Yesterday Jeff and I made a rice-and-beans dish called Moors and Christians.
I chose it by letting the cookbook (How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman) fall open to a random page; that method seems to have worked out excellently in this case.
Moors and Christians is basically a stew of black beans, bell pepper, onion, and garlic (and optional tomatoes) served with rice pilaf. The recipe doesn't call for any spices, but we added some -- which I now have to write down so I don't forget the next time we make this! We put a bit of saffron in the rice; the beans got cumin, turmeric, and a smidgen of habanero powder for just a little heat. (We actually have measuring spoons labeled smidgen, pinch, and dash, in that order from small to large. The dash is about a quarter of a teaspoon, and the smidgen looks like less than a sixteenth of a teaspoon.) I think next time I will put turmeric and cumin in the rice instead of saffron, and I may cut down on the habanero powder as well. It was not too much this time, but I don't think I would want the beans any hotter.
Maggie says:
I love the idea of a smidgen measuring spoon! It’s so perfectly absurd. Then again, I probably fall under the category of *does not deal well with ambiguity* so actually I can see myself using such a thing with complete seriousness.
Also, I feel special because I always seem to check your blog when you’ve just updated it. And yes, I use RSS feeds, and I keep meaning to add you, but keep forgetting. I prefer it this way though! Randomly thinking of someone is so much more fun than seeing things pop up in the RSS and feeling obligated to check it out. Anyway. Hope all is well with you. Give me an update one of these days, eh??