You all know by know that I love to keep my pantry stocked with all the dried goods to create filling plant-based meals any day of the week. I recently shared my excitement at finding Palouse Brand lentils and wheat berries, but now I have another new favorite dry goods vendor--Rancho Gordo. While I have only just now tried one of the new varieties of heirloom beans that I ordered, I can already tell they'll be a company from which I make regular orders. As I always tell people curious about variety on a plant-based diet: the options are truly limitless for creating meals built around plants!
During a recent workshop I led on plant-based protein, someone brought up Rancho Gordo as a great source of beans. I had heard of them before and even checked out their website once, but for some reason I never ordered anything. This time I made a mental note to finally give some of their beans a try. They are located in Napa, California and have a whole assortment of heirloom beans that I have never seen nor heard of! They have a few familiar varieties, but most were completely new to me. Given my excitement for trying new things, I ordered quite a few. Plus I hate ordering just one or two things to have shipped. I'd rather make the box and shipping resources worth it!
A few had such good reviews I opted to order two packages. Once they came in last week, I knew some would feature on the menu for this coming week. The Scarlet Runner looked so gorgeous I couldn't help but pick them first.
There are so many different ways you can incorporate beans into your meals. However, I wanted to let these sing on their own so I opted for a very simple preparation. I rinsed them off before adding to a stockpot with sliced fresh leeks, water and a few bay leaves. Usually I would soak my beans, but I forgot to put them in water earlier in the day and just knew they'd take a bit longer on the stove top. Good food sometimes requires just a little bit of patience.
After just over 90 minutes, my gorgeously plump beans were ready to enjoy! Look how meaty these babies turned out. For anyone who thinks vegan meals aren't hearty, try a meal with these beans. Fiber and protein provide a double whammy of satisfaction and keeping you full for longer. I'm getting full again just looking back through my photos. ;)
To serve along with my yummy beans I roasted a huge tray of mixed collard and kale sprouts. A recent favorite from the farmers market. I also added some sliced leeks to the pan along with lemon pepper seasoning. So good, and so easy. Red potatoes rounded out the meal when I boiled and mashed them. My usual additions for perfectly satisfying vegan mashed taters are a splash of non-dairy milk and a generous scoop of plant-based cream cheese (in this case Kite Hill). I keep mine chunky with the skin on for added satiety and gut-health-boosting fiber.
This Saturday night meal wasn't lacking in anything. After taking the photos I went back to the stove and scooped out some of the pot liquor from the beans to use as gravy. Don't let any of that delicious cooking liquid go to waste! The beans made enough to last for a few extra helpings--all just as good as the first taste.
I still have another bag in my stash, though I am already tempted to make another order since it seems like they do occasionally run out between harvests! Perhaps I'll hold myself back for at least a week or two so I can try some of the others and see which ones are worthy of a second helping...and a third...and maybe a fourth...
Have you tried Rancho Gordo or other unique beans? Let me know which ones are your favorites in the comments!
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It looks too delicious and healthy. And if beans are a good source of vegetable protein that also fans the intestine and gives a lasting feeling of fullness, it also has carbohydrates and is a very nutritious food source.
So many great benefits of eating the humble bean!
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Those red beans look very similar to beans commonly available here and which are traditionally eaten with samp - dried corn. My mother used to call them kidney beans. I guess because of the colour. With winter approaching I shall be looking at beans again.
The collard greens still fascinate me. I must see if we can get them from our heirloom seed supplier.
Many of the red ones really do look like kidneys! Which may be one of those signs from nature: too much protein can put a strain on your kidneys to filter out the excess nitrogen. Perhaps beans have just the right amount? 🤔
I would love to see you experiment with the collards. I have some of the leaves in the fridge waiting to be used right now, too.
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I have not such happy childhood memories of kidneys...and yes, too much protein is a big issue and which is why I'm not a huge fan of the keto diet.
I am going to go looking for collards. I'm wondering if they're here in another guise...
I avoided beans at all costs as a child, so I suppose I don't have any really bad memories because of that, haha! Really too much of just about anything isn't good, right? Balance is always key, even for the healthy stuff.
And from Wikipedia:
Thanks so much for this. Going to check out the African names. The South African ones are not familiar, but that's not a surprise as there are 11+ languages and I'm only kinda familiar with Afrikaans and isiXhosa.
I am back: I have done some homework and it's also known as Rape here. The language in the Wikipedia link is Ndebele. The Husband and I have both eaten it/them. It's a brassica and a close relative to Canola. Now a packet of seeds is going on to the shopping list! Today.
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Yay! A little detective work was all it took. Can't wait to see if you can get it to grow well and how then you'll prepare it. 😀
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That plate of food looks delicious. Do you add anything to the pot liquor to make it a gravy? I find gravy hard to make so new ideas are always nice.
Thanks! The leeks just about melted into the cooking liquid and the starch from the beans thickened it up enough that I just used it as is right from the pot! It probably helped on that end that I hadn't soaked the beans ahead of time so it took longer for everything to cook and really let the liquid reduce down and absorb all the flavor.
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Beans for the apocalypse!!! Funny, my pototoes have ALWAYS been vegan - vegan marj and coconut milk, salt and pepper - job's a good 'un, as the English say.
I'm ready for round 2. 😂 Just kidding, I'm over the possible end times, haha! But it is nice to always be prepared. And to have variety in your doomsday prepping stores. 😜
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Delicious! :)
Thanks dear!
Looks absolutely delicious I would like to have some.
Would love to share with you!
My cryptonite, new and exotic heirloom beans. One of the things I take advantage of when visiting the USA is stocking up on various heirloom seeds, which I like to give to farming friends abroad. One day I hope to my own seeds in the ground when we have such stability.
What a delicious bean dish, and thankfully they aren't called Scarlet Letter beans.
Thanks for sharing chef.
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Well I'm definitely not monogamous when it comes to my beans, so perhaps Scarlet Letter is more apt than you would think...😂
I did stick a couple of the very few sub-par beans from this bag into the ground to see if they'll grow. There really is something fun about getting something from another part of the country (or world) and seeing if it will take root in your own backyard!
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