Spicy Beans and Toast

San Francisco is, despite being in California, usually a cold and foggy place, as millions of tourists find out every year, to their shock and to my great amusement.

I like making this on cold days when I'm feeling relatively lazy and my kitchen ingredient free, but also feeling health conscious enough to avoid the urge to run down the street for a burrito.

1 can red kidney beans
2 teaspoons (coupla splashes) Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
pinch black pepper
pinch salt
pinch garlic powder
pinch crushed red pepper
pinch basil (optional)
Tabasco (optional)

Crusty french bread or biscuits.

Put the beans (undrained into a hot skillet and start adding all the other ingrediants. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for 8-15 minutes. Serve with toast, or poured over biscuits.

I also occasionally like to thicken this with an egg yolk, mixed in while the beans are simmering.

Disclaimer:

The fact that this recipe prominently features something that comes out of a can should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement of the "semi-homemade" travesty pushed upon the world by Sandra Lee. Meals from cans are an occasional time saver - not a way of life.

Who is Sandra Lee? The great Anthony Bourdain can explain better than I can:

SANDRA LEE: Pure evil. This frightening Hell Spawn of Kathie Lee and Betty Crocker seems on a mission to kill her fans, one meal at a time. She Must Be Stopped. Her death-dealing can-opening ways will cut a swath of destruction through the world if not contained. I would likely be arrested if I suggested on television that any children watching should promptly go to a wooded area with a gun and harm themselves. What’s the difference between that and Sandra suggesting we fill our mouths with Ritz Crackers, jam a can of Cheez Wiz in after and press hard? None that I can see. This is simply irresponsible programming. Its only possible use might be as a psychological warfare strategy against the resurgent Taliban--or dangerous insurgent groups. A large-racked blonde repeatedly urging Afghans and angry Iraqis to stuff themseles with fatty, processed American foods might be just the weapon we need to win the war on terror.

Restaurants to Hit Before You Die - #1

Desde de Alma -
Honduras 5298, Palermo, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires

I went to Argentina in the summer of 2007, to attempt to get over the stress of the bar exam. I'm glad I went. Buenos Aires is an unbelievable city. It reminds me of a grittier Paris. Beautiful, 19th century mansions and expensive shops exist uncomfortably alongside slums and crushing poverty. For every stunningly beautiful, well-dressed porteña, cruising the shops of Recoleta, there is a poor Bolivian immigrant collecting cardboard, or begging for change on the same streets. The smell of perfume from the many lingerie stores on Santa Fe avenue mixes with the scent of diesel engines.

It is disturbing and beautiful at the same time. The type of travelers I call "third world fans" often don't like Buenos Aires - it is filled with the two things they hate - extreme wealth and the kind of poverty that is impossible to romanticize.

Food in Argentina, as so many have noted, means meat. To be sure, the heavily Italian roots of the Argentines mean that fantastic Italian food can be found as well, but if you go to Argentina and ignore the beef, you have ignored the soul of Argentina.

Appropriate then that Desde de Alma means "From the Soul." It's located in the Palermo barrio of the city, near the more upscale Recoleta barrio. It's a very small restaurant, and upscale. It's quite expensive by Argentine standards, and not particularly cheap for Americans either. The atmosphere is cozy and romantic - it's lit by candles and a fireplace. I wish I could say that I enjoyed a wonderful meal with a beautiful, dark-eyed woman, but unfortunately I had a wonderful meal with my buddy Tom. Oh well - the meal made up for it.

Steak in Argentina is simply prepared - salt, pepper and a little time on the grill. Order it jugoso - rare. My steak came with vegetables and a chicory salad with a honey vinaigrette that I have been trying desperately to recreate. Combined with a good bottle of wine (a local Malbec) this was a meal for the ages.

Afterwards, in good Argentine fashion, we drowned our newly bourgeois selves in beer and wine until the sun came up, and our snobbishness had finally stopped kicking.

Mango and Chicken Sandwich with Curry/Dill Mayo

This sandwich was inspired by a dish that I like at a local Thai restaurant here in San Francisco. Fruit and meat is a great combination that Westerners (read "white people") mainly ignore, out of a still, in many parts of the country, deeply ingrained ham-and-egger sense of "what goes with what."

As always, I don't do exact measurements. Experiment.


Serves 1:

1 Boneless skinless chicken breast
Mango
Mayonnaise
Sourdough bread
Dill
Curry powder
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Salt
Olive Oil
Lettuce

Season the chicken breast with salt, black pepper and cayenne. Heat olive oil in pan, and sear the chicken (spice side down) on high heat for about 8 minutes. Turn and cook on lower heat for another 6-10 minutes until done. Don't overcook it - dry chicken sucks, and your fears about salmonella are probably irrational. Take the chicken off the heat, and let it rest until it's cool enough to cut.

In the meantime, take some mayonnaise (however much you need/desire for the sandwich) and add curry powder and dill to taste. Spread the mixture on toasted sourdough bread. Slice the chicken and mango and stack on the bread, and top with lettuce (butter lettuce works well).

This goes great with a light beer like a wheat beer or an ale.

If, by some miracle, you've convinced another human being to find your presence not only tolerable, but desirable, this sandwich is a good date-impresser. Just double everything (obviously).