The Soaked Bean

Seeking Nourishment, Finding Traditions

Green Fire Cider

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gingerThere’s no denying it any longer.  Skies are grey and often filled w/ rain, leaves line the sidewalks in swaths of gold, and I now need to turn the kitchen light on to eat breakfast at 7:30AM.  Winter’s coming, friends and it’s time to prepare.

My medicine cabinet is crammed full w/ tinctures like echinacea and st. joan’s wort, my slow-cooker’s working overtime making broths + chaga-mushroom tonics and, at the bottom of my kitchen cupboard, a jar of green fire cider is currently infusing away.

Fire cider is more than just a magickal-sounding name.  It’s an effective remedy against all sorts of Winter-y things.  Things like colds and flus, poor circulation, sluggish digestion and even the Winter blues.

The traditional preparation of fire cider consists of a number of pungent roots and herbs submerged in apple cider vinegar and steeped (and agitated daily) for at least 6 weeks, then strained and mixed w/ honey.  Time allows the medicinal constituents of these roots and herbs to be extracted into the vinegar and the addition of soothing, antiviral, immune-boosting honey creates quite the elixir.

This version utilizes the nettle (or green) vinegar I made last Spring.  Herbal vinegar is a tasty method for extracting minerals from your favorite green thing. (Common herbs like mint, sage, lemonbalm and rosemary all make wonderful vinegars). It takes 6 weeks to extract all the plant-magick, so if you don’t have any herbal vinegar on hand just substitute plain ol’ apple cider vinegar instead.

ginger

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Green Fire Cider

I don't list specific amounts for the ingredients b/c it depends on the size of yr jar and, really, what you have on hand. Experiment! And enjoy in good Winter-y health!

Ingredients

  • Ginger-root, grated
  • Turmeric root, grated
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 12 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 hot peppers, sliced in half
  • 2 lemons, sliced in half and juiced (use the rinds!)
  • Few sprigs rosemary
  • Few sprigs thyme
  • Herbal vinegar
  • Honey

Directions

  1. Place all ingredients in a large glass jar. Cover w/ herbal vinegar until all other ingredients are submerged in liquid. Seal w/ glass or plastic lid. If using a metal lid (like w/ most canning jars) line w/ parchment paper as the metal will rust and contaminate the cider.
  2. Infuse for 6 weeks, agitating daily.
  3. Strain cider into a glass jar and mix w/ few spoons of honey to taste.
  4. Seal and store in fridge. Will keep for as long as it lasts (1 year or so).

Equinox Uovo-Margherita (or Egg-Pizza)

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eggpizza

Happy Autumn Equinox, friends!

If your September has been flying as fast as ours has, then this dish is for you.  Call it a frittata or tortilla or just plain ol’ egg-pie, the combination of potatoes + assorted vegetable + eggs + cheese has seen me through many a hectic day.  It’s my kind of fast-food: one whose ingredients can be found in even the emptiest fridge, that takes five or less minutes of active preparation and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner and mid-night snack.

Last week I happened to have a few beautiful (and slowly turning) heirloom tomatoes on hand, so I arranged them on top of the potato and zucchinni frittata I was making.  I only had six eggs to fill my very broad skillet, so I added a whack-load of parmesan cheese to bulk it up.  When I took it out of the oven, I realized it totally belonged to a different genre of egg-pies–namely, the pizza one.  I added some freshly plucked basil and a good glug of olive oil and presto: the uovo-magherita (or egg-pizza) was born.

tomatoes slicedtomatoes zuchinnis

The Autumn Equinox is the official start of Fall, a farewell to Summer and a welcoming of cooler days, longer nights, and also sweaters, wool socks, sweet cider, and what is slow-cooked, brothy, roasted, stewed.

Saying farewell to Summer means a farewell to zucchinis and heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil, too.  That’s why I’m sharing this egg-pizza w/ you.  Let’s send off Summer in style.  Fast-food one, at that, to enjoy these still not-too-cold evenings and this waning Summer light.

moi eggoven uovomargherita

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Equinox Uovo-Margherita (or Egg-Pizza)

My cast-iron skillet has a 15-inch diameter. The amount of ingredients you use will depend on the diameter of your pan. Egg-pie, for me, is totally intuitive --use what you have on hand and let go of precision! If you've never improvised on a recipe before, this is a safe place to start.

Ingredients

  • knob ghee
  • two handfuls of new potatoes, peeled and sliced in half then sliced thinly
  • 2 small zucchinis, sliced in half then sliced thinly
  • 6-8 eggs, whisked w/ salt
  • 1-2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced thinly
  • a generous chunk of parmesan, grated
  • few leaves basil
  • glug or two of olive oil
  • course celtic sea salt

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 300F (150C). Place skillet or pan on stove and heat on medium. Add ghee once skillet is nice and hot and let melt.
  2. Add potatoes, distributing them evenly. Let cook undisturbed for 5 minutes so that they brown. Add pinch salt.
  3. Add zucchinis and stir. Let cook for a few more minutes.
  4. Whisk eggs in large mixing bowl w/ pinch of salt. Pour over zucchinis and potatoes.
  5. Let cook on stove for 5 minutes. Arrange half of your heirloom tomatoes on top. Take off heat and transfer to oven.
  6. Let cook for 12-15 minutes. I like my eggs to be wobbly, so I take mine out on the early side.
  7. A few minutes before you take your pie out of the oven, add the parmesan cheese.
  8. Let cool and add other half of the heirloom tomatoes, the basil and the good glug of olive oil and sprinkle w/ salt. Enjoy!