Getting Better All The Time...

I believe in the process of step-wise refinement, and Black Bean Salsa is one area of continuous improvement for me. 

Of course, it is one of the recipes I picked up from Esselstyn's book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, when I read it seriously in 2015. I had read it when it first came out, but now I really was motivated to make it work and within a week I was switched to a Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet.

I think today I hit another plateau...

Plus some practical notes on efficient preparation. 

Note: Some times I will use dry beans and cook them myself, but today I'm using cans, which makes it easier to explain the recipe.

Ingredients

2 15.5 Oz cans of Black Beans, drained. 

1 15.5 Oz can of corn

3 celery stalks

2 Jalapeños, sliced

3 Serrano, sliced

1 Poblano, sliced fine.

3 colors of bell pepper, equivalent to about one pepper.

1 bunch of cilantro

6/7 cloves of black garlic

1 bottle of green salsa

3 Limes Juiced.

Preparation

The efficient way to do this is 

• open the cans, and put them in a colander in the sink to drain. 
• Meanwhile, slice the celery stalks fine, slice the peppers thin, 
• fold up the cilantro and cut it up fine, and blend it in.
• our out the green salsa
• peel the black garlic, slice it fine, and put it in the green salsa bottle.
• now juice the three limes.
• pour the lime juice in the salsa bottle, and mix it up good.
• add the lime juice with the black garlic and the rest of the green salsa in the mix.

Serve on tostada, or nacho chips.

Note: Of course, you can make it milder, or even spicier, but this level is just fine to me, but different people respond differently... 

Perfect Pasta Puttanesca

This was one of those "best version yet," of an old recipe. Anice thick sauce, with unbeatable taste.

Pasta Puttanesca

delish.com (loosely based on this recipe)

Ingredients

1 large yellow onion -2 smallish red onions

6-7 cloves garlic, smashed

3 stalks of celery

1 carrot julienned

1 red bell pepper, 2 jalapeños, 1 serrano

a pinch of hijiki and a pinch of wakame, rinsed.

1 package of baby bella mushrooms

1 head of black garlic

Water

1 tbsp Italian Herbs

1 (28-oz.) can strained tomatoes

1 15.5 Oz package of diced tomatoes

optional a 12 Oz box of Cherry tomatoes.

1/2 c. kalamata olives, pitted, skced and/or some other sliced black olives

1/4 c. capers

Optional topping some basil leaves and some vegan parmesan.

You can have veggies on the side, zucchini, egg plant, spinach, broccoli, steamed carrots, whatever tickles your fancy. And a bowl of salad.

And, enough left for another day, as well as 3 quart bags in the fridge, for later.

The secret? Slowly caramelize the onions while you are prepping the veggies, keep adding small amounts of water, and mix it up so the water keeps evaporating, and the hot steam caramelizes the onions. Add the crushed garlic when the onions are soft, and just before you add in the tomatoes. Then let it simmer for a while. 

In the past I would have used some veggie broth, or water with Yondu, or something like Bragg's liquid amino's or, a low sodium tamari, or some such, but the black garlic creates a superior taste. Unbeatable.

Use the carrot as a sweetener, to cut the acidity of the tomatoes. Tastes better than sugar. 

Puttanesca remains a favorite, but this was the best one yet.