Today I made a pot of beans using one of the methods suggested by Steve Sando in his book "Heirloom Beans."
Last weekend, we bought heirloom beans at Whole Foods. They are called "eye of the goat" and are known for their meaty taste and rich texture. I was very excited to try them since I looooove beans. I've been seeing special gourmet beans at the Ferry Building Farmers' Market on Saturdays, but I have always just kinda put my hands in the touching beans and left without buying anything. Beans can be intimidating. Most of the time I just open up a can of beans and they are ready to go. But I wanted to try something new and J just bought me this wonderful book. Anyway, I just soaked them in some water overnight and boiled them in their beany liquid along with some garlic and celery for 2 hours. The results looked like kidney beans but they tasted more like boiled peanuts. Maybe they need to be cooked more? The broth was meaty even though there was no meat. Although it is a good pot of beans, I don't know what to do with them now. They are good enough to eat by themselves with a little of the broth, but I'm not sure if mashing them up would hide their beany wonder-goodness. The cookbook says I could make chilaquiles with them but I'm not in the mood to cook. Oh well. Sometimes things are just better left alone. Or eaten like boiled peanuts.
