rancho gordo

hope everyone is feeling rested and relaxed after the holiday weekend. we enjoyed the sun and warm weather finally here in nyc with friends, a night at citi field and a few glasses of rose here.

check out this post on the den about our work with gilt taste. now that summer is here, so are all the great outdoor fleas and food markets like smorgasburg, which we checked out last saturday. also excited to check out the latest east coast outpost of blue bottle coffee - how's that view?!

we've shared our love of Rancho Gordo products on the blog before here but realized it's been way too long since we've cooked with any of their amazing beans! we recently picked up a bag of christmas lima beans which are big and beautiful with their maroon stripping and deep chestnut flavor. this salad is adapted from Heirloom Beans, a great reference for how to cook all things rancho gordo by the company's founder. this hearty healthy salad is great for summer gatherings as a whole meal or a perfect side dish.

Christmas Lima Bean Salad

(adapted from Heirloom Beans)

serves 4 to 6

5 small beets

1/2 cup quinoa

3 cups cooked christmas lima beans

4 green onions, chopped

1 avocado, diced

1/2 cup yellow pear tomatoes, halved

1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tsp honey

1/3 cup olive oil

kosher salt & fresh ground pepper

preheat oven to 400 degrees F. wash and scrub beets. wrap in foil and wrap until tender when poked with a fork, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. when cool, peel and cut into bite size wedges. in a medium saucepan bring quinoa and water to a boil. reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until fluffy but still a little tender. drain well and rinse under cool water.

combine beets, quinoa, beans, green onion, avocado and tomatoes.

in a small bowl combine lemon juice, vinegar and honey. while stirring, slowly drizzle in olive oil and whisk to combine. pour over salad and toss to combine. season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle with crumbled feta before serving. serve at room temperature & enjoy!

matt's bites

ok, we know we need to blog more, and learning to juggle work and play and the blog all together has been a great learning experience. we love the outlet of the blog, and are ready to roll and start posting as much as we can! what better way to start than cooking from a wonderful new book from a blog friend Matt Armendariz. carrie and i are suckers for food on a stick and lovers of matt's blog, matt bites, so what better way to get our creative juices flowing for our blog than to cook, shoot and more importantly eat something from matt's new book, on a stick!...we love the concept and for as approachable as it is, i'm sure we will be cooking from it all the time. pictured above are the wonderful corndogs. we made mini corndogs using the same recipe and they turned out great. we also made a twist on a dipping sauce by using 3 parts ketchup to 1 part sriracha, a nice and spicy way we like to zip up our ketchup. we also can't wait to try the deep fried mac and cheese or the chicken and waffles, just to name a few. so go out and get this book, and make some food on a stick!

its fun to let you know, finally, that we have been a part of the beginnings of gilts new website, gilt taste. so fun to be able to work with the talented paige hicks and adrienne anderson. we think this site has potential for big things.

some other little updates...I just spent 7 great days up at martha stewart's house in bedford shooting a project i cant wait to share with all of you. lots of shots with some amazingly talented people. also carrie and i just did a shoot for food network mag that will be out in september, can't wait to share as it is always fun for us to work together.

we have lots of great recipes and photos coming in the weeks ahead, so check in with us and see what we have been up to.

thanks