A Sincere Attempt at Tofu “Chorizo”

I had some major doubts about Mark Bittman’s “Chorizo” tacos, as they are made of tofu. I like Bittman a lot and I like tofu but I really love Mexican food, so this was a bit hard for me to embrace. I do try and keep an open mind and this was my attempt at his “Chorizo” tacos.

I’m not going to repeat the recipe as it’s here on Bittman’s very good site. You basically fry the tofu until it’s almost dry.

I opte out of the optional red bell peppers as they seemed wrong for such a traditional Mexican dish. The chile powder was from that wonderful Rancho Gordo we keep hearing about. The instructions suggest a non-stick pan but they’re creeping me out these days so I ended up using my Blu Skillet forged steel pan and it’s a good thing because I found you really want to crank up the heat to make the tofu drier.

It takes a good long time to get the tofu cooked down and dry enough to have some body. And while it’s kind of good, it’s just almost nothing like chorizo. After the disappointment of the fist taste, I actually started to like it, but probably not enough to make again. If I were a vegan, maybe.

I will say that these were 100% better than the jamaica (hibiscus flower) tacos I attempted earlier. They were like eating wood pulp. Very dry wood pulp.

It did get me thinking, what if you took extra firm tofu and fried it a bit and then added it to a chile sauce? That might be terrific.

Check out the Mark Bittman site and subscribe to his newsletter. Every delivery brings at least two or three ideas that are great. He’s a friend of the bean, too!

Guest Post: Julia’s Cassoulet Moment

Over the summer, I was lucky enough to get to spend three days at Georgeanne Brennan’s house while we shot photos for our new cookbook, French Beans. When I wasn’t trying to pretend I was a prop stylist or a food stylist, I was hovering around her kitchen, watching her every move. Mainly, I was just trying so soak up some of her kitchen zen, the way she calmly moved about, checking on something in the oven, stirring croutons that were crisping on the stovetop, chopping herbs, humming quietly to herself.

On the last day of the shoot, chef Sarah Scott was nice enough to come and help with food prep. Cassoulet was on the shot list, and we were all excited. I watched intently as they readied the ingredients: the beans, the aromatics, the pork belly, duck confit, and pancetta. There are so many steps involved in this dish but Georgeanne methodically worked through them, making it all look pretty effortless. And then, three or so hours later, what emerged from the oven was a masterpiece—a bubbly, crusty, masterpiece.

It was torture not to dig in immediately, but first Steve had to take the photos. So. Many. Photos. Finally, it was time to eat. We heaped piles of still-warm cassoulet into bowls. We stood there, shoveling mouthfuls of beans and sausage and duck bits into our mouths. It was not an elegant scene. But it was certainly a glorious food moment that I’ll never forget.

Recently I decided that I wanted to make cassoulet for some of my friends, so they could experience the warm, convivial feeling of gathering around a big dish of bubbling beans and meat and just digging in with wild abandon. 

I stocked up on our Cassoulet beans, grown in California but bred from French Tarbais seed stock. I placed an insanely large order with The Fatted Calf here in Napa. And Steve was nice enough to lend me his cassole made in France by the iconic Poterie Not Frères.

Then, I opened up my advance copy of French Beans, and doing my best to harness Georgeanne’s kitchen zen, I got to work making her recipe,  “Cassoulet, More-or-Less Toulouse-Style.”

I cooked the beans:

Then cooked the meat and layered ingredients in the pot:

And, of course, dotted the top with pork fat:

While the cassoulet baked in the oven, my daughters helped me with the table settings and flower bouquets.

It was a gorgeous, warm fall evening in Napa and we carved out some space in our backyard for outdoor dining.

Three hours later, just as the first guests were arriving, the cassoulet emerges from the oven!   

Steve had warned me not to eat right away, that the cassoulet needs some time to sit. I had this in mind when I went downstairs to socialize, sip Champagne, and enjoy the cheese plate a friend had brought over. Before I knew it, over an hour had passed and I had almost forgotten about the cassoulet! We gathered to eat and even though we may have waited a bit too long, luckily, the cassoulet was still steaming hot.

We had 12 people total for dinner, and with a simple salad and some fresh bread and butter, this was just about the perfect amount of food.

Because the recipe says it serves 8, I actually had doubled it and baked an extra cassoulet in a Dutch oven, using my neighbor’s oven, but it hardly got touched and we had lots of leftovers! We shared plenty with our neighbor, in hopes that she would forgive us for the outdoor party that lasted well beyond bedtime.

Julia Newberry runs Rancho Gordo and was my co-author on The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen. We’re lucky to have her for so many reasons, but this post makes it clear why.

French Beans by Georgeanne Brennan (Rancho Gordo Press) will be available late Fall 2018
– Steve

Dinner Party: Fish Tamales in Soup with Garbanzos and Zucchini

I keep experimenting with this concept and it keeps getting better.

It started by my seeing a clay pot of these fish tamales in both in Morelia, Mexico. I’ve attempted to recreate it before. Every time it improves.

You start with a broth. This was half bean broth and and half water. The zucchini were sliced very thin and added with onion, parsley and celery. This continues to cook until you have an acceptable broth.

Soaked corn husks for tamales were soaked in warm water for a couple of hours to make them pliable. In each package I added an hoja santa leaf, two pieces of cod, morel mushrooms, zucchini slices and a mix of thinly sliced onion and jalapeño that had been marinating in olive oil. This was tied up with string to make a little package.

This is what I had on hand and sounded good. I would encourage you to do the same. Got shrimp? Use it! Some other vegetable? Just slice it thin enough to cook in the relatively short time you have before the fish overcooks.

They cooked in the broth for about 20 minutes.

While the fish gently poached, I fried up some padron peppers in duck fat. Oink. I mean, quack.

This salad of cucumber, yogurt, lemon, garlic and mint continues to be a summer favorite but my fickle family is getting tired of it. During these hot summer nights, I think it’s the best salad ever.

I cooked the fish in a red clay cazuela from San Marcos Tlapatzola in Oaxaca. It’s become a dedicated tamal de pescado pot.

Inspired by a traditional barbacoa in Hidalgo, I decided to add garbanzos to the bottom of every soup bowl and ladle the hot cooking broth over them as a soup course.

If all goes as planned, the tamales flavor the broth. Even the corn husk adds a little something.
I was confused what to call these. Tamales doesn’t seem a hundred percent right since there was no masa but my very clever friend Sharon Peters responded to my query if they can be called tamales:

Yes, they can, Steve. In Central and Eastern Mexico, it is not at all uncommon to encounter a tamal de X (pescado, hongos, etc.) that has been either cooked on the comal or poached in a shallow liquid. Most commonly found wrapped in hojas de maiz, but sometimes in hojas de plátano (which are especially aromatic). I had no idea that such tamales existed until I ran across them in a couple of (very) rural markets and at a puesto in the plaza in Tlaxcala. Guadalupe Pérez San Vicente, in her Repertorio de tamales (Cocina Indigena y Popular #15) states that her research led her to the conclusion that the term “tamalli” referred to something that had been “envuelto cuidadoso” – or, carefully wrapped. True, by far the most common in Mexico, and certainly in the US, are the tamales that are steamed in a vaporera.

Finally the warm fish packages are passed around and it’s a pretty nice moment. Everything is cooked to perfection and two seems about the right number per serving. There were no leftovers, not even of the soup.

Smoked Tomatoes With a Great New Toy

You know I love a new toy. I’ve written about clay donabe pieces from Toiro before and I’m strictly a tourist. The pots are an investment but for someone like me who still is haunted by the Napa fires last year, grilling and barbecuing is just not an option.

The Ibushi Gin stovetop smoker is perfect. It’s very easy to use and I am looking at every ingredient in my kitchen as a potential experiment. This last weekend I used crap Roma tomatoes from the grocery store. I salted them and added some of our Oregano Indio.

I would guess than most people who use these want a complete meal out of them but I think they’re worth it for creating ingredients that you can use throughout the week. The smoked tomatoes were ridiculously good and the skins really just slipped off. I used the tomatoes with some leftover hominy and pork and it was a great dish, thanks in large part to the tomatoes.

The pot comes with cherry wood chips. I am looking at containers of pecan, hickory and oak. I’m all in and will report back with more.

If you want to dig deeper, and you should, be sure and check out the book Donabe. It’s a whole new reason to be an obsessive.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with the Toiro people beyond being a fanboy. I hope to meet them and thank them one day soon! 

My Favorite Green Just Might Be Dandelions (Especially With Beans)

There’s not much original about loving beans and greens. They’re a natural combination. The greens are fresh and healthy, and if I have my way, a little bitter. They are offset by the creamy, indulgent beans.

My grocery store carries them in their organic section. I hope yours does, too. You can always ask the produce manager to bring them in if they don’t already. I don’t tend to see them at the farmers markets. They are considered a weed.

I normally just saute a little onion and garlic in olive oil to start but I had a fennel bulb heading south so I added it as well. It took almost 20 minutes on a medium low heat but it was worth it as the fennel caramelizes beautifully and this adds a lot to the dish. I’m not so keen on a strong anise flavor but it’s mellowed to the point of being groovy when you cook it this way.

Once you’ve rinsed the dandelions, chop them and let any water you used rinsing them cling to the leaves. It makes part of the sauce later.

Add the chopped dandelions to the onion mix and try and coat each piece with the hot vegetables. It will seem like too much but within a few minutes, it cooks way down. Stir occasionally.

In about ten minutes, the mixture is ready. It’s great as it is, over rice, stuffed into a pita or best of all, tossed gently with warm beans.

Everything was fine but why not make it finer? I added some toasted black walnuts. Ding Dang! That’s the ticket. I tried it again with just a few drops of lemon juice but it wasn’t necessary.

I could eat this every day and be a happy fellow.

 

 

 

 

 

A Clay Cazuela from Oaxaca with Shrimp, Acuyo Sauce and Pasta

A few years ago I was on a road trip through Oaxaca with my pals Yunuen and Gabriel of the Xoxoc Project, as per the usual, hunting for beans and clay pots.

This cazuela we found in Ixaltapec, on the isthmus. Sadly, the whole region was hit with a horrendous earthquake last year. A lot of the attention seems to have gone to the Mexico City quake, which was also bad, but the Oaxacan recovery has been much slower.

Recipe: Shrimp in Acuyo
influenced by the cuisine of Veracruz

10 small to medium sized leaves Hoja Santa (also known as Acuto or Hierba Santa)
1 serrano chile, chopped
1 small bunch of cilantro chopped
half a bunch of epazote, chopped
6 tomatillos, without wrapper
3 cloves garlic, chopped
water
olive oil
salt
1 pound shrimp
pasta

Place the hoja santa, serrano chile, cilantro, epazote, tomatillos and garlic in a blender with just enough water to allow the blades to move and blend all the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Heat the oil in a pan (or clay cazuela) over medium heat until it starts to ripple. Add the blender mix and stir. Bring to a simmer over medium low heat and continue to cook for about 7 minutes. Add salt to taste. Add the shrimp and cook until pink, about 5-7 minutes.

Toss over cooked pasta and serve.

Greens for Beans

I like them all: dandelion, kale, chard, lambsquarters….all of them. I could live without spinach but I would never make a fuss if it was offered.

Sauteed greens are a natural with cooked beans. Or as a filling in a tortilla. The last bit can be used in a soup. I love them and usually have several cooked in my fridge, waiting to be used.

I’ve seem recipes that have you boil them but that seems a bother. I wash the greens and add them to a wide pan of sauteed onion and garlic. Sometimes I use a little pancetta but mostly not. The washed greens cook down and the water that clings to the leaves meets the sauteed aromatics and they become a sauce.

Of course, I have to do everything the hard way so I have a dedicated clay cazuela for braised greens. It’s really not necessary but I like to pretend it is.

Slow Baked Garbanzos

One of my favorite books from the last years has been The Blue Zones (National Geographic, 2008) by Dan Buettner. Statistics for longevity are examined and there are some not so surprising conclusions reached, my favorite being that those of us lucky enough to make it to the old folks stage tend to eat beans.

The Greek Island of Ikaria is mentioned a lot and it’s referred to as the place where people forget to die. Citizens work, garden, eat whole foods, little meat and of course eat beans (and drink wine.) Works for me. Diane Kochilas’ book on the cuisine is Ikaria: Lesssons, Life and Longevity from the Greek Island Where People Forget to Die (Rodale Press, 2014) and there are a lot of solid recipes, making it worth your consideration. It’s a serious cookbook from someone who clearly loves good food.

Like many great dishes, it just takes a few ingredients to make something grand. In this case, almost cooked chickpeas are the foundation, followed by layers of onion, garlic, bell peppers, carrot and tomato.

This is slow-cooked for nearly three hours.

The vegetables end up with a great melt-in-your-mouth texture and create a sauce with the garbamzos and olive oil.

The original recipe says you can serve it hot, warm or at room temperature. Straight out of the oven, I think it just tastes like heat. Be sure and allow it to cool down. It tasted best at room temperature to me and leftovers the next day were tossed with some ham. Might fine, but perhaps gilding the lily.

Recipe: Slow Baked Garbanzos Beans
adapted from a recipe by Diane Kochilas’ Ikara (Rodale Press, 2014)

1 pound Rancho Gordo Garbanzo beans
6 medium sprigs of fresh thyme
2 medium sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 Rancho Gordo bay leaves
salt and pepper
3 large red onions, half and sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
1 each of red, green and orange bell peppers, cleaned and sliced into 1/4-inch rings
1 stalk celery, sliced into matchstick-sized pieces
2-3 large tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Cook the garbanzos in plenty of water with one of the bay leaves. Bring the pot to a rapid boil and continue cooking for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low. Gently simmer the beans until they’re almost soft, about an hour to an hour and half. (Timing will vary wildly if you are using older beans or a brand other than Rancho Gordo.) Strain the beans and reserve the cooking liquid.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a oven proof clay pan, like a cazuela, add the drained garbanzos followed by enough of the reserved cooking broth to reach 2/3 of the way up the beans. Add the herbs and lightly salt.

Over the chickpeas, layer the onions, followed by the garlic, then the peppers, the celery and finally the tomatoes, very lightly salting each layer as you continue. Finish with the olive oil. Cover the pan with a lid if you have one, otherwise cover with a piece of parchment paper and aluminium foil. Bake for 2 and half hours. Remove the top and continue baking for another 30 minutes. The liquid should be absorbed and top just starting to char. Remove and allow to cool to warm or room temperature. Crack plenty of black pepper over the top and serve.

(The original recipe calls for a carrot. I had celery on hand, so here it is.)

 

A Muy Porky Spanish Rice Dish for your Garbanzos

Baked Rice with Rancho Gordo Heirloom Garbanzo beans

It was a Sunday and guests were coming over and I got inspired. Two books, The New Spanish Table by Anya von Bremzen and Spanish Made Simple by Omar Allibhoy, inspired me. Allibhoy’s recipe was very simple but von Bremzen’s description added context and helped me to improvise, just a little.

I like paella and love it when it’s done really well. Mostly, I think of it like Mexican mole: it’s a special occasion dish for most of us and probably best left that way. This recipe appealed to me because it used Spanish bomba rice, which is short grain and absorbs all the love you can throw at it, and because it used the stovetop and oven instead of a special paella set up. I used an old favorite clay Spanish cazuela but you could easily use a large cast iron skillet.

To start things off, on Allibhoy’s suggestion, I took some salt-packed anchovies and soaked, cleaned and rinsed them well. Then I had them rest in a mix of olive oil, sherry vinegar and a pinch of sweet, smoked pimenton. Oddly, you serve these with plain potato chips. They were incredible and the platter didn’t last five minutes. This is a keeper.

I had adventuresome guests so I decided to use a mix of local sausages, in the this case, Toulouse and budin noir from The Fatted Calf. I was a wee bit concerned about blood sausages but when the final dish came out, they were the first things gone. They are very easy to enjoy.

In Allibhoy’s recipe, you just fry the sausages but von Bremzen suggests poaching them first for 2 minutes in boiling water. This seemed like a good idea and I saved the poaching water for a future pot of beans.

I also added some traditional Spanish-style chorizo from Aurelia’s in Texas. It’s delicious and I am going to assume very traditional. I ordered mine online and if you do the same, double what you think you may need as it will go fast and it seems to go with everything, especially beans.

Speaking of beans, the recipe called for a cup of cooked garbanzos. You could easily double this and extend the dish further. I’m comprising and calling for a cup and a half. Use between a cup and 2 cups but make sure they’re real and not from a can. Why, Rancho Gordo brand has gorgeous new crop garbanzos in stock right now! Amazing.

Baked Rice with Rancho Gordo Heirloom Garbanzo beans

Recipe: Arroz al Horno /Baked Rice with Sausages
inspired from recipes by Omar Allibhoy and Anya von Bremzen

3 ½ cups bean broth (or chicken, beef or pork)
2 teaspoons saffron threads
2 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 head of garlic, halved
8 ounces pancetta, cubed
1 small potato, cubed
2 morcilla sausages (blood sausages), punctured and poached in water for 2 minutues
4 Toulouse or other uncooked, European style pork sausages, punctured and poached in water for 2 minutues
1 hard Spanish chorizo
1 teaspoon sweet, smoked pimenton
1 bay leaf
1 large tomato, grated
2 cups paella (bomba) rice
1 ½ cups cooked Rancho Gordo garbanzo beans, strained
salt
olive oil

Heat your pan or cazuela over medium heat. If you’re using a clay cazuela, there shouldn’t be a problem but you might want to start on low and turn up the heat as the pan warms. Add a splash of olive oil and fry the tomatoes and garlic halves until they are golden, taking care to keep the top of the garlic half in one piece. Remove and reserve.

Add the pancetta, potatoes, morcilla and tolouse sausages and cook gently for 15 minutes, turning and browning the sausages as needed. Add the pimenton, bay leaf, and the grated tomato and continue to gently fry for 3-4 more minutes.

While the sausage mixture cooks, in a saucepan, bring the stock/broth up to a boil and preheat the oven to 400F.

Add the rice and stir, cooking for 2 minutes.

Pour the boiling stock into the cazuela, over the rice, along with the garbanzos and saffron threads, and stir. Spread the meat around as evenly as possible. Gently add back the garlic halves and tomatoes. Turn the heat up to medium high and allow the mixture to simmer rapidly for 10 minutes.

Put the entire cazuela into the oven and cook for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, check the rice. If it’s done, remove the cazuela from the oven and allow it to rest on the tabletop before serving. If the rice isn’t finished cooking, keep the cazuela in the oven and check every few minutes until the rice is cooked.

You can cut the sausages into halves, or even bite size pieces. I prefer halves.

Allow the dish to rest for about 10-15 minutes.

Simplicity and perfection in a bowl. 

Special friends were coming over so I decided to use the last of my Marcella beans. We’ve been sold out for awhile but I’d been saving them for an occasion. This was it.

(These easily could have been Alubia Blanca beans.)

I soaked them for about two hours while I messed around in the kitchen and then cooked them with just half an onion, very thinly sliced with a mandolin and a smashed clove of garlic. I sauteed these in good olive oil before I added the beans and water. A bay leaf was the final touch.

Marcellas are very delicate so I was careful not to cook them for too long. A few will break up and dissolve and that’s good but I also love the clear, flavored broth. Check them frequently once they really start smelling like beans.

To serve, a scant dribble of olive oil and fresh sage. If you think, “Oh, nice sage!” as your first reaction, you’ve used too much. Really, just the slightest hint of sage is what’s wanted.

Simplicity and perfection in a bowl.