Awesome! Bean!! Tostadas!!!

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Saved me from starving, this did.

They really do deserve all those exclamation points…

First of all, happy new year! Please let me know what your new year's eve menu was. Ours consisted of pasta (red sauce, of course), spinach and arugula salad with sauteed shitake mushrooms and red onion and toasted walnuts (balsamic vinaigrette, of course), and Isa Chandra Moskowitz's outrageous lower-fat vegan chocolate bundt cake. All amazing, especially the cake. Note that it is billed as "lower" fat, not low fat–which is why I'll be reaching for Isa's latest book, Appetite for Reduction, in this new year, so I won't have to buy some new (bigger) pants…

Anyway. Among the cookbooks I've been rediscovering as I embrace the Meatless Mondays campaign is an oldie but a goodie: Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin. VP was first published in 1986, around the time I'd just gone vegetarian and moved to my very first apartment, a studio above an Irish bar. The floors were sagging, the noise was crazy, the mice were bold, and I was in love with the joint.

The kitchen and I had a nearly an abusive relationship: I insulted it with my lack of cooking skills, and the testy stove tried to blow me up on several occasions. But with Jeanne's gentle guidance, I soon learned how to make tofu fra diavolo, an amazing meatless meatloaf that even my Dad, a true carnivore, begged me to make at holidays, and these fabulous bean tostadas. All was well until my apartment nearly burned down, but the fire did not start in my kitchen, which I was getting along with beautifully until I was removed from my apartment via window by the NYFD.

Years later, I would mention Vegetarian Pleasures in one of my O essays, and Jeanne actually wrote me to thank me! I was humbled; this was like Yoda thanking Luke Skywalker. I immediately wrote her a gushing fan letter thanking her for saving me from starvation in my early twenties.

So now, here's my variation on Jeanne's beans. I bow down before her, and your guests (2 hungry eaters; double up for 4) will bow before you when you present them with this dish. (Note: No photo yet as the food was so good we demolished it before thinking–"The blog!" The one tostada left standing will be photographed shortly.)

I DREAM OF JEANNE'S BEAN TOSTADAS

Add 1 cup brown rice to 2 cups water in a pot. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down to let simmer for 30 minutes while you make the tostadas.

Saute 4 minced cloves of garlic and 1 diced onion in about 2 T olive oil until tender, about 10 minutes.

Drain and rinse 2 cans low-sodium black beans and add to onions and garlic. Add 2 scant teaspoons of oregano and salt+pepper or Jane's Krazy Salt to taste. Let simmer for another 10 minutes.

Spoon bean mixture into 4 whole-wheat tortillas, fold, and put into baking dish. There will be bean mixture left over; pour it on top of the tostadas. Add 4-5 tablespoons of your favorite salsa. Crumble goat cheese or vegan cheese on top of tostadas and broil on low until cheese is brown, about 5 minutes or less.

Serve tostadas with sliced avocado on top and brown rice on the side.

Please enjoy.

xx,

S