“Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” is not a cookbook. It is a book, with recipes.
It’s the true-life tale of 12-time author Barbara Kingsolver, her professor husband and teen-age daughter combining forces to start a new life. Their goal is to get away from industrialized food, and they vow to raise their own, buy it from their neighbors, or learn to live without it.
Kingsolver takes turns as a poet, an investigative journalist and a memoirist in describing what happens over their first year, both successes and failures. (The family is still at it, by the way.)
At times funny, always thoughtful, she really makes you think about the food we eat, whatever your politics. Don’t write her off as a hippie earth mother; she’s a practical woman who feels a real connection with farming, in all its guts and glory.
Kingsolver even has a website devoted to her new life (www.AnimalVegetableMiracle.com) where you can download dozens of her homestyle recipes from the book and check in on her family’s progress. A few of my favorites follow here.
Southwestern flavors abound in Chicken Recuerdos de Tucson, a slow-food stovetop meal-in-a-pot featuring a whole chicken, green chilies, fresh peppers, corn and tomatoes. It’s the bounty of summer meeting the perfect piece of poultry. Take your time and let it simmer.
Chicken Recuerdos De Tucson
1 whole cut-up chicken, or thighs and legs
Olive oil (for sauté)
1 medium onion, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Brown chicken in a large kettle. Remove chicken, add oil and gently sauté the onion and garlic.
1 teaspoon cumin seed
Green chilies to taste, chopped
2 red or green peppers
1 large or 2 medium zucchini or other squash, thickly sliced
Add to kettle and sauté, adding small amount of broth if necessary.
1 cup tomatoes (fresh, frozen, canned, or 1/2 cup dehydrated, depending on season)
2 cups corn kernels
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon basil
2 cups chicken broth or water
Add to kettle along with browned chicken; add water or broth (more if using dried vegetables); cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until chicken is done to bone. Garnish with fresh cilantro.
Don’t let the long name put you off: Eggplant Papoutzakia is more commonly known around here as its cousin, eggplant parmesan. First sautéed and then baked with mozzarella cheese, it turns a lowly vegetable into a fantastic meal.
Eggplant Papoutzakia
2 pounds eggplant
Olive oil
Slice eggplant lengthwise and sauté lightly in olive oil. Remove from skillet and arrange in a baking dish.
2 medium onions
Garlic to taste
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
6 ounces grated mozzarella
Chop onions and garlic and sauté in olive oil. Add diced tomato and spices and mix thoroughly. Spread mixture over the eggplants and sprinkle an even layer of cheese over top. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes, until golden on top.
Fresh blackberries and apples get a fragrant kick from a handful of fresh basil in Basil-Blackberry Crumble, a new favorite for the Johnson household (four out of four “yums”). The addition of apple is a blessing: it sweetens the dish, creates a smoother texture and makes it more affordable.
Basil-Blackberry Crumble
2-3 apples, chopped
2 pints blackberries
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 large handful of basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup honey — or more, depending on tartness of your berries
Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine the above in an oven-proof casserole dish, mix and set aside.
5 tablespoons flour
3 heaping tablespoons brown sugar
1 stick cold butter
Cut butter into flour and sugar, then rub with your fingers to make a chunky, crumbly mixture (not uniform). Sprinkle it over the top of the fruit; bake 30 minutes until golden and bubbly.
This time of year I like any recipe that starts with the ingredient: “lots of tomatoes.” Your smaller tomatoes will get a real makeover by first drying and then marinating them in a luscious vinaigrette. They’ll closely resemble sun-dried tomatoes, and you’ll save a bundle at the grocery store.
Antipasto Tomatoes
Lots of tomatoes
This step involves thinking ahead. Small tomatoes work best for drying — Juliets, Principe Borgheses, Sun Golds or cherry-types. Cut in half and arrange skin-side-down on trays in a food dehydrator, or the sun if you live in a dry climate. Dry until they feel between leathery and brittle.
Vinegar
Dried thyme
Capers
Olive oil
Place dried tomatoes in a bowl. Heat vinegar in a saucepan or microwave, then pour enough into the bowl to cover the tomatoes. Soak for 10 minutes, then pour it off and save (it makes a great vinaigrette). Press off excess vinegar with the back of a wooden spoon. Then toss the damp tomatoes with thyme, or other spices that appeal to you. Pack loosely in glass jars with capers and enough olive oil to cover. They will keep on the shelf this way for several weeks, but taste so good they probably won’t last that long.
A perfect fall soup with a unique presentation, Butternut Bean Soup is a simple, hearty and flavorful bean-and-mushroom concoction spooned into baked squash halves. When you dig in, you get the creamy soup and a dollop of sweet squash in one bite. Yowza.
Butternut Bean Soup
1 1/2 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight and drained
3 medium portobello mushroom caps, sliced (optional)
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh sage
4 teaspoons fresh rosemary
Combine beans and spices in a large sauce pan, add water to cover amply, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until beans are tender and most water has cooked off. Add mushrooms toward the end.
2 butternut or hubbard squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
Olive oil
While beans are cooking, drizzle a large roasting pan with olive oil and arrange squash skin-side-down. Cook at 400 F for about 40 minutes, until fully tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and serve each half squash filled with a generous scoop of bean soup.
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