CHARD-SESAME BALLS WITH RED ONION JAM

Print Recipe

Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:

Rate this recipe!

Although Carluccia was not accustomed to cooking in the early afternoon, when I went to say good-bye she pulled these emerald-green polpette di bietola (chard balls) piping hot from her oven. Out came some Tropean red onion marmellata (jam) and a fizzy glass of the family’s red wine to accompany them. It was the perfect, verdant last treat with Carluccia, and she sent me off with an extra paper bag filled with them for the long plane ride home.

Instructions

1. To prepare the marmelatta, place the onions, sugar, salt, and cayenne together in a small pan. Turn the heat to medium-low, and bring to a boil. The onions will give off significant water—let the mixture boil until it becomes jam-like in consistency, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar. Let cool to room temperature before serving with the warm polpette.
2. To prepare the polpette, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet, or line it with parchment paper. Steam the chard leaves for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the chard and let briefly cool. Vigorously squeeze the chard dry by turning and pressing it against a fine-mesh strainer repeatedly to strain out the liquid. Finely puree the chard in a food processor. Place a cup of the chard in a large mixing bowl and whisk together with the rest of the ingredients, except for the olive oil and sesame seeds. Place some olive oil in one bowl, and sesame seeds in another. Roll the chard mixture into balls (using about 2 tablespoons per ball). Roll the balls first in the oil and then the sesame seeds. Bake for 20 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned on the bottom.

This mac and cheese is one of Elizabeth “Oma” Fisher’s masterpieces. It was always there for any big family or church occasion. Everyone loved it, with no exception! Made with freshly grated cheddar and eggs tempered in warm milk, this is a custardy macaroni and cheese, with a crunchy, browned top.  

OMA’S MAC AND CHEESE

Print Recipe

Votes: 7
Rating: 4
You:

Rate this recipe!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a small bowl, scramble the egg and set aside. You will use this to create a sort of custard that will help set the macaroni as it bakes. When the water boils, add the macaroni and cook for about 8 minutes, or to taste.
3. While the macaroni is cooking, shred the cheese in a food processor (note: do not buy pre-shredded cheese; it has additives that you don’t need.). In a large bowl, add cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and sour cream. You will add the cooked, strained macaroni to the bowl when it is ready.
4. Meanwhile, take some of the hot milk mixture and pour a small amount into the egg, whisking with your other hand. This is called tempering and it will bring the temperature of the egg up without scrambling it. Once you have poured about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the small bowl, you can then take the egg and milk mixture and pour it back into the saucepan. Be sure to whisk the mixture in the saucepan while you do this. Set the mixture aside, off the heat.
5. Strain the cooked macaroni and place into the large bowl. Take about 1/3 of the cheese and add it to the bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are well blended.
6. Butter a medium sized casserole dish and pour 1/2 of the mixed macaroni in. Take 1/2 of the remaining shredded cheese and pour a layer of it into the casserole. Pour the remaining macaroni on top. Take the milk mixture, give it a final whisk and pour it into the casserole slowly. Once you see the milk coming up the sides, stop. The milk mixture should not reach the top of the casserole or else it will bubble over. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and dot the top with small pieces of the cold butter. This will help the casserole to brown nicely.
7. Place in the middle of the preheated oven with a pan or foil on the shelf underneath it (in case it does bubble over) and cook until browned and bubbly, approximately 25-30 minutes. Remove and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
8. Jessica’s Notes: You can easily convert this to a gluten free recipe by substituting gluten free macaroni elbows for the wheat ones. If you do this, you will need to lower the amount of time you boil the pasta for, as gluten free pasta cooks more quickly. Taste as you go, and strain when al dente.

AN OVERVIEW OF EASTER TRADITIONS

THE HOLIDAY WISDOM CHALLENGE

FALL 2016: WINNING INGREDIENT

GRANDMOTHER POWER

THE HONORARY NONNA: BY PAOLA FERRARIO

HOW TO APPROACH AN ELDER

THE NEW YEAR AND THE IDA COOKIE

Whenever he thought of his wife Usha’s pastries, Vincenzo would moan and whine “Povero Vincenzo,” over and over again. From a desire to keep her husband from temptation (he had suffered from a heart attack and was avoiding fat), Usha rarely baked her special cakes and tarts. As much as Vincenzo talked about never eating sweets, if you put one of his wife’s irresistible desserts anywhere near him, he was bound to give in after five or ten minutes of lamenting. That hazelnut roll was a revelation; both in terms of its incredible nuttiness, and because Usha, in one fell swoop, revealed herself as having sugary fingers of magic.

Usha was tender and methodical with her baking. As dawn rose, she neatly measured out flour, butter, and sugar on her hand-weighted balance scale. Each day the wooden dough board came out, as did a big knife for cutting butter, and small bowlfuls of ingredients—apples, nuts, plums, and on a rare occasion even chocolate. Our baking lessons began with a basic butter crust, one that was used for the bottom of Usha’s favorite apple cake, and also for her plum tart. During the first two mornings I sat opposite Usha at the kitchen table and just watched. She thought it more informative for me to observe her technique a couple of times before rushing in to help. Usha bought good, fresh ingredients for her baking, but really she could have used mediocre ones; beneath her hands everything came joyfully to life. The cold butter willfully gave way to the knife in little cubes and shavings, powdery flour puffed and danced about the board, joining with egg in a shiny yellow daze, apples squeezed happily as they were stripped of their outer peel.

On our third baking morning, Usha made our espresso and then took my seat across from the dough board. Now it was time for me to make the apple cake, pastry dough and all. She would be there to talk me through any questions I had, but emphasized that really I knew everything already; all I had to do was think of something dear to me while I cooked, something I really loved, and then share that feeling with the apples and butter, the knife and scale. Without a recipe, and with little help from Usha, I managed to make her magical fluffy apple-raisin-rum cake. It came out exceptionally well and, according to Usha, with a unique tasty twist of Jessica.

Over time I have come to believe that if I bring respect, grace, and a moment-to-moment attention to my cooking—or for that matter almost anything in my life—the ingredients can be transformed into an undeniably delicious and enlightening experience. This is obvious and tangible with food (taste and sensation being great mediators), but I have also seen it to be true in both the health of my body and that of my relationships. Usha’s primary vehicle for expressing this was yoga and mediation, and mine was cooking; we met over butter and sugar, and I learned about life.

Welcome to Cooking with Grandmothers. 

We are thrilled you found this site! 

Our Story

Cooking with Grandmothers records, gathers, and shares the recipes, food traditions, and wisdom of female elders from around the world. It was founded by Jessica Theroux, award-winning author of Cooking with Italian Grandmothers. Jessica created this website as a place for people to discover and celebrate the cooking and storied lives of older women from all walks of life.

FAQs

1. Who are these grandmothers? How do you find them?

The vast majority of the women on this site are everyday women who would otherwise not be documented. They are going about their daily activities of cooking, gardening, foraging, and feeding the people that they love. Someone (Jessica or their own family or friends) finds their food to be comforting and delicious, sees something beautiful in them, and is moved to document them. There are older women like this around you, too! They are everywhere, and they are largely under-noticed. We hope you seek out cooking with and learning from them, and share the experience with us.

Additionally, grandmothers (both living and passed), food memories, and recipes come to us through our “Add your grandmother” page. Once someone has made a submission, Jessica will often collaborate with their families to write a story about the women and fine tune recipes from notes and the “by hand” measurements that grandmothers so often use.

Finally, we discover some amazing older women through the “Chefs’ Influences” blog section, where Jessica interviews famous chefs about the older women who have served as an inspiration for their own careers and cooking.

2. But, what about all of the wonderful women who aren’t technically grandmothers?

The archetype of “grandmother”– that of connection, comfort, and cooking that nourishes body and soul — guides what goes on this site. However, women who are not literally grandmothers are just as welcome and celebrated here. Here’s the deal: every woman featured is over sixty, and every single one of them has cooked enough and lived enough to have something really valuable to say about food and life. Aunties, beloved farmers and fisher-women, mothers, dear older neighbours…they are all welcome. Tell us who your elder heroes are and we will find a way to include them.

3. Who are the “contributors” on the site?

This site features stories and recipes recorded by Jessica and a wonderful, growing group of contributors– writers, chefs, photographers, documentarians whose work for this Jessica helps to guide and edit. You can learn more about who has been involved here. And, you can inquire about becoming a contributor by sending Jessica a note here.

Can I share my own grandmother’s recipes?

Of course! We would be thrilled to hear about the women and recipes you love most. The best way to do this is to start by adding your them to the “Add Your Elders” page. If you are interested in having your grandmother or another elder featured in a more substantial way on the site, please check that box on the “Add Your Elders” form. 

How is this funded?

Jessica aims for this work to be supported through a combination of individual donations, grants, and corporate sponsorship.

Jessica’s documentary work for Cooking with Italian Grandmothers (the origin of this larger body of work) was funded through an Arnold Fellowship from Brown University, in 2003. The creation of this website was made possible through the generosity of individual donors: see our “Contributors” page for details.

A tremendous amount of time and expense goes into interviewing grandmothers and/or their families, writing the stories, testing the recipes, and photographing and editing everything. If you find inspiration and nourishment in what you experience here, please consider making a donation. Every a dollar helps!

Can I contact the grandmothers?

We love hearing about the elders who have inspired you here, and will always pass along your emails and sentiments to them. It makes their day, so please share your gratitude! You can leave comments at the bottom of the posts, or send Jessica an email, to forward to them or their families. 

We ask, however, that you respect the grandmothers’ privacy, and refrain from contacting them directly, unless their details are specifically listed on our “Contributors” page. Those grandmothers that teach classes, host visitors, or are open to being contacted directly will be listed there.

And, finally…

One of the world’s best kept secrets is that older women are some of the most powerful people around. Their strength lies in their long and deeply lived lives: in the years of practice they have had rolling pie doughs, caring for others, and in the depth and wisdom that comes from having gone through life’s joys and sorrows. Jessica’s mission is to give you not only the key to their delicious family dishes, but the experience of a magnificent group of older women, whose lives and reflections will help you in your journey towards creating the life you hunger for.

Enjoy!

Four times a year, we offer a two-week contest on the Cooking with Grandmothers Facebook page for people to vote on their favorite seasonal ingredient. In the Autumn of 2016, people got to pick between grapes, kohlrabi, winter squash, and swiss chard; winter squash emerged as the clear winner. The prize? A delicious, simple recipe easy enough for any home cook to master.

WINTER SQUASH SOUP WITH FENNEL AND CORIANDER

Print Recipe

Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:

Rate this recipe!

This is a beautiful creamy orange winter squash soup, with warm undertones of coriander, fennel, and red pepper flakes. While this soup is good served the day it is made, it really shines if prepared the day before serving. It will keep well in the refrigerator for 5-6 days, and also freezes wonderfully, should you like to save some for a later time.

Ingredients

• Main Ingredients
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (if you don’t have seeds, substitute 1.5 teaspoons ground fennel)
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds (if you don’t have seeds, substitute 1.5 teaspoons ground coriander)
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bulb fennel, chopped (to equal about 1 cup)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (to equal about 1.5 cups)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes optional
• 1 2.5-3 lb winter squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped kabocha, kuri, or butternut squash are all great choices
• 4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Optional Garnishes:
• cilantro leaves
• plain yogurt
• toasted pumpkin seeds
• cilantro oil (made by blending together cilantro leaves and stems with olive oil)

Servings:

Instructions

1. Toasts the seeds. First, place the fennel seeds in a small, dry skillet and toast over medium-low heat until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Crush the seeds in a mortar and pestle or in an electric spice grinder. Set aside. Then, repeat the process with the coriander seeds.
2. Warm the olive oil in a medium-large pot set over medium-low heat. Add the onions and fennel, and sauté for 7-10 minutes with a pinch of salt, until they begin to soften and turn translucent. Add the garlic, ground seeds, and a pinch of red pepper flakes if you would like your soup to have a little heat. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, then add the squash, and give it all a good stir.
3. Add the water (it should just cover the ingredients- if not, add enough so that it does). Turn up the heat, bring to a boil, add the salt, and turn down to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until the squash is tender.
4. Puree the soup in batches in a blender, until silky smooth, adding water as needed to create a smooth, pourable consistency. Once all the soup is blended, add salt to taste. Serve as is, or with one of the suggested accompaniments.

Recipe Notes

This soup is delicious served with any or all of the toppings pictured here: fresh cilantro, toasted pumpkin seeds, plain yogurt, or cilantro oil (made by blending together cilantro leaves and stems with olive oil, to a drizzle-able thickness).

OMA ELIZABETH’S FRIED CHICKEN

Print Recipe

Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:

Rate this recipe!

Oma’s fried chicken is great eaten hot or cold at a picnic, or big family gathering. It pairs particularly well with collard greens, potato salad, or coleslaw. The recipe is written for a variety of chicken cuts; feel free to only use those cuts the people you are feeding prefer. While rough quantities are listed, the ingredients could simply be: bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces, seasoned salt, flour to coat, and cooking oil to come ½ way up a heavy skillet. This is the type of recipe that you will learn to do by feel, gaining a sixth sense for variations in the oil temperature, and knowing when the chicken is done perfectly.

Instructions

1. ½ to 4 hours before you are going to fry the chicken, season the pieces with the seasoned salt by sprinkling them with a light coating on all sides. Place in the fridge if you will be letting the chicken marinate for more than ½ hour. Prior to frying, make sure the chicken comes to room temperature. It shouldn’t be cold out of the fridge, as it will bring the oil temperature down too far and won’t cook properly.
2. Dredge the chicken in flour and shake off the excess before frying; you can do this by placing the flour in a large ziplock bag, and tossing a couple of chicken pieces in it at a time.
3. Heat the peanut oil over medium low heat in a heavy bottomed pan or cast iron skillet that has been filled halfway (this should be about 1 liter of oil). Test to see that oil is at temperature for frying by wetting your fingers and flicking a couple of drops into the oil (not a lot!) The oil is ready if the drops sizzles vigorously– this give you a temperature of around 350°F. If it sinks to the bottom, the oil is too cold. If it pops violently, it is too hot and you should turn the heat off for a few minutes.
4. Be aware that cold chicken or adding a lot of pieces at once lowers the oil temp. A large pan and/or less pieces to start is the way to go; make sure not to crowd the pieces. The oil temp will drop when you add the meat so for the first batch, just put 2-3 pieces or 4-5 small pieces like wings.
5. Start by cooking the wings– they are the easiest and cook fast, so you will get the hang of how to cook the meat through without burning the flour. Cook the legs next. Thighs and breasts are a bit tricker to get just right, so do them last. Only turn each piece once. This is where you get to use your senses- look to see if the chicken is dark golden brown. This should take about 8-10 minutes per side, for the larger pieces. Then turn it over, and cook on the other side. You’ll want to monitor the temperature with each piece– the larger pieces do best with a slightly lower oil temperature, so that the flour doesn’t burn during the longer time that meat needs to cook.
6. When both sides are cooked, drain on a wire rack rather than on paper towels. This will keep it crispy.

Recipe Notes

I created a gluten-free version of this recipe by simply coating the chicken with a gluten-free flour blend instead of white wheat flour– in this case Pamela’s Baking and Pancake mix. It came out really well– crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. If you do this in addition to the original recipe, be sure to fry the gluten-free pieces first, so as to prevent cross contamination. ~Jessica

Created from a series of interviews with Stu Fisher, Elizabeth’s grandson.

Oma was born in 1922 in Scotia, South Carolina, as Elizabeth Solomon. Her grandparents were slaves on a rice plantation in Beaufort, SC, one of the biggest entry points for slaves shipped from West Africa. Their owner was Jewish; hence the last name Solomon. Her parents were born after the abolition of slavery and were sharecroppers, agricultural people. She was the youngest of six, and she was the first in the family to go to school and learn to read and write.

After the Second World War ended, Oma and her husband, Jesse James Fisher, joined the net migration of black people heading north, in search of a better life. They landed in Queens, New York, and that is where she remained for the rest of her life. Oma didn’t mess around! She worked for the New York City public schools as a janitor for 35 years. She cleaned churches in her “spare” time.  She fostered kids. She was the secretary of her church in Bed Stuy. She ran a daycare out of her home until the week before she died and she didn’t just sit there and watch Oprah while the kids played. She gave them lessons in religion. She taught them manners. She had them write and mail letters to the mayor and to the president. She was deeply involved in bringing these kids up. And they all loved her.

She, in turn, loved us all through food. Her’s was classic black southern cooking. Everything had pork in it. Nothing was vegetarian. Even the vegetables had pork in them! The collard greens, a ham hock. The green beans, pork fat. Her mac and cheese was always there – for any occasion. And, *everyone* loved it. The entire family loved that mac and cheese. But she made a lot of other amazing things too: sweet potato pie, sweet potato casserole with the mini marshmallows on top, peach cobbler, those green beans and collard greens, chopped liver (yes!), shrimp, rice and gravy. What else? Her meat sauce was the best…turnips, turnip casserole, pickled beets, and her fried chicken. Holy crap- her fried chicken! 

Oma cooked every day at home, but she also cooked a lot for her church. She would always make her fried chicken for church. All the churchgoers would eat her fried chicken legs, sandwiched between two pieces of Wonderbread, picking out the bones along the way. That was a “chicken sandwich”! She’d also often make mac and cheese, fried porgies, collard greens, or potato salad for church. As young boys, we were always carrying huge trays of food. We used to joke that “if there’s a church open, Oma is in it! It doesn’t matter what religion; she just loves G_d, from whichever direction.”

Oma’s church was a storefront Evangelical church in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn (back when white people wouldn’t go to Brooklyn.) My brother and I would spend whole summers with her… in church. We called it the “Jump and Shout Church”. You’d get there at 10am and you’d get out at 11pm. All day long there was preaching, singing, organ music, people hollering, people fanning themselves, people passing out in the hot room. And, at the end of these marathon sessions there was food. All these churchgoers, quite literally living at the poverty line, would spend 11 hours thanking G_d for everything they had. And then the women would feed us their best dishes, made from almost nothing, but love. The strength of that community was through women– big, loving black women– and food.

Oma was all this. She was a force of nature. A deeply religious, devout woman, working every day of her life for her community. She held the family together. No one f***ed with her. She was very loving and caring, but also tough. She didn’t mess around. But, she was also always laughing. She’s the one that taught me about responsibility, about paying your bills, about taking care of your s**t. About giving back to the community, without any expectation of recognition. And…about eating and food. That was just who she was.

RØDGRØD MED FLØDE: DANISH COOKED RED BERRIES AND CREAM

Print Recipe

Votes: 2
Rating: 4
You:

Rate this recipe!

Ask any Dane what they think of when you say summer, and they will almost certainly respond with strawberries. Ask them about Danish summer desserts, and it will be Rødgrød med Fløde, a beloved, slightly thickened berry soup, served with a decadent amount of loose heavy cream. Anne makes different kinds of rødgrød at different points in the season, varying it according to the fruits that are ripe. Usually it’s strawberry and rhubarb in the early summer, and mixed berries with no rhubarb in the late summer. You can also make it at other times of the year, using frozen berries.

Ingredients

• 3/4 kg red berries (a combination of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries is lovely)
• 2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups filtered water
• 125 grams sugar + a couple of tablespoons, to sprinkle at the end
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with a few spoonfuls of cold water to make a slurry
• 1 cup heavy cream (add the amount of cream you like, to taste)

Servings: people

Instructions

1. Place the berries, water, sugar, and pinch of salt in a medium-large sized pot and bring to a boil.
2. Once at a boil, slowly whisk in the cornstarch slurry, adding a little at a time, until the consistency is that of a thick soup.
3. Take off the heat, cool for a minute, then pour into your serving bowl. Anne used a glass bowl, with a metal spoon in it, explaining that the presence of the metal prevents the glass from breaking.
4. Sprinkle a light layer of sugar on top of the berries and set aside to cool. Anne serves her rødgrød ice cold, with a hearty glug of heavy cream, to taste.

GLUTEN FREE Recipes

WINTER SQUASH SOUP WITH FENNEL AND CORIANDER

FRIKADELLER: DANISH MEATBALLS

ELIZABETH’S FRIED CHICKEN

RØDGRØD MED FLØDE: DANISH COOKED RED BERRIES AND CREAM

OMA’S MAC AND CHEESE

STRAWBERRIES WITH SUGAR AND ROSEWATER

CHICKEN SOUP WITH POACHED EGGS AND HERBS

ARMIDA’S STICKY TOMATO FRITTATA

ROASTED APPLES WITH HAZELNUT, BITTER CHOCOLATE, AND LEMON ZEST

FRAGOLE AL VINO

ROASTED LEEKS WITH EGGS AND OLIVES

BEEF RAGU