Let’s get back to basics. Fall is here. Ahem, yes I just admitted it. I know, I know.

It’s not all bad though– the weather has still been pretty nice, local, organic apples are back {YES!} and I have a new pair of boots I am excited about rocking. It’s the small things.

Basics to me almost always means beans. I cook a big pot of dried beans once a week to make meals from and stockpile my freezer.

I do a lot of my bulk shopping at Whole Foods Market and just buy four cups of whatever organic beans are on sale. Sometimes it’s garbanzo, others it is some variety of white bean, black beans or red beans. Then there are the specialty beans like orca, jacobs cattle and black garbanzo. I really just follow the sales and am open to try anything at least once or twice. Then I come home and toss them in my freezer {kills any larvae that can sometimes be present in bulk foods} for a couple of weeks. Once you get this system going, you will usually have three to four different types of beans in the freezer at any time to choose from.

Learning how to properly cook and SEASON dried beans was a huge turning point for me in my cooking and I hope to encourage some of you to start using more beans from this technique.

Here is how I prepare them.    {This is based on 4 cups of dried beans. Feel free to halve or quarter}

STEP ONE:         Rinse and sort beans for damaged beans and stones. Place beans in a soup pot and fill with water. Not just 2”  over, but fill the pot ¾ of the way full. A good rule of thumb is 3 cups of water for every 1 cups of dried beans. In this case, I am using 4 cups of dried beans so 12 cups of water.

STEP TWO:         Soak overnight or all day. What does this really mean? I usually toss the beans in the pot of water before I go to bed and let them soak all night if I am going to cook them in the morning. Another option is to start the soak early in the morning (like before work), let them soak all day and plan to cook them when you get home that evening.

STEP THREE:    Drain the soaking liquid. You do not have to rinse the beans, just drain.

STEP FOUR:        Place beans back in the pot and cover with same amount of clean water (3 cups for every 1 cups dried beans). Season (see below).  Bring to a rapid boil and skim off any foam.  Lower light to a rolling simmer and see Step Five.

SEASONING:      Think kosher salt, smashed garlic and herbs to start.

Example: 4 cups dried White Beans = 2 tablespoons kosher salt, a couple of sprigs of parsley and 4 to 5 cloves of garlic, smashed.

Example: 4 cups dried Black Beans = 2 tablespoons kosher salt, a couple of sprigs of cilantro and 4 to 5 cloves of garlic, smashed.

Example: 4 cups dried Garbanzo Beans = 2 tablespoons kosher salt, a couple sprigs of dill and 4 to 5 cloves of garlic, smashed.

You see where I am going with this? Think about the flavor profile of what you are using the beans for and go with those herbs and spices. If you want to keep them plain in case you want to vary how you use them, just do salt, parsley and garlic. I do this all the time and it is my default setting.

STEP FIVE:        Cook until beans are soft. {This will vary depending on variety and freshness.} This is mostly hands off work but a good rule of thumb for when you are getting to started is to check them every twenty minutes. They are done when they are not hard in the middle but still have a nice bite. Don’t cook the beans until they are mushy. For a point of reference, these white beans took a little over an hour.

STEP SIX:              Remove herb stems. Let cool and store with the cooking liquid. Use the additional cooking liquid as cooking broth or base for a soup. Toss the sediment at the bottom.

OK, that is it. If you haven’t done this before, it probably sounds like a lot of work but trust me, if you do this twice, you will see how unbelievably easy it is and most importantly, how amazing the taste of your cooked beans are.

*equal to six cans of store-bought beans

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