Anatomy of a Snow-Day Dinner

Snow day. Two kids home from school. Dog with an itch. Two cats with slightly irritating meows after hearing them for eight hours straight. Black beans. Perfect storm.

"This is a good day for Black Beans in Chipotle Adobo Sauce, Raw Fennel with Orange Zest Salad, and Vegan Skillet Corn Bread," I thought to myself as I sipped my morning tea with soy creamer. Or maybe I was thinking about how to hide in the upstairs bathroom for a few hours without anyone noticing so I could read the ending of Ian McEwan's The Child in Time.

I started by soaking dried black beans.

Vegan skillet corn bread from Veganomicon (big surprise). With skillet sauteed white corn thrown in. Earth Balance "butter." Black beans cooked with a large white onion halved in the pot, then discarded. A HOT HOT HOT sauce made from chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, which I first saw here and wanted just because I loved the can. Rice from my beloved cooker.

Is it possible to make a delicious corn bread that is vegan? Um, yes. Yes, it is.

And a simple raw fennel salad that was so cool and crisp, a welcome antidote to the HEAT of the chipotle sauce on the beans.

Fennel Salad

Bulb of fennel, sliced thin
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon fresh orange zest

If I had some, I would have added a little chopped fresh parsley. And some orange slices. But I ate those slices before they got a chance to join their friends, the Fennels.

A nice snowy evening's dinner. I obviously need an apron and a nice strand of pearls if I'm going to keep this up.