Name: Tommy's Rice and Beans
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon oil; 1 onion, diced small; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 1 roasted red bell pepper, thinly sliced; one 16-ounce can black beans or 2 cups cooked black beans; 1/4 cup white vinegar; 5 to 10 dashes Tabasco sauce or other hot red pepper sauce; 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro; 3 cups cooked long grain rice; salt and freshly milled black pepper

(From Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, License to Grill, Morrow, 1997)

Tommy who? Chris and John explain: "This classic Latin American dish is that rare bird, a completely healthful vegetarian meal that appeals to the taste buds of teenagers. Or at least it appeals to the buds of Tommy, a teenager who lives in the apartment above one of us and is the nephew of the other one. Tommy prefers his rice and beans cooked separately, rather than together, and likes lots of garlic and only a few bell peppers in the mix; so that's how we make it here. For some reason, it has almost as high an appeal rating as pizza and chips, those quintessential meatless teenage favorites."

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