Spicy Black Beans

There’s an easy shortcut for almost all the recipes in this chapter: canned beans. If you’re pinched for time, you can buy a few cans of black beans, drain and rinse them well, and use them in all of the dishes that follow in this chapter. How’s that for flexible?

But the real magic of this chapter comes when you start using dry beans. Economically, it’s a no-brainer. One pound of dry beans (about $1) will cook over two pounds of finished beans, or about four cans. The cheapest I’ve