Hot and Smokey Franks and Beans

This recipe really started with my pure hatred of exercise.  I know, I know, it's not that cool to say that out loud, but here it is: I really hate working out.  I'm sure there are all kinds of exercise I could try and maybe like better.  I will even confess that yoga is not that bad, but it never happens when I want it to happen.  Basically, this is how I get myself to work out: I bribe myself.  It works great!  Basically, what you do is you whine and procrastinate and drag yourself to the gym five days a week, complain half the time you are there, and once you get through the fifth ordeal of this, you buy yourself a little present.

So a couple of weeks ago, I bought myself a bag of Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman Beans.  I found a whole bunch of Rancho Gordo beans at Wasik's, in Wellesley, and immediately remembered having read about these spectacular heirloom beans in my Eating Well magazine a year or so ago.  So, after much serious bean deliberation, I finally chose the Yellow Indian Woman beans, and commenced my bean recipe research!  There are a lot of bean recipes that I want to try, which is probably not a crisis since I now own a lot of beans.  I am still looking forward to trying Biz's recipe in my new slow cooker!

I went with this recipe because the beans aren't baked, and in the research I did online, people recommended that you could taste the Rancho Gordo beans better if you don't bake them.  So I cooked up the whole pound, tossed half of it in this recipe, and left the other half plain.  I have big ideas for the rest of those beans!

This recipe is definitely worth a try.  It is spicy and smokey, with a nice depth of flavor.  There is much less sugar and tang in here than your avergage franks and beans recipe.  You can shorten the cooking time by a lot by using canned beans -- I would use 2 cans of drained, rinsed pinto beans.  This is a great way to pack in a lot of protein and fiber. You might even try adding some chopped onion or some peppers to the pan when you add the hot dogs.

Hot and Smokey Franks and Beans

serves 3-4

adapted from EveryDay with Rachael Ray, August 2010

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman Beans (or 1/2 pound pinto beans)

3-4 large cloves garlic

Salt

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

6 turkey hot dogs (such as Jennie-O)

1/2 Tbsp chile powder

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup tomato sauce

1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Soak the beans overnight, and drain.

2. Smash and peel the garlic gloves.  In a large saucepan, bring the beans, garlic, and 3-4 cups of water to a boil.  Once the pot comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes, partially covered.  Stir occaisonally.  Cook until the beans are quite tender.  Add salt to taste (I used 1 tsp).

3. Once the beans are close to being quite tender, begin slicing the hot dogs.  Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the slices of hot dog, and saute until they begin to brown.  Add the smoked paprika, chile powder, cumin, and cayenne, and stir through.  Cook for an additional minute to toast the spices.

4. Add the tomato sauce, and stir to combine.  Add the brown sugar and raspberry vinegar.

5. Add the beans to the skillet, stir to combine.  Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes to thicken the sauce, and then serve.