Peruano Bean Dish

December 19, 2025 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

1/2 cup peruano beans, cooked

1/2 purple onion, coarsely chopped

1 6″ carrot, cut into coins

3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 large handful of arugula, chopped

Herbes de provence to taste

To prepare the beans, place dry beans in sauce pan covered with water and bring to boil. Turn off heat and soak for one hour, drain, and recover with fresh water. Cook until done. These beans cook rather quickly so do not over cook. You can add ground onion or garlic powder as they cook if you so desire.

Saute onion, garlic, and carrots in olive oil until tender. Add beans and herbes de provence. Once combined, add arugula and cook only until wilted.

Note: If you leave enough broth with the beans as you cook, you will have soup. Want less broth, cook down liquid until desired amount. Peruano beans nearly double in size from dry to cooked.

Pasta With Beet Sauce

August 13, 2023 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

1 medium sized beet cut into pieces and steamed until tender

4 gloves garlic, chopped

1/2 medium sized onion, chopped

2-3 drops basil essential oil or use 1/4 cup leaves

Milk or cream–use plant based milk to make vegan

Saute onion and garlic until tender in enough olive oil to cover bottom of pan. Drain the beets and put into blender, add the sautéed onions and garlic, add basil. Add enough cream or milk to make a thick sauce–put in a little at first, blend, and then adjust to make a thick sauce. Pour back into skillet, and add cooked pasta of your choice. I used gigli from Italy. Stir until well mixed or pour the sauce on top of the pasta when you serve it. I topped with grated asiago cheese.

Moving 3–More Cooking with Paneer

August 14, 2021 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am left with one wok and one skillet. The wok seems to work better than the skillet for the sort of dishes I have been making. My previous Cooking with Paneer has been one of my most popular posts. Here is another edition of Cooking with Paneer.

For those who did not read the previous Cooking with Paneer post, paneer is a traditionally East Indian white cheese that does not melt when heated. It is a good source of protein for a vegetarian dish. I use it when a dish calls for tofu because I prefer it to tofu.

Here is a photo of my latest paneer dish.

The paneer in this photo is the white cubes. I sautéed chopped garlic, chopped onions, and purple potatoes in olive oil. Add whatever spices you prefer. Sometimes I use basil essential oil, sometimes the Ethiopian spice berbere. When these were tender, I added the broccoli and coarsely chopped poblano peppers. Saute just until these vegetables are tender but still bight green. Finally, add the paneer and saute just long enough so the paneer is heated through. Serve over rice or farro.

By the way, I did try the rice in a bag since I did not have a normal saucepan. I do not recommend it unless you are desperate for rice. It is extremely bland and boring.

Italy–Spaghetti with Lemon Cream Sauce

December 28, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / 1 Comment

My favorite pasta dish in Italy was like none other I have eaten anywhere. The first time–and the best dish–was in a little restaurant along the side of a narrow street in Amalfi. The Amalfi Coast is famous for its lemons and where they create the best limoncello. Therefore, it is not surprising that they created a pasta dish featuring lemons. When I returned home, I experimented to recreate it. First, the spaghetti–yes, they called it spaghetti–was considerably thicker than spaghetti in the US. I guess it was homemade. I did find a reasonable substitute here, bucatini from Italy.

Here is my recipe for two people:

1/2 lb. bucatini made from durum wheat semolina

1 lemon

heavy cream or half and half

lemon essential oil

butter

Cook the pasta as directed on the package. While the pasta is cooking, using a potato peeler, peel strips from the rind of the lemon and cut into small pieces. If not using lemon essential oil, juice the lemon. After the pasta is cooked and drained, place back in the pot with a couple tablespoons of butter and stir until butter is melted. Add the lemon rind and lemon juice or essential oil to taste. Add the cream carefully–just enough to make a little sauce. Serve and grate parmesan or asiago cheese on the top.

Serve with a nice green salad.