Year of the Bean

April, such that time has meaning: Yellow Indian Woman Beans

After the success of the other week’s grain salad (which also finished as a soup!), I decided to do another, with the small, creamy Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman bean. Ingredients: Beans 300g Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman beans 2 tsp. granulated onion 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 bay leaf salt…
New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice

Adapted from the wonderful book Cooking Up a Storm, this recipe is a very straightforward and satisfying bean. Ingredients 500g Genesee Valley Bean Co. Light Red Kidney Beans 350g fresh ham hock 1 onion, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 bay leaf 1 tsp. smoked paprika 1 tsp. Creole seasoning…
Christmas Lima Beans Grain Salad

A nice change of pace with these delicious meaty beans! Ingredients 250g Rancho Gordo Christmas Lima Beans 1 cup sorghum 2 roasted red peppers, chopped (with any oil if preserving in oil) 3 scallions, chopped olive oil salt Procedure Put beans in heavy-bottomed pot, covering with 2″ water, and add olive oil Raise to a…
Pozole Rojo with Pinto Beans

From this past Sunday – a winner! Ingredients 250g Yoder Farms Pinto Beans 250g Rancho Gordo White Hominy one quart chicken stock two skinless boneless chicken breast halves two New Mexico Hatch Chiles one Ancho chile one large onion 4 cloves garlic salt Procedure Soak pinto beans overnight; cook by covering with 2″ water (including…
Year of the Bean: Plague Times and Yellow-eyed Beans

The Year of the Bean is back, from an illness-based hiatus. And we emerge into… a global illness-based hiatus. This week we’re focusing on making a big pot of beans – to last through, to share, for something to do. Ingredients 700g Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye Bean One onion, chopped Two roasted red peppers, chopped…
Week Seven: Fasulye White Beans

One of the things I love doing as I travel around New York is visiting the wide variety of different supermarkets in other neighborhoods. After an invigorating afternoon of birding in Sheepshead Bay last week, I was headed to the train and stumbled on the Ocean Foodmart – a truly great bodega, with seafood (salmon…
Week Six: Superb Owl Sunday Chili Two Ways

Though I can’t actually watch futból americano without wincing anymore, I can’t pass up a chance to participate culinarily in one of our biggest secular holidays. And what that means, of course, is chili. I’m doing a three-bean chili – three beans I’d already opened by not exhausted, that I think will work very well…
Week Five: French Green Lentils

Versatile and simple, lentils are a great legume to have around. They cook up quick and can be used across a whole host of dishes – on their own, in soups, grain salads, or formed into patties for great veggie burgers Ingredients 250g French-style Green Lentils, rinsed one medium onion, sliced thin one tablespoon kosher…
Week Four: Domingo Rojo

Sticking with the beans-and-rice theme on this cold day, this great little red bean is perfect for simple, nourishing meals. Ingredients 300g Rancho Gordo Domingo Rojo beans one small onion, chopped into 1/2″ pieces two small carrots, chopped into 1/2″ pieces two cloves garlic, minced one bay leaf olive oil salt (only after beans are…
Week Three: Black Beans

Sometimes simple is best. Black beans have been one of my absolute favorite beans since the time when I was only familiar with beans in their out-of-a-can form, and they remain so now. Just a simple pot bean with rice is just about as good as it gets. Ingredients 200g Rancho Gordo Midnight Black Bean…