A TA's guide to "How to Cook Everything"

I thought I would write a short blog post for a few reasons:
1) To provide a rough example of what your Weekly Recipe Blog posts may look like
2) To showcase one of my favorite Student Friendly (AKA cheap & easy) recipes out of your new cook-text-book, "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman.

Spanish Style Black Beans and Rice - pg 515 (soft-cover)

Cheap: Ingredients

Total Cost: $5.25

Cost per serving:  $5.25/4 = $1.31 a serving

• 2 TBS olive oil*
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste*
• dash of cayenne powder*
• 2 cloves minced garlic*
• 2 (15oz.) cans drained black beans
• 1 (15 oz.) can not-drained chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup water*
• 3 TBS dried parsley*



I opted not to use a bell pepper.  Water not pictured.

• 1/2 cup rice (any kind), cooked

* = I assumed a cost of 0 for these ingredients as you probably already have them

Easy: Instructions

Total time: 30 minutes (10 minutes "hands-on")

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. A minute later add chopped onion and bell pepper. Season with salt, pepper, and dash of cayenne powder. When pepper is soft, add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and tomatoes and water.
2. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, until the mixture is hot and most of the liquid is evaporated. Stir in parsley.
3. Put prepared rice in a bowl. Spoon beans over rice. Eat. 

To cook the rice: combine 1/2 cup uncooked rice with 1 cup water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cover, cook for 15 minutes. Rice is done when water is absorbed and rice is tender. Bittman has a whole section on the nitty gritty details of cooking rice if you are interested. 

In an ideal world I wouldn't have forgotten to put the rice in first. 

This makes great leftovers, the beans are excellent in scrambled eggs or over greens.
You will notice if you compare this recipe to the one in Bittman they are different. Feel free to experiment. Recipes are guidelines, not rules.

- TA Eric





PS: Some other Student Friendly (cheap & easy) recipes
- Tabbouleh
- Apple Bread
- Baked Mac & Cheese