by Andy Gricevich, Newsletter Writer
What do those of us who have it do with all this extra time at home? For many of us, the answer has been: start cooking! So many of us, in fact, have done so that bread bakers have had trouble finding yeast, and jars for canning have been in short supply. When home cooking no longer has to be put on the back burner, direct engagement with what we eat shows itself as a fundamental human need and desire.
At some point, though, it becomes clear that sharing what we make is as important as making it. It’s simply not as fun to cook for yourself alone. If you live by yourself, or if others in your home just aren’t as excited about your food as you are, where do you find the opportunity to share the joy? Let’s look at some different ways of meeting this desire, along with a few recipes for comforting and nourishing deep winter food.
VIRTUAL MEALS
A lot of people have been turning to Zoom and other platforms as a way to have special meals in one anothers’ quasi-presence, even when they feel unsafe sharing food literally. Here’s one ceremonial gathering that can deepen online meal-sharing and make it more fun. It’s drawn from indigenous traditions, but needn’t be performed in a culturally appropriative way (and, of course, can be performed in-person, when the times allow for that).
Everyone prepares a dish that’s associated in some way with their ancestry—whether that means a family recipe, a food from a place your ancestors hail from, your aunt’s favorite brand of potato chips, or something associated with a non-familial tradition or movement you feel connected to. If there’s a ceremonial moment that feels genuine to everyone, you can start with that (a round of gratitude, a moment of silence, the lighting of candles, etc.). Everyone then takes turns telling stories about their ancestry (or a specific person in it), the dish, or both. You don’t even have to be proud of that ancestry to share the connections between the food you eat and our intertwined histories (I’ve seen people discover new perspectives by tracing their own lineage to slaveholders, for example). It is, however, probably a plus if you like the food.
Here’s a dish I’ve inherited from my Scottish grandmother, cooking for my Russian grandfather, my dad and his sister in an Illinois coal-mining town during the 1950s and ‘60s. Despite being composed mainly of boiled cabbage and steamed meat (not my favorite preparation methods), it’s delicious—and nearly impossible to prepare in small quantities. I’ve made a more-than-acceptable vegan version by replacing the meat with cooked barley and lots of finely-chopped shiitake mushrooms.
HALUPKI (Russian/Ukranian stuffed cabbage rolls)
1 head green cabbage
1/2 c. rice
1 1/2 large onions, finely chopped
1 large can or jar diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large eggs
1/8 tsp. caraway seeds
1 can tomato soup
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. lean ground pork
1 onion, sliced
2 cups sauerkraut
2 tsp. salt
ground lack pepper, to taste
sour cream, for serving (optional)
Directions: Simmer rice in 1/3 cup water for 5 minutes, until partially cooked. Set aside.
Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Poke a big serving fork into the core of the cabbage, and push it under the water. As leaves soften enough to peel off without breaking, pull the head out and remove them. Set aside when you’re left with only small leaves, and they’ve softened somewhat.
Mix meat, chopped onions, eggs, rice, 1 tsp. salt, and a little pepper in a bowl. That’s your filling. Chop small cabbage leaves and cover the bottom of a large cooking pot. Cut any ribs from the larger leaves to make them easy to roll. Place a manageable amount of filling on each large leaf and fold and roll it loosely, putting each roll into the pot, seam down, until you have one layer. Put 1/3 of the sauerkraut atop the rolls, then 1/3 of the tomato soup, followed by 1/2 of the remaining salt and a little pepper. Repeat until pot is nearly full, or ingredients are used up.
Top with the canned tomatoes, sliced onions, garlic, caraway, and any remaining salt. Bring to a boil, cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with a little sour cream, if desired (some chopped dill in the sour cream is great). Serves 15.
THE GREAT MIDWESTERN COOKING SHOW
For the more “Type A” home cooks among us, why not set up a virtual event or series with other households? Assign a judge (which could be a rotating position), and give everyone the same assignment. Choose something challenging: who can make the most successful filled, handmade puff-pastry, or the best Chinese-style soup dumplings? Whose complexly-layered French cassoulet or Mexican/Oaxacan mole sauce is the best, from among the countless preexisting variations or possible personal twists? You could also keep it comparatively simple, and compare everyone’s takes on quiche, peanut butter cookies, chocolate cake, eggs Benedict, or anything that calls for basic skills and allows for many different takes.
If you truly want it to be competitive (it wouldn’t have to be), you’ll want to set time limits, and ideally break through the virtual wall by finding a way for the judge(s) to sample the results. You could also go for a more old-fashioned cooking show, and take turns demonstrating for the camera how to make something you love—or, with more comedic possibilities—something you’re trying for the first time. Everyone learns a dish, or even tries to make it simultaneously.
One more variation: everyone gets into exploring a given “ethnic” cuisine, and shows each other what element they’ve learned to make that contributes to a full, buffet-style meal. Two cooks could each learn a basic preparation for Indian curries, while one demonstrates the technique for naan flatbreads or samosas, and another shows everyone how to make kheer (rice pudding) or carrot halwa.
Viewership of DIY-style online cooking videos has skyrocketed recently. Why not actually do it ourselves?
BASIC NORTH INDIAN CURRY SAUCE
India boasts a myriad of distinct cuisines. Most buffet-style restaurants here feature the North Indian technique of cooking vegetables, meat or yogurt cheese in a thick sauce built up by layering various basic ingredients and spices. Here’s one foundational curry gravy.
4 Tbs. ghee, butter, or vegetable oil (coconut is great here)
3 medium onions, chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
one 1-inch chunk fresh ginger, finely diced
1 12-oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbs. ground coriander
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garam masala
Directions: Heat 2 Tbs. oil over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and salt and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the onions are very soft. Sprinkle with coriander and salt, remove from heat, and let cool a bit. Transfer to a blender and puree.
Heat the remaining 2 Tbs. oil in the pan, add the puree, and cook until it begins to turn golden. Add tomato paste and turmeric and cook until it begins to darken a bit.
Add cumin, cayenne, and yogurt and cook 20-25 minutes, until a layer of oil rises to the top. Add meat, vegetables, paneer (yogurt cheese) or tofu and simmer until done. If the sauce seems too thick for your cooking needs, add 2 cups of water. When cooking is almost complete, turn heat to high to evaporate water and thicken the gravy again. Mix in garam masala at the end.
Adjust seasonings to your taste, and experiment with different Indian spices, as well as adding raw cashews or pistachios to the onion puree, or cream near the end.
DOOR-TO-DOOR
Know of other people in your neighborhood with whom you can easily trade food? If so, consider joining forces to make a full meal. If you’ve wanted a Southern-style fried chicken-and-biscuit dinner, but haven’t wanted to deal with the mess, spread it over two or more kitchens!
One house can handle a big roast and gravy, while another provides simple vegetable sides (say, maple-glazed carrots and simple broccolini, cooked briefly in hot olive oil with a little garlic, lemon juice and crushed red pepper), and another bakes a satisfying gratin. Everyone gets their ovens ready to warm up the door-to-door delectables they receive, and enjoys a balanced, multi-course meal, without using every dish in the house to prepare it.
APPLE/ONION/CHEESE GRATIN
There are countless variations on this classic method of baking the main ingredients with a topping of breadcrumbs, cheese, or both. This favorite is adapted from the Moosewood Collective’s Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home.
Serves 4 to 6
1 c. milk
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch of ground cloves
4 c. peeled, cored, and sliced apples
1 1/2 cups chopped onion or shallot
2 c. grated Cheddar or Gruyere cheese
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 c. bread crumbs
Directions: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Directions: Lightly oil an 11 x 7-inch baking dish.
In a small pot, scald the milk over medium heat, bringing it nearly to a boil. In another small pot, melt butter over medium heat and whisk in flour, stirring for a few minutes. Slowly and constantly whisk the milk into the flour until the sauce starts to thicken. Add nutmeg, salt, and cloves, and stir for about 4 minutes, until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
Spread apples and onion evenly in the prepared dish. Sprinkle on the grated cheese, and pour the sauce over the top. Scatter over the nuts and bread crumbs.
Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, until golden (if the topping is looking too dry partway through, crack it here and there, then push down gently with the back of a spoon to moisten the topping). Let cool slightly before serving.
FERMENTATION AND OTHER CLUBS
One appeal of the wide world of fermentation, which has drawn many new adherents of late, is the way it eludes our complete control, varying with time, temperature, humidity and environment. Multiple people making the same fermented food with as close to the same ingredients and preparation as possible, then exchanging samples of the results, could make for a great set of food clubs.
Wines and meads, sourdough breads and pastries, cheeses, fermented sodas, kombuchas, vinegars and kimchis… the possibilities are nearly limitless, and most require almost no special equipment or setup. If you and a few friends want to get more intensive, see if your dry-cured venison leg tastes different from your neighbor’s after a month or two, or if your tempeh boasts a distinct depth of flavor. Fermentation is a great winter project—it happens more slowly at cool temperatures, and preserves and transforms ingredients for enjoyment and nourishment late in the season, when little else as fresh and nutritious is readily available.
If you’re just getting into fermentation, and want to try this collective experiment, it’s easy to find recipes online for the most basic form of sauerkraut (just green cabbage, salt, and a jar). A simple, delicious variation is to use red cabbage instead, and to add a little grated ginger to the mix.
VILLAGE
We’ve said a lot about the virtual. It’s great that we can talk onscreen to find face-to-face company. Let’s not forget, though, that many of the “hobbies” we’ve taken up during this time involve cultivating deeper connections to age-old forms of village-mindedness (working together, sharing food, resources, and diverse skills) and more recent possibilities of cultural exchange. It’s ironic that a time in which many of us are reawakening these modes of living, getting outside more, and inhabiting our communities in an ongoing way is also a time that limits our direct physical interactions. The temporary communities we form in an effort to address unmet needs can be models for living when things return to “normal.” With all its hardships, this could be a time of opportunity, for practicing a different, more sustaining, more collaborative set of norms. It’s not too hard to imagine the satisfactions we get from our unasked-for free time continuing as important aspects of our society and cultures, offering a set of more desirable alternatives to business as usual.
