Boiled Peanuts

It's a popular snack in a few parts of the American South: boiled peanuts. Usually, 'green' (i.e. fresh, not dried) peanuts are boiled in brine until the shells are a soft and dark brown--the peanut itself is salty and soft like the consistency of a boiled bean. (These were, once upon a time, called 'goober peas.') In my neck of the woods, they are ubiquitous at sporting events; Cromer's of Columbia, SC seem to base their business on them.

I had a craving a couple of weeks ago, but living in the UK presents a major challenge: 'green' peanuts are nowhere to be found. Working through the British Peanut Council (yes, there is such a thing), I contacted every major peanut distributor in the country until I found that out that "peanuts are not grown commercially here in the UK or Europe, but come from such origins as USA, China, Argentina, South Africa, Vietnam, India and some emerging growers in other parts of the world - and West Africa but predominantly for the groundnut oil." The only choice here are raw, dessicated peanuts. One distributor was so kind as to send me a box since he normally sold by the metric tonne. They are also available at Tesco and Asda.

Many recipes for boiled peanuts vehemently assert that dried peanuts cannot be boiled with the same results. I was on a mission to prove them wrong. Here are the major differences: Green peanuts have a moisture content of 35–50%. Dried peanuts hover around 10%. Green peanuts are typically harvested so that the nuts are full but not at complete maturity. It's not uncommon to get a few young, unformed peanuts in a batch in the South (you can eat the whole thing, shell and all.) Dried peanuts however are more mature and selected for standard size. The varieties distributed in the UK appear to come mostly from China and SE Asia, but still have the red husk typical of the peanuts I grew up with.

After making batch after batch, I've perfected a method that works wonderfully. 

Ingredients: dry raw peanuts, cooking salt 

Method:

1. In a large pot, cover the peanuts with water. Dry peanuts have a lot of air in the shells and they will float. Make sure that if you were to push the peanuts under the water level that they could be completely submerged. 
2. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours. Top up water as necessary.
3. Remove pot from the eye and allow to stand overnight. Make sure there is plenty of water covering the peanuts--they are going to soak up a lot of liquid. (I imagine that this re-hydrates the peanuts. Considering how water has to be forced out of peanuts in the preservation process, I thought it necessary to initiate the re-absorption process with boiling water--unlike one would typically do with dried beans which are allowed to dry on the vine.)
4. In the morning, add enough salt so that the water tastes as salty as sea water. (This takes a lot.) Bring to the boil and simmer for 6 hours (at least). You'll need to keep at eye on them and continue to top up the water as it boils off. 
5. Test your peanuts. Run one of them under cool water and then have a taste for consistency. Once they are soft, remove them from the eye and let them sit in the brine. This will make them saltier. Once cooled, refrigerate and they are ready to eat.

Fried Cornbread

Last week I bought a couple of kilos of cornmeal and have been looking for something to do with it. Yesterday afternoon, I thought about another distinctly Southern dish from my childhood: fried cornbread. They're super simple.

Ingredients

• 1 c. cornmeal
• 1/2 c. self-rising flour (add 1/2 tsp salt if you are in the UK)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• milk
• 2 jalapeños, seeded and diced or one finely chopped Scotch bonnet (optional)
• diced onions, shallots or scallions (optional)
• 50g grated cheddar cheese

1. Combine cornmeal, flour, egg, and vegetable oil in a bowl. Add enough milk to make a batter. (Just mix in a little bit at a time and pay attention to the consistency.) Stir in your jalapeños and onions.
2. Heat a skillet with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat.
3. Using a 1/4 c. measure (or thereabouts), spoon out the batter into the skillet.
4. When the cornbread starts to look dry around the edges, they're ready to flip.

These are great with something that has a broth with them (beans, etc.) We often have them around New Years with black-eyed peas and collard greens.

Beef Empanadas

Cookbooks are a weakness. It's something about their utility that allows me to loosen my resolve and buy them even though there are millions of recipes and instructions available online. My latest purchase had already been vetted by some friends with great results: it's Michel Roux's Pastry: Savoury and Sweet. Unlike his cookbook on sauces, this volume tells you how to make the dishes to accompany his various kinds of pastry. The first attempt was beef empanadas (or empanadillas, as they are known in Spain). Definitely worth the effort...

Feijoada (Brazilian Black Bean Stew)

As chance would have it, we have a Brazilian Café here that has a fantastic lunch-time dish: Feijoada (fay-uh-WAD-uh). It is, by my estimation, a Portuguese cassoulet. The starchy base is made with black beans and onions with a protein-y richness from ham hock, lardons, and sausage. I've slow-cooked mine all day, and the results are spot-on. Here's how I did it.

Ingredients:

• 500g black beans
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 150g Keilbasa sausage, sliced
• 1 smoked gammon knuckle (ham hock)
• 250g bacon lardons, diced
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1. Soak the black beans overnight. 
2. In a large Dutch oven, sauté the onions in half of the vegetable oil until translucent. Add in the garlic and stir for another 2 minutes. Next, pour in the drained black beans and cover with water. Bring to the boil and let simmer for 2 hours.
3. In a separate pot, cover the smoked ham hock with water, bring to the boil and let simmer for 2 hours. 
4. Reserve the broth from the simmering ham hock. At this point the meat should almost be falling off the bone. Place meat in a foil-lined pan along with the sausage and diced bacon lardons. 
5. Here the key step: put all the meat under the broiler and keep a close eye on it, stirring it around. You want the meat to get crispy on the edges. 
6. At this point, your beans should be fully cooked and the starch from them should have thickened the broth. Add in the char-grilled meats and top up the liquid in the pot using some of the broth reserved from the simmer ham hock. Add some freshly ground pepper to taste. Simmer an additional 20-30 minutes. 
7. Serve warm over rice or fufu.

Iced Mint Aguas Frescas

It's another sunny day here--just right for something cool and refreshing. The perfect touch would be some agua de horchata; sadly, that's hard to come by on this side of the Atlantic. Here's a flavour-packed variation on aguas frescas from chef Sherry Yard of Spago in LA. (All this thanks to Food & Wine 2006.)

Ingredients

• 1.5 c. sugar
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 c. water
• 1/3 c. fresh ginger slices
• 2 oz. mint sprigs, leaves only
• 1/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1.5 L chilled sparkling water

1. Bring water, sugar, and honey to the boil, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Remove syrup from heat and add the slices of ginger and mint leaves. Let stand until cool (about 1 hour).
2.  Strain syrup into a large pitcher, and squeeze the ginger and mint to remove all the liquid. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins. (At this stage you can stop and refrigerate up to a week.)
3. Add the remaining mint leaves and lemon juice to the pitcher. Stir in the sparkling water and serve over ice. 

Definitely serve over ice. I preferred mine slightly more diluted--it reduced the sweetness and brought out the flavour of the ginger. 

White Bean and Chorizo Salad

It's another warm day here--and for other reasons, I haven't had much of an appetite lately; nothing was going to hit the spot like another chilled salad. Since I was introduced to the chorizo-based confection, my life has never been the same. Here's a modification of an old Food & Wine recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of cannellini beans
• 3 oz of finely diced chorizo
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/4c. bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/4c. flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 t. dried oregano
• 1/8 t. cumin seeds
• 1/2 spicy red pepper, chopped (for a little extra spice)
• 1/4c. e.v.o.o. (or less)
• 1 T. red wine vinegar
• 1T. balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh spinach
• 1 radish, thinly sliced
• A few black olives

1. Combine all the ingredients except for the olives, radish and spinach. Refrigerate for half an hour.
2. Spread out your spinach greens, add on a scoop of the bean salad and garnish with the olives and radishes.

W. T. Gibbons, Baker Etc.

Yesterday we finally had a warm summer day here in Britain. I took the opportunity to dust off an old classic: the marinated caprese. (You can also get some vine ripe tomatoes now at the grocery or farmers' market that aren't tasteless, mealy orange balls.) But when the caprese is gone and there's oil and vinegar in the bottom of the bowl, nothing mops it up like a good piece of crusty bread. I didn't have any on hand yesterday, but it reminded me of one of my favourite gems: W. T. Gibbons, Baker Etc. It's down Cowley Rd. (16 Hertford St.) and with obscure opening hours (M–F 8h15–13h00, 15h00–16h00; Sat. 8h15–14h00), but well worth the trip. They usually have several different kinds of bread on offer from Cotswold Crunch to your basic white. They also sell rolls, eggs, and raw pizza dough (which we've also tried--it's great; you just have to use it the day you buy it.)

I don't have a price list, but the other great thing about it--it's dirt cheap. We walked out one day with a large loaf of bread, six rolls, and some pizza dough for under £2. There's clearly a local following; the lady who runs the bakery seems to know every one that comes in the door. As you might expect with a place like this, they do run out of items--so get there early to have your pick.