The Cornbread Gospels (51 page)

S
ERVES
4

Serve this crunchy, colorful salad alongside Dairy Hollow House Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread (
page 12
) or Corn Thinbread with Olives, Walnuts, Feta, and Sun-dried Tomatoes (
page 106
). To make a more filling presentation, add
a scoop of commercially prepared baba ganouj or some marinated eggplant atop the salad, or tuck in a couple of prepared stuffed grape leaves next to the tomatoes.

4 cups sliced romaine lettuce

1 cup slivered green cabbage

1 cup finely slivered red cabbage

2 carrots, grated

1 or 2 stalks celery, sliced on the diagonal

1 small bunch watercress, well washed, with tough stems removed

2 or 3 scallions, minced

3 to 4 tablespoons Lemon-Tahini-Tamari Dressing (
recipe follows
), plus extra for serving

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

2 red-ripe garden tomatoes, in 8 slices

1 can (12.5 ounces) chickpeas, well drained

½ cup pitted, diced black olives (preferably Turkish Gemlik)

⅓ cup sesame seeds, toasted

½ pound flavorful feta cheese (preferably Lebanese) in 4 slices

4 to 8 very fresh red radishes with tops, well washed

1.
In a large bowl, toss together the lettuce, cabbages, carrots, celery, water cress, scallions, and 3 to 4 tablespoons of the dressing. Taste and add salt, pepper, and additional dressing as needed.

2.
Place 2 tomato slices on each of four plates, overlapping at the edges of each plate. Heap a quarter of the dressed greens mixture in the center of each plate, allowing the tomatoes to show. Divide the chickpeas, olives, and sesame seeds among the plates. Place a slice of feta cheese on each plate, and garnish with 1 or 2 whole radishes. Pass additional dressing at the table.

A
BOUT
2½
CUPS

I have remained loyal to the deliciousness of this dressing for twenty-five-plus years, ever since I first enjoyed it at a now-long-defunct Los Angeles natural foods restaurant. I swooned over it and the waiter relayed this to the chef, who came out, be-turbaned, and told me how to make it, while I scribbled notes on a paper napkin. Pretty memorable in itself, but the night also stands out because the actress Sally Field was dining at the same time as my father and I. (The ne plus ultra of accidental celebrity sightings of about this same period, though, was also with my late father: a very old, very ample, very blonde
Mae West seated in a booth with two very young, very buff men, one on either side of her, in a German restaurant on Sunset. But I digress.) This makes a good-sized batch, but will keep nicely for up to a month.

½ cup mild vegetable oil

2 tablespoons toasted Asian sesame oil

⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus extra as needed

¼ cup tamari or naturally fermented soy sauce, plus extra as needed

1 garlic clove

1 celery rib chopped

¾ cup sesame tahini (from toasted, not raw, sesame seeds)

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor; whir until smooth and thick and wonderful, stopping to pulse-chop and scrape the sides of the work bowl as needed. Add extra lemon juice and/or tamari to taste.

S
ERVES
4

This festive, gorgeous, delectable, and highly seasonal salad is perfect as a first course at any winter holiday meal. It’s met with raves when I’ve started Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah dinners with it. Serve it with Glazed Maple Cornmeal Rolls (
page 176
), or Simply Corn Muffins (
page 119
), and then move on to whatever your traditional meal is for the occasion.

About 8 cups well washed mesclun or spring mix baby lettuces

2 or 3 scallions, minced

2 to 3 tablespoons Pomegranate-Hazelnut Dressing (
recipe follows
), plus extra for serving

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

2 perfectly ripe Hass avocados, pitted and coarsely diced

Juicy seeds of 2 pomegranates (remove and discard all rind and fiber)

1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped medium-fine

1.
In a large bowl toss together the lettuces and scallions with 2 to 3 tablespoons of dressing. Taste and add salt, pepper, and additional dressing as needed.

2.
Place a large heap of the dressed greens on each of four plates. Divide the avocados, pomegranate seeds, and chopped hazelnuts among the plates, topping each salad with a scattering of each. Pass additional dressing at the table.

A
BOUT
1½
CUPS

This dressing has been one of my favorite combinations of the last few years. The nut flavor is carried through in both the toasted nut itself and the nut oil, and the fruit both in the salad and, in concentrated form, the dressing.

Pomegranate molasses, like apple cider syrup, is simply pomegranate juice that has been boiled down to a thick sweet-tart syrup. You can purchase it at a Middle Eastern market or on the Internet (
www.thespicehouse.com
), or make it yourself: Just boil down two 8-ounce bottles of unsweetened pomegranate juice to ½ cup.

⅓ cup raspberry or red wine vinegar

¼ cup pomegranate molasses

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup hazelnut oil, preferably toasted hazelnut oil

Combine all of the ingredients (use plenty of pepper) except the hazelnut oil in a food processor and turn the machine on. Then, with the motor running, drizzle the hazelnut oil in through the hole in the feed tube until the dressing has emulsified.

S
ERVES
6
TO
8

This is the classic, slow-cooked Southern method with beans, sometimes called “soup beans.” They are
always
served with cornbread. I haven’t eaten meat since I was twenty-two, so it’s been years since I’ve had them this way, but I enjoyed them when I did, and I enjoy my vegetarian alternative now, which follows on
page 305
.

Serve these with any nonsweet corn bread, such as Ronni’s Appalachian (
page 21
), Truman Capote’s Family’s (
page 13
), or Sylvia’s Ozark (
page 18
).

1 pound dried beans (black-eyed peas, pinto beans, navy beans, big dried butterbeans; almost any kind will do, but these are the classic Southern choices)

¼ pound salt pork (sometimes sold as “white bacon”), rinsed to remove excess salt; or a ham hock

1 medium onion, halved

1 garlic clove, quartered

1 dried hot red chile pepper pod (optional)

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Nonsweet (preferably crumbly) cornbread, for serving

1.
Start the night before by picking over and rinsing the beans, then soaking them overnight in as much water as your biggest soaking-pot will hold. (Exception: Black-eyed peas do not need presoaking.)

2.
The next day, drain the beans and rinse them well. Transfer the beans to a large, heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid (a Dutch oven is ideal), and add fresh water to cover the beans by 1½ to 2 inches. (Exception: Black-eyed peas, not having been soaked, need a little more water; cover them by 3 to 3½ inches.) Add the rinsed salt pork or the ham hock, the onion, garlic, and hot pepper, if using, and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to a simmer and let the beans cook until very soft and starting to break open. This could be as little as 45 minutes to 1 hour for black-eyes if they’re this year’s crop, but for all others, allow 1½ to 2 hours. Taste a bean (blow first) to be sure it’s nice and soft (you should be able to squash it against the roof of your mouth with your tongue).

3.
Once the beans have softened, scoop out the salt pork or ham hock, the chile pod if you used one, and the onion halves (the garlic will have pretty much dissolved into the beans). Let the meat cool enough that you can handle it.

4.
Meanwhile, mash or process ¾ cup or so of the beans with the onion halves to a thick paste. Return this to the pot, stirring well. This thickens the soupy beans very nicely. Continue to simmer the beans, covered, but on even lower heat.

5.
By now, the meat should be cool. Pull or cut away any little pieces of meat, discarding any gristle or fat (some of the fat will have dissolved into the beans already, however, adding flavor). If the pieces of ham on the hock are large, chop them. Add the meat back to the beans, and stir again.

6.
Taste for salt and pepper at this point (adding salt earlier would have prevented the beans reaching full doneness, and might have been overkill since there’s also salt in the pork). Season to your liking, stir well, and let simmer, uncovered, about 30 minutes longer. Serve right away, with a slab of cornbread alongside. Even better, let the beans cool, refrigerate them overnight, and reheat the next day.

S
ERVES
6
TO
8

These beans riff on the traditional method and ingredients, much like Greens, New South Style on
page 293
. Adding salty miso and smoky-spicy chipotle makes for a very alluring not-quite-parallel salt-pork universe. You traditional-method devotees can laugh all you want, but I guarantee you, you’ll ask for seconds. Omit the dried chipotle, or use just half, if you don’t like your beans to dance along the pain-pleasure axis of heat.

Serve these with any nonsweet cornbread, such as Ronni’s Appalachian (
page 21
), Truman Capote’s Family’s (
page 13
), or Sylvia’s Ozark (
page 18
).

1 pound dried beans (black-eyed peas, pinto beans, navy beans, big dried butterbeans; almost any kind will do, but these are the classic Southern choices)

½ to 1 dried chipotle pepper, broken in half (optional)

2 large onions, 1 halved, 1 chopped

5 garlic cloves, 2 whole, 3 chopped

3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

2 carrots, scrubbed and chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped (optional)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 to 2 heaping tablespoons dark or light miso

1 to 2 cups vegetable stock (optional)

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Nonsweet cornbread, for serving

1.
Start the night before by picking over and rinsing the beans, then soaking them overnight in as much water as your biggest soaking-pot will hold. (Exception: Black-eyed peas do not need presoaking.)

2.
The next day, drain the beans and rinse them well. Transfer the beans to a large, heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid (a Dutch oven is ideal), and add fresh water to cover the beans by 1½ to 2 inches. (Exception: Black-eyed peas, not having been soaked, will absorb more water, so cover them by 3 to 3½ inches.)