Maque Choux and Street Corn Pizza from the Garden of Earthly Delights

“It just arrived one day, like she was accidentally pregnant with her own dying. It was pain’s version of the virgin birth—you never did it with death, but somehow it screwed you anyway.” CE Morgan

The best literary description of what it feels like to get a cancer diagnosis, from the inimitable author of my two favorite novels, All the Living and Sport of Kings. I imagine this is also similar to the sentiment harbored by the millions of humans infected with or who have lost a loved one due to COVID. The list just keeps running, with endless credits. So it goes.

Meanwhile, we still among all the living keep finding new roads to calm. Here in the South’s tropical spring, I find peace in the backyard, a place now more arguably a who than a where—this garden turned diva inspiring me to do better than pajamas. I just know my purple and red columbines, my hot magenta hibiscus, the toad lily and the mean girl succulents are like, Bish, Please! when I show up to water them in gray sweats and scuzzy slippers sans lipstick. Nature has a point. And profoundly, only one—survival is beautiful. Appreciating the lessons from my green girls and all the creative ways they find to be in the world while dying in the most gorgeous ways for the sake of seed, may they rise again.

We also have some vegetables in early action, so when my corn is ready to shuck, I’m gonna maque choux like the dance move it sounds like.

Maque Choux with Shrimp and Andouille

Adapted from Southern Living

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

8 ounces andouille sausage, diced

1 lb fresh shrimp, peeled

3 cups fresh corn kernels (about six ears)

1 medium-size red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

6 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add andouille sausage. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add corn, bell pepper, onion, thyme, salt, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Add cream and cayenne; bring mixture to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the shrimp on top at the very end, cover to steam the shrimp pink, when shrimp are pink, stir in black pepper. Divide among 4 bowls.

Or enjoy on toast!

Also this pizza is a nice way to garden it up–

Mexican Street Corn Pizza

Adapted from Southern Living

3 ears fresh corn, shucked

1 small poblano chile

1 pound fresh prepared pizza dough*

All-purpose flour, for work surface

1 tablespoon cornmeal

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 ounces low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon sour cream

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)

1 1/2 ounces Cotija cheese, crumbled (1/3 cup)

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

Lime wedges

Place pizza stone in oven. Preheat oven to 500°F. Heat a grill pan over high; coat with cooking spray. Add corn and poblano to pan. Cook, turning occasionally, until charred, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cool 5 minutes. Cut kernels from corn cobs; discard cobs. Chop poblano, discarding stem and seeds.

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 14-inch circle. Scatter cornmeal on preheated pizza stone. Transfer dough to stone. Prick dough liberally with a fork. Brush with oil. Top with mozzarella, leaving a 1-inch border. Top with corn and poblano; then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 500°F until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir together sour cream and lime juice.

Remove pizza from oven. Drizzle evenly with sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with Cotija, cilantro, and paprika. Slice and serve with lime wedges.

*Pizza dough

Did a new experiment this time, and it worked out okay.

2 cups white flour

¼ cup buckwheat flour

½ cup sourdough starter

¾ cup water

1 TB olive oil

½ tsp salt

Mix ingredients and knead with your hand until smooth. Cover with saran and let rest on the counter 45 min-60 min until its soft and easy to stretch.

Flounder with Crab Mornay and Tomato Basil Soup

Change sings indeed as the new year has come. Houses are floating. Art installations are popping up all over town. Mardi gras is bringing out the stubborn optimism in New Orleanians this year—I am reminded daily why I choose to live here.

We are members of the Red Beans krewe, and even though we aren’t marching on Lundi gras this year, we beaned some timely costumes. I got my second shot of my vaxbean on Friday!

Due to (thanks to?) the pandemic, we now have a fish guy, Dino, who used to supply fancy restaurants Uptown with fresh catches; now his fish have found us and we are more pescatarian than ever before, finding new ways to use 5 lbs of shrimp, 2 lbs of flounder and 2 pounds of redfish every two weeks. I am getting that Southern early spring fever—plotting this year’s garden in my mind. Where might I grow new and surprising brightness? Meanwhile, I’m hastening to finish the frozen spoils of last season’s tomatoes. Here is a decadent fish recipe, paired with my new favorite tomato basil soup.

Baked Flounder with Crab Mornay Sauce

Adapted from The Times Picayune/Advocate

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 pounds flounder filets

¼ cup butter, melted

1 tablespoon herbs de Provence

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 450 F. Brush olive oil on a large rimmed baking pan.

2. Place the filets skin-side down on the pan in one layer, about ½ to 1 inch apart.

3. Whisk together the butter, herbs de Provence and lemon juice and pour over the filets.

4. Bake uncovered for 8 to 12 minutes or until slightly browned on the edges.

5. Serve warm topped with crab Mornay sauce.

Crab Mornay sauce

¼ cup butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon white wine

4 ounces Creole cream cheese

1 pound fresh crab claw meat

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh parsley

1. In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.

2. Stir in flour until melted and thickened.

3. Gradually stir in milk until sauce is smooth.

4. Stir in white wine and return to simmer.

5. Melt in the cream cheese.

6. Carefully fold in crab.

7. Season with lemon juice, salt, pepper and parsley.

7. Serve warm over flounder filets.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

Adapted from Teresa B. Day, Times Picayune

1 stick butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 large tomatoes

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup fresh basil leaves

1. In a heavy stock pot, melt butter with olive oil over medium-high heat.

2. Chop and seed the tomatoes.

3. Add tomatoes and onion to the butter and oil. Add salt.

4. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until tomatoes start to break down.

5. Remove from heat to either spoon the mixture into a blender or blend with an immersion blender until tomatoes are pureed.

6. Return the pot to medium-high heat.

7. Pour in tomato sauce and add sugar.

8. Stir in Worcestershire sauce then season with paprika, garlic powder and black pepper.

9. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and fresh basil and heat through. Serve hot.

And now for dessert!

Nicole Patel does virtual tastings–what a great Valentine’s day gift idea!

I got to enjoy a sneak peek of Delysia Chocolatier’s Valentine’s aphrodisiac chocolates last week–ruby chocolate was featured in honey ginger, merlot cherries and cream, and chipotle orange flavors. Chipotle orange, decorated with tiny mustaches, was my favorite.

Nothing goes with a fresh crop of hair like chocolate.

Shrimp and Grits, Soup and Bread: Comfort Food to Start the New Year

This is a new year that feels a bit stale from the start because of the sour taste lingering from the one it follows. That is, for those still with the ability to taste. We are all struggling to find balance and peace and renewal. In what felt like a fitting mistake today, I lopped off the wrong branch of my bonsai tree, not the one I was going for; the result was asymmetry, which was so hard to tolerate in the moment immediately after I made the cut, but then, as I sat with the discomfort for a minute and as I then considered butchering the other side of the tree (to match), I realized: this is life—things go and grow sideways, and we learn to live with it. (or we don’t). A cascading bonsai it now is. Things fall. Now whether they fall apart, I think that might be more of a choice?

I suppose I’m just happy to be living at all, even if it’s off-balance or at a limp for a while. To limping off the starting block of 2021! Comfort food at each of the water stops, please.

Cajun Peppered Shrimp & Grits

Makes 6-8 servings.

Recipe is adapted from Kay Ewing’s Cooking School Cookbook: The Final Course.

Grits:

2 cups water

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

1½ cups quick grits

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 ounces pepper jack cheese, cut up

Shrimp:

½ cup butter

¼ cup olive oil

3 pounds medium shrimp, peeled

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 cup chopped green onions

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne

½ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon basil, thyme and oregano

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1. Put water, broth and milk in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Stir constantly while adding salt and grits. Lower heat to medium, cover loosely and cook until grits thicken (3-4 minutes), stirring occasionally to keep from sticking.

2. Turn heat to low. Add butter and cheeses and cook until cheese melts.

3. For shrimp, melt butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and sauté just until pink. Stir in rest of ingredients, except French bread.

4. Lower heat, cover and cook 10 minutes. Mixture will be very thin.

5. Spoon grits into a shallow bowls and top with shrimp and sauce.

As a sinful alternative, perhaps you may want to consider making these cheesy grits:

Creole Cream Cheese Grits

Adapted from The Times Picayune

1 ¼ cups water

2 cups chicken broth

½ tsp salt

1 cup stone ground grits

4 oz creole cream cheese

½ cup heavy cream

1 tsp granulated garlic

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp herbs de provence

In a sauce pan, bring water and chicken broth to a boil. Slowly pour in grits until mixture becomes creamy (five min). Reduce heat to medium and stir in cream cheese and then heavy cream. Season with garlic, black pepper and herbs de provence. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

And nothing is more comforting in the winter than soup and bread.

Try this recipe for Butternut Squash Soup from the Soup and Bread Cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas. The fennel, what a revelation. The pecan cream? oh my. And so many more soup possibilities!

Tom Waits for Pumpkin Cheesecake

Tom Waits for no one. Winter Swamp Solstice was a small batch edition this year—and, from my toast, “Can’t turn back the tide of 2020, with its hurricanes, plagues, and tidal waves of disruption and loss- nope, we can’t turn back the tide, but tonight, let ‘s look up and look for that one star shining and head toward it.” That Grapefruit Moon. Tom Waits’ foggy lamp post alley jazz and his angry sloppy drunk ballads seemed like the perfect serenade for our contemplative ride through the streets. This has been a year of Waits—so much Waiting.

This first week of vaccinations has been emotional—one star shining indeed. Still, we wait, but with fresh hope. And maybe a slice of cheesecake. Or seven.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Adapted from Eating Well

8 ounces gingersnap cookies (I did a mix of pure gingersnaps and pumpkin ginger cookies)

¼ teaspoon salt, divided

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 (8 ounce) packages reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 (15 ounce) can unseasoned pumpkin puree (or use your own yard pumpkins—though I did boil down the puree because real pumpkins are pretty hydrated when roasted fresh…)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Before I start on telling you how to do this, I have to just say how proud I am about the pumpkins. They grew spontaneously from my compost, wild June pumpkins that climbed up my garden trellis, and like a present from the heavens, one day I came out and found a little pumpkin perched over my head in the cattle panel arch. Another, a week later, from the bath tub compost. So proud! We baked and pureed the pulp into the filling for this delicious cheesecake.

I’ve adapted this recipe because, to my chagrin at realizing AFTER starting the crust part of the recipe that I did not have a 9-inch springform pan like I thought I did, but alas, a 6-inch springform and four 4.5-inch mini pie pans. If this is you too, do not worry, the only thing I had to adjust was the baking time. This recipe makes plenty for one 6-inch and four 4.5-inch pans… you’re welcome.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Tightly wrap the outside of the pan with a large piece of foil, covering the bottom and sides. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Pulse cookies and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a food processor until finely ground. Drizzle in butter and process, scraping down the sides as needed, until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of the prepared pan(s). Put the crust in the freezer. Clean the food processor.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, eggs and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt in the food processor. Process, scraping down the sides as needed, until completely smooth. Remove 1/4 cup of the batter to a small bowl. Add pumpkin, vanilla and pie spice to the food processor and process until smooth.

Pour the pumpkin batter into the chilled crust. Drizzle the reserved batter over the top and run a skewer or knife through the two batters to swirl together.

Place the springform pan(s) in a roasting pan. Pour in enough of the boiling water to come 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Carefully transfer the roasting pan to the oven. Bake the cheesecake until set around the edges but the center still jiggles slightly. For the little ones, the 4.5 inchers, it took about 35 minutes, and for the 6 inch springform, it was about an hour. The recipe says for the 9 inch it should be about 1.5 hours, but, you know how ovens are, so post up in the kitchen with a book and check like a good baker should.

Transfer the roasting pan to a wire rack. Let the cheesecake cool in the water bath until the water is room temperature, about 1 hour.

Remove the pan from the water bath. Remove the foil. Refrigerate the cheesecake until very cold, at least 3 hours.

I know you are looking for last minute holiday gifts, we all are! Consider these:

This chocolate from Delysia Chocolatier is not only delicious but artful and classy! These stocking stuffers taste of eggnog and nutmeg and rich cacao.

And how about this purse? From Porto Vino, I got to test this Paris Wine Purse—a lovely and stylish bag with a blind pouch for your favorite beverage, whether that’s eggnog or wine or hot cocoa—picnic with this!

The pocket is the spout. Making spirits bright indeed.

Hyperlinked products were gifted.

Media Vita with Extra Protein

Media vita in morte sumus, in the midst of life we are in death. Well, my chief goal for the last quarter of the year was to not die, and die I did NOT, although there was considerable dying of all sorts. Sorry if I scared y’all, I know one of my readers reached out wondering if I had croaked… nope, just had to get a quick [not quick] bone marrow transplant. I have many stories to tell, but the focus of this first post back is to spotlight the people who brought me through in one piece.

Karl-Peter. Faithful human wheelchair—kept me moving through some dark passes these last few months. At times it felt like we were both walking against a cold wind, blinded by snow. Oh wait, we actually were.

KP made me a loving lair in the living room (which had a fireplace!) and there I nested like a wounded birdie –cozy and within three steps of the toilet. KP, you deserve a medal.

Night before the transplant– just in case, we had the Last Supper

Mom. For two months you nursed your thirty-five year old daughter probably harder than I was ever nursed as a baby. Thank you for feeding us. I know my nutrition would have been no where near where it needed to be had you not force-fed me smoothies and flax seed balls (recipes below!) day after day. I cannot ever repay you; and you told me I don’t need to—itself, an immense gift.

Kermit, you were not there for me. But sweet Mr. Gump was! And our dog sitting friends The Huckabas, Joneses and Rivers—thank you for feeding, walking and snuggling our baby while we were gone. And thank you to Gump’s parents, our neighbors in Minnesota, who shared their fat bully with me for walks. Therapy pets make such a huge difference.

Thank you to everyone in Rochester, most of all my transplant doctor, but also the Calvary Beer Church krewe for a small parade and not so small love and support.

To Dad for all the letters and Skypes.

The wild thing about a loving community is that it is probably bigger than you realize. The daughter of the woman whose house we own (Rest in Peace, Ms Mimi!) reached out to me yesterday to let me know she had been praying for me for months, unbeknownst to me. This soooo touched me because we believe strongly in honoring the legacy of those who came before and since we bought the house, we have kept a photo of Ms Mimi on our wall with her beloved—Elvis—to remind us that we are all someone’s Hunka hunka burning love—even when we don’t know it! My sincere thanks to all who sent packages and cards and well wishes to us on our journey in Minnesota. The uninvited marathon in the bathrobe appears to be over.

Ok, when you are a transplant survivor, it is imperative that you intake at LEAST 60 grams of solid protein daily. I drank a ton of milk, but these shakes and protein bites took me the distance. I’ll be the first to say they are not the healthiest, but when everything tastes weird, for the short-term, these sweet treats get the job done.

SHAKE IT TIL YOU MAKE IT!

Version One: Sweet with 22 grams of protein

1 packet Carnation instant breakfast

2 Beneprotein ¾ oz packets

1 cup milk

2/3 cup full fat ice cream

Version Two: Fruity with 16 grams of protein

½ cup frozen mango

2 Beneprotein ¾ oz packets

1 cup milk

2/3 cup full fat ice cream

Chocolate Flax Oat Protein Bites

Makes about 15 bites, about 5 grams of protein per bite.

¼ cup local honey

½ cup chunky peanut or any nut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup dark chocolate chips

½ cup ground flax seeds

1 cup old fashioned oats

Mix the first three ingredients thoroughly and then add the rest of the ingredients. This will make a pasty lumpy dough. Now wet your hands and with a full tablespoon of dough form into balls and place on a dinner plate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and enjoy.

Product Features:

Got to shout out to Probiotein for making powder that can easily be added to the recipe above (use about 1-2 TB per batch) or baked bread, as I have many times before.

Also Kombuchatown sent this amazing sampler of delicious varieties of kombucha. Once you’ve had colitis, you know how precious are the species which inhabit the colon. Keep them replenished with probiotics and prebiotics!

Also I continue to love Pure Synergy. I’ve been supplementing with their B vitamin complex and Bone Renewal vitamins ever since transplant.

Chicken Corn Tortilla Soup for the Soul and to Relax

Gwendolyn Brooks said, “We are each other’s magnitude and bond.” I’ve been reading a book about libraries, how vital these spaces are to community knowledge. Susan Orlean makes an argument that libraries are the way we live out our human desire to be immortal and connected. “If something you learn or observe or imagine can be set down and saved, and if you can see your life reflected in previous lives, and can imagine it reflected in subsequent ones…you know that you are a part of a larger story that has shape and purpose—a tangible, familiar past and a constantly refreshed future.

We are all whispering, she writes, in a tin can on a string, but we are heard…writing a book, just like building a library, is an act of defiance. It’s a declaration that you believe in the persistence of memory.”

Cooking dinner, by contrast, is a declaration that you believe in the now, in mutability, in the succor of what will spoil if not consumed.

Poblano Chicken Corn Tortilla Soup

Adapted from Food Network

1 large onion, chopped

4 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts separated)

2 poblano chile peppers, chopped

1 1/4 cups frozen fire-roasted corn, thawed

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 handfuls corn tortilla chips

1 teaspoon ground coriander

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1/4 cup light sour cream

Combine the onion, scallion whites, poblanos, 3/4 cup corn and the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Season with a big pinch each of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender but not browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tortillas and coriander and cook, stirring, until combined, about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Season the chicken with salt and add to the pot. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat; remove the chicken to a plate.
Working in two batches, transfer the soup to a blender and carefully blend until very smooth (the liquid will be very hot). Clean out the pot and return the soup to the pot; season with salt.
Shred the chicken with your fingers. Thin the sour cream with 1 tablespoon water. Heat the remaining 1/2 cup corn in the microwave until just hot, about 30 seconds.
Divide the soup among bowls. Top with the sour cream, chicken, corn and scallion greens.

What goes well with chicken soup when you don’t feel well? A relaxing bath. The only answer for my bone pain after bone marrow stimulants is a hot bath. Jane Care sent a Relax gift kit which had bath bomb and aromatherapy candle and essential oils and soap!

I came, I saw, I cared. And then I took a hot bath.

Hyperlinked products have been gifted.

Bucatini Summer Crab Carbonara and Breakfast Vegetables with Spice and Parma!

It’s seldom that I have energy to cook these days. But a wedding anniversary should be celebrated, and for me, homemade pasta is just the thing to say, Today, I’m upright. Today, I’m not afraid. In the storm of things, perhaps today is the eye. And I love you.

Bucatini Summer Crab Carbonara

Adapted from Food and Wine

12 ounces uncooked bucatini pasta

1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

1/4 cup drained and rinsed capers, chopped

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

6 large egg yolks, beaten

3 ounces Parmegiano Regianno cheese, grated (about 3/4 cup), plus more for garnish

1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh chives

8 ounces fresh Jonah, blue, or stone crabmeat, picked over

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest plus

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Fine sea salt or kosher salt

Garlic bread and lemon wedges, for serving

Fill up a large pot with water to 2 inches from top of pot; generously salt water. Bring water to a boil over high. Stir in pasta, and return to a boil over high. Cook pasta, stirring occasionally, until very al dente (2 minutes less than package directions for al dente). Drain pasta in a colander, reserving 1 1/2 cups cooking liquid in a small heatproof bowl. Add a small drizzle of oil to pasta in colander, and toss gently to coat.

Cook oil and garlic in a large, deep skillet over medium, stirring often, until lightly toasted, about 4 minutes. Add capers and black pepper; cook, stirring often, 2 minutes. Add 1 cup reserved pasta cooking liquid; bring to a boil over medium. Stir in cooked pasta, and return to a boil over medium; cook until pasta is al dente, 3 to 4 minutes, adding up to 1/4 cup reserved pasta cooking liquid until desired sauce consistency is reached. Remove from heat.

While stirring pasta mixture vigorously using a wooden spoon, pour egg yolks in a quick stream into mixture; stir until slightly creamy, about 10 seconds. While stirring vigorously, quickly add cheese and chives; stir until sauce is creamy and silky, about 20 seconds. Gently stir in crab and lemon zest and juice. Season to taste with fine sea salt or kosher salt. (If needed, add additional pasta cooking liquid to loosen sauce.) Divide pasta mixture evenly among 4 shallow bowls; garnish with additional cheese. Serve with garlic bread and lemon wedges.

My grandma subscribed me to Daily Harvest to help ease meal prep during this time when I’m getting chemotherapy. Besides being easy, KP and I love these veggie bowls and soups because they are pure frozen veggie goodness. We do add some spice and tofu now and then.

Parma! is a great addition to the broccoli cheddar bowl (tons of nutritional yeast vitamins.) Parma also goes well on lots of the recipes from Nancy Wolfson-Moche’s Vegetables for Breakfast book.

While she advocates for a paradigm shift to consider adding vegetables to breakfast, a meal we are used to making with carbs and protein, I think a lot of her recipes are great snacks for anytime, Rutabaga Chips and Carrot Flowers.

Her motto, You Are Because You Eat, is such an affirmation of the power of choice.

I also like adding Spice Lab Street Corn or Taco Seasonings to the Daily Harvest mesquite chili bowl.

Hyperlinked products have been gifted.

Not Kleenex Bread and Spicy Grilled Cheese for the Fourth

“How can a nation be great if their bread tastes like Kleenex?” Julia Child.

I would have voted for Julia Child for President. Yep, even a drunk Julia sounds pretty good right now. Tweets from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She’d sneak a meat tenderizer into the G7 Summit and bang it on the table while she garbled. Instead of fireworks on the Fourth, she’d flambe a tanker portion of Cherries Jubilee.

While we wait for the chance to vote, you can make better bread today. Here is the final Bake This Day pillar of bread baking.

“Not Kleenex” Raisin Walnut Bread for Pillar #5

This delectable and healthy bread is THE go-to breakfast with almond butter and strawberry jam! Note the instruction to perform a Tension Pull in this recipe and attached video. Bread Pillar #5, The Tension Pull, effectively pulls the “skin” of the dough tight, allowing it to contain the rising CO2 and lift the whole grain into a delicious mound during baking, not a dense and enormous hockey puck. The loaf is simply pulled across your non-floured counter. Look carefully and you can see the surface of the loaf tightening in the video.

A Proper Tension Pull

As a reminder, this is the last of our bread pillars. If you live in PDX, Andie is happy to teach you bread baking, for the cost of a small donation to Shepherd’s Door Women’s Shelter, just email Bake This Day.

Five Bread Pillars to improve your baking

Pillar One; Never, ever, DEGASS, your dough.

Pillar Two; The higher the bread percentage of water the chewier the crust and less fine the crumb.

Pillar Three; Taste takes TIME.

Pillar Four; Crust requires steam.

Pillar Five; Tension pulls increase oven spring.

Ingredients:

200 gms active sourdough starter

700 gms room temp H2O

15 gms ground cinnamon

100 gms chopped walnuts

150 gms raisins

50 gms ground flaxseed

1 teas vanilla

300 gms stone-ground whole wheat bread flour

700 gms un-bleached bread flour

18-20 gms kosher salt

Step one: the autolyze

In a large ceramic bowl, mix your active starter, water, flours, spice, nuts, vanilla and flaxseed. Stir to dissolve and add the whole wheat and unbleached bread flours. Mix to a shaggy dough and let rest covered for 1-2 hours. This gives your starter yeasts a nice head start of fermenting without the fermentation slowing salt added.

Step two: the stretch and folds

Now, sprinkle with 20 grams of kosher salt, add the raisins, and perform a stretch and fold every 30 minutes x 4. (Notice how your bread changes character!)

To stretch and fold picture your bread bowl as a clock face. Pick up the edge of the dough with wet hands, (not flour), at 12 o’clock and fold the dough softly over the center of the clock, without degassing or pushing down the dough). Turn your bowl and repeat this fold at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock on your dough. Now recover and repeat this every 30 minutes X 4. Stretch and fold is our method for retaining the byproduct of your starter’s fermentation, carbon dioxide.

That’s right, no traditional bread kneading, at all. Your bread will slowly and surely become billowy and soft during this interesting process.

Step three: the final proofing and tension pull

Carefully move your dough on to a flat counter- top, without flour, and divide for two loaves, by carefully sawing in two with a serrated knife.

To tension pull, fold each corner of the dough carefully to the middle, careful, do not degas the bread. Turn it over, cup your hands, dusted with a bit of rice flour, and pull along the counter-top gently, noting the “skin” of the dough getting tighter. Turn and repeat X3. Cover your tightened dough with a towel for a ten- minute rest, covered with a light dish cloth.

Now, place upside down in a towel lined proofing basket, dusted with rice flour.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof. Indoors, this should take about 1-1.5 hours or you can let it have one hour on the counter and then go in the refrigerator or in the cool garage overnight for a cold rise.

Note: a cold rise will produce a bread with enhanced sour flavors, a warm rise produces for yeasty, traditional bread flavors.

Step four-baking: Heat oven to 500 with rack in upper third position with your empty dutch ovens/cloches inside!

Carefully move your final proof to a hot combo/pan or Dutch oven pan for the boule using the parchment slide. (See note below.) Slice the top, with a sharp knife or lame. Designs are fine, but a quick zig zag cut to ½ inch works perfectly well. Cover the hot pan and put in to bake.

Once in the oven, immediately lower to 450 and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for 10-15 more minutes. You might want to use your instant read thermometer at this point and watch for your desired temp of 198 -200 degrees.

Cool on a rack and then wait 1.5 hours before cutting, that’s the really hard part of this recipe.!

*To perform a parchment slide, remove plastic wrap and place a piece of parchment paper over your dough. Top this with a dinner plate and carefully turn the entire basket over on the plate. Viola’, your bread is now sitting on a parchment slide on a plate. Pick up the plate and carefully slide the dough and the paper beneath it, into your hot pan, cover and bake.

Spicy Charred Corn Grilled Cheese

Adapted from Food and Wine

1 cup fresh corn kernels

3 ounces English-style cheddar cheese, shredded (about 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 ounce havarti cheese, shredded (about 1/4 cup)

1/4 cup shallot, chopped

1/4 cup scallions, chopped

1 poblano pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 teaspoon kosher salt

8 cloves garlic, finely chopped

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3 ounces), softened

12 (1/3-inch-thick) sourdough bread slices (I wouldn’t use the raisin bread above, rather, some simpler tartine)

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high until smoking. Add corn kernels, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and charred in spots, about 3 minutes. Transfer corn to a large bowl, and let cool 10 minutes. Wipe out skillet, and set aside.

Add cheddar, mayonnaise, havarti, shallot, scallions, peppers, salt, and garlic to corn; stir to combine. Spread butter on one side of each bread slice. Place 6 bread slices, buttered sides down, on a piece of parchment paper, and top evenly with cheese mixture (about 1/3 cup each); spread cheese mixture in an even layer. Top with remaining bread slices, buttered sides up.

Heat cast-iron skillet over medium. Working in batches, cook sandwiches until golden brown and toasted, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Serve immediately.

Feels so good to be eating this week. I’m grateful for comfort food, comforting company, and comfort packages incoming from all around—thank you Pure Synergy!

A beautiful neighbor brought a bouquet of life from her garden with a poem—“Some things to add color, some things for their scent, some things keep growing, some things become spent… it’s life in a jar, enjoy it today—there’s no room for “bou,” only for Yay.”

YAYquet next to my bromeliad farm. All the living.

Antioxidants are a yay. Fie neuropathy! Boost ye immune system! Hyperlinked products have been gifted.

Spiced Chickpea Stewing

”Nothing is happening,/ and yet what is being acted-out/ or proven right now, flamboyantly/ might just turn a corner/ and become the real thing.” Ralph Angel, Poetry 1987

Stagnancy isn’t really stillness; waiting isn’t a deferral. Purgatory isn’t just the space between a red light and a green—in that yellow light there is always a choice to the beholden, and a risk. To move or not to move? To eat? To smile? To sing? To laugh? To foist a javelin toward tomorrow?

Been stewing lately, literally and figuratively. Every day is the real thing. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but if not, or while waiting to see–improve the moment you have now. Find a way to spice it up. Flamboyantly. Make a dish in your yellow light–a yellow light dish.

Spiced Chickpea Stew with Coconut and Turmeric

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for serving

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 (2-inch) piece ginger, finely chopped

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric, plus more for serving

1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for serving

2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 (15-ounce) cans full-fat coconut milk

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 bunch Swiss chard, kale or collard greens, stems removed, torn into bite-size pieces

1 cup mint leaves, for serving

Yogurt, for serving (optional)

Toasted pita, lavash or other flatbread, for serving (optional)

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large pot over medium. Add garlic, onion and ginger. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is translucent and starts to brown a little at the edges, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric, 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, and the chickpeas, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, so the chickpeas sizzle and fry a bit in the spices and oil, until they’ve started to break down and get a little browned and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove about a cup of chickpeas and set aside for garnish.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, further crush the remaining chickpeas slightly to release their starchy insides. (This will help thicken the stew.) Add coconut milk and stock, and season with salt and pepper.

Bring to a simmer, scraping up any bits that have formed on the bottom of the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until stew has thickened, 30 to 35 minutes. (Taste a chickpea or two, not just the liquid, to make sure they have simmered long enough to be as delicious as possible.) If after 30 to 35 minutes, you want the stew a bit thicker, keep simmering until you’ve reached your desired consistency. Determining perfect stew thickness is a personal journey!

Add greens and stir, making sure they’re submerged in the liquid. Cook until they wilt and soften, 3 to 7 minutes, depending on what you’re using. (Swiss chard and spinach will wilt and soften much faster than kale or collard greens.) Season again with salt and pepper.

Divide among bowls and top with mint, reserved chickpeas, a sprinkle of red-pepper flakes and a good drizzle of olive oil. Serve alongside yogurt and toasted pita if using; dust the yogurt with turmeric if you’d like.

“I open one eye, take a look around./ No pat answers, no permanence or rest./ Someone just happens to keep beginning….”

Buldak Fire Chicken

“Body, doorway that you are, be more than what I’ll pass through,” writes Ocean Vuong.

The world feels like it is on fire, and it is. Hope seems singed. “I felt things that made death so large it was indistinguishable from air,” Ocean says. People can’t breathe from COVID, from the ugly kneecaps of racism, from smoke issuing from little and big fires everywhere. The cancer is back, comes as no surprise.

Due to my body rotting at its core in a stubborn and untimely, merciless manner, I am stopped at yet another coda; not sure if I’m meant to sing the bridge or the chorus or the whole song over again next. So I’m not singing at all. I’m a still windchime in hurricane season.

“Stillness. That’s what it was/ the [wo]man in the field in the red sweater, [s]he was so still [s]he became, somehow, more true, like a knife wound in a landscape painting…” Hoping that the body I have after this course of treatment is more than a charred clearing.

Cheese Buldak Fire Chicken

Adapted from NYTimes Cooking

¼ cup sambal oelek sauce

2 tablespoons red curry paste

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 tablespoon Bee K’onscious honey

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (about 2 tablespoons)

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into ¾-inch cubes

2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola or peanut

4 ounces sliced Korean rice cakes (optional)

6 to 8 ounces low-moisture mozzarella, thinly sliced

2 scallions, sliced, for garnish

This honey is wonderful, you can scan a QR code and trace your honey to exactly the beekeeper who collected it!

Combine the sambal oelek, curry paste, brown sugar, honey, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce in a medium bowl and mix well. Add the chicken and stir until it is well coated.

If you’re using the rice cakes, swirl the oil into a large, oven-safe skillet set over medium-high heat and wait for it to shimmer. Add the rice cakes and cook, turning the cakes often, until they are a little crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the rice cakes to a small bowl and set aside. If you’re not using rice cakes, simply swirl the oil into the pan and move along to the next step.

Add the chicken mixture to the pan along with ¼ cup water. Cover and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes, adding the rice cakes halfway through, if using. Meanwhile, heat the broiler in your oven.

Remove the chicken from the heat. Cover the pan with the sliced mozzarella, then slide the pan under the broiler. Cook until the cheese has melted and browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle with scallions. Serve immediately, with rice.

Hyperlinked products have been gifted.