Painted Boletes and What I Did With the Rubiya
These bodacious boletes are from Honey Hollow Farm. I used them in a stew of black and white beans for the New Year. I had a feeling when I saw these mushrooms that they would be an auspicious addition to a Rosheshone table. While mushrooms are not specifically mentioned in the Talmud along with the five vegetables to be eaten at the New Year, they share with these vegetables the attribute of legendary rapid growth. They are also delicious.
On salting beans
Almost every recipe that calls for cooked beans will tell you not to salt the beans until they are done. The putative reason for this practice is that salt will “toughen” the beans. Intimidated as I am by near-unanimity, I have never found salted beans to be tough, and they seem in my considerable bean-cooking experience always to be better than beans cooked without salt.
Rubiya with Guinness-Marinated Tofu and Boletes
1 one-pound block of fresh tofu brand tofu, or other fresh handmade tofu (I like silken tofu too, but it is too refined for this recipe)
1 bottle of Guinness Extra Stout, with two tablespoons of shoyu or another kind of soy sauce, 1 rounded teaspoon
Olive oil
One medium or large onion, sliced into thin half-moons
2 tablespoons flour