How to Make Canned Beans Taste Amazing
Eating cheap is not as easy as “making it yourself.” Aside from the cost of groceries, cooking takes time , and – if you work multiple jobs or many hours to feed yourself or your family – you may not have extra hours.
Welcome to Cheap Chow Week ! Food is now more expensive than it ever was, and it might seem like the only cost-effective options for you are fast food or instant ramen. But it doesn’t have to be that way. This week, we’ll show you how to buy, prepare, and eat food in a cost-effective way without sacrificing pleasure or taste.
This is why it is important to find convenient, quick-cooked foods, and learn how to make them taste good. Canned beans may not sound like the most appealing dinner option, but they are filling, versatile, and can combine into a meal in less than half an hour. Here are some of our favorite ways to make them look amazing.
Boil them in olive oil
Drain the beans – I love the dark blue beans for that – and add them to a saucepan with enough olive oil to coat them . Add a few cloves of garlic, some salt (depending on how much of the beans were seasoned in the jar) and your favorite herbs (rosemary, thyme, and tarragon are mine) and simmer over medium heat until hot. across. The creamy, flavorful and aromatic legumes are ready to be mixed with plain pasta, or to be made thick toast with a bit of wilted greens. Don’t want to use that much oil? Simply sauté them in a couple tablespoons of olive oil (or butter) with garlic and shallots.
Season them with a mixture
Buying lots of individual spices can really be beneficial, especially if you’re just getting started building a spice rack, so it’s good to have a mixture or two that you can use to flavor everything . I’ve found that blends designed for meat – like Penzys poultry dressing or Montreal steak dressing – are especially beneficial when the beans are the star of the dish.
Add some meat
When used as an accent rather than as a main ingredient, some meat can be a very cost effective way to add more flavor to a batch of beans. Just a couple ounces of chorizo or bacon will add a zesty smokiness to a can of beans. Add a spoonful of sour cream and some fresh herbs (like cilantro, or perhaps garlic sprouts or fried leeks ) and cover them with warm tortillas.
Light them up
Re-frying your own pinto beans – and we’ll show you how here – is a cheap and easy way to improve the nacho, as you can choose the fat and seasonings, but in fact, you can re-fry any beans to turn them creamy and a soothing puree version of yourself. Simply heat some of the flavors (bay leaves, garlic, and oregano are great choices) in a saucepan or small Dutch oven with a tablespoon of your favorite cooking oil (schmalz and bacon fat are especially good for flavor) and add (drain) any beans of your choice. … Cook them until they start to decay, remove the bay leaf and all herb stems, and mash until you get your dream consistency. (I take a hand blender with me.)
Plunge
I have nothing against chips and sauce for dinner, especially if it’s a hearty bean sauce. Take any jar of plum beans and add it to a food processor with a large tablespoon of something creamy (labne, sour cream, and tahini – all will work), and a teaspoon or two of acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and drizzle with honey (or other sweetness). Add a pinch or two of garlic or herbs, or sprinkle with a good spice mixture . Whisk it all together in a food processor, sprinkle with fresh herbs and enjoy the chips, toast, or pita bread.