Beer Glazed Beans

Every Sunday morning we cook for the monkeys. Today, my in-laws came over and we made breakfast for the family. We made both waffles and eggs. This meal kept me full until about 7pm.

I decided to make something a bit different for dinner. A couple of days ago I was tooling around the Cooking Light bulletin board and came across a recipe that sounded WONDERFUL. A complete pantry meal (with a little substitution).

Beer-Glazed Black Beans
(Mark Bittman: HTCE, 2008 revised edition)

Makes: 4 servings
Time: 20 minutes with cooked beans

It's amazing how much flavor you can get from adding beer to black beans. Lagers and wheat beers will produce a lighter, fruitier dish; porters will add richness and stouts a deep, caramelized flavors.

Other beans you can use: pinto, pink or black-eyed peas

2 Tbsp. EVOO (I used 1 tbsp.)
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup beer (I used Sierra Nevada)
3 cups cooked or canned black beans, drained but still moist (I used 1 can black beans and 1 can garbanzo beans because that’s what I had on hand)
1 Tbsp. ground chili powder or ground cumin (I used 2 tsp. each)
1 Tbsp. honey
salt & freshly ground pepper

1. Put the oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about five minutes. Add the garlic, cook for about a minute, then add the remaining ingredients with a good sprinkling of salt and pepper.

2. Bring to a steady boil and cook til the liquid is slightly reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve hot or refrigerate for up to 3 days and reheat.

I added sliced chicken and apple sausage I had in the freezer to the mix as the been mixture was starting to boil.

The first 15 minutes of tasting this, the beer COMPLETELY overwhelmed this dish. It could have been the beer I used (I'm not a beer connoisseur) but it took about 30 minutes for the flavors to join together and be quite tasty.

I have a feeling that this will be AMAZING tomorrow for lunch, after the flavors have had a chance to completely meld together over night.