Day Two: Week of Eating In

It was a day of catching up on pantry basics here. I put up a pint plus of duxelles using gorgeous organic cremini, button and shitake mushrooms from our CSA. The recipe is Eugenia Bones' - saute diced mushrooms in olive oil with shallots until dry, add some wine or cognac and cook it off, then pack in jars, cover with olive oil, and store in the refrigerator for as long as a couple of months. I use these mushrooms for many things -- pizzas, focaccia, crostino, scrambled eggs, tucked under chicken skin, tossed with noodles, and spooned into soups.
I started another loaf of no knead bread. And I worked on some cooking projects destined for another post.

Breakfast was toast, cheese and an apple. (Dennis had his granola and berries.)
Lunch - easy! - leftovers from last night's Indian feast.
Dinner was one of our standard meals. Black bean Borrachos, from the freezer. Wrapped in a tortilla for Dennis. As a salad for me. Oven fried sweet potatoes. Salad greens with shallot, sherry vinegar, crunchy fleur de sel, cracked black pepper, and a very green, first pressing olive oil.
The magic zing-a-ling? That secret sauce pictured at the top of the page? One of my favorite cooks/twitter-friends - SavoryKitchen - sent me this bottle of her secret tasty sauce. I don't know if it's the honey from her own hives, her magical setting near one of my favorite spots in the world, Plum Island, or just the extra special niceness of an unexpected gift of homemade food, but it just made the dish. I hope to trade comestibles from our pantries again, and soon! Check out Mary's blog at Cooking 4 the Week.

Another day of Eating In. Tasty.
Black Bean Borrachos
adapted from LastNightsDinner recipe on Food52.
(I love Jen's recipe as is, but Dennis doesn't like spicy/hot and isn't so crazy for chunks of tomatoes, so I subbed tomato paste and add jalapenos to my own bowl of beans, after the cooking.)

1# black beans - I prefer Rancho Gordo's Midnight beans
1 bottle Guinness or other dark beer
2 Tbls tomato paste
1 onion, chopped rough
1 garlic clove, chopped rough

Rinse the beans in cold water, then, in a large stockpot, cover with boiling water by 2".
Add beer, tomato paste, onion and garlic.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 2-3 hours.
I freeze half of the beans. It's a weary cook's lifesaver to take a bag of these beans out for dinner.

Oven fried Sweet Potatoes
Serves 2 (with extra for the clean-up snacking)

3 medium sweet potatoes, skin left on, cut into thin wedges
3-4 T olive oil
2 tsp Penzey's Southwest Seasoning

Preheat oven to 375
Line a baking sheet with parchment
Toss sweet potato wedges with olive oil
Place in a single layer on the parchment.
Sprinkle with Southwest Seasoning
Bake for 20 min
Turn the wedges over
Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes