I take bean dishes for granted. To me, they are the go-to meal-foundations that boneless skinless chicken breast recipes used to be, before I came to my senses. When I don’t know what to cook, I put on a pot of beans, like I used to defrost a chicken breast or two. Beans take a little more planning if you cook them fresh, but there’s no nasty raw meat mess to carefully clean up, and they taste better. Sure, the chicken breast might have a chance if it weren’t stripped of the dignity of skin and bones, but as-is, it’s beans every time for me. Plus the beans cook unattended with plenty of time to figure out what to put with them. And a tip: you don’t have to soak them before cooking. You might end up with a few broken beans, but who cares?*

My bean routine is as follows:
-measure out about 1/2 cup of dried beans per person (main dish portion)
-cover with about 3 times as much water, (less if they have been soaked)
-bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, let cook on low for 2-4 hours
-salt ONLY when they are almost cooked through (salt toughens the skins and prohibits the water from softening the beans during cooking.)
-check every hour, as convenient, to make sure the water is covering the beans, and stir

The creative part is adding aromatics to the beans while they are simmering. This time I added dried New Mexican style chiles, (a good substitute for the sweet Spanish Nora chile), plenty of unpeeled garlic, and a few sprigs of herbs. A couple of onions got caramelized, some eggplants braised until silky smooth in just enough tomato sauce, and some no-knead bread was popped in the oven.  Chickpeas on their own have an amazing pot liquor, but the chiles made for a deeply flavored dish that I couldn’t get enough of.  I just about cried when Romeo offered the leftovers to his dad.

If you are having trouble getting excited about chickpeas or pintos, check out Rancho Gordo’s heirloom beans.  Steve Sando’s enthusiasm is contagious. (And adding “heirloom” to any ingredient makes it sexier, not to mention “Indian woman.”)

*Cannellini (not to be confused with navy) beans are the exception -they fall apart- so soak them first for salads.  Other applications should be fine.

Spanish-style chickpeas and eggplant with caramelized onions

2 cups dried chickpeas
7 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 sprigs parsley, plus more for garnish
3 New Mexican dried chiles
10 sprigs thyme
2 onions, sliced
2 large eggplants
14 oz. can whole plum tomatoes or 6 fresh plum tomatoes, chopped
olive oil, about 1/3 cup, separated
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Put the beans in a heavy pot and cover with plenty of water (about 6 cups.) Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Add garlic, parsley, chiles, and thyme. Cover and let cook for 3-4 hours, but check after two. (The time can vary depending on the age of the beans.)

Caramelize the onions: heat a frying pan over a medium-low burner. Thinly coat the bottom with olive oil and add the onions. Cook slowly until the onions first become very soft, and then pick up a reddish-brown color. Set aside.

Peel (if you like) and chop the eggplant into slightly large bite-size pieces. Cook in a generous amount of oil with a sprinkle of salt. When the edges soften and the flesh is glossy, add the tomatoes and juice. Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until very soft.

When the beans are approaching tender, add salt to taste -don’t be shy. Let cook about 15 minutes more, then remove the garlic, parsley, chiles and thyme stems. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and scrape the flesh of the chiles, return both back to the pot.
Add the beans to eggplant mixture, check for seasoning and let simmer 15 more minutes. Top with caramelized onions and flecks of fresh parsley leaves.

Hearty but not gut-busting, summer is a great time to install chickpea flour in your pantry.  With Mark Bittman on my side (or am I on his side?) it might already be there.  Toasting it like a roux creates a deeply nutty flavor base and thickener for soup.  It’s the perfect new friend for broccoli, which usually can’t drag itself away from cheese and cream, which are loyal friends, but sometimes it needs to mingle with others.

While I was waiting for my second planting of cilantro to grow, I thought it might be fun to experiment with the blossoms of the first planting.  They are so pretty and have a distinct flavor, like green coriander - unexpectedly different from cilantro leaves.  The combination of lemon balm and coriander blossoms is perfect- spicy and refreshing.  But if you can’t get both lemon balm and coriander blossoms I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to make this soup with basil.  It might be less exotic sounding, but no less delicious.  And  the soup actually lends basil a really special note and revives its sometimes over-used flavor.   So it’s up to you- basil or lemon balm and coriander blossoms.

broccoli and toasted chickpea flour soup with lemon balm and coriander blossoms

8 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chickpea flour
2 lbs. broccoli, trimmed and chopped
salt, to taste
7 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 1/2-2 lemons, juiced
1/2 cup lemon balm leaves, chopped
10 heads coriander blossoms, chopped, plus more for garnish

Put the water in a tea kettle, and bring to a boil.  In the meantime, heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat.  Add the chickpea flour and stir, scraping the bottom until it becomes a shade darker.  Very slowly add the water from the kettle, using a whisk and stopping to beat until smooth when a thick paste forms.  When all the water is added, put the broccoli and salt in the pot and bring to a simmer.  While the broccoli is cooking, toast the garlic on a comal or cast iron pan until the skins are charred and the inside is soft.  Peel the garlic and mash the cloves with a little water from the soup pot.  Taste the soup for salt -you may have to add quite a bit- making sure it’s tasty (although it will get better soon).    Squeeze in the lemon juice, and add the lemon balm, coriander blossoms, and mashed garlic. Puree in a blender or use an immersion blender.  If it is too thick add a little more water -you want it to be the consistency of cream of broccoli soup.  It it is too thin, let simmer until it thickens.  Serve alongside bread with a head of coriander blossoms floating in the soup.