When I was growing up, my dad often would make a big pot of beans, usually navy, flavored with ham, and offer us kids bowlfuls. He’d eat them all himself, though. We weren’t eating beans. Are you kidding?
Flash forward a number of decades, and of course, I love having a pot of beans on the stove. Whether dad’s favorite or black beans, cannellini or cranberry, a bowl of beans is a welcome comfort.
A recent hankering sent me searching out a recipe for charro beans, a Mexican dish with more complex flavor than the typical refried beans. I’d had them at restaurants but never cooked them. They proved simple to make, deriving their smoky flavor from a few ingredients. A version from TV cooking show star and cookbook author Pati Jinich, of “Pati’s Mexican Table” on PBS, was just what I wanted. Her recipe calls for dried beans. I made them that way, then took a shortcut the next time with canned beans. Both versions satisfied.
As a side dish, or a meal unto themselves, their smoke and slight heat are just the thing.
