Category: Meats

Mixed Bean Pot

There was a time when I hated beans. Green beans, especially, but also yellow wax beans. Beans that grew in thousand-foot-long rows tangled with weeds. Weeds that I had been hired to kill with my trusty hoe.

My father had probably been bragging to some friends about how well I hoed our garden, corn and potato patches, because one day, Mr. Vallem drove over to ask my mother if she and my father would give permission for me to help him get rid of the weeds in his new bean field. He would pay me twenty-five cents an hour plus dinner for the next two or three weeks.

My parents jumped at the chance to get me out of the house and into a paying job. The Vallems didn’t have any children at home to help out, and though I was only eleven, I was big for my age and had the callouses to show that I knew how to use a hoe. Before my first day in the field, I was excited about earning my own money.

By the end of the first day, I hated beans. Mr. Vallem would cultivate several rows of beans each morning, and it was my job to chop off any weeds left standing between the rows and to pull any that crowded between the plants in the rows. As any good gardener knows, the best time to weed is when it is nice and hot: The roots of the weeds dry out and the weeds die.

As any eleven year old boy can tell you, the worst time to hoe a thousand-foot row is when it is nice and hot. It is the best time to go swimming, however. I would think about our swimming hole in the Namekagon River as I pedaled my Schwinn the five miles to the Vallems every morning.

Mrs. Vallem made the job a bit easier. She would bring me a glass of lemonade or koolaid in the middle of the mornings and afternoons, which was a nice change from the water bucket and dipper under the trees at the west end of the field, and she was a fine cook. When Mr. Vallem said dinner, that’s what he meant. Not a sandwich or some green stuff that passes for lunch today, but a real farm dinner complete with a roast or ham or fried chicken and all the trimmings, including dessert.

My employment as chief hoe operator ended when we got the weeds under control. I ended up with twenty or thirty dollars, a fortune which went mostly to buy school clothes, though Dad did let me use a couple of dollars to get some more hooks and fly tying supplies from the Herter’s catalog.

My hatred for beans ended with the job. Today I enjoy them cooked just about any way you can think of. This mixed bean pot recipe uses different varieties of beans and two kinds of meat to create a flavorful and colorful bean and meat stew, a delicious main dish in one pot. Simple to make, easy to enjoy.

INGREDIENTS:

Water
1/2 cup garbanzo beans
1/2 cup red beans
1/2 cup pinto beans
1/2 cup great northern beans
3/4 lb. hot Italian sausage
2 T olive oil
3/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1 medium large onion (3 to 3 1/2 inches)
1 cup water
1 cup dry white wine
2 cubes chicken bouillon
Spices 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. each of freshly ground black pepper, oregano, basil, fennel seed, dried parsley, garlic powder, rosemary.
Fresh parsley for garnish

PROCEDURE:

Measure the beans into a half cup measure and remove any stones or defective beans as you transfer them to a colander. Rinse the beans thoroughly. If you are starting the recipe the day before you plan to cook the beans, put the beans into a large bowl and cover them with at least two inches of cold water. The next day rinse the beans and transfer them to a Dutch oven.

Cover them again with fresh water and bring the beans to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer them for an hour to an hour and a half until the beans are tender but not mushy. Test for doneness after an hour by pressing a few beans with a spoon. Beans are done when they flatten with moderate pressure. Drain the beans in a colander and set them aside.

Rinse the Dutch oven, put it over moderate heat and coat the bottom with a little olive oil. Brown the Italian sausage while breaking it into pieces. While the sausage is cooking, chop the onion into eighths and add it to the sausage. Next, cut the chicken into one inch pieces. After the sausage and onion have cooked eight or ten minutes remove the sausage and onion to a small bowl with a slotted spoon.

You should have about two tablespoons of oil in the Dutch oven. If necessary, remove the excess or add some olive oil. Brown the chicken over moderately high heat just until it begins to turn golden brown.

Return the beans, sausage and onion to the Dutch oven. Add one cup of water and a cup of dry white wine (sauvignon blanc or chardonnay are good choices) along with two chicken bouillon cubes. Stir in the spices, bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the stew for fifteen to twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add a little salt or extra pepper if necessary. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

NOTES: You can use instant bouillon instead of cubes and substitute navy beans for the great northern beans or add other kinds of dried beans. Black beans or red kidney beans add color and slightly different flavors. If you add extra half cupfuls of beans, you will need to increase the amounts of wine and water and may need to adjust the seasonings.

We like this dish with a cottage cheese and tomato salad and slices of homemade bread.

Dave’s Venison Steak Simmered in Relish

It was a beautiful day on Chequamegon Bay, but my mother was seasick. I had arranged a half-day fishing charter with Captain Dave Sorenson from Ashland, Wisconsin. Dave Sorenson docked his boat across the bay at the marina in Washburn and had everything ready when we showed up a half hour before our scheduled start.

I had had a little trouble organizing the trip. My father was afraid that he would have difficulty getting in and out of the boat. I explained that Dave had a big boat over 30 feet long with a cabin and comfortable benches in case he got tired, but Dad still balked at the idea. When he said that he didn’t know if he could step into or out of the boat, I saw my opening: “I’ll rent a wheelchair for you. We can just wheel you on board.”

“I don’t need a wheelchair,” he snarled, and agreed to the trip.

My mother’s objection was that she was afraid of getting seasick on a big boat. She loved to fish and had spent many hours in canoes and fishing boats on lakes near Hayward. Persuading her meant changing tactics and emphasizing that Dave’s boat was not like a ship. It was just a bit bigger than the boats she was used to. She didn’t get seasick in a rowboat, so she wouldn’t get seasick on Dave’s boat.

But she did. About two minutes after we cast off the lines and moved away from the dock, she went into the cabin and proceeded to turn green. Once we had gotten past Madeline Island, the fish finder began showing schools of fish. Dave throttled down the boat and explained that we should decide who would catch the first fish. There were six of us. I’m not sure of the exact order, but I know Dad was number one and I took the number six position. Mom said that she didn’t think she should have a number, but I think that we gave her number three.

So down went the outriggers and we began trolling. The weather was beautiful with a nice breeze. The fish were not too cooperative, but Dad hauled in a lake trout after half an hour or so, then Jerri reeled in a nice fish. The sun came out, the wind freshened and the boat rolled a little more. When I told Mom that when I was seasick on my trip to Germany I felt a lot better when I got on deck, she just groaned. At least she didn’t tell me that she had told me she would get seasick.

All of a sudden, there was a fish on rod number three. I opened the door to the cabin and told her there was a fish on her rod. She said, “Have someone else take it,” but I persisted.

“Come on, Mom, I’ll help you. Just crank the reel. If you can’t do it, we’ll take over.”

As luck would have it, a nice coho salmon was on the rod. As she began cranking the reel, the fish jumped out of the water sixty or seventy feet from the boat, and Mom began trembling with the excitement every fisherman or fisherwoman knows. My recollection is that the whole boat began shaking, but she kept right on cranking.

After Dave netted her fish and handed it to her, she held it in front of her in the way that every experienced angler knows will make it look bigger than it is while we took a photo.

Only then did she realize that she was no longer seasick. A salmon on the line works better than dramamine!

Captain Dave took a photo of all of us with our catch when we got back to the marina. There are Dad and Mom complete with lake trout, salmon and smiles. Jerri, my sister Barb and my brother-in-law Patrick are standing next to them with big grins and their trophies. At the end of the line is one person with a brave smile but no fish. Guess who.

Dave published The Outdoor Gourmet Cookbook filled with some tasty recipes for wild game and fish. Besides recipes for everything from crow to muskrat, the book includes useful fishing and hunting tips. If you have a hunter or fisher in your family, you should try to get a copy of Dave’s cookbook.

Jerri adjusted Dave’s recipe slightly to make it one of our two favorite ways of cooking venison steak.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 – 2 lbs. venison round steak
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 or 3 T bacon drippings
1/4 cup green olives, sliced
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
1/2 can or a small jar of finely chopped pimiento
1 four ounce can mushrooms, drained
1/4 tsp. black pepper
4 sweet pickles, chopped medium (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup water
1 T sugar

PROCEDURE:

Start with venison round steak about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Cut the steak into serving size pieces and coat them with flour.

Clean and chop the celery and onion medium fine. Slice the olives and chop the pickles medium. Drain the mushrooms and stir the salt and sugar into a half cup of water.

Heat the bacon drippings in a skillet over moderately high heat and brown the meat on both sides. Turn the heat to low, stir in the vegetables and water mixture and grind the pepper over everything. Cover the skillet and simmer the meat for about an hour and a half. Turn the meat to mix it with the vegetables occasionally. Add water if necessary.

Serve with rice, a green salad and bread. Jerri uses brown rice or a blend of brown and wild rice.

NOTES: You can substitute lard or shortening for the bacon grease, but the smoky flavor of bacon grease adds to the flavor. Incidentally, venison has virtually no cholesterol, so this dish is both tasty and good for you.