Mashed Potatoes and Celery Root with Crispy Leeks

This is the first of a few Thanksgiving recipes that I will post, so you can begin thinking about the feast ahead (oooooo it's so exciting!)




What makes this recipe so unique is the use of ghee instead of butter. Ghee is easier to digest than butter because it has no lactose in it, which means that the butter-belly syndrome typical of thanksgiving will be minimized. And it's just so delicious! Here the tartness of the creme fraiche balance its rich sweetness.

I leave the skin on my mashed potatoes because it's nutritious, and I think delicious, but you're more than welcome to peel the potatoes if you'd prefer.

Celery root is that odd hairy looking lump you'll see in the produce section- it looks like the most unappetizing thing ever, but it's really quite delicious, and the crisp vibrancy lends itself well to the creaminess of the potatoes.

The type of potatoes you use matters! Some are more flaky and dry, others have thicker skins. The best for mashing are russets and Yukon gold.


RECIPE:

3 Celery roots
4 lbs potatoes
1 tbsp salt
5 tbsps ghee
1/3 cup creme fraiche
1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup minced chives or parsley
black pepper
2 leeks
several tbsps safflower oil or ghee for frying

Peel the celery root- making sure to remove all the fibrous parts. Cut the potatoes and the celery into 1 inch pieces. Bring to a boil in a large pot of water. Add salt and cook until the vegetables are soft (about 10 min).

Meanwhile, chop the leeks into 2 inch logs- then chop lengthwise- creating thin strips. Heat the oil in a small pan. Add the leeks and fry less than a minute until golden. Use a fork or slotted spoon and drain the leeks on paper towels.

Drain the soft, cooked vegetables. In a large bowl (or in the same pot), mash the vegetables with a fork or masher. Add the ghee, creme fraiche. Mash thoroughly. Add the cream only if you'd like the potatoes a little creamier. Add salt, herbs and fresh ground pepper to taste- mix thoroughly.

Top with the crispy leeks.

Snow Moon Chutneys

It's the full moon. Last night, the glorious orb rising in the sky was so large it almost seemed like an intruding guest on the horizon- its reflection shimmering across the bay. In the agrarian year, there are thirteen lunar cycles. Most of the cultures of the world have names for each of the moons. These names vary depending on the culture- so for instance, many of the native tribes of the pacific northwest have moon names that refer to salmon, while agriculturalists of the Southwest have many moon names that refer to corn.

In her book, Full Moon Feast, Jessica Prentice explores each moon cycle. The moon that we are entering now was called the Snow Moon in sixteenth-century England. It was the time when the first snows began to fall- when people were gathering there last stores of food for winter and preserving the last of the harvest.

Almost every culture around the world has a traditionally "cultured" food- which is how people preserved food before modern canning and refrigeration. Much of the world depends on lacto-fermented vegetables to help the body digest the meat-heavy diet of winter, when fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce. These foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut were traditionally made with whey, which allows a slow careful decay- by introducing micro-organisms that our bodies need. With the introduction of pasteurization, people became obsessed with "sanitized" food. Food began to be cooked at high temperatures, killing all of the helpful bacteria, leaving our bodies susceptible to viruses and harmful bacteria. The lactobacilli in traditionally fermented vegetables and fruits enhance their digestibility, increasing their vitamin levels and restoring the healthy partnership between our bodies and the billions of microscopic organisms which we need to stay healthy*

To make the whey for these recipes, simply put a quart or so of live, organic, whole-milk yogurt in a colander lined with cheesecloth. Let it sit over night in a bowl. The liquid that drains out is whey- in the cheesecloth is yogurt cheese- which you can use like cream cheese- it's delicious!

Here are two recipes for chutneys. One is lacto-fermented, the other is cooked. You could make the persimmon chutney in the same way the cranberry chutney was made- I just wanted to present two styles. They would both be delicious with turkey, so you can start some of your Thanksgiving cooking now! The persimmon chutney I made with Fuyu persimmons because I have such a surplus, but you could also make with Hachiyas- it would be more jam like.













Make sure to use organic cranberries, yes they're much more expensive, but it's worth it. Cranberries are grown in big bogs, which means that conventional cranberries are sprayed with pesticides by saturating the entire bog in toxic chemicals. As Dan Wandler, a cranberry farmer in Wisconsin says of the difference between organic and conventional,

"After we used to spray the bog, you didn't hear a sound for two weeks. You knew you'd killed something. Now the bog is full of sound. There are beneficial insects, and that means the frogs have something to eat."

ORANGE CRANBERRY CHUTNEY:
1 1/2 pounds fresh cranberries coarsely chopped in food processor.
1/2 cup filtered water
grated rind of two oranges
juice of two lemons
1/2 cup dark raisins
1 bosc pear- diced
1 red onion- chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tbsp. brown mustard seeds
1-1/2 cup sucanat
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 cup whey

Mix the water, lemon juice, sucanat, salt and whey. Add the cranberries, pear, and raisins and spices and mix well. Press the mixture into quart, wide-mouthed jars. Press the mixture down, adding more water if necessary to cover the fruit. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for 2-3 days before transferring to the fridge. It will keep for 2 months in the fridge.

" Spice a dish with love and it pleases every palate" - Plautus, Casina, 200 B.C.


PERSIMMON LIME CHUTNEY:

6 large ripe persimmons
1 small onion chopped
1 jalapeño chili chopped
1 tsp. celery seeds
1/2 cup dates, chopped
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
1/3 cup sucanat (or other unprocessed sugar)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lime

Combine all ingredients, except persimmons in a pot- bring to a boil and simmer for at least a half an hour. Add peeled persimmons and boil slowly until it thickens- about 20 minutes more. Pour into hot sterilized jars. Makes about a pint.

*If you're interested in making sauerkraut, kimchi, or other lacto-fermented foods you can look at Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Persimmon and Pomegrante Salad

Yesterday, I needed to quickly come up with a dish for a food-ecology event I was co-hosting. One of my favorite challenges is the "see what you can make with only what you have" game; this is what I came up with.
I went out to the garden and picked a big basket full of pink lady apples and persimmons. I had gotten a beautiful savoy cabbage from my friend Suchi and a few pomegranates from my friend David's tree.
Fuyu persimmons are the non-astringent variety- they are hard when you pick them and only soften a little- they are not mushy like Hachiya (or Hayachi, as I called them until a few days ago when my friend (and teacher) Tamar made fun of me). It is believed that persimmons picked on the night of a full moon have many more of the small dark brown speckles in them, and those speckles make the persimmons sweeter.
RECIPE:

3 fuyu persimmons- bright orange, slightly soft
1 pomegranate
2 green apples or pink-fleshed apples, chopped into small pieces
1/2 head of Savoy or Napa cabbage thinly sliced
1 lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
3/4 cup sunflower seeds.

I simply chopped everything, meanwhile toasting the sunflower seeds in a pan on the stove (shaking regularly to make sure they didn't burn)- then I mixed the seeds in with the fruit and the cabbage, and mixed in the lemon juice and olive oil, and sprinkled the pomegranate seeds on top. The colors were beautiful.


You might also try this with mayonnaise-although the colors might not be as brilliant, or also with toasted walnuts or pepitas instead of the sunflower seeds. Also, some very small pieces of red onion might be nice. Enjoy.

The French Girls' Caramel Corn

I made this last night for a Dia de los Muertos party that I went to with my dear, dessert-loving friend Juliet.
I made a variation of a recipe that is in The Super Natural Cookbook by Heidi Swanson. This recipe is quite easy but you have to be on your toes- the popcorn can easily burn as well as the caramel-sugar mixture. Be prepared to 'shake, shake shake, shake yo'...just kidding. Anyway-

If you feel so inclined you can make it into popcorn balls, by coating your hands in ghee or butter and shaping the caramel corn while it is still hot.

RECIPE:

1 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup popcorn unpopped
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasseses
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup black sesame seeds

Heat the ghee in a large, heavy bottomed pan over high heat. Add the popcorn and begin shaking- until it begins popping- keep shaking, don't stop shaking or the popcorn will burn. Just keep shaking- until you stop hearing the pop. Then remove from the heat and take off the lid and pour into a bowl leaving the un-popped kernels at the bottom.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In the same pot mix together the remaining ingredients minus the nuts. Heat over medium heat- swirling the pot around to stir. When it begins to bubble all over, turn off the heat, and stir in the nuts and seeds and popcorn and mix well, until the popcorn is entirely coated. Turn onto the baking sheet and let cool.

Dead Mousse

With Dia de los Muertos in a few days, this recipe is in honor of the dead- 'mousse muerto'. It is in place of 'pan muerto', which is typically made (although I recognize that 'dead mousse' doesn't have quite the same ring as 'dead bread'. Thank god 'los muertos' have a sense of humor).

This recipe was inspired by my friend Emma, who I made chocolate mousse with a few days ago in honor of her 25th birthday. She doesn't like things too sweet (which I guess you could say is appropriate for Dia de los Muertos), so instead of sweetness, we made it extra chocolaty. Like Emma, this mousse is incredibly rich, a little spicy, and very, very intense.

In honor of Dia de los Muertos, I added a little cinnamon and a dash of cayenne, a reminder of the importance of a little spice and levity. A layer of dulce de leche on top with a sprinkling of sea salt would be divine. Whipped cream is, of course, delicious on its own, but scraping the inside of a vanilla pod and mixing the seeds into the cream as you're whipping it, makes it especially worthy of the dead. Vanilla is the seedpod of the beautiful vanilla orchid, and is, therefore, a testimony to the fragrant, pungent and richly-woven world out of which this ancient holiday emerged.


For more than three thousand years the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America practiced a form of Dia de los Muertos. Originally it was celebrated on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, at the beginning of August, and was celebrated for the entire month, during which time, the goddess Mictecacihuatl, known as "Lady of the Dead," who was believed to have died at birth, kept an eye on everyone.

Not even the force of catholicism's blow, or the brutality of Cortez could eradicate the scent of vanilla and cayenne from this tradition. The honoring of the continuum of life and death was too deeply steeped in the blood of the people.- The dead refused to die.

The Spaniards did succeed in moving the holiday so it coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated today. Their hope, I suspect, was that it would soon be over-shadowed and forgotten, which, gracias a dios, didn't happen.

My grandma, Dorothy Mumper (or Grand Mumper as she briefly attempted to have us grandkids call her), died a few months ago at the age of 94. While alive, she had a ferocious sweet tooth and a fairly satanic sense of humor, so this recipe is in honor of her. I trust that, dead, she will appreciate it as much as I think she would have alive.

RECIPE:

8 oz. unsweetened South-American chocolate
3/4 cup cream (you could substitute coconut milk)
4 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cayenne (or more or less)
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

1/4 cup cream (for whipping)
1 vanilla bean
agave nectar to taste

Chop the chocolate coarsely and mix it with the cream in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir until the chocolate begins to melt. Remove from the heat and stir until completely melted.

Whisk eggs and the sugar in a fairly large bowl and set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir, while scraping down the sides of the bowl until it is hot to the touch (keep testing the temperature). Remove the egg mixture from the the heat and beat with a whisk or a mixer until it begins to get light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

Pour the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl. Add the cayenne and cinnamon and stir well. Stir in the egg mixture, adding a little at a time, until it is thoroughly combined.

Pour the mousse into individual cups and refrigerate for a few hours.

Before serving, sprinkle with sea salt. Whip the cream with the agave and vanilla, adding a spoonful (or two) to the top of each cup. disfruta!