Domestication

November 14, 2012
Happy Birthday, Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (Former Superior General of the Society of Jesus)

Nothing is more practical than finding God; that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. 
Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything. Pedro Arrupe

Yesterday for lunch (and dinner, and lunch, and dinner, and probably lunch again) I made what I call the “Everything But the Kitchen Sink” Soup. Convenient, since I don’t actually have a kitchen sink. I’m sure you’ve made a similar one-pot concoction at desperate times. Its contents, in order of their addition: carrot, onion, celery, chicken broth, quinoa, white beans, peas & green beans (which I’m pretending were not poured out from cans,) mushrooms, and spinach.

Voila! 

You know, this is essentially the secret to Atwater’s success (my favorite Baltimore eatery.) Whatever they’ve got in stock that day gets turned into soup and sold for $4 a cup. (Of course, they wouldn’t dare put canned anything in their creations.) At that rate my Kitchen Sink soup could have racked up an easy $24! I’d probably need a more appealing name, though.

Making this "just throw in whatever" dish was a bit of a break-through for me. I tend to be a slave to recipes (the rule-follower half of me, which trades face time with the rebel half of me.) That has certainly helped me develop my baking skills for sure, but limited my general cooking skills. You have to be willing to bend the rules- and make up your own- if you want to be a great chef. Now, this soup is far from great chef material; but my ability to forego a plan and just go with the flow is a big step for me!

After lunchtime I intended to drop my veggie scraps into the compost bin, but saw that it was occupied:

 

That evening many of my companions here headed to the local ashram for Diwali, the annual Hindu Festival of Lights. The festival is outside. It’s like 30 degrees here. No offense.

As they departed I noticed a bunch of black bananas on the countertop- a thing of beauty to a baker’s eyes. I was delighted to see that Nada’s cookbook collection contained The Tassajara Bread Book. I glanced at this 1970-era gem at my sister’s house recently and made a mental note to spend more time with it one day.

This is a fairly typical banana bread recipe, as those without white sugar go; but as a whole, the book is a valuable tutorial for the novice bread-maker.

Banana Nut Bread

Makes 1 large loaf

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup white for the sake of the crowd)

1 t baking soda

½ cup oil

½ cup honey

1 grated lemon rind (didn’t have lemon rind)

2 beaten eggs

2 cups ripe banana pulp (I used 4 small bananas)

½ t salt

½ cup chopped nuts (omitted these for the nut-allergy here)

½ cup raisins, optional (also omitted these; I’ve never in my life put raisins in banana bread.)

Sift together flour and baking soda. Blend oil, honey and lemon rind until nearly smooth. Beat in eggs. Add sifted ingredients in three parts alternately with banana pulp, beating until smooth after each addition. Fold in chopped nuts. Place in greased loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for five minutes and then remove from pan onto cooling rack.