That's What Jenni Said

  This is a favorite recipe in our house, adapted from the rice and beans dish served all over Belize. Menu suggestion: serve with Jerk chicken or stewed chicken and fried plantains. Ingredients Serves: 8 olive oil 1 onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 red pepper, seeded and finely chopped white wine (to taste) 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme 2 cups uncooked long-grain rice (jasmine works well) 1 can can coconut milk 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 can white bean variety (small white, navy beans, etc), drained and rinsed salt and freshly ground black pepper fresh thyme leaves to garnish hot sauce (I prefer Marie Sharp's) Preparation method Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 20 mins 1. Cook the rice with your usual preferred method (I like cooking in microwave on 50% power for 15 minutes with a 5 minute rest after: one part rice to two parts water and a T of oil), but substitute the coconut milk (stir before emptying can btw) for part of the water. So instead of 4...

One thing I really appreciate about our trip to Belize earlier this year was the way in which it broadened our culinary vocabulary. We just got done eating some homemade garnaches for lunch– it was the first time I've used my tortilla press to make the masa cakes. Garnaches are basically like a shredded chicken taco on corn cakes with sautéed onion, cabbage, and tomato and cheese topping. And of course doused with tons of Marie Sharp habanera sauce. This morning we had fried plantains as part of our breakfast. Last week I ate Belizean coconut rice and beans almost every day for lunch and last weekend I made a coconut pie and managed to precisely duplicate the taste of the ones served by the street vendors on Caye Caulker. It will be interesting to see what culinary contributions we adopt from Paris, London and Brussels on our Christmas trip this year.