3 Rancho Gordo Beans and Pepiere "3"

K

kirk wallace

kirk wallace
I had not tasted the '05 "Trois" since early July. I opened a bottle last night to go with a stew of a trio of rancho gordo beans (eye of the goat, rio zape and their "midnight" black beans) and Quattro Farm smoked duck and smoked chicken, (along with a few arbol chiles, some New Mexican Red Chile powder, and a touch of chesnut honey at the very end).

This wine has smoothed and filled itself out. It still has that brothy, almost buttery richness, but the persistant umami character that SFJoe identified early on, has receded a bit. Now it provides a great background infrastructure for the rest of the wine. So, right now, or last night at least, and maybe it was just a very felicitous match with the smokey flavors of the fowls, but it was showing a surperb harmony of minerality and fruit with a coiled, patient power from the tip of the tongue to the back of the throat. I've stashed 6 in the warehouse to see how they age, but I forsee near-term, enjoyable drinking for the rest of the case.
 
Huh. That sounds like a very interesting dish. Do the beans all cook in the same period, or do you combine late?

Clever match.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Huh. That sounds like a very interesting dish. Do the beans all cook in the same period, or do you combine late?

Clever match.
Click to expand...

I cooked all three separately, b/c I wasn't sure about cooking times. (All with the same base, however: onion, garlic, fresh thyme and carrots, 2 parts water 1 part chicken stock.) The Midnights are a good bit smaller so they definitely would need to be done separately in any event. The RZ and EotG are about the same size and maybe could be cooked together, but it didn't take too much more work to do them separately; that also allowed me to put more arbol chile and the NM powder (more toward the end) with the RZ's, b/c I think they handle that better. After they were cooked and cooled, i mixed them together, about 2 parts RZs, 2 parts Goats, 1 part midnights, with the hacked up boned fowl meat (skin and fat removed), a little sherry vinegar and salt, heated the mix through just til simmering and then let cool again for flavors to mellow. Then when reheating to serve it, I add a tablespoon or 2 of the chestnut honey and some finely sliced scallions; just before serving, add zest of 1 lemon and juice of 1/2 lemon; serve with fresh chopped parsley, chopped jalepenos (for those who want a bit more heat) and more salt.

(much better than the lunch I just had at my desk today.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top