Saturday night dinner

Baked pinto beans

Well, it’s cold and chilly out there. Winter is definitely here, and I hear that Wicklow and Dublin have snow. Yikes! So when I heard the weather forecast for Saturday, I wanted a typical New England Saturday night dinner…Baked Beans and Boston Brown Bread! So, I soaked 2 lbs. of pinto beans overnight and got out my mother’s Boston Brown Bread recipe and topped up with ingredients today.

What a perfect way to keep the kitchen nice and warm…beans baking in the oven for 5 hours and a fire in the solid fuel stove and brown bread steaming on the stove for 2 1/2 hours. Mmmmm….New England dinner in County Galway, Ireland. All that’s missing is the hotdogs which I will definitely do without! Richard and I call them nitrate sticks.

I remember looking for molasses 12 years ago and couldn’t find it anywhere until our friends from Ballina who lived in the Broncs in New York for 10 years told me that Treacle in the can was the same thing as molasses…and he was right, you know. Now that we can get imported molasses in Tesco, I bought both this time and tried them side by side and there’s no difference in taste…only in price. The molasses is more than double the price of treacle…so I’ll stick with the treacle. No point in turning an inexpensive meal like baked beans and brown bread into an expensive one!

The beauty of baking my own beans is that I get beans without tomato sauce!!! Yippee! AND cooked in molasses! Yummy! I do miss Bush baked beans, especially their maple flavoured ones, but I solved that by adding maple syrup to my baked beans last time and was happily satisfied. I’ll have loads of leftovers for vegetarian chili and baked bean sandwiches.

Baking beans is really simple. I think the dried red kidney and pinto beans have the best flavour of any beans available in Ireland. The red kidney beans will take a little longer to cook, but well worth the time. Make sure to pick over the beans to get out any stones or grit, rinse them, then cover with water and let soak overnight. You might as well cook 2 packages together in one pot because you’ll have the oven on for at least 5 hours anyway…so get the most for your money!

In the morning, bring the beans to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes…really important because some beans, especially red kidney beans contain hemaglutins or lectin and are toxic if eaten raw or sprouted. But the overnight soaking and 10 minute simmer takes care of any toxins…plus the 5 hours of cooking in the oven at 350 F or 210 C. I use a cast iron pot with a glass cover for the beans. I suppose you can use any heavy covered pot that’s oven-proof. So…after the beans have simmered, drain again and add fresh boiling water to cover, 3/4 cup of treacle or molasses, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 whole onion, peeled, a dob of butter, 1 tablespoon of salt and 4 level tablespoons of dried mustard…really important because that’s what softens the beans. Otherwise, after baking for 5 hours you’ll still have hard red kidney beans. You may have to top up the beans with water a few times over the 5 hours, so keep an eye on them. Really delicious and so good for you, too…great fibre and lots of protein.

Boston brown bread

Enjoy with your favourite rolls, brown bread, or scones and hotdogs or sausages or potato salad. Okay…so this is a high-carb meal, but legumes are important for the diet more than once a week.