Spanish rice, refried beans

lard or bacon drippings are part of good refried beans as are good flavorful beans.

4 T bacon drippings or lard

1 medium onion,

3-5 cloves garlic, minced,

2 cups pinto beans and their cooking liquid (leftover borracho beans are best--a mexican dish of seasoned cooked beans with some liquid--here's a Food TV recipe that looks OK Recipes : Borracho Beans : Food Network lots of canned goods, but easy to sub in the real thing and make it better)

Chicken stock/beer as needed

ground chile powder (not chili powder for making chili, just ground dried chiles) to your heat preference. Varies with the type of ground chile you use.

Salt and pepper to taste


Heat fat in a good sized skillet. Saute onion for a few minutes, then add the garlic. Stir around just a moment to distribute the garlic, then add the beans and ground chile to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer and mash with the back of a spoon. Don't mash it smooth as some whole beans for texture are nice. Add chicken stock as needed to keep them moist. Simmer 15-20 minutes adding stock to achieve your desired consistency. Taste and correct seasonings.

For beans, that's pretty much how I make mine. Works great for both pintos and black beans. The secret is using beans that were previously part of a well seasoned bean soup. Then the rest of the secret is the bacon grease or lard, the onion and the garlic salt and pepper. I sometimes add a bit of cilantro at the end and also sometimes add ground coriander. I don't add dried chilis though, not even to my borachos. I have also used canned pintos in a pinch.

For rice I used to put lots of veggies in it but have come to really like two different ones. The only variation is the veggie I add to it. Also please note I use stock for these rice dishes but again in a pinch, you can use water and if you have it a bouillon cube or just water and bean likker. I generally don't like using bouillon cubes.

Rice #1:

Olive oil
1 Whole Onion - chopped
4 Cloves Garlic - chopped
Uncle Ben's Rice
Salt, Pepper
Saffron
Chicken stock
Corn - fresh off the cob or canned/drained or frozen
2 Roma Tomatoes

Saute the onion and garlic til translucent. Add rice and cook till brown, stirring often. Add broth and saffron. Stir to incorporate and let it cook in the saute pan without a lid. When liquid evaporates add a little more. Do not stir alot once you add the liquid. Stir only enough to reincorporate the liquid. In about 17-20 minutes, the rice will be tender but still have a litte "tooth" to it. That's the way we like ours. At the end we will add the corn and the fresh, chopped roma tomatoes. Stir and warm. Serve hot.

Rice #2
Make the same as above but add frozen petite peas and omit the tomato and corn.

Rice #3
Make the same as above but add diced carrots to the onion and garlic mixture and saute a bit before adding the rice to brown. Add the petite peas at the end or else you can add the corn and tomatoes.

We've found we like more rice and fewer veggies because the garlic onion and saffron flavor come out more predominantly. And usually, what we are serving with the rice and beans are fairly complex flavors so we want a background element, not another complex dish.

The reason I can't give you quantities is I don't measure. I always make a huge saute pan (like a paella pan) full of rice. Enough for 6 - 8 people at least. We use it in leftovers and it freezes great!

Thanks Yeti, I just cook the way I was raised. It's kinda fly by the seat of my pants stuff and rarely do I measure which makes my baked goods and breads an adventure sometimes! Although I am more likely to measure with baked goods.

I just make an Italian Cream Cake for a freinds birthday today and it looked beautiful but I have no idea how it tasted! I was so sick of making it that I didn't measure the pecans, coconut or vanilla extract! :eek:

I had that problem writing my bean recipe too. I had to visualize the steps I do when I make beans and guesstimate amounts.

Phil

Howdy ya'll, I do my beans and rice like my gramita taught me ever so many years ago.......all by memorie....

that is how I am teaching my girls to do it.

here lately I do not use lard.....just the spices.. the beans taste and last longer with out the bacon fat or lard. If you make the Sofrito and add to the beans before they finish, they taste really good.

the rice is the same, but I use butter for the fat that I need in the spanish or mexican rice. then add the spices...spanish rice more saffron and mexican rice, more piprika.

maybe you could borrow one at the local convenience store