1-1.5 pounds dry Mayocoba beans (see dry beans here, soaked beans below, with an orange for scale and color - it's not part of the recipe ... although that wouldn't be bad if I did use the tomato).
Soak beans overnight in cold water, rinse and drain.
Water should be at least two inches above soaked beans, so the water volume depends on the amount of beans soaked.
Add 1 tsp. of salt, about 12 twists of black pepper, 4 bay leaves, 4-6 cloves of garlic, and 1 tsp. of celery seeds, rubbed briskly between both hands, to the cooking water.
Bring to low boil and cook for 1-1.5 hours.
Meanwhile, wash and prepare the remaining ingredients.
The mirepoix vegetables should be roughly the size of a bean or smaller (except shallots and parsley, which are very finely minced:
2 medium red potatoes
2 large carrots (or equivalent volume of small pre-peeled carrots)
Julienne one medium bunch of Italian Black kale (also known as Laciniata kale).
Mince 2 shallots, a medium bunch of parsley, and a bunch of English thyme if you have it, very finely.
Remove half of the beans from cooking pot into mixing bowl of three times their volume. Add all of the bean cooking liquid to the beans in the mixing bowl and purée completely on low speed (avoids splattering). Add the remaining beans from the cooking pot to the mixing bowl with the purée, and set aside until the end of cooking other ingredients.
Rinse cooking pot, then add 4-6 tbsp. olive olive to pot.
Sauté the potatoes until translucent, then add the carrots. Continue sauté until the potatoes are soft and begin to brown. Add the shallots, parsley, and thyme, and continue to sauté until the shallots are translucent. Add the julienned kale and sauté until just softened.
Add the puréed and whole beans back to the cooking pot with the cooked vegetables. Add 2-4 cups of water to thin to desired consistency. Add 4 more cloves of garlic at this point. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil and cook until all vegetables are the desired consistency. Performing this step rapidly results in vegetables with crunchier texture. A longer simmer results in softer textures.
Serve with crunchy sourdough and olive oil with Swanson Merlot.
