2022 Vuelta - Stage 7: Camargo to Cistierna.
As I was looking through the photos I took of today’s dish, and there were many (more on that in a bit), I started joking to myself: “beans and rice on tile…$350” or “food and light, fagioli and shadow…$1,500.” Perhaps I was looking at the photos too long, or maybe all this clean New England air had done something to my brain. But, as I tend to do, I kept thinking and going further down the wormholes in my brain.
What, or whom, distinguishes what is “of worth” or that which is “of the proletariat”? Everyday, someone tells us something they’re trying to sell. Newspapers sell daily afterall; tv shows sell commercials and product placement; my Instagram feed is full of food experts…but are they? What is content and what is factual? Just this morning, a very highly acclaimed food site put out a piece on how seeding tomatoes is a virtual waste of time because the seeds imparted no bitterness in the final dish. Boom, content - PUBLISH! Well…I commented, you should’ve asked your taste-testers how their stomachs felt afterwards. Seeds not only may cause bitterness, but they destroy your stomach and cause discomfort and worse. Who was the expert? Who was the editor? Can I trust that website blindly like I used to? For more on getting flavor without discomfort, see this.
When it comes to food and art, who are the influencers and arbiters? Here in New England, everyone loves lobster. Lobster is super expensive - some place was charging $38 for a lobster roll the other day. They used to feed PRISONERS lobster! Who establishes the value of art selling for $25 versus an artist who slaps some red paint on a mirror and fetches over a million dollars? There was an article the other day that said high-end fashion designers were scared because Gen Z can’t afford ridiculously high-priced common goods like sneakers and t-shirts (think Kanye charging hundreds of dollars for essentially a beige potato sack). To that I say, good. Consumerism is disgusting.
But this brings me to today’s post. I’m up at the beach and don’t have all of my normal pots and plates (I do travel with some basics: a good pan, a dutch oven, trusty knife and some essential spices). I don’t have my normal shooting spot which has great natural light, even after the sun sets. We really had to work to get the light right for this photo in a dimly-lit kitchen, all while avoiding shadows. My in-laws got to see the insanity firsthand this week. Yes, they’ve had my food before, but they haven’t had to wait for food photos before I start dishing out a meal. They haven’t seen me and Megan wipe plates, move lights, position shades, use aluminum foil as a light bounce, play with angles, position, wipe again, stand on chairs, stack tables, argue over how much is too many slices of herbs, rummage through cupboards to see which plates might work and if I need to go out and purchase some items…oh man, that plate needs another wipe. I think it was pretty eye-opening. My brother-in-law stated after a meal at his mother’s: “I know it wasn’t as sophisticated or gourmet as your cooking, but it was a good meal.”
I kind of felt bad after he said that. I hate that people might feel that way about my presence when they cook. I love all food. I don’t enjoy cooking competitions, I’m not trying to showboat or overshadow anyone else’s efforts. I don’t exactly know why I enjoy making laborious meals and now taking photos of my food (I am legit terrified of taking photos of my food, btw). But, I can tell you what my impetus was: a love of food. I express my emotion and care for others through food. I love sharing with my family and friends. I don’t even want a compliment afterwards. I hear the yums and see the contentment. That is enough for me. Now…if you clean the dishes afterwards, that will be the best compliment!
But, back to the comment and today’s stage-specific dish. He was referring back to this specific meal which I had made a few days earlier. It was actually the perfect dish to reference. I told him my meal was nothing extraordinary and I thought both were similar - a simple meal at a convivial gathering. This dish below is actually “peasant food”! Beans, rice, and potatoes sustain the poorest of communities all over earth for as long as humans have been alive. As the old saying goes, it’s not the knife that makes the chef. You can make absolutely delicious meals from the most meager of ingredients.
If you’d like to pair this peasant dish with some lightly roasted fish, with a beurre blanc (it’s a fancy term for butter and wine sauce) like I did, use this prior recipe. I made it with some locally-sourced haddock this time around. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.
Garbanzo Bean Stew with Rice & Potatoes
1.75 cups dried garbanzo beans
Baking soda
6 cups chicken stock
Olive oil
Onion
2 whole cloves
2-3 butter potatoes
1.25 cups long grain rice
1 clove garlic
Saffron
Parsley
Place the beans in a large pot, with a pinch of baking soda, and cover with water (about 3 inches higher than the beans). Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Cover the pot, turn the heat off, and let the beans soak for one hour.
After an hour, drain and rinse the beans and wipe out the pot. Add the rinsed/drained beans back to the pot and cover with the chicken stock, along with a heavy pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer for about 2.5 hours, stirring every hour. Towards the end of cooking the beans you may need to reduce the heat or add more liquid.
While the beans cook, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel the onion and stud both ends with the cloves. Roast in the oven until golden, then transfer to the pot of simmering beans.
While the onion roasts, peel and dice the potatoes. Leave them in a bowl of water to prevent browning until ready to use.
Once the beans have begun to soften (about 2-2.5 hrs), add in the potato and simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, add in the rice with a heavy pinch of salt. Add more liquid to the pot if necessary, and cook the rice for 20 minutes.
While the rice cooks, combine a diced clove of garlic, heavy pinch of saffron threads, and 2 sprigs of parsley in a mortar, and pound with the pestle, adding a pinch of kosher salt to help with the grinding. Alternatively, place these ingredients in a mini-prep and pulverize. Add 2 tbsp of cooking liquid to the paste and stir to combine. Reserve.
When the rice is done, stir in the herb paste/slurry with some salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Taste for any additional seasoning needs. Serve.
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Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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