Cured Meat

With names like Good Mother Stallard, Goat’s Eye, and Yellow Indian Woman, the dried heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo (see page 55) charm diners familiar with only generic dried beans. Rancho Gordo proprietor Steve Sando finds some of these intriguing beans in Mexico and Central America and arranges to buy them direct from the farmers. Others are grown on farms in Northern California. You can use a single bean type for this dish, but Brian prefers to use multiple varieties, simmering them separately to accommodate their different cooking times. Just before serving, he unites them with a tomato sauce and some blanched fresh yellow and green beans. You could make a meal of this summer stew with a green salad and some crusty bread, or serve it as an accompaniment to grilled lamb. Note that the beans must soak overnight.

Our charcuterie supplier, Taylor Boetticher of Napa’s Fatted Calf (opposite page), had the fine idea to wrap a pork tenderloin in a cloak of paper-thin pancetta. The pancetta bastes the lean tenderloin as it cooks, so the meat remains moist. A thyme-scented tomato fondue makes a light, summery accompaniment, suggested by 2009 Workshop participant Scott Gottlich. Add some sautéed Blue Lake beans or a slice of Mediterranean Summer Vegetable Gratin (page 158) to complete the plate. You can roast only one tenderloin, if you like, but you may need to reduce the heat as you sear it because of the reduced volume of meat in the skillet. Do prepare the full amount of tomato fondue, however. You won’t have enough volume for the blender otherwise, and you won’t regret having extra. Note that the pork needs to marinate overnight.

The Liberty Ducks we get from Sonoma County Poultry (see page 147) are fed an all-natural diet and allowed to mature for several more weeks than most commercial ducks. As a result, they develop more flavor. The meaty duck legs, braised slowly with aromatic vegetables, make a robust pasta sauce similar in richness and depth to a classic bolognese. Brian shreds the tender duck meat after it’s braised and adds chopped Tuscan kale to the sauce to introduce some fresh garden flavor.

When our wine-club members receive their wine shipment, we include a recipe that we enjoy with the featured bottle. Cakebread resident chef Tom Sixsmith devised this pasta preparation to accompany the Chardonnay Reserve, but you may find that you want to make the dish weekly in asparagus season. The nutty whole-wheat pasta and smoky bacon help combat the notion that asparagus doesn’t go with wine.

In late spring, when California asparagus are still available and the Cakebread garden is yielding the year’s first onions, Brian makes this delicate pizza bianca (a “white pizza,” or pizza without tomato sauce). The fresh-dug onions haven’t been cured yet, so they don’t have papery skins, and their flavor is mild. Many supermarkets sell “spring onions” that look like thick scallions with a bulbous root end. They would work in this recipe, as would leeks or even cured yellow onions, but uncured onions have the most delicate taste. Choose a fresh ricotta without pectin or other stabilizers. The Bellwether Farms ricotta from neighboring Sonoma County is our favorite.

Many Workshop chefs are unfamiliar with the clamshell mushrooms, maitake, and other exotic fungi that Gourmet Mushrooms cultivates (see page 84), so this company’s table is always a magnet at our opening-day farmers’ market. Chef George Brown, a 2006 participant, took advantage of the bounty to create a warm grilled mushroom and bacon salad. Although many people would be inclined to pair a red wine with a mushroom dish, we chose a mature Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay Reserve, which echoed all the earthy and smoky notes. In this adaptation of George’s recipe, Brian has moved the preparation indoors for ease—first oven-roasting the mushrooms, then tossing them with browned cipolline onions, thick bacon, and tender greens. Serve at the first sign of autumn weather, followed with a pork roast or seared duck breasts.

Using canned beans instead of dried greatly reduces the cooking time for this New England specialty, but you can use dried beans instead (see page 365 for soaking instructions).

Serve these bacon-and-cheese-stuffed onions as a side dish for roasts, or as an unexpected main course for dinner, supplemented by a green salad. Don’t rush the cooking of the chopped onions; keep them on the heat until caramelized, for the best flavor.

New potatoes are really just young potatoes of any variety. They are crisp, waxy, and hold their shape when boiled or roasted, as in the recipes that follow. Try any of these rustic potato dishes with roast chicken, pork, or beef (see page 284).

In this richly flavored dish, the salmon and cabbage are cooked in rendered bacon fat; for a vegetarian variation, omit step 1 and start by heating two tablespoons olive oil in the skillet.

Use the extra loin from the Pork Loin with Figs and Port Sauce (page 217) in the recipes below (you’ll have enough meat to make both).

Pieces of tilapia are added to this tomato-based chowder in the final minutes of simmering; the fish cooks quickly without breaking apart. Other flaky white fish, such as flounder, sole, or halibut, could be used instead. Serve the soup with soda crackers.

You can poach the eggs a few hours before composing the salad. Immediately place them in an ice-water bath to stop the cooking, then keep in a bowl of cool water (it should just reach the tops of the eggs). Reheat briefly in a pan of barely simmering water.

A favorite sandwich is updated as a main-course salad, with a tangy buttermilk dressing standing in for the mayonnaise spread.

This sandwich shows how just one special addition—here, a delicious spread—can make a big difference. The spread could also be served with crackers or crostini (page 365) or as a dip for crudités (page 52).

Soaking the strata overnight in the refrigerator before baking will make it even creamier—and reduce prep time in the morning. To test for doneness, pierce center of strata with a sharp knife; it should feel firm and the knife should come out clean.

A mixture of jam and cream cheese produces a pleasantly creamy and not-too-sweet filling. Feel free to swap other flavors of jam for the apricot used here, or fresh berries for the tropical fruit salad.

WHEN COLD WEATHER SETTLES IN, it’s time for this rich soup. Bacon adds even deeper flavor to the classic Italian white beans and sage combination. Using nitrate-free bacon is the best option, for both flavor and health reasons, and it’s becoming more widely available.