Gilding the Lily since 2006
See also Stuff White People Like #71. I am totally guilty of this, by the way. I can eat completely mediocre food in a slightly dingy joint, but if Scott and I are the only white people, it’s Fucking Amazing, and The Best-Kept Secret in …
…or Mexican Lasagna …or Lowering the Bar This time of year, I usually have to make a concerted effort to pull shit out of the freezer ahead of time so we have some dinner options. Once in awhile, though, I get too ambitious (really, just …
God, this post is gonna be long.
I finally got a little time to post this African food I’ve been threatening to make! But let’s back up a bit – why would a little white bitch up in the Pacific NW be interested in making African food in the first place? You can blame that one on the YouTubes.
I was flipping through, looking for Naija videos (I can’t stop listening to Afrikan Boy), and this caught my eye. It is a fucking hilarious riff of Lil’ Wayne, so please just indulge me and watch it. I had no idea that Nigerians were so food-centric! I love them already. I decided that I should share this video with you all, but wanted to cook a meal to really set it off.
I have all those collard greens I’ve been talking about, and I knew that many African countries use greens. I’d also had chicken-peanut stew once, but the peanut butter had been slightly burned and the stew ended up tasting like singed ass hairs. I wanted to avoid this, so (being a scientist) I did a little research.
I found this website, The Congo Cookbook. I can’t say enough wonderful things about this website. It’s like an African Epicurious.com, mixed with a little Wikipedia. You can scroll to your desired dish (e.g, chicken, meat, seafood, stew, etc.), and you just roll over a listed dish and it tells you the main components, and where it’s from. Then if you click the link, it takes you to the recipe page, which gives the information about how it’s served, the specific country or region that perfected it, and other foods commonly eaten with it. This is ideal for my infotainment junkie needs! I will be coming back often. Also, they have no idea who I am: I have not been solicited to review their website (although I am going to tell them I did and see if they’ll send me a cookbook or sommat!).
I decided I wanted to stick to west African food to honor the Naija Boyz, and so I could give a shout-out to Courtney, my homegirl at Coco Cooks (her dad is the original Naija Boy). Nikki Miller-Ka at Nik Snacks says every day is African Day at her house, so she gets some love too.
Kedjenou is a stew from Cote d’Ivoire of chicken and vegetables (eggplant and/or okra – I chose “and”), with a tomato-based sauce. I probably spiced it more heavily than is traditional (I love tomato with ginger and hot chili), but it was so good! This is traditionally prepared in an earthware vessel called a canari (or canary), but I used a Chinese clay hotpot instead.
I’m not going to post the recipes since they’re not really mine, but for the stew I just browned a cut-up chicken (thighs, legs and wings are best) in a little oil with some chopped onions and garlic, tossed in some minced ginger and sprinkled some Berbere spice over the top. When it was browning up nicely I added the chopped eggplant and some chopped tomato, a bay leaf and some thyme, then a few dashes of Maggi. Next I added some stewed tomatoes and some chicken stock and put the lid on to simmer for about 45 minutes. Since I wasn’t cooking over coals I didn’t bother doing the shake-every-five-minutes canari method, I just gave it a shake a couple times. About 10 minutes to the end I added the okra (I prefer okra al dente) and let it finish off (falling-off-the-bone tender is done). Serve with buttered rice.
Kelewele is spiced fried plantains from Ghana. I love fried plantains, so this was really a no-brainer. These are tossed with some cayenne and ginger before they get fried, and provide a wonderful, unctuous sweetness to the plate.
The greens with green pepper, ironically, were originally the whole point (I just have so many of them!), but ended up a side dish. I removed the stems from the collards and chopped them finely. I sauteed them with chopped onion and green bell pepper, added some tomato salsa and a couple spoonfuls of chunky peanut butter (stir together), then added the chopped greens. A spoonful or two of water and a lid, then 10 minutes later it’s on.
Some astute readers will notice a glaring omission: I didn’t make fufu. I totally planned to, bought the yams and everything, but I ran out of burners! I will next time, I promise (and then I won’t need to use a fork).
One last thing, my baby girl Emiline over at Visions of Sugar Plum has tagged me for a meme! She’s the only person I can forgive for this egregious disregard of my “No Memes, Plzkthx” policy, so I will play along and say thank you! But I will not tag anyone.
1. Last Movie I Saw In A Movie Theater?
Hellboy II
2. What Book Are You Reading?
Persepolis (and yes, even though it has pictures it is still a book)
3. Favorite Board Game?
Boggle
4. Favorite Magazine?
Gourmet
5. Favorite Smells?
My husband’s armpits (mixed with his deodorant), honeysuckle, tomato leaves
6. Favorite Sounds?
Four-part harmony, bacon sizzling, territorial hummingbirds
7. Worst Feeling In The World?
Failure
8. First Thing You Think of When You Wake?
I really need to pee before he even thinks about poking me with that thing
9. Favorite Fast Food Place?
Burgerville
10. Future Child’s Name?
I won’t divulge the ones I’m planning on using, but a girl’s name I really like is Astrid, and I really like Sy for a boy
11. Finish This Statement—“If I Had a Lot of Money, I’d…
Write my cookbook, have a really clean house, learn to be a DJ, become fluent in a few more languages…”
12. Do You Drive Fast?
I can’t drive 55. Unless I’m in a 40 mph zone.
13. Do You Sleep With a Stuffed Animal?
No, but I stuff a pillow between my tummy and my thighs.
14. Storms—Cool or Scary?
Erotic. You decide which of those that falls under.
15. What Was Your First Car?
A honey-colored 1978 Buick Limited. I called her The Mothership Connection.
16. Favorite Drink?
A Gayhound (vodka with pink grapefruit juice, and a sprig of fresh rosemary).
17. Finish This Statement—“If I Had the Time, I Would…
Write my cookbook, have a really clean house, learn to be a DJ, become fluent in a few more languages…”
18. Do You Eat the Stems on Broccoli?
Waste not, want not.
19. If You could Dye your Hair Any Other Color, What Would It Be?
Fuschia.
20. Name All the Different Cities In Which You Have Lived.
Portland, OR. You might think that’s boring until you find out how awesome Portland is.
21. Favorite Sport to Watch?
Men’s swimming.
22. One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You
She’s who I’d be if I were nicer and more talented (and ten years younger).
23. What’s Under Your Bed?
Carpet, errant slippers, hrblz.
24. Would You Like to Be Born As Yourself Again?
Of course! That’s not to say I wouldn’t do a few things differently if I had my druthers.
25. Morning Person or Night Owl?
Neither? I’m most coherent between 9:00 and midnight.
26. Over Easy or Sunny Side Up?
I guess Over Easy. Sunny Side Up is just so in-your-face.
27. Favorite Place to Relax?
One of those massage chairs that you sit in while you’re getting a pedicure.
28. Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?
Rocky Road.
29. Of All the People You Have Tagged, Who Is the Most Likely to Respond First?
Haha, joke’s on you – I didn’t tag anyone!
…or Perfect Summer Dinner v2.0 Today is (hey shorty, it’s; we’re gonna party like it’s;) my birthday! The hubz, some homies and I decided to let me cook last night instead of going out – I know that sounds like Opposite Day, but I was …
Man, it’s just been too nice out! How could anyone sit in front of the computer when there’s a vegetable garden to water, or a praying mantis egg sac to check for hatchlings, or white wine hangovers to nurse? Can’t beat Portland in the summer. …
So I don’t know if I told you this (I have some of you in comments and such), but I’ve switched teams for awhile. No, I’m not a lesbian (ha! you wish) I’m just not eating meat for awhile. Since I had all the pork leftover from the roast (not to mention the whole loin I bought), still have the lamb, and still have the half a beeve, I’ve been literally forcing meat into every meal and my kidneys need a break. Oh, I’m sure I’ll crack soon – I have only had tofu or seafood since last Saturday. But before I switch back, ever so fickle, I made some wonderful salmon burgers, served al fresco. The burgers are actually store-bought salmon patties (whaddyagonnado) dressed up with a seasoned panko coating.
The warm spell demanded corn on the cob cooked the way my grandma always did: boiled with a spoonful of salt and sugar.
The only work I really had to do was in constructing the condiments. For the burger, I combined minced dill, tarragon, parsley flowers and a wee bit of chopped quickle with lemon zest, crème fraîche, a squidge of store-bought mayo, a bit of Dijon mustard and a drib of white wine vinegar. Salt to taste. (Yes, this is poser’s sauce gribiche because it has crème fraîche and doesn’t have boiled egg, but some of you are still adding cream to your buerre blanc so don’t even front.)
sbu5
A compound butter for the corn: minced thyme, oregano, and marjoram with some grated parm redge, garlic and S&P smashed into some good cultured butter.
This meal paired perfectly with Wandering Aengus heirloom blend cider. A match made in heaven!
Top the burger with a schmear of the sauce gribiche, a little thinly-sliced quickle and some butter lettuce (onion optional – I can’t go without, but Scott’s delicate palate is easily burned out by things like raw onion, horseradish, sharp mustard, etc.). Note the lovely pilsner glass in the background. It’s monogrammed! A birthday gift to Scott from his lovely mother Linda (he loves them, Linda!).
Hot fun in the summer sun!
…or, ZOMG! Crawfish Boil 2008! Now! With updated soundtrack! Our good friends Jeremy and Alicia have an annual crawfish boil, since Jeremy is from New Orleans and they have what might actually be a full acre in North Portland. Okay, this wasn’t really my food …
My great-grandparents, Elizabeth Heagel Arndt and Johann Arndt, immigrated to Portland from the Norka colony near Saratov, Russia in 1910. So, I think I’ve mentioned once or twice that I’m a (fucking) German girl, and while I generally use that as an excuse for my …
Pig Roast 2008 was a success. So much so, in fact, that I created a new tag for my blog: Epic Undertakings. Not since the (poorly-photographed, but delicious) cassoulet last winter have I felt more triumphant and exhausted.
Thank god my brother-in-law, Joe, was there to help. He’s a chef, and although we were both relatively inexperienced dealing with pork en carcasse, he was ready to jump right in. I insisted Scott take it easy since it was his birthday, but he was on hand to apply rub and fetch clean towels and fresh beers.
We began by slashing the skin all over to get some of my dry rub into the fat. I, being a 12-year old boy, instantly began to snicker.
“Tastes like salty milk and coins.” This photo is for Syd. She has a special category for things of this ilk.
After using up my whole jar of rub on just one side of the pig, we decided to leave one side less rubbed, with just some salt for seasoning.
We had to split the sternum and spine to get the body completely flat, which was imperative for even cooking. If we had been spit-roasting the pig, we would’ve omitted this step.
The sticky Korean-style barbecue sauce I made was slathered on the ribs: gochujang, copious amounts of ginger and garlic, some sesame oil, palm sugar and tamarind paste.
All wrapped up tight in her body bag, I was inspired to name the sow Laura Palmer. She took an overnight nap with some bags of ice in the chest freezer (turned off).
After sitting in the rub overnight, Joe and I hoisted the pig over to the pit, which had been heated with two bag of cowboy lump mesquite and dampered with wood chips. After the initial flare-up, we remembered to soak the wood chips in water before adding them to the coals. Hickory and mesquite added excellent smoke and the entire neighborhood could smell it.
Note the pit. A hybrid between the Hawaiian style pit and the Cuban style oven, this was two CMUs (concrete masonry units, or cinder blocks) high x four long x two wide, on top of a pit dug to ~24″. Having not seen the pig until we already did our CMU shopping, I’d say we did a pretty damn good job gauging how many we’d need. We lined the hole with aluminum foil to reflect the heat, then covered the pig with industrial-sized sheets of foil to keep the heat in (and the flies off).
We fashioned a grill out of steel rebar (washed twice) and metal mesh (the kind used for reinforcing concrete), lined with hardware cloth. It was necessary to use the mesh for concrete jobs because other steel meshes (including “cyclone” fencing) tend to be galvanized, and that is not good eats. The hardware cloth prevented meat from falling off into the fire, assuming we would cook it long enough for that to happen. A second grill/screen was constructed and clamped to the other using metal hose clamps. This enabled a flip midway through the cooking process. By the by, we adapted the idea for the pit and grill from this extremely helpful website.
Half cooked and pre-flip, this is the pig after about 4 or 5 hours at a temp that we tried to maintain at ~250°F. Note the nice golden smoke color on the skin. This is when the second grill screen was attached to the top of the pig.
After the secong grill was attached, the pig got its flip and finished cooking for another 3 or 4 hours.
Don’t judge me. When you get up at 7:30am to start cooking a pig, it’s perfectly okay that you’re on your 5th or 6th pink lemonade chuhai by 6:00pm. Although daytime drinking + sunshine usually = my violent demise, I managed a steady buzz all day and didn’t even puke, not even a little.
Not to get on a high horse, but I think it’s easy to forget that our dinner comes at the sake of another life (unless you’re vegetarian, to which I say “been there, done that”). It’s healthy and completely necessary to come face to face with your food once in awhile. Frankly, I think it should be required.
In the busyness of getting everything ready, I didn’t get any photos of people just enjoying themselves and eating sammiches and tacos. Hell, I didn’t even get a chance to sit down and chat with my friends until an hour after the meat was all carved up and sauced. But today’s leftover baked beans (in the oven yesterday for 6 hours), pasta salad (with leftover roasted veg tossed in), and a barbecue pork banh mi was the best damn hangover cure a girl could dream up.
When Susan and Shin came over to help clean up, I made Shin a banh mi (with a dab of the leftover Korean barbecue) and Susan, being from Ohio, wanted nothing more than plain pork, mayo and pickle on bread. I sent them home with a gallon-sized bag of shoulder and another half gallon of meat from the face. The skull is sitting in the dirt in the yard to let the bugs clean it up for me, as a souvenir of our adventure. The remaining gallon-bag of leftovers are going to be turned into chile verde enchiladas, and maybe some mu shu or fried rice. Then I don’t think I want to eat pork again for a very long time.
Okay, I’m gonna have my hands pretty full for the next couple days, and have been in southern Oregon for the past two, so this is just a quickie This is What’s Going On post. Also, Happy Birthday to my sexy genius husband! We’re roasting …