CREATIVE COOKING

Creative Cooking

            Cooking has been creative from time immemorial. The first woman who dropped a wild onion or some wild garlic in her stew pot over the campfire at the mouth of a cave was discovering creative cooking. Similarly, the first guy who discovered that the mammoth slab roasted over a smoky hickory fire tasted better than a fire built from pine branches was onto creative cooking. So, everyone who combines good things in a pot or a skillet with the aim of something delicious performs a creative act.

            While it is easy to be creative in your kitchen in the summer when local produce abounds from the garden or markets, late winter can be a challenge. It has been particularly so this year, since spring seems to have neglected noticing the passage of March and April, for its annual appointment with Maine. Fresh local asparagus and fiddleheads are still only a dream. While I did start some lettuce seeds in the house close to a month ago, the pot of them on the warmest spot on our patio currently would not even tempt a hungry rabbit. Utterly disappointing!

            Fortunately there still seems to be plenty of broccoli in the stores so it is possible to creatively expand some of the old recipes for these as salads and side dishes.  I was recently asked about how I come up with new recipes? The simple answer is I look in the refrigerator and the pantry and think of possible flavors that would complement what is on hand and then proceed to combine the ingredients with methods consistent with what I have tried in previous recipes. Fortunately this method has worked most of the time with additional taste tests incorporated in the process. And failures also teach you - never do that again!

            The bright green hue of broccoli is easily contrasted by the intensity of color of Mandarin oranges and the combined fresh flavor gives a salad a spring like lift.

                                    Oriental broccoli – orange salad.

            Toast 2-3 Tblsp. sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat with stirring for a few minutes and set aside. In a large bowl mix the dressing: 2 Tblsp. honey, 2 Tblsp. flavored rice vinegar, 2 Tblp. Soy sauce, 2 Tblsp. sesame oil, ½ tsp. powdered ginger (optional). Separate and steam the flowerets from 3 large heads of broccoli stalks for 3 minutes (or blanch as described for the gratin recipe and separate the flowerets after), cool slightly and toss with ½ of the sesame seeds and the dressing in a large bowl. Let stand for 1-2 hours at room temperature and stir in ¾ cups of drained Mandarin orange slices. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the rest of sesame seeds and some slivered almonds (optional).

                                      Broccoli-Cauliflower Gratin

Rinse and trim 6 stalks of broccoli leaving an inch of stem with the crowns. Place the broccoli stems down in an inch of boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes. Remove to cool. Repeat the process for 3 minutes using about ¼ of a medium head of cauliflower. Sauté ½ of a red pepper cut in thin strips in 2 tsp. butter for 5 minutes. Fry or microwave 4 strips of bacon to near crisp. Assemble the dish in a 13x9x2 inch dish sprayed with baking spray. Start with overlapping slices of the cooked cauliflower down the long center of the dish. Flank the space on both sides with 1 inch size of broccoli florets, packing them fairly tightly. Insert the pepper strips along the sides and the center. Distribute slivers from 4 Tblsp. butter on the top , sprinkle with 1 cup freshly grated Pecorino/Romano cheese and coarsely crumbled bacon. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes until the broccoli and the cheese start to brown very slightly.

          Let us fervently hope those April showers do actually bring May flowers!

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

LATVIAN EASTER EGGS

Tie Dyed Easter Eggs

      

           The egg has been a symbol of ‘new beginnings’ for tens of thousands of years, since archeologists have found decorated ostrich eggs in Africa.  Ancient Egyptians and Sumerians placed decorated eggs in graves and our Easter celebrations have evolved from colored chicken eggs to modern day inclusion of chocolate and jelly bean eggs to represent rebirth as well as the coming spring.

            Our slow arrival of spring this year makes me more anxious than usual to anticipate ‘new beginnings’, so I have been assiduously collecting for several months the dry skins of any and all onions used in my kitchen. Red onion skins are excellent and even the onion stems will contribute texture.  Since I am somewhat old fashioned and inclined to natural materials, the eggs at our house get colored each Easter the old fashioned Latvian way of my mother, which is tie dyed by boiling in onion skins.

            In Maine we are all fond of brown eggs, but for this purpose it is necessary to start with white eggs. If you are very careful, the process can be attempted with raw eggs, but if grandchildren are involved, it is safer to pre-boil the eggs for 5 minutes before wrapping the eggs. Before starting assemble on the table: as many 7 inch squares (a cut up old sheet or pillow case works) of thin cloth as the number of eggs to be colored, a spool of thread, lots of onion skins, a handful of barley or rice, a sprig of curly parsley or some other leaf.

            The process itself: place a small handful of onionskins in the center of the cloth square, place the egg on top of it, sprinkle a bit of barley on the side or place a bit of the green for a mottled effect.  Now bring up the corners and sides of the cloth wrapping everything in a ball form and while holding it with one hand use the spool of thread to wrap it all tightly going around and around with the thread (at least12 times), finally tying the ends. The thread will hold the contents of your egg package pressed against the eggshell and allow for transfer of color. When all eggs are thus prepared, place them in a large pot of boiling water with 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and boil gently for 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a large baking dish and when sufficiently cool to handle, cut the thread and unwrap the eggs the variegated colored eggs.

            The cooled dry eggs will have a few white or light colored spots, which can be touched up with a tissue dipped in beet juice (red), brushed with cut red cabbage (purple) or lightly rubbed with a crushed spinach leaf (green). But the eggs look interesting and unique even with just the tie dye job and placed in a basket on your table will look like the real promise of  ‘new beginnings’.

            An old custom, which we still use on Easter morning before eating any of the tie dyed eggs, is that each person at the table takes their egg and has a symbolic ‘egg fight’ with their neighbor, which never fails to please the grandchildren. One person cup’s their egg in hand with pointed end up and the other person holding their egg the same way upside down bears it down on the point of the first person’s egg. The holder of the egg which does not break – wins and has another chance with the next person in line.

            A couple of hundred years ago in the countryside, the winner was allowed also to collect the broken egg for his own use and unsavory characters were known to use all kinds of tricks to ‘toughen’ up their eggs. Fortunately, at our table we each get to eat our own eggs and any leftovers make a lovely egg salad in a couple of days. 

 

            (I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)