In the summer, I don’t usually crave meat, but veggies and other lighterish stuff (and chips and queso, naturally). I saw this recipe on Martha Stewart’s website and I knew I wanted to try it!

Okay, Brazilian Black Beans, adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Ingredients:
3 medium beets, scrubbed and trimmed, beet greens chopped
3 cans black beans
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 T vegetable oil
1 scallion, thinly sliced, plus more for serving
1/2 C. chopped fresh cilantro
Cooked rice, for serving
lime wedges and shredded cheddar for serving

The night before, roast the beets (I did this in our toaster oven) for 45 minutes to one hour until they are soft. Pop them in the fridge.
Peel and dice the beets into smallish pieces, whatever you like.
Chop the garlic or put it through a garlic press so it’s nice and squishy and small.
Heat the oil in a skillet and add the garlic, scallion and cilantro. Cook for 2 to 4 minutes, until the scallion has softened.
Add the beans and beets to the mixture. Cook for about twenty minutes to allow the flavors to develop.

In another pan, quickly wilt the beet greens. Add them to the beans (or don’t. I served them separately the first time, but I mixed everything together on my plate anyway so I just added the greens to the mix the subsequent time).  Also, we didn’t have cheese or lime the last time we ate this and it was still great!

If you’d like to see the original recipe. Here is the link. I made this to the letter originally, with the beet greens on the side because I hate to waste food. EDF has you cook the beets and dried black beans together, which did make for a nice flavor, but took a really long time (like four hours). I do believe that although it doesn’t mention it in the recipe as written, you should soak the beans overnight if you’re going to start out with dry beans. Let me know if you try this one and what you think!