Globalization in Southern Mississippi

Tasty things I have cooked, oh how you are multitude!

In our continuation of ethnic food Thursdays, we have begun to do some odd stuff. Once Italian, Mexican, and Chinese are off the table, it takes a tad more creativity. Thus, more from the world tour of food in reverse chronological order!


CAJUN!

In honor of the upcoming Mardi Gras and in celebration of anti-V-day, there were spicy food to be had. Since I hadn't done a desert in awhile, I figured cake with cayenne? Who could go wrong! It's an interesting little concoction -- comes out very similar to gingerbread but with kick.

Gateau de Sirop

1/2 c veg. oil
1 1/2 c pure cane syrup
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c hot water
powerded sugar for topping

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9'' round cake pan. Combine oil, syrup, and egg. STir until well blended. Mix dry ingredients except baking soda. Combine baking soda and hot water. Add dry infredients to the syrup mixture alternately with the dissolved baking soda. Pour into pan; bake 45 minutes. Top with powdered sugar. Consume.

(Altered from a Louisiana Cooking magazine.)



INDONESIAN!

This was done with the help of Meagan and my Indonesian Cookbook (thank you, Norton). And then spilled in my car, which I just realized pre-road trip. Nothing says fun like dried curry on the backseat.

Javanese Chicken Curry

1 tbp ground coriander
1 red Holland chile (I used jalapeno because there were no red chiles to be found), chopped
6 shallots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs minced ginger
1 3 lb chicken, cut into serving portions
3 tbp peanut oil
2 cinnamon sticks
1 stalk lemongrass (or dried)
1 tbp lime zest
1 can coconut milk
salt to taste


In a food processor, combine coriander, chile, shallots, garlic, and ginger. Pulse until you have a smooth paste (add 1-2 tbp of water if necessary).

Heat the oil in a 3-4 quart saucepan over med-low heat. Add paste and saute, stirring frequently for 5-7 minutes. Add cinnamon lemongrass, and zest. Saute for 1 more minute. Add chicken and rase heat to medium. Saute in flavoring paste for about 10 minutes making sure to turn them so both sides brown. Add 1 cup coconut milk, 3/4 cup water, and salt. Stir and scrape up tastiness from the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 40-50 minutes. Add 1 cup coconut milk and heat. Serve over rice.

(Modified from Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland)
CUBAN!

Because I'm black bean soup crazy, I decided to try new recipe, which may trump Christine's in tastiess. She'll have to be the final judge of that one.


POLISH!

I wasn't there. Which is fine. Because from what I hear it was a total sausage-fest. (Heh.)


ETHIOPIAN!

This is a surprisingly easy and tasty ethnicity to do. Plus way fun if you have people over, provided they are chronic handwashers. Definitely not first date food. Or food to enjoy with mechanics.

The real trick is having the crazy excellent spice rack necessary to produce the berbere, which might be the best smelling spice mix I've ever accidentally inhaled (don't do that).

Injera (flat bread)

4 c Self-rising flour
1 c Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Baking powder
2 c Club soda

Combine flours and baking powder in a bowl. Add club soda plus about 4 cups water. Mix into a smooth, fairly thin batter. Heat a large, non-stick skillet. When a drop of water bounces on the pan's surface, dip enough batter from the bowl to cover the bottom of the skillet, and pour it in quickly, all at once. Swirl the pan so that the entire bottom is evenly coated, then set it back on the heat.

When the moisture has evaporated and small holes appear on the surface, remove the injera. It should be cooked only on one side, and not too browned. If your first one is a little pasty and undercooked, you may need to cook a little longer or to make the next one thinner. But, as with French crepes, be careful not to cook them too long, or you'll have a crisp bread that may be tasty but won't fold around bits of stew. Stack the injera one on top of the other as you cook, covering with a clean cloth to prevent their drying out.

Yetakelt W'et (spicy mixed vegetable stew)

1 c Onions; finely chopped
4 Garlic cloves; minced
1 tb Berbere*
1 tb Sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 c butter
1 c zucchini; chopped
1 c Carrots; chopped
1 c Potatoes; cubed
1 c Tomatoes; chopped
1/4 c Tomato paste
2 c Vegetable stock
Salt and black pepper to tst
1/4 c Parsley; fresh, chopped

Saute the onions, garlic, berbere, and paprika in the Niter Kebbeh for 2 minutes. Add the zucchini, carrots, and potatoes and continue to saute for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, and the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes, or until all of the vegetables are tender.

Add salt and pepper to taste and mix in the parsley.

Serve with injera and yogurt or cottage cheese following the same serving and eating procedure as for Yemiser W'et.

Doro Wat (Chicken Stew)

1 3 lb chicken, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 cups onion, chopped finely
3 tbs butter
4 tbs bebere

Soak
Brown onion chopped finely, without fat, until quite dark, stirring constantly. Add butter and bebere and stir. Add one cup water. Stir. Add chicken and cover. Simmer on low until the chicken is tender. Add more water if necessary to bring to a stew texture. Eat!


*Berbere

2 tsp Cumin seeds
4 Whole cloves
3/4 tsp Cardamom seeds
1/2 tsp Whole black peppercorns
1/4 tsp Whole allspice
1 tsp Fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
8 To 10 small dried red chiles
1/2 tsp Grated fresh ginger root OR
(1 tsp dried)
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Salt
2 1/2 tb Sweet Hungarian paprika
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Ground cloves

In a small frying pan, on medium-low heat, toast the cumin, whole cloves, cardamom, peppercorns, allspice, fenugreek, and coriander for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Discard the stems from the chiles. In a spice grinder or with a morter and pestle, finely grind together the toasted spices and the chiles. Mix in the remaining ingredients.

Store Berebere refrigerated in a well-sealed jar or a tightly closed plastic bag.


BRITISH!

Everyone knows that the Brits make the best food. Not really in terms of taste, but in terms of funny names. Bangers and mash? Spotted dick? There was so much potential, until we realized these things were entirely inedible. So thanks to Allison's giant cod (hehe) there was Fish & Chips and I topped that off with some Yorkshire pudding with roasted veggies. Not bad. And now I've got extra lard just layin' around for late night snacking. Yum.

Fish, Wine, and Mushrooms = Bliss

Baked fish in mushroom-wine sauce

I’m always ready to cook seafood, especially fish. Today, I visited Vermillionville to watch a somewhat disappointing country Mardi Gras that is supposed to involve costumed revelers on horse back going from house to house begging and dancing for gumbo ingredients that should especially feature a live chicken flying to save its feathers. Instead, this “family friendly” mardi gras featured children scaring costumes, one rubber chicken and a few bags of rice. Not exactly ingredients for anything edible, yet alone a gumbo. During a beignet cooking demonstration, Meagan asks the cook if she has a good recipe for cooking catfish, which she does. That combined with a hope to eat seafood for lunch, made me really want to make some seafood for dinner. One the way home Igrabbed two tilapia filets at Champagne’s and decided to cook tonight. I decided to try out The Frank Davis Seafood Notebook that is half a cookbook and half a book filled with tips on cooking seafood.

Always a fan of cooking with alcohol, I decided to try his Baked fish in mushroom-wine sauce and add a few more vegetables I had in my fridge.

Ingredient list:

5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup heavy cream
mushrooms, finely chopped, enough to cover fish filets. (I used Crimini)
lemon juice
6 tablespoons of white wine (per pound of fish)
Fish Filets

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350

In a frying pan, melt butter, then stir in flour until smooth over low heat. Next, stir in cream. Do not brown. Season filets with salt and pepper. Chop mushrooms and spread over fish in a baking dish. Drizzle Lemon juice and wine. I didn’t have any lemon, but did have lime juice, which I dripped over the filets instead. I also added chopped green onions, Roma tomatoes, and asparagus. Bake for 10 minutes. Then pour butter sauce on fish and cook until tender. It took about 15 more minutes until the filets fell apart when stabbed with a fork. The veggies and fish soak up the wine and butter well, melting not just in the oven, but (clicely) in the mouth too. This is an easy recipe and great use of mushrooms.

Mark

Mark- New Guy in Old Wine Bottles: Tuscan Bean and Pasta Stew

Thanks for letting me post here. When I was home for Christmas in Zanesville, (Think Wright’s “Autumn Begins In Martin’s Ferry, Ohio”) I stopped at the local used bookstore, a retired teacher’s 1940’s house located across the street from a United Technologies Plant and down the street from several bars. Convenient! Since I own three cookbooks and because no one unloads decent poetry books, I perused the cookbook section. Buried between Atkins and Richard Simmons, I found Mollie Katzen’s "Vegetable Heaven" which began a long conversation with the owner about cooking and his theory that there are only so many recipes in the world and that each recipe is just a variation on a theme. Sounds like some narrative theory to me. Anyway, having people over to drink and talk about writing while admiring your amazing Buddha Lamp? This stew will take care of 4 – 6 people.


Tuscan Bean and Pasta Stew

Ingredients

3 Cups uncooked pasta (macaroni, small shells, I used Champenelle)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups minced onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
(Thanks to sage being MIA that night, Cilantro was used instead and worked well.)
1 tablespoon dried basil (or 3 tablespoons minced fresh basil)
2 10-once packages frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained (or 2 pounds fresh spinach—cleaned, stemmed, and chopped) I used fresh.
2 14 1/2 once cans diced tomatoes
2 15 once cans of ubiquitous cannelloni beans, rinsed, and drained.
Freshly ground black pepper
2 or 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese (plus more for the top)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (plus more for the top)

Directions:
Heat a large pot of water for pasta. When it boils, add pasta, stir, and cook until tender. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large, deep saucepan. I used a stock pot. Add onion and half the garlic, sauté for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring often. Add ½ teaspoon of salt and the dried herbs, sauté for 10 minutes. (If using fresh basil add it later)

Add the spinach to the onion, along with the tomatoes and remaining garlic and salt. Stir, cover, and let stew over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. Soon, it starts to look like stew.

Stir in fresh basil if used, along with beans and pasta. Heat thoroughly and add black pepper, parmesan, and vinegar.

Serve hot in bowls, with extra cheese, pepper, and vinegar. I only added the vinegar after serving it. I’ve never made stew before and this was a perfect introduction. Katzen suggests it would be fine at room temperature as well. I couldn’t wait that long. Next time I will add mushrooms, something delicious in nearly everything. My friend Tina also suggested walnuts or pine nuts, which would complicate the texture of spinach, cannelloni, pasta, tomatoes, and provide an all-important crunch.

White Bean Soup

Here in Chambana, we have 4 inches of snow and haven't seen 20 degrees in a week. Is it the kind of weather that makes a person want to stay in bed all day, or maybe the couch covered in blankets? Only moving to eat more soup? Indeed, indeed.

Winter is when I fall back on all my thick soup and stew recipes. Most of them are geared towards work-week supper nights, when my husband and I both get home cold, tired, and way too poor to order food in. Enter: crock pot.

I know I talk about how magic this thing is all the time, and really I do, but it's truly incredible. Let me prove it to you with a succession of crock pot recipes.

(taken from *Vegetarian* by Linda Fraser, then crock-pot adapted by me)

White Bean Soup, serves 6

1-1/2 c. dry white beans (or a mix of white, garbanzo and lentil--this is forgiving soup)
1 bay leaf

Soak beans overnight (not lentils, if using). In the morning, drain, put in crock pot (adding lentils), cover with water by two inches, and add bay leaf. Cook on high 3 hours or until tender. Then drain again, discarding bay leaf. If you have an immersion/stick blender, then just set them aside. If not, puree half the beans in a food processor or blender, adding a little water as needed.

**Using two cans (for four cups) of white beans is entirely acceptable. Tastes nearly the same. Just drain and rinse the beans.**

5 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes and their juice)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried thyme
3 c. boiling water
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil, and saute onion until it softens. Add carrot and celery, and cook for 5 minutes more.

Stir in tomatoes, thyme, and garlic. Bring back to a boil, then dump it all in the crock pot.

Pour boiling water into crock. Stir in the beans and the bean puree. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook on low 6 hours, or High for three. Puree at the end of cooking with a stick blender if the beans weren't already pureed.

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You have no idea how delicious this is. But trust me, it's exactly what you want to eat when the temperature drops.