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Pantry Provisions - Legumes

On my first trip to Desolation Sound my partner Ian and I anchored in a tiny bay for a magical three days where our only company was a colony of seals. Not wanting to disturb the profound peace we were experiencing, and given there was little food left in our fridge to spoil, we turned off the generator and thus the fridge. For the next week, I scrounged through the provisions I had onboard and managed to come up with some pretty amazing meals. The experience led to a hobby of creating recipes out of pantry provisions.

Welcome to the first article in the On Board Chef Pantry Provisions Series.

Legumes

I first discovered the versatility and economy of cooking with legumes, commonly known as beans, when I went through a vegetarian phase in my first year of university. There are over 600 different kinds including my favourites: navy beans, lentils and garbanzo beans. Beans are a staple in a vegetarian diet because of the protein they provide.

As a student I also discovered that they were economical compared to meat and didn’t need to be stored in the tiny bar fridge (that had no freezer) which came with my studio apartment. As a boater, I have rediscovered legumes and always keep a variety on board as they can be stowed away and provide a focal point for some fabulous meals.

Lentils, Rice and Gruyere in a Squash Bowl

This is a great meal to prepare when anchored in the fall. Pair it with a bottle of pinot noir and you have a gourmet meal.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup lentils
  • 90 grams pancetta finely diced
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 cloves of crushed garlic
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 3120 grams gruyere
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • two acorn squash (two squash per four people)

Method

Bake squash

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. Prepare squash: cut acorn squash in half and scoop out seeds. Add 1 tsp butter, ½ tsp sugar and 1/8 tsp cinnamon to cavity.
  3. Bake squash 40 minutes or until tender.

Cook lentils and rice

  1. Chop the pancetta and fry in a large saucepan.
  2. Fry the onion with the pancetta until the onion is translucent.
  3. Add the lentils, wine, and chicken stock.
  4. Add salt and pepper to taste and the thyme and bay leaf.
  5. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered for 50 minutes or until rice and lentils are cooked and liquid has evaporated.
  6. Stir in grated cheese until it melts.

Let squash cool for a few minutes. Then scoop out flesh keeping skin intact. Mix cooked squash with lentil and rice mixture. Fill squash skins with mixture and serve.

Ingredient Notes

Having grown up with everything being kept in the refrigerator (and I mean everything – even vinegar) I have learned through boating and camping that although one wants to follow food safe practises it is possible, using common sense, to relax some of the ‘must be refrigerated’ after opening rules. In my experience, for example, Gruyere cheese can be kept tightly sealed in plastic wrap in a cool, dry place on the boat for a week to ten days. I change the wrap every few days and scrape any mould off if it forms. I also wrap pancetta in butcher wrap and keep it out of the fridge for up to 5 days.

Gypsy Soup (adapted from Moosewood)

This was a staple of mine in university. I found it in Molly Katzen’s Moosewood cookbook, a fantastic collection of vegetarian recipes that was my bible the year I was vegetarian. The main legume in this recipe is garbanzo beans. None of the ingredients in this recipe require refrigeration.

Baked squash

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 2 cloves chopped garlic
  • 2 cups sweet potatoes—peeled &chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes
  • 3/4 cup chopped sweet peppers (or 1/2 cup roasted peppers preserved in oil)
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (soak dry garbanzos over night and cook until tender or use canned and do not cook)
  • 3 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • dash cinnamon
  • dash cayenne
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp tamari soy sauce

Method

  1. In a soup kettle sauté onions, garlic, celery and sweet potatoes in olive oil for about five minutes.
  2. Add seasonings, except tamari, and the stock or water.
  3. Simmer, covered, fifteen minutes.
  4. Add remaining vegetables and chickpeas.

Simmer another 10 minutes or so - until all the vegetables are as tender as you like them.

Grandma’s Baked Beans

This recipe that uses navy beans as the base was passed down from my French Canadian grandmother who ran a boarding house for Ottawa University students in the twenties and needed to cook substantial, economical meals for 15 people every night.

  • 2 cups navy beans
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 lb. salt pork
  • 2 tsp. dry mustard
  • 5 tbs. dark-brown sugar
  • 4 tbs. molasses
  • 1 large onion, peeled but left whole
  • 2 tbsp ketchup

Method

  1. Wash the beans thoroughly. Soak overnight in water to cover.
  2. Add salt, stir and drain, reserving the liquid.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350.
  4. Chop the salt pork and place 1/3 of it on the bottom of the bean pot. Add the beans.
  5. Place the onion in the middle of the beans
  6. Blend the mustard, brown sugar, and molasses with the reserved bean liquid and pour over the beans.
  7. Cover and bake for 6-1/2 hours, adding water as needed. Add the ketchup at about the 4 hour mark.
  8. Uncover for the final hour of cooking.
  9. Taste and add salt if desired.

Ingredient Notes

Salt pork, like other cured meats, can in my experience, be kept wrapped in butcher paper in a dry cool place and survive outside the fridge for up to 5 days.

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