashed with generous amounts of toasted spices, fresh herbs, and citrus, placed gently inside the pepper and finished with a delicate, crispy crust. It’s genius, and I am so excited to share it with you.

Stuffed Bell Peppers (Bharwaan Mirchee)

from Indian Home Cooking, by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness

• 1.5 lbs. potatoes
• 4 small bell peppers – any color you like!
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper, plus a pinch
• 1/2 fresh hot green chile, minced
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
• Juice of one lime or lemon
• 1 tsp. salt plus a pinch
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 large egg

Boil the potatoes in water to cover until very tender, 30 to 40 minutes, and then drain.

Meanwhile, remove the lid from your peppers as if you were carving a jack-o-lantern, and discard.  Continuing with the jack-o-lantern theme, remove the ribs and seeds from inside the peppers.

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds over medium-high heat until fragrant (about 1 minute), and then crush with a mortar and pestle.

Mash the potatoes in a large bowl (Peel them first if you’re feeling fancy.  I was not.).  Add all of the ingredients from coriander seeds through black pepper (except for the extra pinches of salt and cayenne) and mash them up together.  Spoon this mixture into your prepared peppers.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Heat the oil in an oven-proof skillet over medium flame.

Whisk the egg with the pinches of salt and cayenne.  Dip the top of each pepper in the egg mixture, and then place the pepper, egg-side-down, into the oil.  After about three minutes, this will cause a lovely brown crust to appear over the top of the potatoes.  When you’ve got a nice crust, flip the peppers over and place the skillet in the oven for 30 minutes.  You’re done!  Eat them while they’re hot.

In March, I imagined that I would spend every possible minute of the summer dining al fresco, dipping my toes in the lake and leisurely paddling a canoe.

Alas, it was not to be. For the past couple weeks in flyover country it has been dripping hot, the kind of hot that gave (gives) me pounding headaches and requires several changes of clothes per day. Even a bike ride is no fun when your sunglasses fog up from the humidity.

So instead of exploring my new neighborhood like I’d hoped last weekend, I turned on the AC, retreated to the kitchen and chopped, blended and marinated. Popping fresh cherries into my mouth and grooving to a Kate Nash playlist on Spotify, I made cucumber soup with yogurt and garlic and honey. I made chocolate-covered bananas with toasted almonds (messy, chocolate too thick, otherwise delicious).

I made green beans roasted with fresh tomatoes and vinaigrette and green beans steamed and tossed with blue cheese and pecans (thanks, CSA!). I made a one-pot main dish of sugar snap peas, potatoes and shrimp, courtesy of Melissa Clark, my current NYT infatuation. I even turned on the oven and made a fantastic almond cake that sank in the middle, with fresh raspberries heaped on top.

But my favorite thing, the concoction I couldn’t stop dipping my finger into every time I opened the fridge, was the Korean barbecue-marinated portabella mushrooms from Food and Wine.

Oh. My. Goodness. Sweet, salty, nutty with a ginger-kick, this marinade rocked my world. I loved it so much that after soaking the mushrooms in it overnight, I tossed some shrimp in while the grill heated up. I may also have dipped some leftover baguette in it. Seriously. This stuff is amazing.

Similar marinades may be easier because they are pantry-only, but the fresh fruit makes all the difference in the world.

Korean Barbecue Marinade

Recipe by Bill Kim from Food and Wine, July 2011.

• 1/4 small onion, halved
• 1/4 Asian pear, cored and quartered
• 1/2 small kiwi, peeled and quartered
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 3/8 cup soy sauce
• 3/4 cups water

Put everything in a blender and blend for a minute. This makes about 2+ cups and will last, covered, in the fridge for several days.

If Asian pears aren’t in season at your market either, feel free to sub in a Bosc or a Bartlett, like I did.