Did They Eat It: Chillied Black Bean Pasta

Hey! Look! I cooked something while using a camera. The only bright side to the Spring Forward segment of daylight savings time is the extra daylight in the kitchen so food doesn't look unappealing in my dimly lit kitchen. (You remember that kitchen I was cooking in for most of the winter? The one we "trashed". Ahem.)

Last night I decided to make Chillied Black Bean Pasta, you know how we feel about black beans in this house. This is a recipe from my old neighborhood's cookbook. Logan designed it for them and we planned on getting them made into real books but that proved too difficult to get together. We ended up making the book into a PDF you could either print or use on your computer.



I like reading cookbooks while I eat something particularly unsatisfying, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, thinking about what else I could be eating that would actually be satisfying. So I had my book printed and put into a binder.



This is a recipe from my friend Andrea's collection. We'll be eating a lot of black beans in the next few months because, hey Mandatory Paycut at Logan's office! Woooo! I am loving this economy!

Here's what you need

The recipe calls for two onions but I don't know what size the onions should be, this seemed like plenty, but too much for the rest of my family.



Start the pasta water boiling and peel and chop your onion. I usually put onions into our food processor so they're so tiny you can barely sense their presence, they're philosophically offensive to Logan you understand. But sometimes I just need to dice an onion, it's therapeutic.



I forgot to show you the olive oil, here it is. Heat the oil over medium heat, then add the onions. Cook until they are tender and starting to turn golden, about 5 minutes.



Add the chili powder.



And the cumin.



Here it is with the seasonings, looks sort of like dog food....so much for the good light in the kitchen!



Your water should be boiling by now, throw in the pasta. Barilla Plus is my favorite pasta because it has all sorts of protein and when you have kids like mine who eat a lot of pasta you're going to want to give them as much protein as possible.



Now dump the black beans and the tomatoes into the pot with the onions and seasons. Smoosh up the tomatoes with a spoon on the edge of the pot. I like to use a potato masher, hey, let's take a look at the potato masher we use in this house. It's kind of a space saver....



Why don't we just buy a new potato masher, you're asking yourself. Well why would we, it sort of works. A little bit.



One way or another smoosh your tomatoes.



Let the mix simmer for a little bit, 15 minutes or so, covered if you want your mix more soupy. When the pasta is al dente, drain and put portions into bowls.



These are our bowls, at about 5:45pm. There is sun!

Ladle the bean mix on top of your pasta.



Yum!

To serve the kids I did this because I wasn't in the mood for whining.



Did They Eat It?

Madison: You know what? I like pasta, I like beans, why do you have to put sauce on my pasta and put beans into a sauce. MY GOD. You hate me!

Maxwell: I'd rather eat 40 pieces of cornbread. But when Dad says no more, I struggle to eat this stuff.

Logan: Onions? Why didn't you chop them in the food processor. I'm scared.

Melissa: Well I like it, and that's good since I'm going to be eating it for lunch for the next 5-7 days.

Chilied Black Beans and Penne

Salt
1/2lb penne, radiatone, or fusilli
2 onions
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 can (14oz) stewed tomatoes
2 cans (16 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed.
Freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and chop the onions. Heat the oil in a medium size saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are tender and beginning to turn golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder and cumin. Then add the tomatoes, break them up by mashing them against the pot with a spoon. Bring to a simmer, and add the beans. Simmer over low heat, covered if you want a soupy mixture.  Season with salt and pepper. Drain pasta and dish out each portion immediately, ladling the black bean sauce on top of each.

Comments

[Eric Hegwer]

I'm guessing the smell of the Onions, Chili, and Cumin was incredible!

[May]

In my household, whoever did not participate in making the lunch/dinner/breakfast doesn't get to complain about the food. If I am willing to wast... SPEND time in the kitchen, you'd better like what I've made or next time it's you who will make it. Ugh.

[May]

ps. but the sauce sounds delicious, I might give it a go one of these days

[Pants]

Let's be fair... I ate it and enjoyed it. Delicious!

[amy]

yum. I will eat that!

[Mitzi]

Sounds gross to me. Sorry. I guess I'm with the kids on this one. Not a big fan of the black beans.

[kate]

Hey, I am de-lurking (and feeling like a big jerk doing it) to tell you that if that's an OXO masher, they'll replace it for free for you. You just have to call and tell them it busted. They've already done it for me for a big trash can and a grater.

Anyway, been reading your blog for quite a while now and enjoy it. And that sounds delish but I'd probably be eating it alone since my daughter is getting worse and worse with what she eats and didn't even want butter on her pasta the other day.

[Tina]

Looks great. I kept reading this as "Chilled Black Bean Pasta" which doesn't sound so great, but Chilied? Oh yeah.

[beyond]

i would eat that. (but my husband wouldn't so i won't not make it.) i love your did they eat it posts.

[Kirsten]

De-lurking to ask where you got the binder? Love the colors!

[joaaanna]

Do you drain and rinse the beans or add them straight from the can?

I love your "Did they eat it?" Posts!

[Lily]

I am a grown up version of Madison (picky eater) and I'm much better now (pasta? WITH sauce? mmmmmm can I please add more sauce, and cheese?) but still there are many things I won't eat.

In fact most of the "Did They Eat It" stuff is not anything I would eat, but on the other hand we both like Sierra Nevada. Maybe when she's old enough to drink the two of you will see eye to eye on tastes. :D There's still hope.

[AnEmily]

Yay! Thanks for a new Did They Eat It! It looks great to me, but my kids would balk too.

[Canadasteph]

Hey - could you post your pdf cookbook. I'm sure tons of us would love it.

[Belindetta]

I think this would be enhanced by adding some sausage (could be turkey, could be pork) for more protein (I personally hate that Barilla, plus or not) and even some sauteed kale leaves, if your family will eat it.

[Elizabeth]

I'm with Tina... I kept reading "Chilled" and I thought, yuck! As long as you don't chill it though sounds great! It would not go over well at my house though.

[Pants]

I like Belindetta's idea... the sausage, of course -- why on earth would you add kale leaves!

[Pants]

*wink

[Sarah @ BecomingSarah.com]

This sort of food is so far outside of my comfort range that I'd be lying if I said I was going to rush home and make it RIGHT NOW, but I did want to say that I like the picture of the dishes =)

[Torrey]

Looks and sounds delicious. And Fiestaware! It's the Biestaware!

[lettergirl]

I made it for lunch -- I love pantry meals and my Maddy is a vegetarian so bonus! The kids' bowls looked just like your kids' with the tiny sauce on the side, lol.

[Procrastamom]

The recipe looks good, but I was more impressed by the dishes. Fiestaware! Colour me green with I WANT EM.

[z]

Not sure what you meant when you said that you wanted to make the recipes into real books, but just in case you haven't come across this site before, I thought I'd post it. http://www.tastebook.com/ They're very cool.

And I think you are behaving very well with regard to your landlord, btw.

[Bananadoc]

Wow. We've broken two Oxo knives and an apple slicer. I envy your Fiesta Ware, but not your picky eaters who sound almost as bad as mine.

[Lisa]

Z beat me to it with a suggestion for Tastebook.com. I made a cookbook for my daughter this past Christmas (and a copy for me!) and it turned out really well. You can print as few as 25 recipes ($20) and up to 100 ($35) I had 85 recipes and we both got a coupon to add 15 more later.

[Elaine at Lipstickdaily]

LOVE.IT. I will definitely try it. Maggie adores black beans. D hates anything that's not white or made out of sugar.

[Danielle]

That's it, I'm having black beans for lunch and I don't care that I'll be in the workplace while digesting them!

Also, I like your new profile photo. It's very pretty!

[Kristin]

Delurking to say that I love when you do "Did they eat it?" It reminds me of my own family.

[kym b]

looks good and those are all ingredients 2 out of 3 of mine will eat.

one question ~ did you drain and rinse the black beans or just throw them in straight from the can?

[Kim]

I have a great pasta recipe from a place in Seattle called Pasta & Co. It has black beans, bacon and sour cream, it is wonderful. I'll email you the recipe and hopefully your family will like it as much as we do. Beans and pasta are the only things my 12yo daughter will eat, it is pretty economical.

[Marjorie]

I love when you do this! The recipes always look yummy and easy, and your follow-on comments from your family crack me up. I have mini versions of your kids, so I am so looking forward to them growing older and being just as picky. sigh. Knowing that you're surviving w/the pickiness gives me hope. :-)

[krissypants]

OMG...sounds EXACTLY like dinner at my house...except my kids are 1 and 3 so instead of the narrative the food either gets tossed at me or fed to the dog. And my husband is just as guilty as the kids. Picky eaters are so annoying.

[Kimberly]

I cannot believe this recipe is not getting ALL the love from the commenters!!! I saw this last week, was immediately motivated to try it (right down to the Barilla Plus) - shopped, made it and hubs and I both loved it! I think this dish will now be in regular rotation on the menu. I did add an extra can of the stewed tomatoes, b/c somebody around here loves tomatoes, and I aim to please.

Thanks, Melissa, for this great recipe. I, too am a fan of "Did They Eat It".