Category Archives: Beans

Vegetarian Boston-Style Baked Beans

  January 16, 2013 - 5:00 am | , , , , , , , , , , ,
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This past week marked the anniversary of a truly terrible and bizarre piece of Boston history; the great molasses flood of 1919 when a tsunami of molasses covered two blocks of Boston’s North End with a 15 foot wave of hot, sticky molasses. If you take a look at these pictures from the Boston Globe you’ll see the absolute devastation that the molasses flood brought to the densely packed neighborhood. Boston was the center of the molasses universe in those days as the area was home to many rum distilleries. Because of its abundance, molasses also was a key ingredient in local cuisine.

Molasses was the main sweetener for early settlers too. American style baked beans were introduced to the Pilgrims by local Indian tribes. While the Indian tribes used maple syrup and, the Pilgrims used molasses that was readily available and familiar because it was imported to Europe from the West Indies. The early settlers used molasses to sweeten everything from bread to beans to desserts such as Indian Pudding. While many Americans are not familiar with Boston Brown Bread and Indian Pudding, almost everyone is familiar with baked beans. While even today in northern New England they still use maple syrup, using molasses to sweeten the beans turns plain baked beans into Boston Baked Beans. It’s no surprise that the combination of beans and molasses became so popular that it earned Boston the name “Beantown”.

Traditional Yankee cuisine is still available here, although it’s a little harder to find than it used to be. Baked beans and brown bread were the traditional Sunday meal for much of New England for hundreds of years because it can be made ahead of time and kept warm; so locals could observe their religious rules of not cooking on the Sabbath. Now, there are restaurants that still serve traditional baked beans, but they are more of a novelty than a sought-after dish, except maybe by tourists. The real exception to this is Durgin Park – a touristy, yet all the same historical restaurant that still serves traditional Yankee fare. Here you can still get Yankee pot roast, baked beans, brown bread, Indian Pudding and cracker crumb cod. I worked right next to Durgin Park for several years, and it is where I was first introduced to Yankee cooking.

Whenever I want to tackle a traditional dish I’m torn between modernizing it or embracing the traditional recipe. Never has this been more so than with baked beans. Living in New England I feel obliged to make such a traditional dish the way it was intended: the way I first encountered it at Durgin Park fifteen years ago. But, that’s just foolish, because I want to make them vegetarian; that’s not the way they were intended. So, with this recipe I’ve thrown out the rule book and instead embraced the spirit of the original recipe. This is still a hearty winter dish full of rich sweet flavors, but I’ve replaced the fatty pork belly with a hearty dose of veggies. Not really an even trade is it? All the same, this is still a full meal, especially when paired with a slice of the heavy and hearty classic brown bread.

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The brown bread is another traditional recipe. For this one I have adapted several very old recipes which I found in a few ancient cookbooks I have around. They all have variations of the same recipe. Most of them call for equal parts of rye and graham flour and corn meal. All of them call for sour milk and baking soda. I noticed that most new recipes for brown bread use whole wheat flour, white flour and corn meal, not rye flour, but why add white flour to a recipe that traditionally calls for something much healthier? The quick bread is sweetened with molasses and steamed – always. I use a Bundt pan (or you can use a tube pan) placed in a dutch oven for steaming instead of the traditional can, but the finished product is still hearty, sweet and the perfect accompaniment for the beans. It’s even better toasted with butter and jam the following morning. Enjoy!

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Baked Beans
Serves 8
These beans re-heat beautifully in the microwave. Just add a half cup of water, cover and cook for 10 minutes on 50% power, stirring once half-way through the cooking time.

2 cups great northern or navy beans soaked overnight
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped fine
1 celery stalk, chopped fine
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped fine
4 cups water, divided
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the oil and heat until it begins to simmer then add the onions, celery, carrots and apple. Cook until the onions are translucent, about five minutes. While the vegetables are cooking combine the molasses, brown sugar, tomato paste, cloves, bay leaf, mustard powder, whole-grain mustard and vinegar in a small bowl. Add the molasses mixture once the vegetables are soft. Add two cups of water and bring the mixture to a boil.

Place the soaked beans in a large oven-safe dish. Pour the vegetable and molasses mixture over the beans and seal tightly with a piece of foil. Put the baking dish on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook for 2 hours.

When 2 hours have passed, remove the pan from the oven and stir the beans. Add the salt dissolved in another cup of water. Recover the beans with foil and return to the oven. Check once an hour stirring the beans and adding more water as needed. The finished beans should be a rich brownish-red in color and very tender. The total cooking time will vary depending on the type of bean you use; about 4 hours for navy beans and 6 hours for the larger great northern bean.

Steamed Boston Brown Bread
Makes 1 large tube pan loaf, about 30 slices
This is essentially a graham flour bread that is leavened with baking soda instead of yeast. Most of us don’t have a steamed pudding pan hanging around, and I don’t even have a 1 pound coffee can. So, this recipe is adapted to use a large dutch oven and a standard metal loaf or Bundt pan. This means that it produces a much larger than normal loaf. If you’re not that into brown bread, you can half this recipe and steam it in a 1 pound coffee can (oh, and the cans really don’t hold one pound of coffee anymore, but people still refer to them as such). Do not use a glass loaf pan for this as it could shatter when steamed on the stove.

2 cup rye flour
2 cup graham flour
2 cup corn meal
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup molasses
3 cups buttermilk

Grease a 12-cup tube pan or Bundt pan and set aside. Bring 1 inch of water to boil in a large dutch oven set over medium-high heat. While the water boils, combine the flours, salt and baking powder. In another bowl combine the molasses and buttermilk. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Scrape the batter into the loaf or Bundt pan and lower the pan down into the boiling water. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook the bread until it is firm to the touch, about two hours.

When the bread has finished steaming use a pair of tongs inserted into the center of the tube to raise the pan out of the pot of water. You can use a paper towel to soak up any water or moisture that has collected around the edges of the bread. Heat an oven to 325 degrees. Bake the bread for about 20 minutes to dry out the edges of the bread and prevent the bread from becoming sticky. When the bread is done, remove and cool for ten minute before turning the bread out onto a wire rack. Serve immediately warm or toasted the following day. Can be kept covered for three days or frozen for two months.

Bean and Sausage Stew

  January 9, 2013 - 10:18 pm | , , , , , , ,
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So far our legume series has featured two unusual ways to prepare them—fried in an appetizer and a french-fry substitute. This week we fall back to the tried and true, the traditional bean soup (or stew). People have been cooking up beans in a pot since before the invention of farming. They were first gathered from wild vines. My guess is that the first gatherers just popped a few freshly shelled beans in their mouth. They were tasty, but a bit later in the night, the digestive problems set in and they changed their minds. Beans have various complex sugars and combined sugar-proteins (lectins) in their husks. Some of the sugars are hard to digest and others are downright toxic to humans. See http://www.usdrybeans.com/nutrition/nutrition-facts/. They soon discovered that cooking destroyed most of these problem nutrients and thus into the pot went the beans.

By the way, some slow cookers (mainly older ones) don’t get hot enough (176 degrees Fahrenheit) to break down the lectins. If you suspect that your slow cooker isn’t adequate, check its temperature or soak and/or boil the beans and discard that water before finishing them in the slow cooker.

“Pease porridge hot. Pease porridge cold. Pease porridge in the pot nine days old.” Was Mother Goose a negligent cook, unconcerned about her childrens’ nutrition? Well, if she was one of the multitude of peasants in middle-ages Europe, peas porridge (from the French potage) might be all she had for the week’s rations. Even the well-to-do began their medieval feasts with a course of potage or two. What’s potage? Anything cooked in a pot. Ummm, soup or stew; I’m still undecided.

Let no one doubt that bean soup is a cornerstone of civilization. The United States Senate has bean soup in its private dining room every time the doors open. This unbroken tradition began over a century ago by order of some farm-state senators of that day.

Tradition aside, about this time, mid-winter, I start to really crave this stew. It’s this recipe that started me on my cheese-rind-in-the-soup kick a few years ago. In this recipe the cheese rinds help tame the spicy sausage, mellow the beaniness and lend a soft cheesy flavor. I choose to use lots of different beans because each size has its own distinct purpose. The small lentils, peas, and beans dissolve into the soup to thicken it into a stew, the mid and larger beans provide texture. Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean mix is what I’ve always used, but of course there are others.

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As long as the mix has both large beans and small lentils and split peas it should work. One cup of this soup will give you the warmth and energy to shovel the walk or even to bundle up the kids in the countless layers necessary for snowman building. Enjoy!

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Mixed Bean and Sausage Stew
Serves 8
I’ve made this soup with kielbasa, chorizo, and andouille sausages. I use the turkey variety, but as long as your using a good quality, smoked and strongly flavored sausage it should work.
2 cups dried mixed beans with no flavorings such as Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Mix
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 package smoked sausage (12-16 ounces depending on the sausage), quartered lengthwise then cut into 1/2” pieces
1 large onion, diced in small 1/4” pieces
3-4 large carrots (about 3/4 pound) diced in large 1/2” pieces
1 teaspoons dried thyme (or 2 teaspoons fresh)
2 bay leaves
6 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese rinds
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt

Soak the beans overnight or bring to a boil for five minutes and soak for one hour, then drain. In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer add the sausage.

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Cook the sausage, stirring several times, until it is brown on all sides, about eight minutes. Add the onion and carrots and continue to cook until the onions are translucent, about four minutes longer.

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Add the beans, the thyme and bay leaves and the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

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Reduce heat to low and simmer until the larger beans are just tender, about one hour.

Add the cheese rinds and one teaspoon of salt and continue to cook until the smallest of the beans have fallen apart and the largest of the beans are very tender, about another hour.

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Be sure to stir the stew occasionally to make sure the cheese does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Season to taste and serve with crunchy bread.

A Month of Legumes, Week 2: Chickpea Fries

  January 2, 2013 - 7:08 am | , , ,
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With all the celebrating last week, I forgot to mention that I’m making good on a year old promise. Some of you may remember that last year I planned to do a series of recipes using the best winter staple: beans, or more particularly legumes. Of course last year I was severely lacking the energy to get up from the couch, much less do a series of posts on anything. So, last week’s Hoppin’ John Cakes was the first of these recipes and today’s post is edition number two. Never fear, these recipes aren’t the beans you fear. These recipes showcase how versatile legumes really are. From black-eyed peas to chickpea flour, I’ll show that the star of winter cooking is not really a food to fear but one that is your best weapon against the mid-winter lack of produce blues.

There’s a store down the street from me that sells an almost complete line of Bob’s Red Mill products. I love to go in and buy bags of things I’ve never seen anywhere else, or things that just look interesting. This is how I’ve come across coconut flour and the 13 bean mix that I love so dearly in winter for soup. It’s also how I came to discover chickpea flour. What’s not to like now that one of my favorite beans is in flour form, and I can do so much more with it.

First I tried adding a bit of it to pancakes. Don’t try chickpea pancakes; take my word on that one. After that disaster, I decided to see what other people were making with it. Time after time, I ran into people making chickpea fries, but they were all deep fried. We’re not really frying in the house these days, so I wanted to come up with a recipe that would bake well. Turns out, that’s easy because they just bake up beautifully. I boosted the flavor level from the recipes I saw by adding a little garlic and oregano to my chickpea mix before firming it up. The finished product is crispy on the outside and soft and only slightly beany on the inside. Served with tzatziki, like this delicious recipe from David Lebovitz, these fries will be a huge hit whenever you serve them. Who knows, you may even fool the kids with these. Enjoy!

Baked Chickpea Fries
serves 8
This recipe can easily be doubled or halved for a large or small crowd. If you have a convection oven, bake these at 400 for an even crispier outside.

2 cups chickpea flour
4 cups water
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt for seasoning

Prepare a loaf pan by lining with parchment or waxed paper to create a sling for the chickpea mush. Spray with non-stick baking spray and set aside.

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Heat water in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan until boiling; add salt. When water comes to a rolling boil whisk chickpea flour into water in a slow steady stream. Continue to whisk until almost no lumps remain, but if there are small lumps then that’s okay. Stir in pepper, garlic and oregano. Cook for an additional minute stirring continuously. Remove from heat and pour into the prepared loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool. Refrigerate until cold, about two hours.

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Heat oven to 450 degrees. Remove from fridge and release from pan.

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Using a sharp knife, slice the fries into sticks the length of the short side of your loaf pan and 1/2 inch thick.

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Brush fries with the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake until just beginning to brown and crispy, about 25 minutes, turning once during baking.

Happy New Year – Hoppin’ John Cakes

  December 28, 2012 - 10:45 pm | , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Although the new year is not quite here yet, I’ve already begun to celebrate it’s arrival. Since the Mayan’s were wrong about the end of the world last week, I now feel the need to hurry up and enjoy myself before we all slide off the Fiscal Cliff. So, I kicked off a week long party by reinventing a southern new year’s tradition: Hoppin’ John.

Southern tradition dictates eating peas on New Year’s Day. Different parts of the south do this differently. Some parts say you need to eat black-eyed peas, others say it needs to be peas and rice, other parts say peas and greens. In low country cooking, it needs to be Hoppin’ John served on rice. Hoppin’ John is a pea dish made most often with black-eyed peas and ham hock. Whatever the combination, the eating of peas on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring you luck and wealth in the coming year.

I’m not really picky; all of the above sound good to me. Well, almost all of them. I’m not a greens fan. I know, I know. How dare I claim to know anything about southern cooking and hate greens. It’s like an New Yorker hating pizza. But there you have it. I think my distaste is rooted in the smell of mustard greens cooking all day in my house when I was a child. On days when my grand-mother was down in the kitchen cooking up a mess of greens, I would hide out in my room, sometimes even burying my head in my pillow to hide from the stench. It takes a lot to get that smell out of your mind.

But now I’m the grown-up. I’m supposed to like vegetables. So, as the good girl that I am I decided to turn greens and peas into something I could like, even love. Mixing a mild in-season green like kale with the rice and peas makes the flavor become something to get excited about. Forming the rice, peas and greens into a patty, dredging it in corn meal and frying it makes this traditional dish into something strangely more southern. It tastes deeply of the south. The total flavor is nothing but satisfying: crunchy cornmeal, homey peas and rice and the rich flavor of greens. Several people even commented that it reminded them of fried okra. It can be a little crumbly to work with, but it’s worth it in the end because of the crunch and the flavor. Alone or with a generous splash of hot sauce, these are perfect for a home cooked meal with nothing but a salad or a piece of fish. Or if you are entertaining for New Year, you can start the party in style and make these into small appetizers. I can’t promise that they will bring you wealth or luck in the new year, but they will make you popular. Enjoy!

Hoppin John Cakes

Makes 16-3” cakes or 32 small hors d’oeuvres size cakes

I love these cakes fried up with just a splash of hot sauce. Depending on your rice and peas, you may need to stir in a tablespoon of flour to make these stick together when forming them into cakes. The baking soda used in the cooking of the kale helps keep it’s nice bright green color.

1 cup dried black-eyed peas
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
1 cups medium grain rice
1/2 small bunch of kale (take the other half bunch and make kale chips – everyone else is)
1 teaspoon steak seasoning or rib seasoning with natural smoke (two of my favorites are Adams Rib Rubb and Penzey’s Chicago Steak Seasoning)
2 teaspoons hot sauce such as Crystal
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup corn meal
bacon drippings or vegetable oil for frying

Pick over the dried peas to make sure there are no rocks, pebbles or debris. Soak them overnight or bring the peas to a boil and let boil for five minutes.

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Turn off the heat and let them sit for 1 hour. Cook the peas without any seasoning until just tender, about 30 minutes. When they are tender, drain off the cooking liquid and season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of hot sauce.

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Set aside to cool.

While the peas are cooking, add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a medium pot without any oil. Saute on medium-low heat until the onion is translucent, 7-10 minutes.

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Add two cups of water and steak or rib seasoning and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Cook for twenty minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

To cook the greens, remove the stem from the leaves and chop the kale into 1 inch pieces and rinse well.

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Add to a pot with a 1/2 cup of water, a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until the kale is wilted.

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Cover and continue to cook until the kale is tender, about another five minutes. When tender, drain off the cooking liquid and squeeze the extra liquid out of the greens.

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Combine the greens, rice and peas together and season to taste.

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Form the cakes by pressing the mixture into a round cookie or biscuit cutter or down into a ring mold.

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Small cakes can be formed by pressing the mixture into the desired size with your hands.

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You want the mixture to be tightly packed to prevent the cakes from crumbling. If they do start to crumble, you can add a tablespoon or two of flour to the mixture. Carefully dredge the cakes in corn meal.

Heat a thin layer of oil (about 1/8” deep) in a large pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the cakes in batches cooking for about five minutes a side.

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They should be very crispy and dark golden brown on both sides. Repeat with remaining cakes adding more oil as needed until all the cakes are done. Serve hot with lots of extra hot sauce.

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Chicken and Chickpea Curry with Bread Machine Naan

  June 17, 2011 - 2:19 am | , , , , , ,
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Dinner is a minefield with my toddler. I try to make a meal that my husband and I will like and my son will also eat. When he first started eating normal food, I would make him a separate dinner from what my husband and I ate because I was concerned that my food would be too spicy, too crunchy, too anything. When we went out to eat, we immediately gravitated to the children’s menu.  Then, while watching last season’s Top Chef season wrap-up, I heard Antonia Lofaso comment that she thinks kids’ menus are insulting to kids. When I heard this a bell went off. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. She’s right, of course. Kids’ menus, like television and strollers, are a crutch for us to lean on instead of doing the hard parenting. It’s much easier to say, “Okay son, tonight you can have a hot dog,” than to order or make something that will challenge his palate and help him grow to enjoy healthier options.  I think that I’ll be a better parent if I abandon the kids menu at restaurants and in my own home and let my son eat from the regular menu or even my husband’s and my plate.

There are already a few meals that are home-runs for everyone in the house, and most of them are no surprise. I don’t think anyone would find it amazing that meatloaf is a hit, same with meatballs and chicken pot pie. But what about chana masala? This is my son’s favorite restaurant meal, hands down. My kid, the one that the restaurants think should be eating hot dogs and chicken fingers, loves the stuff. Pair it with the brown rice he loves, and he’s eating a good meal that I’m proud of.

Chana Masala is one of those dishes that just plain-and-simple doesn’t need meat. All by itself it’s rich, flavorful and satisfying, but when you add some chicken, it becomes a hybrid dish that really starts to sing to you. This recipe isn’t really a true chana masala because of the addition of chicken, so we’ll just call it Chicken and Chickpea Curry. There are so many reasons I love this dish; not only because my son will eat it, but also I love the simplicity of using all-in-one curry powder instead of a list of fifteen ingredients, I love that it is very low in fat, and I love that is dairy free. Most of all I love this dish because it is so luscious and savory without being overly spicy that I could eat it all night long. Believe me, this is one of those curry dishes that will make picky eaters into Indian-food converts, and it’s easy enough to make on a week night!

Chicken and Chickpea Curry

serves 4

This dish is very good as a vegetarian dish; just leave out the chicken and use veggie broth. Without the chicken it serves 3; with the chicken it serves 4.

2 tbs olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken pieces (I use chicken breast, but chicken thighs would be oh so delicious!)
1 lg onion, diced
1 tsp plus 1/2 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 15 oz cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
2 cups low sodium chicken broth or stock (or veggie broth)
1 tbs sweet curry (I use Penzeys – which you can get here)
1 tsp garam masala (I use Penzeys for this too)
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbs lemon juice

Heat olive oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add to pan. Brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and set aside to cool. Add onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt to remaining oil in pan. Turn heat down to medium low and cover pan, cook until very soft (about 10 minutes) stirring once or twice. It is okay for the onion to get lightly brown, but if it starts to get very dark, reduce the heat. When onion is soft add garlic and ginger; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add tomatoes and cook for another five minutes.

Now, if you are cooking for a group of non-picky normal adults and not toddlers (or adults) in the “ew, yucky” stage then you can skip this next step. As for the rest of us, scrape the onion and tomato mixture into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture is almost smooth. Return to pan.

Once the chicken has cooled, use a fork to shred the meat into bite size pieces. Add chicken, chickpeas, chicken broth, curry powder and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt to the pan and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. You can simmer the curry for a little as 1/2 hour or as long as 2 hours. The longer you let the curry simmer, the more tender your chicken will get and the better the flavors will blend.

Right before serving, stir the garam masala, cilantro and lemon juice into the curry. Serve over rice or with Naan.

And here’s the play by play (scroll down below this for the naan recipe!)

Sautee onions with tomatoes, garlic and ginger

Size up your crowd and decide if you want to pull out the food processor. If you have a toddler, it is highly suggested!

You don’t need the chicken to make this curry scrummy, but it does send it over the top!

Add the garam masala (the spice in the middle of the picture) right before serving so you don’t mute the flavors.

Bread-Machine Naan

Makes 6 naan (but the picture only shows 4 because two didn’t last that long!)

For ten years now, I have used a Madhur Jaffrey recipe for Naan that I modified for a bread machine. The original recipe can be found in her book, Indian Cooking, which is about all you need if you want to learn how to cook Indian food. The original recipe is also here. This dough is very versatile, and can be used to make a million different things, but if you make it, why would you want anything other than Naan. You can add pretty much anything you want when you are forming it right before baking. Some people have told me they add carmelized onions, sauteed garlic, nigella seeds, and lots and lots of us just cook it plain and slather it with a little butter and sprinkle of salt when it comes out of the oven.

2/3 cup warm skim milk
2 tsp melted butter
2 tsp instant yeast
1 lb all-purpose flour (approx. 4 cups)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs olive oil
2/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 large egg
2 teaspoons sugar

In the mixing bowl of your bread machine, add ingredients as suggested by your bread machine manufacturer. Set the bread machine to the dough setting and let it run through the cycle. Depending on humidity and air temperature, you may need to add extra flour, so about halfway through the mixing cycle check to dough to see if it is too sticky to work with. It should be sticky, but workable with floured hands. Add extra flour one tablespoon at a time if needed.

When the cycle has finished, transfer dough to a bowl and let double in size, about 30 minutes, and preheat oven to 500 F. I have a convection oven and like to use it when baking this bread, but I’ve made this in the past in a thirty year old electric oven in a dumpy apartment kitchen and it worked just as well. I will say that if you have a baking stone use it – it makes a huge difference, just be sure to preheat it.

Once the dough has risen, separate it into six equal sections. Using a rolling pin or your hands, flatten dough out to ovals about 1/3 inch thick.

When the oven has pre-heated, place ovals on pre-heated stone or heavy baking sheet. Bake on top shelf of the oven for two minutes; the naan should start to puff. If you want dark, crispy naan or do not have a convection oven, switch the oven from bake to broil for an additional minute or until the top starts to brown. When brown on top, remove from oven and cover with a towel while you finish baking the remaining loaves. Before serving, brush the naan with melted butter.

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