Monday, August 20, 2012

Hoppin' Bison

Why not? I had the leftovers, and when a couple of nice-lookin' peppers showed up in the breakroom* at work, it was a done deal.

I was considering Hoppin' John for dinner, but lacking both ham and blackeyed peas, it was gonna be a long scooter ride over to the nearest market with ham worthy of the name. On the other hand, I had about a half-pound of ground bison left over from burgers Sunday night (hey, it was all they had -- and darned good, too; there's a trick to it), a can of Bush's chili beans (Mild, I'd rather season to suit myself, YMMV), one of those quick-nuke (brown rice) cups, half an onion, half a sweet orange pepper and the aforementioned co-worker's bounty: a skinny, bright red, hot pepper and a yellow one that looked like a banana pepper (a fairly mild one, oh well).

Hit the wok with some good cooking spray -- you'll need it, the buffalo being a lean beast -- and start browning over medium-low heat. (Dash of salt, little pepper on the raw meat, it wants it, it's not a cow.) Keep breaking it up as it cooks. Dice the onion and add it, continuing to cook over low heat 'til the onion is as done as you want it. Add the beans and a little liquid, enough to rinse out the can. Nuke the rice. Dice the hot peppers (tiny, tiny). Toss 'em in, adding the seeds for more hotness or not, as suits you. Stir in rice, cover and heat 'til bubbling. Dice the sweet pepper and throw it in -- no need to stir it 'til later, it just wants a minute or two to wake up.

Give it that minute, stir up and dish out. Table condiments as you are moved to use. Looks like it would serve three -- or one, for supper now, lunch tomorrow and maybe a little to share.

Inauthentic? Hugely diverged from the original dish? Guilty as charged. Shaddup and eat.

Changes? I am tempted to make it hotter and use jasmine rice (also now available in microwaveable single servings), washing it down with good mint tea; but that could be just me.
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* I don't know how they do it where you work, but at The Skunk-Workings, excess garden produce (and anything else even remotely edible) can be disposed of in 8 hours or less by leaving it on a breakroom table -- quicker if you add a sign that says "Free." Hey, was that your lunch? Oops. --Srsly, when I left today, the evening crew was tucking into some leftover pasta dishes from an executive meeting upstairs in Management territory, six hours earlier.

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