Red Beans, Penne, Roasted Peppers and Garlic

The west coast has been basking in delightful weather for over a week. It's hard to stay inside. After the big rains, everything is greener, blooming, fresh and settled. I look out over my weedy backyard and am not discouraged. Another good reason to leave the computer and head outside.

Dinner tonight was inspired in part by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's book The Vegan Table. It's a book designed for entertaining, with delightful menus. I used her spicy black bean burgers as a guide for the red bean balls. I think these are quite tasty. I left out her onion and added the roasted garlic.

Brown rice penne noodles have been on my menu everyday this week. It must be the fresh air and physical activity that has me craving carbs. Just look at them. What a backdrop for flavors and color.


The Recipe
2 red bell peppers
2 heads garlic
1 jalapeno pepper

2 cups cooked red beans
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tsp chili power
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBLS fresh parsley chopped
2 slices bread, cubed (1 cup)

1/4 cup corn meal
4 Tbls safflower oil

1 small bunch kale
12 oz brown rice Penne noodles
1-2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees and roast for one hour: 2 red bell peppers and 2 heads of garlic; add 1 jalapeno pepper for last 20 minutes. cool

In blender: combine one roasted pepper, the cloves from one head roasted garlic and 1/2 roasted jalapeno pepper, 1/4 tsp cumin, 2 tsp chili pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp oregano

In a bowl mash 2 cups cooked red beans with potato masher and add the above vegetables and spices; with your hands mix in 2 slices of fresh bread cut into cubes. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Skin the second roasted red pepper, and dice. Put in a big bowl.

Remove the garlic meat from the second head of garlic and add to bowl.

Remove the stems and tough spine from kale leaves and discard. Chop the kale leaves and add to bowl.

Cover and set aside. Keep at room temperature.

Fill a large kettle with water and 1-2 tsp salt for the penne noodles. When water comes to a boil add the noodles and cook according to package directions.

Now it's time to make the red bean balls. The bean mixture may be a little moist, but don't worry. Shape roughly into a balls using about 1-2 tbls of bean mixture and roll in the corn meal. In small batches, fry in safflower oil until crisp. Keep warm.

When noodles are cooked, drain and dump steaming hot into the bowl of chopped red pepper, garlic and kale. Toss. The hot noodles will steam the kale.

Serve hot with red bean balls. Delicious.