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Orlando Enrique Fiol

wrote:
>And I have beans: Cannelini, black-eye peas, azuki beans, black beans,
>great northern beans, and garbanzos.

Basically, any beans can be cooked with some sort of
onion/garlic/pepper/ginger saute, some combination of dry or ground
spices and a liquid. If you think of all the famous bean recipes, they
pretty much follow this formula. Most INdian daals are prepared by
soaking and pressure cooking or steaming the daal, preparing a tarka or
fry of chopped onion, garlic, chiles and ginger, adding a masala of
ground spices and then some liquid, either coconut milk, tomatoes or
just plain water. Cuban black beans are made by soaking and steaming
the beans, then preparing a sofrito of onions, garlic, sweet bell
peppers, optional hot red peppers and parsley, sauteing the sofrito,
adding perhaps some chorizo or ham, perhaps a chopped potato, then some
ground cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt and bay leaf. Then comes the
liquid either in the form of water or broth. Tomato puree can also be
added, although it reduces the dish's shelflife.

>I have a ton of canned coconut milk too, right now. One dish I am
>making is a tofu curry with coconut milk. I have all the ingredients
>for it. Tofu happens to be something I like now and then, and it is a
>relatively cheap protein.
>
>However, even with making this..I still have coconut milk on the
>shelves..probably a few more cans. Any ideas?

You can use coconut milk in egg curry, which would entail hard boiling
some eggs, making a tarka and masala with dried coconut, chiles, curry
leaves and other ingredients, covering with coconut milk and adding some
tomato puree. You can also prepare Colombian coconut rice by
caramelizing a can of coconut milk until it's practically burnt, then
adding onions and garlic, the rice, an appropriate amount of water or
stock, a teaspoon of oil, some salt and some raisins. You then bring
this to a boil, cook out all the water and simmer the rice until fluffy.

>
>I have chicken parts in the freezer....2 packets (6 each) of frozen
>thighs. And one packet (4 half breasts, maybe 6) of boneless breasts.

You could always broil those as my mother always used to do, seasoning
them with soy sauce, lemon juice, onion and garlic powders, salt and
pepper, oregano, parsley and basil.

>A very small package of ground beef..maybe a half pound or less.

Perfect for picadillo. Just season the beef with something like adobo
or sazon Goya, brown it and pour off its fat, cook some bacon until
crisp, (also discarding its grease), saute some onions, garlic, peppers,
etc., combine with the ground meat, add some tomato paste or sauce and
wine or water to cover. This is best eaten with white or yellow rice
because it's so saucy, which is why I rarely eat it when low-carbing.

>
>And the leftover Smithfield ham chunk from the southern Cal cook-in.
>
>As to veggies: I got an eggplant today at the market: they were 77
>cents each. I have designs on that already: an eggplant and white
>bean gratin from the Greens cookbook. I have all the ingredients
>for this...

I've just discovered how tasty roasted eggplant can be, mashed into a
paste with raw garlic, salt, pepper, cumin and lots of yogurt.

Good luck,
Orlando