Easy rice and beans

Ingredients
A little less than 1 cup black rice*
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, minced (adjust amount to taste)
About 3 cups black beans (pre-soaked or canned)**
A handful of cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, cut into wedges and sliced


Cook rice, then turn off heat and let sit. Meanwhile, place a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, then the onion, and saute until translucent. Turn heat down to medium, add the garlic and peppers, and saute for another couple minutes.

Next, add the black beans and stir gently, breaking up any clumps, until heated through (you may need to add a little more olive oil at this point). Add cilantro (but save a few pinches for sprinkling over the top), stir a few times, then add the cooked rice and cook for another minute or until the rice is heated through.

Serve topped with avocado, with a tomato salad on the side.***


*a.k.a. Forbidden Rice. Kind of the opposite of local, but on the other hand, unpolished and really, really good.)
**Turns out Eden Organic actually has BPA-free cans.
***Unlike in the picture, which is how I did it originally, unless you want to first eat all of the tomatoes off the top and then proceed to the rest of it. Somehow, the textures don't quite go together.

Leek and Four Mushroom Risotto

Found at the Coop: Local gourmet mushrooms, leeks, baby rainbow chard
Found in our garden: Fresh thyme, flat-leaf parsley
Found in the cupboard: Arborio rice

Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
2 ladlefuls of white wine
3 1/2 cups chicken and/or veggie broth*

1 large leek (or two small), halved, rinsed, and thinly sliced into half-rings
More mushrooms than you would think, sliced
(e.g., 6 crimini, 10 shiitake, 10 alba and brown clamshell, 4 royal trumpet)
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
4 sprigs fresh thyme, minced
Small handful of parsley, finely chopped (reserve a few pinches for garnishing)
Small tab of butter
Couple handfuls of baby rainbow chard (could substitute baby arugula)
Handful or two of baby spinach
Half-spoon of Aleppo pepper

Small bowl of grated Parmesan for table


Put broth in a small pot, cover, and heat until simmering, then turn off heat and set aside. Meanwhile, heat a medium dutch oven or other large pot over medium-high heat. Add about 2 tbsp olive oil, then add onion and saute until it smells sweet and looks slightly translucent. Add rice and saute for another minute, reducing heat to medium. Ladle in white wine and cook, stirring, until it evaporates. Add broth by the ladleful, stirring and cooking until each evaporates before adding the next.

Meanwhile, set a wide pan over medium-high heat and add 1-2 tbsp olive oil. When hot, add leeks and saute until soften (about 5-6 minutes), turning down heat a little if necessary to keep from browning. Add mushrooms and continue to saute until they begin to release a little liquid, salting and peppering as they cook. Add thyme, parsley, and greens, and cook until just wilted. Turn off heat.

When the rice is just cooked through, gently fold in the sauteed vegetables, butter, and Aleppo.

Serve (can let sit for 1-2 minutes to cool slightly) garnished with chopped parsley and a bowl of grated Parmesan at the table.


Serves 2 (or maybe 3 with a salad)


* My former favorite, Swanson's vegetable broth, turns out to have high fructose corn syrup and MSG nestled within its paragraph-long ingredients list. I switched to Trader Joe's organic vegetable broth, which surprised me by tasting strongly of...wait for it...vegetables. Half veggie and half chicken made a nice balance here.