Finding New Flavor Profiles

Last year when I started trying to eat more vegetarian options, I became a huge fan of black bean and corn salsa. I would mix it with rice and put it in lettuce wraps or burritos, stir it into black bean soup, or just sit down with some tortilla chips and have a nice fresh lunch. This year, however, I've been experimenting with other fresh bean salsas. They are a great thing to bring to cookouts with a big bag of tortilla chips and if there are any vegetarians there, they will appreciate a side option with some kind of nutritional value, as beans are really the magical fruit. 

Julia, a coworker of mine at Trader Joes came up with this great idea last year to take our canned marinated bean salad and mix it with the fresh bruschetta. The result was fantastic, and if you have access to a Trader Joes and have to get something super quick and fast for a get together, this makes an amazing appetizer that can go with even toasted baguette or crostini. I have found that putting both of these in just a one-to-one ratio in a sauce pan just for about 15-20 minutes allows the beans to soften a bit and makes for a nicer consistency as a dip. The liquid thickens a bit. By all means, too, if fresh basil is available it will only enhance the flavor.

There has been a tradition starting amongst my friends called Gourmet Wednesday where we get together and make a fantastic spread of food and just enjoy the fact that warmer weather is coming. This week, however, we decided to turn the tradition into an inspired lunch. Normally us Trader Joes artists and crew members combine whatever is in our fridge and sometimes buy a few things to make fun wraps or other interesting lunches, but this week I decided that I'd try out one of the bean salsa combinations that I had been curious about. When testing out new recipes, it is always great to have trusted friends and fellow cooks to test it out, so I was excited about the opportunity. I had a can of garbonzo beans that had been eyeing me from the pantry. I decided to take a new twist on a classic combination of orange and red onion. 

Shopping List

Rice wine vinegar (I use this so much because of its mild flavor and versatility)

Extra virgin olive oil (Use a good quality one seeing as this is for a dressing)

1 can of garbonzo beans (preferably organic)

1 red onion

1 large navel, Valencia or blood orange

Salt & Pepper

Fresh Parsley and Rosemary

These recipes are very easy to prep. I started by emptying the can of garbonzo beans into a skillet and putting over low heat just to toast them a bit and to bring out the flavor. Make sure to wash off the brine when draining the can before putting them in the skillet.

During the toasting, I started to build the dressing. I started with a tablespoon or so of rice wine vinegar, some salt and pepper and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. If you have a whisk or a fork handy it is good to just give these a good whisk to try and emulsify the dressing a bit so it doesn't separate on you. Next, I grabbed a big handful of parsley from my pot of herbs and a few sprigs of rosemary and finely minced these herbs with a sharp knife. Parsley is very bright and great with orange, and rosemary is another very woodsy and piney herb that I use very often in combination with orange. I've even made an orange and rosemary barbeque sauce.

 From then, I took about 1/2 of a red onion and one large orange to combine with the can of garbonzo beans. The onion I diced very thin so that when eating the salsa there weren't huge chunks of onion. For the orange I didn't want any of the white pith so I took both ends off the orange and stood it up on the cutting board and cut down the sides to remove the whole peel and expose the brightly colored juicy segments and then proceeded to cut tidbit sized pieces of orange. By this time the garbonzo beans were nice and toasted and I could put those in and stir up the salsa. I let it set overnight and by Wednesday at lunch the flavors had married, the herbs had let their flavor infuse into the dressing and the warm beans soak up a lot of flavor from the dressing more so than cold wet beans straight from the can. We enjoyed this dip with blue corn tortilla chips, but could have easily prepared some couscous and made little lettuce wraps. This was definitely a tasty experiment worth trying, even taking these same flavors and using them on a salad. I personally catch a lot of slack for loving cook books but rarely following any of the recipes. I take the flavors and preparations and use them strictly as inspiration to create other dishes. 

*** I really wanted to clear up something that is circulating about blue corn tortilla chips being healthier than yellow corn. I am always highly entertained by these new studies often funded by the same industry that winds up being on the winning side of the study, but in all seriousness, know the facts. Blue corn does have more amino acids like lysine than other colors of corn. As with most other foods, deep and bright color is a sign of nutrients. Does this mean, however, that blue corn chips are a healthier choice? No. Most of the nutrient content of blue corn does not make it through to the chip, as it is fried or baked and often salted. It really just turns into a nicely colored chip. They make a nice presentation and they are more of a novelty than regular yellow and white corn chips. So go ahead, bring them to a get together or buy them in place of other corn chips. I honestly prefer to buy them because at Trader Joes they aren't any more expensive than other corn chips, but just be aware that no matter what studies hit the media airwaves, never will chips be a good source of nutrition... but they are tasty!