It’s probably not technically accurate to call this tasty soybean dip “hummus” but you should think of it as a descriptive, evocative name, not a culturally accurate one. (I’m not alone in this – for example, they’re pretty conflicted about this, among other aspects of edamame hummus, over at The Delicious Life.) But no matter what you want to call it, it turns out if you give soybeans a somewhat hummus-like treatment, you get a whole lotta tasty. Here’s my take on the meme.

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I throw together a risotto dish quite often, but admittedly it’s a one of those things that can be hit or miss for me. Sometimes it rocks your world, and sometimes it’s merely OK. Last night I think I stumbled on the secret to great risotto: aged black garlic in the mix. When combined with that magical triumvirate of cheese, cream, and oil, you just can’t lose.

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On a recent trip to Vieques, Puerto Rico, we ate at a fantastic little restaurant called El Quenepo. I loved their grilled caesar salad and thought that while the dish was fresh in my mind, I’d try making a version at home. Grilling the romaine hearts adds a fantastic layer of smoky complexity that compliments the strong flavors of the dressing.

Vieques is a notoriously, unabashedly casual place, and El Quenepo is probably the “fanciest” restaurant on the whole island. I say that in quotes because, well, nothing on Vieques could remotely be referred to as fancy- we’re talking about a restaurant with a hand-painted sign and no glass in the window frames. Still, it’s an utterly charming place with a laid-back island aesthetic and an adventurous, sophisticated fusion menu. The owners are a young couple from Virginia who encourage local farmers on Vieques to grow food for use in the restaurant, which is a real treat in the Caribbean, where most folks don’t emphasize the importance of eating locally. If you find yourself in Vieques, I highly encourage you to head to the Malecón in Esperanza and give El Quenepo a try.

A few notes about the recipe:

1. This would work better on a BBQ grill, but alas, I don’t have one, so I used a grill pan, which worked just fine.
2. For the bread for the croutons, you can really use anything. I used sliced sourdough that had gone a bit stale.
3. If you’re uncomfortable using a raw egg yolk, you can leave it out.
4. If you prefer your caesar with anchovies, you can add 3 to the dressing and/or you can place them on top of the salad when you plate it!

Grilled Caesar Salad

serves 2 as a main course; 4 as a side.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 slices bread
• garlic salt to taste
• 3/4 cup grated parmigiano or pecorino cheese
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 raw egg yolk
• 1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tblsp slivered almonds
• salt and pepper
• 2 small heads of romaine
• extra olive oil for grilling and toasting

Method:

• Make the croutons: Cut bread into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a non-stick saute pan (at least a couple tablespoons). Add bread cubes and a healthy sprinkle of garlic salt to the oil. The bread will quickly soak up the oil. Add more as needed (don’t be afraid you’re adding too much because in this case there’s practically no such thing.) Taste and add more garlic salt as necessary. Cook bread cubes until toasty on all sides, flipping often. Remove to bowl and set aside.
• Make the dressing: Put cheese, lemon juice, garlic, yolk, oil, almonds, and salt and pepper in a food processor or blender. Blend until thick and creamy, scraping down sides in between. Set aside.
• Grill the romaine: Cut the romaine lengthwise, leaving the hard connector part on the bottom intact (you’ll remove it later.) Heat a grill or grill pan to very very hot. Brush the cut side of the romaine with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Press the cut side onto the grill or pan, checking every 5-10 seconds (it will cook very quickly.) You don’t want the lettuce to wilt too much, just to get the cut side smoky and grilled.
• Assembly: Place romaine on plate and sprinkle croutons around. Drizzle dressing over.

Adobo is one of my favorite easy recipes and one of the tastiest ways to enjoy pork. In this case, Adobo refers to a common Filipino dish that combines just 4 ingredients: soy sauce, vinegar, black pepper, and garlic, to create a spicy, tangy sauce. A lot of Adobo recipes are saucy to the point of being more like a stew, but I like this one because it produces a rich, reduced, almost caramelized coating over the pork.

What’s surprising about this combination is that once everything is cooked together it doesn’t taste how you would expect it to taste. To wit: the pepper is spicier than you expect, the garlic is mellower, the soy sauce isn’t as salty, and the vinegar isn’t as pungent. It all marries together in a sauce that is greater, and more complex, than the sum of its parts.

There are probably thousands of Adobo recipes out there, and as you may have guessed I’m totally not Filipino so I make no claims to authenticity. I will, however, make claims to deliciousness! I like to serve it over rice to neutralize the spice of the sauce.

Pork Adobo
serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. boneless pork roast
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups white wine vinegar
• 2-3 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tblsp vegetable oil
• 12-15 cloves garlic, sliced as thinly as possible

Method:

• Trim the major fat off the pork roast and cut into 1/2 inch chunks.
• Put pork, soy sauce, vinegar, and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a boil, ensuring all pork is submerged in liquid. Lower heat to medium and boil 30-45 minutes.
• Heat oil in saute pan over medium high heat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pork pieces to oil. Saute 10 minutes, stirring or flipping often, to brown on all sides.
• Add garlic to pan and cook 30 seconds, stirring. Add adobo sauce and cook about 10 more minutes, until sauce thickens.
• Serve over rice.

The other night I made a big batch of carnitas for some family and friends. Of course, you have to have beans on the side, and no one makes better Mexican beans than my brother-in-law Steve-O. He was kind enough to walk me through the process. Since then I have adapted and changed them to my liking.

There are some reasons these taste better than regular beans. One reason is the beer. Another is the method of adding a whole bunch of liquid and then cooking the s*** out of them so all the liquid reduces back into the beans to flavor them.

There is no picture because you know what it’s impossible to take a good picture of? Smooshed up refried beans. I even thought of pulling a picture off of some other website but they were all unattractive too. Go ahead. Do a search. You’ll see. Plus I think it’s safe to assume that you all know what beans look like already.

UPDATE: I was wrong! I added a pretty good picture of beans that I took yesterday.

Steve-O’s Beer Beans

Ingredients:

• 2 T lard or vegetable oil
• 1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 cans beans (pinto or black, or a combo)
• 1 can or bottle of beer- the yeasty ones are good, or use Mexican beer since you’ll probably be drinking it with your meal anyway
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 or 2 envelopes of Caldo de Pollo, or some chicken broth concentrate (they have a new product at Whole Foods called “savory choice liquid concentrate chicken stock” that is my favorite. Steve uses the Caldo de Pollo from the Mexican foods aisle. You can use bouillion cubes if you must.)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• In a large saucepan (preferably nonstick), heat the lard or oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft and aromatic.
• Add the beans with their liquid and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring. With a potato masher, smash up about half the beans.
• Add the beer, chicken broth, and Caldo de Pollo to the mixture. It should be pretty liquidy.
• Cook over medium low heat, stirring and scraping the sides, until the liquid has reduced and the beans are the consistency of refried beans.
• Taste and add salt and pepper and/or more Caldo de Pollo if necessary and cook, stirring, until deliciousness ensues.
• Go ahead, try and take an attractive picture. YOU CAN’T.
• These will keep for a couple of days in the fridge and can be made ahead.
• To make this vegetarian/vegan, substitute vegetable broth or mushroom broth for the chicken broth and caldo de pollo.

Sometimes you just need a perfect side dish that’s sweet, spicy, and salty all at the same time. This is a quick and easy way to makestring beans sing in an Asian-inspired side dish.

If you prefer to walk on the mild side… cut the sambal down. And if you don’t own any fish sauce, don’t stress, just leave it out.

Sweet Spicy String Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 Tblsp + 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 Tblsp honey
• 1 tsp sambal
• 1/4 tsp fish sauce
• 12-16 oz. string beans or green beans, trimmed and washed
• 1 small clove garlic, sliced as thinly as possible

Method:

• Combine soy sauce, honey, sambal, and fish sauce in a bowl and mix together.
• Put green beans in large saute pan with 1/4 cup water. Turn heat on high. When water starts to bubble, cover tightly and cook 5 minutes.
• Remove lid and add sauce. Toss to coat and continue cooking on high, tossing every few minutes. Continue cooking about 5-10 minutes, until sauce has thickened and coats the beans.
• Add garlic slices and cook, tossing, about 1 more minute.
• Remove from pan and serve immediately.