Beans with Bacon and Onions

This simple bean dish is a big fat phony. It lies right to your face with its homeliness. It threatens to turn you away with a suggestion of boredom, as if it was just another bowl of beans. Its simplicity lures you into making it anyway, though, and that’s where the magic begins. The magic of bacon and onions, that is.

Yes, this is a simple bean dish, something that uses up the rest of a pot of beans you may have cooked up for something else (you can use canned beans, too), and the last few onions, and that leftover chicken broth still in the refrigerator. It’s warm and comforting on chilly nights. It lends itself to endless substitutions, tweaks, and flavor enhancements. All of those things are great characteristics of a go-to weeknight or lazy weekend recipe. But what really sold me on it was the bacon and caramelized onions. They’re magic.

This recipe is from The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider, so, as the book’s title may suggest, it comes complete with carte blanche for the cook and you really could do whatever the heck you want with it. I’ve made this many times, and probably made some kind of improvisation each time I made it. Recently, I used pinto beans, which is what I happened to have cooked and ready, but I think you could use just about any kind of bean. I used some of my homemade red wine vinegar instead of the balsamic in the printed recipe. I also elected to keep the bacon out of the stewing process because I like it to remain crisp, and sprinkled it on top of my bowl of beans at the end.

I wrote up the recipe below to reflect the way I put it together this month, but who knows what I’ll do with it another time. You certainly can take it and do what you want with it as well. Just don’t underestimate it. It might just seem like a pan of beans, but there’s nothing quite like the aroma of onions frying in bacon fat to make you believe in magic.

Stewed Beans with Bacon and Caramelized Onions
Adapted from The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider

4 ounces thick-sliced bacon, chopped
1 pound yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
½ teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt
2 medium-size garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 cups cooked pinto beans (drain and rinse the beans if using canned)
2 dried bay leaves
1 ½ cups reduced or low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Place the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook until the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on a paper towel. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings.

2. Return the pan to the heat and add the onions and salt. Stir the onions in the pan until all are coated with the bacon fat. Cover and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes or until they appear juicy in the pan. Uncover and continue to cook until the onions are very tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally. This should take about 20-25 minutes.

3. Remove about half of the onions and set aside. Add the beans, garlic, bay leaves, chicken broth, vinegar and sugar to the onions in the pan. Stir well, scraping any browned bits that are on the pan. Bring to a low boil and cook until the liquid is thick and the mixture has the consistency of a stew, about 20 minutes.

4. Remove the bay leaves and add the pepper to taste. Taste for seasoning (especially salt) and adjust as needed. Spoon into bowls and top with the reserved bacon and onions to serve.

Makes about 4 servings.


Other recipes like this one: Soup Beans; White Bean Stew with Tomatoes and Rosemary; White Bean Soup with Bacon, Squash, and Kale; White Beans with Sage and Garlic

One year ago: Yogurt Tortillas with Whole Wheat Flour

Two years ago: Black Bean and Corn Croquettes with Cilantro Cream Dipping Sauce

Ham and Cheese, Don't Hold the Onions

It wasn’t until I started writing up this post (or was staring at the computer deciding what to write), that I realized that the Ham and Onion Pie with Rye Crust I made recently is really just a ham and cheese on rye in fancy dress. That is if you consider a load of caramelized onions fancy dress. When it comes to food, I certainly do.

Since spring seems to be dragging its heels, determined to arrive late this year, I’ve been hitting some season-independent recipes. For this one, I began with a clipping from Cooking Light magazine, but by the time I got done making notes and revisions it was just as messy as my apron. I kept the basic procedure and the Jarlsberg cheese, but I stirred the cheese into the onions rather than layering it into the pie (fancy dress.) I slipped a Rye Pie Crust under the filling, replaced the store-bought stuffing mix with homemade rye bread cubes and the Canadian bacon with ham, and cooked the caramelized onions in chicken broth. I also adjusted the seasonings to include caraway seeds.

So there’s a crust with rye on the bottom and a rye crumb topping with ham and Jarlsberg cheese in the middle. There’s even Dijon mustard. If this was a sandwich, it would be just fine. If, however, the person serving me this sandwich asked if I wanted it with onions, of course I’d have to say yes. Caramelized onions, please. Sweet and jammy caramelized onions.

This recipe is significantly more involved than a ham and cheese sandwich, but I like to spend time in the kitchen, making a big mess, and I hope you do too. The blind baked crust, which I described in the previous post and the caramelized onions take the most effort. There aren’t any tricky juggling maneuvers to manage, however, so you can give each part of the pie your full attention. In fact, you won’t even have to pay that much attention to the onions. Just cook them over medium low heat with some added chicken broth (not technically standard procedure for caramelized onions, but quite delicious in this pie), stirring occasionally and adding more broth to keep them from scorching or getting stuck to the pan.

Once the onions are done and have cooled a bit, just stir in the ham and cheese, plus some seasoning and mustard, plop it into the baked rye crust, top it with the bread cube topping, which is kind of like a Thanksgiving stuffing, and bake it. The end product is a rich and savory golden brown pie that takes the ham and cheese sandwich into the formal dining room. The flavors complement each other in such an earthy satisfying way, you won’t mind that spring refuses to arrive. (Disclaimer: yes you will mind. Just let the author savor her delusions along with her pie.)

Ham and Onion Tart with Rye Crust
Based on a recipe in Cooking Light magazine

1 recipe Rye Pie Crust (or other single crust pastry) rolled out and fitted into a 9-inch pie pan

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided
4 cups thinly-sliced yellow onion
½ teaspoon coarse (kosher or sea) salt, divided
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups rye bread in ½ -inch cubes
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or crumbled dried sage leaves
½ teaspoon pepper, divided
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, coarsely crushed with the flat of a knife or mortar and pestle
½ cup diced fully-cooked ham
1 cup (about 4 ounces) shredded Jarlsberg cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line the pie crust with aluminum foil and fill with your choice of pie weights (ceramic or metal weights, dry beans, etc.) Bake at 400F for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 375 F.

2. Remove the foil and pie weights from the crust. Brush the crust with 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard. Bake for 5-8 minutes at 375 F or until the crust becomes lightly browned and dry rather than raw and doughy. Set aside on a wire cooling rack.

3. While baking the crust, prepare the caramelized onions. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook the onions about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions should be beginning to brown.

4. Add ½ cup chicken broth. Continue to cook the onions about 25 minutes more. Add about ½ cup more of the remaining broth a little at a time as the mixture gets dry and sticky. When the onions are done, they should be very brown and soft, almost jammy. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Stir the onion mixture occasionally to facilitate cooling.

5. Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bread cubes and cook until just beginning to turn brown and toasted, about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Add the remaining ½ cup broth, and the sage, ¼ teaspoon pepper and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook until the broth is nearly absorbed, stirring gently to avoid breaking up the bread cubes too much. Remove from the heat and set aside.

7. When the onions have cooled slightly (they should at least no longer be steaming), stir into them the remaining 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper, caraway seeds and ham. Stir in the Jarlsberg cheese.

8. Transfer the onion mixture to the baked pie shell, spreading evenly. Top the onion mixture with the bread cube mixture, spreading evenly.

9. Bake the pie at 375 F for 25 minutes. The bread cube topping should be browned. Remove from the oven and cool 10 minutes on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

Makes about 6 servings. Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator, but the crisp texture of the crust will not be maintained upon reheating in the microwave.

Other recipes like this one: Corn and Green Onion Tart with Bacon, Chard Tart with Feta Cheese and Olives, Winter Vegetable Galettes with Cheddar, Mustard and Caramelized Onions

One year ago: Rhubarb Sour Cream Muffins

A Break in the Weather: Potato-Tomato Gratin

I was thrilled a few days ago when the hot and humid weather decided to go bother someone else and left us with some highs in the mid-70s. I am not what you could call a lover of the heat, and the cooler weather gives me some hope that the world might not be such a terrible place. And I can make something in the oven without feeling like the apartment is going to combust at any moment.


I used one of my blessedly cool afternoons to try out a recipe based on this one from the excellent blog 101 Cookbooks. It’s a gratin of tomatoes and potatoes with caramelized onions and flavorful spices. I’ve had the ingredients to makes this dish, or at least ingredients I thought would probably work, for some time. While the inspiration recipe (which you should check out…the photos are better) called for sliced tomatoes and Yukon gold potatoes, I happened to have lots of cherry tomatoes (some from the CSA and some from my patio garden), and purple potatoes (yes, they’re purple on the inside, too.)


I also had plenty of onions that had overstayed their welcome to use in the caramelized onion layer. I’m probably the last person who should be writing instructions on making caramelized onions. If you were to ask me, I would probably say, “I dunno, just cook them until they get all brown and soft.” Really, I think the key is to cook the onions low and slow and allow for different onions to perform differently based on their moisture and sugar content. Yellow onions seem to make the nicest brown and sweet caramelized onions. I cover the pan for the longest portion of the onion-cooking process so they sort of stew in their own juices, and then, when they look like they’re almost done, I remove the lid and let any remaining liquids boil away allowing the onions to get a little browner and just a little bit sticky. It’s pretty simple, but does take some time. That time, however, is totally worth it. A dish like this one is significantly enhanced by caramelized onions.

It is also enhanced by fresh ingredients and well-chosen spices. I used cumin and coriander to pep up my gratin, along with some slow-burning hot red pepper flakes. All of those flavors worked and played well with the sweet-tart cherry tomatoes and earthy potatoes. Since I flavored the cream with the spices and the cream was slurped up by everything in the dish, there was a good balance of seasoning throughout.



I’m more excited about this recipe than I have been about any new recipes for some time, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m excited about the break in the hot weather that allowed it to be made and enjoyed in more comfort. The juicy tomatoes lend some of their perky acidity to the cream and potatoes, and the caramelized onions add a brilliant sweetness. The smoky spices balance the sweetness and the potatoes, which are also pretty in their exotic purpleness, ground everything and hold it all together. I may just start making this dish even when it’s too hot for the oven. Well, let’s not get too crazy just yet.


Spicy Potato and Tomato Gratin with Caramelized Onions
Based on a recipe from the blog 101 Cookbooks

2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound yellow or white onions, thinly sliced
1½ teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt, divided
¾ pounds potatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/8 inch thick)
½ cup heavy cream
1 pound cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs, preferably fresh

1. Combine the cumin, coriander and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. To cook the onions, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add the onions and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes or until beginning to brown. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook about 20 minutes or until the onions are very soft and very brown. (You can prepare the remaining ingredients while this is going on.) Lift the lid to stir occasionally.

3. Remove the lid and continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Stir in half of the cumin mixture and set aside.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a medium sized bowl, combine the sliced potatoes, cream, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and remaining cumin mixture. Stir to coat the potatoes.

5. Spread half of the cooked onions in the bottom of a 2 quart (or similar size) casserole dish. Layer half of the potatoes over the onions (your clean hands are the best tool for this job). Layer half of the tomatoes over the potatoes.

6. Scoop up a few tablespoons of the cream in the potato mixture and pour it over the tomato layer. Spread the remaining onions over the tomato layer, then the remaining potatoes over the onions. Press down on the potatoes to squash the layers together. Finish with a layer of the remaining tomatoes. Pour the remaining cream mixture evenly over the top.

7. Cover the dish and bake at 350 F for 1 hour. Remove the cover and bake for about 25 minutes more. Check to make sure the potatoes are nice and tender before proceeding to the next step.

8. Combine the breadcrumbs and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small bowl. Stir together until the crumbs are well moistened with the oil. Spread the breadcrumb mixture over the top of the dish. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes at 350 F or until the breadcrumb layer is brown and crunchy. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack 10 minutes before serving.

Makes about 4-6 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Potatoes Anna with Hidden Beets, Potato and Celeriac Casserole with Baked Eggs

One year ago: Cold Cucumber Soup