I try to buy cookbooks with lovely photographs for Danny to look at like a picture book. Most of the time, the recipes are absurd (I really enjoyed the time he pointed to some sort of trotters in aspic and said; "Make this for Danny?" (Yeah kid, don't hold your breath). For some reason the Goodwill (Q Street in West Omaha, for the local readers) has an amazing selection of cookbooks on a fairly regular basis. At a dollar apiece, I'm willing to add a few oversized coffee table books to our collection. Clearly, looking at the size of some of these tomes, they are not intended to sit on the kitchen counter getting mucked-up with egg yolks and whatnot.
Spirit of the Harvest, North American Indian Cooking, is one such volume. The photographs are truly gorgeous. The overview of each group and the regional foods are interesting as well. The recipes are, well, representative of non-industrialised cultures. That's not as great as it sounds at first. While it is true that you can eat the cattails growing in your algae-infested ditches by the side of the road-would you really want to? I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but I'm also very much a product of my own Western culture-and I need some seasonings here and there. Most of these recipes are, by modern American standards, quite plain. And heavy. Oh, are they heavy. I realise that after a statement like that I ought to surrender my anthropology degree.
I made a number of changes to the recipe for bean cakes and I'm posting my version as I really think plain cornmeal and beans isn't something I'd want to eat. I added chopped parsley, dried onion, ancho peppers, and I used two types of beans rather than one. They're still very, very heavy (serve them immediately after frying or you will be bringing hockey-pucks to the table) but pleasant.
My husband thinks they remind him of something, and I do as well. I think this sort of thing was standard fare in vegetarian restaurants in the 1980's. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something we ate together (honestly, with a couple of exceptions, most vegetarian restaurants seem pretty similar and they all sort of blend into one place in my mind).
Foolishly, I made a cornbread to go with this meal (like 2 cups of cornmeal in the patties wasn't enough). You may prefer a light salad. Cattails and acorns are optional.
You Will Need:
1 tin of red beans, drained and rinsed
1 tin of white beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
Ancho pepper to taste
Salt to taste
1 ½-2 cups cornmeal
¾ cup milk
2 eggs
Oil for frying
In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, onion, pepper, salt and milk together. Add the eggs. Fold in the beans. At this point you may need more cornmeal-you should be able to form patties. Go slowly as it absorbs more than you might expect.
Heat 3-4 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry about 1 minute on each side until browned. Serve immediately.
Spirit of the Harvest, North American Indian Cooking, is one such volume. The photographs are truly gorgeous. The overview of each group and the regional foods are interesting as well. The recipes are, well, representative of non-industrialised cultures. That's not as great as it sounds at first. While it is true that you can eat the cattails growing in your algae-infested ditches by the side of the road-would you really want to? I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but I'm also very much a product of my own Western culture-and I need some seasonings here and there. Most of these recipes are, by modern American standards, quite plain. And heavy. Oh, are they heavy. I realise that after a statement like that I ought to surrender my anthropology degree.
I made a number of changes to the recipe for bean cakes and I'm posting my version as I really think plain cornmeal and beans isn't something I'd want to eat. I added chopped parsley, dried onion, ancho peppers, and I used two types of beans rather than one. They're still very, very heavy (serve them immediately after frying or you will be bringing hockey-pucks to the table) but pleasant.
My husband thinks they remind him of something, and I do as well. I think this sort of thing was standard fare in vegetarian restaurants in the 1980's. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something we ate together (honestly, with a couple of exceptions, most vegetarian restaurants seem pretty similar and they all sort of blend into one place in my mind).
Foolishly, I made a cornbread to go with this meal (like 2 cups of cornmeal in the patties wasn't enough). You may prefer a light salad. Cattails and acorns are optional.
You Will Need:
1 tin of red beans, drained and rinsed
1 tin of white beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
Ancho pepper to taste
Salt to taste
1 ½-2 cups cornmeal
¾ cup milk
2 eggs
Oil for frying
In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, onion, pepper, salt and milk together. Add the eggs. Fold in the beans. At this point you may need more cornmeal-you should be able to form patties. Go slowly as it absorbs more than you might expect.
Heat 3-4 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry about 1 minute on each side until browned. Serve immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment