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Harvest Corn + Potato Chowder

September 12, 2015 By Lauren

brightcorn

We’re deep into late summer, the season where all is ripe, ready to be pulled from soil, stalk, vine.  It’s harvest-time and for me that means 2 things: #1. cramming as many summer activities (swimming in the lake and biking long-stretches beneath already-starting-to-fade green and eating as many raspberries/tomatoes/summer squash as possible) as I can into these ever-shortening days and #2. preserving, because this harvest season, like all seasons, is turning and for this Winter I dream of a cupboard lined w/ jars of home-canned tomatoes, a freezer-drawer filled w/ home-frozen berries and cracking open a jar of home-fermented dill pickles on some bone-chilling night.

In Geneva, we’ve already had a few down-right Fall-like days and I made this chowder one fresh evening with some frozen chicken broth from last Winter.  The recipe was adapted from Jessica Prentice’s Full Moon Feast, a beautiful book about what feeds us (and it’s so much more than just food, y’all) throughout the year.  Each chapter is named for each month’s full-moon–harking back to an age where time was so deeply interwoven w/ what was on (or missing) from our plates– and Prentice uses a mix of history, folk-lore, nutritional science, and personal anecdote to deepen our connections between ourselves and our food.

twopotatoes

The first full-moon of late summer was traditionally called the “Corn Moon”–corn meaning “grain” long before European colonialists encountered zea mays (or the corn in this recipe).  Prentice talks about agriculture–how it’s shaped our social, cultural and environmental landscapes–and about balance.  To paraphrase: yes, the way most grains are grown in the U.S. are corrosive to both our planet and ourselves and yes, many folks would agree that the rise of agriculture was, indeed, the starting point of this anthropocene epoch.  But also: grains have seen us through many a long-mooned night, and, when prepared properly, nourished us for thousands of years.

shuck

Like corn.  Corn was held, in many cultures, as something sacred–a symbol of survival and sustenance, something that could be stored to see one’s community through the barren Winter.  The corn that has nourished indigenous Americans for centuries has little to do w/ the majority of corn grown in N.America (and shipped elsewhere) now.  Genetically-modified, grown in petroleum-based fertilizers, sprayed with petroleum-based chemicals–this kind of corn is not a symbol of life, but of war and death.

Perhaps that’s why so many nutritional camps have sounded alarm.  Many foods have become controversial in these past years, but none more so than wheat and corn.  For me, these foods are prime examples of why nutritional guidance should be nuanced and not applied with such broad strokes.  The corn I used in this recipe is an old variety, grown in organically-cultivated soil from a neighboring farm.  If I wanted to, I could shell and dry its kernels and use its flour all Winter long.  Sounds pretty sacred to me.

When I say nutrition should be nuanced, I don’t mean complicated.  Sometimes it can be as simple as just eating the foods around you.  Like a corn and potato chowder on a harvest new-moon.

corn-chowder

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Harvest Corn + Potato Chowder

Adapted from Prentice's Full Moon Feast

Ingredients

  • 3 ears corn and the cob
  • 1 quart chicken broth
  • 3 tablespoons ghee
  • 2 tablespoons za'atar or dried thyme
  • 3 small leeks, sliced into rounds
  • 1 carrot, diced small
  • 4 handfuls potatoes, cut into chunks
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup raw sour-cream + 1 tablespoon for garnishing

Directions

  1. Slice the kernals of your corn into a bowl and scrape the corn "milk" into the bowl, as well.
  2. Heat your broth in a small pot with the corn cobs and simmer covered for 20 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, add ghee to a heavy-bottomed soup-pot. Saute the leeks until translucent. Add carrots and cook and stir for another few minutes. Add potatoes and enough stock to cover (if you don't have enough, just add a little water). Add big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer (covered) until the potatoes are well-cooked (about 15 minutes).
  4. Add corn kernels and simmer for another 5 minutes or until tender.
  5. Remove from heat and add sour-cream and stir. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Garnish w/ a spoonful of sour-cream and enjoy w/ a slice of buttered rye-bread.
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Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Plant, Recipes, Summer, Vegetable Tagged With: chowder, corn, dinner, harvest, latesummer, potatoes, seasonal, vegetables

Wild Nettle Pesto

April 24, 2015 By Lauren

nettlepasta

Spring is the season of the (green) witch– my favorite herbalist’s way of describing those folks familiar with the way of the weed.

No, not that kind of weed, y’all.  The other kind, that shoots up between cracks in the  sidewalks, spreads across unattended swaths of green, blesses the backyards of city and country-folk, alike.

That’s right.  Yard full of weeds? #Blessed.

When your eyes open to the wonderful world of so-called weeds, you open yourself up to a world of nourishment, 100% gratuit.  Whoever said that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, clearly missed his introduction to Spring-time foraging.

Free Spring-time eats are plentiful, almost everywhere.  One of the more recognizable ones is dandelion, whose greens provide a deliciously bitter base to any salad bowl and whose flowers can be fermented into pink wine.

Nettles are a particular favorite of this here weed lover.  And, as they’re a perennial, meaning they grow back in the same place every year, they’re not terribly difficult to find, with the help of your friendly neighborhood forager, of course.

nettle

When I harvest nettles, I dry the majority to make this nourishing nettle infusion, freeze some to make nettle soup in the Winter, and make a whack-ton of pesto.

Nettle pesto may be one of my favorite foods because it’s so simple to prepare, so incredibly nourishing and its main ingredient is, literally, a free gift, no proof of purchase necessary.  #Blessed.

startingpesto

I’ve spoken about the high mineral content of nettles before — including calcium, magnesium, and trace minerals like iron, but did you know that nettles also contain oodles of chlorophyll?

green

Chlorophyll: Because “Plant-Blood” Sounds Too Freaky

Chlorophyll is the basic component of plants.  It’s molecular structure is virtually identical to the molecular structure of hemoglobin (red blood cells), except for their central atom (hemoglobin’s is iron, chlorophyll’s is magnesium) and that’s why some refer to chlorophyll as a sort of plant-blood (#vegans, #sorrynotsorry).

It plays a major role in photosynthesis, allowing plants to absorb the sunlight that’s necessary for their growth.  In humans it’s been shown to have a revitalizing and refreshing effect, perhaps due to its ability to aid in the absorption of iron which, in turn, aids in our production of red blood cells, which, in turn, bring more nutrients and more oxygen to our systems.  #Plantblood.  (Last hashtag, I swear).

Chlorophyll is the pigment that makes plants green.  The deeper green the plant, the more chlorophyll it contains.  Nettles are very, very green, my friends.

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I made this pesto the traditional way, with a mortar and pestle but feel free to use a less photogenic more modern device.

Any other foragers out yonder?

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Wild Nettle Pesto

Stinging nettles, well, sting! If this is your first time handling them, you may want to use gloves or tongs to handle them before you've steamed them.

Ingredients

  • Nettle Pesto
  • 100 grams (or 2 cups) nettles, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 4 stalks wild garlic, chopped
  • chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • pinch salt

Directions

  1. Rinse nettles in cold water. Bring half-a-pot-full of water to a boil. While your water is heating, fill a large bowl with ice water. Add nettles to boiling water, stir, and let cook for 1-2 minutes. Strain and immediately add to ice-bath. Swoosh around until they've cooled, then drain. Place nettles in clean tea-towel and wring out any extra liquid.
  2. Add pine nuts to mortar and pestle. Crush. Add nettles. Crush, crush, crush. Repeat steps with garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon (in that order).
  3. Serve with whole-grain pasta, rice, or spread on sourdough bread.

Keeps well in the fridge for 1 week, if topped off with olive oil. If you foraged lots of nettles, multiply the recipe and freeze for some Spring tidings next Winter.

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Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Plant, Recipes, Seasons, Spring Tagged With: dinner, foraging, lunch, nettles, pesto, spring, wild

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