Tamales My Way…
The final chapter of my nixtamal adventure begins with my family’s favorite pulled pork recipe, and I’ll tell you the story because this is how a favorite recipe morphs into a family tradition. It’s also a story about how a series of little discoveries become favorites, and fixtures in your kitchen. Before you know it, you’ve put together what looks to others, like a very complicated recipe. But you know, it’s not complicated at all. It’s just a string of treasures. The sauce was found many years ago from a...
read moreRemember Corn Nuts?
So, today is my beloved’s birthday and I’m going to make him some of those tamales (made from our very best family recipe also used on ribs). So, I nixtamalized some more corn (this time, both white and yellow) to make the masa (remember my last post?). On the way, however, just before grinding the stuff, I tried taking some of the soaked and processed kernels, patting them dry, tossing them with a little sunflower oil and throwing them in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. A little salt, and Voila! those fantastic...
read moreFresh Masa — The Real Thing!
Last night I finally did it. I set out to make the masa of which I had once thought could only be found in obscure villages of the old grandmothers. Using instructions from Rick Bayless, I put two quarts of water to boil with 2 tablespoons of pickling lime. Next, I pulled down my jar of white corn, then washed and added one quart of the kernels to the hot water. At first, the kernels turned bright yellow, and the water too, became milky yellow even though the corn was white. Suddenly the most amazing thing happened! The kernels became striped...
read moreNixtamal
A quick read into any serious Mexican cookbook will no doubt bring you to a phrase like, “You can’t easily find fresh masa for making tortillas or tamales north of the border, but instant masa harina will do.” After reading it a few times, one begins to wonder, ‘What is fresh masa, and why can’t I find it here??’ This question took me to several Latin grocery stores and restaurants to find an answer. I got so many wistful looks, “No, I have never seen it here’”… or, “My...
read moreBending an Ear
Yes corn! That stuff in the fields waving tauntingly as I drive down the road almost anywhere around here...Yet in it's glorious, nutritious, unadultered, consumable state...infuriatingly, nowhere I could find.
read moreMore Love — Less Bling
I have just returned from a cousin’s wedding in Bergamo Italy. The couple was, as was my grandfather, Waldensian–an ancient and obscure Protestant French-Italian sect that was documented long before the Reformation, and who lived hidden in the Alps, often in rocky caves, for centuries. The wedding was elegant and simple, as is the way among this sect. It was, however, still Italian; and following the service we sat down to a banquet that lasted no less than six hours. The service itself lacked the decorations and majesty one...
read moreStrange Little Eggplants from the Farm Store
I know, I know. I said I wouldn’t post before my trip, but I couldn’t stop myself. Today the Z Food Farm is open down the street. And I have something to tell them. They sold me some small white eggplants that were being overlooked last week, so they probably wont continue to sell them. They were called ‘uovo bianco’ or something like that. No bigger than a small sized chicken egg and pure white, I immediately thought of them as hors d’oeuvres, and thought of stuffing them. This is what to do … For eight...
read moreSpending Real Money for the Real Thing
…And Thoughts On Watermelon Soup! Why is it that when I shop at big supermarkets I buy more than I mean to, and spend more than I have? I try to get through the line almost sheepishly, knowing I’m just one more person the cashier has to deal with before he/she goes on break. Then I come home with stuff and packaging, with what may or may not even be food, feeling my life is just more cluttered instead of more full. When I go to the farm stand, it’s different. I buy less (but it seems to last the week), I pay a fair sum (but...
read morePerfect Crumpets
OK, maybe it’s not time for crumpets in the best of circles…I hear that no self-respecting Scotsman would have one before late fall. But I fell into a crumpet mood here in the dead heat of summer in New Jersey, and there was no turning away from the thought of one: warm, crispy on the bottom, tenderly perforated at the top by a multitude of holes that suck up melted butter and jam into a bewilderingly crunchy, yet chewy and custardy, sweet, oozy, and buttery snack. Crumpets are infuriating, however. I knew they had to be fantastic the...
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Hi, I'm Marcia Willsie, owner of Ezekiel's Table and a shameless food-adventuress. Join me here, as I talk about my latest kitchen experiments and culinary wanderings.