Stew

When we decided on white beans, I started looking around our kitchen for what we had that would pair with it:

- Canned heirloom tomatoes from the Everblossom Farm Winter CSA
- Dried rosemary from Everblossom
- Organic carrots from the supermarket
- Celery
- White onions
- Garlic

It made me think of a stew, thick and creamy, with a light tomato broth. I felt like going Mediterranean was more appropriate, even though the beans are grown in Mexico.

I searched the Googleverse for "white bean stew," occasionally with the qualifier "vegetarian," and I came up with a LOT of white bean and kale stews. All of which sounded great - I love the combination of beans and greens. I think I even have an entire cookbook dedicated to the combination.

The Kitchn's recipe for Tomato and White Bean Panade seemed to include all the ingredients I had on hand, looked easy enough, and sounded delicious. I knew I would leave out the bread, since we're not eating wheat these days, and I wanted a way to limit how much I consumed. We bought bread to serve on the side, since we decided to invite friends over for this bean tasting.

Here they are simmering away in the pot:

Do you see that one bean that is darker? There were a few of them in the mix. I thought of them as lucky to whoever ended up eating them.

When I was rooting around the refrigerator for veggies, I found a bag of beets with a fair amount of greens. Voila! I could use those for color contrast and nutrition-boosting.

Here's the final result:

It was pretty tasty, very beany. I thought the brown sugar made it too sweet, so I would omit that next time. But overall delicious!

Alubia Criollo

For our next bean, we decided to go the opposite direction, from brown to white. We chose Alubia Criollo. We actually have two varieties of these - the second we recieved as supporters for the Rancho Gordo - Xoxoc Project Fire Recovery Fund.

These that we received from the Bean Club came with this description:

"I was lucky enough to film a show called Emeril Green with the great Emeril LaGasse. He was a great guy and obviously tickled about all the beans we had. The bean that mae him flip, however, was the Alubia Criollo. He made me pronounce it on the air and if you've heard him say jalapeno, you'd be grateful. He was a very generous host and it was fun to be around such a legend and someone who really understood the beauty of beans. The Alubia Criollo are medium to large white beans with a super creamy texture and classic white bean flavor. Think about cooking them with a spring of rosemary (one is plenty. It's strong!) and your best, greenest olive oil as a dressing."

Fear Not

We haven't forgotten about beans. We just haven't given the latest updates. But here's a preview...

Libros de Michoacan

I know, I know...we promised you a bean blog and not a blog about a trip to Mexico that we took several years ago -- that's the subject of an entirely different blog.  And we will get to other beans before too long.  But before we leave all of our culinary reminiscing about Michoacan, I wanted to point anyone interested to two books that I read while we were on that trip that I recommend.

The first is less culinary, but deals with the history of the region.  Mexico is of course characterized by the relationship (or lack thereof) between the indigenous people and the European settlers/conquestors which played out differently in different parts of the country.  Bernardino Verastique's book Michoacan and Eden:Vasco de Quiroga and the Evangelization of Western Mexico tells the story of Vasco de Quiroga, one of the bishops working in the Michoacan region in the 17th century. I found this book extremely fascinating in the way it discussed the history of the area from the point of view of both the native Purepecha people and the Spaniards who came in and took over. Quiroga was a humanist, and brought many interesting ideas to the region, such as the idea that each village should specialize in a different craft (pottery, mask making, basketry, etc), an idea which still exists today. The book does a nice job of treating Quiroga even-handedly, rather than caricaturing him as either a Villain or a Savior. And while it is clearly written by an academic, the tone is fairly light and never gets too academicly dense.

The second book is Cuisines of Hidden Mexico: A Culinary Journey to Guerrero and Michoacan by Bruce Kraig, and it is part travelog, part cookbook, and part history as it is filled with the author's stories of trying to film a documentary series set in this part of the world.  I am not sure it has as wide an audience as a better-written book could, but I found it very valuable in planning our trip when we went and have gone back to consult recipes a number of times in the years since.

Sopa Tarasca

K has been writing about all of our great memories of Sopa Tarasca during our adventures in Michoacan -- and I have to admit that her writings have had me check out plane tickets to Morelia more than once, and if it weren't for the drugs and violence we would probably be heading down there at this moment. But until that situation settles down a bit we will have to make our own uchepos and sopa tarasca -- we'll save the enchiladas placeras for someone else.

After spending some time researching various recipes for sopa tarasca, I ended up coming upon a story that Pati Jinich wrote for NPR that had a recipe that sounded good. I actually remember reading this story when it first came out, shortly after our trip to Michoacan when we were still pining for Patzcuaro hardcore. At that time we didn't know who Jinich was.  Now, we are big fans, but that's a story for another day...

The recipe was quite easy to make -- basically just cook the beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and ancho chiles and then blend them all together with some stock...

...but, especially when combined with a bunch of garnishes, including homemade tortilla chips and fried pasilla peppers, fresh avocado and cilantro, and cotija cheese, the results were wonderful. And while I am sure that the special Rancho Gordo beans were part of what made this meal special, I'm planning to put this soup in heavy rotation soon!

Santa Clara del Cobre

Sopa Tarasca - soup of the Tarasca people - is a specialty of Michoacan, but we had no idea it was made with a special bean. I had Sopa Tarasca once, and I remember it well.

One day, we were visiting the smaller village of Santa Clara del Cobre, famous for its tradition of copper-working.

As we've mentioned, Michoacan is cool. Downright chilly, in fact. Santa Clara del Cobre was even colder than that. At 7,200 feet, the altitude put a true nip in the air - even at midday. It was beautiful though, and after a morning wandering through shops and museums, E had fallen asleep on my back and we were looking for lunch.

We chose a place right on the square, but it was your typical Mexican hole-in-the-wall. Not many tourists to the town, it seemed. Ordering a soup with a sleeping child in your lap isn't maybe the best idea, but she managed to eat it one-handed. The thick, warm liquid hit the spot, driving away some of the bone-chill. The fried chiles sprinkled on top helped with that too. The beans were satisfying, tasting almost nutty, and the fried tortillas gave it heft. All in all, a really satisfying meal.

Making a Plan

After we'd selected a bean, we had to choose a way to prepare it. As I considered this project, I was torn. Is the best way to experience a new, heirloom bean at its simplest - some garlic, onions, and maybe an herb to flavor the bean liquor? Or should we prepare elaborate dishes that create special occasions?

Then we thought maybe these two options didn't have to be in opposition - we could cook the beans simply, try some of them that way, then cook the rest in a fabulous recipe. So we had a plan!

As we read the description of Bayo Chocolate, a food memory arose: Sopa Tarasca ... mmmmmm.