Sometimes you don’t have time to fix dried beans from scratch. My friend Lia Miller, who researches many of the best recipes at the New York Times, has the secret to making black beans from the can seem “done from scratch.” Try the same approach with other canned beans.
1⁄4 cup diced yellow or white onion
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, or more as necessary 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
1⁄4 teaspoon ground bay leaf
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons Herdez salsa casera or other spicy salsa
Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until soft but not browned, about 4 minutes.
Stir in the beans.
Cook until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes.
Don’t let the beans stick; add a tablespoon or so of water or a little more olive oil if necessary.
Take a masher or back of spoon and mush some of the beans.
Stir in the cumin, oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste.
At the last minute, add the Herdez salsa casera or other spicy salsa.
The Blue Zones Kitchen fuses scientific reporting, National Geographic photography and 100 recipes that may help you live to 100. The Blue Zones’ food tradition is going the way of the dodo bird, thanks to the encroachment of the American Food Culture.
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