Welcome to Quarantine Kitchen, a guide through various “quarantine hacks” that I have tried during my stay at home adventures.
Is there anything more classic or more trending right now than making a full pot of dried beans? It’s all over the internet, it’s what everyone is doing during these hard times. I, like most everyone else, purchased dried beans of many shapes and sizes during my panic-buying, and I finally got around to re-hydrating some today.
I pulled out a bag of dried garbanzo beans (or chickpeas, if you prefer that name) last night, dumped them into a big pot and covered them with water to soak overnight. I learned that they absorb a lot of liquid during this process, and topped it off with a little more water before I went to sleep. I drained the somewhat rehydrated beans the following morning between my morning meetings, and put them back in the pot with a fresh round of water. I let them simmer away from between 10-12 on the stove with a big handful of random herbs, some salt, and olive oil floating around in the water. By lunchtime, I was rewarded with perfectly cooked, very flavorful, garbanzo beans. Pretty low maintenance project with very high reward.
I now have 2 of my largest containers full of rehydrated garbanzo beans floating around in their very flavorful stock for the week. Hummus is definitely on the menu. Beans on salad? You bet. Beans with toast and aioli as Carla Lalli Music is known to do? Happening. A warmed up bowl of beans for breakfast? I’m not against it.
The point is, I now have a lot of beans to get through. However, these beans are very flavorful (much more so than the canned version) and have a perfect texture of being cooked, but not mushy or soggy like some canned beans have. This is a solid meal-prep move if you’re prepared to eat beans for a week in some form or another, definitely less convenient than popping open a can for a certain recipe that you want to make. But overall, I enjoyed making Quaran-beans, and I hope to repeat this again in the near future – if I don’t get burned out from munching my way through this round!
On a scale of 1-10, here’s how I would rate this Quarantine Kitchen adventure:
- Creativity: 6
- (Do I think this is a fun, creative idea?)
- Resourcefulness: 10
- (Do I think a lot of people will have what they need to already do this at home, no shopping required?)
- Result: 9
- (How did it turn out?)
- Repeatability: 8
- (Would I do this again?)
Happy Beaning!
PS: If you want to support a great cause and if you are a big bean fan like me, consider checking out this super cool bean shirt from Bon Appetit. 100% of the proceeds go to support World Central Kitchen, which is an amazing cause that helps feed people in need during times of crisis. Every little bit helps!
Posted by 
Claire Aucella 
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