Arroz con gandules (Spanish rice & beans)

I figured that I had to post arroz con gandules next, given the preceding post of pernil.

     When I went digging through my recipes, I found that I had two for arroz con gandules.  I'd like to claim credit for the first recipe, but I have no idea of whether it's mine or not, or if I even tweaked someone else's a bit (in which case I could at least claim partial credit).  I do think that using a packet each of the different sazons might be my own spin, but that's still really just a guess.  Regardless of the 1st recipe's origin though, I can totally vouch for it tasting great.

     I threw the second one in here, since it takes barely any more effort to post than posting just the one would have.  I can say safely that the 2nd one isn't my recipe.  I have no idea of where I got it from (though it might be a combination of notes, from looking into alternative gandules recipes at some point), and I'm pretty sure that I haven't tried it, but it does look decent.

     The next problem is:  posting this draws my thoughts to a particular recipe for rather salty, tomato-based, shredded corned beef (not corned beef itself, or corned beef hash; totally not)--but I had been thinking to next post Hiroshimayaki (seriously good shit, often extremely misleadingly referred to as "Japanese pancakes" and "Japanese omelettes" [though at least omelette is in the right neighborhood... {Man! I miss Dotonbori, in Fussa Shi, Tokyo (Damn! Now that's got me thinking about CoCo's curry [best substitute: S&B boxed curry])}]).  Wah!

     So:  do I put it to a vote, or just flip a coin?
     NOTE: I grabbed a representative pic of arroz con gandules from Google.  It varies from one cook to the next, and according to whim of the moment changes, but the pic is a reasonable representation.

Arroz con gandules (rice & beans)

Cook time minimum 1 hr (but best if simmered 24 hours)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cans gandules (pigeon peas)

¼-½ cup minced onion (dried onion is just fine)

2 tbsp minced garlic (jarred works great, and takes way less effort)

≤2 packets sazon

     (preferably 1 jamon [ham] & 1 con culantro y achiote [sin achiote's perfectly ok

    {i.e.:  cilantro & annatto; without annatto is ok too}])

2-4 tbsp sofrito (a jarred tomato-paste, basically, but with other flavors & veggie-stuff as well)

4 oz ready-to-eat chorizo (chop it fine: to chunks equiv to ½ cm cubes [it's a sausage])

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2 cups rice

~5-10 threads saffron (maybe more... Hell, you know that I won't complain!)

½ tsp safflower

Directions:

Beautifully simple: throw all of the first bunch of stuff together and heat it (being sure to keep sufficient water added, if needed, to avoid it drying up, much less burning).

     Note:  the saffron's not necessary, so don't sweat it if you don't have any (if you use enough of it on a regular basis, then it'll eat into your wallet--the shit costs ~1/2 the price of gold at current prices [depending upon where you buy the saffron, anyway], but it really does make a difference).

     Ditto for the rice ingredients (in case you don't have one already: an automatic rice cooking pot would help you immensely.  If you typically eat a lot of rice, then it's a must-have item).

The slow way—handmade:

1 pound dried pigeon peas, picked through and rinsed
2 bay leaves

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1/4 cup achiote oil, recipe follows

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1 medium white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 green bell pepper, cored and diced

1 cubanella or Italian green pepper, cored and diced
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1/2 cup chicken broth

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1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne

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2 cups long-grain rice
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon salt

Put the pigeon peas and bay leaves in a large pot, cover with 3 quarts of cold water, and place over medium heat.  Cover and cook the beans until tender, about 1 1/2 hours.  Check the water periodically; add more, if necessary, to keep the peas covered.

     Drain the pigeon peas and RESERVE 4 CUPS of the cooking liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat a large Dutch oven or other ovenproof pot with the achiote oil and place over medium heat.

     When the oil begins to smoke, add the onion, garlic, and peppers. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables have softened, without letting them brown.

     Pour in the chicken broth and continue to cook until the liquid is evaporated. Stir in the cumin, coriander, and cayenne.

     Mix in the rice and reserved pigeon peas.

     Pour in the reserved 4 cups of pigeon pea cooking liquid, lime juice, and salt; stir everything together.  Cover and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.

Achiote Oil (aceite de achiote):

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons achiote/annatto seeds

To make the achiote oil, pour the oil and achiote seeds in a pot or skillet.  Cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes; the oil will be reddish-orange from the achiote.  Strain the oil, discard the achiote seeds and set aside to cool.

Yield: 1 cup