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Steenbeck

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Steenbeck

Very nearly every day for the last half of my life (21 years, if you’re counting) I’ve eaten the same thing for breakfast. An apple, cut into small pieces, with a few spoonfuls of cereal and some milk. And almost every day for the last 14 years, I’ve given the last three pieces of apple to my dog, Steenbeck. This might not seem like something most dogs would look forward to, but she always came eagerly racing into the kitchen when she heard my spoon hitting the bottom of the bowl. Even when she was very old, and her back legs were rusty, and it was so difficult for her to stand that she wouldn’t bother coming in for her dog food, she’d make her way into the kitchen for her three pieces of apple. She died last Monday, lying in the unseasonably warm sunshine, under a flowering quince bush, in her own back yard. I don’t think she was in pain. She’d had a rough weekend, and could barely stand. She’d been infirm for a year – shockingly thin, (though she ate as much as ever!) wobbly on her legs, prone to seizures. But she’d still been bright and sweet and hungry.

I miss her so much! I miss her warmth and humor and sweetness. I miss the 9-week-old puppy that entered our house for the first time and immediately took over. Fearlessly exploring every inch. Throwing herself at the couch in frustration that she couldn’t jump up by herself. I miss the old dog, who barely ever left her dog bed on the floor, who sometimes stood miserably by the couch, remembering that she could no longer jump up by herself.

When she was barely a year old, we moved to Boston. David was in school full time, and it took me a little while to find a job and to make friends. Steenbeck was as good a friend as you would ever want. David got out of bed at 6 am, and Steenbeck would move up and put her head on his pillow, and lie alongside me. We’d sit on the bench in the park. She sat next to me, and she was so tall, and had such lovely shoulders, that I could just sling my arm around her neck, and she’d lean up against me. A woman once scolded me for letting Steenbeck put her paws on the bench, so she sat on my lap, and leaned up against me, and together we watched everyone in the park.

She was with us for one third of our life. And our life changed so much in that time. The life of a dog is so fast and full of grace, and it makes you think, more than you might want to, about time passing. I mourn her, and I selfishly mourn the person I was when we got her. So many memories are hopelessly tangled with memories of Steenbeck. It’s painful but strangely precious to sort through them now.

I miss her speed and strength and beauty. She was so full of life it was almost frightening sometimes! I miss her stillness, too. I can’t describe the comfort of lying next to her when I couldn’t sleep, or didn’t feel well, and all of her strength and energy were contained in this beautiful quiet warmth.

So here I am, with an aching emptiness where Steenbeck used to be, crying over the last three pieces of apple in my cereal bowl.

Super bodega traveling – stop number 2

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Urad coins & curry leaves

I can’t believe it’s been two months since our last super bodega travelling excursion! You know how it is, booking flights, finding hotels, packing… Of course I’m joking, but it’s amazing how hard it can be to fit even a short trip into a routine. The days fly by, and feel so full and busy, but when I look back I can’t remember what I’ve done! I’m not complaining, though! I like my days – I like thinking about cooking dinner, spending an hour at the playground after school, walking around this town in the advancing springtime. Tomorrow does creep at a petty pace, but I don’t think it signifies nothing. I couldn’t say what it signifies, but it feels wonderful to me. Sorry – sidetracked!

Stop number two in our super bodega travels brought us, on a warm and sunny day, to Patel’s Cash & Carry. Speaking of wonderful! The store felt HUGE! And so full of amazing and surprising food! I love Indian food. It’s one of those cuisines I feel like I know something about. I eat Indian take-out every chance I get. I’ve got two cookbooks! (Madhur Jaffrey and Julie Sahni, in case you were wondering). I’ve loved it since I was small, and my boys (still small!) love it, too. Walking into this store made me realize how incredibly little I know. Which is (part of) the joy of bodega traveling. You get to see, beyond the takeout menus, a glimpse into a rich and diverse history that the cookbooks only hint at. As David said, you could write a cookbook on the flour aisle alone.

whole moong dal

Here’s what we bought…Kulfi for the boys – rose and pistachio flavored. They couldn’t wait to eat it, and it melted in their hands as we walked around the store. Curry leaves. I’ve seen these before, but never cooked with them. What a remarkable smell! A little earthy and smoky, but still very green, if you know what I mean. Two chikoo fruits. (Very excited about these!) Urad flour, black salt (volcanic and sulfuric! rotten eggy), whole moong dal (beautiful!!), Tinda (in a can), which is called baby indian pumpkin, lotus root, and different kinds of snack mixes, which my little ones eat like hungry mice with their whiskers on fire from the spiciness! Then we couldn’t let the boys back in the car because their kulfi was so melted, so they ate on a grassy bank, and Isaac got rose-flavored kulfi on the tip of his nose and in his eyelashes.

For the next few days we’ll be cooking with these, and we’ll let you know how it goes. We’ve got big plans!!

Here’s Donald Byrd’s Places and Spaces. I love it, and, to me, it’s about traveling without going very far from home.
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Vegetarian toad in the hole

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Remember the scene in Bedknobs and Broomsticks when Charlie rebels against eating nettles and declares that he wants some “toad in the ‘ole”? My boys were intrigued. What is this toad-in-the-hole, of which he speaks? So I broke out my handy dandy Rupert the Bear cookbook (circa 1974), and Malcolm and I schemed together to make our own, vegetarian version. It’s fun flipping through the pages of my Rupert cookbook. These must have been some of the first things I learned how to make. I’ve been wracking my brains lately, trying to think of the absolute first thing. I just don’t know! David said his was cinnamon toast, which seems like such a nice thing to know how to make. Do you remember the first thing you knew how to make, all by yourself?

So we decided to follow the recipe for toad in the hole (which is a strange practice for me!) accept that, obviously, we wouldn’t be putting sausages in! We could easily have used fake sausages from the store, the boys love them! But I wanted to try something a little more inventive, so we used mushrooms, marinated in sausage-y herbs and spices, and then roasted till they were quite crispy. It turned out delicious!! I added a little bit of smoked gouda to the pudding batter (Just can’t leave well enough alone!) because I think it adds a nice meaty flavor to mushrooms. Other than that, we stuck to the recipe pretty carefully. Which I might not do next time – the book only calls for one egg, but I think with two it would have puffed up much more nicely. That’s how I’ll write the recipe – with two eggs!

Here’s Teddy the Toad by Count Basie
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Salubrious Parsley Soup

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Parsley soup

The other day my friend Laura asked me if I’d ever made anything with parsley as the main ingredient. Guess what! I had just bought a large bunch of Italian parsley! Strange, right? I don’t usually buy parsley, for some reason. I enjoy it when it comes in our CSA box, but I usually pass it over at the store, in favor of it’s showier cousin, cilantro. But I’d been craving parsley. Something about the fresh green flavor seemed perfect for the time of year. So Laura’s question was very well-timed. I thought of a lot of different types of things I could make, which I will eventually. But for some reason my mind kept wandering back to tabouli. I thought of a sort of soup, with a clear, clean broth. One of those garlicky, lemony broths that people eat when they’re not feeling well. With flecks of parsley floating in it, and with herbily seasoned bulgur on the side, that you could add to your taste. So that’s what I made. I tried to keep it simple, and I was worried that it wouldn’t have enough flavor, but my son said it had too strong a flavor, so … who knows! I seasoned the broth with thyme and basil and the bulgur with zatar herbs and sesame seeds.

Here’s Lee Perry & Niney with Chase Them Down With Garlic.
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red pepper semolina crepes with broccoli rabe & chickpeas

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My favorite meal in the summer is any meal that involves a lot of different little dishes. A mezze or tapas type of situation. It’s sort of funny that this makes me think of summer, because in the summertime we like to eat outside. If you do the math, you’ll see that this means that we carry lots of little dishes out the kitchen door, down a small path, down a step, and onto the outside table. It’s worth it, though! I swear it is! It was crazy warm last week, so we ate outside, and I’ve already started in with the summer meals.

Let me tell you about this one. I like to make a kind of crepe, a kind of green, a kind of sauce, a kind of salad, and a kind of potato, and have them all together. However…although we’ve had exactly this kind of meal before, we’ve never had anything quite like this!! I made crepes with semolina flour and roasted red peppers. Delicious! Not thin and elegant, exactly, but very satisfying! I made broccoli rabe sauteed with chickpeas and grape tomatoes. Lovely! And I made thinly sliced roasted potatoes seasoned with sage and Spanish smoked paprika. Finished with a simple salad of baby spinach and baby arugula dressed with with olive oil and balsamic, salt and pepper.

I’m going to post Dead Prez’ Happiness at this point. I should probably save it for later in the summer, but I need it now. So here we go…
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Pupusa with pinto beans & spinach

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pupusa

I had a rough week, and for some reason I found it comforting to watch videos of old women making pupusa on youTube. It’s one of those foods, like stuffed grape leaves, and many others, that you like to think about a group of women making together. The process is all made with hands, it’s repetitive and circular and almost hypnotizing. And I have a new fascination with stuffed flatbreads, which goes so nicely with my fascination with savory pastries! I’m also starting quite an impressive flour collection. I’ve got toasted barley flour, rice flour, semolina flour, chickpea flour, tapioca flour, buckwheat flour, wheat flour, and now masa harina. I’ve been intrigued by this for a while, and now I’m a big fan!

Back to pupusa – it’s a Salvadoran dish made with masa harina, and it’s stuffed with cheese or meat or refried beans. It’s cooked on a hot, ungreased griddle. I’m sure the version I made is not like the real deal, but it was so tasty! David said it’s like a combination of tacos and mashed potatoes – it’s got a very comforting quality, the taste and texture as well as the process of forming and cooking. You make it by taking a handful of dough, and turning and pressing, turning and pressing, trying to keep the edges neat. I love the idea that the pupusa will be the shape and size of the palms of the maker. You can fill it with anything you like. I chose pinto beans, spinach, and sharp cheddar. Just substantial enough not to be mushy, just soft enough to provide a comforting contrast to the crispy outside. This is one of my favorite things I’ve made in a while – to make and to eat.

It’s also gluten free, as far as I know! And it would be vegan if you left the cheese out.

Here’s Espiritu Libre with A Mi Me Gustan Las Pupusas.
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Red lentil cashew curry

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Red lentil cashew curry

We saw a movie last night that was such a good surprise. I didn’t know anything about it beforehand. Guess what? Madhur Jaffrey was in it! She was amazing! And Aasif Mandvi was in it, too. He wrote it! He was wonderful, too. The movie, Today’s Special was about learning to cook (and live) with your head, your heart, and your belly. It had many inspiring scenes in the kitchen. Including one in which the characters mix a masala, or spice mix. I’ve said it before, I love this idea! I wasn’t thinking very clearly about the spices I put in here, but I like the mix I came up with. Mustard seed, sesame seed, a touch of cumin, coriander and cardamom. Lordy, I love the very names of spices!

Red lentils, you say? Why is it green? Why? It’s a funny thing about red lentils. They’re such a pretty salmon color before you cook them, but they turn yellowish after. Still pretty, though, I think! And this is green because it has zucchini and spinach and cilantro. I like to make a red lentil dal that you cook for a very long time, until it separates into cooked lentils, and a delicate, flavorful broth. This isn’t like that! It’s more substantial and thick. It reminded me of oatmeal, a bit, as I was making it. The ground cashews add a sweet nutty creaminess that I find quite pleasant. This would be nice with basmati rice and naan or paratha, but we ate it with grit cakes, which was very good, too!

Here’s a song which is used to wonderful effect in the film, Eena Meena Deeka. The video is wonderful, too!
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Herbed grit cakes

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Herbed grit cakes

In a blatant attempt to pander to the southern vote, I decided to make something with cheese grits, y’all. Actually, I cannot tell a lie, it has nothing to do with that. I’m not even running for president! Shocking, I know! The truth is, I like to make recipes inspired by songs, and one of my favorite songs is RZA’s Grits. I find it beautiful on so many levels! It remembers a childhood of poverty, of grits for dinner every night. It’s affectionate and honest, and, it’s so pretty!

I’ve had grits a few times, and, to be honest, I haven’t loved them. They’ve been stodgy and tasteless. So I wanted to do something a little different with them. But nothing crazy fancy, I wanted to keep it simple! So I used half milk/half water to make them, and I steeped this mixture with some aromatics as it was warming. Once the grits were cooked, I added eggs and cheese, and then I chilled the mixture for a while, because I had to get the boys from school!

These turned out really nice. They were so far from stodgy that they were almost delicate. A little crispy on the outside, but with a nice, soft, flavorful and comforting interior. We ate them with a red lentil cashew curry, which I’ll probably tell you about later. But they would make a nice meal with some greens, potatoes, and maybe a fresh tomato sauce, or some beans. Anything, really! And I think they’re gluten free.

Here’s RZA with Grits. (I like the video, too!)
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Asparagus & Spinach quiche

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Asparagus quiche

We had this for dinner on St. Patrick’s day, and, I swear to god, I didn’t know it would be so green! It was not a calculated move! As it happens, green is my favorite color, so I’m exceedingly pleased that it turned out so green. I can’t really think of anything interesting to say about asparagus quiche at the moment, so I’ll just relate a few salient points. Firstly, I made this in an hour. One hour, start to finish! As it happens, I had some crust dough leftover, but even if you added dough-making time, it would still be, maybe, one hour 10 minutes. So it seems quite fancy (doesn’t it?) but it’s quick and easy. Second-of-all, I think it’s very pretty (and green). So it makes a nice spring-y meal. Even for a special day like Easter, I’d say. It’s flavored with a little basil and rosemary. And with nutmeg, because nutmeg belongs in a spinach quiche! I added some goat cheese, for freshness and tang. And now I’ll stop talking about it, or I’ll have gone on longer describing it than it takes to make it!

asparagus quiche

Here’s Nutmeg, by Art Pepper
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Beet & Cauliflower soup with tarragon & smoked paprika

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Beet and cauliflower soup

Imagine, if you will, that you’re camping. You wake up in the morning and step out of your tent. Everything is damp and fragrant, and vividly glowing green. The ferns and grass and weeds are sweet and sharp, lemony and herbaceous. The smell of wet earth mingles with the smokiness of the embers from your fire of the night before. That’s what this soup is like! Except that it’s vividly pink, not green. The sweet earthiness of the beets, the smokiness of Spanish paprika, and the fresh green aromatic tarragon are lovely together. The cauliflower adds a creaminess, and helps to temper the strong beety flavor.
We ate this with goat cheese toasts that had been liberally peppered with pepper. They contributed a nice contrast to the sweetness of the soup, and were, admittedly more popular with the small boys of The Ordinary than the soup itself (though they had 2 helpings of that, too!)

Here’s Sweet Fern by the Carter Family.
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