Moscow Food Co-op RecipesA couple of Newsletters ago, I promised that a recipe using coconut milk was forthcoming. In that issue, I spoke of the amazing coconut tree and how versatile a plant it is, and described how to make coconut milk from scratch. As with any recipe calling for coconut milk, you may substitute canned, unsweetened coconut milk. In this recipe, you could use the light version.
'Squash in Curried Coconut Sauce' could appear anywhere in southeast Asia, and this recipe is adapted from a dish we ate several times in Cambodia this spring - you can adjust the piquant seasoning to suite your taste. Serve over steamed rice or udon noodles for a hearty, savory meal.
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 c minced onions
2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 c vegetable broth
1 T minced, seeded jalapeno pepper
1 T minced garlic
1 c coconut milk
2 T lime juice
1 t Thai red curry paste
chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté until golden. Add the squash and sauté 4 minutes longer. Add the broth, jalapeno and garlic and bring to a boil. Cook, covered, until the squash is almost tender - about 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, lime juice and curry paste. Simmer uncovered until the squash is just tender. Season to taste with salt. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
**Try substituting other vegetables in place of the squash - eggplant, green beans or cauliflower all come to mind.
By
Nancy L. Nelson, from the June 1999 Newsletter
Maybe you remember the first time you felt like an almost-grown-up, and declared, "Yes, I would like mustard on my sandwich," after insisting for years that the spicy, yellow stuff could only contaminate food. After a few mustard-enhanced sandwiches, you switched to insisting that a sandwich wasn't a sandwich without mustard. If this sounds at all familiar, you are one of the many who make mustard the condiment of choice with a squeeze of a plastic yellow bottle.
Now, I would like you to feel even more grown-up by making your own mustard sauce. You will start with dry, powdery mustard out of the Co-op's spice jar and end with a powerful sauce that residents of Paris would have recognized 700 years ago when they sent their children out for a penny's worth of mustard for their meat.
Mustard was consumed with breakfast and dinner by 13th-century Parisians, according to French writer, Alexandre Dumas, who thrilled Europe with his tales of the Three Musketeers. He found mustard just as delightful a subject—especially when paid by a mustard company. Dumas wrote of street vendors who "would run through the streets of Paris, crying "Mustard sauce!" Anyone who was disinclined to eat his meat without sauce would open his window or door and summon the vendor, whereupon he would be served at once."
The diner used mustard to enhance, if not completely hide, the tasteless and likely tough meat he or she was eating. It was a use that probably began in prehistory and continues in ballparks around the U.S. today. It was also typically used in the American West of the 1800s when stagecoach travelers complained that boarding house food was tasteless, except for the mustard provided in an attempt to enliven it.
Condiment mustard was also used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, who considered saucemaking an art. Legend has it that Roman legionnaires scattered mustard seeds during their conquering travels to Gaul which later became France, where mustard traditions set the standard.
Spanish priests are said to have used mustard seeds to mark their travels along the coast of California in the 1700s. The bright yellow mustard flowers showed the way for later missionaries, thanks to mustard's easy-growing ways.
A member of the Cruciferacae family, mustard grows wild in temperate zones around the world. It is also cultivated for its leaves, which are eaten as a vegetable, and its seeds, used as a spice. Mustard is a good early spring or fall garden crop sown directly; it tolerates poor soil and resists pests. Seed is available from most vegetable catalogues, and may be available locally. You can eat its leaves and then, after it goes to seed, harvest the brown pods. Don't let the pods split open in the garden, or you will have more mustard than you want next year.
Once you have mustard seed, you can have country-style mustard for your table. Just grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle, add enough water to make a paste and wait a few minutes for the flavor to develop. The short cut, of course, is to use ground mustard powder from the Co-op, but the secret is adding the liquid. Without liquid, mustard has no scent. The mustard oil is released only when water or another non-acidic liquid comes in contact with the seed. The liquid can come from just about anything – even the saliva in your mouth, if you were to chew a few mustard seeds. Beer works well, and grape juice, or mustum in Latin, was an early favorite that contributed to mustard's name, along with ardens, which means hot or burning.
After stirring in the liquid, wait about 10 minutes for full flavor, which lasts about an hour and a half. To prolong peak flavor, add a bit of acidic liquid, like vinegar, wine or lemon juice, and store tightly capped in the refrigerator. Cooking diminishes mustard's flavor.
When mustard is at its peak, it has a penetrating heat that is felt strongly in your sinuses. Pliny, a Roman famous for his extensive knowledge and appreciation of natural history, described mustard as "among the very first of those plants, the pungency of which mounts upward; for there is none to be found more penetrating to the brain and nostrils."
Unlike the hot flavor of pepper and chilies, mustard's heat will disappear quickly from your tongue (and sinuses), allowing you to enjoy other not-so-pungent dishes.
Now that we eat less meat, and when we have it, better meat than our ancestors enjoyed, the role of mustard has changed. Today, we are more likely to use mustard as a piquant alternative to vinegar, or to balance cloying dairy products. It is an especially good companion with cheddar cheese in sauces or sandwiches.
Either dried mustard or prepared mustard makes an excellent addition to salad dressings. In addition to flavor, mustard keeps dressings from separating and is a required ingredient in mayonnaise and Hollandaise sauce.
This mustard recipe makes one-half cup of a moderately hot mustard that is excellent with salty flavors, including pickles, cheese and meats. If you buy mustard for this recipe at the Co-op, it will cost about 65 cents. If you buy it in a prepackaged form from other stores, it can cost more than four times as much.
Honey Mustard
2 oz (or 2/3 c) dry mustard
1 T flour or cornstarch
2 T cider vinegar
1 T brandy
1 T honey
Combine the dry mustard and flour. Gradually stir in 1/4 cup cold water to make a thick paste. Let stand for 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Store tightly capped in the refrigerator.
Although some flavor will be lost after the first day, it can keep for several months.
Just Nuts about Peanut Butter
By Bill London, from the June 1999 Newsletter
 |
Norma Carpenter, the national president of the Adult Peanut Butter Lovers' Fan Club, came to the Co-op on May 18 to sample freshly-ground, no-salt-added, pure peanut butter for the first time. Sure, she's eaten lots of peanut butter--but until her visit to the Coop, she has only had the stuff with salt or salt and sugar added.
Norma watched as a glob of super-fresh peanut butter fell into her container, then she dipped her finger in, licked it clean and proclaimed: "Great!"
"This is fantastic," she said after she finished swallowing. "The flavor is very peanutty. It's absolutely delicious."
Munching fresh peanut butter on celery and on crackers, Norma explained how she became the president of the fan club, and how this tasting at the Coop was really a return visit.
Norma was born and raised in Orofino, but from 1967 to 1983, she lived in Moscow and worked at the Safeway store. The Safeway was originally located downtown where Gart's is now, but later during her tenure, moved to its present home at the Eastside Marketplace. For several years, she managed the health foods section at Safeway.
"I really enjoyed living in Moscow," she said. "I consider Moscow my second home town."
While living here, she was an occasional Coop shopper. She was surprised at the size and product variety of the new store. "I am very impressed with this store. This is one huge health food store. Moscow should feel blessed to have this."
In 1989, she saw a magazine coupon that changed her life. It was a request from the Peanut Advisory Board for people who eat peanut butter to become members of the newly-formed Adult Peanut Butter Lovers' Fan Club. She liked peanut butter, so she sent in her three bucks and joined. She started getting the national newsletter and noticed an invitation for members to start local chapters of the group. That sounded like a good idea, so she rounded up 43 friends and they formed the Orofino chapter in March of 1990. Now the club has 275 members and the highlight of their year is the all-peanut butter potluck they hold every November (celebrating National Peanut Butter Month).
And then recently, she was selected as the national president of the club. She serves as a media spokesperson and goodwill ambassador for peanut butter. Has Norma gotten sick of peanut butter yet? No way. She eats peanut butter, in biscuits, pancakes, main dishes, or cookies, at least once per day. And if she runs out of ideas, she has a library of ten peanut butter cook books on hand.
And what about her new experience with the fresh, pure peanut product? "I just know that I am coming back to the Coop," she said. "And I am bringing a cooler to take back some frozen foods, and I'll be getting some of that great peanut butter."
If you are interested in joining the Adult Peanut Butter Lovers' Fan Club, send your three bucks (that's all$3 per year) to Norma Carpenter at 3144 Upper Fords Creek in Orofino ID 83544.
And in the meantime, here's a couple of recipes Norma offers to tempt you:
No Bake Peanut Butter Pie
4 oz of cream cheese
1 c of confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 c crunchy peanut butter
1/2 c milk
8 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 deep-dish crust
In large bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar. Mix well. Add peanut butter and mix. Slowly add milk and mix well. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into pie shell and cover. Freeze for at least 30 minutes. If desired, drizzle each serving with chocolate syrup.
Peanut Butter Waldorf Salad
2 c diced apples
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c diced celery
lettuce
Toss those ingredients together and serve on bed of lettuce with dressing (below).
1/4 c unsalted creamy peanut butter
1/4 c honey
1/2 c fat-free mayonnaise
Blend dressing ingredients together. Serve over salad.
For additions or corrections to this page, please contact the Webmaster.
