A Culinary Prenuptial Agreement

Mango Brown Betty

I asked my wife Tina Opie to be a guest blogger after her response to my mango brown Betty recipe that I fixed for her over the Thanksgiving Holiday. 

When my husband and I were dating, I learned that one of the attributes he desired in his ideal mate was, “a woman who would allow me to cook”.  WHAT! Sold brother!  After knowing each other for almost 15 years, I still love it when Fred heads to the kitchen to unwind and invent.  This morning was no exception.  I don’t eat sugar so my husband loves to create dishes that are delicious and healthy for me.   This morning’s treat was Mango Betty (a take on Apple Brown Betty) made with oatmeal, mango, raisins, stevia and coconut. I first experienced the dish with my eyes, noticing the mango which was flecked with green (basil I later learned) and looked like it had been grilled.  The golden oatmeal looked both crispy and chewy (just like I like it).  The raisins were plump and swollen.  I spooned a bit into one of my crystal dessert dishes (it’s a small dish that: 1) makes me feel like a queen; and 2), helps with portion control).  Next, I poured some plain goat’s milk yogurt on top (yes, I’m also lactose intolerant).  The first spoonful made me close my eyes and moan.  I am one of those people who has a visceral response to food.  I don’t just eat, I smell, gaze, feel, lick my lips and then enjoy.  The mango was velvety sweet and the slightly acidic goat’s milk yogurt was the perfect complement.  I kept saying, “Fred, this is amazing.  Seriously, this is sooooooo good”.  It was the kind of meal that I didn’t want to end.  I’ve heard some people say that eating is simply about nutrition; they’ve clearly never tasted my husband’s Mango Betty. 

Fred’s Mango Brown Betty Recipe

Ingredients

3-4 cups of mangoes (I use defrosted Traders frozen mangoes)

2 cups uncooked oatmeal (I use Whole Food organic oats)

¼ cup of stevia which I buy at Trader Joes (or sugar)

¼ cup of raisins

½ cup of margarine (or butter)

¼ cup of unsweetened coconut flakes

½ teaspoon of salt (I use sea salt)

Approximately ½ teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, cloves, Jamaican spice, ginger, basil

Optional: sliced almonds or pecan pieces

Method

Mix mangoes, coconut, raisins, and some of the spices and sugar and in a microwave safe glass bowl. In a separate mix bowl add the oatmeal, margarine, the remaining of the sugar, salt, and spices and stir well. Then spread the oatmeal mix on top of the mango mixture so that it covers the mango mix (you should have a layer of fruit with a layer of moist oatmeal covering it). Cover the bowl (I use a microwave safe plate) and cook in the microwave for 15 minutes. Then uncover and cook again in microwave for 10 minutes then cover and remove from the microwave and let it cool for 10 minutes; serves 3to 4 people.


Tina Opie's Faculty Bio: http://www.babson.edu/faculty/profiles/Pages/opie-tina.aspx

Tina Opie’s Hair Blog: http://tropie7189.blogspot.com/

The Changing Landscape of Soul Food in New York

A Sunday morning at the Old M & G Soul Food Dinner in Harlem 

Following is an interview I did with reporter Jason Bell of the Columbia Daily Spectator at the beginning of 2011. 
"The Changing Landscape of Soul Food in New York": http://eye.columbiaspectator.com/article/2011/02/03/soul-searching

 

Thanksgiving Day Reflections: Part 2 Thankful To Share

Pumpkin cheesecake topped with vanilla ice cream,  this and other recipes below 

Yesterday I talked about the Thanksgiving meal my family and I enjoyed at a local restaurant with two invited guest, both of them African-American female undergraduates from a city in the Southeast http://www.foodasalens.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-day-reflections-part-i.html. As I explained they are high school friends from low income families who had the opportunity to attend a college preparatory high school and go on to be the first members of their family to attend college. One of them is student at Babson College for my wife and I are profs the other attend a HBCU in the Southeast. Over the course of the meal we learned a lot. For example, the student from the HBCUs told us that my wife and I and our family served as the second stable married African-American couple with children that she had ever met. We also learned about the troublesome family dynamics and financial hardships that they knew growing up in impoverished black urban neighborhoods in the South. It became evident why they both chose not to go home for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and spend it instead on an empty Babson College campus. Listening to their stories made my wife and I feel very grateful that we invited them to join our family Thanksgiving Day and that we had chosen to eat at a posh restaurant. This year we do not have any leftovers from a traditional home-cooked meal but we are thankful for our family and economic stability and careers (including grading papers), that we have and can share with others. As I mentioned in my previous post our guest are had the restaurant’s pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. “This is the best dessert I've ever had, me too,” the two students said as they enjoyed forks full of the orange, creamy, and heavenly cheesecake. Here are some links pumpkin cheesecake recipes and other related recipes. In the coming days I look forward to sharing Christmas food history traditions and related recipes.

Pumpkin cheese cake recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pumpkin_cheesecake/

Pumpkin cheese cake for two recipe: http://dailyfoodgasm.com/2010/11/07/pumpkin-cheesecake-for-two/

Gluten-free cheesecake recipe: http://www.glutenlessfoodie.com/2011/11/pumpkin-cheesecake-bars.html

Turkey Leftover Recipes and tips: http://tipnut.com/turkey-leftover-recipes/

Thanksgiving Day Reflections: Part 1 Reducing My Work Load

Great Depression era Soup and bread line, pumpkin soup and other recipes below

We had Thanksgiving this year without cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandmothers around the table. We did however invite a female undergrad from the college where my wife and I are Profs; the student baby sits for us and she has become extended family. She brought along a friend from high school.  These were two African-Americans undergrads come from a city in the Southeast. One attended Babson the other a historically black college and university (HBCU) also in the South East. The two decided to spend the holiday together at Babson which has been abandoned at most students went home for the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Most profs have a tremendous amount of grading to do on the eve of and during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. My wife and I are no different. In my case as a prof with ADHD this is most often a very labor-intensive and depressing time of the year, in particularly this year with a book project due on December 15. Thus we decided to have our Thanksgiving Day dinner at a restaurant http://www.petitrobertbistro.com/ and let somebody else do the shopping, prepping, cooking, serving, and dishes. While we enjoyed the meal we went around the table and shared what we're thankful for. Listening to my life and then my six-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son share was nice. But the words are two dinner guests moved and inspired me to write this story. They said they had never eaten in such a nice restaurant in their lives. They seemed uncomfortable with the prices when we first received our menus but we quickly assured them that we would be treating and glad to do so. They seemed excited about the gorgeous table arrangements, baskets of warm freshly baked French baguettes served with butter, creamy and delicious pumpkin soup, perfectly baked bass with garnishes, and pumpkin cheesecake with vanilla ice cream on top for dessert. The excellent service and the pampering they received from the wait staff they thoroughly enjoyed. The scene reminded of the stark contrast of my grandmother who struggled to put food on the table during the Great Depression. More tomorrow but today let me share some related recipe links.

Grandma Opie and Thanksgiving: http://www.foodasalens.com/2011/11/remembering-thanksgiving-day-at-grandma.html

Pumpkin History and My Pumpkin Soup Recipe: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2009/11/reuse-halloween-pumpkins-for.html

The all about pumpkin soup link: http://www.pumpkinsoup.org/

Turkey Leftover Recipes and tips: http://tipnut.com/turkey-leftover-recipes/

Thanksgiving Day Leftovers: A Syracuse Lacrosse Memory

Venison pie, this and other recipes below

As a Syracuse University lacrosse player in the mid-1980s, I learned that my teammates from Central New York were serious woodsmen. Attackmen, midfielders, defensemen, and our late goalie Tom Nims disappeared during hunting season and came back with freshly caught fish and freezers full of venison. When the campus cafeterias where closed at 7:30 pm, the upstate guys gorged on fried fish and venison dishes while my teammates from down state and other points south of SU's Carrier Dome made due with Thanksgiving Day leftovers. Thus I learned over the years that folks in Central New York loved to eat wild game. We associate venison with Native American culinary traditions which is true. In fact, as I mentioned in my post on the history of Thanksgiving Traditions,http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-day-series-part-5-abraham.html, the first facsimile of these meals consisted of New England settlers eating with a group of Native Americans. The available documentary history of that event reveals that Native Americans brought several freshly killed dear to the several day long feast. Below are links to venison recipes for the hunting type among you.

Venison pie: http://debsravingrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/09/venison-pie-wintry-hit.html

Insanely Delicious Venison recipes: http://www.yumdiary.com/2010/07/venison-burgers-sliders-appetizers.html

Remembering Thanksgiving Day at Grandma Opie's

Cranberry sauce, recipes the below

My inability to not overeat on this festive occasion represents one of my most vivid Thanksgiving Day memories. My dad's mother from Virginia could really burn and if I close my eyes I can see the mountain of food that she would put on a plate in front of me: gorgeous slices of turkey, cornbread stuffing, rich turkey gravy over the top of both of them, green beans seasoned with hammocks, candied yams with mini marshmallows on top, collard greens, a deviled egg, and homemade cranberry sauce on the side. My grandmother, who was "big boned" as southners say, gave her three grandchildren large portions. Knowing her family history, my theory is she did so because she grew up a poor child in the South with only the ability to dream of a plate full of food like the one she gave us on Thanksgiving Day. In addition after she migrated to New York and married, my father’s mother spent time in a Westchester County mental institution because of the emotional anguish she experienced when she couldn't provide food for my father—her first born—During the Great Depression. After demolishing the man sized portion grandma placed in front of me, I then moved on to dessert: sweet potato pie and layer cakes. After overeating I went into labor as waves of pain went across my almost bursting stomach. The excruciating contractions led me to repent of my gluttony. I would pray (and I was not a child who prayed regularly), “Oh Lord please take away this pain and I promise I won't overeat next year.”  This ritual of gluttony and repentance went on for years! I tell my students that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and thinking you will get a different result.  I am a person prayer now and  part of my Thanksgiving day prayer is similar each year, "Lord  give those of us around the table the wisdom and restraint to eat until we are comfortably full."  My mother insists that cranberry sauce from scratch is easy, below are some recipes. May you and yours have a happy Thanksgiving and please share your holiday food memories in the comment section below.

Cranberry sauce recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cranberry_sauce/

Vegan Cranberry sauce recipe: http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/sides/cranberry-sauce.htm

Family Thanksgiving Recipes and Oral History

Corn bread, this and many other Thanksgiving recipes below

Just  before students in my courses leave for Thanksgiving break I often ask them the question: what food do you most look forward to eating over the holiday?  I also ask them to do some oral history asking older folks to explain which Thanksgiving day dish most indicates and reveals their family ethnicity, nationality, and history. In my courses and public lectures I maintain that what we eat on special occasions tells a great deal about our family history including where we migrated from and how our income and education has changed over generations. For example Nineteenth century travel accounts tell us that in the U. S. South whites of Scots-Irish,  German, and and French origins who lived and worked in close proximity to Native Americans and slaves of West and Central African origins typically ate the same inexpensive delicious dishes that they developed in response to their economic status and access to food. Travelers throughout the U. S. South during the antebellum period noted that regardless of class most homes had corn (an American grain) in one shape or another on their table such as corn bread. Moreover they commented that the majority of poor whites enjoyed wild game such as turkey, greens, sweet potato (American tuber) pie, candied sweet potatoes or yams (an African tuber), black eyed peas (an American legume) and rice (an African grain) called hoppin John. Today no Thanksgiving Day table of people with southern roots would be complete without many of these dishes especially corn bread. Here are recipes for many of the dishes mentioned in the post for your Thanksgiving table. Please do some oral history around the table and share what you find in the comment section of the blog below.

Food and Oral History Traditions: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2011/03/culinary-celebration-of-womens-history.html


Southern Cornbread

Ingredients

2 cups cornmeal
½ teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in a tablespoon of hot water
2 large eggs
¾ cup corn, canola or vegetable oil

Method
Mix eggs and milk together
Sift in 2 cups of corn meal with a teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking powder or use self-rising cornmeal (I add just a little high source of fiber, just a little!)
Mix ingredients and if you’re northerner like me add a ¼ cup of sugar
Spray hot cast Iron skillet with nonstick cooking spray
Preheat oven at 425 then turn down to 375 and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown
Brush with melted butter when done and enjoy!

Northern Sweet Cornbread

Ingredients
3/4 self-rising cornmeal
1 cup Spelt flour (it’s better tasting and healthier than white or wheat flour)
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vanilla soymilk, (a fortified soy milk is a very good tasting healthy choice, I suggest the Vitasoy brand for new comers)
1 egg or egg substitute (beaten)
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp butter (Try I Can’t Believe It’s not Butter available at most supermarkets and Costco)

Method
Preheat oven to 400; Combine dry ingredients. Add milk, egg and oil. Mix well. Spray a large cast iron skillet like the one in the photo or a 9 inch pie pan with Pam. Bake until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean (about 25 minutes). Melt butter and brush over the top of the bread when it comes fresh out the oven; serves 8.

Spicy Mexican Cornbread Recipe: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2011/08/corn-series-aztec.html

Vegan hoppin’ John: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=406

Sweet potato pie story and recipe: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-history-and-food-series-chris.html

Collard greens: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-history-and-food-series-collards.html

Candied ram recipe: http://adjusttotaste.com/2010/02/candied-yams-recipe/

Candied sweet potato recipe: http://brooklynbased.net/blog/2010/11/bb-recipe-grandma-lizs-candied-sweet-potatoes/

Gluten free candied sweet potatoes: http://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2011/11/candied-sweet-potatoes/

Mac and Cheese: A Thanksgiving Day Must and Top Ten Comfort Food

Mac and cheese, recipes below (image from http://allyskitchen.blogspot.com)

How did mac and cheese become a Thanksgiving Day must and top ten comfort food? In research for my book Hog and Hominy http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy/excerpt, I found the earliest reference to macaroni and cheese in a 1928 Dorothy Dickins authored federal government report about farm families in the Mississippi Delta. Dickins found that most African-American women had never tasted macaroni and cheese and only a few cooked it for their families because they complained that it was too “starchy and gummy.” Dickins goes on to say, “The majority feels that they have too little cash to spend on something which they perhaps cannot properly prepare or which, if they can, the family probably will not like.” What is interesting about this quote is that today it's one of the most popular comfort foods among most North Americans.  Macaroni and cheese had become quite popular in nineteenth century Europe where it  appeared on menus as Macaroni with cheese, Macaroni au Parmesan, Macaroni a la creme, Macaroni a la Napolitaine, Macaronia l’Italienne, and Baked macaroni. I maintain that this comfort food evolved in the United States in a series of steps: At the turn of the century, Italian immigrants who migrated to the Mississippi Delta as agricultural workers introduced pasta to their African American neighbors and co-workers. Then Italian entrepreneurs who saved up enough money to do so started grocery stores in the Delta that sold pasta. These entrepreneurs later converted some of these groceries into part store and part eateries that served inexpensive Italian pasta dishes. The final step occurred during the Great Depression when FDR’s National Release Agency distributed free cheese as part of its food relief programs. Finally the dish made it on the menus of boarding houses, trains with dining cars, and other popular eating spaces.  Below are some mac and cheese recipes. Try using gold fish crackers instead of bread crumbs which children who are picky eaters will love.

Southern Mac and Cheese recipe: http://www.macaronicheeserecipes.com/Southern-Macaroni-and-Cheese.htm

Cheese lovers Mac and Cheese recipe: http://allyskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/09/cheesy-does-it.html

Mac and Cheese with a parmesan crust: http://gourmetwithabudget.wordpress.com/recipes/entrees/vegetarian/mac-and-cheese/


The Best Gluten free Vegan Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2008/02/best-vegan-baked-mac-cheese.html

Native American Foodways: Corn

Corn pudding, this and other recipes below (image from http://bakeoff-flunkie.blogspot.com)

Today let's talk about the second of the gastronomical trinity of Native Americans—maize or corn. It is from the Arawak, one of three Amerindian groups to inhabit the Caribbean, that the word mahiz comes from which the Spanish derived the term maize for corn.  Corn represented the staple grain that Amerindians across the continent cooked with. They used it in a variety of ways including preparing corn breads, popped corn, puddings, dumplings, porridges, stews, and drinks--some of them alcoholic and some nonalcoholic.  Native Americans also processed corn (which comes in so many different sizes and colors) by adding ash to make hominies, grinding it into a meal, eating it green, fresh, parched, boiled, baked, steamed, and roasted. In the southwestern regions of North America and throughout most of Mesoamerica and parts of South America Native Americans used grinding stones to produce tortillas. Across the Americas they taught the first Europeans who arrived on the continent how to grow and prepare corn and survive. Most of these early arrivals from Europe came from the ranks of elites who knew little to nothing about farming and cooking. During the Atlantic slave trade and explorations further East, Europeans introduced corn to Asia and Africa.  Today one would be hard pressed to find a packaged food in most parts of the world that doesn't contain a corn based oil or sweetener.  Below you will find a links to some corn history and recipes including corn pudding pictured above. I'm also sharing a link to a series I did earlier on corn. Tomorrow I will have more on this American plant.

Poet Emily Dickerson and a corn pudding recipe: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2011/04/historic-poems-and-food-series-emily.html

Curau or Brazilian corn pudding recipe: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2010/10/hispanic-history-month-and-foodways_12.html

My corn series with recipes: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/search?q=corn+series&updated-max=2011-09-13T07:15:00-07:00&max-results=20

Native American Foodways Series: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/search?q=Native+American+Foodways

Native American Foodways: More On Beans

Black bean salad, this and other recipes below 

This is part two of a post I started yesterday focused on beans. It’s part of the larger series I am doing Native American foodways. Native Americans ate beans in number of ways including soaking them and then baking, boiling, or pulverizing them. They also first parched or toasted beans to make it easier to grind them into a powder or flour used for fast bean dishes. We know for examples Native Americans in Mesoamerica smashed boiled beans and then refried them before eating them with corn tortillas often garnished with salsa made with tomatoes, wild onions, and different types of chilies. They also added corn dough to boiled beans as a thickener also eating them with tortillas.  Serving tortillas with beans had a nutritional and practical benefit because one could easily pick with the tortillas similarly how West Africans used foo foo to eat soups and stews and obtain necessary nutrients. Tortillas and beans and beans and toasted squash seeds accompanied with onion and chilies greens represented a common combination in the Mayan and Aztec world that bordered each other. Reminiscent of the Mesoamerican tamale, the Choctaw women of Mississippi folded beans, white potatoes, and hickory smoked meat and into cornmeal masa or dough, wrapped the mixture in shucks of corn, and boiled them to make their staple bread they called bunaha.

Choctaw pinto bean recipe: http://www.aihd.ku.edu/recipes/pinto_beans.html

My Fava bean stories and recipes from Latin America: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/search?q=fava+beans

Black bean salad recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/black_bean_salad/

Native American Foodways: Part 2 Beans

Grandma Duers' Lima bean soup served with corn bread, recipe below

Today let’s talk about the first of the Native American gastronomical trinity that has influenced the world—beans. Dutchman explorer Jasper Danckaerts provides a interesting Dutch and Amerindian first contact and first European bean encounter scene in his journal. The meeting happens somewhere between Manhattan and the Hudson Valley region in the late 1600s. “On arriving . . . they immediately offered us some boiled beans in a [gourd. The queen] gave us also a piece of their bread, that is, pounded maize kneaded into a cake and baked under the ashes." Here the interesting part for me, he writes, "We ate some of it, more for the purpose of satisfying her people, than our appetite.” Iberians served as the first Europeans in the Americas with the Spanish exploring the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, then South America, and the Portuguese exploring South America in what became Brazil.  In North America the British explored Virginia then the rest of the south and New England. The Dutch explored New York and colonized it before the British gained possession of it. As Danckaerts writes in his journal, Europeans of all stripes reluctantly accepted American beans (garbanzo, great Northern kidney, large lima among others) as a dietary staple. It seems that it took time perhaps generations before they gained popularity-particularly among elites. This remained the case  despite the fact that American beans represented a good source of protein.  Native Americans ate beans in a number of ways and we will talk more about that tomorrow. Here is link to my Hudson Valley roots with my grandmother’s North Carolina lima bean soup recipe which one reader who made it described it as really good dish.

Grandma Duers' North Carolina Lima bean Soup: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2010/01/grandmas-duers-north-carolina-lima-bean.html

My rice and beans/and peas and rice series: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/search?q=Rice+and+Beans%2FPeas+and+Rice+Series

Ken Alba’s Book, Beans a History: http://www.bergpublishers.com/?tabid=2423

Native American Foodways: The Gastronomical Trinity

Mohawk Corn Soup, recipe below

Today I am starting a series on the global influence of Native American or Amerindians foodways (Native Americans across the American continent. Most often I would argue Eurocentric views of world history focus on European contributions to the rest of the world but my focus will be on American contributions to the world. Particular focus will on Amerindian plant cultivation, foraging, food preparation, and consumption. Native Americans in most instances survived on a gastronomical trinity that included beans, corn, and squash. These three have become center of the diet of the poor around the world because they are inexpensive and nutritious and thus some called the poor person’s meat. I will also talk about tomatoes and chocolate two Native American plants traditions that have also had a significant influence on the development of American and European cuisine. Contact with Native Americans after 1490 increased the consumption of plant foods among Europeans. The diets of Amerindians contained far more vegetables and legumes than the Europeans consumed. More often than not the first generation of Europeans who settled in the Americas came from the ranks of elites with titles but no chance of inheriting their family’s wealth.  They had little to no experience as subsistence farmers and or cooks. As result they depended on Amerindians for their survival while the two groups had limited period without armed conflict. Those first couple of months on the America meant lots of fruit and vegetable dishes and little meat. Here is related recipe below.

Mohawk Corn Soup

Ingredients

4 Smoke pork chops chopped [Smoked turkey drumsticks would be a great substitute or vegetarian version might include chipotle chili or chipotle in adobo, for the smokey flavor. For Vegans tempeh is a good replacement for pork]

4 large Carrots

1 Rutabaga to taste

2 Turnips to taste

1/4 Cabbage

2 Cups corn off the cob or canned Corn

1/2 lb. Chopped venison [try a portabella mushroom marinated overnight in Brags amino acid as a vegan substitute

1 Large can kidney beans or navy beans

Method
Brown and chop meat. Chop cabbage, turnips, rutabagas and carrots to bite sizes. Pour all ingredients in soup or crock pot and cover with water. Cook slowly until vegetables are tender. Serve with corn bread

Cornbread recipe: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-day-series-corn-bread-and.html

Soup recipe adapted from: http://www.nativetech.org/recipes/recipe.php?recipeid=64

Gourds and Tubers Series: Part 6 Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

Potato and lamb croquettes, this and a vegetarian potato croquette recipe below

Professional chiefs are always trying to reduce the amount of food they are throwing away and thereby reduce their expenses by creatively inventing ways to use leftover; I encourage my readers to do the same in their homes. So what to do with our Easter dinner leftovers? Here are some ideas from the childhood culinary memories of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. The first African American to serve in the U. S. Congress (1945 to 1971) representing Harlem, Powell grew up as a preacher's kid in Harlem's famed Abyssinian Baptist Church. He said that is mother set the family menu based on “the law of diminishing returns. That is, whatever was bought for Sunday was bought with the objective that it should last in some form until Friday or Saturday, and it did.” A lot of folks served lamb yesterday on Easter Sunday and are wondering what to make of it thereafter. For Mrs. Powell, a native of Christiansburg, Virginia, “A fifteen-pound leg of mutton on a Sunday ended up on Friday or Saturday as lamb croquettes; during the intervening days it appeared as a ragout, stew, hash, and various and sundry other inventions,” recalls or her son Adam. Here are some related recipes that this story inspires. 

Potato and lamb croquettes recipe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/potatoandlambcroquet_89990.shtml

Spicy vegetarian potato croquettes: http://funnfud.blogspot.com/2008/02/spicy-vegetarian-potato-croquettes.html

Gourds and Tuber Series: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/search?q=Gourds+and+Tubers+Series

Gourds and Tubers Series: Part 4 Memories from College

Butternut squash and butternut squash pie, recipes below

During a radio interview a host asked me where I learned how to cook. I explained that my mother worked and my two brothers and I learned how to cook out of necessity. In addition, I enrolled in Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) in the Mohawk Valley in the fall of 1981.  At the time, HCCC did not have dorms so I shared an apartment downtown with a teammate on the school’s lacrosse team. My cooking skills and love of cooking came alive at HCCC—but again largely out of necessity. My limited budget shaped what I cooked and as a result I developed a love of vegetables like squash because you could purchase a lot for a little. I would bake acorn squash in the oven for about 45 minutes to a hour and eat it with butter, sugar, and cinnamon on top. The seeds I baked in the oven on a cookie sheet with plenty of seasoning on them. Later I learned that squash were full of nutrients as well as inexpensive. In the 90s I was a completing my doctoral studies in history at Syracuse University. I relocated to DC to do dissertation research at the national archives. I lived in Northwest near Howard University with my brother. It was there I that I discovered the heavenly taste of butternut squash pies sold in a little basement takeout eatery of the Pyramid Book Store building on Georgia Ave in front of Howard University. I believe members of the Nation of Islam ran the place. Many people know about the Nations's famed bean pies, but the butternut squash pie is just as delicious in my humble opinion. I talk about the Nation and food in the last chapter of my book Hog and Hominy. Here are some recipes below.

Baked Acorn Squash recipe:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_baked_acorn_squash/


Butternut Squash Pie Recipe: http://sagetrifle.blogspot.com/2010/10/old-fashion-candy-roaster-squash-pie.html

Gluten Free Butternut Squash Pie Recipe http://www.wasabimon.com/archive/gluten-free-butternut-squash-pie-recipe/

 

Listen to my interview tomorrow on LA’s NPR show Good Food http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf with host, chief, and restaurant owner Evan Kleiman http://www.kcrw.com/people/kleiman_evan?role=host.

My book Hog and Hominy: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy/reviews

Gourds and Tubers Series: Part 3 Some Like It Hot

Spicy roasted pumpkin seeds, recipes below

As part of  my Gourds and Tubers series lets talk about cooking with hot peppers. For example we know that long ago African women barbecued meats over open bits using lime or lemon juice and hot peppers. Women most often used the melegueta pepper which was also called the grains of paradise and Guinea pepper. They used it “fresh, dried, grated, or made into a paste added to sauces, stews, and soups,” foodways expert Helen Mendes tells us. Those from the Congo used the piri piri pepper. In the Mesoamerica people cooked with pimento or a cherry pepper derived from large red chili peppers (capsicum). Pimento arrived in Africa from the Americas during the Colombian exchange (dibias--traditional medicine men and women used pimento to cure upset stomachs) Africans introduced melegueta, Guinea, and piri piri peppers to the Americas during the African slave trade. All these variety of hot peppers became fully integrated into cooking across the Americas. Here some spicy recipes for that pumpkin in front of your house that you are about to discard.

Spicy roasted pumpkin seed recipe (mild): http://blog.streaminggourmet.com/2009/10/16/spicy-roasted-pumpkin-seeds/

Spicy roasted pumpkin seed recipe (hot): http://busycooks.about.com/od/savorysnackmixes/r/spicpumpkinseed.htm

Spicy roasted pumpkin seed recipe (sweet): http://savour-fare.com/2010/10/31/sweet-and-spicy-roasted-pumpkin-seeds-happy-halloween/

Gourd and Tuber Series: Part 2 Pumpkins

Pumpkin soup, this and a pumpkin bread recipe below

When my children were toddlers, they loved the show Bob the Builder. I love Bob's environmental slogan-Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-and I apply it in my kitchen. Professional chiefs are always trying to reduce the amount of food they are throwing away and thereby reduce their expenses by creatively inventing ways to use leftover; I encourage my readers to do the same in their homes. So what do you do with that Halloween pumpkin now that the holiday is over? When the first Europeans settlers came to North America many dependent on pumpkins and other foods purchased from Native Americans for their survival. Traveler Peter Kalm provides an insightful description of pumpkin and early American cuisine in New York circa 1748-1750: “Here at Albany the Dutch made a kind of porridge out of [pumpkins], prepared in the following way. They boiled them first in water, next mashed them in about the same way as we do turnips, then boiled them [again] in a little of the water they had first been boiled in, with fresh milk added, and stirred them while they were boiling. What a delicious dish it became! Below is my modern rendition of that early American pumpkin soup and a pumpkin bread recipe too.

Fred’s Famous Pumpkin Soup:

Here is a soup recipe my family loves, including my six and nine year old children. Cut a large pumpkin in quarters (leave the shell on). Freeze some in zip locked bags for later use and take about 4 cups worth and bake them in the oven on a cold morning at 400 for about an hour until they are sweet and soft on the inside like a sweet potato. The will both warm you house and make is smell like a bakery. And don't forget to roast the seeds with you seasoning of choice. You can also pop the pumpkin quarters in the microwave for 20 minutes but they will not come out as sweet. Let cool and then scrap the pumpkin out of the shell. Sauté in a covered skillet with butter, salt and pepper, and garlic until golden brown. Next, purée in a blender with enough vanilla soy or coconut milk to allow for blending, about 2-3 cups of milk will do. Bring about four cups of water to boil and add three vegetable soup bouillon cubes. Then had the puréed pumpkin, season to taste a little more if you like, than cook in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes or a regular covered pot for 20 to 30 minutes. Serves 6 to 8 people

Pumpkin Bread Recipe (my daughter’s favorite!)

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/000842pumpkin_bread.php