Eating On The Wild Side: Harvest Sweet Goldenrod Fritters

Fall is the time for showy goldenrods to bloom.  Many wrongly think that the blossoms not only cause allergies, but that they are not edible.  On the allergy front, goldenrod is a bee pollinated plant, not an open pollinating one, so they do not cause nasal allergies; they get blamed because they happen to bloom at the same time as ragweed blooms.  There are many, many kinds of goldenrod, from all over the country (for a complete list see Wikipedia), in fact of the 75 or so species of the flower, ALL are native to the North American continent.  The blossoms, stalks and upper stems have long been used to brew a tea (or tisane) that is both light and delicious (especially if brewed from Sweet Goldenrod), but it also has medicinal properties as well; it's a great tea for someone who has a Tzompilli (cold).  These same parts of the plant, when dried, also goes into smoking mixture.  This is my own recipe, using fresh goldenrod blossoms, but dried ones can easily be substituted, in fact some herbal outlets sell the dried blooms, if you don't want to or can't gather them yourself (Mountain Rose Herbs is one company that sells them).

Goldenrod Sweet Fritters:

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup goldenrod blossoms

1/2 cup self-rising flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch Salt

1/2 to 2/3 cup sweet milk

1 egg

1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground allspice (may substitute Apple Pie Spice)

Oil for deep frying

Confectioners sugar to top

1.  Mix all dry ingredients together.

2.  Mix milk and egg and beat into the dry ingredients.  Fold in goldenrod blossoms and drop by spoonful into hot oil.  Fry until golden and drain well.  Top with confectioners sugar and serve.  Also great drizzled with wildflower honey or maple syrup.

Hospital Pumpkins

Apologies to all..but I'm a woman who gave birth naturally.  It's a bit scary--so Halloween appropriate.  

Green Chile Relleno Salad

Green chile harvest season starts in August, but really gets going through late September thru to late October.  Industrial quantities of them get roasted in the cooling temperatures of approaching fall in rotatable wire baskets everywhere in the desert southwest.  I live in the southeastern US, so I have only been to one green chile roasting, but the can assure that the aroma of it is utterly unforgettable.  Green chiles get roasted for all kinds of culinary reason, including storage in a deep freeze; however, the one dish that is most often the reason for the roasted chile(s) in the first place are Chiles Rellenos (or Stuffed Peppers).  One unusual way to present this very native Mexican dish is in the form of a salad.  This particular recipe comes from yet another seasonal cookbook, this time authored by the queen of Tex-Mex cuisine herself:  Jane Butel.  The book is Fiestas For Four Seasons.  I suggest making the dressing well ahead of time; it tastes better if it sits for several hours.

Green Chile Rellenos Salad

4 large green chiles, parched and peeled

4 oz. or more of Montrachet, other goat cheese or cream cheese

Salsa Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

1.  Place the chiles on a cutting board and with a very sharp knife, slice the bottom 2/3's of the each chile, cutting down from about 2 inches below the stem to create "petal" about 1/4 of an inch wide that will be more pointed on each tip. (Leave the stems on and the tops whole).

2.  Divide the cheese into 4 equal logs, stuffing each chile with the cheese.  Chill salad plates at this time.

Salsa Vinaigrette

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup Fresh Garden Salsa (see below) or your own personally favorite salsa

1.  Simply mix all ingredients together.  [Better if it sits]

Fresh Garden Salsa

2 cups canned whole, good quality tomatoes, drained and chopped

1/3 cup finely diced, fresh red tomatoes, unpeeled

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 tbsp. finely diced sweet or white onion

2 tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 tsp. minced flat-leaf parsley

1 1/4 tsp. sea or kosher salt

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup water (my note:  best is really cold!)

1 tbsp. pickled jalapeno juice

2 tbsp. minced chives

1 small jalapeno, minced (fresh or pickled)

2 New Mexican green chiles, parched, peeled and diced

   or diced canned green chiles

1/3 cup diced green bell pepper

1/4 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. Mexican oregano

1/4 tsp. cumin

1.  Put all ingredients in a glazed pottery or glass bowl and toss to blend completely.

2.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Pumpkins Of The Day: Science Fiction Pumpkins

These are some cool pumpkins that are based on Sci-Fi themes from around the web.  Pumpkins are, of course, native to the Americas.  Over at the Scare Me On Fridays blog the second day of the Countdown to Halloween in an all Science Fiction fest.

Harvest Recipe: Hickory Smoked Bluefish Pate

October sees the beginning of the bluefish run; they start their run in early October and it continues deep into the fall's first cold weather.  Having surf fished this run myself many times, I can personally attest that in some places, especially toward the middle and end of October, you barely have to put your hook in the water to catch one; that is most especially true for southern waters along the Atlantic coast.  These oil, dark, rich fleshed fish have been prized native food for thousands of years.  In the olden times, what wasn't eaten fresh, cook on wooden "grills," was dry smoked and saved for winter.  Hickory trees (of which pecans are a member) are a family of trees that grow in the eastern woodlands in great abundance.  Not only do they provide food in the form nuts, but the wood has a distinctive sweet aroma that provided the perfect wood to smoke over; this is especially true for smoking oily fish of all sorts (since the the bluefish eat herring, it is the herring that the bluefish actually follow, the herring run occurs at the same time as the bluefish run--herring are also excellent smoked over hickory).  This recipe comes from E. Barrie Kavasch's (Chicamagua Cherokee/Powhaton/Mukogee Creek/English/German/Scotch-Irish) important seasonal Native American cookbook Enduring Harvests.  The recipe assumes that you will purchase the bluefish already smoked, but if you are enterprising, you can smoke the fish yourself.  This recipe is excellent with all manner of smoked fish, especially smoked trout; so use whatever kind of smoked fish that you like.  As Ms. Kavasch suggests, if you are going to smoke your own fish, then slice some mushrooms and place around the edges of the smoker to dry for chips.  Other good things that she suggests are pieces of squash or pumpkin (my note:  these are actually great in stews!).   If you want to actually fish for them, just be aware that they have a mouth of razor sharp teeth!

Hickory Smoked Bluefish Pate

1 cup smoked Bluefish, trout or other smoked fish
1 tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice
8 ounces cream cheese or Neufchatel, at room temperature
2 oz. butter , at room temperature
2 tsp. grated horseradish
1 tsp. dill seed, crushed
1 tsp. fresh dill greens, finely chopped
2 oz. green onion (scallions) or wild onions, finely diced
Salt and pepper to taste

1.  In a mixing bowl, break apart the fish with a fork; then one by one completely incorporate the next ingredients as listed.

2.  Turn the finished mixture into glass or other pottery bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight (even better, keep for two days).

3.  To serve, place the bowl on a large platter or in a large basket.  Surround with mushroom chips (my note:  which can be made in a low temp oven if you don't smoke your own fish), [good quality] corn chips and sprigs of fresh watercress and cilantro.  

Note:  this is also great on any type of cracker.

HAPPY HARVEST AND HALLOWEEN SEASON!

Pumpkins Of The Day

Welcome to this year's Countdown To Halloween on this and tons of other blogs!  Here is the first Halloween pumpkin post for the year.  I'm Semetra and I will be posting harvest and Halloween related stuff as they both relate to Native American food throughout the month.  I have two other blogs participating in this year's countdown:  Silent Wierdness and over at Scare Me On Fridays, we are indulging in Classic Monster Movies today, hence this cool photo here.

Native American Music Awards Tonight!

Frustratingly I haven't had enough free time to blog anything here about food this spring.  With the end of the school year coming up, the home schooling is top priority.  We also have had long distance relatives visit and a storage from moving to clear out this spring (I just love moving dusty boxes!).  I hope to get back to some blogging later in the month.  In the mean time, please check out the Native American Music Awards this evening.  They are being streamed live from Niagara on NAMA website.  Hosting this year is Anishinabe (Ojibwe) comedian Don Kelly from Ottawa.  The late Russel Means (Lakota) is to be inducted into the Native American Music Hall Of Fame.  The awards show is actually to hand out awards for the year 2012.  The show was postponed from last fall due to extensive damages by Hurricane Sandy.  A few featured performers include Radmilla Cody, Big River Cree, Jana (Mashonee) and the second generation southern rockin' Blackfoot.  Additionally, a living legend award will be given to Nelly Furtado.  The whole thing kicks off @ 8 PM EDT.  Meanwhile, over at my Scare Me On Fridays blog, we celebrating all day with Native American actresses in horror film.  We are also celebrating that it is Mother's Day today in Mexico!  Here is a video from Jana (Lumbee/Tuscarora) from a few years back.