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I want to nudge myself into more bean cooking so I'm posting about the recipes I make with my bean club shipment and this seems like a good place. I used the Marcella beans to make one of Marcella Hazan's soups - White Bean Soup with Garlic and Parsley from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. The header notes for this recipe say, "If one really loves beans, all one really wants in a bean soup is beans. Why bother with anything else?" So true and so delicious! You could take this in any direction by adding sausage, red peppers, tomatoes, a spoonful of pesto....all good, but not necessary. I used homemade chicken broth instead of the meat broth called for and I did add a bit of extra broth after taking this photo to make it more soup-like.

The whole head? Have you considered a dried pig face? 🙃

Spinach, Soft Egg & Parmesan Pizzetta from Polpo Gotta work on my timing to get the eggs the way I want. This recipe called for small eggs. My farmers market egg peeps had no smalls but with young hens coming on board, they had the slightly smaller peewees, which could have used a slightly shorter cooking time while the crust needed another minute.

Stracchino, Fennel Salami & Fig Bruschette from Polpo I was pleased to find this oh-so-thinly sliced fennel salame recently and picked up more ripe figs at the farmers market so I got to try another quick bite from Polpo, a cookbook with tons of ideas for stuff like this.

Not sure how helpful this is to the restaurant setting but I'll throw it out there. I have the Mepra brand Forma pattern flatware for use in my home. I liked that I could supplement the standard 5 piece place setting with extras like butter knives, more dessert forks etc. It is a simple but stylish, modern design. I've had it for over 5 years and the finish has held up very well. I very much like the weight and balance of the utensils in the hand and my guests have commented favorably. However, I see the first reviewer here specifically calls out the knife and teaspoon, two of my favorite items, for negative feedback. This makes me think that you may indeed be better off going with something that's unremarkable. I'll also add that while I find the weight of the cutlery I have appealing in the hand, it's possible that it would create balance issues and potential noise and clatter if they fall off plates when clearing plates and tables.

When it was warm, the crust was more crispy than the chewy crust that I associate with soft pretzels, though I may never have tried the best soft pretzel examples. It reminded me a little of the crust on the nan-e-barbari that is painted with a flour/sugar/oil/water glaze before baking

Pear, Gorgonzola & Chickory Salad from Polpo. Lovely fall salad. Dressed with a mustard vinaigrette that includes crumbled gorgonzola.

In the "Fat" episode of Samin Nosrat's Netflix series Salt, Fat, Acid Heat, a Ligurian baker is shown making a delicious looking focaccia that involved pouring a salt/water brine over the shaped dough and letting it proof for 45 min with the brine before baking. A recipe is posted on the show's website here, and credited to Josey Baker. Although the method is somewhat different from what was done on the show, it does use the brine step. I tried it anyway and the crust was indeed very crispy and delicious as promised on the show. Edited to add that the online recipe calls for 2T salt. I used 1T by mistake as it's what my usual recipe calls for but it turned out to be plenty. With the brine and a sprinkle of salt before baking, I think 2T would be too much. The recipe certainly does use an abundance of olive oil: 10 - 12T for this 1/2 sheet pan The crumb:

Asparagus Frittata from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I made ~ half a recipe in a 6 1/2 inch cast iron skillet for today's breakfast and added some sautéed onions to the mix. Toasted focaccia and fresh tomatoes on the side.

What is the rating scale? And is a low # good or a high one?

Some Bean Club members over in the Facebook group get their knickers in a twist if someone mentions the contents before they receive their boxes and "spoils the surprise." Personally, I like to know what's coming so I can start think of recipes to cook but I didn't want to totally ruin any surprises over here!

There's a picture of the leaked document that prompted this story here at this link. "Triple meat" with 2 sausage patties plus bacon, cheese (apparently 2 slices) and egg on either biscuit, muffin or McGriddle breakfast sandwiches.

I have made 2 recipes with the lentils that I can highly recommend. The RG lentils seem quite fresh and cook up quickly. If you want them somewhat firm for a salad or a dish that gets further cooking, I'd recommend to start tasting them at 20 min. The big winner in my book is this Olive Oil-Fried Lentils with Cherry Tomatoes and a Chile-Fried Egg from Alison Roman's cookbook Dining In. It brings together some really great flavors -sautéed garlic and shallots add flavor to the lentil and tomato mixture, red onions are marinated in lime juice and fish sauce and bring a fresh punch. The fried egg gets drizzled with chile oil and a sprinkle of cilantro and crunchy roast peanuts top everything off. Here's a link to the recipe online via the Winston-Salem Journal. The site is likely to ask you to answer a survey but it seems innocuous and properly credits the author. The other day, for lunch, I had the Burrata & Basil Oil from Russell Norman's Polpo and it was also excellent. This is a warm lentil and vegetable salad dressed with a mustard vinaigrette and topped with burrata and the basil oil. The dressed lentils alone are delicious and would make a great base for any sort of lentil bowl. Here's a link to a streamlined version, combining the basil into the dressing, on the Smitten Kitchen site.

Today's lunch was the Burrata with Lentils with & Basil Oil from Russell Norman's Polpo made with some of the black lentils from my recent Rancho Gordo Bean Club shipment. On the side are pieces of the Zucchino, Mint and Chilli Pizzetta from the same book. This is a warm lentil and vegetable salad dressed with a mustard vinaigrette and topped with burrata and the basil oil. Smitten Kitchen made a streamlined version, combining the basil into the dressing. Link here.

I'm surprised you needed to wait a long time for a response but it's good you did get one eventually. I've only emailed them rather than phoned but have found them very responsive. The RG peeps shared this earlier via Facebook:

I have no idea. What do you think? Edited to add that either way, I predict no snow in my local area 🙃

Most often, I go to the local markets. There's one on Thursday, only a mile from my house, so I go there most every week or shop at a local farmstand. Sometimes I hit up the other Ventura County markets in Camarillo, Ventura or Ojai. However, I used to live in Santa Monica and miss those markets so I occasionally head down, as I did this past Wednesday, to visit my old stomping grounds. It's about 45 min to a hour drive, depending on traffic. That's nothing compared with the Penryn people driving down from Placer County, north of Sacramento - yikes!

I think they can work well together if one is dominant and the other playing more of a supporting role. In this case, the recipe called for 2 T of Dijon mustard and 3 T of freshly grated horseradish. Next time I will likely dial back on the mustard so the horseradish can be more clearly in the lead. Edited to add that ratio is going to depend on the particular mustard and horseradish being used, too.

Smoked salmon, horseradish cream and dill crostini from Polpo The horseradish cream is crème fraîche, horseradish and Dijon mustard.

Asparagus, Taleggio & Speck Pizzetta Recipe from Russell Norman's Polpo.

Thanks, @Shelby! I'd say Dining In is good but not great. I've enjoyed trying everything I've made and have more recipes marked but, at this point, I wouldn't give it my highest rating.

Persimmons and Pears with Blue Cheese and Spicy Pecans from Dining In p 93. This is a fun salad to eat with its different flavors and textures. I found both Bosc pears and chocolate persimmons at the Penryn Orchards stand at the farmers market and I had some Pt. Reyes blue cheese on hand so it was time to make this salad. The spicy pecans are made by cooking them in a skillet with maple syrup and Aleppo pepper. I like the flavor combination and will try adapting those ingredients to the method used in @JAZ's Spicy Sweet Walnuts as it's less tedious than standing at the stove as I did with these. There are no greens in the recipe as written but I served it on a bed of arugula and was happy with that addition.

Egg salad on little toasts This particular loaf of bread had big holes throughout so I used a judicious layer of speck so the egg salad didn't fall through. Very successful and tasty, too!

Prosciutto, Mint & Fig Crostini from the Cichèti chapter of Polpo. Barely a recipe, really, but as the book says, they are particularly pretty!

I've seen recipes that suggest rinsing but my Chinese friends recommend against it. I just give them a rough chop.