Back to Butter: A Traditional Foods Cookbook - Nourishing Recipes Inspired by Our Ancestors (24 page)

RECIPE NOTE

Nama shoyu is an unpasteurized raw soy sauce with beneficial organisms intact. If Nama shoyu cannot be found, try shoyu or tamari, which are pasteurized, but still fermented. For those who cannot tolerate soy in any form, try coconut aminos (
page 217
).

Color abounds with this dish. The chives add a fresh bright pop to the deep dark purple of the beets—we think you’ll agree it’s a beautiful combination! This side is a wonderful addition to a couple of fried pastured eggs on a Saturday morning.

1
1
/
2
pounds beets, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons (30 ml) bacon fat (
page 33
)

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

2 tablespoons (6 g) chopped fresh chives

In large skillet (with a lid) over medium heat, melt bacon fat. Once melted, add sliced beets and toss to coat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and gently cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 25 minutes, remove the lid and increase the heat to medium. Sauté for an additional 5 minutes, without stirring, to finish caramelizing.

After five minutes, remove from the heat. Add sea salt, pepper, and chives. Toss to combine and serve warm.

YIELD: 4 SERVINGS

RECIPE NOTE

Save the beet greens for another use, such as in a soup or salad, or sautéed with butter and garlic.

Picnic Potato Salad

Have you ever seen potatoes grow? First, you let them sprout in the greenhouse before planting them in soil prepared with a bit of compost. As they grow, the gardener mounds the dirt up around the plant so the area becomes a bit of a hill. As our vegetable garden manager at Apricot Lane says, “You can’t mess up a potato.”

4 eggs

2 pounds (908 g) red potatoes, scrubbed, with bad spots removed

2 teaspoons (12 g) sea salt, divided

2/3 cup (150 g) Simply Mayonnaise (
page 178
)

2 tablespoons (28 g) sour cream

1
/
4
teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons (8 g) fresh parsley

2 tablespoons (6 g) fresh chives

2 tablespoons (30 g) Fermented Sweet Pickle Relish (
page 173
), drained well

2 tablespoons (40 g) raw honey

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1
/
2
cup (80 g) small diced sweet onion

1
/
4
cup (25 g) diagonally sliced scallion, both white and green parts

Paprika, for garnish

Place the eggs in a small-size pot with tall sides and fill with enough water to cover by 2 inches (5 cm). In a medium-size pot, place the potatoes and 1 teaspoon sea salt and fill with enough water to cover the potatoes by 2 inches (5 cm). Cover both pots and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, uncover. Boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Boil the potatoes for approximately 15 minutes, or until just fork tender.

While the eggs and potatoes are cooking, in a small-size bowl, combine the remaining 1 teaspoon sea salt, mayonnaise, sour cream, pepper, parsley, chives, relish, honey, and vinegar.

When the eggs finish cooking, remove and drain. Refill the pot with cold water and allow the eggs to cool to the touch. When the potatoes finish cooking, drain in a colander and set aside to cool slightly.

Peel the eggs and roughly chop into
1
/
4
-inch (6 mm) pieces. Place in a large-size bowl. Chop the potatoes into
1
/
2
-inch (1.3 cm) pieces (do not peel), carefully avoiding mashing. Add the potatoes to the bowl with the eggs, followed by the sweet onion and scallion.

Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the warm potato mixture-and gently fold together with a spatula.

Place the mixture into a serving bowl. Chill overnight or for several hours and serve cold. If needed, at serving time, “refresh” by folding a bit more mayo into the salad and sprinkle with paprika, for garnish.

YIELD: 8 SERVINGS

Sufferin’ Succotash

summer

I got married on the summer solstice with a reception at an inspired restaurant in Berlin, Maryland, called Solstice (the name was a total coincidence). It was a beautiful day, filled with delicious farm-to-table food. There were lots of fun things about that day, but if you asked Mom for her favorite, she’d tell you about the succotash. I don’t know how they did it, but this is our version of the original. Note that there is a minimum of 12 hours of advance prep time.

2 cups (340 g) fresh or frozen lima beans (no need to defrost)

2 tablespoons (30 ml) whey (
page 40
)

3 ounces (84 g) medium diced pancetta

3 tablespoons (42 g) butter, divided

1 cup (100 g) diagonally sliced scallion, both white and green parts

1
/
4
cup (38 g) small diced red bell pepper

1
/
2
cup (75 g) halved cherry tomatoes

2 cups (470 ml) water

1 teaspoon sea salt, divided

2
1
/
2
cups (375 g) fresh corn cut off the cob

1
/
2
cup (75 g) fresh corn grated off the cob

1
1
/
2
cups (355 ml) cream

1
/
4
teaspoon white pepper, or to taste

1 teaspoon chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

In a small-size saucepan, combine the lima beans, whey, and enough water to generously cover. Cover the pot and set aside in a warm spot for 12 to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well before continuing with the recipe.

In a small-size nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, add the pancetta and sauté uncovered until browned and crispy, approximately 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove from the pan and place on a plate covered with a paper towel. Leave the pancetta renderings in the pan and add 1 tablespoon (14 g) of the butter.

Raise the heat to medium and when the butter is melted, add the scallion, red pepper, and tomatoes. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly softened. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a medium-size saucepan with a lid, combine the lima beans, water, and
1
/
2
teaspoon sea salt. With the saucepan covered and over high heat, bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and maintain a rolling simmer, covered, for 12 minutes. Add the cut corn, re-cover, and cook for 3 more minutes. Turn off the heat.

In a colander, quickly drain the cut corn and lima beans and return them to the hot pot. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter, cover, and let stand while the butter melts. Add the grated corn, cream, remaining
1
/
2
teaspoon sea salt, and pepper.

Slowly warm the mixture over medium-low heat (without boiling), stirring frequently. When heated through, add the pancetta and vegetable sauté. Continue stirring and warming until fully heated. Taste and re-season with sea salt and pepper, if necessary.

Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve warm.

YIELD: 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Garden Green Beans with Garlic & Olive Oil

For this simple and crowd-pleasing recipe, the blanching and shocking method is used. This technique enables you to precook the vegetables to the desired crispness before arresting the cooking process with ice-cold water. In the last-minute rush to get dinner on the table, the veggies are simply reheated and served! Try it once and you’ll understand why restaurants do this all the time.

10 cups (2350 ml) water

2 tablespoons (36 g) plus
3
/
4
teaspoon sea salt, divided

1 pound (454 g) fresh green beans

3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

1
/
4
teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

In a large-size pot with a lid, bring the water and 2 tablespoons (36 g) of the sea salt to a boil, covered.

Snap or cut the stem ends off of the beans. When the water comes to a boil, add the beans, return to a boil, and boil for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a large-size bowl with ice water. After 6 minutes, scoop the beans out of the boiling water and into the ice water bath using a slotted spoon. Allow the beans to chill for 2 minutes, then strain and set aside.