A whole lotta soakin' goin' on

I find a lot of food requires a bit of forward planning, especially for the home cook with a day job and with ingredients which need soaking.

Having realised yesterday that I still have to use up some kidney beans, I thought I'd turn them into frijoles refritos, a great side dish to a hearty breakfast, and remembered to put them in to soak. At the same time, I soaked a bit of slab bacon separately, to remove the saltiness.

Normally, I would make frijoles by cooking them overnight in the slow cooker with a smoked ham hock, but today I just want to use up some odds and ends, so about 45 minutes in the pressure cooker will do, or about the time it takes me to do some ironing. Oh, and I add some epazote to the beans, a Mexican herb which smells a bit like aniseed and is popularly reckoned to prevent flatulence. Of that I wouldn't be so sure -- I think changing the water while you soak the beans is more effective -- but frijoles refritos don't taste the same without it.

Then it is just a case of frying chopped onions and bacon, then adding the beans and mashing them with a hand-masher while they, too, are fried. When they are all mashed, it is time to add some of the stock slowly, until the beans are mushy but not sloppy. Any left-over stock can be put aside in the freezer and thrown in the next time I make soup.

But that isn't all the soaking for today! No, it is time to put the white beans under water in one pot, and in another, the slab bacon and smoked ham hock (yet again, to remove the saltiness).

By the time I get home from work, some time after midnight, as I open a celebratory beer, the plan is to drain the beans and porky bits, plonk them in the slow cooker and cover with water, along with a bit of saffron and pimentón (a bit like paprika). Then I will put some chorizo (sausage) and morcilla (a bit like black pudding) on top, inside their skins, as they are a bit delicate. Then it's time to put on the 10-hour setting and get some sleep.