Bacon and eggs with beans and Swiss chard

Bacon from nearby Tony's Market is very very good (two verys to emphasize how very good it is). Hickory smoked or something like that. 

The bacon is in the beans too in place of smoked ham hock. All the fat from frying the bacon is left in the pot. I used a pressure pot to cook dry beans and that is a little bit tricky. The timing depends both on the type of bean and the size. Anasazi beans will cook much more quickly than pinto beans or red kidney beans and small beans like these little white ones and small black beans cook faster. It takes a bit of trial and error. The error is shown by blown out beans. They explode inside the pot when the pressure is too high. High is 15 LBS pressure and half high is 7 LBS pressure. Best to cook at half pressure and underestimate cooking time. That way you can release the pressure and open the pot to check, and determine by that how much more time is required.  You can release pressure quickly by spraying the whole pot with water, top, sides, bottom everything. The pressure indicator sucks back down inside almost immediately allowing  you to open it right up and check on doneness. Then back on the heat to half pressure to finish now that you have a clear idea how much time is required for your specific bean. 

I did not do that this time. I thought I had the time down already, as a result these beans are overly soft but I like them anyway.

There is no acid in the cooking liquid. Acid makes beans form a hardened surface that does not allow them to cook to even softness, but there are a lot of regular spices. Bay leaf, cumin, coriander. I forget all I put in there, probably chile flakes. Onion and garlic. 

Then taste-tested. At the end I decided they need sugar. And that makes a huge difference. It takes the beans from blah to delightful. They are! These beans are delightful due to the sugar added at the end. 

Swiss chard is cooked in the bean liquid separately. Another pressure session without the beans. This time I decided to cook the stems as well. I just chopped the Swiss chard crosswise across the stem, never minding about removing the stem as usual. And I am glad I did that. I will do it that way for now on. I like the stems for variety.

I over-pressurecooked the chard as well. It nearly disappeared to mush. But, Man is it good. When I perfect this technique I will be bean and chard unstoppable. I like it with everything. I recommend it. I recommend pressure-cooked beans with sugar added and Swiss chard cut with stems included. The whole thing is fantastic.

Then when the egg yolk blends with the beans it adds depth, umami, that is quite extraordinary. A tortilla, toast, hashed brown potato or rice, what have you, would round out the the whole thing  as a restaurant presentation. As it is, this is a wonderfully fast breakfast whipped up quickly due to the beans being leftover and merely reheated. Done in the microwave right on the plate heats the plate too and that keeps the whole thing heated throughout the meal to the very last molecule. I licked my plate like a dog, because I don't care, I am a dog.