Becca's Bean Gunk

Originally published at Run and Not Be Weary

Matt and I fell in love in our dingy student apartments over steaming bowls of this stuff. It's fast, easy, made of cheap ingredients, and tasty too!
Bean Gunk

olive oil
sea salt
one onion, chopped
garlic
2 or 3 cups of vegetables: celery, carrots, peppers--even fennel or hard squash would be good, too.
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1 can of black beans, with their juices
fresh herbs-- cilantro is my favorite
other possible additions: chipotle tabasco, cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric

Saute the onion, garlic in the olive oil until they're a little bit carmelized. Add whatever spices and the veg and cook for a few more minutes until everything is really combined and smelling amazing. Then add the tomatoes and the beans and let the stuff simmer for 10 minutes or so, until it thickens a little bit and everything is thoroughly combined. Add the chopped fresh herbs and voila!
I like to serve it on rice, with maybe some cheese or sour cream on top.

Note: You could expand this into a soup easily-- just add broth and/or white wine when you add the tomatoes.
I hope you enjoy it!

Joy's Tomato and Goat Cheese Quiche

Joy's Tomato and Goat Cheese Quiche
Basic Pie or Pastry Dough

1 and 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. chilled lard
1 tbsp cold butter
3 tbsp ice water

Sift together the flour and the salt. Cut in the fat, and sprinkle on the ice water and mix until it just holds together. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it until ready to use. Roll it out and fit it into a 9" pan. Brush the dough with a beaten egg yolk and refrigerate.
Preheat the oven to 400. Set a rack in the lowest position in the oven.
Drain and squeeze out the liquid of a pound of canned tomatoes and set them aside.
Combine until smooth:

4-6 ounces fresh goat cheese
3/4 c. cream
1/2 c. milk

Add and whisk until smooth:

3 eggs
1 tbsp chopped parsley
3 tbsp chopped basil
pinch salt
black pepper.

Put the squeezed tomatoes in the pastry shell, pour the cheese mixture over the top. Bake until the top is golden brown, 40-45 minutes. Let it rest 10 minutes before slicing.

Rating: A+. Rapturous. Lovely. Fluffy and salty and cheesy--- absolutely gorgeous. I wished I was a photographer this thing was so crusty and golden brown. I could eat it every day.

Becca's Creamy Coconut Curry

Becca's Creamy Coconut Curry

Some olive oil
1 tbsp fresh turmeric
1 tbsp fresh ginger
1 tbsp fresh garlic
some cumin
some salt (red, thanks!)
some paprika
some pepper
2 carrots
an onion
3 potatoes
handful of corn
2 c. sweet potato
3 cups coconut water (if you don't have, leave out the cream and use coconut milk)
1.5 cups cream
1.5 cups chicken stock
Some cheese (I used Gouda)

Heat the olive oil, add all of the spices until they combine into a fragrant paste. Add the chopped vegetables and saute them until they are nice and browned and coated in the spices. Add the coconut water and cook the vegetables until they are almost done. Add the cream and the chicken stock and simmer gently (no boiling the cream) until everything is nicely combined and the veg are soft.
Serve with cubes of cheese.