The color orange is said by some to be the new black, but in the carrot, the color orange is turning over a new leaf and returning to its roots with its heirloom black, golden, purple, white, red and yellow hues. Their colorful beauty is more than skin deep and their inner selves resound with flavor. Early Celtic literature refers to this root as underground honey, showing a first-hand knowledge of its delicious sweetness. Though wild varieties are indigenous throughout Europe, North Africa and Asia, botanists believe that the ancient Persians first domesticated the carrot. Today, there is a World Carrot Museum in the United Kingdom and carrot festivals from California, Georgia and New York in the U.S. to Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and Turkey. Throughout our urban, suburban and rural communities, there is an increasing interest in heirloom vegetables. Oh, the cycles we spin. There were pluses to the industrial revolution and its commercial descendants, surely. But the insidious demands of speed to market, transportability and shelf life combined with the agricultural defensive needs against drought, frost and blight and mechanical pick-a-bility gradually winnowed out the individual toothsomeness as well. However, our collective taste buds seem to have united to bring these sweet heirloom roots back to our tables. There’s a self-interest I can get behind. As is usually the case, our website has many carrot recipes, some of which might surprise you. Minimally included are: Carrot Chips, Caramelized Carrots, Black Pepper Roasted Carrots and Maple Roasted Carrots with Orange Zest. Today our recipe is for a Curried Heirloom Carrot Soup with Coconut Milk which balances the carrot’s sweetness with a zesty spice flavor.
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It has been a beautiful autumn with lots of warm sunny days and crisp air full of wood smoke. Such days are hungry-making and kitchens should be stew scented to slake that need. Stew. We use the same word to mean so many different things. Stew is a perfect example. To be stewed is to cook some things together slowly in liquid or it is to be intoxicated. A stew, in addition to being a dish of mixed foods cooked as above, is also a brothel or a district of brothels. While stewing is not only a method of cooking, likewise it is a suppressed state of agitation, worry or resentment. Go figure. Nor is stew a new idea. The Greek historian, Herodotus, credits the Scythians with the invention of stew, but he is a Johnny-come-lately in this. Archaeologists have found evidence of meats simmered long and slow dating to about 8,000 years ago. Stews have been simmered in everything from animal stomachs to giant mollusk shells. Only 4,000 years ago, the Babylonians were sufficiently fond of their stews to inscribe at least 3 recipes in stone: one for lamb stew with root vegetables, one for lamb stew with milk and grain and one for a vegetable stew. These stone tablets are part of the Yale Babylonian Collection and there are well known chefs working to interpret and reproduce these recipes with modernly available ingredients. There are hundreds of stew types, at least one for every culture that ever existed and left its mark on the planet. The names alone would keep a team of linguists at work for decades including: gumbo, tagine, goulash, hot pot, slumgullion, feijoada, Stroganoff, puchero, burgoo, bouillabaisse, fricassee, Bourguingon, Waterzooi, cassoulet, kokkinisto and birra. A non exhaustive investigation holds France responsible for a minimum of 13 divergent forms. All of which only proves that, in some cases, you cannot take a good thing too far. There are dozens of stew recipes on our website, including: Frogmore Stew With Shrimp And Sausage, Pumpkin Pork Stew, Cannellini Stew With Pancetta and Swiss Chard and Filipino Pork Stew all of which are rich and satisfying. For today we are offering a Creamy Lamb and Leek Stew. Like most stews it keeps well and is worth more than one meal.
For any student of history, elections, their processes and outcomes have been in dispute for as long as there have been elections. In fact, the colony of Connecticut was initiated by one such dispute. Early settlers of Massachusetts were entitled to vote only if they were vetted members of the Anglican Church and its law as imposed by Britain. One churchman, Thomas Hooker, objected to this restriction. Hooker took his followers to the area of Hartford and established the Connecticut Colony and its Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which some historians hold to be the basis of the U.S. Constitution. It provided an outline for self-government in which the well-being of the community came before the individual. Free adult men were entitled to elect a governor and a legislative assembly to make laws. Whatever else they were, which would include courageous, bold, intrepid and resourceful, both Massachusetts and Connecticut pilgrims appear to have been a rather dour lot. Celebrations such as Christmas were banned as Romish frivolities. As happens with such repressions, the human need for merriment and festivity simply sidestepped the religious holidays and adopted those secular ones that could be bent to the purpose. Election Day, which in earlier times was held on the first Thursday in May and happily coincided with spring’s arrival, was a perfect candidate for partying. The tradition of the great rum or brandy-soaked and spiced English cakes served with eggnogs and punches were resurrected as a voter turnout treat. We have talked in these pages previously of Ameila Simmons and the first American Cookery book published in Hartford in 1796 using local ingredients and facilities. It was the first cookbook to ever pair turkey with cranberries, provide recipes for johnnycakes and Indian puddings. In her book she included a recipe for Hartford Election Cake a boozy spiced cake large enough to feed the entire community. This recipe called for 30 quarts of flour, 10 pounds of butter; 14 pounds of sugar, 12 pounds of raisins 36 eggs, 4 ounces of cinnamon, 4 ounces of coriander seed, 3 ounces of allspice, 1 quart of yeast and “enough” milk. It would certainly be interesting to know what fireplace or oven was able to accommodate a pan large enough to hold all such ingredients and to evenly cook the whole of it. The cakes where more half bread than the type of lighter cakes we know today. Frequently slices were toasted and slathered with butter. By the mid 18th C Election Cakes and alcoholic beverages were freely served in Hartford to celebrate election returns with “all those who voted the straight ticket”. (One might wonder how the cake-giver knew who the cake-eater voted for, but we mustn’t be too nosey.) At some point, an aromatic rum icing was added and drizzled over each slice. The baking of these cakes was touted as a way for American women to participate in the electoral process. Never mind, that was then. Though you will find a Chocolate Whiskey Cake on the website, this Election Day Cake recipe stands alone. Fortunately, the alcohol adds to its shelf life and it is terrific toasted and buttered. Let’s all hope that we find a way to de-polarize our nation after November 3rd. Maybe sharing a slice of cake with a neighbor will aid the process.
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