Oh happy day! There are at least 3 updates coming today. And they're all part of my hooray it's kinda-sorta summery outside series! Put on your flippy floppys and get excited!
First up, a bastardized food network creation. One day I was watching that dude that comes to peoples houses and tells them how much better than them he cooks, I don't know his name, make some shrimp with cilantro pesto. I tucked the cilantro pesto idea away in my head and carried on about my business.
Another day entirely, another dude entirely was making some burgers on grilled jalepeño cornmeal buns. This made me think of fried cornbread / johnny cakes / hoecakes. My mother loves them. My hubby loves them. I think they taste like a pancake gone wrong. But, on this day, I decided that if you added some jalepeño, they'd probably be pretty good. Somewhere along the way, I decided they'd be a good side dish to have with black beans and rice. And then I decided to Jamacainize the black beans and rice because eating cornbread with black beans and rice reminds me of the Atomic Cafe, which has a clear Jamacian slant. Sooooo, I pulled the cilantro pesto recipe that I had so neatly stored away in my head out. And, the following creation was born:
Black Beans and Rice with Cilantro Pesto and Jalepeño Johnny Cakes
For the black beans and rice:
Black beans and rice mix in a box or bag (just not cajun flavored)
Spicy Sausage
For the pesto:
1 cup chopped up fresh cilantro leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup grated Asiago
1/2 cup olive oil
1 /4 cup lime juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Johnny Cakes:
1 c. cornmeal
1 egg
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 c. buttermilk
1 jalepeño, chopped
Okay, first things first, start the black beans and rice cooking according to the directions on their package. Be responsible and manage your time wisely after this because I don't know how long your black beans and rice cooks so I can't tell you when to do what.
Now, let's talk sausage. There are several options. My favorite is the following:
- Spicy Mango and Jalepeno Chicken Sausage. But, chorizo would also work nicely. Andouille, while fantastic, is probably not the best bet given the carribean slant of this meal. Anyway, assuming you've picked a good sausage, heat it up. If you bought raw sausage, you'll need to do more than heat it up. But that's obvious.
While your sausage cooks work on your pesto. Basically, dump everything into a food processor. Process. Hard. Tada, you have pesto.
Then when stuff is getting close to done start the johnny cakes. First you need to sauté the jalepeño to take away some of its bite. Go until it's slightly browned.
Mix all ingredients together. Put a dollop of butter in a skillet. When the butter is melted spoon some batter into the skillet and cook just like you would a pancake (i.e. get it golden on each side).
When all your individual pieces parts are done, it's time to bring it all together. Cut the sausage into 1/2 slices. Mix in with the black beans and rice. Then, stir the cilantro pesto in with the sausage, beans and rice. Stir it up real good so the cilantro-y goodness gets on every last grain of rice.
Now you're ready to eat. Serve a big scoop of the beans and rice with a couple of johnny cakes.
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