Becoming Mrs. Vino

It is a source of some amazement to me that the simple act of cleaning out a cabinet can be as meaningful as an archaeological dig.

On a recent evening Mr. Vino foolishly opened my recipe cabinet. Yes, cabinet. Not box, not folder, not drawer. I have an entire kitchen cabinet (3 shelves) devoted to my love of cooking. The majority of the contents of these 3 shelves came tumbling out on top of Mr. Vino that evening. Cleaning out the recipe cabinet was on my list of things to do. Looking at Mr. Vino’s expression, cleaning out the cabinet quickly moved to my list of things to do . . . . tomorrow.

Excavating through the cook books, recipes handwritten on post-it notes (Mrs. Vino’s favorite storage tool), and all my other sources of culinary inspiration was a journey through time. I found the cookbook I put together for my sisters, the Christmas after my father passed away. Dad got his love of cooking from his mother and her mother before her, but he had a particular fondness for HIGHLY UNUSUAL ingredients. To this day, I don’t think any of my sisters have made his recipe for Sumatran Spicy Tripe.

Digging deeper, I found the recipes from my weight loss period (note to self, bring those out and start using them). In order to lose 65 lbs in 6 months, I taught myself to cook in an entirely new way. Weight loss, I discovered, is simple math. You have to burn more than you take in. And, when you cook, adding more of the higher-calorie ingredients does not always make a better end result.

In the very back corner of the middle shelf, I found my mother’s recipe box. My mother was an absolutely amazing woman. Ten years after her passing, I still miss her each and every day. Cooking wasn’t her passion, it was her chore. I had completely forgotten that she had a recipe box. I hadn’t seen it or opened it since we cleaned up her possessions so many years ago.

It was made of gray metal; small, solid and cool in my hand. Completely innocuous. Really more of an office product than a kitchen tool. As I opened the box, I smelled pepper, lemon and cinnamon. The recipe cards had yellowed and some had crumbled around the edges. Unlike most of the recipes in my Recipe Cabinet, where EVERY book and Post-It is covered with my notes, none of the recipes in her box were written in her own hand.

Mom’s recipe box is most closely tied to my memories of the holidays. As the holidays approached, Mom, my sisters and I would all gather around the recipe box to decide what cookies to put in the holiday gift packages we prepared for teachers, family and friends. Amazingly enough, every year we made the same confections: Bourbon Balls and Sugared Walnuts. Looking through the recipe box now, I realize why. Bourbon Balls and Sugared Walnuts are the only confection recipes in the collection.

My mother’s passion wasn’t cooking. Her passion was her children. But every recipe she prepared was filled with love. I may have inherited my love of cooking from my grandmother and great-grandmother. But from my mother I learned that no matter how simple a dish, if it is made with love, it is nourishing.

With love from my mom and me, here is her classic recipe for Bourbon balls updated to be used with Mezzanotte di Morovino (chocolate port) or other dessert wine.

Mezzanotte Bon-Bons
1 1/2 cups pecans, finely chopped (or use the pecans that are already chopped fine)
1 1/4 cups finely crushed (about 1 dozen) Chinese almond cookies (or Vanilla Wafer Cookies--about 16)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup Mezzanotte di Morovino or other fortified dessert wine
Additional ½ cup powdered sugar, for rolling the balls in when finished

Don’t wait for the holidays to make these amazing bon-bons. Toast your pecans by putting them in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. You can toast them whole, or chopped--if they are chopped, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THEM, they will toast really quickly. Continually move the skillet back and forth over the burner like you were making Jiffy Pop (for those of you old enough to remember Jiffy Pop). You can tell when the nuts are toasted by smell, more than appearance. They will start to smell a bit like popcorn too. When they start to smell toasted, pour them out of the pan onto a plate and let them cool.

Pulse the cooled pecans in your food processor to finely chop (if you are using whole pecans). Put pecans in bowl, then place cookies in your food processor to crush. Put the cookie crumbs in the bowl, too. Add the first ½ cup powdered sugar and cocoa powder and stir to combine. Add the corn syrup and the Mezzanotte and stir well. Chill the mixture for 10-15 minutes (if you are making these on a cold day, this may not be necessary).

Use a teaspoon to help you make 1” balls. You are going to roll the balls in the second ½ cup of powdered sugar, so put the second ½ cup of powdered sugar on a plate or in a pie tin. I use the dry hand/wet hand technique. I roll the balls (kind of sticky) in my left hand, then put them on the plate with the powdered sugar. Use your right hand (dry hand) to roll the balls in the powdered sugar, then place them on a piece of waxed paper.

Once the balls have all been made, put them in an airtight container and store in the fridge. These are waaaayyyyy better if made several days in advance. The flavors mingle and get happy!

Living Locavore

Last week, I opened a magazine and read an article that changed the way I think about food. I picked up the excellent CCM “Diner” publication and learned about a movement called “Locavore.” Added to the dictionary in 2007, a Locavore is someone who eats a significant portion of his or her diet from local food sources. It’s good for the planet. It’s good for your health. And, it’s good for your budget.

Think about it, it makes total sense. Why should I go to my local grocery store and pay for tomatoes that were picked green and shipped 1500 miles to me? You know that as a consumer, we are paying those transit costs. Instead, why wouldn’t I go to my local Farmer’s Market and buy tomatoes that were picked yesterday and shipped from . . . Nipomo. It was a complete “a-ha” moment for me.

And, the universe continued to point me in the Locavore direction when an article in the newspaper the next morning mentioned that the Cal Poly Organic Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture program was accepting memberships for the summer/fall season. If you are unfamiliar with the Cal Poly Org Farm’s CSA program, you can pick up a box of fresh, seasonal organic produce at Cal Poly or one of several convenient locations in San Luis Obispo.

Mrs. Vino knows that when the universe consistently points you in a direction, you should follow. So I signed up for the CPOF program. Last week I picked up my first harvest box. The day was sunny. As Mr. Vino put the box into the backseat of the car, the scent of warm, earthy fields filled the vehicle. Heaven. Mr. Vino was driving and I was craning my neck trying to see what miraculous gifts I had been given. Seriously, it was just like Christmas. With vegetables.

As I danced up the stairs to the kitchen, I was already giddy. For me, this was like an episode of Iron Chef San Luis Obispo. Who knew what bold and subtle flavors I would be exploring. Carrots. YUM. Beets. AWESOME. Basil. YEE HAW, IT’S PESTO TIME. Kohlrabi. HUH??? Kale. OK, YOU CAN’T WIN EVERY TIME.

It was late and we started simply. The main course that night was roasted chicken, so I just boiled the carrots and the tiny little taters that were in the box. OK, I haven’t had a garden-grown carrot since my teenage years, when I used to help my dad in his vegetable garden (he had a fondness for “unusual” vegetables, that’s how I knew what the Kohlrabi was). The simple boiled carrot and potato were proof that La Vida Locavore is delicious. Sweet. Earthy. Creamy. Incredible in it’s simple, clean flavors.

I’ve got to think it’s easier to live La Vida Locavore on the Central Coast in summer than say . . . In Chicago in the middle of winter. And local proteins are a bit harder to find than local vegetables, so living Locavore might mean living, at least partially, vegetarian. (Sorry, Mr. Vino.)

So stay tuned and see how living Locavore progresses. Including next week’s blog with the recipe for Kohlrabi. It’s excellent with anchovy, garlic and olive oil. But then, isn’t everything.

Cheers!
Andrea Bradford

For more information: CCM/Diner (http://www.centralcoastmag.com/html/guides/wine_dine/locavore/index.html)
Edible, San Luis Obispo (http://www.ediblecommunities.com/sanluisobispo/)