Pandemic Pantry, Royal Corona Beans & Einkorn Farro

While we’ve been hunkered down since campus was closed, hubby and I turned the smallish one-floor ranch home that we share with mom into a full-on homestead in the burbs. He’s in charge of the victory garden and I’ve taken the lead on stocking the pantry. 

One of the odd things about all this– besides being in a global pandemic that’s killed thousands, sickened millions, impacted billions while requiring massive stay-at-home orders for most of the world’s population? Except for the distance learning, the masks, the deaths, and being told by our governors to stay home, I’m used to having to stock up. 

Since I’m a contingent employee– read: adjunct– I’m often out of work. I only get paid for 8 months each year, so to keep afloat during the lean times, I have to time my pantry purchases when I get income. So, I’m always stocking up, either to prepare for a long stretch of summer vacation without pay or to restock once I get back to work. My restock times are at the beginning and end of my semesters and this year was no different. February’s first paycheck went to the pantry– both food and herbal. My first purchase was to replenish one of our pantry staples: Rancho Gordo Beans. My review from last year.

I made a large order of the basics: Yellow Indian Woman Bean, Christmas Limas, Eye of the Goat, and

Scarlet Runners. Then I noticed a few other gems that were never in stock were finally in stock. I ordered the new beauties, adding a few pounds of some gorgeous purple (Ayocote Morado), white, and green beans (Flageolet) to my purchase, making what had to be an order of about 30 pounds of beans, lentils, and popping corn. For us, that’s about a 6 month supply of food for about $175. Even though things are relaxing, in terms of state rules and people’s common sense, I’m still trying to limit my store visits, so I’m trying make everything stretch a bit. I’d say from this one purchase have easily 8-12 months of beans.

Less than a fortnight after my restock, the lock-down came and the bare supermarket shelves. I had started an article focusing on alternatives to grocery shopping, but distance teaching and quarantine, all on top of being a full-time caregiver to a woman who just had a stroke the week before Memorial Day, became more than overwhelming. 

Back in April, which seems a lifetime ago, when there were no time-slots available for supermarket delivery, back before frost dates passed and before local produce markets re-opened with curbside pickup, hubby and I were going a bit batty sans fresh veggies. Granted, this sounds really trite and shallow. Particularly when thousands have had to wait on food pantry lines, when millions are facing food shortages due to lack of work and because of the impact coronavirus has had on our food supply. I mean food is food. My usual yearly cycle of feast and famine turned into a bit of a personal blessing precisely because I had already done my stocking up for the Spring right before we all took a walk in the Upside Down. Then, the week before lockdown, I managed to get what had to be the last Peapod delivery. But, even with that order, aside from one cabbage, a bunch of bananas, and a bunch of parsley, none of the other veggies I had ordered arrived since they weren’t in stock at the time of fulfillment. 

We aren’t vegans, but we try to have a plant focused diet and nothing is better than fresh. That’s a given. So what do you do when you can’t find fresh veg? Start a garden, which we did almost immediately because of our frost dates. Even after the garden was started, we’re only just now taking advantage of some radishes. Otherwise? Surf and look for options. Hubby found an article, which led us to a fresh juicing company that also sells 25 pound boxes of fresh fruit or fresh vegetables. This recipe used my last lonely onion, last 6 carrots, and the 4 glorious potatoes left from that order. 

Another thing I came across, sort of accidentally, sort of belatedly, was Einkorn. Einkorn is considered the first wheat ever grown by humans. Einkorn is essentially the wild wheat that became the first domesticated wheat. I had heard about it from Michael Pollan’s work, smattered somewhere between In Defense of Food, Cooked, and his interviews. I found and bookmarked the only Einkorn vendor I could find, at the time. Then my dad was diagnosed with and died from cancer, hubby and I moved to be mom’s caregivers, and the world melted into authoritarianism, economic depression, and plague. I forgot about the einkorn until I couldn’t find any flour. 

Right as my college was being closed, the Tristate area was being placed under lockdown, and I got the last Peapod order, I noted that mom binged one of what might have been the two loaves of bread in the word. Well, our world. They had come with our Peapod order. Hubby and I don’t eat supermarket bread, but that’s all mom eats. 

While embarking on the Great Pandemic Restocking, I realized I didn’t have enough flour in the house, especially not if society was coming to an end and I’d have to bake bread. I managed to order yeast, but flour was as hard to find as toilet paper. One night, when trying to order from Walmart– the only place that wasn’t Amazon that would deliver mom’s most prized of foods, besides the supermarket bread: pork and

beans– I found that every time I added some type of flour to my cart, by the time I went to check-out, mere moments later, that flour had already sold out. Note: my mom is an 80-yr-old toddler in many ways. I love her to pieces but her food choices are limited, and her most vegetarian option is pork and beans. 100k+ dead, but as long as she’s got a can of pork and beans in the house, she’s happy. No cans, chaos will reign. Harsh, I know. But being a caretaker for someone who thinks modeling the president’s contempt for wearing a mask in public is the way to go has been a test of my own endurance, patience, compassion, and sheer force of will. And that was before she literally stroked out the day after she screamed vitriol for a quarter of an hour at the tele when even Hannity told her to wear a mask. 

But, not a bag of flour was to be had. While hunting around online, I came across einkorn from a company called “Ancient Grains.” I shamedly admit, I found them on Amazon when I couldn’t find any flour elsewhere. But, their flour was out of stock and all they had was farro, which I was also out of. So I bought I did, figuring I’d grind it myself while having whole farro to cook with. I have plenty of wheat berries, thanks to 50lb of organic, Montana red wheat I bought, no joke in March 2012. But, farro cooks up more delicately than wheat berries and in some recipes, I much prefer the texture of farro. It also helps that I einkorn has higher, more robust nutrition level than modern wheat.

I’ll post my einkorn flour recipes in a bit, but the flour and the farro are in a word, spectacular. Honestly, einkorn is the best I’ve ever used– both farro and flour. I had read some articles which noted how fussy einkorn is, particularly with moisture (both humidity and in the recipe itself). So I was cautious about using it at first. I had nothing to worry about. I used the whole wheat in several recipes– bread, coffee cake, and banana bread. All were incredibly light, easy to work with, and some of the most flavorful I’ve ever used. My entire household struggles with diabetes– mom and I are pre and hubby full blown. When he tested his blood sugar the next day, we were expecting it to be off the charts. If anything, it was lower. Einkorn is a resistant starch. It doesn’t spike blood sugar. And, when included in a balanced diet, like beans, einkorn can lower blood sugar. It’s also got a decent amount of protein in it, so for the first time ever– one slice of anything einkorn baked is enough. It’s satisfying and filling and I can’t recommend it enough and I’m not going back to regular wheat. Well, I’ll use what I have in the larder, but after that, I’m not buying any more regular wheat– flour or berries. 

I also decided on trying my pre-pandemically aquired Royal Corona beans, the white bean I finally managed to get my hands on from Rancho Gordo. When I made this recipe, the name slipped my mind completely. I’m not one of those people boycotting products that happen to share the name, but I have to confess the inner cringe when I looked in the pantry to see what beans I had used for what turned out to be a truly spectacular recipe. 

When I made my pantry selection, I thought the beans just looked like a nice meaty option. Royal Corona beans are really a crown of the legume world. The following recipe makes enough for 4 hearty servings, with the beans as the star of the show. Feel free to adjust. When I make this again, I might have to try some Double Brook Farm Guincale (from the Brick Farm Market) or maybe a little Wild Boar from Force of Nature Meats– both phenomenal alternatives to factory farming and those “meat processing centers” responsible for so many COVID hot-spots in the midwest. I also have to post my Force of Nature recipes. Thus far Elk & Venison chili and meatballs using their pork and wild boar. I’m making myself hungry while posting….

I’d also bump up the fresh herbs. I was limited to what was growing and I didn’t want to use dry. Again, feel free to experiment with what you have on hand. 

• 2 cups by volume of dry Royal Corona beans, rinsed and sorted
• 6 medium carrots, cut on a bias
• 4 large potatoes (You can use any potato, but if you use baby potatoes or fingerlings, don’t cut them; leave them whole otherwise they’ll melt to nothing)
• 1 large onion, sliced into crescents (I used vidalia, but use what you have; if you use a sharper onion, add about 1 tsp of sugar to the recipe)
• 8-12 large garlic cloves, smashed and minced fine (I picked up some amazing locally grown garlic and used only 4 cloves, but each one was so massive they count as 2-3 regular cloves)
• 2 rosemary sprigs, minced
• 8 sage leaves, minced
• black pepper and salt
• 2 tsp Jalapeno Lime hot sauce*
• 2 cups einkorn farro, rinsed and sorted
• Robust Extra Virgin Olive oil for drizzling 
• Extra Virgin Olive oil for sauteing
• Culinary salt for a serving sprinkle
• Optional: about a cup of peppery fresh baby greens such as radish, arugula, mustard or horseradish

1. Soak beans in about 6 cups of water. Overnight is best, but I soaked them for 3 hours and the dish was spectacular. When you’re prepared to cook, drain off and SAVE the soaking liquid. 

2. If you use a thick-skinned potato, peel them. A thin-skinned potato just needs a good scrub. Cut them into coarse chunks. Optional: take about ¼ cup (about half of one potato), and dice. You want this to break down and thicken the dish. If you want more of a brothy dish, leave the potatoes in larger pieces and add an additional 2 cups of water.

3. In a heavy-bottomed saute pan (with a tight-fitting lid), saute the onion in about 1 tbsp of good extra virgin olive oil on high heat. You want a nice color on the onions; bring them to the point where if you blink they’ll char. So DON’T walk away or they’ll char. Have everything prepped already so you can watch the onions. 

4. As soon as the onions are brought to the brink, reduce the heat to medium and toss in your potatoes. Leave them for a moment to color slightly and then saute for about 2-3 minutes before tossing in your minced garlic, carrots, and beans. Then add your diced herbs and a nice amount of freshly ground black pepper. I used a ½ tsp to start and added more later in the cooking time. 

5. After 5 minutes, add the soaking liquid to the pot. Stir, reduce heat to medium low, cover and allow to simmer in glorious beanness until the beans are half-way cooked. Then add your hot sauce, taste, and add about 2 tsp of kosher salt. 

6. In the last half hour of cooking, in a separate pot, cook the farro. 1 cup of grain to 2 cups of water. Add 1 tsp salt per cup of grain. Bring up to a boil, covered, reduce to a simmer and cook covered for about 10 minutes. Watch the pot carefully so it doesn’t foam over. Once it starts to get foamy, uncover and allow to cook until tender. All the liquid should be absorbed when it’s nice and soft, but still toothy. If the grain is a bit too al dente, but the water cooks off, just shut the pot and cover. Let it sit on the burner while the beans finish off. 

7. Serve the beans over farro, topped with the baby greens, a drizzle of a robust olive oil, and a sprinkle of culinary salt– (we used some stunning Black Lava Salt from Mountain Rose Herbs)

I’d love to hear your variations. I think this dish would pair really nicely with a crusty bread if you want to forgo the farro. If you decide to use animal protein, I think something porky would go well like the aforementioned Guincale or Boar. If you opt for the fatty former, render it off before doing the onions. If you opt for the latter, make sure you add fat since the Boar is so lean. 

*Ok. Hot sauce. It was the other thing, besides flour, that I didn’t in all my prepper wisdom stock up on before the pandemic lockdown. Over the winter, I ran through just about everything I had left in the pantry and was down to a few precious jars of my own habanero, scorpion, and ghost chile concoctions. I also became addicted to Cholula Green Pepper hot sauce. Once I realized my predicament– having no options except my own pickled hot sauce of nuclear proportions– I surfed to see if I could find any of that Cholula green online. Some hideous profiteer was selling a small bottle for $28 on ebay and I thought, are you insane? Me. Not so much the profiteer. That’s a given. Me, for not looking at local or handcrafted options. I went to Etsy and became a devotee of Bushel and Pecks. The most amazingest of Hot Sauce artisans full stop. Inside of a week, I was staring at a truly gorgeous sight: a dozen bottles of the most spectacular hot sauces I’ve ever tasted. Less than a month after receiving them, I had to restock on the Jalapeno Lime. It’s one of my favorites. Particularly in cooking. And, I haven’t even gone through tasting each of the 12 variety pack yet. After I made this recipe, which calls for a delicate heat, I tasted their Cherry Bomb and I now know why it’s the only sauce they sell in extra large bottles. It’s that addictive. (And while posting and getting my links in order, I saw they not only sell the Cherry Bomb in larger bottles but Bushel and Pecks have a limited chive vinegar. Both ordered.)

If any silver lining can come out of what’s happened to our world regarding Covid-19, then perhaps it will be that there will be a food rennaissance. This is a bad situation with the virus; that can’t be overstated. But, it’s exposing the faults, fractures, and inequities in our world– from civil rights to healthcare to food insecurity, just to name a very few. We’re going to be in for a long recovery, but perhaps we can start our own recovery in the kitchen. Since our lockdown, hubby’s dropped almost 25 pounds and over 100 points on his blood sugar. I’ve lost a good 10 pounds and I’m hoping my own pre-diabetis has reversed, or is starting to. Finding more wholesome options to food isn’t available to everyone, but it should be. A cornerstone of our recovery is for each of us to support small businesses– from Rancho Gordo to Ancient Grains to Force of Nature Meats to Bushel and Pecks (all linked earlier). We can also help our own recovery by shopping local, for me it’s the Brick Farm Market and Double Brook Farm. 

Be well and thank you for reading!