Feijoada Before the Feast

A pot of slow-cooked feijoada is nourishing and will keep you and your family well fed and happy in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.

If you host Thanksgiving, holiday week can be tricky meal-wise. Cleaning, shopping and Thanksgiving prep may muscle out making dinner tonight. One year in the run-up to Thursday night’s feast, my husband wanted something to eat. Alas, I was up to my elbows, quite literally, making my family’s elaborate cornbread dressing recipe. I stopped to make my husband toast, bread being the only thing in the fridge not reserved for Thanksgiving dinner. He was not pleased.

So now I make a big pot of something wonderful to have on hand during the week, like this feijoada, the beloved Brazilian stew, or rather, my vegan version of it. Feijoada is both nourishing (beans, baby) and sumptuous, a slow-cook wonder. Got the holiday hurrieds? You could probably fast-forward it with an Instant Pot. I like slow-cooking, though. I think it produces the richest, most tender beans, and a pot simmering on the stove makes for good company in the kitchen. Go even richer and slower and cook overnight in a slow cooker.

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving, plus a big pot of feijoada, made fast or slow, steaming hot, and enough for everyone to enjoy.

How to serve: Serve feijoada the way it deserves, with rice*, sliced oranges, and shredded collards with lemon, garlic, and olive oil.  Now it goes by the name of feijoada completa. Bonus points if you make farofa, yuca dumplings. A big, bold rioja would not be out of place here, either.

As with so many of the other slow-cooking hot pots I love, feijoada’s flavors get richer and more complex a day or two after you make it.  Enjoy it today, enjoy it even more tomorrow, and freeze a portion to enjoy later when the time’s right.

Feijoada

A hearty and nourishing bean stew.

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Servings 6

Ingredients

  

For the beans:

• 1 pound dried black beans rinsed and picked over
• 1 large onion peeled and halved
• 1 orange halved
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sliver Scotch bonnet pepper or pinch red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano or a sprig or two of fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin

For the sofrito:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 red pepper chopped
• 1 sliver Scotch bonnet pepper or pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon achioté optional
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

 

• Tip black beans into a large soup pot. Cover with about an inch of water. Drop in the onion, orange, garlic cloves, bay leaf, oregano, cumin, and Scotch bonnet or red pepper flakes.
• Bring to a boil over high heat and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to low, cover pot, and let the beans cook for about an hour, or until the beans have soaked up most of the water, and are just shy of being tender and done. Most of the orange will have melted into the feijoada, but press any orange flesh that remains into the bean mixture, then discard the orange rind, and the bay leaf.
• This is Feijoada Phase One. If you’ve had a busy day, you can allow the beans and their broth to cool, then pour into a large airtight container and refrigerate overnight before continuing. But if you’re feeling the feijoada, move straight on to Feijoada Phase Two: the sofrito.
• Make the sofrito. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions, Cook for a few minutes, giving them an occasional stir until they soften and turn golden. Reduce heat to medium and add the minced garlic, chopped pepper, Scotch bonnet or red pepper flakes.
• Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for another 8 to 10 minutes, so the vegetables soften and turn fragrant, and are lightly gilded with olive oil. Add all the black beans, and about 2 cups of their own inky bean broth, reserving any additional broth. Gently stir the beans into the sofrito.
• Add the achioté, if using, along with the smoked paprika, tomato paste, and orange zest. Give feijoada another stir or two,
• When it starts to bubble, reduce heat to low, cover, and let the stew simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, so flavors meld and become friendly. Give a stir. If feijoada is too dry for your liking, add the reserved bean broth, 1/2 cup at a time until you achieve flawless feijoada.
• Add the cider vinegar and season generously with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Notes

Serves 6 to 8.

*White rice is traditional but you know me by now — brown rice offers extra whole grain goodness, and I’ve already flouted convention by skipping feijoada’s many meats.

How to keep: Keeps covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days. Freeze it and it keeps for months. Thaw gently at room temperature.

Keyword black beans, feijoada, thanksgiving

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