Tonight's diary has a split personality. I only have one recipe, but it's a good one: vegetarian beer-baked beans. It's one of my favorite dishes to being to summer potlucks because it's high in protein, low in fat, and made from inexpensive ingredients.
Since tomorrow is Easter, there should be candy, right? I can't diary chocolate yet, so we'll have to settle for eye candy.
Easter was one of my favorite food holidays growing up in the PA anthracite coal region. After weeks of Lenten fasting, Easter was all about chocolate for breakfast, ham and all the trimmings for lunch, pizza and a movie for dinner, and a long weekend on both ends.
Grandma was Slovak Catholic and Grandpa was Russian Orthodox. One of the highlights of Easter week was going to church on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter) for the blessing of the baskets. Grandma would fill a basket with Paska (Easter bread), salt, butter in the shape of a lamb, kielbasa, ham, horseradish, hrudka (egg-based cheese), and hard-cooked eggs.
Traditional Ukranian Easter basket
My favorite thing about Lent was the one item in Grandma's basket that wasn't edible. See the dyed eggs with pretty patterns? Those are called
pysanky (singular pysanka), and Grandpa used to make them at the kitchen table. He'd stick a pin in a pencil eraser, take wax from a melted candle, create perfect teardrops in symmetrical designs, dip in dye, and repeat in layers.
Sometimes he'd let me try, but mostly I just liked to watch him work his magic. I can still smell the wax when I see this. Is it any wonder I grew up to be a dye artist?
Wax designs on pysanka
Finished eggs:
Pysanky
Cat pysanka:
Enough eggs. I promised a recipe!
Vegetarian Beer Baked Beans
1 lb. bag dried beans (pinto, navy, black eyed peas)
2 medium sweet onions
2-3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp smoked paprika
Ground black pepper
Bay leaf
12 oz bottle or can beer*
1/2 c brown sugar
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with liquid
1/4 c soy sauce
3 tbsp liquid smoke
3 tbsp brown mustard
1 cup strong coffee (leftover is fine)
Few drops hot sauce to taste
Additional water to cover, about a cup
*Use dark beer for best flavor. All I had was Yuengling lager and it still came out good.
First, soak the beans. Measure, sort and rinse, then place beans in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add enough water to cover by a couple of inches and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and soak at least an hour. Drain and rinse before using.
Preheat oven to 325F.
Finely chop onions, celery, and garlic (I use a hand chopper.) Heat olive oil in oven-safe casserole over medium heat. Add veggies and sauté until fragrant and just starting to brown, 4-5 minutes. Add the soaked beans, sprinkle with dried herbs, and toss a few times to combine.
Pour the whole beer over everything. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rest of the ingredients, plus enough water to cover by about an inch. Return to a boil and simmer about five minutes. Remove from heat, cover casserole and bake at 325F for 2 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool, covered, for at least 10 minutes before taking lid off.
Stir beans well before serving. This is a great make-ahead recipe as the flavor improves if you refrigerate them overnight. They also freeze well.
Happy Easter to those who celebrate! What's in your dinner basket tonight?
Edit: Recipe clarified