Asparagus Salad with Walnuts and Mint

I finally made this well known Josh McFadden salad.

1. • 1/3 cup dried breadcrumbs
   • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
   • 1/2 cup finely chopped lightly toasted walnuts
   • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
   • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
   • Dried chile flakes
   • 1 pound asparagus, tough ends trimmed
   • About 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
   • 1/4 cup lightly packed mint leaves
   • Extra-virgin olive oil

1. 1. Put the breadcrumbs, Parmigiano, walnuts, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add 1 teaspoon salt, a bunch of twists of black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes. Toss to combine everything.
   2. Cut the asparagus on a sharp angle into very thin slices and add to the crumb mixture. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice and toss some more. Taste and dial in the flavors by adding more salt, black pepper, chile flakes, or lemon juice.
   3. When the flavors are bright and delicious, add the mint and 1/4 cup olive oil and toss. Taste and adjust again, and serve.

The Infectious Nature of Bars

The problem with making public health policy decisions based on what you want rather than what you know is that when the enemy is a virus, it really does not care about how tired you are of being home, or how much you miss people.  It's success is in its patience and its persistence.
So when getting re-elected mattered more than who lived and who died, that was the point at which we completely lost the battle in the pandemic.  The superstar in this spectacular failure, which literally everyone could have predicted, is bar culture.  We already have a problem with many people being convinced that wearing a mask is either someone trying to control them or a sign of fear or weakness, so less than 50% of people wear them, when we really need more like 80% compliance.  Then there is the nature of what one does in bars and restaurants.  We put things in our mouths and so it is impossible to wear masks.  Add in alcohol, which does not ever improve one's judgement, and there is the recipe for disaster.  And overflowing ICU's.  It has been largely young people who are testing positive, but this has not stopped hospitals from filling up, and even if we improve dramatically in the days and weeks to come, we cannot fix what is already broken.

Potato and Aspargagus Gribeche

I really loved this new way to do potato salad.  It was fast and delicious.

2 lb. small potatoes boiled
 1 pound asparagus spears — trimmed and blanched
2 tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper to taste

GRIBICHE:
1 tablespoon honey mustard
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large eggs — hard boiled, very finely chopped
1/4 cup Italian parsley — chopped
1 tablespoon cornichons — thinly sliced
1 tablespoon capers — drained, patted dry
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

GRIBICHE: Whisk mustard, vinegar and olive oil together. Stir in minced hard cooked eggs, Italian parsley, cornichons and capers. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Toss potatoes and asparagus with gribiche. Divide among plates and serve.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez

This is a Young Adult book that is recommended as a way to better understand the immigrant experience.  I think that Black Lives Matter, and it is the moment to focus on racial injustice in this country, to dismantle the structural racism and to move forward with defunding the police and addressing these profound wrongs.
I do not want to forget about the immigrants, who just this week ICE made a statement that they are in no way responsible for the sexual abuse of children they have in detention.  The situation is inhumane, unacceptable, and morally wrong.  So I do not want ot completely interupt my education in this area.
Julia is a teenager in a traditional Mexican immigrant family.  Her parents came via coyote over the border, and now live in Chicago.  She lives in an a Central American ethnic neighborhood, but unlike her older sister Olga, who elected to skip college and go to work, Julia wants to go to college and to be a writer.  Her parents do not get her at all, and Olga is killed in a pedestrian accident that leaves Julia adrift and at odds with her family.  The story is a coming of age one that we can all relate to, and well worth reading.

Island Banana Bread

Another great recipe from Jubilee, Toni Tipton-Martin's James Beard award winning cookbook of African-American cooking.

1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. chopped Mejool dates
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. bakingsoda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
1 stick of butter (4 ounces)
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 c. mashed very ripe bananas
2 Tbsp. molasses
1/3 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a 9x5 or a 10x4 loaf pan.
Put pecans and dates in a small bowl with a tablespoon of flour, mix and set aside.
Put remaining flour and all other dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
To an electric mixing bowl add butter and brown sugar and blend.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  In a third bowl combine bananas, molasses, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix.  add the dry ingredients alternating with the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl until all are incorporated.  gently fold in the pecans and dates.
Pour batter in to the loaf pan, bake for about an hour, until skewer comes out clean.

John Q (2002)

I read that the Trump administration is once again asking the Supreme Court to overturn and obliterate Obama care, putting the health insurance of 23 million people at risk in the midst of a pandemic.  It is just ludicrous, and well as intended to hurt the working poor and middle class.  This movie is almost 20 years old, but some of the anger about lack of adequate health insurance rings very true today.
At the time of the movie there were 50 million uninsured people, and many more who were under insured.  The story is about a family of working poor who discover that their son needs a heart transplant.  He has health insurance, but he discovers two things--that his work place has changed coverage to something that is inadequate and that because he is currently only part time, that it is very inadequate coverage.  The hospital will not list their son unless they have 1/3 of the cash in hand for the transplant.  No amount of bake sales and passing the collection plate is going to net the tens of thousands needed, and when the hospital is about to discharge him, the father, played by Denzel Washington, takes the cardiac surgeon and the the ER hostage.  It then becomes an action movie, where the bad guy becomes the good guy in everyone's eyes.

Grilled Pork with Fennel, Cumin, and Red Onion

We have been madly using up pork from a heritage pig we got last summer because it is currently impossible to get a new freezer (we ordered one at the beginning of the pandemic with an estimated delivery in August), and we have a potential cow on order waiting for a meat locker to have room for it.  So, we need to empty our freezer!
This was delicious, with tons of flavor.  The only downside is that while we served it with grilled summer squash, which is lovely, the flavor of the pork just completely overwhelmed the pork.  Serve with a rice pilaf.

• 1 ¾ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
•  Kosher salt
• 1 lime, plus some wedges for serving
• ¼ cup cilantro or basil, leaves and tender stems, plus more for serving
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 1 jalapeño or other green chile, seeded if desired
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 ½ tablespoons fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 small red onion, sliced, for serving

1. Season pork lightly with kosher salt and put it in a bowl or resealable bag.Juice the lime into a blender or food processor and add cilantro, fish sauce, garlic, jalapeño and honey. Blend until the jalapeño and garlic are puréed, then add fennel, cumin, coriander seeds and pulse four or five times to bruise the spices and mix them in.
2. Pour mixture over the pork, tossing to coat the pieces. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes while you heat the grill, or up to 24 hours.  When ready to cook, heat the grill or broiler with a rack positioned 4 inches from the heat source.
3. Thread the pork onto skewers, leaving a little space between cubes. Grill over the highest heat possible, or broil on high, for 2 to 5 minutes, then flip the skewers and continue cooking until the meat is browned all over and charred in spots. It should be just cooked through: A little pink is OK, but there shouldn’t be any red spots.
4. Serve the pork with cilantro sprigs and onion slices on top, and lime wedges on the side for squeezing.

Lanny by Max Porter

This book was long listed for the Booker prize last year, and I am just now getting around to reading some of those books.
It is almost a novella it is so short and mostly sweet about a young boy who loves to be in the woods.  The reader sees home through several perspectives.  One is his devoted mother, another is a father who just doesn't quite get Lanny, and through Peter, an aging artist who gets Lanny’s buoyant creativity.  Now here is the thing.  We also watch Lanny from the perspective of Dead Papa Toothwort, an ancient spirit who stirs in the ground and has seen all life in this place.  So it is a book that is part real and part make believe, and the narrative sways back and forth between the two, until Lanny goes missing, and then it is all about how the world views that.  Lanny is no longer imaginative and inventive.  He is missing and up until the time that he is again found, the book seems very much not magical, but then we get returned to the woodland sprite way of thinking.

Pork Chops in Lemon Caper Sauce

Yet another great recipe from Toni Tipton-Martin's James Beard award winning cookbook Jubilee.

• 4 bone-in pork chops (about 8 ounces each)
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 very small shallot, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 ½ cups chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium, if store-bought
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons juice
• Hot sauce (optional)

1. Dry the chops with paper towels, and season aggressively with salt, pepper and the thyme. Swirl the olive oil into a large skillet, and heat over medium until the oil begins to shimmer. Add chops, and cook until well browned on each side and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chops to a plate, and cover to keep warm.
2. Drain the fat from the skillet, then melt 2 tablespoons of butter in it over medium heat until sizzling. Add the shallot and garlic, and sauté until the aromatics soften, reducing the heat if necessary, about 1 minute. Sprinkle in the flour, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Whisk in the wine and chicken stock, raise heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, until the liquid is reduced by half, 7 to 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the capers, parsley, lemon zest and juice and hot sauce to taste (if you’re using it), and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter until it’s melted and the sauce looks smooth. Nestle the pork chops into the sauce, and allow them to warm up for a couple of minutes, then serve, pouring sauce over each pork chop to taste. Garnish with more fresh parsley.

Mrs. Bridge by Evan Connell

This funny and sensitive book brings to life an underrepresented character – the alienated upper-middle-class housewife, passing from youth to old age in the post WWII America of the 1950's.  Her views on the inevitability of racial prejudice speaks to the structural racism highlighted in protests in the streets today.
Right from the get go Mrs Bridge is slightly at odds with her situation. She is a bit at odds with her family of origin, not quite getting that her role is to marry and raise children.  She rises to that occasion, but is disappointed when her wealthy, hard-working husband, Walter, doesn't appear to feel any great passion towards her; her early hope that the long hours he spends at the office are temporary are soon dashed. She tries her best, always concerned about the eyes that are upon her, never wanting to make trouble for anyone else, ensuring her children are cared for and that she puts up neither too many nor too few Christmas decorations, for fear of being judged. In everything she does, though, there is just a tinge of disenfranchisement; a feeling of absence.  It is a strangely engaging book about a distant woman.

Kale Salad

This salad, which Josh McFadden is widely known for, so much so that in his book, Six Seasons, he calls it The Salad That Started It All, is new to me.  I have never been all about the kale salad, but now I have some early kale, some more tender kale, and I thought it might be time, in the early days of summer, before I am overwhelmed with vegetables, to give this a try.  And boy am I glad I did.  So simple and yet delicious.  This will go in the regular rotation.

• 1 bunch kale, thick ribs cut out
• ½ garlic clove, finely chopped
• ¼ cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more to finish
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/8 teaspoon dried chile flakes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup dried breadcrumbs

1. Stack several kale leaves on top of one another and roll them up into a tight cylinder. With a sharp knife, slice crosswise into very thin ribbons, about 1/₁₆ inch wide (this is called a chiffonade). Put the kale in a salad spinner, rinse in cool water and spin until completely dry. Pile the kale into a bowl.
2. Put the chopped garlic on a cutting board and mince it even more until you have a paste (you can sort of smash and scrape the garlic with the side of the knife as well). Transfer the garlic to a small bowl, add ¼ cup pecorino, a healthy glug of olive oil, the lemon juice, chile flakes, ¼ teaspoon salt and plenty of twists of black pepper; whisk to combine.
3. Pour the dressing over the kale and toss well to thoroughly combine (you can use your clean hands for this, to be efficient). Taste and adjust with more lemon, salt, chile flakes or black pepper. Let the salad sit for about 5 minutes so the kale softens slightly. Top with the breadcrumbs, shower with more cheese, and drizzle with more oil.

Juneteenth 2020

I wish it were not so, but there are people who have managed to not know about Juneteenth.  It is a story of a failure to communicate, coupled with the deep seated desire of slave owners to continue to own other people for as long as legally possible in the United States.  The Emancipation Proclamation became the law of the land on January 1, 1963.  The South had seceded from the Union, and in territory not under Union control, there were still slaves.  It could be argued this was  the moment when legal slavery ended, but since nothing changed for slaves, it doesn't seem worthy of celebrating.  The Civil War ended in April of 1865, but it took two more months for General Granger's troops to reach Texas and actually free the remaining slaves that had been sent there.  So that is the official end and the time to celebrate.

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

You do not emerge from reading this thinking Trevor Noah grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and you do see where his exceptionally insightful interview style grew up.
The title comes from the fact that his Xhosa mother had conceived a child with a white Swiss-German, which was illegal at the time.  Mixed race South Africans could breed with each other, but whites and blacks were prohibited from doing so. It is not a coincidence that Noah's father is a European and not a South African.  Apartheid was on it's last gasps when he was born in 1984, but it was by no means over in the time he was growing up.
His mother, Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, had the rebellious spirit that enabled her to face down a hostile and inhospitable world, and without her Noah would not have ended up where he is.  However, while you emerge from the book kind of stunned, she is not uncomplicated and flawed.
This book is an engaging, fast-paced and vivid read, traversing Noah’s early childhood, confined by the absurdities of apartheid, where he could not walk openly with either of his parents, where he was often closeted inside his grandmother’s two-roomed home, where he was mistaken for white, through to his troubled years at school, and to his budding success as a hustler selling pirated CDs and DJing at parties, he is very multi-dimensional.  The odds always seemed stacked against him, as they are for South Africa’s black citizens. Many are trapped by the legacies of colonialism, apartheid and post-apartheid profligacy and face poverty, hunger, violence, bullying, racism and limited opportunities.  It is a timely read.

Whole Lemon Tart

Friends came over for an open air dinner, and brought this amazing lemon tart--which is both delicious and very easy to put together.  Use your favorite crust recipe (I am thinking maybe shortbread and done in the food processor).

• 1 large Meyer lemon, cut into 8 pieces
• 1 ¹/₂ cups superfine sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs

1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Put all ingredients (except tart shell) into a blender and whirl like crazy!
3. Pour into tart shell.
4. Bake for 40 minutes or until set, watching so that the top doesn’t burn.

Stella By Starlight by Sharon Draper

There are a lot of reading experiences being recommended for white people to better understand the black experience in the United States.  I am leaning on those that are more non-fiction in nature but my natural inclination with reading is to go towards fiction, so when I could get a few of them out of the library, I did.
This is a young adult book, which is one of my favorite genres, and is even being recommended for grammar school aged children.
Stella lives in the American South in a community that is racially segregated.  There are encounters big and small that portray just exactly how humiliating and restricting that is.  The schools are segregated.  The black school get the hand-me-downs from the white school.  White men beat up black boys.  The Klan burn down the house of someone who registers to vote.  There is a knee on the back of every person of color, but despite that and the crushing poverty, they have a strong family and a strong community to fall back on.  It is every bit as painful as you can imagine.

Jubilee Jambalaya

We have been comforted and learned from Toni Tipton-Martin's cookbook Jubilee this month.  We had some andouille sausage from New Orleans and some Caribbean roast pork leftover from dinner last week, and we combined it all into this classic jambalaya.

• 2 cups long-grain rice
• 1/2 cup finely diced salt pork
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions, white part only
• 1 pound smoked sausage (andouille), cut into 1/2-inch thick coins
• 1/2 cup ham, 1/2-inch dice
• 2 cups diced tomatoes
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, 1/2-inch dice
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 Prep the pan and the oven: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 9x15-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2 Parch the rice: Pour the rice onto the baking sheet in a single layer. Parch in the oven, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove; set aside.

3 Cook the salt pork: In a large, heavy ovenproof pot or Dutch oven, sauté the salt pork over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the pork is slightly browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pork to paper towels to drain.

4 Make the jambalaya: Add the onions and bell pepper to the fat in the pot and cook over medium-low heat until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, green onions, sausage, and ham, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and the meat is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the salt pork, tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the parched rice, chicken, thyme, bay leaves, paprika, pepper, and salt.

5 Bake the jambalaya: Transfer to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir in the shrimp and bake until the rice is tender and the shrimp are pink, about 3 to 4 minutes.
If you prefer fluffier rice, stir in the shrimp after 15 minutes and cook another 3-4 minutes until the shrimp is pink.

6 Serve: Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season to taste with salt and cayenne, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.

Savannah Pickled Shrimp

I have spent a lot of time cooking out of Jubilee this month.I am developing an anti-racist reading plan as well, but some how cooking and eating and appreciating African American cooking and contributions to the cuisine of the Americas feels very good in these uncertain times.

3 celery stalks chopped
1 cup sliced onion
2 bay leaves
1 large lemon, sliced
2 lbs. shrimp
1 tsp. salt (more for the cooking water)
1/4 c. lemon juice
3/4 c. white wine vingar
1 tsp. pickling spices
1 Serrano pepper
 1 tsp. minced garlic
3 sprigs of fresh tarragon
3/4 c. olive oil
1/2 c. sliced red onion
In a large sauce pan, add 2 quarts or so of water, generous salt, sliced onion, celery, bay leaves, and lemon, and bring to a boil.  Boil shrimp for about 2 minutes.
Drain and peel.
In a wide mouth jar add all the remaining ingredients, mix, and add cooled shrimp.
Let sit for a night in the fridge before serving.

Orange-Glazed Chicken Wings

I am really loving Toni Tipton-Marton's cookbook Jubilee.  I live in a house where chicken wings are highly prized, and I am not such a huge fan.  These are so good, and my spouse, who leans toward a spicier flavor spectrum, was less interested, and I got to eat most of them.

4 lbs. chicken wings
5 Tbsp. orange marmalade
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Separate the wings into the drumette and the flat part.  Discard tips or save for stock.
Combine all the ingredients, put in a zip lock bag and add the wings.  Let sit for an hour, or ideally longer in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, line 2 baking sheets with foil, and a wire rack for each pan.  Place wings on racks, baste with marinade, bake for 30 minutes, turn and baste, back another 30 minutes, baste again, and bake another 10 or so minutes.
Serve with BBQ sauce if desired.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

This is a salad straight from 1959, the year I was born. Do not blanch at the dressing, this is a huge crowd pleaser.

8 slices bacon
1 c. mayonnaise
1/3 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. curry powder
salt to taste
6 cups small broccoli florets
6 c. small cauliflower florets
1 c. sliced celery
3/4 c. raisins
3/4 c. chopped almonds

Cook the bacon and set aside.  Mix the mayo, vinegar, sugar, curry powder and salt to taste together.  Put the broccoli, celery, and cauliflower in a bowl.  Top with dressing, then layer raisins, almonds and bacon on top, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving.  Toss together before serving.

Baked Ham Glazed with Champagne

Yet another winning recipe from Jubilee.  Be prepared, when you add champagne there is a lot of fizzing.  The recipe calls for two bottles but you could probably get away with one, using half in the glaze and half to start with.  So delicious!!

• 1 (9- to 10-pound) bone-in smoked ham
• 2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 (750 ml) bottles extra-dry Champagne or other sparkling wine
• 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• Pineapple slices, for serving (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a roasting pan with foil and place a rack on top of the foil.
2. Place the ham on the rack, fat side up. Using a sharp knife, score the fat across the top in a crisscross pattern, cutting just through the fat to the meat. Spoon 1 cup of the brown sugar over the top of the ham, pressing with your fingers or the back of a spoon. Carefully pour 1 bottle of Champagne over the ham and the brown sugar. Cover the ham with foil and bake for 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the remaining bottle of Champagne, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, the honey, mustard, and ginger. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the glaze thickens, about 15 minutes.
4. Remove the ham from the oven and spoon half of the glaze on top. Keep the remaining glaze warm over low heat. Return the ham to the oven and bake, basting with the remaining glaze every 15 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted in the ham registers 145°F, 1 hour longer or more. Tent with foil and let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with pineapple slices, if you’d like.

Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin

There is a lot of great material in this book, and I couldn't be cooking out of it at a more meaningful time.  As our nation confronts, yet again, our continued history of racial injustice, it feels good to be immersing myself in the cooking that has been going on in African American communities for two hundred years.
Toni Tipton-Martin is know for having written a food column in the Los Angeles Times that did not include a recipe, but was rather an exploration of the place that food plays in the culture of a people and a community.  Perfect.  That is what we have here.  Well researched stories, recipes with historical context as well as alternative ways of making traditional dishes, and along the way, an appreciation for the wonder that this food represents.
There are a lot of recipes with very little meat, a stretching of a scarce resource in homes eating on a budget.  There is a lot of the holy trinity of creole cooking--green pepper, onion, and celery, which I love.  There are a lot of rice and corn recipes, another favorite.  Check out this cookbook, it is something special.

Black Beans with Coconut

These were delicious with a Caribbean influenced meal from Jubilee, a cookbook of African American cooking.

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 dash Himalayan pink sea salt
• 1 dash garlic powder
• 1 dash cayenne pepper
• 1 dash paprika
• 1 small can green chiles
• 1 small red pepper, finely chopped
• ¹/₂ green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 15-oz cans low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup coconut milk
• ¹/₄ cup green onions, chopped
• 1 sprig cilantro
• 1 teaspoon lime juice

1. Add olive oil and onion to pot on low medium heat. Cook down onions and add garlic. Add salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, canned chiles, and both bell peppers. Stir and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
2. Drain black beans and add to the pot. Smash to break up the black beans. Add half the coconut milk and allow to simmer and thicken, then add remaining coconut milk. Smash beans until they thicken.
3. To garnish, add chopped green onions and cilantro. Finish off with a drizzle of the lime juice.

White Supremacists in Law Enforcement

The fury in the response of police officers to protesters across the nation is shocking to me.   The kettling of protesters so as to shoot them with rubber bullets and gas is purposeful and malicious.  The use of chemical inhalants meant to disable people in the time of a respiratory pandemic with no treatment or cure is in and of itself a crime, in my mind.  Video after video of police officers approaching kneeling or with their hands up, ripping their masks off, spraying them directly in the face, pushing them over is so violent and unnecessary in the use of force makes it very hard to believe that these officers in uniform are working for the community they are employed by.  They appear to be acting like hired gangsters.
Why is this happening?  The police I work with would work assiduously to de-escalate these situations, not throw gasoline of them and throw a match.  The answer has been known for quite some time.  The 2006 report by the FBI describing the systematic infiltration of law enforcement with white supremacists being a pervasive problem to be addressed has been ignored.  The current administration encourages and glorifies the demonstration by white nationalists of violence as a means to an end.  The time has come to look at other ways than policing to address the enforcement of laws in cities across the nation.  Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and New York City are already moving in that direction, and there needs to be more decisive action in this arena.

Mexican Sriracha

This is yet another recipe that comes from the cookbook Ama.  When our Food 53 Cookbook Club did this last month, some people complained that there were too many sub-recipes that had to be made in order to make many of the recipes.  That is a fair point, but my spouse is one who loves to make the sub-recipes.  That is his forte as a cook.  So while he was more enthusiastic than I about this at the get go, we wer both quite surprised by just how good it is.  A word of warning though--do not eat it by the spoonful without trying a small taste first.

1 1/2 Tbsp. olice oil
45 gm. arbol chiles, dried
160 gm sliced shallots
1/2 c. (120 ml) tomato sauce
7 garlic cloves
1/2 c. (120 ml) fish sauce
1/2 c. (100 ml) vinegar
3 tsp. sugar
up to 1/2 c. water

Heat oil in a large skillet until hot and shimmering.  Add chiles, shallots, tomato sauce, sugar and garlic.  Cook on high heat about 6 minutes until the chiles soften.  set aside to cool.
Put the now cool chile mixture in a Vitamix with fish sauce and vinegar and blend.  Add water one tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency (pours but not too thin).
Strain through a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and transfer to a jar.  Use judiciously.

Caribbean Poast Pork

We spent the day cooking out of Jubilee, a cookbook full of African-American recipes and history.

• 1 (4-to 5-pound) bone-in pork shoulder
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, plus 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1teaspoon black pepper
• 1½ teaspoons ground allspice
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• ¼ cup dark rum
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

Instructions

1. Place the pork on a board and pat dry with paper towels, if needed. Place the pork on a rack in a heavy roasting pan. Using the tip of a sharp knife, make 1-inch-deep incisions all over the surface of the roast. Insert the garlic slices into the slits.
2. In a small bowl, combine the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, coriander, paprika, pepper, and 1 teaspoon each of the allspice and ginger. Use your fingers to press the rub into the roast to completely coat it on all sides. Let rest for 30 minutes or refrigerate, covered, up to 24 hours. (If refrigerated, let stand at room temperature 1 hour before roasting.)
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
4. Carefully pour about 1 cup water into the bottom of the roasting pan. Set a rack in the roasting pan and the pork on the rack. Cover with foil. Roast for 3 hours, basting every 45 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, rum, lime juice, minced garlic, and remaining ½ teaspoon each of the allspice and ginger. Uncover the roast. Spread the paste over the meat and return it to the oven. Continue to roast until the outside is nicely browned, about 1½ hours, until the internal temperature reaches 185°F and the paste is sealed onto the roast. Let rest 10 minutes before slicing.

White Coats for Black Lives

Today is the day that we kneel.
Health care workers see the societal issues that lead to health care disparities in the African-Americans in  America.  We are emerging from a pandemic where people of color have been disproportionately affected than whites.  The lack of insurance, the effects of poverty on health, and the lack of access to health care are all factors that lead to pre-existing risk factors.  In my state, where the majority of the meat in the United States is processed, workers are working shoulder-to-shoulder without PPE and they have tested positive for COVID in astounding numbers.  These workers are immigrants with brown and black skin.  These things existed before George Floyd was brutally murdered by a police officer in uniform, while three other officers looked on. 
In that one shocking event, which comes heaped upon many others, but in close proximity to a video that demonstrated white vigilantes gunning down a black jogger, and a white woman on video threatening to call the police and tell them a black man was threatening her because he asked to to leash her dog.   It is just too much, and so today, we kneel.
Tomorrow we continue to work for social justice, but today we take a moment to kneel, to mourn, to pray, and to acknowledge the pain of those that we provide medical care to.

Casabel Pimento Cheese

All last month we cooked from the great cookbook by Josef Centeno, Ama.  We so loved it that when we put our toes in the water of stepping outside our bubble, we sent the cookbook to our destination, and we made an entire meal from the book to demonstrate just how terrific the food was.  One new thing we made that weekend was this twist on the traditional cheese spread, and it was quite delicious.

1 Casabel chile
5 piquillo peppers, chopped (we used jarred roasted red peppers)
6 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. Mexican crema
1 Tbs. mayonnaise
1 dash of Tabasco
1 dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chile powder (Ama spice preferred)
3 Tbsp. diced cheddar cheese
3 Tbsp. diced Swiss cheese
3 small dill pickles finely diced
2 Tbsp. chopped chives

Toast the casabel pepper over an open flame until soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Grind into a powder.
In a food processor bowl, add the peppers and pulse briefly.  Add the cream cheese and pulse.  Add the crema and mayonnaise, and the rest of the wet and dry ingredients and pulse to incorporate.  Add the cheddar and Swiss cheese and pulse until combined.  It shouldn't be too smooth or too chunky.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the pickles and the chives.

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

It has been more than 40 years since I have read Cervantes' Don Quixote, but I am now altogether certain that I missed most of the jokes and the sly satire tat almost certainly was there, judging from this modernized retelling of the epic journey.
The land is America in the post-2016 landscape.  No longer is it the land of opportunity, but rather it is back to the pre-civil rights era of open racism being tolerated, even encouraged at the highest levels of government. 

The knight batting at windmills is a dapper older man named Ismail Smile who loses his job as a pharmaceutical salesman and sets off across America with a teenage son he has dreamed up named Sancho. Ismail hopes to win the heart of a young TV star named Salma, a fellow Indian-American, whose television tell all show has made her “Oprah 2.0”. He has never met her but he sends love letters under the pen name “Quichotte”, believing “love will find a way” of bringing them together.  It doesn't go well, but you already know that because the story is an old one and it is the details that bring the story into the present.   On their travels, Quichotte and Sancho duly encounter racists, opioids, humans who turn into mastodons, crickets who speak Italian and guns that talk.  Just an everyday happening in the magical kingdom of America.

Pandemic Realignment

So here we go.  The message nationally is as clear as it is baseless.  The text is that we should be careful and that our safety is in our own hands.  We choose.  But the subtext is very clear.  If it is reopened it must be safe to do.  July will tell us just how terrible an idea that is.  We had yet another day f deaths over 20 in one day in Iowa.  Worse yet, the public health website is hiding that fact, showing deaths to be dropping, when in fact they are not.
I really hope that this big gamble will not be a disaster, because the people I have seen in stores and at gas stations on my only trip out of my very small bubble did not look like people who were without risks.  And now that there is protesting on the street, public outrage that is long overdue about the treatment of people of color by the police in the United States, now that they are not just risking COVID, but also bodily injury, I can only hope that it will work out.  In the meantime the president postures, looks for reasons to impose martial law, to have a military coup.  It is like a Grateful Dead song of my youth:
Anyway they fall, guess who gets to pay the price?
Money green, or proletarian gray
Selling guns instead of food today
So the kids they dance and shake their bones
And the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down

Grilled Chicken with Honey, Lemon, and Chile

In a slight break form our Tex-Mex streak, we have a chicken with flavors that remind us of the southwest.  We found a chicken at Costco (and I emphasize a chicken.  There were not two) and so a meal was decided upon.  Do not skip the basting and flipping, it really ends up with a flavorful and well cooked bird.

• 1 (3 1/2- to 4-pound) chicken
• 2 tablespoons sea salt
• 4 lemons
• ⅓ cup clear, runny honey
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried  chile flakes 
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

1. The day before cooking, spatchcock and season the chicken: Remove the spindly wing tips by cutting through the first wing joint with heavy-duty kitchen scissors. Lay the chicken breast side down. Using the scissors again, snip along both sides of the spine to remove it. (Reserve or freeze the spine for stock.) Open up the chicken and flip it over, placing it breast up and with the legs toward you on your cutting board. With one palm on top of the other in the center of the breast, press down until you feel the cartilage crack and the bird lies flat.
2. Use the tip of a sharp knife to make three parallel slices in each breast, then three in each leg; each incision should go down to the bone and be about 3 inches long. Rub the sea salt all over, including in the incisions, seasoning more heavily on the underside of the bird.
3. In a small bowl, mix the juice of 2 1/2 lemons with the honey, oregano, chile flakes and pepper. Pour 1/3 cup of this marinade over the chicken and refrigerate the remaining marinade for grilling.
4. Trim the ends of the 1/2 lemon, then slice it into 12 very thin half-moons and remove any seeds. Tuck the lemon slices into each of the incisions on the chicken, sliding the cut side in and leaving the peel exposed.
5. Place the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet, breast side up, and refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 12 or up to 24 hours.
6. Two hours before cooking the chicken, take it out of the fridge to come to room temperature.
7. Prepare the grill: Clean the grate thoroughly and light the coals. The bird should cook over low, indirect heat. The coals are ready when they’re gray and dusty, rather than glowing red.
8. Place the bird on the grill, breast side down, discarding any liquid left behind. Watch your chicken like a hawk for the first few minutes and flip the bird if the skin starts to char. When the chicken is lightly colored, or after 10 minutes, flip it over and baste with the reserved marinade. Close the lid on the grill and cook for 40 to 50 minutes more, flipping and basting the chicken every 10 minutes.