A number of years ago, in an effort to lower our meat intake, we started to cook more beans. For a number of reasons, largely flavor and selection, we've ordered the beans from Rancho Gordo, an heirloom bean grower based in California. Over the years I've had more kinda of Rancho Gordo beans than I

This was featured in our last newsletter and this vegetarian main dish recipe is made with Rancho Gordo heirloom Royal Corona Beans, tomatoes and cream.

Hunkering down with your supply of dried beans? Let Steve Sando tell you how to elevate your beans and, perhaps, your life.

May 28, 2018 As I went through my blog spring cleaning last week, I was struck by just how many posts I have on pinto beans and chicken stock. Surely, I don’t need yet another bean post, do I…

Steve Sando's Rancho Gordo has a new cookbook, “The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Cookbook,” and it'll make you fall in love with beans.

Creamy, savory and satisfying, white beans braised in a generous quantity of olive oil and Harissa make for a delicious weeknight vegetarian meal.We used our favorite Royal Corona Beans from Rancho Gordo (available for purchase in our Oakland and Albany retail shops), but any white bean will do, such as cannellini.Wilt your favorite variety of greens into this dish, such as mustard greens, baby kale, spinach or collard greens.You can use Harissa Powder or a prepared Harissa Paste (see our quick recipe). Store-bought Harissa pastes vary quite a bit in heat level, so it's worth starting small and tasting as you go.The heat level of this recipe is mild to medium, but you can increase the quantity of Harissa for a spicier dish. Or serve with a small bowl of the Harissa paste at the table for garnish.Serve with grated Parmesan cheese if desired and spoon onto slices of good crusty bread.

We're in love with Rancho Gordo's Minestrone Soup recipe. Inspired by Marcella Hazan’s iconic Minestrone alla Romagnola, Rancho Gordo steamlined the recipe - and even adapted it for a slow cooker!

Discover delicate Flageolet beans. Step-by step recipe for a fresh, light, satisfying and delicious Flageolet Bean Salad.

Luxurious is an understatement.

You'll be on the Rancho Gordo Bean Club Waiting list a while, but for ease of cooking and health, this dietitian explains why it's worth it.

Heidi Swanson continues to inspire a lot of us every day. From her website and books, she always has something interesting going on and she’s quick to share.

Full of protein, full of flavor, gluten free and adaptable to almost any cuisine, quinoa has taken over as the grain of choice for a lot of us. It's quick cooking and works as a replacement for rice, couscous or pasta. Don't forget to add it to soups and stews! The black is a different variety and takes a little longer to cook than the golden. All are whole grains.  In North America, we tend to use it as a grain or to replace couscous. In other parts of the Americas, you'll see it as part of soupier dishes or savory gruels. Made by: Rancho Gordo Made in: Bolivia Specifications: 1 lb Latin name: Chenopodium quinoa Further Reading: Take a look at Rancho Gordo's Basic Bean Cooking for handy cooking and storing tips, then check out The Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Guide for more info and recipes using Rancho Gordo's delicious beans!

Rancho Gordo Corona Beans with Spicy Cilantro Pesto, its a ONE pot wonder, simple and delicious. Hands down the best quality beans are from Rancho Gordo.

The Super Bowl, America’s biggest football celebration and the one game for all the glory, is this coming Sunday. Are you ready for the big day? There are so many...Read More

I love fresh beans . They're versatile, inexpensive, and they feed a whole passel of people easily. What I don't like about beans...

My love of cassoulet let me to this quick, delicious dish. Flageolet are known for their delicate, mild flavor. This shouldn’t be confused with them being bland. They’re anything but! They do soak up whatever you cook them with so make sure you have quality ingredients. Here at Rancho Gordo, we like to keep it simple w

Steve Sando's Rancho Gordo has a new cookbook, “The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Cookbook,” and it'll make you fall in love with beans.

Rancho Gordo Corona Beans with Spicy Cilantro Pesto, its a ONE pot wonder, simple and delicious. Hands down the best quality beans are from Rancho Gordo.

Here's a very simple method from Spain for enjoying Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanca heirloom beans as a vegetarian side dish.

With cocktail hour, or just for fun, we’ve adapted a classic Italian appetizer recipe with Rancho Gordo garbanzos, oregano indio and Stardust Dipping Powder

A collaboration between Burlap & Barrel and Fatted Calf resulted in our favorite new spice blend, based on the flavors in Italian classic porchetta. This recipe is from Toponia Miller of Fatted Calf. She says: "This simple but flavorful variation on the classic Tuscan dish, Fagioli all’Uccelletto, is a favorite yea

Reprinted with permission from Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson copyright 2024. Photographs by Kelly Marshall copyright 2024. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Wilkinson writes: "Take it old school wi

Favorite Sides Bean Recipe from Three Sisters Nixtamal Portland with Rancho Gordo Dried Heirloom Lila Beans Xoxoc Project Chile Guajillo Adobo Recipe.

RANCHO GORDO Cooking Dried Beans from Steve Sando. Basic instructions and recipe for cooking dried heirloom beans in the Rancho Gordo manner.

This Flavorful North India Style Vegetarian Main Dishes Recipe of My Annoying Opinions Blog makes Rancho Gordo Dried Heirloom Eye of Goat Beans savory and smug.

In her seminal book, The Mexican Gourmet, author Maria Dolores Torres Yzabal includes a salad with just half cilantro and half watercress. Steve was intrigued by this and started making it at home. He came to love the slight bitterness of the watercress, but he wanted something that could stand on its own so he came up

RANCHO GORDO Cooking Dried Beans from Steve Sando. Basic instructions and recipe for cooking dried heirloom beans in the Rancho Gordo manner.

Lentils cook very quickly so you don’t have to make a huge batch and then figure out what to do with them. Unsoaked, they cook in about 20 minutes! That’s hard to beat. Obviously, they thrive in hot dishes like soups and stews, but a favorite winter salad has been a very French salad of green lentils, grated carrots, a

I somehow landed a copy of Omar Allibhoy’s Spanish Made Simple and while I wasn’t expecting much, several of the recipes have become favorites. It’s good! It isn’t a definitive guide to the Spanish kitchen by any means, but there’s fine inspiration for home cooks and dishes you don’t see all the time. The Coliflor con

Beans are so good. 🙌🏽 I know not everyone gets excited for them, but they’ve been part of my life since the very beginning. And I don’t think I’ll get tired of them especially if they always taste this good. 🤤

Gah, my mouth starts watering whenever I think of these beans. These look innocuous, but they are heady with garlic and deeply savory with rosemary and pepper flakes. I sometimes can't believe how good they are considering that they're made with things that are usually just lying around! Pure magic.

If you haven't tried making hummus at home, you're missing out--and paying more! A tip and recipe from THE NIBBLE webzine of food adventures.

Bean soaking method: Cook's Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking. Stewy Beans adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (In the book, the recipe is called "White Bean Soup with Garlic and Parlsey") This is a half recipe, so if you wish to make more, double the quantities keeping the cup of water/stock the same. Marcella adds parsley (no sage) to her beans, so if that sounds nice, go for it — she adds the parsley at the very end. She also purées a half cup of the beans through a food mill. I find this step unnecessary because the beans break down on their own.

Steve Sando's Rancho Gordo has a new cookbook, “The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Cookbook,” and it'll make you fall in love with beans.

This is a flexible salad recipe featuring some of our favorite summer ingredients. Adjust the ingredient amounts based on your preferences and how many people you are serving. Ingredients: Cooked cactus paddles (nopales), see below Radishes, very thinly sliced Corn off the cob Rancho Gordo Buckeye (also known as Yello

In the Rancho Gordo library, we have a well-used copy of the book Fagioli: The Bean Cuisine of Italy (Rodale, 2014) by Judith Barrett. It includes a handful of recipes that feature cicerchia, Italy's unique, tooth-shaped legume. Barrett recommends fresh oyster mushrooms as a substitute for the cardoncelli mushrooms th

Rancho Gordo Chili con Carne Roughly based on Tolbert’s A Bowl of Red, our adaption includes heirloom beans. I would like to serve this to Mr. Tolbert and hope for the best. I wouldn’t dare speak for him but I do believe you’ll like this chili con carne. Rancho Gordo Chili con Carne 3 pounds stewing beef, lean ¼ cup re