Wondrous Weeds!

February 14, 2014 / Savor Blog Partners / 5 Comments

Tia Marta here to share ideas about our new neighbors—the weedy greens popping up all around us. With those fall rains we had here in the low desert, there is a bloomin’ haze of green on the desert floor– not what you’d call a florid show—but wait—what is happening where November’s mud-puddles were collecting? That may be real food lurking in your own backyard! Now is prime time to take advantage of spontaneous tender mercies and phytonutrients. Interesting tastes await us, to spice up our salads and bedeck our burritos.

“Wild arugula” or London rocket (Sisymbrium irio) provides zesty greens, flower garnish, and later, mustard seeds when mature. (MABurgess photo)

London rocket (read “wild arugula”) is everywhere, its greenery literally growing before our eyes in every low swale, rocky hillside, every ditch where water has run. Sisymbrium irio is an introduced weed which we can enjoy with impunity—the more we eat of them the more we are removing competition for our beloved native plants. So harvest away! (A good rule of thumb is to collect at least 50’ from a road. No need to ingest road dust and pollutants when there is so much to be found in friendly yards or out in the des.)

Prepare for a picante treat, sometimes a picante bite, from these wild mustards. Toss a few wild arugula leaves with baby greens, or in a BLT to liven it up. Try them steamed with your favorite garden greens or added to stir-fry.

Hot February weather is telling our wild mustards, “Summer’s coming. Better go ahead and bloom fast!” Already we see tiny 4-petaled yellow flowers rising from the rosettes of deeply lobed leaves. Small erect spikelets of seedpods (called siliques) stand out from the central stem. Whole flower heads with seedpods are edible, and zingingly picante. Sooner than we think, seedheads will mature and you can harvest their tiny mustard seeds for dressings or salad sprinkles.

This year, if you spy Lesquerella gordoni (bladderpod), it will stand out like little yellow stars on the bare ground. (MABurgess photo)

In some wet winters, a different native mustard known as bladderpod has made carpets of lemon-yellow flowers on the desert floor. No such show this year. Should you find a patch of blooming bladderpod, try a taste of its petals. Their nice nip will add vivid color, nutrition, and excitement to any salad, garni, or burrito topping.

Better known as tumbleweed, Russian thistle (Salsola kali) is best harvested in this tender stage—and every rancher will thank you for your service! (MABurgess photo)

The most ubiquitous of weeds is the introduced Russian thistle which no one seems to notice until it dries, dislodges, tumbles across the road on a crosswind, and stacks up next to a fence or obstacle. So now, while it is in its infancy, go out to that windbreak and find its progeny! Have no compunction about snipping it at ground level while it is only inches high, young, and tender—before sharp stems develop making it unpalatable to humanoids. You will be amazed at what it adds, snipped in short pieces fresh in a salad, steamed with butter and pepper, or stir-fried with other veggies.

Our many species of saltbush (Atriplex spp.) are tender and ready for picking in late winter into spring. (MABurgess photo)

Find saltbush’s gray greenery along the Santa Cruz floodplain–or plant it in your yard for wildlife habitat. (MABurgess photo)

Now is saltbush’s time to shine—in landscaping and in cuisine. Here in Baja Arizona there are many species of Atriplex, and all are edible. These tough shrubs are desert survivors for sure. They tend to grow in “waste places” where hardly any other plants can make it. The name saltbush indicates its habitat, where soil is salty,heavy, or full of caliche. Quail and other creatures find refuge and forage in the dense shrubs. If you want to attract birds into your yard, go to Desert Survivors Nursery, Tucson, and buy any saltbush to plant—then stand back. We humans can join in the saltbush foraging guiltlessly, as saltbush is plentiful and our harvesting may even stimulate re- growth.

Nearly every Native nation in the Southwest has a tradition of using saltbush in multiple ways. When its stiff salty leaves are youthful they can be picked for cooking with other greens, the style of traditional Akimel O’odham, the River Pima. My Tohono O’odham teacher Juanita would steam saltbush with cholla buds, and told me how “the old people would roast their cholla buds in layered beds of ontk i:wagi [salt spinach].” Hopi cooks make a kind of baking powder out of pulverized saltbush foliage.

Try young saltbush leaves cooked with heirloom cannelini beans or cranberry beans—for a flavorful variation on beans-and-greens. You’ll find that the salts which the plants have sequestered from the soil will add a delicious desert flavoring. Move over, Hawaiian sea-salt! (After saltbushes have flowered, we will “talk seeds”—stay tuned….)

NativeSeeds/SEARCH (www.nativeseeds.org) and Mission Garden (www.tucsonsbirthplace.org) carry seed of a domestic relative of saltbush called “orache” which provides a purple-leafed “green” for a winter veggie garden.

Did you ever contemplate cheeseweed thru the day? (Are you kidding?) Its palmate leaf is a sun-tracker! I discovered these young Malva neglecta in late afternoon with each leaf bent westerly, cupped, facing the setting sun.(MABurgess photo)

Ah, cheeseweed—the “scourge” of gardeners, when it gets established. Malva or cheeseweed, so called for its cheese-wheel shaped seed pod, is another one of those introduced weeds which tend to follow humans. Only harvestable when young– get it while you can. You’ll find it in disturbed flat areas where stock or off-roaders have churned up the natural soil, along fencelines or untended sidewalk margins. Beware, cheeseweed seems to be sought-after by wandering dogs as a “marker plant” so wash your harvest well.

New Malva foliage can make a nutritious addition to steamed collards, kale, acelgas, or turnip tops; or stir-fried with peppers, onion, and slices of winter squash. If you want to explore Malva’s medicinal qualities, try the foliage steeped as a tea for soothing tender digestive tract tissue or urinary tract. It makes a healing topical poultice as well.

Life-giving weeds are all around us, especially now with their ju-ju rising. Really no one need be hungry here. We’d all be healthier if we were eating more of these spontaneous gifts brought by Nature and human mobility. My respect for weeds and knowledge of their goodness outweighs my frustration as I pull them from my garden. Here’s wishing you happy weed harvesting, a new way of enjoying the pulses of life in the desert!

If you are lucky enough to locate Carolyn Niethammer’s book Tumbleweed Gourmet, Univ. of AZ Press, 1987, grab it! Find more info about traditional uses of saltbush in Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert by Wendy Hodgson, Univ. of AZ Press, 2001. Find medicinal uses of Malva neglecta in Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West, Mus. of NewMexico Press, 1989. Mission Garden is open on Saturday afternoons for guided tours, and NativeSeeds/SEARCH store at 3061 N Campbell Ave, Tucson, is open daily 10am-5pm.

Visit me, Tia Marta, for more weedy ideas and heirloom beans galore at the Flor de Mayo booth, St Phillips Farmers Market on Sundays 9am-1pm. (www.flordemayoarts.com).

Sonoran Flat Enchiladas, a demo by the experts

January 17, 2014November 24, 2014 / Savor Blog Partners / 28 Comments

Elda Islas and Armida Islas as sisters-in-law who make Sonoran flat enchiladas according to directions handed down by Elda's mother and their mother-in-law Josefa.

Elda Islas and Armida Islas are sisters-in-law who make Sonoran flat enchiladas according to directions handed down by Elda’s mother and their mother-in-law Josefa Islas.

Hello. It’s Carolyn here with you this week. First I want to welcome all our new followers. Always feel free to leave a note, an observation, even a qibble. We want this to be a community conversation.

When I heard that Slow Food was considering nominating Sonoran flat enchiladas as a vanishing food tradition, I knew exactly where to go to document what in the Islas family is a recurring staple. Elda Islas and Armida Islas are sisters-in-law who are married to brothers who ran the American Meat Company on South Fourth Avenue in Tucson. Their families and their husbands go back many generations in Tucson and Sonora.

Elda’s husband Filiberto told me that Sonoran flat enchiladas were traditionally served on Fridays when Catholics were prohibited from eating meat. Since fresh fish wasn’t always available in the desert, this was a hearty substitute.

For our lesson, we met one afternoon last week in Elda’s comfortable kitchen in the Menlo Park neighborhood in Tucson. First we made the chile sauce. In this case, we used fresh chile paste prepared from plump red chiles by Filiberto. But you can also use canned Las Palmas chile or Santa Cruz chile paste. Elda began by smashing some garlic with a stone with a flat side she had inherited from her mother-in-law. It has been used by generations of women and has grooves worn where the fingers grip it. Then we browned the garlic in a little oil.

Smashing the garlic with a stone.

Brown the garlic in a little oil.

Next we added 3 tablespoons flour, the 2 cups of chile paste and a little broth and let it simmer gently.

The chile sauce should be thick but fluid.

Next we made the masa. She used lard which recent studies have shown is not as bad for you as Crisco. Armida mixed it with her hands.

5 pounds fresh masa

¼ cup soft lard (yes indeed)

2 cups queso fresco, grated

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons salt

(Some cooks also include mashed potatoes, cottage cheese or a beaten egg)

Combine all in a deep bowl and knead with hands until thoroughly combined. It should be creamy, damp but not sticky.

Making the masa patties.

When the masa was ready, we formed it into patties 1/4- to 3/8- inch thick and 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Meanwhile ½-inch of vegetable oil was heating in a heavy frying pan When it was hot (didn’t have a thermometer, but probably around 350 degrees F.), Armida slid in three patties. A bigger frying pan could probably accommodate four.

She fried them until they were golden on the underside, about three minutes. Then she turned them to fry another 2 to 3 minutes until golden. She lined a oblong dish with paper towels and stacked the finished patties to drain. Eventually we ended up with 3 dozen patties.

Sizzling and smelling delicious.

The patties should be crispy on the outside and light on the inside.

Now it was time to assemble the enchiladas. Armida dipped each patty in the chile sauce and arranged them on a plate. Then it was time for the condiments. We used lettuce, grated queso fresco, chopped green olives, radishes, and chopped green onion.

The condiments

When the Sonoran flat enchiladas are assembled, they look like this. What is missing from the photo is the aroma. Heavenly!

Three enchiladas made a nice meal. You can also add beans and rice.

Should you have any leftovers, they are great warmed up and served for breakfast with eggs. Filiberto Islas said this is called Enchiladas de Caballo.

Enchiladas a Caballo

My sincere thanks to Elda and Armida for the lesson and a lovely afternoon!

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Want more recipes for delicious food with a Southwest twist? My book The New Southwest Cookbook contains recipes from top restaurant and resort chefs throughout the Southwest, using our local ingredients for mouthwatering dishes. You can find it at your local bookstore or order it here. See all my cookbooks at my website.

Wonders of White Sonora Wheat Berries

January 10, 2014 / Savor Blog Partners / 3 Comments

Heirlooom White Sonora Wheat growing at Mission Garden April 2013–Rod Mondt photo

Tia Marta here from Flor de Mayo to share news of an ancient grain newly emerging from its historic quietude as a flavorful and nutritious gift to Southwestern cuisine—a real boon to desert agriculture and health! I’m talking about the White Sonora Wheat, introduced by Padre Kino, kept alive and well in a Sonoran village for 300 years, “rediscovered” and propagated by Native Seeds/SEARCH plant-sleuths, and at last being grown commercially by a few caring farmers in Baja Arizona.

Fresh harvest of White Sonora Wheat Mission Garden May 2013–Bill O’Malley photo

This particular Triticum aestivum variety is a winter wheat for the desert. Now is the time to plant it in your own garden plot through February for a later harvest into May and June.

Precious White Sonoran Wheat grain was provided by Native Seeds/SEARCH as a start-up ag experiment to a local grower, BKW Farms, and it has really taken off. Tohono O’odham Elders may likely remember the Wong family of Marana who provided fresh produce out to the res in the early-mid 1900s. Now in their 5^th generation of attuned farming, the Wong family (as BKW Farms www.bkwazgrown.com ) have turned their attention to growing heirloom wheat—USDA Certified Organic. Bravo for feeding us well AND improving the soil, air and water! With their first crop a real bumper, BKW Farms is returning more than twice the wheat seed back to NativeSeeds/SEARCH than the original “starter kit” quantity loaned to them. Kneaded by the skilled hands of Barrio Bread and BigSkye bakers, their White Sonoran Wheat’s flavor is spreading and exciting many a Tucson palate. Check out www.barriobread.com and www.bigskyebakers.com .

At our Flor de Mayo farmers market booth, a few wheat-sensitive consumers have reported they are actually not affected by this heirloom wheat. (Hey, scientists, there is information in its genes and constituents we need to know more about!)

BKWFarms’ White Sonoran wheat berries cleaned and ready–MABurgess photo

Using whole kernals of wheat in cooking seems to be almost an unknown in modern culinary culture, but health benefits are significant. For one thing wheat berries are “live food” truly sharing life energy. Vitamins in the bran and germ are super-active. In commercial so-called “whole wheat bread” the vibrant living constituents have been removed for transport and storage then added back artificially when baked to make it “whole” again. By eating the wheat berries whole from the git-go, we can enjoy their full nutrition. [For local, fresh, the only truly whole flour (no parts removed) milled from White Sonora Wheat commercially available, we are blessed with the new Hayden Flour Mills in Phoenix (www.haydenflourmills.com) providing packaged flour to the NSS store and to Flor de Mayo LLC.]

Providers of other heirloom wheat berry varieties locally are Ramona Farms (www.ramonafarms.com) and San Xavier Farm Coop (www.sanxaviercoop.org) with Pima Club wheat, and the NSS Store with faro also known as emmer (www.nativeseeds.org).

I made mini “greenhouses” of recycled clear plastic boxes. Try rice bowls, berry or hamburger boxes for sprouting. MABurgess photo

I’ve been having a wheat-berry “hay-day” in the kitchen with White Sonoran Wheat berries. Here are a few appetizing ideas to introduce wheat berries into your culinary repertoire:

Sprouted White Sonora Wheat Berries:

Sprouts will take about 3-4 days until ready. Plan on rinsing them daily. Soak 1 tablespoon of wheat berries overnight in a jar. Prep “greenhouse” box with coffee filter or paper towel cut to size to prevent grains from passing thru any holes as a strainer. Pour wheat berries into “greenhouse” box, wash and drain. Place box on a dishtowel out of direct sunlight. Rinse and drain them twice a day to keep them from getting sour. Within 2 days you will see rootlets like tiny white spiders forming. By the third day greenish stems will rise. That’s when they are ready to eat. Try sprouts as a surprise snack—you won’t believe how its relatively blah starch can change with the magic of living enzymes into the sweetest pleasant sweet you ever tasted! To slow down growth of young wheat sprouts put “greenhouse” box in frig. You can snip or “mow” elongating wheatgrass and add it to green drinks or smoothies. Separate wheat sprouts and toss them in salads. With a hand-crank masa-grinder (such as the one sold at Native Seeds/SEARCH store) grind them fresh to add flavor and texture to bread-baking. [I will be interested you hear your wheat sprout ideas too!]

White Sonora Wheat berry sprouts at 5 days

Cracked Wheat Berries–Speaking of grinders—a masa grinder or meat grinder can be used to crack dry wheat berries for cooking bulgar dishes. If you have a stone-burr hand mill, White Sonoran Wheat berries mill to a beautiful flour for baking. Keep your ear to the ground about upcoming wheat-berry milling events to be announced with my new WonderMill…..

Basic cooking directions for Whole Wheat Berries: (Simply cooking wheat berries ahead makes some tasty recipes a breeze!)

1) Rinse 1 cup dry White Sonoran Wheat berries to remove any chaff or grit. Drain.

2) In saucepan cook washed wheat berries with 3 cups drinking water and ¼ tsp sea salt. Bring to a boil then reduce to low simmer.

3) Check berries after 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary to cover. Taste for doneness every 5-10 minutes thereafter. When done, berries should be round, fully plump, softly chewy (beyond al dente) with no white starch remaining. It may take 45 minutes to an hour to finish taking up water, i.e. to be fully cooked. One cup dry wheat berries yields about 4 cups of cooked wheat berries.

Then…you can eat hot wheat berries right away (or zap them later) as a hot cereal. Or, refrigerate them for up to a week for use in pilaf or marinated salads—recipes follow….

wheat berry cereal makes a wonderful hot breakfast

Berry-Delish Hot Wheat Berry Cereal

1 cup hot white Sonora wheat berries cooked

2 T dry blueberries and/or dry cranberries

1 T chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Pinch of sea salt

½ cup warmed milk, rice milk or almond milk

1 pat of butter on top (optional)

Serve hot and enjoy the soft crunchiness. My elderly mother got a nostalgic look of bliss after tasting this hot wheat berry cereal, saying that it reminded her of what her mother served her as a young child.

hot and tasty White Sonora Wheat berry pilaf-MABurgess photo

Perfect Wheat Berry Pilaf

In 2+ Tablespoons flavored olive oil, sautee 1-2 cups chopped fresh vegetables, such as red onion, yellow or winter squash, red sweet pepper, carrots, celery, greens (optional).

When veggies are al dente in the pan, add 2 cups cooked wheat berries to the mix and 2 more tablespoons flavored olive oil. Stir-fry until hot through.

Add 2 T pine nuts (optional—they won’t show) and 1 T chopped tops of I’itoi’s Onion (or chives)

Dress with salt, pepper, and spices, such as Santa Cruz Chile and Spice Company’s “zapp.” Serves 3-4 generously. Enjoy!

[A cool idea is to make extra pilaf (more than recipe) and chill it to use later as a flavorful salad.]

Wheat Berry Salad Supreme

Marinate 2 cups cooked wheat berries in your favorite Italian, balsamic, or Asian dressing overnight (8-12 hours) then toss with fresh chopped romaine, carrots, celery, sweet peppers, olives. Serves 4. As Mom says, “It’s so chewy—you know you’ve eaten something!”

* * * *

Three cheers –for our local seed-savers and growers bringing this ancient grain afresh to our tables! For our local bakers helping it rise again! And for our creative Baja Arizona chefs honoring pre-industrial wheat with their culinary alchemy!

Local, heirloom, organic—wow, what more could we ask? That is White Sonora Wheat. Come taste a White Sonora wheat berry sprout. Stop by and see me, Tia Marta, at the St. Phillip’s Sunday Farmer’s Market where I’ll have the BKW organic White Sonoran Wheat berries for sale in 6oz and 1 kilo size packages ready to use. Or you can find them packaged at the Native Seeds/SEARCH Store, 3061 N Campbell, Tucson. Order online at www.nativeseeds.org. Please visit my website for other desert food products and scheduled events at www.flordemayoarts.com.

Prickly Pear Sparkles in Holiday Cocktails

December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 / Savor Blog Partners / Leave a comment

Welcome guests with tasty prickly pear cocktails.

It’s Carolyn Niethammer here this week. First, I want to welcome all the new subscribers. I speak for my fellow bloggers when I say we are so happy to have you join this little community of food lovers. Please feel free to join in at any time with ideas and comments.

Today I want to talk about using prickly pear syrup in holiday cocktails. We all know and love prickly pear margaritas, but there is a world beyond that beloved beverage. And these cocktails don’t have to include alcohol. In fact it is nice to be able to offer your non-drinking guests something tasty and sophisticated way beyond diet coke and seltzer with lime.

There are several keys to delicious cocktails. One important ingredient is fresh juice. It makes a big difference and here in Arizona we have an easy abundance. Some of you need only walk as far as your backyard to grab a handful of oranges or tangelos. If you are using alcohol, you can choose vodka, tequila or rum.

Make your prickly pear syrup.

If you have stored some prickly pear juice in your freezer, make a syrup with 1 cup juice to 1 cup sugar. Simmer gently to evaporate some of the liquid. If you didn’t get around to storing any juice this year, there are several good commercial syrups made by local entrepreneurs. You can find Cheri’s Desert Harvest products widely in stores or on-line and Jeau Allen is at farmer’s markets with her products and they are available on-line.

You can buy commerical syrup and a special prickly pear/lime blend.

To elevate your cocktail with a more sophisticated flavor, you need to add a bitter or sharp flavor such as you get with ginger. To make ginger syrup, I grate a 5-inch piece of fresh ginger and simmer for 30 minutes in a cup of water. Strain out ginger and reduce liquid to a half cup. Add a half cup sugar or agave syrup and cook a few minutes to dissolve sugar. You can also add a few drops of bitters. Angostera bitters is the most available brand and they hold their recipe closely, but bitters is usually a blend of herbs and spices. You can find some recipes to make your own here and here.

As a final step, top each glass with a little flavored sparkling soda.

Here are some recipes to get you started. Then experiment.

Arizona Sunset

Fill glass with ice. Pour 3/4 full of fresh orange juice. Add a shot of tequila or rum and a tablespoon of ginger syrup. Add two tablespoons of prickly pear syrup. It will sink to the bottom and look like one of our gorgeous sunsets (see picture at top of blog).

Sombrero

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 ounce rum

1/2 ounce Triple Sec

5 drops bitters

1 ounce prickly pear syrup

1/2 cup crushed ice

Combine all in a blender and serve in a glass with a swizzle stick speared onto a chunk of pineapple.

Carolyn’s Christmas Cocktail

2 ounces fresh orange juice

2 ounce fresh lime juice

1 ounce prickly pear syrup

1/2 ounce ginger syrup

2 ounces cranberry sparkling soda

Combine first four ingredients and pour over ice in large wine glass. Top with cranberry soda. Garnish with lime wedge or circle on glass edge.

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Want more prickly pear recipes? Take at look at The Prickly Pear Cookbook. Available at Native Seeds Search, The Tucson Botanical Gardens, your local bookstore or on-line here.

Heirloom Beans for Holiday Feasts!

December 13, 2013 / Savor Blog Partners / Leave a comment

Colorful Christmas lima, also known as chestnut lima, will keep some of its purple color and its shape in cooking. Photo by Muffin Burgess

Among beans, Christmas Lima is a giant not only in size but in flavor! This heirloom Phaseolus lunatus is dramatic mottled purple and white, and lends itself to many colorful dishes. Try a holiday tip from the Heirloom Bean Queen “Tia Pan Dulce”—sure to please vegetarian and omnivore alike: Curried Christmas Limas!

The evening before cooking, sort and wash ½ lb of dry Christmas Limas. Presoak overnight in plenty of water (at least a qt) as they will swell. Next day give remaining water to your compost and add a qt of fresh drinking water. Simmer limas without salt until they test tender (1 ½-2hrs stove top; 2-3hrs solar oven; 3-5 hrs crock pot). Some people prefer them al dente. I like them soft and done through but not mushy. Reserve the bean liquid.

Saute ½ cup chopped onion, ½ cup chopped celery, ½ cup thin-sliced winter squash, and ½ cup chopped sweet pepper in olive oil and stir in 2 tsp curry powder. (My favorite curry powder is from Santa Cruz Chile and Spice Co, available at most southern Arizona groceries. If you are ever in the Tubac area give yourself an olfactory adventure by visiting the SC Spice Co outlet just south of Tumacacori Mission Nat Hist Park.)

Add cooked limas to the veggie curry stir-fry adding either veggie stock or the reserved bean liquid as needed. Simmer on low heat until flavors are blended (about 1/2 hr) and salt to taste. Serve with brown rice or polenta for a complete protein complement.

(Here’s another idea to try with cooked Christmas limas: If they keep their shape as individual beans when done, you can serve them as veggie hors d’oeuvres with toothpicks dipped in your favorite sauce. Try BBQ or Asian or chilpotle sauce. They are better than meatballs and much healthier!)

If you want to GROW Christmas limas for yourself, save a few seed out of the bag you find at Sunday’s Heirloom farmers’ market or at the Native Seeds/SEARCH store (3061 N Campbell, Tucson). Plant them in April where they can vine their way up a trellis in dappled light or into a low-growing tree. They are long-season, so plan on tending them thru heat of May and June until the monsoons give them a boost. You will be climbing the tree or trellis to harvest big pods in the fall, ready for homegrown holiday cookery next year.

Bright and beautiful Four Corners Gold beans are used in the traditional winter ceremony by the Zuni. These beans are truly light-returning and life-renewing. photo by Muffin Burgess

Bright and beautiful Four Corners Gold beans are truly light-returning and life-renewing. photo by Muffin Burgess

An important heirloom for the season– used by Native cultures of the Southwest since time-immemorial to celebrate the Winter Solstice—is the festive yellow and white Four Corners Gold Bean (aka Zuni Gold). It will lend itself to any hearty dish you may want to have simmering in a crock pot ready to drive off any chill from ski-ing, hiking, cycling, or dog-walking thru these short wintry days. Try them in a bean soup with an oxtail from Jojoba Beef at the farmers’ market; or as chile beans with Native Seeds/SEARCH’s amazing chilpotle chile powder; or as a dip mashed with a Tarahumara bean masher, dashes of Red Devil tabasco sauce and 1 tsp of cumin powder.

“Moon Beans” spiced with Pipian Rojo Mole from Mano y Metate makes an exceptionally festive vegetarian dish! photo by Muffin Burgess

My grandmother always served us black-eyed peas for New Year’s telling us grandkids that the number of them we ate was the number of dollars we would make in the new year. In her tradition of black-eyed peas, as New Year’s approaches, I like to fix a Southwestern version of black-eyes: Moon Beans! For a festive flavor try moon beans with pipian rojo mole as a centerpiece dish, adding the prepared mole powder from Mano y Metate in the last half hour of bean cooking.

Solar-cooked Moon Beans can be downright celestial. If December 30 or 31 is going to be sunny, and if you know you will be “hanging out” available for re-orienting your solar oven every ½ hour or hour, soak your Moon Beans the night before, change the water next day, and in a saucepan with plenty of drinking water add a ham hock and/or chopped onions and veggies to your Moon Beans. A few hours of solar cookery will provide a New Year’s home-made feast worth a million dollars.

Happy Holiday-time with Heirloom Beans– and Bon appetit from Martha Burgess! http://www.flordemayoarts.com

Slowing it down: Super-Slow-Rosemary-Crusted-Steak

December 7, 2013December 8, 2013 / crosspollinatingwithlinda / 4 Comments

hearth as heart -

It is early winter, and as the days become shorter, things slow down in the natural world. Egg laying is noticeably slower. Honeybee brood cycles are are scaled way back; the drones having been cast out (weeks ago) to preserve the resources of the hive. Our cattle are moved to winter pasture; and while we could keep a few cows near the house for milk/cheese, we prefer to let the girls rest after the rough (read: drought) summer here. Not taking milk allows the cows a chance to rest and recondition. This slowing down is a part of regeneration.

Humans, often forgetting our animal nature, can be out of sync with the rythms of particular seasons – especially the slower more inward season that we are in now. We continue the ceaseless output of energy that culture demands, as if it were perpetual spring – energy bursting upward and outward, rather than inward and in to our metaphorical roots. . We are a part of the animal, insects, and plant kingdoms with which we live. And seasons, with their increase and decrease in light and energy, offer different things to us. The winter kitchen is one of the few places where we can enjoy the slowness of this season, because winter meals often take time to simmer or bake. We are nearing the winter solstice, which occurs between December 20^th and the 23^rd, wrapping the animals, insects, and plants, living on this side of the planet, in darkness.

This recipe for Super-Slow-Roasted Rosemary-Crusted Chuck Steak, from Shannon Hayes’s THE GRASSFED GOURMET COOKBOOK is a flavorful way to both practice and delight in the Slowness of the Season. And precisely because it T A K E S T I M E, the flavors have time to mingle sensuously, another perk of the cold season. More oddly, I feel it gives kitchens – sometimes forgotten as the “heart” of the home – a chance to embody their mission. Cooking meals slowly allows the kitchen to warm the home from the kitchen outward; you may find that family and friends linger a little longer, basking in the aromas and warmth and heartbeat. Forgive me for saying it, but I think I hear the kitchen smiling.

Harvesting range/grass fed beef

RECIPE: Super-Slow-Roasted Rosemary-Crusted Chuck Steak

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Rub Garlic Rosemary Rub into the chuck (see below***)

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 30-60 minutes. Roast the meat in a shallow pan for 30 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 170 degrees F. Continue to roast for 4-6 hours, (depending on the weight the larger the cut the longer it takes to roast), or until an internal meat thermometer registers 120 F to 125 F. Hayes suggests that you do not cook it beyond 125F or you will loose tenderness. And in keeping with the Spirit of Slow: allow the meat to rest (with loose foil tented) for 5- 10 minutes before slicing.

*** Garlic-Rosemary Rub: 2 Tablespoons of dried Rosemary, 1 clove garlic, minced, 1 ½ Tablespoons coarse salt, 2 Teaspoons freshly ground black pepper.

Note: I cannot recommend Shannon Hayes, The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook enough. It will likely change the way you look at farming, flavors, and how they/we are connected.

* If you are a veggie/vegan try slow roasting winter’s roots vegetables with the oil of your choice and the same spices in the rub, but do not cook them as long, just till as tender and as flavorful as you love.

Please note: The photos were taken by me to share with you; I would love it if you would please leave them here (and not abscond with them to other parts of the internet). Thank you so much.

Seasonal Flavors and Scents of the Southwest Spice Up the Holidays

November 29, 2013November 30, 2013 / Savor Blog Partners / 1 Comment

Wake Up Holiday Salads With Chiltepines!

Contributed by Tia Linda

Chiltepines add zip to holiday salads.

The red, round fruits of the ancient chiltepin are making a comeback this year, after a rough bout with erratic weather patterns. This is “their” time of year, as they mature between October and December, giving us just enough time to dry them for use throughout the holidays. Marinated Kale Salad is easy to make, and offers a fresh, raw energy to the heavy-ish meals often served at the holidays. Prepare it the night before you wish to serve it, to give the juices of the lemon and tomatoes time to work their magic and soften the raw kale.

Here’s the recipe: In a bowl, combine 3 bright red chiltepin (crushed), 3 medium tomatoes (diced), the juice of 5 lemons, about half a cup of olive oil, and salt to taste. Then chop about 5 cups of raw Kale (also grows in your garden this time of year, here in the SW) as finely as you wish and add it to the mixture. Place it in some kind of container with a tight fitting lid so that you can periodically shake the green mixture, allowing the juices that inevitably fall to the bottom of the container the chance to coat the kale above.

Kale salad lightens heavy holiday meals.

Make a Sonoran Scents Pomander

Contributed by Jacqueline Soule

Pomanders are used to add fragrance to stored clothing while they are said to also deter moths. Pomanders have traditionally been made by sticking cloves into oranges, or mixing cinnamon and nutmeg with applesauce. For those of you that love the scent of creosote bush, here is a Sonoran Pomander recipe I invented.

Dry creosote leaves until well dried.

Dry leaves of creosote bush. Collect more than you think you need!

Turn them into leaf “powder” in a blender. Mix three parts leaf powder to one part applesauce.

Mix powdered leaves with applesauce.

Form into walnut sized balls, or pat into thick disks. If you get the mix too wet and have no more leaf powder, use a mild spice (like nutmeg) to add more “powder.” Don’t use something moths eat, like flour or mesquite meal.

You can use nutmeg if you run out of powdered leaves.

Use small cookie cutters to make impressions if you wish.

Add ribbon if you wish to hang them (later!). Poke ribbon into the center with a toothpick.
Allow to dry for three to seven days.

Insert ribbon into still moist pomander with a toothpick.

Notes:
* Substitute white glue for some or all of the applesauce.
* Hang one of these in your car and carry the desert with you as you drive!

* To learn how to grow creosote in your yard, visit my other blog on creosote, available on http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/lovely-larrea/

* You can also read more about using creosote bush (and other native herbs) in my book Father Kino’s Herbs: Growing and Using them Today (available at amazon.com).

Pear and Mesquite: A Perfect Combo

November 8, 2013November 8, 2013 / Savor Blog Partners / 4 Comments

Mesquite Ginger Pear Tart Ready for the oven.

Hello everyone. This is Carolyn Niethammer and this is my week for the Savor the Southwest blog.

With mesquite millings happening all over Arizona, it’s time to plan for what you’ll make with your delicious mesquite meal. Pancakes are fine for mornings at home, but when you are headed for a holiday potluck, something a little special is required to show how attuned you are to our desert foods. This Mesquite Ginger Pear Tart fills the bill. I adapted the recipe from an old Joy of Cooking recipe for an apple cake. This is better! Ginger, a warm spice, always goes so well with mesquite.

I give you the recipe at the bottom, but here are the steps. Works best if you have a springform pan so you can remove the sides of the pan from the finished cake without disturbing the topping. However if all you have is a regular cake pan, just carefully tip it over onto a plate, then flip it back. You may have to reposition a few nuts, but it will taste great.

First make the batter. Use your fingers to push it to the edges of the pan.

Spread the cake batter with your fingers.

Cut a perfectly ripe pear into quarters, then into nice even slices.

Arrange the pear slices on top of the batter.

Make a pretty pinwheel pattern with the pear slices.

Mix the topping and sprinkle over the pear slices.

Crumbly topping will add sweetness and crunch to your cake.

After baking, cool and remove from the springform pan.

Fragrant Mesquite Ginger Pear Cake.

Now that you know the method, here’s the recipe:

Mesquite-Ginger Pear Cake

1 cup flour

¼ cup mesquite meal

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons butter

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup milk

2 large pears, sliced

Topping:

½ cup sugar

¼ cup mesquite meal

3 tablespoons melted butter

¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Prepare a 8- or 9-inch springform pan by lining with a buttered piece of paper cut to fit the pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, mesquite meal, salt and sugar. Fluff with a fork until well combined. Add the butter and rub with your fingers or cut with a pastry blender until butter is worked in.

In a glass measuring cup, put the ¼ cup milk and then beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients to make a stiff batter. Press into the prepared pan with spatula or your dampened fingers. Arranged sliced pears in a circular pattern on top of batter.

In a small bowl, mix the ½ cup sugar, mesquite meal, and melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over cake and pears. Top with chopped nuts. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Remove sides of pan and cool. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Delicious slice of Mesquite Ginger Pear Tart.

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Looking for more ideas to use your mesquite meal? Check out Cooking the Wild Southwest: Delicious Recipes for Desert Plants. It includes recipes for 23 easily identified and gathered plants that grow all over the Southwest.

New Blog, New Voices

October 28, 2013October 8, 2018 / Savor Blog Partners / 6 Comments

Welcome to our new shared blog of the food and plants of the Southwest. We are a group of friends who for years, have been learning from each other. Now we are going to extend our little community and share with you the knowledge and recipes we have been sharing with each other. We all come to this subject with different personalities. Some of us are practical and straight-forward, others more philosophical. We’ll write in rotation. But it won’t be just about us. There are so many other people doing interesting work in local and wild foods, we hope to interview some of them along the way. Occasionally we’ll ask someone to do a guest post.

We always invite your comments as we want to make this a community conversation. Whenever I’m with a group of Southwest foodies, I come away with something new, something that makes me go, “Wow, what a great idea. I never knew that.” So share with us and the other readers your new ideas for edible wild plants or local animal foods.

Our first post that will arrive in a few days is about bees.

Here’s who we are:

Carolyn Niethamm

Carolyn Niethammer writes about Southwest cuisine and edible wild plants of the Southwest. She is happiest when working in her flower or vegetable gardens, out on the desert gathering wild foods, or devising new recipes for the plants she has gathered. Her five cookbooks range from the way Native Americans cooked wild plants to a collection of recipes devised by the Southwest’s top restaurant and resort chefs for incorporating the area’s iconic ingredients in delicious dishes.

Tia Linda is both an urban and a rural food producer. She ranches in the Sierra Madres foothills in Northern Mexico. She also keeps honeybees and fosters native bee habitat in the urban Southwest. She enjoys raising poultry, with a special fondness for heirloom breeds. She sees herself as an extension of the hives, flocks, and herds that she lives among.

Martha Burgess

Mentored by Tohono O’odham Elders, Martha Ames Burgess came into ethnobotany from the inside out, learning how to harvest, prepare, store, and eat many Sonoran Desert edibles, and to make use of desert plant “first aid”. With O’odham farmers and Native Seeds/SEARCH cofounders, she was taught desert gardening with native heirlooms. Her mission is to pass along this wildcrafting and gardening knowledge so that new Baja Arizona dwellers may better appreciate and adapt to our desert home, especially in these times of climate change. She uses on-site outdoor teaching, poetry and art for sharing the awareness.

Jacqueline Soule has been writing about plants in the Southwest since the 1980’s, and growing and using them since even before that. An award-winning garden writer, she is delighted to be the instigator of this venture. She welcomes you to her free lectures at the Pima County Libraries.

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