Black Bean Ragout

Do you use black beans from cans? Just stop. Use this instead. It is easy to make a big pot of it and store in portions in the freezer for whenever you want a burrito, a black bean soup or a plate of nachos. The beans are perfectly creamy and tender, cooked long enough that the cooking liquid thickens into an inky sauce, fragrant with cumin. There is none of the mushiness and goopyness of canned beans; you can keep the salt content to a reasonable level; and the flavor is approximately a million times better. Like any stew, the flavor gets noticeably better if it sits for a few days, so I recommend storing it in the fridge for a while, then portioning out into freezer bags.

Servings cups

Author Jennifer Field

Ingredients

6 tbsp /89 ml vegetable oil
2 tbsp /18 g garlic , minced
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 rib celery , diced
1 medium onion , diced
2 cups /454 g dried black beans
2 bay leaves
1 ½ tsp /2g dry oregano
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper

Instructions

In a 4-quart/4-L pot, heat the oil over medium heat. When the pot stops getting hotter and the oil starts to shimmer (but before it starts to ripple), add the garlic; stir until it begins to turn golden. Add the cumin seeds and toast lightly for a few seconds, until you can smell them. Add the celery and onions, cover and sweat them over medium heat until translucent and sweet, 10 minutes. Add the black beans, bay leaf, and enough water to cover them. Add the oregano. Simmer on low heat, stirring regularly, until the beans are tender. This will take an hour and a half, minimum, and it may be over 2 hours before the beans are done. Add more water if it seems to be getting dry, but keep the beans just covered. You want to end up with a thickish stew. Eventually you will see the liquid begin to thicken as the beans release some starch. When the beans are finished, add salt and pepper to taste. Don't add salt earlier, as it will tighten the skins and the beans will split as they get bigger.

Notes

I cooked mine in the pressure cooker. I had no idea how long it would take, so I kept checking. After 10 minutes, not much had happened. The beans were still really firm. I brought it back up to pressure and let it go for another 10 minutes. They still needed a bit more, so I settled on 6 minutes. I then cooked them with the lid off for another 15 or so minutes, just to make sure the liquids were thick enough and that I correctly seasoned with salt and pepper.