Beautiful Food Is Fine. Flavorful Food is Gorgeous.

I have been saying for years that food doesn’t need to look good to taste good. But maybe now I believe that with food, the beauty is way more in the flavor than in the appearance, because to me, this modest-looking dish is gorgeous.

Kerri and I have been saying for what seems like forever that if you cook a batch of beans and a batch of (whole) grains once a week (or so), you’ll always have them on hand when you want them. Since both are integral parts of whole-food, mostly plant-based diets (and their absence is the problem with “diets” like keto and some forms of paleo), this just makes sense in all kinds of ways.

Anyway. I do this. I cook beans and grains whenever I run out, usually around half a pound at a time, which makes enough for several one- or two-person meals, pretty much how I cook now. I could cook more, but for variety’s sake I’d rather cook more often. And since I mostly use a pressure cooker for these, the time spent is not that onerous – well under an hour, start-to-finish. (Below, I’ve included my foolproof, non-pressure-cooker recipes for a batch of beans and grains, so you can always have them on hand.)

Cooked Beans, the Quick-Soak Way

This is the easiest way to cook beans because most of the time they aren’t cooking at all; they’re soaking. Incredibly, if you start a pot of dried beans from scratch without soaking and start a pot with this method, both will be ready at about the same time, with no difference in taste or texture. What changes is that you don’t have to check as much or add water as often if you soak them. If you’re cooking lentils or split peas—which take no more than 30 minutes to get tender—always follow the no-soak variation.