Simple Black Beans

PaulaG's Note:

This recipe was published in the October 2007 issue of Cuisine at Home. I found a bag of black beans in the pantry and thought this sounded like a wonderful alternative to canned black beans. This recipe can be prepared, frozen in 1 cup size packages and then defrosted and used whenever a recipe calls for canned black beans. These are far superiour in texture and flavor to canned beans.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 6 cups

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2-3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 lb dried black beans, picked through, rinsed, soaked overnight and drained
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a large pot, saute onion in oil over medium-high heat until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and thyme; cook until fragrant, 1 minute.
3. Add the drained beans, bay leaves and enough water to cover beans; bring to a boil over high heat, reduce temperature to simmer, cover and cook for 40 to 50 minutes or until beans are tender but not mushy.
4. Check often and add from 1 to 2 cups additional water if beans start to cook dry.
5. Drain beans, remove the bay leaves and fresh thyme springs, season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Please note: Do not salt before the beans are cooked. If they are salted before they will not soften.
7. When cool, divide into 1 cup servings and freeze in rigid container or vacuum pack in small bags.

Reviews

[TLu]

These beans are simple and delicious. I think the addition of the bay leaves and the thyme give them great flavor. We used them for tacos with queso fresco and radishes. Thanks PaulaG! Made for ZWT 4.

[Sharon123]

These black beans turned out great, but I did have to cook them for about 2 hours. I think it may be because the beans are old? I will enjoy using this. Thanks Paula!

[mary winecoff]

This is a great simple bean recipe. I also stored these in bags and froze them to use in later recipes.