The Beans and Rice Show w/ Flo Dill
Talking tuna sandwiches and growing edamame with the NTS legend...
The world is horrible right now. I hope today’s newsletter will bring something to make you feel alright. Inside is an interview with fount of musical knowledge, and NTS radio legend, Flo Dill, who I spoke to about crisps, tuna sarnies and growing vegetables. And our recipe is one from my childhood that means a lot to me, and also happens to be the easiest and most comforting dinner. It’s Beans and Rice. B&R. Poor Man’s Risotto. There might be a storm coming, but if you cook Beans and Rice, you’ll be okay. Enjoy.
This might be very well known, but I learnt this week that low air pressure can make you tired, and I feel like I understand my body and the Earth a lot more now. This week’s recipe is a great one for days when your body feels the weird, heavy feeling that made me look this factoid up…
There are some dinners that you know will stay with you forever. They might hold sentimental value, they might be extremely quick and easy to prepare, they might just hit a little button in your brain when you eat them. Beans and Rice does all these things. It’s a dinner that my Grandma used to cook for my Dad, and he then cooked for us, and I now cook for myself. It’s a meal I cooked on repeat when I first left home, chiefly because it’s so quick and so cheap to make, but also because it features one of my favourite flavour combinations: tomatoes and cheese.
Tomatoes and cheese are one of the most naturally delicious flavour duos, in whatever form you find them. Adults know it, children know it. Pizza, pasta, toasties, sandwiches, tomato soup with cheese on toast, parmigiana, Greek salad, shakshuka with halloumi, shahi paneer, the list goes on. The sharp and sweet tomatoes get mellowed by the milky, salty cheese in a way that will never bore me. I don’t think there will ever be a day when I don’t have a craving for these two ingredients.
B&R takes that and adds the starchy comfort of rice and beans, a pairing eaten the world over with an unparalleled ability to warm your belly and keep you full. When we were kids, my Dad would make this with long grain white rice and that’s how I’ve most often made it since. The great thing about it is you can use any rice and any white bean. Here I went for a shorter grain Carnaroli type rice but Beans and Rice is indiscriminate. It will be great no matter what: use what you have in the cupboard.