Photo by David Gallent

BOSTON, January 2013 — If you’ve never tried African heritage cuisine, African Heritage & Health Week on February 1-7, 2013 is the perfect time to discover why its savory flavors and naturally healthy features make African Heritage cuisine the next big food trend.  Oldways, the food and nutrition education nonprofit organizing the celebration, challenges everyone, everywhere to enjoy at least one dish at home or at a restaurant inspired by the cuisine of African-American ancestors and Oldways’ African Heritage Diet Pyramid. 

Coinciding with Black History Month, African Heritage & Health Week commemorates the foods, flavors and healthy cooking techniques that were core to the well-being of African ancestors from Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and the American South.  Scientific studies show that many chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, now prevalent in African American communities, appear in populations as traditional diets are left behind.  Black History Month is the perfect time to commemorate and explore the healthy culinary side of history.

“Part of history is, of course, the foods that have sustained a culture,” said Sara Baer-Sinnott, president of Oldways. “We are seeing a rise in the popularity of the vibrant flavors and delicious foods that offer a key to better health in the African community. African Heritage & Health Week is an opportunity to raise awareness and elevate this cuisine, which is far from the unhealthy soul food some might think of. What better time to dedicate a week to African Heritage and Health than during Black History Month.”

To help diners explore, Oldways has created a new “African Heritage Dine Around” section on its website that offers dining destinations across the nation, from pop-up shops to fine dining restaurants.

If a meal at home shared with family and friends is more appealing, Oldways suggests its own recipe for Jollof Rice as an option.  This is a traditional African rice dish that is delicious and healthy, plus budget friendly.  Or try the no-cooking-required Black-Eyed Pea Salad. Plenty of other recipes are offered on Oldways’ website, too.

Oldways also invites local organizations from coast-to-coast, including restaurants, faith-based groups, schools, and hunger initiatives, to join in the week-long African Heritage & Health celebration.

“The best way to inspire healthy eating is with food that tastes great,” said Baer-Sinnott.  “African Heritage and Health Week is a time to motivate and inspire people to bring back healthy ‘old ways’ of eating.  We want to stir up excitement and expose all Americans to the delicious, easy-to-prepare, nutritious foods and flavors of African heritage.”

This fall, Oldways piloted its new community cooking class series, “A Taste of African Heritage,” in 15 locations throughout the country. Made possible through a grant by the Walmart Foundation, these classes invite participants to put the foods and preparations of the African Heritage Diet into practice in order to reclaim good health.  The program, based around Oldways’ African Heritage Diet Pyramid, will expand in 2013.

For more information on participating in African Heritage & Health Week, please contact Sarah Dwyer, Oldways program manager, 512-330-0111, sdwyer@oldwayspt.org.

About Oldways

Oldways (www.oldwayspt.org) is a nonprofit food and nutrition education organization, with a mission to guide people to good health through heritage, using practical and positive programs grounded in science and tradition. Simply, we advocate for the healthful pleasures of real food. Oldways is the parent organization for The Whole Grains Council and The Mediterranean Foods Alliance, and is well-known for creating the Whole Grain Stamp and the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.

Moonshine is one of America’s oldest and purest native spirits. Just saying the word conjures up images of back country stills, bell jars, nooks in mountains, and men dressed in overalls with long grey beards. I once brought a jar of apple pie flavored Moonshine to a party, and as I offered it around, everyone involuntarily took a step back, as if being too close to the fumes was toxic. Then they all had to have a sip, just to see what it was really like.

Moonshining in America became much more popular in 1764, due to Britain’s Sugar Act that raised taxes on the importation of sugar, wine, and other luxury items. The increased price of sugar essentially  shut down the production of rum in New England (a really fascinating story that can be further explored in Wayne Curtis’s And a Bottle of Rum), made the colonists angry, and jump-started the production of other alcohols that didn’t require sugar or molasses from the Caribbean. What grew well in America? Corn! So corn was the base of the pure grain spirit that Americans began making. With the Revolutionary War and better taste, Americans quickly moved onto better spirits and moonshine crept back into the hills to become a vibrant part of the Appalachian area economy and culture.

The necessity of defying the tax collectors is the basis of most of moonshine’s identifying qualities. It was made using the most convenient source of grain: corn, and it had to be distilled and distributed quickly to avoid detection. Moonshine didn’t have the luxury to age in oak barrels or be triple distilled through various charcoal systems—it had to be out of the still and into the market as soon as possible. Revenue agents were constantly on the look out for illegal whiskey making, combing the forests for stills, and seeking out the small streams that would allow the stills to operate.

Moonshine still in Knox County, Tennessee, USA, photographed by TVA in 1936 as part of its Fort Loudoun Dam surveys. Via Wikicommons

Even with these stressful conditions, there were some moonshiners who distinguished themselves with an excellent product. In the book Illegal Odyssey: 200 Years of Kentucky Moonshine by Betty Boles Ellison, we get to see inside the lives of the people that made their living producing illegal alcohol. One Kentucky master, Wheeler Stinson, developed a reputation for making excellent whiskey in the backwoods of Wayne County. He used only copper barrels and connections for the still, created a true sour mash with sugar and meal, and used good quality corn right off the cob to get the best flavor out of the grain. His whiskey was popular enough that he was able to sell it wholesale to other moonshiners and leave the risky retail selling to them.

Ellison explores the various strategies of hiding the stills, the moonshiners’ relationships with the revenue agents, and how the production of illegal liquor allowed many people to make a living through the hard times. Jason Sumich points out in his anthropological study, It’s All Legal Until You Get Caught: Moonshining in the Southern Appalachians, “It was one of the few ways to earn cash in the subsistence-dominated mountain economy.” From Prohibition to the Depression and with the designation of many counties in the area as “dry,” moonshine was always in demand somewhere. As more jobs moved into the Appalachian area and booze became cheaper and more readily available throughout the rest of the country, making moonshine was no longer a viable option for many people, so private stills slowly began to disappear.

In the past decade, several companies have begun to produce moonshine legally in Appalachia. Piedmont Distillers began production of Midnight Moon in 2007 with the help of a long time moonshiner, Junior Johnson. The recipe is supposedly handed down through generations of Johnson’s family in North Carolina, and Johnson himself was once arrested for lighting his dad’s still. Moonshine has come a long way in flavor from the depictions of eye-poppingly strong stuff of the past. During Tales of the Cocktail this summer, I had the pleasure of sampling a barbeque dinner paired with Midnight Moon cocktails at Boucherie.

Mildly apprehensive, I sat down to a full sampling plate of the seven different flavors of moonshine that Midnight Moon has to offer. Moonshine might not “take the top off your head” like it did in the descriptions Betty Boles Ellison caught, but it’s definitely still incredibly strong stuff. The flavors are quite intriguing, because they’re all literally just fresh fruit put into mason jars with pure moonshine. There’s Apple Pie, Strawberry, Blueberry, Cranberry, and Cherry – out of which I think the Cranberry was my favorite. The flavor was tart enough to cut through the alcohol without being overly sweet.

The rest of the dinner following the sampling of all the moonshines was definitely a bit of a blur. According to my camera, there was some amazing food, and I definitely know I was impressed at how well the mixologists and the chefs worked together to produce pairings that actually made sense on the palate. I know now that moonshine is a liquor that is not pure alcohol, and with the legality comes the luxury of triple distilling and a cleaner, safer flavor. While I’m not running out to buy a case right now, I can see that moonshine will probably be a big hit in the public. Not only is it a truly native product, but it embodies a sense of risk and excitement, race cars and deep woods stills, that vodka and similar drinks cannot compete with.

My favorite cocktail of the night was the first, not only because it was the first in a long night and it was incredibly refreshing on a hot July night, but because it showed just how much can be done with moonshine if we give it a chance.

Picnic Cocktail

Picnic

created by James Denio of Boucherie

• 2 oz Midnight Moon Strawberry Moonshine
• 1 oz Amestoi, Getariako Txakolina (semi effervescent white wine)
• 0.2 oz fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice (equal parts, cut with equal amount of water)
• watermelon (small and ripe)

Remove the seeds from the watermelon and puree until liquid. If necessary, add a small amount of fresh lemon and lime to get the watermelon to a near water-like consistency (a small amount of foam is normal). Freeze watermelon juice into an ice try.

Add ice, Midnight Moon Strawberry, lemon and lime juice to a mixing glass. Shake vigorously. Strain into rocks glass. Add white wine. Crush 1-2 watermelon ice cubes with the concave side of a heavy spoon. Add crushed watermelon granita to the drink and serve.

Further reading:

Night Shift Gone Legit By Tim McNally: http://www.myneworleans.com/Blogs/Happy-Hour/August-2012/Night-Shift-Gone-Legit/

Illegal Odyssey: 200 Years of Kentucky Moonshine By Betty Boles Ellison

It’s All Legal Until You Get Caught: Moonshining in the Southern Appalachians by Jason Sumich: http://anthro.appstate.edu/field-schools/papers/2007/sumich

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Revved up Spicy Cider

MAKES 1 COCKTAIL

• 1 1/2 ounces Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
• 3 oz of fresh, unfiltered, hot apple cider
• 3 good passes with freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 apple slice

Add Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum to a glass or mug.

Fill the glass or mug with the hot apple cider.

Garnish with fresh apple slice slipped around a cinnamon stick.

Grate the nutmeg over the cocktail.

Serve immediately.

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1 1/2 oz of Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
Fill with unfiltered hott apple cider
Garnish with fresh apple slice slipped around a cinnamon stick
Also garnish with a piece of freshly grated nutmeg

About Tales of the Cocktail

Tales of the Cocktail® is the world’s premier cocktail festival, bringing together the most respected minds on mixology for five days of cocktails, cuisine and culture. Held annually in New Orleans, this international event has something for cocktail professionals and enthusiasts alike with a spirited schedule of seminars, dinners, competitions and tasting rooms where brands showcase their latest products. Tales of the Cocktail® returns in 2012 for a historic milestone—its 10^th Anniversary of rocking the cocktail world. Join the celebration July 25-29, 2012 and see how Tales of the Cocktail® only gets better with age.

About the New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society

The New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society (NOCCPS) is a non-profit organization committed to preserving the unique culture of cocktails and cuisine in New Orleans and beyond. Since it’s founding in 2006 the NOCCPS has supported members of the hospitality industry through programs like the new Apprentice Aid Fund, providing financial assistance to former apprentices in times of medical need, the Cocktail Apprentice Scholarship Program and the Flo Woodward Memorial Scholarship as well as the production of events like Tales of the Cocktail®.

MAKES 12 PANCAKES
This recipe comes to us courtesy of Louisiana Cookin’ Magazine.

Steen’s Cane Syrup and Pecan Butter

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/3 cup Steen’s Cane Syrup
• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans

Blend ingredients well with a wire whisk and allow to sit at room temperature, away from heat, until pancakes are cooked.

Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon Steen’s Cane Syrup

Place the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk slightly to combine.

Add buttermilk, eggs, vegetable oil, and cane syrup to the bowl.

Whisk these wet ingredients into the flour mixture, just until the batter is smooth. Spread 2 tablespoons vegetable oil into a cast-iron skillet or a flat nonstick electric griddle, over medium-high heat.

Pour batter 1/4 cup at a time onto the hot griddle. When the batter bubbles on top, turn and cook second side until golden brown.

Remove and spread a small amount of the cane syrup and pecan butter on top of each pancake, and then stack three high, with a dollop of butter on top.

LAUREN CARTER is an artist living in Brooklyn, New York, where she is starting an brewery. She is a graduate of Brown University and The Art Institute of Chicago.

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With ingredients like quassia, snakeroot, gentian, and calamus, bitters are a mysterious concoction that harkens back to yesteryear. Although they are now a cocktail ingredient easily purchased at your local liquor store, bitters were originally used to cure such maladies as gout, stomach pains, jaundice, sea-sickness, and malaria.   “…Bitters bridged the boundary between the home-prepared remedies of early modern times and the mass-produced pharmaceuticals of the 19th century,”* writes author Richard Barnett. In a sense, bitters symbolize the dawn of the modern age of medicine.

So, when did bitters transform from panacea into barman’s friend?  It seems as though the lack of government oversight during the 18th and 19th centuries created an opening in the market for vast numbers of bitters manufacturers, all of which sold their product as medication claiming to cure all ills.  It was only a matter of time before the alcoholic benefits began to overtake the medicinal ones. The 1883 New York Times piece, “Whisky or Medicine: A Question Which Has Worried the Internal Revenue Bureau”, articulates a shift in the consumption of bitters at the time. According to the article, the IRS Commissioner ruled that Hostetter’s Bitters would be subject to state liquor taxes if sold as liquor and not, “if in good faith”, they were sold as a medicine. Many people hoping to avoid state liquor taxes began to drink shots of bitters on a regular basis.  “The increased taxes on the sale of alcohol coupled with the rise of the early temperance movement actually helped bitters’ popularity…It was considered normal behavior to have a daily nip of stomach bitters whose real kick and purported medical benefits were lubricated with high-proof alcohol,” writes Brad Thomas Parsons.

Nowadays, we’re definitely not taking bitters as medicine nor are we drinking them to take advantage of their alcoholic content. (It would be a little bit like drinking shots of vanilla extract.) Instead, they are a bit of color, scent, and taste added to a cocktail to accentuate the flavors of the drink.  Although bitters have transformed in many ways, the bitters of today are still made with the same ingredients as those panaceas of earlier times.

Hostetter's Bitters are advertised as medicine in this vintage bitters advertisement.

The roots, bark, and herbs that form the basis of most bitters recipes can be found from many online herb suppliers. Interestingly, there seems to be an overlap in the market for bitters and Wiccan potion supplies.  For instance, gentian is a bitter root used in many of the most common bitters recipes. However, according to the sellers of Wicca products, it is also used in spells to increase “…love, power, and to remove hexes or curses.” This explains the strange phone conversation I had with a Whole Foods employee a few years ago when I first decided to make some bitters.— I called to ask about a few basic ingredients that seemed typical of the Whole Foods bulk aisle. The employee on the other end of the line responded with a slight giggle and a teasing drawl, “You are making a love potion.”  To be completely honest, I felt a tinge of embarrassment. Although Whole Foods didn’t have the dried galangal that I asked for that afternoon, I did venture to the store a few days later to buy some dried rose petals, lavender flowers, orange peel, and mint leaves. As the cashier weighed each little plastic bag, I immediately stated the aims of my project. “I’m making bitters”.

If you are interested in making some of your own bitters at home, here is a copy of the first recipe that I used to make my first batch of bitters.  It is from John Paul Deragon, a mixologist who used to work for PDT (Please Don’t Tell) in New York City. Deragon’s bitters are incredibly easy to make, and you don’t even have to wait very long before tasting the fruits of your labor. The normal steeping time for bitters is two weeks, whereas these bitters only take 12 hours. Use them in place of the traditional Angostura bitters or Peychaud’s bitters in your favorite cocktails or simply invent your own cocktail recipe.

Photo byLinuxPickle CC-BY-SA-3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Grapefruit Bitters

• 180 g grain alcohol (like Everclear)
• 60 g fresh grapefruit zest in strips without the white pith
• 10 g fresh grapefruit zest with white pith
• 10 g fresh lemon zest
• 4 g fresh ginger cut into slices
• 5 g dried gentian
• 1 g dried peppermint leaves
• 5 g dried lavender flowers
• 30 g water
• 3 tbs. sugar

Combine all ingredients except for the sugar in a large mason jar.

Let it sit for at least twelve hours.

Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the mixture and discard the solids.

In a saucepan melt the sugar until it becomes very dark brown.

Add 1/4 cup water, stir until dissolved and turn off the heat.

Add 3 teaspoons of this burnt sugar syrup to the bitters along with 1/4 cup water.

Each week, we rummage through the dark corners of our kitchen drawers to bring you an enigmatic item. We ask you to guess what it is in our weekly From the From the Back of the Drawer puzzle. To enter this week’s puzzle, visit this page. To read more descriptions of past items, visit this page. And, don’t forget to donate your odd items to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.

This week, we found a polarimeter!

While you probably won’t find this industrial tool in the back of your kitchen drawer, it is very important in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical and chemical industries—and therefore, slightly too scientifically complicated for this staffer to understand, but I’m giving it a shot.  It is called a polarimeter. This particular one is known more specifically as a saccharimeter, a tool used by the sugar industry to measure the concentration and purity of sugar in a solution.  It works  by measuring the angle of rotation caused by passing polarized light through an optically active substance, like sugar.  What does that mean exactly? We are not quite sure, but it gives us appreciation for the complex industries that provide us with the products we want and need, like quality sugar for our coffee. Nowadays, industries that rely on polarimetery have handy dandy digital polarimeters and saccharimeters (its called this when designed specifically for measuring sugar).  This polarimeter, on loan to the museum from Domino Sugar, was made by Franz Schmidt and Haensch. This Berlin-based  company specializing in laboratory instruments was founded in 1864 and is still in business today.

Our Rating: An important part of the history of the sugar industry, and a possible Jeopardy question.

Design: Obviously a digital saccharimeter is much easier to use, and less susceptible to human error, than these old manual ones, but those aren’t  as interesting and pretty  to look at in a museum in 100 years now are they? While this large old iron and brass saccharimeter might be bulky and obsolete, it is beautiful in a way that a plug in plastic one will never be.

Originality: The first polarimeters where manufactured in the 1830s.  This one if most likely from the early 20^th century.  International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis is the international regulatory committee that governs the analysis of sugar.

Practicality: Obviously not practical for most as chefs and cooks, but good to know about—especially for the many sugar lovers among us.

TAWNYA MANION

ALL POSTS /  READ TAWNYA’S BLOG – SPICY BANANAS

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The claim that aphrodisiac foods and spirits increase desire, intensify the capacity for sexual enjoyment, and expand ones appetite for lust lacks proof from dietitians and scientists. Yet, romantic meals repeatedly procure love into people’s lives. Is it the awakening of the sensory faculty that helps people relax and open up to the idea of love? In this month’s Pleasing Aphrodite, I want to explore how creating a romantic atmosphere coupled with a healthy lifestyle initiates love at an amorous gathering.
An aphrodisiac spread includes all of the senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound. Each sensation works with the others to create the perfect atmosphere to inspire romantic love. The act of putting together a meal for the one you desire lets that person know volumes about your feelings for him or her. Therefore, it is important when preparing food for an enchanting get-together to entice each of the senses in order to ensure that everyone that sits at your table experiences the aphrodisiac power intended when each food is served.
There are no rules when creating a meal to entice your lover. The experience is subjective and completely dependent on where you are in your relationship. At first, you might want to actually impress the person you intend to seduce, by fixing a number of ambitious courses served at the dining room table with soft music and lighting, but as time passes you might just want to share time flirting over the stove while you sauté the chicken and he stirs the sauce. Either way, there are countless foods that possess folkloric history in their aphrodisiacal properties. If you combine those foods with the power to promote seductions with those that promote health, any meal can lead to bonding.

By Eric Hunt [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons"

Each person has his or her own relationship with particular foods. Some woman cannot go a day without chocolate while others delight in figs. Preferences vary from person to person, but its the association and the emotional effects that form the relationship with that particular food item, and whether it has aphrodisiacal effects on that individual depends on the memories they associate with that particular edible. But everyone appreciates a home-cooked meal, so keep cooking – it’s bound to work.

Photo by Tawnya Manion

Halibut with Provençal Sauce

• 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, made into a paste
• ¼ tsp. dried red pepper flakes
• 1 pound of tomatoes, peeled and deseeded (or a 1/2 jar of crushed tomatoes)
• 8 black olives, pitted
• 2 halibut steaks
• pinch of sea salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp. fresh sage, cut into fine pieces

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick ovenproof skillet over medium heat.

Add the yellow onion and fennel to the skillet and sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté for 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes.

Simmer for an additional 5 minutes or until the fennel is tender and the liquid is slightly reduced.

Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the olives.

Season the halibut with salt and pepper. Arrange the steaks over the red sauce.

Bake the fish and tomatoes for about 17 minutes at 350 degrees, or until the fish is cooked to your liking.

Sprinkle sage over the dish just before serving.

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Mürbeteig right out of the oven. Photo by Sharon Ona.

Our kitchen was and is both the heart of our home and where my most precious and vivid memories were created. I was so fortunate to have my maternal grandparents living within walking distance of my parents’ house; and when I say our kitchen, I think of my grandmother’s kitchen. So many of our meals, from summertime lunches to holiday dinners, were spent there. Her kitchen was filled with wonderfully delicious smells that permeated throughout the house, coaxing us to the table. She could put together a meal worthy of a pictorial spread in Gourmet magazine at a moment’s notice, a talent my mother has in spades. Thick slices of deep red juicy tomatoes sprinkled with chopped chives, beautifully roasted tender whole chicken with golden brown salty skin, fresh string beans cooked in onions and garlic, simple beet salad flavored with beet horseradish, good Swiss chocolate, and seasonal fruit pies made with Mürbeteig dough adorned her table regularly.

Since commencing my food-writing journey, I’ve become a sort of culinary family historian, learning who gave whom what recipe, where it came from, and documenting our personal memories in print. Some of our more amusing memories include my propensity for taking leftover dough and adding to it copious amounts of pantry staples like flour and black pepper, creating what was affectionately dubbed grouch food. Making grouch food, as in only fit for consumption by Oscar the Grouch (the only person Muppet best suited to eat my less-than-palatable concoctions) was a favorite childhood pastime. It meant hanging out in the kitchen with my sister and grandmother and getting to play with my food at the same time. It didn’t get any better.

As I got older I helped with actual meal preparation. Washing vegetables was one of my regular responsibilities. I can still hear my grandmother exclaim, “There’s so much dirt! I think we brought home half the farm,” as she stood over her sink overflowing with water and leafy greens. I assembled and rolled rouladen, cut out holiday cookies using her vintage cookie cutters, which we still use today, and held the hand mixer to make mashed potatoes. Outings to the bakery, the butcher, and the farmers’ market, where I was treated at each place with a goodie from the nice person behind the counter, are memories I cherish.

My grandmother passed away over thirteen years ago, but there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her. In fact, I think of her even more now that I have plunged head first into my recipe-hoarding (and sharing) preoccupation.

Her Mürbeteig recipe came from her grandmother, my two-times great grandmother in Switzerland. Writing something like that down makes the recipe all the more special and I am happy to say that it has stood the test of time. So here it goes, my attempt at one of our oldest family recipes.

The fresh, floral scent of ripe apricots, a quintessential summer fragrance that I just cannot deny, beckoned me at the farmers’ market. Oh, how I love stone fruit. Those little golden jewels were destined to be baked to perfection on top of lightly sweetened, buttery Mürbeteig, and so I fought the urge to eat them all straight out of my reusable bag.

Now, I’ve never made Mürbeteig before because, quite frankly, watching my grandmother make it didn’t look all that appealing. In order to achieve the right consistency, you must mix the dough vigorously by hand with a wooden spoon. For those of you who want to skip the gym today, make this dough instead and your biceps will never be the wiser. But I promise you, it’s worth the effort.

Photo by Sharon Ona

Mürbeteig

Ingredients

• ½ cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature (it must be very soft), plus extra for greasing the pan and wax paper
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar, plus ½ teaspoon for sprinkling over the fruit before and after baking
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
• 8 ripe apricots, washed, pitted and cut in half
• Whipped Cream to serve (see recipe below)
• Fresh mint for garnish (optional)

Instructions

The ingredients ready to be mixed.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the first six ingredients in a large bowl and mix vigorously by hand with a wooden spoon. Don’t try to make this in a food processor or with an electric mixer – it just won’t come out right.  The mixture should have a creamy consistency without any lumps.

The dough after mixing

Place the dough onto a sheet of wax paper, form into a ball and refrigerate overnight. Lick the bowl and the spoon.* Mmmm.

Dough in waxed paper

Place the chilled dough onto either a buttered sheet tray or divide the dough in half and place into two buttered 8-inch round pie tins. Break up the cold dough into pieces and with lightly-floured fingers, press the dough into a thin layer into your respective pan or pans.

Divided dough in pie tin

Cut 8 apricots in half and place on the dough cut-side up. Sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of granulated sugar. Butter a sheet of wax paper and place on top of the cut apricots.

Pie and butter

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the dough is lightly golden around the edges and the fruit is soft.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the apricots with the remaining ¼ teaspoon of sugar.

Let cool to room temperature and serve with whipped cream. Any leftovers should be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated and brought back to room temperature to serve.

Whipped Cream

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• Confectioner’s sugar, to taste
• ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Instructions

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks begin to form.

Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat.

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*Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness.

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A typical Israeli dish consisting of delicately poached eggs in tomato sauce and cradled in onions and bell peppers or chili peppers

http://southernfood.org/okra/?p=2271