Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@plazmaorb--it's true, making the mixture ahead and letting it sit for a time would encourage the flavors to mingle. I didn't include that because I was really going for quick and easy, which Serious Eaters have specifically requested of me in the past. And as for the grated shallot, well, I urge you to give it a try. Shallots are pretty mild and grating them eliminates the possibility that you'll chomp down on a chunk. One of my proudest moments in the process of writing Almost Meatless with Tara was when I suggested adding grated onion to our cauliflower-chicken salad recipe. Tara later said she thought it wouldn't work, that the flavor would be too sharp, but she ended up really liking it. I bet you will too.

@bakedleech--no, you don't need to soak the quinoa.

Hi, @all, sorry if this part isn't perfectly clear.

Start the bean cooking process by putting the beans (and the water and the chorizo) in a Dutch oven on a stovetop burner over high heat and bring it to a rolling boil.

Once this vigorous boil has been achieved, kill the heat on the burner, lid the beans/water/chorizo and then transfer the pot to your preheated 250 oven.

Bringing them to a boil kick starts the softening/cooking process. Again, I'm really sorry if that wasn't clear. I really want people to try this. As Tara can attest, I really have been dogged by this bean cooking problem for years. I have been obsessed with getting them exactly right. And this is what has done it for me. It's amazing how effective the gradual cool down in the oven is at finishing the beans so they are perfectly tender but not broken or mushy.

So please try--and ask other questions if you have them!

Squeezebottle--I think maybe the kale excess relates to high number of CSA participants who write for the site? It's in season right now. I sure have had a lot of it in recent weeks. And I must say that my husband is typically not crazy for kale, but he ate this recipe and the leftovers enthusiastically. Another thing is that kale is so phenomenally nutritious that there's no such thing as to many encouragements to eat it.

This looks good. If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest bulgur wheat for breakfast. It cooks in less than 10 minutes. I add chopped toasted nuts, maple syrup and splash of buttermilk (or plain milk) to mine. Really healthy and delicious, too!

Greenteacup--good point about the veggie stock. A nice homemade mushroom broth would be earthy and delicious.

GoodStuffNW--I was THIS close to using farro instead! I want to give that a try, too.

Way to go Ed! I'm astonished by and jealous of your continued weight loss. I also plan routes/whole trips based on what seriously delicious things I can discover along the way.

I would not have gone the turkey sandwich route, probably. If what I'm eating is not seriously delicious I want it to be seriously virtuous. I've been trying to make lunch my pile-o-vegetables meal lately.

Ed, last weekend I read Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata. I highly recommend it. It provides a lot of interesting information and an unusual perspective on what you, me and all of us "should" weigh.

I think about this all the time. I think the official government guidelines are one piece of information that's part of bigger picture. When you consider how different we are, it seems absurd that everyone of the same height should weight roughly the same. What really bothers me, though, about those numbers is that striving to be thinner that your body wants to be can set you up for failure big time. If you can't get down to that weight, you might give up. If you do, and it's too hard to maintain, you might feel like a failure and give up. Right now in my own weight loss/weight management journey I seem to have leveled off at a weight. I'm trying to get comfortable with it because the messages I'm getting from my own body are saying that this is where I belong. That's better information that I'm going to get from any official chart.

I don't care how it looks. I'm pretty excited. The Atlantic is one of my only non-food magazine subscriptions and this will give us more good food coverage. Thanks for posting this, Ed!

I must confess: DiNic's is my very favorite as well. And I haven't seen it said here, though maybe it's implied, that there should be sharp provolone accompanying the pork and rabe. That is a holy food trinity if ever there was one.