on the thought of hunger as a circuit which keeps us alive, life comes with death, fuck annual monocrops and the degradation of topsoil all over the world (it takes so long to rebuild itself) and i cannot deny my own addiction to grains, grains, grains. perhaps they are more deadly, more environmentally damaging than responsibly farmed meat. perhaps this is imminent, perhaps environmentalists should drop their vegetarian ethics and focus on eating from their bioregion and perennial polycultures and the animals that graze happily on pastures (and not federally subsidized corn that is making people jobless and hungry everywhere!)
amid those thoughts, and thoughts of community and love and food for souls and tables,
here are three recipes--two old one new--that have fed many a soul in many a living room.
peanut noodles, eliot-style.things you really need (for a pot o noodles, say a 3-4 person serving): about 2 big spoonfuls peanut butter*, 1-2 T oil (in order of idealness: sesame, sunflower/something like that, canola, olive), 2-3 T soy sauce or Braggs, a small dollop of vinegar (i.o.o.i.: rice wine, apple cider, white, red/white wine; balsamic does not taste good), about 2 T something sweet (molasses, white or brown sugar or honey as you desire), something sour (lime juice or lemon juice; about 1 lime, half a lemon, or 1-2 T of juice), noodles or quinoa or rice or something else to put it on.
nice additions: basil, lemongrass, peanuts, carrot or cucumber pieces (add at the end, otherwise they get cooked and a little squishy), sesame seeds (the more the better!), crushed red chili peppers or hot sauce, coconut flakes/shreds.
* jiffy/skippy peanut butter tastes good (and then you don't usually need to add sugar) but yeah, it has corn syrup and is pretty nasty too. these days i prefer good peanut butter and then adding a little extra oil/sugar and mixing hard.
a note: it's actually easier to mix it all up in a bowl and then pour it on. if you're mixing it into the noodles or quinoa, it can be hard to mix. but that's fine too. if you like it saucy, add a little more water and liquids.
no-knead whole wheat breadthis is the master recipe from this bread book i've been working with by hertzberg & francois (zoe and jeff...we've gotten rather close.) it's a pretty good whole wheat, can be made into anything from pizza dough to rolls to baguettes to focaccia to sandwich (sanduiche!) loaves. it's pretty tasty. i don't have all purpose flour here so i've been using 4.5 c soft white winter wheat flour and 3 c. hard red winter wheat flour.
so the background chemistry-info is that usually you need to knead bread to get the gluten to develop and align into a protein-net that'll trap the gas bubbles produced by the yeast fermenting, producing the desirable Airy Crumb. but an alternative way, remniscent of how artesanal bread is made in bread shops and some larger-scale conditions, is to use a high-moisture dough and refrigerate it...if there's enough moisture, the gluten strands will go mobile and align by themselves! aw yeah. so this bread ends up rising ~3 times: once after you mix it all up, once when you take it out, and then when you stick it in the oven.
you Can use the dough after the initial rise, but i think it works better to refrigerate it for at least a day and then bake it. you can refrigerate it for up to 2 weeks and it develops some good complex sourdough-esque flavors after about a week.
here's the original recipe (makes 4 1-lb loaves)
1. in a container that you could refrigerate, mix together: 5.5 c whole wheat flour, 2 c all-purpose unbleached flour, 1.5 T yeast (2 packets), 1 T kosher/sea salt (i use a little less), 1/4 vital wheat gluten (i use 6 T). (also add any herbs, sliced olives, garlic, onions, dried fruit, nuts, etc. you want.) no need to proof the yeast (unless it's really old.)
2. mix with 4 c. water; don't knead, just mix until it's homo-geneous.
3. allow to rise for 2 hours covered by non-airtight lid or plastic wrap. after that, refrigerate and use it over the next 14 days. (after a week, it starts getting a nice sourdough-like flavor. and if you reuse the bowl you mixed it in for another loaf, the flavor gets better and better.)
when you want to bake it:
1. cornmeal/parchment paper/grease a pan. cut out 1/4 (1 lb) of the dough. dust it with flour and make it into a ball--don't squeeze it too much, you're trying to keep as much gas bubbliness in there as possible. form into a loaf, sprinkle with seeds or whatever, and let it rest for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you didn't refrigerate the dough).
2. preheat oven to 450. just before baking, sprinkle loaf with water or paint with egg white. slash with a serrated knife.
3. stick it in there for 30 minutes! when you put it in, also stick in a cup of water (in a metal bowl/broiler tray/cast iron pan). that makes the crust crunchy.
yum. so it takes about 15-20 min to mix up and then 15 or so minutes when you want to prep it to bake it. which is pretty sweet.
here's one more that's a staple in my life.
curry polenta- sautee some garlic and onion with curry powder, turmeric, etc.
- add cornmeal. about 1/2-2/3 c is good for one person, 2 c is enough for 4-6 folks (ish).
- mix that up and let the cornmeal brown a bit (just for like a minute or two). then add water...enough to cover the cornmeal, usually about 2ce the amount of cornmeal you added.
- let it boil & shit until it's a texture you like...anywhere from creamy to pretty solid. add, if you like, cheese or nutritional yeast, some braggs, hot sauce, herbs, etc. traditionally if you let it get solid and cool a bit you could in theory slice it and bake, fry, do whatever you want with it. pour sauce on it. whatevs.
the rains are arriving here...it's grey and chilly and the bunnies are a little anxious to run around and get touched but i don't want to deal with muddy bunnies. i am dwelling in routines and trying to hang on to spontanaeity and emotional honesty, honor that in myself and others. keep things in the open, imaginable realm. yesterday we bottled the hard cider we made--it had probably surpassed beer-alcohol-level, in the 10-13% range. there's such a funny balance here of being wary of dependence and alcoholism and thinking of this hard cider as responsible caloric preservation, and then craving rituals and explosion and celebration too. probably the community leans toward the former rather than the latter. it's good for me, to distance myself from needing those lubrications and addictions to allow me to act.
and...today there's chili on the stove, yesterday i made baguettes, reading about monocrops and cannibalism,
standing close to people and wondering about how they work on the inside,
how much and how little i know about these folks.
silence is deceptive, when it suggests that all that could be said has been said,
sometimes it's comfortable and most of the time i find myself treading water, confused by silences,
the stimuli that keep this little community alive.
ruben playing the flute.
john lennon on the radio.
ethan napping.
gina clattering, tapping out her anger in pots and clattering spoons and bubbling pots.
a shelf full of good d.i.y. books and cookbooks, "how to live on wheat," "home cheese making"...
am i boring or bored? i'm not sure.
