Beans are amazing and versatile. I always have 3 or 4 different kinds of dried beans. I was building a little stockpile pre-Brexit and so rolled into Corona quarantine with about 5 kilos of dried beans and lentils. The challenge – make them into great food for the Davinator (not a problem for the ultimate omnivore), my son and his university roommate (our lockdown crew).

Homemade refried beans is a great response to this challenge.

Refried beans are healthier and easier than you think. The recipe is very flexible – you can use almost any kind of canned or dried beans you have available. Black beans, white beans, pinto beans, black eyed peas. I was eying up a can of chick peas the other day – but those are better used in hummus.

The amount of spice is up to you – some like it hot, some like it garlicky, some like it with the flavour of beans shining through. The vegan version is, if anything, better than the standard version. Or you can go full on old school decadent carnivore and start with lard or beef dripping.

Refrieds are NOT fried twice. It’s a corruption of frijoles refritos or ‘well fried’. Not deep fried, not soaked in lard, just fried well.

Refried beans are great in Tex-Mex food; fajitas, burritos, quesadillas, tacos, dip, nachos – the list goes on and on. Kids like beans if they are well cooked and will pretty much eat anything you wrap up in a flour tortilla. Also, refrieds are an essential component of the highest form of Tex-Mex food – huevos rancheros. Food of the gods.

My son and his roommate brought a can of refried beans when they came home for lockdown. I said ‘I’m going to show you what that should taste like’. Made them this recipe, took a dish into their study room with a few corn chips. They took one tentative taste (to be polite) and then dived in and gobbled the rest up. They are converts.

The convenience of a can of refried beans is not to be sneered at but make these at least once so you know what they should taste like. I made extra and froze portions for future use.

And just in time for Cinco de Maya – here’s the recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 30 grams (2 tablespoons) of butter or neutral oil, divided (vegan substitutions)
• 1 small white onion, peeled and diced small
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 x 425 gram cans of beans (2 x 15 ounce cans) or 200 grams (1 cup) of dried beans, cooked as described below
• 120 mls (1/2 cup) vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon chili powder (decide how spicy you want your beans to be and consider hot or chipotle chili powder)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lime juice
• fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
• optional garnishes: finely-chopped fresh cilantro, crumbled or shredded cheese, diced tomato, and/or sliced jalapeño

Instructions

1. Heat half the butter (or oil) in a large deep frying pan until melted.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.  Add the garlic and repeat for 1-2 more minutes, until cooked and fragrant.
2. Add in the canned or cooked beans, veggie stock, chili powder, cumin and oregano, and stir to combine.  Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a simmer.
3. Take the pan off the heat.  Use a potato masher or a wooden spoon to mash the beans to your desired consistency.  If you like them super-smooth, you can purée them with a stick blender or in your food processor. I don’t recommend the food processor – pureed beans are a b*****d to clean up.
4. Stir in the remaining butter until well-combined.  Taste and season the beans with lime juice, salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Serve warm, topped with any garnishes you might like.

Thank you for reading the blog, commenting, cooking, subscribing and sharing. Keep healthy and safe.

Instructions for cooking dried beans: this is my go to website for working with dried beans. It takes a little more time but is even cheaper than using canned beans. Enjoy.

Ratatouille is a classic vegetable stew from the south of France. Don’t show this blog to any French people you know because we’re going to colour outside the lines with ingredients and preparation methods. Recipe is great for the vegetarians and vegans. We are trying for zero food waste and fewer trips to the market for ingredients so this recipe is all about flexibility.

Side note: Ratatouille, the movie, is one of those Pixar cartoons that’s secretly aimed at adults but also amuses children. We’ve got access to Disney+ while our son is home from university and we are shamelessly exploiting it. In the movie, they make an incredibly posh nouvelle cuisine version of ratatouille. We’re not cooking that today. There are posh versions – carefully colour coordinated and layered. That’s cooking as performance art and nobody has the time for that.

The beating heart of ratatouille is aubergine (eggplant you Americans) and tomatoes. Those are the only two mandatory ingredients for me (ducking now while purists hurl things at me). Most ratatouille also includes bell peppers, courgettes (zucchini again for you Americans), onions and garlic.

I consulted the hive mind of Twitter for other things you can and cannot put in ratatouille. No support for root vegetables (I suggested parsnips and carrots) and that includes potatoes, sweet potatoes and radishes. In fact several Tweeters more or less accused me of cooking heresy. Also beans (as in pulses) are verboten. I would tend to avoid cabbage as it has a strong taste and it needs bacon to make it edible. Cucumbers have so much liquid I would also avoid them.

Things you can put in ratatouille – pretty much any other vegetable in just about any form. Frozen mixed veg, corn from cans, summer squash, pumpkin, leeks, shallots. Kale, spinach and other sturdy greens are also acceptable. Go for it.

I consulted my vegetable drawer and my store cupboards and my latest ratatouille had one aubergine, two tins of tomatoes, one red bell pepper, 2/3 of an orange bell pepper, one truly ancient courgette, some leeks and assorted onions (one Spanish, two white ones). I found some dried basil in the store cupboard that expired in 2007. 2007. Used that too.

I’ve included the ingredients in the recipe in the order that I put them in the pot. I use a large deep enamelled cast iron soup pot, don’t use aluminium – it doesn’t like the acid from tomatoes. You can find hundreds of ratatouille recipes on line – this one works for me.

Recipe

Ingredients

• olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped fine (I don’t cook with garlic but its widely used)
• 2 medium onions, peeled, halved and sliced thinly (I use a hand held mandolin and slice them directly into the pot)
• 2 bell peppers, cored seeded and chopped into cubes of about 1.5 cm (half an inch or so) pieces
• 1 medium aubergine (eggplant) chopped into cubes, same size
• 1 medium courgette (zucchin) chopped into cubes, same size
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes with juice or 6 fresh tomatoes, cored and seeded
• bunch of fresh basil or 2 tablespoons of dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Coat the bottom of the stock pot with a generous layer of olive oil and heat until it smells sweet (medium heat). Add the garlic, give it a couple of minutes.
2. Add the sliced onions, stir to coat with oil and cook until they begin to soften, about five minutes
3. Repeat with the bell peppers, then the aubergine, then the courgette.
4. Add the tomatoes and stir to coat. Bring to a slow simmer and cook for about 20 minutes once simmering.
5. Watch to see that it doesn’t get too dry and start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Cautiously add water if it looks dry.
6. About 5 minutes before it’s finished add the basil (chopped if fresh) and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve up with your favourite carbohydrate base. I’ve seen the Davinator eat ratatouille on bread, pasta and mashed potatoes (not all at the same time). It’s been eaten as a breakfast dish with a couple of fried eggs as well.

It will last several days in the refrigerator.

Thank you for reading, commenting, cooking the recipes and for sharing on social media.

We are only four people in social isolation in our household: the Davinator plus younger son and his roommate from university. The Davinator is the middle of a big building project (redoing some of our hard landscaping) and is eating accordingly. University students are Olympic standard eaters. A fair amount of catering to do and I was looking for things that can be precooked and served in different ways. Meatballs are the answer.

Meatballs are easy for non-expert and ingredients are flexible. Kids seem to love them and there are many ways to serve them. The more expert a cook you are, the more confidence you’re likely to have with substitutions and changes. I go over each ingredient below to help you figure it out.

Meatballs are minced (ground) meat, usually mixed with bread crumbs, egg and seasonings. My recipe calls for Parmesan cheese but this is a lovely addition and not vital to the recipe. Remember google is your friend so just ask ‘substitutes for……’ and see what comes back.

Meat

Use any type of minced or ground meat. My favourite is 50/50 beef and pork. Lamb, chicken, turkey and even sausage meat bought in bulk or squeezed out of the casings. I’m guessing you could make duck meatballs if there’s such a thing as ground duck. Be aware of how much fat you’ve got in the meat, ultra lean meat like chicken or turkey won’t hold together as well and doesn’t have the same mouth feel on eating.

Vegetarians, I bet you could make meatballs with Quorn mince. It then ceases to be a meatball but let’s not worry about the ontology of naming things today.

Bread crumbs: I have a big supply of panko breadcrumbs, because I hate to run out so I buy in bulk from Amazon Subscribe & Save. So many possibles substitutes here. You can make some from bread. Here’s a video but essentially you oven dry them and then whizz them up in food processor. The video uses fresh whole wheat bread but bread type and freshness don’t really matter. Use wheat bread though.

The quantity might not substitute straight across, so keep mixing in until you have a good consistency.

Other substitutes, grind in a food processor or put in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin:

• plain water crackers or saltines, basically any kind of savoury biscuit,
• unsweetened cereal like corn flakes or weetabix,
• rolled oats or porridge oats
• pretzels, crisps, corn chips (be careful with weird flavours like prawn).

Even more creative:

• cooked rice or quinoa
• flaxseed
• potato flour
• cornstarch

Egg

The egg in this recipe is a binding ingredient – it helps the meatball hold together. Hopefully, you’ve got eggs but if not you can substitute yogurt (unsweetened and unflavoured) or try about half the same quantity of milk. Getting a little bit more unlikely: ground flax or chia – one tablespoon with 3 tablespoons of water = one egg. Tofu, if you have any, or melt some butter or vegetable shortening.

Seasonings: salt and pepper are enough and it may be all you want if you’re going to make a flavourful sauce or soup for your meatballs. But if chilli flakes, Italian seasoning, whatever takes your fancy from your spice cupboard.

Serving suggestions:

• make a simple clear soup with celery and carrots, add the meatballs at the end
• heat up a can or jar of prepared sauce and serve with pasta,
• make marinara sauce, (see this simple recipe) and serve with pasta
• serve warm with some barbecue sauce (put them on toothpicks – kids will eat anything on a toothpick),
• crush them into a sandwich with lots of ketchup or HP.

Once cooked, meatballs will keep in the fridge for 3 days or until a teenage boy finds them.

Let’s get cooking.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 450 grams of ground meat, can be mixed
• 1/4 cup (25 grams) of panko bread crumbs (very fine dry bread crumbs – you’re using a substitute be prepared to adjust to get a good firm consistency when you’re rolling the meat balls)
• 1/4 cup (25 grams) grated parmesan cheese (optional)
• 1/4 cup (40 grams) finely chopped onion (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg or substitute binding agent

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200C (180 fan). Line a baking sheet or a shallow pan with foil. Drizzle with the olive oil and spread the oil to cover the pan.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Easiest to use your hands to smush it all together and combine well. Add any additional herbs as you go. You’ll be able to tell if the meatballs are going to bind together. If it’s too wet, add some more bread crumbs. If it’s too dry, try adding milk a tablespoon at a time.
3. Scoop out a generous tablespoon and roll it into a ball. Place on the baking tray. They will brown better if not touch each other. This is a job that children love to ‘help’ with. And the meatballs are going in a hot oven, so its fine.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cut one in half and make sure they’re not pink in the middle. Consume your test meatball to hide the evident.

Enjoy. And happy cooking.