comfort food – OneandahalfSlices

Basic Skillet Cornbread

If you are from the south, you know that the only way to make cornbread is in a skillet. It should be drier than it is wet, breadier than it is cakey, and not overly sweet (but lightly sweetened with fresh honey). It should also be free from whole corn kernels. In my opinion. If you’re looking for that spongy corn cake served in Barbeque restaurants, this is not it. But this is what you need if the black eyed peas are soaking.

what you need

1 1/2 cup fresh ground corn meal

1/2 cup plain flour

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 eggs

2 tablespoons oil (vegetable, safflower, olive)

1 1/4 cup whole milk

how to make it

Utensils: cast iron skillet

Preheat oven to 425 and oil the cast iron skillet. Put it in the oven to heat up a bit.

Mix dry ingredients together. Separately, beat the wet ingredients together. Then mix all ingredients and pour into the warm cast iron skillet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. If the top does not brown enough for your liking, feel free to broil for a minute or two.

Note on Local Grains, Meal, & Rice

Check out the Grain, Meal, & Rice post.

Wade's Mill, Virginia

Anson Mills, South Carolina

The Story Behind One(andahalf)Slices

One(andahalf)Slices was originally conceived as a non-fiction book, the subject of which was to posit the First Principles of healthy, holistic living.

(Interlude: First Principles and Fermi Questions are cognitive heuristics that allow us to simplify complex concepts and seemingly intractable problems)

There were going to be four sections in the book corresponding to my four first principles for health: Movement, Hydration, Nutrition, and Rest. The sections were to contain chapters on how to pursue these things in daily life, recipes, thoughts, funny stories, and other things. Fundamentally, I wanted the text to underscore the two things that, in my opinion, are hardest for humans: 1) balance and 2) consistency.

To treat oneself with indulgence and discipline in equal measure. And to do so consistently.

Nothing earth shattering, right?

Anyway, I kept a running list of chapter ideas in my little black work notebook for a year or two. Even wrote a couple. The idea for the title OneandahalfSlices came to me one day while eating pie with a friend.

After finishing my first slice of pie, the usual debate began in my head: ‘Man, I want another piece. No, you don’t need one. But you’re literally going to finish this entire pie later anyway so might as well. Seriously, a little self control never killed anyone.’ until I settled on the obvious answer… to have another HALF slice of pie.

“I’m going to have half a slice more,” I announced.

“Who has a HALF a slice of pie?” my friend scoffed from the couch, without looking up from her second piece.

And that got me to thinking… who DOES only have half a slice of pie. Or pizza. Or cake. Or cornbread. Well… I do. All the time. In fact, I frequently eat one and a half slices of many things. Because two slices is just too much but one slice is never quite enough. To treat oneself with indulgence and discipline in equal measure and to do so consistently.

OneandahalfSlices became, in a way, a philosophy. Go to the gym every day and do something without needing to set a personal record, even if that something is just to stretch. Drink plenty of water without denying yourself bourbon, red wine, and coffee. Eat well and cook most of your own food, but every so often, mix corn flakes into Haagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream because there is just no need to take life all that seriously. Sleep in every so often without becoming chronically lazy.

OneandahalfSlices is more than a title. And this blog is more than a collection of recipes. It’s a continued exploration… with stories unfinished and questions unanswered. Which is why the title is much more suited to something that will evolve as opposed to something that would be forever codified between a cover page and a conclusion.

I’ve tried vegan and vegetarian diets. People have told me repeatedly that the moniker ascribed to my approach to eating is called paleo. But there is a lot I haven’t tried as well. Like hunt my own food and learn how to process meat. Like meet the local farmers and purveyors of Virginia grain and groceries. Those questions will all be asked here and the stories told here as well.

Experiences will be curated, people will be invited, and many different perspectives will be welcomed.

But for those not in need of a philosophy, what you’ll find here are just recipes. Delicious, simple, tried and true, healthy (most of the time) recipes. Because food is much more than what we put in our mouths for energy. It is culture, sustenance, and identity all in one, with history as rich as the flavors that we taste.

#oneandahalfslices

#equalpartsdisciplineandindulgence

White Bean Chorizo Soup

As we enter into the longest winter months with January barely having come to a close, it seems like it will never be warm again. These are the months for soups, stews, and roasts; hearty and cozy. This is one such soup. It is creamy (without any cream) and I hereby dub it my Winter Soup, topped with spicy chorizo, salty pepitas, and a dash of oregano. Thank you Whiffletree Farm for the chorizo in the January CSA. And thank you Edible DC for putting this recipe in my inbox right when I needed it most.

what you need

2 cans canellini or navy beans in their juices

1 yellow onion, diced

2 Russet potatoes; peeled

1 tablespoon fennel seed

2 tablespoons oregano

1 pound spicy chorizo

4 cups chicken stock

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons salted butter

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or cooking sherry

1 tablespoon paprika

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

(optional) For serving: 1/4 cup pepitas tossed in olive oil, sweet paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and a dash of cinnamon. Toast under broiler for 1 minute until crispy and allow to cool.

how to make it

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a soup pot and sauté onions until translucent, adding the garlic and cooking slowly over medium heat. Add the fennel and oregano, and cook for another minute.

Add beans with all their juices and chicken broth, and bring the mixture to a slight boil. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the diced, peeled potatoes, cover, and cook on a medium simmer for 30 minutes.

In separate pan, chip up the chorizo and brown like ground beef or, alternatively, roll the chorizo into tiny meatballs. Once cooked completely through, add the cooking sherry, paprika, and oregano, stir, and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. If using, simultaneously toast the pepitas under the broiler.

Once potatoes are tender in the soup, puree all soup contents in blender and return to soup pot. Ladle about two cups of soup into a bowl and top with about half a cup of chorizo, a dash of cayenne pepper or sweet paprika, and a pinch of toasted pepitas. Serve.

I have also had the thought that crispy, spicy kale chips would be an excellent topping for this in lieu of the toasted pepitas, but the cinnamon on the pepitas really rounds out the warmness of the soup.