Black beans with rosemary and feta cheese

Thanks to Michael Pollan, we’re trying to have more meals that either don’t include meat or include very little meat. However, that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice taste or protein content. Dried beans are plentiful at the Farmers Markets, so we’ve been buying a container every other week or so. A few weeks ago we picked up some black beans and I’ve been looking forward to making soup out of them ever since. This recipe was very much an experiment, but it turned out fabulous.

Black beans topped with feta cheese

Before we begin, a few words on the ingredients. First of all, we’ve discovered one of our new most favorite ingredients: bacon rind. Sea Breeze Farms sells both pork rind and bacon rind at the University District and Ballard Farmers Markets. Bacon rind is well, the rind of the bacon. It’s tough, pretty much inedible, and bursting with smoky bacon flavor. A pound sells for about $5 and will easily last you a month. You can blanch it to remove some of the fat, but really, there’s not a whole lot of fat there, so we usually don’t. Two ribbons about one inch thick are perfect for a pot of stew or these beans.

We added a couple of strips of bacon to the recipe, mainly because we had a couple leftover from another recipe. However they are totally optional. If you don’t use the bacon, substitute a teaspoon of olive oil in the pot before you add the onions. This recipe can be totally vegetarian if you’d like. If you omit the bacon and bacon rind, add some smoked sea salt for complexity.

Black beans with rosemary and feta cheese

• 2-3 cups of black beans
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 cups of water
• 1 small onion
• 3 slices of bacon (optional)
• 2 inch strips of bacon rind (optional)
• 1 rosemary stalk (or about 1 Tbsp chopped rosemary)
• Feta cheese for garnish

Soak the beans in a large bowl of water overnight. You want to make sure the bowl is at least twice the volume of your dry beans as they will definitely expand.

Slice the strips of bacon (if you’re using them) into pieces. Cook in a large soup pot over medium heat until nearly crispy and until the fat has rendered in the pan. Do not discard the fat.

Dice the onions and add them to the pot, coating with the rendered bacon fat. Cook for 5 minutes.

Drain the beans and add to the pot, stirring to coat.

Add the broth, water, bacon rind (if using) and rosemary.

Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste the beans before turning off the heat to make sure that they meet your required level of doneness. My beans were just a tad al dente, but when I reheated them for lunches over the next few days, they cooked all the way to soft. Remove the bacon rind and discard.

Serve, topped with feta cheese. If you’ve left out the bacon and bacon rind, season with some smoked sea salt.

Results: These were amazing. I know, I say that a lot. However these beans were rich and smoky and bacony. The feta cheese is perfect as a topping. It melts in and turns the whole mixture creamy with just a bit of a bite from the cheese. This dish is really filling too. I took about half of the beans to work with me and I had a filling lunch for three days. Once the beans and liquid go into the pot, you can pretty much leave the pot alone other than an occasionally stir. So this is a perfect dish to start on a Sunday afternoon while working out in the garden. Take a break from pulling weeds every 20-30 minutes, give your back a stretch and go stir the beans.