The first week of 2021 has been a doozy! I have spent most of my time between Zoom meetings, and grant-writing, consuming WAY too much news! So, when this weekend dawned sunny and fresh, I tore myself away from doom-scrolling with a trip to the store and a cooking mission.
First on the stove was a bag of Rancho Gordo King City Pinks. These amazing little beans are an heirloom from King City, California where they were immortalized in John Steinbeck’s book, Tortilla Flats. I decided to prepare a simple batch of Charro Beans that would really let these thin-skinned pink beans shine. Charro beans are also known as Mexican Cowboy Beans or Frijoles Charros (named after the traditional Mexican cowboys ‘charros’). If your pantry isn’t stocked with wacky heirloom beans, this recipe can be recreated with pintos.
Charro beans are really pretty easy to make! All it takes is some thick-cut bacon, a half of a diced onion, roasted red pepper, and a few serrano chiles simmered with the cooked beans and a can of your favorite Mexican beer. I fancied up the final dish with crumbled goat cheese and some quick-pickled shallots. The result was all things delicious: smokey bean broth, a slow creeping heat, tangy slightly sweet shallots, and creamy melty goat cheese.
If you follow my lead and cook a whole pound of beans, you will likely have more cooked beans than you really need for the Charros. I decided to make a simple marinated bean dish that stores well in the fridge. My husband Neil has been super into eating salads lately--to be clear, a “Neil Salad” includes a few leaves of spinach topped with all of the add-ons that you hope to see at a really good salad bar: chickpeas, olives, croutons, cheese, and ample Caesar dressing. Some marinated beans seem like just the thing to add a little special panache to his salad selections.
Winter Sundays in the Kelly household are the perfect time for more involved dishes--prepped early and then popped into the oven to finish along with a glass (or two) of wine and binge-watching crime dramas on Netflix. I cleaned out and organized my pantry this week and discovered a ridiculous amount of dried pasta so mission #2 is to use up the assorted partial bags taking up too much space! When it comes to dried pasta, I am all about baked casseroles--denser pasta stands up well to strong flavors and benefits from absorbing sauce while baking in the oven.
My hubs just can’t get enough mushrooms in his life, so I decided to make Woodsman Pasta - a smoky, earthy dish with a variety of mushrooms, bacon, and tomato cream sauce. You can absolutely make Woodsman Pasta on the stove top--but I opted to make the dish a little saucier, poured it into a casserole dish, topped it with cheesy breadcrumbs, and finished it in the oven. With the first spoonful, I was transported to a winter cabin surrounded by trees, wood smoke scenting the air.
Baked Woodsman Pasta
Yield: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
6 Slices Thick Bacon - cut into thin slices
1-pound Italian sausage (sweet, hot, or
mild is up to you) - either bulk or cut out
of casings
1-pound assorted mushrooms (I used
portabella, shitake, cremini, and oyster) -
trimmed and sliced
1 yellow onion - sliced
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 t fresh thyme leaves
1 28-oz can tomato - crushed by hand or
coarsely pureed
½ c white wine
1 T soy sauce
1 T lemon juice
1-pound dried pasta - tubes are best
1 c heavy cream
1 cup breadcrumbs (I prefer Panko style)
6 ounces grated parmesan cheese
¼ c chopped parsley
Olive oil as needed
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the pasta in a large bowl and cover with hot salted water by 3 or 4 inches, soak for 30 minutes stirring it after the first 5 minutes to prevent sticking. Drain pasta.
Cook bacon over medium heat until browned. Transfer bacon to a plate or bowl and reserve. Add sausage to bacon fat and cook, mashing it with a spoon until it is broken up and browned. Transfer sausage to the bacon bowl and hold.
Add fresh mushrooms to the pot with the rendered bacon and sausage fat. Cook stirring often until the mushrooms are soft and starting to brown. Add a little olive oil if they start to get dry while you are cooking them.
Add onion, garlic, and thyme and sauté until the onions are softened and starting to turn golden brown. Add olive oil as needed if the pot becomes dry.
Add reserved bacon and sausage back to the pot. Then add the crushed or pureed tomatoes. Add white wine, soy sauce, and lemon juice and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to maintain a slow simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add drained pasta and heavy cream.
In a separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, and 2 T olive oil. Massage together with your hands until well mixed. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour pasta into an oiled casserole dish. Top with bread crumb mix and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until crispy and golden on top.
Charro Beans
Yield: 2 for entree 4-6 for side
Ingredients:
5 strips thick bacon - chopped
½ yellow onion - diced
2-3 serrano chiles - seeded and minced
2 red bell peppers - roasted, peeled,
seeded, diced
4 cups of cooked pink (or pinto) beans
1 can beer
For garnish:
Goat cheese (or Sand Hill Dairy Queso
Fresco)
Directions:
Sweat bacon in a pot until the fat is rendered and bacon is crispy. Pull out bacon and reserve. Add diced onion and chiles. Pickled Shallots and cook over low heat until soft and starting to caramelize.
Stir in roasted red bell peppers, beans, and beer.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes over low heat until the flavors have mixed.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Garnish with crumbled cheese, reserved bacon, and pickled shallots.
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