mexican black bean & roasted pineapple bowl

My vacation should be wrapping up pretty soon. I could be sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Quebec City and sipping on some red wine or trying some french fries cooked in duck fat in Montreal. This meal isn't as exciting as whatever it is I could be doing, but then again, I could be stuck in traffic, which would make this meal glamorous and exciting in comparison. That's not saying that this meal was a let-down. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I like to think of this as a deconstructed burrito inspired by my favorite burrito at a local vegan Mexican restaurant. With roasted pineapple, fresh salsa and black beans, you can't go wrong. It's delicious, filling and I can see this meal becoming a habit. It may look like there are a lot of steps involved here, but it's quite simple to put together. Then again, I love chopping and general prep work, so turn on your favorite summer jams and get this meal started.

mexican black bean & roasted pineapple bowl
1 c rice (white or brown - above I used both)

1 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 t red chili flakes
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1 can of black beans, rinsed & drained

1/2 fresh pineapple, sliced in rounds

3 small tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 lime zested & juiced
2 T fresh cilantro
1/4 t cayenne pepper or hot sauce
salt & pepper

1/4 c grated cheese
sour cream
additional hot sauce

1. Prepare rice as usual. Everyone has their tricks for making great rice, so make it your way.

2. Create a quick salsa, by combining the tomatoes, onion, lime juice & zest, cilantro and spices. Set aside.

3. Roast pineapple over a grill or under the broiler in your oven until in gets charred in places. Flip, roast and dice. Set aside.

4. In a large pan, heat oil and add in garlic, onion, and red pepper. Saute until it gets soft, add in spices and black beans. Heat through.

5. Layer all ingredients into a bowl. Rice on the bottom, then black beans, pineapple, salsa and then top with a sprinkle of cheese, a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkle or more of your favorite hot sauce.

move over pie: raspberry, black currant & nectarine galette

Baking a pie is a pretty wonderous thing. Somehow there's much more meaning and memories that end up baked into a pie than, let's say, a cupcake. Not that I'm dissing everyone's favorite cupcake. It's just that pies seem to remind us of days gone by, of grandmothers, of pies cooling on kitchen windowsills. They are a bit old-fashioned and antiquated, but the act of baking a pie from scratch shouts out love, plain and simple.

Let's face it. Pies can be fussy and a bit frightening, what with finding the perfect pie dough recipe to flirting with disaster just trying to roll out the damn thing. So that's why I've become enamored with the galette. A galette is what one would call a bit rustic and freeform. It only involves rolling out 1 piece of dough rather than two, since the dough folds over creating it's own top crust. It's brilliant, really. It's beautiful in it's own way and one bite will bring all those old-timey memories flooding back.

This isn't the first time I've made a similar pie. Last year I was very successful rolling out a wonderful cornmeal crust that held the fruit beautifully. It declared it a dream crust. This time, however, I wanted to try something a bit more traditional and stumbled across Molly's crust. It wasn't as easy to work with in that I had to add more water to the dough and it didn't hold it's shape very well. Figuring it was bungled, I just threw all the crumbs, loose bits and doughy bits together, and held it tight with some plastic wrap. After sleeping in the fridge overnight, the dough seemed just fine in the morning. I rolled it out and it surprisingly held together. And how did it bake up? Flaky and light, just like I had dreamed. I may just have a new contender to my dream pie dough recipe!


raspberry, black currant & nectarine galette
For crust (crust recipe modified from Orangette):
5 T ice water, plus more as needed
1 t white vinegar
1 ½ c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
¾ t kosher salt
9 T cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

2 c raspberries
2 nectarines, sliced
1/4 c black currants
1/2 c sugar
zest of 1 lime
2 T cornstarch
1 egg, lightly beaten

1. In a measuring cup, combine the water and vinegar and store in the fridge until ready to use. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour and salt together. Using a pastry knife, blend in the butter until you are left with a mixture resembling coarse crumbs about the size of peas. Slowly add in the vinegar/water combo and use a wooden spoon to gently blend the mixture so that it holds together lightly. Spread plastic wrap on the counter and dump dough into the middle of the plastic wrap. Seal tightly and press into a disc. Refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.

2. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine together the fruit, sugar, cornstarch and zest. Blend gently. Set aside.

3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it's fairly thin (about 1/8" thick) and move dough over to a walled cookie sheet. Place berry mixture in the middle of the dough and then fold the dough edges around the fruit, pressing gently around each fold to contain the juices. Brush crust lightly with egg.

4. Bake galette for about 40 minutes until the crust is golden, the fruit turns soft and the juices run bubbly. Let cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.