Gam’s Apple Chutney

Interpretive Cooking

Every family has a Thanksgiving recipe handed down through the generations. Even if it just opening a box, it still counts as a family tradition (or at the very least, a funny commentary on whether or not your ancestors could cook). Case in point, my paternal grandmother was a disaster in the kitchen. In fact, my grandfather did all of the cooking during a time when it was definitely not the norm, and they always came to our house for Holiday meals.

My maternal grandmother was just the opposite. If you read my posts regularly, you will know about Gam’s recipes—she was a really great cook. I have come to realize that she was pretty bad at actually writing her recipes. When you consider she was a teacher for most of her life, it seems sort of strange that her recipe writing would be that “open to interpretation”. It may be more a generational thing than her inability to get her point across. Gam never had a problem getting her point across. She made her opinion very clear…often.

In my cookbook collection, I have some “antique” cookbooks that were written at a time when people, mainly women, did a lot of the cooking. Certain steps were implied, and were not written down—it was assumed the reader just knew. I would definitely put my grandmother’s handwritten recipes in this category, especially because they were written for her own use. She didn’t elaborate. That thought was underscored when I pulled out her recipe for apple chutney in anticipation of Thanksgiving leftovers.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving are the turkey sandwiches the next day and I really like them with some thickly-spread apple chutney. For me, Gam’s apple chutney is the best. But I had to read through her recipe a few times to make sure I understood her thought process. There were a few important pieces of information missing, but I managed to channel my inner Mary Jane, and figured it out.

Below is the revised recipe. Although cooking yet another dish this week might be the last thing you would like to do, keep in mind that a tasty little jar of homemade chutney makes a great gift for the hostess or that last minute gift for the person you forgot! Read more…

Amy’s Hummus

Hummus Among Us

School has been back in session for a week, at least at my house. (It only took 4 days for two of my kids to get sick. Yay, school!) I am back in lunch making mode. The boys’ lunches are easy, albeit boring: turkey sandwich on wheat, yogurt, fruit, granola bar, and a drink. Every day. All Year. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

My daughter is the difficult one. She’s not a sandwich kind of gal. When she does have a sandwich, she prefers a PB&J but the PB in it is problematic when there are peanut allergies in your class. Any other options that I have given her are short lived. Egg salad is a favorite but I don’t want her to eat that everyday. She’ll eat any leftovers from dinner. There’s always crackers, cheese and salami, but sometimes this feels like cheating, and it’s not the greatest nutritionally.

The most recent solution is perhaps one of the best. She loves Hummus. I have started making my own and sending it in her lunch with various veggies. It’s been great. Plus it’s cheap when you make it yourself.

Hummus is so easy to make, and frankly tastes way better when you make it fresh. I adapted my recipe from a couple from my collection. It’s fast. I made a batch in 5 minutes yesterday. It’s a great go-to afternoon snack and keeps in the fridge for about 5 days—if it lasts that long. Play around with this recipe. I sometimes add harissa if I want it spicy.

Amy’s Hummus

Ingredients
2 14-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas) or 1 ¼ C dried garbanzo beans, soaked in water overnight, and cooked.
1/4 cup tahini
Juice of two Lemons, or to taste
3 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions
Drain the canned garbanzo beans in a colander over a bowl to retain the liquid.

Put the drained beans into a food processor. Add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and cumin if using.

Process the ingredients until a thick paste forms. While the processor is running, add the olive oil. Add some of the reserved liquid until the preferred consistency is achieved. Enjoy!

Kitty’s Roasted Pepper, Tomato, and Salted Lemon Relish

Naughty Chickens

I have naughty chickens. It would be a reasonable assumption to think that I am referring to my kids, and while there are times you would be correct, in this instance I mean actual fowl.

About a week or two ago we decided that the chickens were old enough to be “free-ranging” in my garden. They were very excited. (Think Disneyland excited.) They ran around like crazy chickens and seemed content to frolic in the dirt, scratch the ground and eat the bugs. Then they discovered the vegetable plants.

While watering the other evening, my husband noticed that leaves on my sweet peppers were gone. I mean totally gone. Like the locusts of the eighth plaque had come and laid siege to the plant. The peppers were still on the branches but the plant was bald. Curiously, it was only the pepper plants that had been targeted. The tomatoes, melons, squash and beans were left untouched. So I put up a wire barrier and hoped that the peppers wouldn’t get scorched by the sun and that was that. Or so I thought.

Last night I came home to find the girls with guilty looks on their faces nestled in the soil between my zucchini and yellow squash plants with tell-tale beak sized pieces missing from the leaves. Now my garden looks like San Quentin with wire all around the plants in the hopes that we might get to eat, as well as our chickens…

If we’re lucky and the peppers survive, I plan to make this recipe. One of my favorite snacks is a great appetizer, a light lunch, or a just the thing for a panini. This recipe is courtesy of one of my favorite chef/teachers, Kitty Morse. Read more…

Open-Face Fava and Egg Salad Sandwiches

Peas of Mind

Over the weekend I started getting my garden ready for the spring. I waterproofed the floor of my greenhouse, started my pumpkin and cantaloupe seeds, and planted the English peas that I had started a few weeks ago.

Because I have done this, we are now supposed to have a torrential downpour that will last for days starting on Wednesday. Had I known that I could make water fall from the sky by the bucketful just by working in the garden, I would have started at the beginning of January. Now I just have to hope that my plants will survive the beating.

This year I opted not to plant fava beans along with my peas, and I am now regretting that decision. After finishing in the garden and feeling rather pleased with myself, I sat down with my lemonade and Sunset magazine, and pretended that I was the kind of person who would normally be enjoying the spring-like weather while reading Sunset. (I really would like to be that person, who is a gardening bad ass, but it’s just not true. If I am successful it usually dumb luck.)

Anyway, while thumbing through the March issue, I spied a recipe that made me stop in my tracks. Open-Faced Fava and Egg Salad Sandwiches. What could say “The Winter produce doldrums are over!” better than that? It’s so simple, but the bright green color of the favas screams Spring, and the picture made my mouth water. After noting that it included a recipe for tabil by Kitty Morse, one of my favorite Moroccan cooking teachers, I knew I would have to try it. Now I will regret not having the fresh fava beans from the garden.

For now, I will sit back and be happy for the rain, and cross my fingers that my peas will survive…and wait for fresh favas to appear at the market.

Open-Face Fava and Egg Salad Sandwiches
Recipe adapted from Kitty Morse and myrecipes.com Read more…