Over the summer, I was lucky enough to get to spend three days at Georgeanne Brennan's house while we shot photos for our new cookbook, French Beans. When I wasn't trying to pretend I was a prop stylist or a food stylist, I was hovering around her kitchen, watching her every move. Mainly, I was just trying so soak up some of her kitchen zen, the way she calmly moved about, checking on something in the oven, stirring croutons that were crisping on the stovetop, chopping herbs, humming quietly to herself. On the last day of the shoot, chef Sarah...

Bread never goes to waste in the Sando household. As the loaf starts to get stiff, I slice it up and lay it on the grates in my oven. In the morning, it's super dry, and then it gets packed into an airtight tin until it's ready to help. I have an old gas stove with a pilot light, so the bread dries quickly, but any oven will do, it just may take longer. Beans and bean broth never get wasted either. In this case, I added some leftover chicken stock to the beans and bean broth, and then there...

I've said this over and over but when you have something out for your guests to eat and drink, you can mostly take your time with the rest of the food. My favorite hummus recipe is easy and lately I've been topping it with ground lamb and pine nuts, but a few olives on the edge of the plate and a good drizzle of olive oil are just as good. I've been getting my tahini online from Soom Foods and it's so much easier to work with than a bottle or can from the grocery store that has been sitting...

Leftovers are my best friends. I had made white beans and kale the previous night, and there was about a cup left. Before you ask me for the recipe, it's beans and cooked kale. That's it. I added some tahini and lemon juice and pureed it with an immersion blender, and then I had this wonderful dip, but not before adding a healthy dose of really good extra virgin olive oil. I would have called this White Bean Hummus, but I don't know if there is such a thing and I know how offended I am by creative martini drinks...

I've used the recipe in The Kitchn for making ricotta cheese with milk and lemon juice for years. I know that it's worth it to make it just for the cheese, but I think it's great for using up extra milk. This time, inspired by Carlos Yesca's recipe in the current Food + Wine, I made the cheese as instructed but afterward, I added some salt and chopped epazote and then placed it in a cheese basket to let all the excess liquid drain. This might be a form of queso fresco or paneer but I'm not sure. It's not...

I've never seen this done in Mexico but I bet there's a village somewhere that steams fish in hoja santa/acuyo leaves. I've done something similar where I steamed fish in a corn tamal wrapper but I had a delicate sole on hand. I also wanted something quick-ish and easy. I marinated the fish in olive oil, garlic, a small splash of pineapple vinegar, salt, thinly-sliced zucchini, onions, and Oregano Indio. The fish was later wrapped into sloppy packets and tied with butcher twine and steamed for about 10 or 12 minutes. The zucchini really needs to be thin so I...

My friend Canice saw this photo of me from the early 1980s in Sestri Levante. It's a beach town in Liguria, Italy and I spent many summers there in my early 20s. She wrote: I wanna use this photo to persuade young people to live a little, while they have the chance. Sestri Levante, early 1980s I know exactly what she means. I wouldn't go back to my youth for anything but your twenties are a time to really let things rip. Yes, you can go to Europe at any age but you find as you get older you can't...

Anissa Helou's Feast: Foood of the Islamic World (Ecco Press, 2018) is a great book and you should have it in your personal library. It's big, beautiful and full of recipes that are complicated and exotic along with much simpler fare. The common thread is celebrations. I've had the book for a while now and it remains a constant inspiration. The recipes work. I've taken a lot of liberties with her Baked Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Olives recipe from Morocco. She calls for a whole sea bass but my market had fillets of halibut. The all green olives were...

In our last Rancho Gordo newsletter, I made this comment: I was looking through our customer reviews on ranchogordo.com and in general, the feedback is the kind of thing most companies dream of. We have about 95% five-star reviews and the occasional clunker. Most of the bad reviews state something like this: “I've been cooking the beans in a bean pot for six to eight hours now and they still aren't soft. They were soaked for twelve hours and have been simmering in a ceramic bean pot all afternoon and evening.” Or “I soaked them at least 24 hours and...

Between the farmers markets, my own vegetable garden, and sloppy refrigerator housekeeping, I often end up with too many vegetables. This week it was too much corn. The result was a soup with pancetta, Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans, and corn right off the cob. We tried this with the addition of a poached egg and the combination of egg and corn is almost cloyingly sweet. It was OK but we all agreed it was better as it is. If you prefer creamier soups, you can obviously blend this with an immersion blender but personally, I love all the texture. I've...

I keep experimenting with this concept and it keeps getting better. It started by my seeing a clay pot of these fish tamales in both in Morelia, Mexico. I've attempted to recreate it before. Every time it improves. You start with a broth. This was half bean broth and and half water. The zucchini were sliced very thin and added with onion, parsley and celery. This continues to cook until you have an acceptable broth. Soaked corn husks for tamales were soaked in warm water for a couple of hours to make them pliable. In each package I added an...

This was a winner. I only took notes so I don't have a proper recipe for you but I bet you can manage and maybe even make this better. Leftover cassoulet beans are terrific for soups. Many like to puree them and have a silky texture but I generally prefer a more rustic soup. I think I was the last person on earth to discover salt-packed capers. They are delicious and only a slight bother. You can rinse and soak a batch of them, then squeeze any liquid out and rest them in some good olive oil. They're a perfect...