Recipes for the Week: Zolfini Beans
It is pretty easy for Zolfini beans to find their way into any soup you are cooking. Here's 2 soup option, a thicker ~stew~ option, and a very much not soup option for this week! All recipes are available for free online.
I'm starting the week by making a pound of zolfini beans today that should be enough for what I'm cooking this week.
Minestra d'Ville from Boonville Barn: Here's one from our recipe archives that can be made with whatever similar vegetables you have on hand. I love the croutons that get added to it.
Ribollita from Serious Eats: Similar in flavor to the Minestra d'Ville, this is a Hearty Tuscan Bean, Vegetable and Bread stew that starts out as a Minestrone soup and then gets bread added to make it more like a porridge or then fried up in a pan to dry it out and eaten more as a pancake. Yes a soup pancake. This is how I will convince my soup-averse husband to eat soup more than once this week!
Sauerkraut and White Bean Soup from Rancho Gordo: This soup was a surprise when I first made it. The sauerkraut at the end adds a delicious tang. I recommend a bit of hot sauce too.
Pizza Beans from Smitten Kitchen: A favorite that comes together quick especially if you have homemade tomato sauce (or a storebought jar) in your pantry. We're topping ours with pepperoni and are making Calabrian Chile Garlic Knots on the side (sometimes we make garlic bread to go with it too).
Recipes for the Week: What to cook with Southwest Gold Beans
Again, I've got one pound of Southwest Gold beans cooking on the stove to make these recipes for the week. I'm starting with the veggie burgers and then will use the remaining cooked beans for the rest of the recipes, cutting a recipe in half if need be.
If you are new to cooking dry beans, you can find my method here on our site.
If these recipes don't appeal to you, I think Southwest Gold beans can be used in any recipe that calls for pinto beans or many white bean recipes too. If you've got a favorite way to use these beans, send me a message!
Carrot and White Bean Burgers from Smitten Kitchen: I love a good veggie burger and since I can’t eat soy, I have to be pretty careful around which ones I eat. I think this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Carrot and White Bean Burgers will be a perfect option for the Southwest Gold beans. I’m making them tonight and think the sweetness of the carrot will play nicely with the flavors of this bean.
Quick Lunch - Tuna and Bean Salad: I found this recipe for Tuna and Bean Salad from Serious Eats and then got Clare Langan’s recipe for Samin Nosrat’s Favorite Tuna Salad in my inbox the next day. Tuna and beans seem like a perfect combo but I wanted a bit more in the SE option. I asked Clare what she thought of combining the two into a lunch with some toast. Clare recommends omitting the mayo in her recipe if you want to add beans to it. I’m going to make a mashup of the 2 salads for lunch all week to eat at my desk.
Chili: Southwest Gold Beans are my go-to beans for chili. I grew up eating chili once a week in the winter, but it was generally made with a mix of canned black, kidney, and navy beans. I can make chili off the top of my head (general ingredients being ground beef, beans, tomato, peppers, onion, cumin, coriander, chile powders, etc) and I've found that a chili recipe is a pretty personal thing. Everyone has a different way to make it and some are definitely better than others. One thing I don’t skimp on with chili is toppings (cheese! Sour cream! Chips! Pickled jalapenos! Sometimes small pasta!) Here’s a variety of chili options.
Try our White Bean Chili (which works totally fine with these beans). Another chicken chili that I love is from Julia Turshen’s cookbook Simply Julia (The recipe is Green Chile Braised Chicken Thighs with Pinto Beans if you have the book). Here’s a blog post she wrote about the recipe. Its basically a “sear chicken thighs in a pot, add beans, diced canned tomato, green chiles, and braise until you can pull the chicken apart” kind of recipe. You can use it for tacos, enchiladas, or eat it right out of the bowl with chips. My friend Lindsay just went to a chili cook off last week where the winner cooked America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for chili. The recipe is behind a paywall on their website but you can get it here on someone’s blog.
Sweet Potato Salad with Pepita Dressing: I made this Roasted Sweet Potato with Pepita Dressing a few months ago and really enjoyed it. While I made it with Tolosa beans (honestly mostly for the color contrast and the color of the bean pictured in the recipe), it would work great with the Southwest Gold beans too. When it's rainy and cold out, I'm down for a warm salad.
Recipes for this Week: Tepary Beans
The great thing about beans is that they are pretty versatile when it comes to swapping beans in and out. Tepary beans are no exception.
They are a great addition to soups and I’ve also seen them used in hummus as a swap for chickpeas.
And just because my brain sees them and is like "these small beans look like lentils!" I like to use them as I would in lentil salads or recipes where you want the lentils to hold their shape (I wouldn't swap them for a recipe with red lentils).
Here’s a mix of ways we’ve eaten Tepary beans and how we will enjoy them this week (or ate them last week to prepare!)
1. Burrata with Lentils (Sub for Tepary Beans!) and Basil Vinaigrette from Smitten Kitchen: I had a moment of panic one night last week when I had been making so many different bean recipes, Gideon was out of town, my fridge was fun, and I needed help eating everything. My friend Abi came over on a moments notice to help eat this warm bowl of Tepary beans and it was SO GOOD.
While it's not really the epitome of winter vegetables on hand, it was a perfect break from winter flavors. In addition to the zucchini, I added a small handful of mushrooms I had on hand and ample Piment d’Ville while the vegetables were cooking. I warmed up the Tan Tepary beans I had already cooked and mixed it all together. For the basil vinaigrette, I defrosted some pesto I made this summer as the base. The hunk of burrata mimics the creaminess of a poached egg and I have to say I prefer the cheese to egg for something like this! It was quick and very filling!
2. Acorn Squash and Tepary Bean Stew: We had this last week with our neighbors. I used butternut squash instead of acorn (I think the flavor is better!) and seared some chicken thighs in the pan and braised them in the soup while it was cooking. I seasoned the chicken with Piment d'Ville and added our Calabrian chile flakes to the stew towards the end. I opted out of adding the vanilla bean (just wasn't my vibe!) and also added carrots because I thought I saw them in the ingredient list.
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3. Tepary Beans with Chile Agave Glaze: We ate these beans alongside a piece of pan-seared Flank Steak and a salad! This was the first way I tried our Tepary beans a few years ago and it has a fun sweetness that baked beans have but is a bit less rich (in a good way!). I used Guajillo chile powder.
Apologies that this recipe requires a NYT Cooking subscription. But basically sauté some onion, add 2 cups of cooked Tepary beans and their juices, some agave syrup, Guajillo chile powder, and simmer till the liquid thickens. Top with oregano. The earthiness of the Brown Tepary beans worked well with the sweetness of agave and smokiness of guajillo chile powder.
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4. NYT also has a recipe for a crisp and summery Tepary Bean Salad, but here’s a basic description: mix 2 cups of cooked Tepary beans with chopped red onion, cooked corn, diced bell peppers, cilantro, and diced jalapeño and dress with a cumin vinaigrette made with apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, cumin, garlic, and olive oil.
5. Naanwiches with Tepary bean and Feta Mash: Here’s another recipe where I’m swapping Tepary beans in. I’m also opting to use store bought naan for the sandwiches because sometimes you just don’t have time! It’s a hearty lunch that my friend Clare says she makes often.
6. Frijoles Fronterizos (Border Beans): This recipe for a bowl of Tepary beans with chorizo, bacon, chiles, and tomatoes seems like the perfect thing for another rainy night this month. Tucked into a tortilla or eaten over rice, it seems flavorful, hearty, and super comforting.
7. Tepary Bean Nachos: I’m also including this recipe for Tepary Bean Nachos from Chef Denella Belin, a member of the Dine’ Navajo Nation who was working as a sous chef at a restaurant in the Tohono O’odham Nation. These nachos are inspired by the Tohono O’odham tepary beans.
Recipes for this week: Anazape Beans
You'll have a hard time finding more than a few recipes out there specifically for Anazape beans, but start looking for recipes for Anasazi beans or Rio Zape beans and you’ll have a bit more luck. Or just use them as you would any black or pinto bean! They have rich, deep flavor that is pretty different than the other beans we grow. They get really creamy, but break down a bit more than Southwest Gold beans. The foods I’ve been cooking with them have skewed a bit more Mexican, but there’s a lot you can do with them!
1. Enfrijoladas I went to Oaxaca, Mexico last year and on my first morning there had Enfrijoladas. Think Enchiladas but with a bean sauce instead of a chile sauce. The Anazape beans were perfect for this. Basically you cook the beans with onion, garlic, and I added a little Mexican Oregano and our Yahualica chile flakes. Gently fry up a corn tortilla and dip it in the beans to cover. You can fill the tortilla with a bit of queso fresco or just crumble it on top. I used this Rancho Gordo recipe as a guide, but ended up blending the beans into a puree after an unsuccessful first attempt of tortilla dipping. I also topped the enfrijoladas with steamed chicken tossed with salsa verde and pickled jalapeños. I’ll be making this regularly with these beans. Here’s another recipe to follow as well - I like the idea of the chipotle peppers in there too.
2. Sweet Potato and Bean Tacos with Yahualica Olive Oil Salsa: I do not tire of eating these tacos. And this Yahualica Olive Oil salsa is not only pretty easy to make (just make sure to turn on your hood or have some kind of ventilation when toasting the chile flakes!), but it is basically a dupe of my favorite grocery store creamy chipotle salsa.
Tortillas are filled with a simple bean mash and roasted cubed sweet potato seasoned with a bit of Yahualica chile flakes. There’s plenty of toppings with avocado, queso fresco, radish, lime, cilantro, and pepitas.
3. Rio Del Rey’s Pot of Anazape Beans Since Mike created these beans, it’s important to include a recipe for how he cooks up a pot of Anazape beans. If you’ve heard of “Brothy Beans” as a meal, this is a great recipe to follow. It is simple, but with lots of flavor. He sent me a recipe that also includes adding a tablespoon of Chimayo chile powder when the beans are boiling - our Piment d’Ville (Classic or Smoky) would work as a substitute. A lot of brothy bean recipes call for white beans, which I think is mostly to keep the broth less colorful and have the beans appear “cleaner.” I think using a super flavorful bean is a better option and would opt to use the Anazape.
4. If Brothy Beans is your thing, try Erin Alderson’s Brothy Beans with Roasted Tomatoes or Miso Butter Brothy Beans with Scallions. And if you are an Erin Alderson fan like us, I’d recommend her cookbook, The Yearlong Pantry. There’s a recipe in there for In-N-Out Style Black Bean Burgers that we made with Tolosa burgers in the fall that were SO GOOD that you could totally make with the Anazape Beans.
5. Anazape Bean and Winter Squash Traybake With utterly frigid temps across the country, a cozy and warm baked vegetable dish seems like a comfort to cold bones. Get a loaf of crusty sourdough bread for dipping into this roasted vegetable and bean bake.
6. Haystacks are something eaten by various denominations of Christians in North America. To be clear, Haystacks are not Nachos, nor are they a taco salad. I was introduced to Haystacks by a friend who grew up in the 7th Day Adventist Church. I remember texting my cousin and asking if she had ever eaten Haystacks before as she was actively eating Haystacks in a church basement in Pittsburgh for a Mennonite wedding celebration.
These Haystacks are all about the beans. I added a few cups of cooked Anazape beans (and their liquid) to a pot and simmered them with ground cumin, garlic powder, a bit of onion powder, Guajillo chile powder, and Comapeño chile powder. I cooked them till the beans broke down a bit. Then it's time to assemble. Here’s how my friends make theirs: start with a layer of Fritos on a plate. Then add (in this order!) beans, cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, diced tomato, diced onion and olives if you are into them, avocado, sour cream, and finally salsa. Regional differences abound with Haystacks so if you make yours differently, that’s great! Sometimes these classically American flavors really hit the spot.
7. New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice Okay I recognize that these beans are not red, but I do think that they would add the right flavor to Red Beans and Rice. And with Mardi Gras coming up, it seems like the perfect time to make Red Beans and Rice with our Anazape beans. This recipe has you cook the beans with the onion, bell pepper, and andouille sausage in them so I wouldn’t use already cooked Anazape beans for this. I’m going to try this on Wednesday night!
8. Charro Beans If I haven’t given you enough options of ways to eat bowls of beans, here’s one more. These hearty beans are made with bacon and ham and are named after Mexican Cowboys who would make big pots of these beans over the fire. Serve these beans with rice and tortillas.
