Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Saucy tomatoes

Making Cuban black beans and rice for dinner, following a recipe in Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet (2003), I stopped and thought about this sentence:

Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and the tomatoes are saucy, about 10 minutes.
Nine minutes or so later, I started hearing cracks about my sweater-vest, and I knew the dish was done.

My favorite saucy is in John Donne's "The Sunne Rising," a poem that characterizes the sunne himself as a "Sawcy pendantique wretch." I'd welcome the sunne and share my Cuban black beans and rice with him if he was to visit. (It's been a gray, grey day.)

comments: 3

Diana said...

Saucy tomatoes. That made me laugh! :)

I'll pop over to amazon and check out that cookbook. I love to collect vegan cookbooks, even if I'm eating DiGiorno's frozen pizzas for dinner.

One day it will all come together, I just know it.

Jason said...

Michael,
This was funny -- subtle, but I was cracking up over here. And, I sure am curious about that dish; it sounds delicious. I'll have to hunt down a copy of the cookbook, and watch what I wear if I make any dishes. Those tomatoes don't need any ammo.
Jason

Michael Leddy said...

Thanks for reading, Diana and Jason. I'm glad I wasn't wearing an apron when those tomatoes got saucy.

The copyright notice for this cookbook threatens far worse consequences than saucy remarks for anyone who reproduces its recipes, so I refrained from posting the details. But the ingredients are pretty simple: olive oil, black beans, diced tomatoes, a red onion, a red pepper, carrots, garlic, chili powder, cayenne, scallions, and parsley. So the preparation is some basic chopping. The result is beautiful colors and sweet, hot flavors. I like it with basmati or jasmine rice. There are lots of variations online.