Tonight, we traveled to Puerto Rico – in our little kitchen, that is – with a new take on Old Faithful! Pink beans, yellow rice, and even some “fish cakes” on the side – what could be better?
We’d never tried pink beans before, but when we spied them in the international grocery store awhile back we knew we had to bring them home for later. Turns out “later” was tonight!
I steamed the rice by cooking it in the rice cooker along with a packet of Goya seasoning, and as it cooked, I heated the beans on the stovetop as I would Old Faithful. (Call it a lack of creativity if you must, but I wanted my first enjoyment of pink beans to be pure and unadulterated!) As everything cooked, I heated some Sophie’s Kitchen “fishless sticks” in the oven to stand in for a traditional codfish cake. This was our first time trying this particular Sophie’s product, and not to spoil the surprise, but we liked it very much!
Once everything was thoroughly cooked, it was time to serve the meal. We spooned rice onto each of our plates and topped it with the pink beans, placing the fishless sticks on the side. Then came the toppings – chopped onion, salsa, sour cream, Daiya cheddar, hot sauce, and black olives, in random order!
The result? Fantastic! We loved the mellowness of the pink beans and thought the fishless sticks were great – tasty, and reminiscent of fish without being too overly fishy. I get the sense that the pink beans will gladly take on the flavors of whatever we season them with, and we’ll definitely experiment with seasoning blends in the future!
And, as usual, our hearts sang with joy at the realization that at least one of us will get to enjoy these leftovers tomorrow. I love when lunch comes pre-cooked and pre-packed the night before!
:)