last year this time: peru
13 May 2012 Leave a Comment
travel’s on my mind. and i just realized how woefully neglectful i’ve been in posting. Fear not! I am making a cake tonight, so this is just food for thought in the meantime.
peru, mucho gusto
paid work recently swept me far far afield from the radical muffin kitchen: to the mountains of Peru, green and vital, carved with art in places, terraced over generations.
birthplace of more than 4,000 varieties of potatoes. A biodiversity & spectrum of taste endangered in part by fast food empires’ demand for fry fodder Idaho potatoes.
and protected by locals. Earlier this year, Quechua farmers sent seeds of 1,500 potato varieties to a ‘seed vault’, an organization working with indigenous communities to gather both seeds and knowledge on the humble and critical potato.
http://radicalmuffin.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/peru-mucho-gusto/ 
peru, mucho gusto
06 May 2011 1 Comment
in narrative, potatoes, pumpkin Tags: cuy, cuzco, peru, travel
mountains valley river sky and shrine outside of cuzco, peru
paid work recently swept me far far afield from the radical muffin kitchen: to the mountains of Peru, green and vital, carved with art in places, terraced over generations.
birthplace of more than 4,000 varieties of potatoes. A biodiversity & spectrum of taste endangered in part by fast food empires’ demand for fry fodder Idaho potatoes.
and protected by locals. Earlier this year, Quechua farmers sent seeds of 1,500 potato varieties to a ‘seed vault’, an organization working with indigenous communities to gather both seeds and knowledge on the humble and critical potato.
corn & fava beans for snacking and garnishing soup at the table
no fries for me! instead i ate all kinds of potatoes creamed into soups or swimming with their ancient, perfect sisters—corn, beans, quinoa—in verdant herbed broths.
pumpkin soup
0r pumpkin sopa of velvety orange. A bowl of profound sustenance when you’ve come through the heavy old old doors from the evening air settling cold on the square. the lights of homes spreading outward and upward towards the stars. and the giant light up jesus.
illuminated jesus above cuzco
in addition to the pageantry and politics of religion, the local peoples live with herbal and nutritional wisdom like relief from the altitude affects with mate de coca, coca leaf tea. Cooking magics like cebiche (citrus cooked seafood), spit fermented drinks and head-spinning hallucinogenics. Admittedly, I was no wilder than a few pisco sours, a muscat grape liquor served topped with shining frothed egg whites and freckles of cinnamon. That nudge of spicy scent opens the way for a clean little bite that delivers more booze than anticipated. Or maybe the altitude enabled a serious whallop from a small glass (not enough coca tea!).
on the last evening, after the longest trek, I had that same sense of a meal perfectly tuned to place and my own fatigue when I sat down to a cold bottle of the local beer, Cusqueña and a heaping plate of spicy Indian food. At Maikhana Indian Coffee House on Av El Sol, off the main plaza in Cuzco, 15 soles (about $5.50) will buy all access to a buffet of veggie, chicken and lamb dishes with rice and mineral water. Plus a sideboard of delightful condiments like a ginger-coconut slurry, coriander chutney and plain crescents of cucumber. Not to mention Wi-fi and an international phone call. Perhaps that call is not standard, but Thrifty Wanderlust will let us know in a post about her adventures in Cuzco soon!!! Breads and beer are cheap add-ons. Also looked like they had plenty of wine, in a glass doored case dotted all over with colorful stickers at the heights of little kids’ fingers.
cuy with potatoes and deep fried pepper stuffed with meat & olives
finally, no, I did not try cuy.
but the garblogger at Everyday Trash did!!! Folks serve up guinea pig in restaurants and keep them at home in fuzzy herds for special suppers. This one came out whole with a tomato tiara on her long toothed head. Word is it tasted mostly of fried. The stuffed pepper side, however, was reportedly most excellent.
fryday friday
24 Oct 2010 1 Comment
in artichoke, broccoli rabe, cheese, chocolate, garlic, pineapple, potatoes, recipes, sweets, vegan, vegetarian Tags: autumn, Brooklyn, deep fry, dinner parties, drag, frying, marcella hazan, midwest, paula deen
in the kitchen I am happiest when I am frying. One reason is that frying takes the whole cooking process and condenses it into a continuously visible, uninterrupted sequence. It resembles those nature documentaries where the camera shows us tiny buds developing into full blooms, compressing weeks of growth into seconds. One is never out of touch with the food one is frying, even for a moment, and I find that very satisfying….
fried food must be eaten promptly, and cannot be reheated. In Naples they have a phrase for saying that one thing follows immediately upon another. It is frienno magnanno, which means, literally, frying and eating. And that is how it should be done.
marcella hazan, more classic cooking (1978)
and that is what we did. although the night ended in a resonant and reverential reading of Marcella, it began with Paula Deen.
turns out, our stunning drag performer darling is also a sick fry cook. The night we met, in the back garden of Ginger’s bar at Brooklyn Pride, we talked Paula Deen and fell into the deep fryer of food love. Fry night has been pending ever since. Come to think of it—Paula’s how I baited the preacher eater too. Seems i owe Ms. Deen some gratitude.
our all you can fry event was an appropriate homage to the reigning queen of the deep fryer as well as a revelation to our visiting vegan friend from Sweden, the founding co-chair of the International High End Perverts Society (also the photographer, gratzi). Oreos, as it turns out, are vegan. And vanilla pancake batter, made with almond milk and egg replacer, fries up real nice.
the drag artist manned the fry pot in an old tourist’s souvenir “California” apron. the Texas fairy orchestrated a pile of golden okra nuggets that filled my great grandmothers punch bowl. reshma sprawled at the table—like Alice big from the Drink Me bottle in our kitchen too tiny for all her graceful limbs—dredging pickles with the enthusiasm only possible from a far-from-home Midwesterner with State Fairs in her heart.
fry me to the moon
This is what we fried:
vegan corn fritters
okra
breaded fresh mozzarella rounds
hallumi cubes tossed in flour & cornmeal
potato fritters with broccoli rabe and spinach
pickles
feta stuffed green olives
marinated artichokes
sprigs of flowering broccoli rabe
whole garlic cloves
morning star faux sausage
pineapple
oreos
mini-snickers bars
ring dings
fudge
in our orgiastic feasting, we surpassed ourselves before managing to fry up our marshmallows, cinnamon roll dough in a tube, and frozen butter slices. You can also fry beer, but we drank all ours.
soupe bonne femme avec faggot
26 Mar 2010 2 Comments
in carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, recipes, soup, vegan, vegetarian Tags: Brooklyn, cooking, french, garlic, new york, one bowl cooking, spring
“Many recipes call for a faggot.” — Louis Diat
mais oui—everything is tastier with a dash of faggotry! I’m not talking buggery— although many of us could use a soupcon of that too, survey says up to half of gay men never do it up the butt anyway — but the joie de vivre, the je ne sais quoi of a fabulous queen. In the radical muffin kitchen, cooking gusto evokes a certain make-do and then some learned at the hip of sassy men who could out stomp me in their platform shoes and draw suitors to them through the din of crowded bars with their eyes. Certainly, a femme is better with a faggot.
this is perhaps not what monsieur Diat had in mind. No, the French born chef was the head at the New York Ritz-Carlton kitchens, where he not only trained many chefs in the U.S. but also made it his life’s work to translate French cooking techniques into English. In Gourmet’s Basic French Cooking: Techniques of French Cuisine, published for the first time in 1961, he includes among Tricks of the Chef:
Faggot Many recipes call for a faggot. To make a faggot, cut a stalk of celery in 2 pieces 3 or 4 inches long. In the curve of one piece, tuck a few sprigs of parsley, folding in the ends, lay on this a bay leaf, and sprinkle with a little thyme. If the recipe does not include carrots, a small piece of carrot is sometimes tucked in with the parsley. Place the other piece of celery on top very firmly and secure the faggot by winding a long piece of string closely around it. Unless you assemble a faggot firmly and bind it tightly with plenty of string, it is apt to roll apart during the cooking.
Soupe Bonne Femme is simply potato leek soup, although all the following “bonne femme” recipes in his magnum opus seem to be “with mushrooms” and how this all relates remains a mystery to me. The soup would probably be delicious with mushrooms, but as it is or rich with cream, Soupe Bonne Femme is perfect fare for blustery March weather.
scrub clean 4-5 potatoes. chop them and put them aside in a bowl of cold water. Slice the greens and roots from 4 medium-small leeks, clean them well in cold running water. Dice the white part of the leek along with 1 small onion and a few peeled garlic cloves. Melt a tablespoon or so of butter in a big, heavy pot, add the leeks, onions and garlic, and cook until soft but not brown, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
drain the potatoes and stir them into the leeks, turning to coat with butter; cook for about 5 minutes. Pour in 4 cups of hot water or stock. Assemble and bind a faggot of celery, carrot, parsley and thyme. Add this to the soup pot along with a dash of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for ½ an hour to 45 minutes or until the potatoes are beginning to fall apart.
serve as is or…stir in another tablespoon of butter and 2 cups of whole milk or 1 cup of cream. If you add the cream or milk, be sure not to return to a boil but only gently reheat. In the alternative, to go entirely vegan, cook all the veggies in olive oil.
fried mashed potatoes
20 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in apples, garlic, greens, potatoes, recipes, vegetarian Tags: autumn, butter, cast iron, cooking, fried food, herbs, mashed potatoes, recipes
put a large pot of water on to boil. scrub 6 small potatoes; I like the red ones. Quarter them and plop them into the water at a rolling boil. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until soft. Drain and return to the pot if your pot can stand the up-coming beating or dump into a heavy bowl.
add three tablespoons of butter to the potatoes. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and pepper and herbs; pick about 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme if you have it, but this round I just used dried thyme and basil, about a teaspoon each. Drizzle with about a ¼ cup of heavy cream. Using one of the most fabulous inventions of all time—the hand potato masher—mash mash mash. Save a few lumps for texture, having left the skins on helps some bits hold together (plus – pretty!).
shred about ½ a cup of hard cheese like parmesan or gruyere would be nice; we had some schmany delectable cheese I cannot remember the name of now. Beat an egg or, to be really decadent, an egg plus one yolk. Stir in half the egg and most of the cheese, just saving some for decorative pre-table topping, into the potatoes with a wooden spoon. Set aside the egg in a shallow bowl and whisk in a little cream. In another shallow bowl, spread panko flakes or bread crumbs.
heat a cast iron skillet or your heaviest, if you are not blessed with cast iron, which should acquire as soon as possible. Add a bit of olive oil or butter or a nice half’n’half mix of the two.
form the potato mash into patties, dredge quickly in the egg/cream, press a few sage leaves into it – or one big dramatic one- then press the patty in the breading, flip and press the other side. Fry. A few minutes on each side, going for golden brown. Transfer to a toweled plate to rest and drain excess oil.
you can fry two or three potato patties at a time, just be sure not to crowd the skillet. Dredge out any escaped bits of breading before they burn and taint your oil. This does not have to be a deep fry job; using just enough oil for things not to stick creates plenty of golden fried goodness to satisfy.
these are freaking amazing. I cannot imagine what they would not be good with, but here are some ideas: oniony, garlicky sautéd greens like kale or collards; veggie sausage (which I like to pepper a lot and eat with maple syrup) and a fried egg; red lentils with plain yoghurt and hot pepper sauce; fried apples’n’onions…oh, yes- with sour cream. I love fall.
quick curried peanut sauce for many veggies
03 Jan 2008 Leave a Comment
in artichoke, broccoli, eggplant, garlic, poems, potatoes, recipes, string beans, vegan, vegetarian Tags: cooking, cooking for one, curry, peanut butter, sauce, weeknight dinner
chop one medium yellow sweet onion, and smash, peel, and mince a few cloves of garlic. Peel and mince a half inch of fresh ginger.
sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Stir in the ginger along with a teaspoon of curry powder and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Stir in about three teaspoons of sesame oil and three tablespoons of Braggs or tamari sauce.
glop in a cup of peanut butter, and whisk in boiling hot water in a thin stream to bring the mixture to a saucey consistency.
prepare the veggies of your choice: fairy tale eggplant sliced in half and roasted; purple potatoes halved, par boiled and fried; steamed baby artichokes; bell pepper and broccoli sauté; string beans. What’s in season?
lemony gingery veggie stock
26 Dec 2007 Leave a Comment
in carrots, lemons, potatoes, recipes, soup, turnip, vegan Tags: ginger, health, stock
Fill your big and heavy pot with clean water and put it on the stovetop to boil. Scrub two fist-sized turnips, a potato, and two carrots (the ones so big you cannot imagine using them for anything in the kitchen). Trim any stems or roots. Trim four stalks of celery too; rinse them if they are dirty. Toss all these veggies in the pot.
Press three cloves of garlic under the flat side of a knife and peel. Break three inches of ginger into pieces. Cut a lemon into quarters. Toss all of this into the pot.
Bring the water to a rolling boil then let it fall back to a simmer for half an hour.
Stem any mushrooms you have about for this recipe or any others. Wipe them clean and add to the stock. Pour in a few cups of water. Cover and bring back to boil then simmer half-covered for another hour or so. Stir occasionally, and use the back of the spoon to squish the ingredients gently, especially the lemons.
In your sink, set a colander in a bowl or pot large enough to hold all that hot stock. Pour the stock through and using cheesecloth or the back of a wooden spoon, mush the veggies to squeeze their best stuff into the broth.
Let the broth cool and store in jars in the frigidaire. Or you can use it right away to back soup. Viola:
winter root soup with thyme butter
26 Dec 2007 6 Comments
in kohlrabi, potatoes, recipes, soup, turnip, vegan, vegetarian Tags: butter, stock, thyme
As you begin, let a stick of butter sit at room temperature. Pick thyme. I mean, throughout the process, pick thyme or pick a bunch to begin with or have a friend picking thyme. You will want three – four tablespoons and those leaves are itty bitty.
In a heavy stockpot, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of the butter.
As you chop the following parade of veggies into hunks the size of walnuts, toss them into the sizzling fat. These are the winter veggies that called to me at the Grand Army Plaza green market, and they can easily be substituted with veggies that call to you—any winter vegetables in the same starchy, peppery, rooty family, like rutabaga (maybe also cauliflower). If organically farmed, those with thin skins keep it on for the soup.
Slither the papers off of one small red onion. Quarter it and halve the quarters. Smash, peel, and roughly chop into thirds three cloves of garlic. Scrub and chop four Yukon gold potatoes and two medium-big carrots. Peel and chop one celeriac and three golden turnips. Pry the hide from four kohlrabi and chop. Slice an apple in half, quarter and core it.
Sauté the whole pile up, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes. Sautéing them lets the sugars caramelize, deepening the soup flavor. Meander through the chopping process; chop the onions and garlic cook for a few minutes while you do some other small task for the dinner, picking thyme or zesting things. Let each grouping of veggies – from the alliums to the sputniks—have a moment at a clearing in the center of the pot.
Cover your roots and fruits with stock and bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes to an hour. We used a quart of stock and topped up with water.
Near the soup pot, set up a blender (your hand-me-down from Titi Marie or the neighbor’s kitchen—this soup is worth borrowing the equipment if you haven’t got it). Puree the soup in batches, ladling a generous amount of broth into the blender with the veg parts to run it all velvety thick.
Scooping with the wooden spoon we used for stirring, I added three generous plops of Greek yogurt. It probably amounted to a cup. Then stir in a 1/4 of whole milk. Maintain heat until very hot but do not boil after you’ve added the dairy.
Stir thyme into the softened butter; about three tablespoons of fresh thyme into the remaining stick of butter.
Ladel soup—gorgeous saffron color—into bowls, add a fatty pat of thyme butter, let melt a bit, and swirl on top of the soup. Weep for joy for the bounty provided.
To veganize: increase the initial olive oil, omit the yoghurt/milk, using so milk if you are so inclined but I don’t think that is even necessary and pretty luxurious at the veg purée stage. Add the thyme near the end of cooking and just stir in, drizzle a swirl of olive oil on top.
Adapted from the epicurious recipe white root vegetable soup with thyme butter, Bon Appétit | December 2001.
Mashed potatoes
01 Dec 2007 Leave a Comment
in potatoes, recipes, vegetarian Tags: comfort food, rosemary, sea salt, vegetables
Scrub and quarter a pile of potatoes; use about 1 ½ spuds per person. This pseudo recipe works with 4-5 potatoes; adjust accordingly. An earnest entreaty here: use organic potatoes so you can leave the skins on with an easy mind. In fact, thanksgiving is a perfect holiday to build a meal entirely on your local green market’s organic bounty – find this holiday’s best spirit and celebrate the real harvest of your community’s farmers. If you are lucky enough to have a garden or a window box, cook what you have grown with your own hands and love from the spot of earth you are caring for. Sorry for the preachin’—back to potatoes! Yukon golds are buttery and pretty in the mashing.
Boil the potatoes in a pot just big enough to hold them covered with water, about an inch of water over the tops of the potatoes. Boil until soft, about 10-15 minutes; poke with a fork to tell.
Strain the potatoes, and rattle them around in the strain to begin the mashing. Dump them back in the hot pot, and mash them with ¼ stick of butter and about ¼ cream. Wooden spooks, big forks, or the potato masher hand tool are all effective mashers. The gadget specifically for mashing spuds (essentially a handle on a flat disk with holes of some sort) is one of the few specialty tools I own, and it has more uses than one would first presume: cookie dough, hummus, applesauce, and- obviously- myriad mashed root veggies are all cake beneath the smooshing grid of the mashed potato masher.
Thanksgiving mashed potato up-grade: In a mortar and pestle, grind together sea salt, fresh rosemary needles, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Stir into the spuds. Serve. Eat. Nap.
spicy rosemary mashed potatoes
15 Feb 2007 2 Comments
in potatoes, recipes, vegetarian
for two people, use four medium potatoes, and you’ll have leftovers (maybe stuff ‘em in those pastry pockets or flatten & fry them). I used Russets but Yukon Gold make for some good mash. Use a pot just big enough to hold the potatoes, a large saucepan should do. Fill with water and turn the flame on high. While the water comes to a boil, scrub and chop your potatoes into six pieces. Add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. (Note: that’s how I did it last night. This morning – puttering around the web, most sites say to start the water with the potatoes in it.)
With a mortar and pestle, grind together about 1 ½ tablespoons of dried rosemary, 3 teaspoons of red pepper flakes, and 2 teaspoons of sea salt.
Grate about a cup of pecorino.
Poke a piece of potato with a fork and if it goes in easy, they’re done. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pan.
With a mashed potato masher or a wooden spoon (slotted is nice), mash the potatoes, drizzling in olive oil. About 1/4 of a cup, but really this is a to-taste recipe on all fronts. Stir in the spices, add slowly until it is as salty, spicy, roseymaryy as you like.
Stir in a handful of the cheese. Scatter the remainder over the top and give it just a stir and a half.
YUM.
dipping sauce for frozen dumplings
- bragg’s liquid amino acids
- brown spicy mustard
- sesame oil
mix in little bowl. the end.
