Beans, beans

I tried to gussy up a pot of beans the other night but it wasn't as inspired as I might have hoped. I combined celery, carrots, the ubiquitous dl'at, or pumpkin, and black beans, with some onion and garlic and red wine and a tad of sweetening from apple juice concentrate. Seasoned it with herbs and some hot pepper flakes, thyme and fresh rosemary. I was looking for an 'herby' taste, that would marry nicely with the veggies and figured we'd have it over a grain - we cooked up a mix of light buckwheat (my new fave and a great improvement over the dark kasha of my youth) and millet (which added a nice crunch and toasty taste).

I tasted the stew and wasn't overawed. I decided to try a fruit element and added in a few fresh, mission figs that were firm and pleasantly sweet. Then, when all was cooked, I tossed in 2 chopped persimmons and a squeeze of lemon.

It wasn't bad. Not perfect - needs some more thought. The figs were nice with the veggies and beans but the whole stew needed some more punch. More wine and more stewing to develop early flavors might have gotten me what I was looking for.

The good news is that we ate it last night and munched on it today as needed and now it's all gone.

Tomorrow is another day.