Heirloom beans go minimalist in Rancho Gordo vegetarian cookbook

After founding Rancho Gordo Beans 17 years ago, Steve Sando has made a name for himself in the culinary world as the ultimate “bean guy.”

From the New Yorker to Saveur magazine, the 58-year-old Napa Valley entrepreneur has consistently advocated for the lowly legume, putting it on the national radar while catapulting it into the mainstream here in Wine Country, where his heirloom beans - about 35 varieties, from Scarlet Runners to the spotted Eye of the Tiger - are now available at Oliver's and other premium markets.

“When Sando founded Rancho Gordo, he had no food-retailing or farming experience,” the New Yorker reported in April 2018. “Now he's the country's largest retailer of heirloom beans and a minor celebrity in the culinary world. He's a side dish who's become a staple.”

In the past 10 years, Sando has also launched a series of cookbooks aimed at helping folks cook with his New World beans, a beautiful, many-hued variety of new crop (freshly harvested) dried beans that each claim a unique flavor and texture, from mild and savory to creamy and dense.

His first cookbook, “Heirloom Beans” was published by Chronicle Books in 2008. By 2011, he had started his own press, Rancho Gordo books, so he could self-publish “Supper at Rancho Gordo” and subsequent books.

“We can control everything that way,” Sando said in a phone interview last month from his home in the Mayacamas mountains between Sonoma and Napa counties. “And we're playing to bean freaks rather than the general public.”

In his latest tome, “The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen,” written in collaboration with Rancho Gordo General Manager Julia Newberry, Sando strips the heirloom bean down to its unadorned core, presenting it au natural, without chicken stock or bacon fat to augment - or obscure - its flavor.

“I'm not a vegetarian, but about 80 percent of what I eat is what's in this book,” said Sando, who included several photos of dishes that require no recipes. He calls the non-recipe dishes “Quick Ideas,” and the dishes grew out of his penchant for posting Instagram photos of his meals.

“People are not sure in their cooking,” he said. “Beans on toast with butter … what don't you understand? You don't need a recipe. I just did it, and you can do it too.”

The cookbook illuminates Sando's growing realization that heirloom beans are best cooked simply, enhanced only with a little olive oil, aromatics like onion and garlic and water.

“For cooking beans, I think vegan is the way to go,” Sando said. “If you add a hambone or chicken stock, that's a waste because you don't need to do it. What makes a bean great is pretty subtle, so you have the potential to lose that.”

Another impetus behind the vegetarian cookbook, Sando said, was that he recently became a single parent, and his son, Nico, 17, came to live with him.

“He wanted to eat healthy and vegetarian, but he's a total meat lover,” Sando said. “So I said, ‘Why don't we eat vegetarian during the week and whatever we want on the weekends? … I have always tried to balance one meat to two vegetarian dishes.”

It didn't make sense to divide the book into courses since “one man's salad is another man's main course,” he said.

Instead, the author organizes the book chapters by the color of the beans - white and light beans, medium-bodied beans, dark and hearty beans, plus a final chapter on nonnatives and grains Rancho Gordo also produces (garbanzo beans, wild rice, posole).

In the white and light bean category, which includes eight beans, Sando said his favorite is Alubia Blanca, a small, Spanish-style white bean with a creamy texture and a thin skin that nevertheless holds its shape.

“They are super versatile and super easy and delicious,” he said of the bean, which is ideal for soups and Spanish dishes, such as the book's recipe for Alubia Blanca Beans with Romesco Sauce and Crispy Potatoes.

Among the six medium- bodied beans, Sando is partial to Yellow Indian Woman, a small, dense and velvety bean that is also one of his staff's favorites.

“It's like a black bean, because it's super creamy and makes a great broth,” he said. “It's more of a Western bean and more versatile.”

Sando likes to smash the creamy Yellow Indian Woman beans and serve them on toast with tomatoes and herbs or pair them with cheese inside chiles rellenos.

Among the 16 dark and hearty beans listed, Sando singled out the Eye of the Goat bean, a classic pot bean that requires little in the way of adornment.

“We call it the ‘You'll be back' bean,” he said. “The pot liquor on that one is just insane.”

While cooking heirloom beans is fairly easy, the beans are a bit more temperamental to grow than commodity beans.

“The yield is lower on heirlooms, and they are more susceptible to the daylight hours and the altitude,” he said. “Some beans that do great in Mexico won't do well here.”

Sando contracts with farmers to grow about 25 of the Rancho Gordo beans in the Central Valley and up into Washington and Oregon; about 10 beans in Mexico; and one bean - the giant Royal Corona - in Poland.

“We tried to grow it here, but it got worse and worse,” he said. “So we went to Italy, and they said everything is grown in Poland.”

As an introduction to the cookbook, Sando provides a primer on “How to cook a pot of beans in the Rancho Gordo manner,” which addresses the ongoing debate about whether to soak beans or not, and if you soak, whether to change the water.

Sando said he sometimes soaks the beans but often skips that step because his new-crop beans are so fresh. As far as soaking, he likes to follow the advice of food scientist Howard McGee, who suggests keeping the soaking water and not soaking more than four to six hours.

“If you change the water, it's not worth it because you're also taking out vitamins and minerals and flavor,” Sando explained. “We have people who say they soaked our beans for 24 hours, and they never softened. My hunch is they are starting to sprout because our beans are so fresh.”

After years of experimenting with beans on the stove, Sando believes they turn out best if you add the vegetables, then raise the heat to medium-high and bring the liquid to a hard boil and continue to boil the beans for 10 to 15 minutes.

“You have to give the beans a good, hard boil to let them know you're the boss, then reduce them to a gentle simmer before covering,” he wrote. “The aroma will fill the room when the beans are almost ready. You'll no longer smell the vegetables you've cooked, but the beans themselves. At this point, go ahead and salt them.”

However, if you've made the leap to cook with heirloom beans, Sando said, you are already so far ahead of everyone else that the technique you use is not all that crucial.

“Once you use heirloom beans and really good olive oil, suddenly you don't need a recipe anymore,” he said. “You've got this incredible food ... that's why Italian food is so brilliant. Instead of ‘What can we add to make it better?' It's ‘Let's take something away.'?”

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“Roasted sweet potatoes are a staple for quick dinners in our house,” Newberry writes. “What better way to round out the meal than with beans and rice? The green sauce adds color and a bright herbaceous ?avor. Store any extra sauce in the refrigerator and use it as a salad dressing or as a dipping sauce.''

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The following recipes are from “The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen” by Steve Sando and Julia Newberry.

Black Beans and Rice with Sweet Potato and Green Sauce

Makes 4 servings

2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Midnight Black beans

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into rounds or wedges

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided use)

- Rancho Gordo Stardust Dipping Powder or 100 percent pure chile powder

- Salt and pepper

- For the Green Sauce:

1½ cups plain yogurt (or sour cream)

1 small bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed

2 green onions, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 small jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped (optional)

- Juice of 1–2 limes

- Salt

2 cups warm cooked white or brown rice

In a small saucepan, warm the beans over low heat.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and coat with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. In a bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and a liberal amount of Stardust, salt and pepper. Spread the sweet potatoes on the baking sheet in a single layer; bake until soft, about 30 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake until the edges of the sweet potatoes are caramelized, about 10 more minutes. Check the sweet potatoes often and move them around on the sheet to make sure they don't stick or burn.

For the Green Sauce: Place the yogurt, cilantro, green onion, garlic, and chile (if using) in a blender; blend until smooth. Add lime juice and salt to taste.

In a bowl, gently combine the rice and beans. Divide the rice-and-bean mixture among plates, top with sweet potatoes, and drizzle with the green sauce. Serve extra sauce at the table.

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Somehow, kale has become a very trendy ingredient. Kale Caesar salads, kale chips, kale smoothies - kale is everywhere you look!” Newberry writes. “I very much enjoy the ?avor of kale so I'm all for this trend. I especially love it in a simple soup like this. Any hearty green, such as chard, collards or spinach, would also work. “

Yellow Eye Bean and Kale Soup

Makes 4 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 garlic clove, minced

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

1 small bunch Tuscan kale, leaves stripped from the stems and sliced into thin ribbons

1½ cups cooked Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye beans in their broth

1 sprig fresh rosemary

4–6 cups vegetable broth

- Grated lemon zest

- Red pepper ?akes (optional)

- Salt and freshly ground pepper

- Thin slices of baguette, toasted and cut into small croutons

- Grated Parmesan cheese for serving

In a large saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the carrot; cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the kale ribbons; toss until they are coated with oil and garlic. Add the beans, rosemary and about 6 cups total of bean-cooking liquid and vegetable broth. Raise heat to medium-high; simmer until the kale is tender, about 15 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprig and stir in lemon zest, red pepper ?akes (if using), salt and pepper to taste.

Top each serving with croutons, a drizzle of olive oil and some freshly grated cheese.

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“My love of cassoulet led me to this quick, delicious dish. For some customers, a pound of beans can be intimidating. What to do with all the leftovers from that first simple pot? Even I can struggle if I've had no dinner guests,” Sando wrote. “This is an easy dish. I've tried it with just beans and no vegetables, and it's too heavy. The onions and fennel are perfect, but I imagine slow-cooked leeks would work just as well.”

White Bean Gratin

Makes 6 to 8 servings

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided use)

2 medium fennel bulbs, outer layers removed, cored and thinly sliced

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo white beans (such as Flageolet, Marcella, Alubia Blanca, Cassoulet, or Royal Corona), cooking liquid reserved

½ cup bread crumbs

1 teaspoon dried thyme

In a large skillet, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion and garlic; sauté until soft and well-cooked, 15–20 minutes. Gently stir in the beans and remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, bread crumbs and thyme.

In a 9-inch gratin dish, first add the onion-bean mixture. Add enough of the reserved bean-cooking liquid so that the liquid rises just halfway up the beans. Top with the breadcrumb mixture.

Bake until the bread crumbs are brown and the liquid is bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Staff Writer Diane Peterson can be reached at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @dianepete56.