I’ve said this over and over but when you have something out for your guests to eat and drink, you can mostly take your time with the rest of the food.
My favorite hummus recipe is easy and
I’ve been getting my tahini online from Soom Foods and it’s so much easier to work with than a bottle or can from the grocery store that has been sitting there so too long. And it’s delicious and I’ll be re-ordering.
Quality chickpeas are also essential.
Leftovers are my best friends.
I had made white beans and kale the previous night, and there was about a cup left. Before you ask me for the recipe, it’s beans and cooked kale. That’s it. I added some tahini and lemon juice and pureed it with an immersion blender, and then I had this wonderful dip, but not before adding a healthy dose of really good extra virgin olive oil.
I would have called this White Bean Hummus, but I don’t know if there is such a thing and I know how offended I am by creative martini drinks when a martini is gin and vermouth. Not being sure and not wanting to offend hummus purists, I present to you: White Bean, Kale, and Tahini Dip.
I’ve used the recipe in The Kitchn for making ricotta cheese with milk and lemon juice for years. I know that it’s worth it to make it just for the cheese, but I think it’s great for using up extra milk.
This time, inspired by Carlos Yesca‘s recipe in the current Food + Wine, I made the cheese as instructed but afterward, I added some salt and chopped epazote and then placed it in a cheese basket to let all the excess liquid drain. This might be a form of queso fresco or paneer but I’m not sure.
It’s not a decadent gooey cheese. It’s ideal for adding to a pot of beans or a very quick quesadilla. And it’s fun.
In our last Rancho Gordo newsletter, I made this comment:
I was looking through our customer reviews on ranchogordo.com and in general, the feedback is the kind of thing most companies dream of. We have about 95% five-star reviews and the occasional clunker. Most of the bad reviews state something like this: “I’ve been cooking the beans in a bean pot for six to eight hours now and they still aren’t soft. They were soaked for twelve hours and have been simmering in a ceramic bean pot all afternoon and evening.” Or “I soaked them at least 24 hours and used them in my recipe and no matter how long I cooked them they were still crunchy.”
What do they have in common? Excessive soaking.
As I’ve said many times before, most of us here don’t soak our beans. We know how fresh they are and it’s easier to just cook them. Sometimes I’ll get up early on a Sunday morning and soak the beans for cooking later in the day but I really think between four and six hours is more than enough. It’s not science, but a suspicion I have is that the beans are starting to sprout.
I’m not anti-soaking but I do think you can over-soak the beans.
I was naive to think there wouldn’t be a response! I’ve decided to post
I should add, I don’t have any problem with our beans not softening. And judging by our customer service inquiries, neither do the vast majority of you. We have all kinds of problems, but this just normally doesn’t come up as one of them. But when it does, it seems to be accompanied by an extremely long soak.
Steve,
As a geologist, I thought I would add to your over-soaking comment. Many water systems have natural salts that may also harden prevent the beans not
I never had success cooking beans until I discovered Rancho Gorda beans and your website.
Thank you for the great products, cooking methods and fab recipes.
All my best,
MC
Hi Steve,
That’s an interesting take on soaking. I just drop the dry beans into boiling water, let them boil for 1 measured minute and then let them soak for an hour. They come out perfectly so long as I use the beans of the year.
I just finished harvesting my crop of Marcella’s and Tigereyes and am in process of harvesting white runners. I doubt that I will plant the last next year. The vines take over the world! This spring I harvested a small crop of red lentils and am waiting for cooler weather to cook up a mess of red lentil/Italian sausage potage.
I tried some nuñas popped in the microwave and was less than impressed. I’ll try them in a skillet next time but this variety doesn’t look like a repeater to me. Maybe some garbanzos will be worth a try next spring.
Growing and eating beans is immensely satisfying!
Walter
As I always say, if you have a system that works for you, keep on it.
re the Nuñas, I like the idea of them popping but after years of drying them to try and get them to pop, it’s seemed less than a thrill.
I find that if you add salt or tomatoes before the beans are soft, they will never get soft. Many recipes include salt or tomatoes too early.
I love your beans!!!
JoAnn
Steve, I’m wondering if your customers who are commenting on cooking issues are adding salt too early to the cooking water. I believe (from experience)that has an effect on cooking time. Love, love your beans! I’m grateful to my friend who introduced me to your products. Thank you, thank you.
Hi Steve,
I’m just wondering about your thoughts on the recommendation by Americas Test Kitchen on “brining” beans during the soaking period. Like you, I typically only soak for 3-4 hours before cooking but have found that 3-4 tbs of salt in the soaking water helps. You do have to rinse this off and cook in unsalted water after that and only adjust seasoning at the end. They (ATK) claim that brining causes some change to the skin structure which keeps it intact but not hard. Just wondering in RG has ever tried or heard of this?
Craig
We talk about this a lot because people bring it up. It’s hard to bother when our beans seem always to come out. Julia has promised to try this over the holiday weekend.
Steve: another culprit is salt. I used to salt my beans as soon as I added the water and other ingredients, but sometimes they never softened, no matter how long I cooked them. After doing a little research, I found a Diana Kennedy recipe that says to NEVER salt beans until near the end of the cook time. Now I never salt until the end, and they come out perfect every time! Salud, James
I tend to salt at the point when the beans aren’t quite done but it’s clear that there’s no turning back. The pot starts to smell like beans. If you wait too long, you’ll have salty broth and bland beans. It’s a balancing act.
Hi Steve,
So are you saying that over soaking causes “hard” beans??
Best,
Roger
Yes. It can happen!
Steve –
I agree! Rancho Gordo beans are so fresh they hardly require any soaking. I never have to soak the Midnight Black Beans – they are my all time favorite!
Will you ever have the Florida Runner Beans again? Or something similar?
Best –
Diane
Hi Steve! Hope you are well! On soaking beans, I will say that those who live in places where the water is hard as a rock, do need to add a teaspoon of baking soda to the quick
Hello there!
Regarding soaking beans: I’ve been experimenting a little with my new toy…a Fissler stove top pressure cooker. I have been doing a quick soak first. I pour boiling water from the kettle on my beans and soak for about an hour, then pressure cook them for about 20 minutes. I probably don’t need to do the presoak. I never have when I’ve cooked my beans the normal way. But I like the way the beans are coming out. Just thought I’d share.
Best wishes, Cheri
Loved the New Yorker article. Really enjoying your beans. A quick question hopefully.
I soaked a pound of Scarlett runners (will do less soaking next time, I hear you on they’re so fresh don’t necessarily need it). I drained early the next morning and put in a container and promptly forgot about them. They’re about ten days old now. They look fine, smell fine, haven’t sprouted, aren’t soft or mushy, etc. Do you think they’re okay to cook still?
Another question as I’m writing this: can I freeze simply cooked beans (I’m thinking I do a basic cook, split in half, freeze one, cook the other and the next week or month, unfreeze and make a completely differ t recipe).
Thanks in advance for anything you might offer. Hope all is well there for you and yours!
Amy
I would pass but only based on instinct, not science.
Freezing is easy and those that do it recommend freezing with plenty of bean broth.
Interesting article on bean soaking…we are above 5000′ and use a pressure cooker…never had problems with soaking overnight…no consistent issue except maybe for some beans in the batch. just our two cents worth for what that is worth anymore 🙂
great beans and newsletter…
best, Will
Ah ha! So one
Recently, I took a class at Sur la Table. We used an
Erin
If you soak beans (at least
Best, Paul
ps – In your searches, please look for small garbanzos. I got some from Arrowhead (sorry) but most are much bigger. The little ones are more like those I’ve had in Italy.
I just read your latest newsletter and I wanted to say something about oversoaking beans. I’m with you — my (starting to become extensive for a home cook) experience shows that yes, you can oversoak beans. Basically, I think that once the soaking water starts to froth on the top they’ve been soaked too long and are starting to ferment (or maybe sprout, as you suggest). 12 hours is too long! Overnight is too long! 24 hours is way too long. 3-6 hours is fine, and not soaking at all is also fine but does take a little longer. Maybe an hour or two. So I’m not sure if you’re really saving much time by pre-soaking anyway.
The only Rancho Gordo beans I’ve found tricky in regards to cooking time are the
Thanks for all your work
This one:
Cooked cactus paddles (nopales)
radishes
corn off the cob
Yellow Indian Woman beans
oven roasted tomatoes
Rancho Gordo wild rice
Banana vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
thyme
The best tomatoes are “in season” but if you’re in a bind, take romas and cut them in half. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle sea salt and fresh thyme over them and slowly cook them in a low oven, about 275F for an hour or two.
Need some help with the nopales after foraging?
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.
Two relatively recent books on slow cookers have inspired me to dust mine off. I go through periods where I am enchanted but often the results are a murky mess. Both Hugh Acheson’s The Chef and the Slow Cooker and Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker are solid and deserving of your attention.
In the end, I think you can justify buying a slow cooker just for making beans. These books take it one step further.
You put in the beans, unsoaked if they are Rancho Gordo, a little onion, some garlic and maybe a spoonful of olive oil. That’s it. You can put them in in the morning and come home to a wonderful pot or you can start at night before going to bed and in the morning the house is filled with a lovely aroma like no other. You just woke up and you’ve already achieved something grand today!
From Julia Newberry, my co-author of The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen, we have this great burger alternative. We tried a lot of bean burgers and this was the one that worked for us. I actually prefer these as smaller fritters.
I started out thinking I would make little bean “fritters” but ended up making 3-inch patties and wrapping them in butter lettuce to eat. It turns out that the same basic recipe can be used whether you want to shape the mixture into a small ball (fritter), a small patty, or a large patty. I prefer these with Yellow Eye or white beans, but darker beans, even black beans, work too.
Recipe: Bean Cakes with Chard
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup finely chopped Swiss chard or other leafy green
4 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye beans, drained
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for serving
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 head butter lettuce, leaves separated but kept whole
Lemon wedges
Serves 4
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the green onion and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chard and saute until the chard is wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the beans and mash with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let cool. Add the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, egg, salt, and pepper and mix until well combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Wash the frying pan so you can use it for the next step.
Form the bean mixture into small balls or larger patties (see note).
Heat a thin layer of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until shimmering. Without crowding the pan (and working in batches if needed), add the fritters or patties. Cook until the bottoms are golden-brown, 3 to 4 minutes for fritters or 5 to 6 minutes for patties. Flip them with a flat spatula, and cook the other sides until golden. Add more oil to the pan for each batch.
Place the fritters on a bed of butter lettuce, top with a generous amount of lemon juice and salt, and serve immediately. Alternatively, you can serve the patties with burger buns and fixings.
The family was invited to a great Easter party at my friend Geraldine’s and with our bounty of eggs, thanks to our flock of chickens, it seemed like a natural to bring some deviled eggs. I admit to being a freak over them. I’m not clear on how many is too many.
My son Nico was the egg master. One of my first cookbooks was The Pooh Cookbook. It’s a great beginner’s book. The recipes are simple but well thought out and only slightly patronizing. I used to love the carrot top tea.
Nico has latched on to the deviled egg recipe, which is pretty basic. Instead of dusting the eggs with paprika, as instructed, Nico used our Stardust powder and it was perfect. I especially love that this would never have dawned on me.
Like almost everyone else, I have been enamored with Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons. At first I resisted. Seasonal market cooking. Really? Again? Yes, really. The story is the seasons but in the end, it’s simply a great book for people who find the produce section the most interesting part of food shopping. The recipes are simple and straightforward without a lot of chef-y pretense and my copy, less than a year old, is filthy from use. Splattered with some really good memories.
One of my favorite recipes has been the raw asparagus salad. With the new asparagus coming right now, it’s a great time to experiment. As the season wears on, or as the asparagus has to travel farther to get here, it can be woody and lackluster. This is really a recipe for super fresh vegetables.
I have been faithful to my microplane zester but more and more, I prefer the grater or a citrus zester. Not for everything, but I don’t want my pasta cheese to always be fluffy and ethereal. Sometimes I want it grated. I am a rebel that way. So for this recipe, I zested my Meyers lemon into strips and chopped them. I grated my Parmesan cheese with a fine grater.
The original recipe has no beans in it. I had about a cup of cooked leftover, drained Scarlet Runner beans, which as of this writing are unavailable, but Ayocote Morado and Ayocote Negro are also runner beans and equally at home in this recipe. I mad the salad again with the much smaller and denser Yellow Indian Woman beans and they were great. I haven’t tried this with white beans yet but there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t be work. Whatever bean you use, bring them to room temperature and drain them well, saving the bean broth for something fine like soup.
This is a good traveling recipe. If you’re thinking of a pot luck or prepping earlier in the day, try making a bowl of the wet ingredients and and another for the dry and then toss them at the last minute with the olive oil.
Recipe: Asparagus and Runner Bean Salad
Adapted from a recipe by Joshua McFadden (Six Seasons, Artisan Books, 2017)
Ingredients:
1/3 cup dried breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup chopped lightly toasted black walnuts
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
1 cup cooked Rancho Gordo Scarlet Runner beans, Ayocote Morado or Ayocote Negros (or Yellow Indian Woman)
About 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Extra-virgin olive oil
In a large bowl, toss the breadcrumbs, cheese, walnuts, lemon zest, mint leaves, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Cut the asparagus on a sharp angle into very thin slices and in another bowl, toss with the beans, the lemon juice and some olive oil.
Just before serving, toss the two bowls together and check for seasoning, adding more olive oil, lemon or salt as needed.
