green tomatoes
Cooking with green tomatoes signals that bittersweet time of year when summer fades into autumn, so we’ll let Booker T’s Summertime melt into Jackie Mittoo’s beautiful Autumn Sounds.
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Green tomato tarte tatin
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Memory/music/food
“She sent for one of those squat, plump little cakes called “petites madeleines,” which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell. And soon, mechanically, dispirited after a dreary day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. … Whence could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy?
…And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray … my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. … But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.”
It is remarkable how certain sensations can transport you instantly back to a specific time in your life. The taste of Dr Pepper makes me feel like I’m 9 years old, sitting in a country club in Salina Kansas. I’m eating a grilled cheese sandwich and potato chips, trying to figure out what all the adults are talking about.
Music works that way as well – songs are associated with periods in your life to such an extent that you can’t listen to them without all of the pain or pleasure you felt at that time resurfacing in you. When I was a teenager, I used to hear Mozart’s clarinet quintet in my head whenever I felt anxious. I listened to it recently, and, rather than elevate me away from my anxiety, it somehow stirred all the anxiety I had tried to escape. It’s still ridiculously beautiful, though.
Is there some food or some song that works as a time-traveling device for you?
Black bean & tomato soup
This is basically a two-can soup (can of beans/can of tomatoes), but it’s got a deep rich flavor, and a lovely, deeply richly colored broth (black bean soups can be so drab-looking sometimes, but this has a warm mahogany hue). Simply made, but complexly flavored.
Here’s JJ Allstar’s Soup. I found a surprising number of songs about soup. Can you think of any that you like?
vegetarian cornish pasties
Turnips!
Here’s Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie, by Belle and Sebastian. I have no idea what they mean by it (and I’m not sure they do, either!) but it fits this blog, if by pastie you mean savory pie (no, Tom Waits, not those kinds of pasties) and by bourgeois you mean thoroughly ordinary.
Belle and Sebastian – Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
If you’d like to see how it is really done, watch this video. It’s of Kay Bolitho, who cooks at the Port Eliot estate in Cornwall. I love everything about this video! The kitchen is beautiful, and I love the strange little objects around and about. And I love her gentle, measured voice.
Making Pasties in Cornwall
The best tapenade in the world!!
Okay, so it’s probably not the best tapenade in the world, but it is really good! Most tapenades (all, maybe?) include olives and capers. These are bold and briny flavors. This tapenade tempers those flavors with roasted garlic, smokes it up with some paprika, spices it up with green peppercorns and cayenne, and mellows it out with nuts and honey. Complex, but really tasty, and oddly addictive.
This song, Bob Marley’s wonderful Hypocrites, might seem an odd choice, but I swear, every time I hear it, it seems to me he’s saying “Tap for tapenade.” So when I think about tapenade, I get this song stuck in my head!
Bob Marley – Hypocrites
Recipe after the jump…
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How I dress a salad
“…people got too many things on they lettuces…”
(this is a quote from K’naan’s wonderful track Wash it Down. Give it a listen while you toss your lettuces)
K'naan – Wash it Down
simple salad
I love salad. I make a salad almost every night of my life. I almost consider the salad the center of the meal, and everything else as a side dish that goes along with it. I have a very simple way of making salads, I like to let the flavor of the greens speak for itself. So here’s what I do.
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Butternut squash/red lentil soup…
…with a berbere spice!
Roasted B-nut Squash
Berbere is a spice mix found in Ethiopian food. This isn’t the real thing, it’s a simplification and an approximation, but it is tasty and does go well with red lentils and butternut squashes.
Here’s the meltingly beautiful Tezeta, by Mulatu Astatke to listen to while you stir your soup.
We’ll eat, and be happy for now.
Have you ever had a rotten day, and then you stop somewhere for a cup of tea, or a beer, or a FULL BOTTLE AND 2 MOZZARELLA, and suddenly everything seems better (even if you know you can’t afford it)? I love this scene! It’s so simple and beautiful. It’s such a break from the worries of most of the film.
Oatmeal pepper crackers
oatmeal-pepper crackers
Here’s Johnny Flynn’s Leftovers, to listen to as you make them.
Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit – Leftovers
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How it all fits together.
These are small galettes with an oatmeal – peppercorn crust, and filled with french lentils, mushrooms, sauteed greens, and sharp cheddar cheese. A nice autumn dinner – a little earthy/smokey – warm and comforting, but not too heavy. Easy to put together with the recipes already posted! See! They all work well with each other – that’s the plan! You can make them throughout the week, and use them one day for a pie, and toss some in a salad the next.
Here’s a song that’s not really about food, but I love it. It’s very hopeful about trying something, and I’ve had a very nice week starting this blog. I promise to slow down on the posts!
So…some Nigerian funk…SJob Movement – You Only Live Once
Details on construction after the jump…
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Out of the Ordinary 