I tried a very nice white wine from Austria last night. Brand - Hugo, varietal - Gruner Veltliner (2009).

1. One 16 oz can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas).
2. Put 3.5 to 4 oz of liquid from the can into a blender with the beans.
3. Add to the blender 3 Tbsp of lemon juice (1.5 oz).
4. 2 Tbsp tahini
5. 1/4 tsp garlic paste
6. 1/2 chipotle or chili powder (hot Indian one)
7. 1/2 tsp salt
8. 2 Tbsp olive oil
9. Couple of shake of black pepper (or freshly ground black pepper).
10. Blend till creamy.
11. Garnish with chili or chipotle powder.

375 degrees convect. 30 min in preheated oven.

Nothern beans

Nothern beans are a lot more delicate than pinto beans. They absorbed a lot more water during the hydration and, after I cooked them for 2 hrs, they were completely overcooked and mushy. They still tasted good with pasta. I curious, though, about the possibilities.

1. Mashed white beans with some spices, a la hummus
2. Mashed potatoes and mashed white beans
3. Pasta with beans or pasta beans salad
4. beans with sauted spinach as a side dish

Braised pork baby back ribs

My smoked ribs come out somewhat uneven as one end of the rack is wider and has more meat. This side ends up being undercooked and still pink when I'm done with the ribs. One time I cut it off before marinating and used it for the braised pork ribs. I used basically the same recipe as for my sweet beef chili. As it's not gound beef I wanted to give it more time to cook, so I added a cup of water to the recipe and cooked it for 4 hours. Ribs came out awesome, totally fall-off-the-bone tender. The sauce, on the other hand, got to be too dense and too potent. Ribs need lighter sauce. Mayve a light tomato sauce or something along the lines of rabbit in white wine. Stainless steel pan was great for browning.

Braised Pork shoulder for tacos.

I chopped carnitas meat into bite sized chunks and braised it in cochinita pibil sauce for 3 hours. Pork became very tender and tasted great in tacos with marinated onions. Sauce was too thin. There needs to be maybe twice as much of it as I had and it needs to be thickened with something.

This wine was pretty good. Kind of sour by itself, but still with a good flavor. It was very good with a creamy pasta.

This wine was pretty good.

1. 8 cups sliced summer squash
2. 2 cups sliced onions
3. 2 sliced bell peppers (or jalapenos if you want it spicy)
4. 1 Tbs of salt
5. 2.5 cups turbinado sugar (it was too sweet for my taste, I will probably use less)
6. 2 cups vinegar
7. 2 Tbs mustard seed
8. 2 Tbs celery seed

I've been attempting to make my venison chili recipe with beef. I've used only half the meat the recipe calls for. Once I realized that screw up, I thought it was not going to come out good, but I kept on cooking it. There were other small deviations from that recipe. In the end, I don't know what particular change to attribute it to, but this beef chili has turned out to be spectacular. The tomatoes have broken down to give it this sweetness that just made it super delicious. In my wife's words, "We were throwing it in our mouths as if we had not eaten in a week."

1. 2 large chopped yellow onions, in a stock pot, with small amount of olive oil. Cook until they start turning brown.
2. Throw a large handful of cumin seeds into the cooking onions.
3. As onions are nearing completion of their cooking, in a frying pan brown the beef. I used 1.2 lb of 93% ground beef (7% fat). I salted and peppered the beef. After it's browned, put it in with the onions. 
4. Deglaze the frying pan with dry white vermouth and add to the onions pot.
5. Add one can of the Hunt's tomato sauce (about 15 oz, 425 g)
6. Add one 28 oz (794 g) can of Hunt's canned tomatoes (sauce too! Don't throw away the sauce!). I work through the tomatoes to remove the butts.
7. 1 tea spoon of ginger paste.
8. 1 table spoon of garlic paste.
9. A generous splash of Italian (chianti) red wine vinegar. I'd guess 1-1.5 oz.
10. A generous shake of black pepper.
11. While I salted the ground beef, I did not add any more salt to the chili.
12. 1 tea spoon of Spanish smoky paprika.
13. 1 tea spoon of ground cumin.
14. 1/3 tea spoon of chili powder.
15. 1/4 tea spoon of ground chipotle powder.
16. Simmer uncovered at the small flame until liquid reduces.
17. Once the chili starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, cover and cook at the smallest possible fire.
18. Total cooking time is 2.5 hours.
19. At the end add just the beans from 2 cans of dark red kidney beans. Discard the bean can fluid.

This chili was truly so good, I could eat it with a spoon out of a bowl. Cold. Normally I would serve it in nachos.

This wine was very good. Smooth and full bodied. Nativa Terra, Reserva Carmenere, 2009. Curico Valley, Chile.