African squash is a Kubota-type squash that looks something like a butternut. It’s a uniquely local product as the seed was brought back from Zaire by Bobby Burns, a gardener at Koinonia Farm in Americus back in the 1990s. It’s become a favorite of local chefs and Murphy’s Restaurant serves this soup made with African squash. The recipe works just as well with our butternut squash. I like the interesting combination of seasonings.
Have you ever made gnocchi? It’s actually pretty easy and lots of fun. It takes a little time, but that’s what the slow food movement is all about. This recipe is from Marc Summers. Parsley’s Catering is based in Kennesaw.
This next recipe amuses me. It’s from Lynne Sawicki of Sawicki’s Meat Seafood & More in Decatur and it calls for 1 part bacon to 3 parts raw collard greens. Now we all know that both bacon and collards cook down – but the proportion seems to favor the bacon, and I guess that’s appropriate for the owner of a meat shop.
I thought this week I’d share a batch of recipes I’ve been collecting from Atlanta chefs and various chef demos at farmers markets this year. Just extending the “eating local” theme.
Our first “chef” is Annie Peterle. Annie does a wonderful thing – she bakes every week and brings her treats to the Riverview pickup spot on a Grant Park porch. Pick up your box and sample one of Annie’s home baked surprises. This recipe uses the grits you got in last week’s box.
One of the great things about grits is that they’re good freshly cooked, but any leftovers can be used in many different ways. Of course you can just reheat them, but you can add eggs and bake them. Voila – spoonbread! Or take your leftover grits and try them in this recipe. This is the recipe as it appears in “101 Things To Do With Grits” by Harris Cottingham. Annie said it makes a pretty wet batter so she’s been known to add more flour to make the dough kneadable.
One more dessert idea – this one is from “Spirit of the Harvest: North American Native Cooking” by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $40).
Feel free to bake these in the oven rather than in the coals of a campfire.
Thinking about Thanksgiving desserts? Here’s gorgeous recipe from chow.com. It’s a bit of work, but so worth it. Make the dough up to 2 days ahead of time, but bake the galette so it will be warm when you serve it. If you don’t have sanding sugar for the sparkly finish, just use granulated sugar instead.
When the apples start to pile up and you’re thinking about making apple sauce, someone will mention this recipe for apple butter made in a slow cooker. It really works. This version is from “The New Southern Garden Cookbook” by Sheri Castle (The University of North Carolina Press, $35). The bonus is that your house will smell delicious while this is cooking. Sheri notes that you can substitute 2 pounds of sweet potatoes for part of the apples and make apple-sweet potato butter. Interesting.
Do you have one of those $20 apple peelers that sticks the apple on a pronged skewer and slowly rotates it through a peeler and slicer? I thought they were a gimmick until I tried one. Fabulous! Apples, peeled (or not), cored and sliced in 10 seconds. Really.
Last January, Bon Appetit featured a recipe for Potato and Kale Cakes. I’ve adapted this to use collard greens (and/or the tops of your kohlrabi and your turnip greens). It makes a beautiful entrée and all the parts can be made ahead of time, leaving just the cakes to be sautéed when you’re ready for dinner. Try sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes. Ought to be just as good.
It’s going to turn cold soon – how about a cauliflower soup? (Don’t forget – the leaves from your broccoli and cauliflower are all friendly members of the cabbage family. Don’t discard them! They’re just begging to be eaten. )
Just last month Bon Appetit offered this recipe for cauliflower soup with rye crostini. I’ve been on a rye-bread-baking binge, so this one appeals to me a lot right now. And what an elegant start for Thanksgiving dinner it would be. Everything can be done ahead of time and then heated and assembled when ready to serve.
I checked online and Bon Appetit’s first mention of chive oil was in 1998. Still a delicious idea.
