From The Kitchen - Feed The Soul

FROM THE KITCHEN FEED THE SOUL

A FALL STEW BY ADAM AVARITT

My grandfather was a Southern preacher. In a little town on the edge of the Arkansas Ozarks he pastored a small country church; his congregation consisted mostly of family and friends. Throughout the summer months during the 60s and 70s the church would gather school supplies, clothing, and money. Come fall the youth group would pile into the old school bus that my grandfather had converted into an RV and travel the 1,500 miles to Nayarit, Mexico. There they would help to build churches, a few of which are thriving to this day. They would give the supplies and money to the local churches to disburse as they saw fit. At some point in the 1960s, during his first trip across the American Southwest, my grandfather fell in love with Arizona. Something about the people and landscapes drew him in. I was exposed to it when I came across his boxes of Arizona Highways. I would show him an article I was reading and ask him if he had been there or seen this. He would go into great detail describing the incredible things he had seen while traveling through the Southwest. To me, Arizona wasn’t just a different state, but a different world. Growing up in the sultry verdant South I was in awe of the Grand Canyon, the old ghost towns, rodeos, and cowboys, cacti and coyotes. Arizona was Bisbee and Tombstone and Monument Valley. Horseshoe Bend and Havasupai Falls. It was a world I had seen only in magazines and it represented the Old West that was still thriving. Last year I was living in southern Louisiana when some childhood friends called me. They asked if I would be interested in moving to Arizona to help with their business. My answer was yes. A quick and enthusiastic yes! As an adult I had experienced this place and fallen just as in love with it as my grandfather had. I saw the pictures come to life; it was a life-changing experience. I grew up in a family and culture that loves food, cooking and eating. I enjoy cooking. I love feeding people. I was somewhat concerned with how the cooking that I do would translate to an entirely different food culture. The ingredients were so different. I worried for nothing. I don’t cook fancy meals, but I do prepare them with love; for the dish itself and the people I feed. It’s low-cost ingredients but cooked with attention and love —food for working people. Something to feed the belly and the soul, which in the South we call soul food. By now, I’ve learned that it’s all the same. No matter what region of the country, no matter the ingredients, it’s all the same. For years I cooked in restaurants, many of them in the delta region of

Arkansas, birthplace of the blues and soul food. Not a bad gig if you can get it. This recipe is a staple where I’m from. Turnips are known for high nutritional value and lots of flavor. The greens are chock full of Vitamins K, A, and C, foliate, copper, manganese, fiber, calcium and many more. They taste good, too. There are a thousand different ways to cook this dish; this is just the way I do it. The beauty of it is that the recipe lends itself to experimentation: you can add coconut milk and fish for a Caribbean flavor, make a minestrone out of it, make cornmeal dumplings and put it in the broth (also known as potlikker) or serve it mixed with rice and black-eyed peas for a traditional new years dish known as Hoppin’ John. The possibilities are endless. And as Jacques Pepin says, “Food always tastes better when you eat it with the people you love.”

ADAMS SOUTHERN SOUL STEW:

INGREDIENTS: 2 bunches of mixed Greens, chiffonade (I like to use a combination of mustard, turnip, and collard greens)

2 Onions, chopped ( You can use white, yellow or red.)

Turnips, Chopped (I love turnips so I put as many as I can fit.)

Garlic, minced

Red Peper Flakes (1-2 Tablespoons)

White Vinegar (Start with 1/2 cup)

Protein (We typically use smoked ham hock, pork neck, or even smoked turkey necks, but really any meat works. Put as much as you want and will fit in the pot)

Water (It’ll become the stock)

Salt/Pepper (To taste)

KITCHEN TOOLS: Cutting board Large kitchen knife 8 qt stock pot / dutch oven

GET COOKING:

1. Rinse greens and turnips thoroughly. 2. Put ham hock, garlic, and red pepper flakes into pot and fill with water-about three or four inches above the meat. 3. Set pot on medium-high heat and cover. 4. Roll single bunch of greens into a tight tube, like rolling a cigar, and chop greens into pieces no wider than finger width. Chop greens along the width the other way; they don’t have to be perfect, but you do want a good chop on them. 5. Place half of the greens into pot; wilt to make room for second half. 6. Add chopped onions and turnips to the covered pot. 7. Add more water, about 3 or 4 inches above the greens. 8. Pour in the vinegar and stir slowly throughout. 9. Cook on medium heat for 1 hour. 10. Nourish your belly and soul!

COOKING TIP: You can cook the ingredients on the stove over medium heat for one hour. But to get the optimal flavor I like to cook them in my Dutch oven for at least 2 hours at 350 degrees. This gives such a great radiant heat to them and the ham hocks will literally melt off the bone. About halfway through I’ll take them out of the oven and add water. Ideally the stock will have acquired a darkish green tint. The turnips and onions will melt in your mouth and the vinegar will have taken the bitterness out of the greens.