Queen of the Plan B Dinner

So, last week I shared the story of the short ribs that didn't get tender in time. Today, let's chat about the bean gratin that never was.

On Friday night, we went to our favorite German restaurant (Chicago Brauhaus). I usually get the Schweine Schnitzel, which is a breaded pork cutlet. However, I was feeling adventurous, and Dylan wanted to share with me, so I decided to brave the roasted pork shank. The roasted pork shank is bigger than my head, and that is no exaggeration. Here is a picture of it from their website:

Dylan ate a bit of the crispy skin (it's like giant strips of pork rind - yes, she is weird). I ate a little of that myself and some of the meat. But after devouring the spaetzle and the braised red cabbage, I was totally full. And I ended up coming home with a hunk of meat that looked very much like the one that the waitress brought to me at dinner. Seriously, you could hardly tell that we had been eating off of it.

Yesterday, I had the bright idea to make a bean gratin using the shank. Of course, I hadn't soaked the beans ahead of time, but I figured I'd be ok. I had about six hours till dinner. Plenty of time, right? Um, not so much. I brought the beans to a boil with eight cups of water, two quarter onions, one head of garlic split into cloves, fresh thyme, fresh sage, and a bay leaf. Then, I turned it to a simmer and let 'em cook. A few hours later, I added the shank and a couple of links of sausage that I found in the freezer (andouille, maybe?). By 6pm, the beans were still hard, so we moved to the now familiar Plan B.

I grabbed some boneless, skinless chicken thighs and cut them into one inch chunks. Then, I made a Mark Bittman sauce consisting of soy, water, honey, and ginger. I sauteed the chicken, added leftover veggies from Friday night's Chinese food dinner and one scrambled egg. I then added the Bittman sauce and three (leftover) pints of white rice. In less than 1/2 hour we had a giant wok of fried rice waiting for us. Everyone finished their servings.

The beans cooked for an additional hour and were then placed in our downstairs fridge. My goal is to serve them Wednesday.

Comments

[Mom101]

Oh man, Mark Bittman - he can do no wrong, can he. And combined with your mad skillz, I'm betting your Plan B is better than most people's Plan Qs.