Freeze, thaw, cook

And, another snow day has been called. Kids may get another day of sledging and making snow people but come June when school is suppose to let out for summer holiday….fortunately, for me those days are a very distant memory, and another storm bearing down on a region so poorly equipped to negotiate it is just an annoyance though admittedly, it’s awfully pretty when viewed from the window. I secured provisions in preparation, and got to clients before the roads started to ice-over.

The climatic schizophrenia we are experiencing is leaving me insecure when to start setting my seeds for spring/summer. Usually by mid-February I would be setting up my germinating table though right now it does not seem like a good idea.  I know the season will change, just when? I was in shirtsleeves a few days ago and will be again, in a few days hence can I believe it will stick?

My mind works in a twisted, curious way for as I pondered my garden a part of my mind drifted to the bags of seeds in my freezer. Not the ones that are destined for moist earth (they are stored in the refrigerator), rather all my spices and I figured I could work with some seeds today. As is typical I have a collection of thirty plus spices in my kitchen, primarily stored in the freezer to fully extend the life of its potency and mostly bought whole. A Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian or Thai dish is an easy seasoning away. This winter has produced plenty of snow as well as pots of soups, stews and hot toddies, and I have visited every one of my mother’s comforting winter recipes to exhaustion. Playing in the snow does not leave me exhilarated but concocting an aromatic brew has never ceased to bring out a gleeful cry. 

Curried Chicken – yields 4 to 6

2½-pounds chicken thigh meat

3-tablespoons mild curry powder (recipe follows)

3 stems curry leaves

¼-cup chopped cilantro stems

2 large onions - chopped

4 celery stalks – chopped

1-can (15 ounces) coconut milk

1¼-chopped pumpkin

Salt to taste

½-cup chopped cilantro leaves

Heat a 6-quart pot over a high flame and add the chicken (you will most likely want to do this two batches). Brown the chicken on both sides -- making sure the skin side is very crisp. After the chicken has been browned transfer to a plate and hold. Drain off the fat in the pot that was released from the chicken.

Return the pot to the flame, and add the curry powder and curry leaves stirring for about 30 seconds. Then mix in the onion, celery and cilantro making sure the vegetables gets coated with the curry powder. Return the chicken to the pot, and pour over the coconut as well as 1-cup of water. Bring to the boil, and then lower the flame to low. Cover, and cook for 1½-hours.

Add in the pumpkin, and season with salt. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes. Mix in the cilantro, and serve.

Mild Curry  – yields approx. ¼-cup

1 tablespoon ground dried ginger
2 to 3 dried chili peppers
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds

2 teaspoons whole cumin seed
1½ tablespoons whole coriander seed
5 whole black cardamom pods
2” cinnamon stick
½-teaspoon whole mace
7 whole clove
2 whole star anise
1 tablespoon turmeric
1teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Place all ingredients in a spice grinder and process to a fine powder.

Shifting TImes

 Life survives even though for many there is an icy coating, and unfortunately it is months away before we see penetrating verdant shoots that signal the worst is behind us. I miss gathering from the yard and hunting farmer’s markets for my daily inspiration. Not to mention, the pleasure of numerous herbaceous notes I have available to me highlighting my inspirations.

I am so hardwired to hunt and gather, and I cannot be thwarted by nature’s need to refresh. Luckily my freezer is full of vegetables and pestos allowing me to ferret through that chest seeing what I will use to augment the vegetables that had to be bought commercially. I usually take this time of year to put together a list of grocers I want to visit and hunt down items I may not of used before -- Indian, Caribbean, Asian markets all find me a seasonal visitor. With the lack of herbs to chose from I shift my focus to spices. In one of my freezers (of course, I have multiple ones) I have freezer bags stuffed with small plastic bags filled with spices. Usually bought in their whole form for that way I get the most fragrant product and have the option to use whole or placed in my spice grinder to be pulverized. Unlike fresh herbs that, if fortunate, give me about a week in the refrigerator, spices held in the freezer will last years.  So, in those bags you will find spices from annatto to za’atar mix.

It seems seasonally appropriate that my stimulation for what I’ll make comes from a frozen box.

Tamarind Braised Short Ribs – yields 6 servings

4-ounces tamarind paste

2-inch stick cinnamon

2-star anise

6-clove spikes

½-teaspoon mace

1-teaspoon whole black peppercorns

3-pounds short ribs (on the bone)

2- stalks lemon grass – cut in half

1-large onion - sliced

2-inch piece of ginger – peeled and diced

4-garlic cloves – chopped

3-tablespoons Thai fish sauce

¾-pound King Oyster mushrooms

¼-pound Enoki mushrooms

1-pound cubed pumpkin

Salt to taste

½-cup chopped Chinese garlic chives

Soak the tamarind paste in 1½-cups of warm water in a small bowl for about 10 minutes.

Place the cinnamon, star anise, clove, mace and peppercorns in a spice grinder, and process until it pulverized.

Using a small sauce pan gently pound the lemon grass as bruising it this way helps release more of its fragrance.

Heat a 4 or 6 quart pot over a high heat, and add the short ribs. Brown the ribs, and remove to a plate. Into the pot immediately add the onion, ginger, lemon grass and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the onions lose their raw look. Mix in the pulverized spices and return the ribs to the pot. Pour the tamarind through a seive right into the pot, discarding the seeds and any fiberous material left in the sieve. Add the fish sauce, and turn the heat down to low. Cover, and cook for an hour.

 

After an hour add the mushrooms, pumpkin and season with salt. Replace the lid, and continue cooking an additional 1 to 1½ hours longer. Mix in the chives, and serve.

My Blank Canvas

The debauchery of Fat Tuesday is behind us. I am not in pain from too much drink and gyrating until dawn. No, rather, I am in pain (mostly my back) from rising with the dawn and grabbing my shovel to prepare some earth. I have a spot that received a heaping load of aged manure, and now that that pile of nutrients have been dispersed about I am left with an unanticipated garden spot. So, I dug, and shook dirt free from invasive grasses and their roots then dug some more.  This unexpected square of prepared earth is going to be home of future sunflowers – I adored their leggy beauty last season, and the cardinals appreciated the feed. Not to mention the add space I now have where I planted them last year. Seed shopping I will go this weekend.

Part of yesterday’s chores was to sow seeds that where frost tolerant, or preferred a cool soil to germinate in. This was a something I learned last year when I planted English peas in late May, a seedling that I bought from a favorite farmer in Union Square. I flew that nascent plant down south to its new home. They took, started to climb and even sprouted delicate, pale lavender/white flowers. A few of the blooms actually set and become pods filled with snuggling peas – then summer’s heat set in putting the kibosh on this springtime treat. Those peas were the most expensive foods I ever ate – I think I got a total of two-dozen peas. That would have been about $20.00 a pea if I amortized the cost of the flight but I was in NYC on other business as well.  They say, live and learn and hopefully don’t repeat the same mistake.  We know new ones are on their way.

As the country has enjoyed a mild winter, and we had only few days where the temperature did not climb above freezing I am feeling cocky and hopeful that those seeds sprout and climb. Can you give up the possibility of frost for Lent? 

Red Bean and Pork Stew – yields 8 servings

2-cups dried kidney beans  

1-1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder – cut into large chunks

½-pound smoked sausage – such as Andouille or Chorizo – cut into 1-inch pieces

3-leeks – cut into 1-inch pieces

4-stalks celery – cut into 1-inch pieces

1-red pepper – seeds discard; cut into 1-inch pieces

2-poblano peppers – seeds discarded; cut into 1-inch pieces

3-medium carrots – peeled; cut into 1-inch pieces

5-garlic cloves – chopped

1 dried chipotle chili

1-tablespoon coriander seed

3 black cardamom

1-teaspoon annatto seed

1-teaspoon cinnamon

5 whole cloves

2-teaspoons cumin seed

28-ounces canned tomato

1 plantain – peeled; cut into 1-inch pieces

1 butternut squash (1-1/2 pounds) peeled and seeds discarded; cut into 1-inch pieces

2-teaspoons salt

Soak the beans in about six cup of water for 8-hours. Drain the beans, and place in a 2 to 3 quart pot and cover with about 8-cups of water. Bring to the boil, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer the beans for an hour. Drain.

Over a high flame heat an 8 to 10 quart pot and add the pork and sausage. Cook the meat until browned, and then remove from the pot into a work bowl. Into the pot add the leeks, celery, red pepper, poblano pepper and carrot, cooking the mix for about 10 to 15 minutes wilt down and lightly brown.

While the vegetables are wilting crush all the spices together. It is fine if it is not a fine powder.

Once the vegetables have cooked mix the spices and garlic. Then add in the reserved pork sausage and beans, and canned tomato plus one cup of water. Lower the heat to medium low and cover. Cook for about an hour.

After an hour add in the butternut squash, plantain and salt. Replace the lid and lower the heat to low. Cook for an additional two hours.