Category: Misc

A Rant: We Are Not Normal

This was in our newsletter a couple of weeks ago and it clearly had an impact on some of our bean buddies. I thought I’d reprint it here. Maybe you recognize yourself. – Steve

It’s easy to like our customers. People who cook and appreciate heirloom beans tend to be more interesting, nicer, and enjoy a better quality of life. I live in a bubble of delicious food and like-minded people so I sometimes lose track of life in the “real world.” I prefer hanging out with my fellow bean freaks.

You may not realize it but as time marches on, we home cooks are becoming rarer and rarer. The fact that we get excited about a new bean, a cooking pot, or even a new wooden spoon, puts us in the minority. Most of us think of cooking as fun and a great way to bring people we care about together. We see a pound of beans and we imagine how we’ll be cooking them, how we’ll be serving them, and maybe the smiling faces that will be eating them. I have a constant vision of leaving the kitchen and walking towards the dining room table with a huge pot of something good between my hands as I ask for help finding a trivet. This is possibly my favorite moment of the day. I try and do it most nights.

A meal kit is fine, I suppose. A frozen dinner is an emergency. Are there good ones? I don’t know that I’ve ever had a decent frozen dinner. A dinner out is fun and sometimes inspirational. But a refrigerator full of cooked beans, roasted vegetables, stocks and broths, pickles and condiments, is like a palette waiting to be put to use to create something new. I have cooked Garbanzos, cold chicken, and squash. A soup is born. Chard, black walnuts, and wild rice? There’s a dish right there. I can even ask my 17-year-old son to make his own lunch just by picking out what looks good. (He can cook just fine without my help but a loaded fridge helps avoid the temptation of cans.)

I lovingly packed a lunch to bring to the office today and of course, I left it on the table at home. This was a real drag but I keep cans of sardines in my desk and today the Rancho Gordo store was sampling Marcella beans so I had a nice bean and fish dish, made even better by a pinch of our Burlap & Barrel Smoked Spanish Pimentón Paprika. A wee dash of olive oil? Heaven, and it beat Taco Bell by a mile. 

I know you have your tricks like this. And you’ve noodled around to find your favorite technique for making beans. You probably love to share your bounty with friends and if you’re like me, they can give you the “eye roll treatment” from too much information about your favorite beans, but almost all of them love being a guest at your table. Sometimes it may seem thankless but you need to know that our kind is getting to be rarer in a time when what we do is more important than ever. What can make more sense than sharing food at a table with people who need a good meal, simple or fancy? We have a job to do and a role to play, and I thank you for being a part of it! We’re all in good company. 

Guest Post: Julia’s Preserved Meyer Lemon Relish

The two Meyer lemon trees in our backyard went crazy this winter. My family has been enjoying the harvest in every way that we can, and handing them out to friends by the bushel. (Okay, I don’t actually know what a bushel is, but thought it sounded cool and homestead-y.)

When we are rich in Meyer lemons, I usually make a batch of preserved lemons using a method that a friend shared with me, which came from her Persian family recipe vault. They are super secretive about the recipe—she’s one of my best friends and I had to pry it out of her—so I won’t get into specifics, but the gist is that you dry lemon slices in the sun with a bunch of salt, then you preserve them in olive oil. They are incredible, but a little labor-intensive. And they require sunshine, which we do not have at the moment in rainy Northern California.

So, I decided to try a different method this time, where you let the lemons sit in salt and their own juices until the rind becomes soft and flavorful. I found many recipes for this method, and they all seemed quite similar. I used the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving as a general guide.

My twist on the basic recipe is that I’ve front-loaded the work of chopping the preserved peel every time you want to use it. Once the preserved lemons were ready, I threw the rinds into the food processor and now I have a chunky relish that I can, and do, spoon on nearly anything: a bowl of beans and greens (of course), soups, salads, sauces, marinades, dips. The options are endless! Last week, my husband and I splurged on fresh Dungeness crab and he stirred a spoonful of the relish into the melted butter that we used for dipping. Wow. Just wow.

Note: A little of this stuff goes a long way. When you’re adding it to a dish, start off with less than you think you’ll want. You can always add more if it’s not enough.

Rancho Gordo Large White Lima beans, baby arugula, and preserved lemon relish.

Preserved Lemon Relish

12 organic lemons, preferably Meyer lemons (about 3 pounds)
1/2 cup sea salt
One quart jar or 2 pint jars
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

  1. Sterilize the jar(s) by boiling in hot water for 10 minutes. Keep hot until ready to use. Wash the lid(s) and band(s) with warm, soapy water.
  2. Juice 6 of the lemons. You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups lemon juice.
  3. Wash the remaining 6 lemons well, then pat dry. Cut a thin slice off the stem end of each lemon. Starting with the cut end, cut each lemon into 4 quarters, leaving the bottom end connected by about half-inch of fruit.
  4. Pour 1 tablespoon of the salt into the bottom of the sterilized jar(s). Hold one lemon over the jar, fan open the lemon quarters, and pour about 1 tablespoon of salt into the middle. Rub in the salt a bit so it adheres. Place the lemon in the jar and repeat with the remaining lemons and salt, packing the lemons tightly into the jar(s). I was able to fit 6 lemons into a quart-size canning jar. Cover with any remaining salt.
  5. Fill the jar(s) with the lemon juice. The juice should reach to about 1/2 inch of the top. Add more if it doesn’t. Add the lid and screw the band on tightly.
  6. Store the jar(s) of lemons in a cool, dark place, or in the refrigerator, for about 2 weeks. Shake the jar(s) every day or two to evenly distribute the salt.
  7. After about 2 weeks, the lemon rinds should be soft and ready to use.
  8. To make the relish, remove and discard the pulp and membrane from each lemon. Place the lemon rinds in a food processor and pour in about half of the liquid left in the jar. Pulse until the rinds are roughly chopped. You can add more liquid if you like, or discard it, or save it for another use. You can also chop the rinds by hand if you don’t have a food processor available.
  9. At this point, I divided the lemon relish among smaller (sterilized) jars so I could share some with friends. You could also return it to the original jar and keep it all for yourself (which I probably should have done). If you like, you can top with olive oil to mellow out the flavor.
  10. Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Julia Newberry is General Manager of Rancho Gordo and is the co-author of The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen (Rancho Gordo Press, 2017)

FedEx Drops the NRA

As you may remember, we dropped FedEx over their insistence on partnering with the NRA. They’ve been stubborn and even now, they’re insisting they’ve dropped the NRA because of financial targets not being met but I suspect otherwise. Whatever the reason, the promotion and partnership are done. 

I’m happy to report that we’ve switched back to FedEx as UPS as our primary logistics partner was not a good fit. We still have our account open and we use the US Postal Service, as well, but FedEx is back. 

The Best 10 Rules to Live by When You Are Young and Ready to Travel.

My friend Canice saw this photo of me from the early 1980s in Sestri Levante. It’s a beach town in Liguria, Italy and I spent many summers there in my early 20s. She wrote:  I wanna use this photo to persuade young people to live a little, while they have the chance.

Sestri Levante, early 1980s

I know exactly what she means. I wouldn’t go back to my youth for anything but your twenties are a time to really let things rip. Yes, you can go to Europe at any age but you find as you get older you can’t really “crash” on a ferry boat like you can when you’re young. You suddenly need a private bath and a comfortable bed in a way you just don’t when you’re in your 20s. 

Most importantly, you make friends more easily and you’re open to new experiences in a way that a cautious old fart isn’t. And you look so much better in photos than you will in your 50s.

In my 20s, I worked like crazy, lived on nothing and saved every penny for trips to Europe. Yes, it was somewhat easier then, but I had two roommates, lived like a pauper and you if you want this, you’ll figure out how. And I think you should.

Inspired by Canice, these are my 10 things every young person should do when they travel. 

  1. Talk to strangers.
  2. Eat weird food.
  3. Learn to sleep on buses and boats. 
  4. Meet lots of mothers who know how to cook.
  5. Learn a song in a foreign language so you can sing along when your new friends get drunk.
  6. Live like a pauper for a few months so that you can travel. Come home and then do it again. (Hint: This traveling will make you more interesting, and you’ll get better and better jobs the more you do it.)
  7. Don’t assume anyone gives a sh*t how we do things in the states.
  8. Dance with an old person.
  9. Learn to say Hello, Goodbye, Please and Thank You in your host language. Use them all frequently. 
  10. Sleep when you get home.

I was going to add to not make yoga poses in front of the Eiffel Tower or at Machu Picchu, but you know what? If you want to, do it. It’s none of my business and if it makes you happy, be my guest. I think it’s weird and indulgent, but I like Ethel Merman in a non-ironic way. There’s room for all of us.

I’m not adding it to the list, but I would suggest you put down your smartphone. Traveling used to mean really cutting yourself off from your everyday life. You sent postcards and sometimes letters. Phone calls were insanely expensive, and you only called if something went wrong. You had no idea what anyone else was doing, and the news came from the International Herald Tribune. My gentle suggestion would be to take lots of photos and then share them when you get home. Your friends will be just as impressed. The burglars won’t know your schedule quite so well. I promise you, you will not suffer from missing Aunt Myrtle’s cat photos in real time. 

I focused on Europe. Now my obsession seems to be Mexico and the Americas. Asia would be great. I want to encourage everyone to see as much of the world as they can, especially the young. Go for it.

Baked Fish with Tomatoes and Olives on a Bed of Pureed Cassoulet Beans

Anissa Helou’s Feast: Foood of the Islamic World (Ecco Press, 2018) is a great book and you should have it in your personal library. It’s big, beautiful and full of recipes that are complicated and exotic along with much simpler fare. The common thread is celebrations. I’ve had the book for a while now and it remains a constant inspiration. The recipes work.

I’ve taken a lot of liberties with her Baked Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Olives recipe from Morocco. She calls for a whole sea bass but my market had fillets of halibut. The all green olives were replaced by a mixture of green and black only because this is what I had on hand. I also added a bed of pureed Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans on each plate to rest on as a starch instead of bread. But the basic dish is chermoula-marinated white fish baked with tomatoes and olives. I did follow that!

A traditional Moroccan clay vessel for fish is a tagra. I’ve been wanting one for a very long time. I’ll get one one day. I used the bottom of my clay, unglazed tagine and it was great. I even used the tagine lid to keep the dish warm as my slow but determined family made their way to the table for a Sunday supper. We all agreed that this was a keeper, especially with so many good heirloom tomatoes at hand in the garden. I’m hoping Anissa won’t mind all the liberties taken with her recipe.

Recipe: Baked Fish with Tomatoes and Olives

For the Fish
1 ½ to 2 pounds of firm white fish, such as halibut or sea bass. 
Chermoula (see below)
Sprigs of flat leaf parsley
4 large firm ripe tomatoes, cut into thick slices
sea salt
10 ½ ounces green (or green and black) olives, pitted, preferably by you, sliced in half
2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans and some of their cooking liquid 

For the Chermoula
5 cloves of garlic, minced to a fine paste or pounded in a mortar
1 small onion, finely grated
½ bunch of cilantro, stems discarded, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 2 lemons, or to taste
sea salt, to taste

  1. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place on a platter or in a bowl. Gently massage the fish with the chermoula and marinate for at least 2 hours, preferably longer, in the refrigerator.
  2. Preheat the oven to 425F (220C).
  3. Blanch the pitted olives in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and reserve.
  4. Spread the parsley over the bottom of an oven-to-table baking dish large enough to hold the fish. Lay down the marinated fish and then cover with sliced tomatoes. Season the tomatoes with salt and add any leftover chermoula over the tomatoes. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Add the reserved olives and cook for another 10 minutes. Take care to not overcook the fish. A whole fish will take a few minutes longer than fish fillets. Allow the dish to rest for 5 minutes.
  5. Warm the beans in a small pot and puree them with an immersion blender. The consistency should be almost like a pancake batter; thick but still soft and liquid. If they are too runny, turn up the heat to medium-high and stir as the bean puree thickens. If the beans are too thick, add a little water.
  6. Have each guest put a ladle full of the bean puree on each plate and then add the fish.

Too Much Corn? Leftover Beans? Soup Is On the Way

Between the farmers markets, my own vegetable garden, and sloppy refrigerator housekeeping, I often end up with too many vegetables. This week it was too much corn. The result was a soup with pancetta, Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans, and corn right off the cob.

We tried this with the addition of a poached egg and the combination of egg and corn is almost cloyingly sweet. It was OK but we all agreed it was better as it is. If you prefer creamier soups, you can obviously blend this with an immersion blender but personally, I love all the texture.

I’ve made this with all bean broth and it was too “beany” if that makes sense. The pancetta and aromatics make such a delicious base that you don’t need much else as long as the corn is fresh and the beans are good.

I reheated some leftover and add a touch of heavy cream. It was incredible but a very different soup. If you’re having a rough day, add the cream. Otherwise, enjoy the glory of summer corn without it.

Recipe: Pancetta, Corn and Bean Soup

4 ears of corn, kernels removed 
3 ounces pancetta, cubed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ yellow onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon Rancho Gordo Oregano Indio
2 cups water (or half water and half bean broth)
salt, pepper to taste
optional: 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

In a soup pot, saute the pancetta cubes over medium-low heat until tender and chewy, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent them from burning.

Add the garlic and onions and saute until soft, about five minutes. Add the corn, beans, and water, stirring to mix all of the ingredients. Continue cooking for about 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Right before serving, you can add some heavy cream if you like. Allow the soup to cook another 2 or 3 minutes to reheat if necessary.

Cassoulet Bean Soup with Guanciale and Capers

This was a winner. I only took notes so I don’t have a proper recipe for you but I bet you can manage and maybe even make this better.

Leftover cassoulet beans are terrific for soups. Many like to puree them and have a silky texture but I generally prefer a more rustic soup.

I think I was the last person on earth to discover salt-packed capers. They are delicious and only a slight bother. You can rinse and soak a batch of them, then squeeze any liquid out and rest them in some good olive oil. They’re a perfect ingredient.

My notes say:

11⁄2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Cassoulet (Tarbais) beans
1 oz guanciale
2 spoons of capers in oil
1 spoonful olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup bean broth
1 cup water
4 poached eggs
Parsley for garnish

I’d render the guanciale in the olive oil until cooked, then add the capers and garlic. Once the garlic is cooked, add the liquids and cook for a bit to make the base for a soup. Then add the beans and right before serving, the eggs.

You can make the eggs well ahead. Just undercook them a smoodge and pour the hot bean soup over them.

Edited to add: I made this again because I had all the ingredients on hand but this time I took a big rosemary sprig and I added it after the guanciale was cooked and removed it right before serving. It worked well!

Rancho Gordo Goes to Alta Baja with More Stars than in the Heavens!

Rancho Gordo Supper in Orange County to Highlight Heirloom Mexican Beans, Support High School Art Program

On Sunday, July 8, Rancho Gordo, renowned purveyor of heirloom beans, will hold its first-ever supper in Southern California at Alta Baja Market in Santa Ana. The special event will feature three courses prepared by some of Rancho Gordo founder Steve Sando‘s favorite SoCal restauranteurs: Delilah Snell and Richard Lu (Alta Baja Market, Electric City Butcher), Evan Kleiman (Angeli Caffe, KCRW’s Good Food) and Carlos Salgado (Taco Maria). Each course will highlight different Mexican heirloom beans offered by Rancho Gordo, recently featured in the New Yorker and beloved by chefs across the world.

All proceeds of the supper will go to the arts program at Valley High School in Santa Ana, and there will be a art exhibit to accompany the supper.

 

There will be two seatings for the Supper, the first at 3 p.m. and the second at 5 p.m. To attend our Supper, we require that you RSVP and pay for your ticket in advance. Please call Alta Baja Market at (714) 783-2252 to process your reservation and payment over the phone, or stop by the store (201 E. First St. Santa Ana, CA 92701) and make your reservation and payment in person. Please specify which ticket you are purchasing, and for which seating. You must RSVP and pay in advance directly with Alta Baja Market—no exceptions.

Pricing:

-Three course Rancho Gordo Supper- $50.00
-Supper + Valle de Guadelupe wine pairings- $75.00
-Supper + Valle de Guadelupe wine pairings + a copy of the new Rancho Gordo cookbook “The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen” – $100.00

See you there!

Beans As Part of the Columbian Exchange

Part of the fun of being featured in The New Yorker was hearing from people all over the world and their stories about beans and/or Mexico. One of the most surprising contacts was the wife of Alfred W. Crosby, Jr, a professor and historian from California who wrote the seminal book, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. (Greenwood Press, 1972) It’s a fascinating book and of course I went straight to the index to look up “beans” when I got my copy.

 

The bean was-third of the alimentary trinity that supported Meso-American civilization when the Spaniard arrived–the other two members being maize and squash–and plays a role of similar, if not equal, importance in the diets of millions throughout the world today. The bean family contains over one thousand species–some New, some Old World in origin–and since most writers and statisticians have been satisfied that “beans is beans,” it is difficult to make precise statements of the importance of American beans. The most important single kind of bean is the eastern hemisphere’s soybean, but the lima, sieva, Rangoon, Madagascar, butter, Burma, pole curry, kidney, French, navy, haricot, snap. String, common, and frijole bean are all American. Often called the “poor man’s meat,” American beans are especially rich in protein, as well as in oils and carbohydrates.

When the European arrived in America, the American beans already existed in varieties suitable to almost every climate, and they were so obviously superior to many Old World pulses that they quickly spread in Europe, Africa and Asia. Because they have often been a private garden crop rather than a field crop, they have escaped the official censuses; when they are listed in censuses, they are often grouped under the general heading “Pulses” with number of other kinds of beans. Their importance defies exact statistical description, but the importance is still there. Any world traveler will tell you that the visitor-from-far-away may be treated to gourmet delights for his first few meals in a strange new country, but eventually he will find himself confronted–in Norway, Siberia, Dahomey, and Australia–with a plate of beans –American beans.

I also love 1491 by Charless Mann and America’s First Cuisines by Sophie Coe.