One Busy Week…It was all about the Food

I have had one busy week. The best thing about it was that it was all about the food. I got to not only experience food but also share my passions about it. I guess any week that I can do what I love, no matter how busy it is, is a good week. I got to cook at High Hog Farms, teach children about diversity, faith, food and fasting and I did a demo at the Monroe Farmers Market.  Yeah I know a lot of work and hecka busy but I love what I do…now.

Once a month I cook for my friends’ , Warren & Keisha Cameron, at their High Hog Farm. Twice a month they host what is known as a farm day, where people can come help out on the farm and learn a few things about farming. If you didn’t know let me tell you now I am a city girl. I grew up in New York. Even though my Dad grew a lovely garden in our backyard that I helped out with,nowadays I really would rather cook the stuff that they raise, than help with the actual plants and animals.

It just so happened that my Saturday at the farm was just before Juneteenth, the celebration of African-American slaves learning of the Emancipation Proclamation, that had been signed nearly 2 and a half years earlier. Keisha asked if I could make something that would have traditional done for the celebration. In researching I learned so many things and came to appreciate some of the things I have come to take for granted in my kitchen. The simplicity of cooking.  With that came our menu, Senegalese Chicken Peanut Soup with Roasted Corn and Green Chili Cornbread. I found 2 recipes that I was drawn to only choosing one over the other because of time restraints but including some items from the second to help build depth of flavor. To say the least it was well received. The plus was being able to use fresh ingredients from the farm like onions and chicken they killed & cleansed the day before. It was such a memorable meal. You can find the recipe here . Please note that I included unsweetened coconut milk, the kind you find in the can. I also used the entire chcken and not just legs and thighs.

That Monday following my time at the farm I created my take on hoecakes in honor of Juneteenth. It was a simple cornbread recipe that I cooked on a griddle . It was to replicate how they were to have been made during slavery times. Stories have it that they were to have been made to cook on the metal part of a hoe, which isn’t factual. In actuality they were cooked on a griddle, also known as a hoe. Thus the name hoecakes.

A hoecake is cornbread made minimalist- a thin, unleavened round made from the simplest batter (cornmeal, water and salt), crisp at the edges, glistening on both sides from the fat it was fried in, golden in patches. Inside, it’s dense but creamy, a foil for its best partners- creamed corn, silky braised greens, honey. A hoecake should be sturdy enough to work as a shovel for whatever is on the plate, but delicate enough to be appealing on it’s own.

By that definition my hoecakes were a bit of a fraud but I plan to tackle making some more authentic ones on another day.

My take on Hoecakes

From Monday to Wednesday I worked on menus for potential clients, creating visions through food. Then Thursday was another big day for me. I was asked to discuss diversity and similarity through faith and food with a group of young people. Fasting unites us all. How? You see every night we fast until our next meal, breakfast. Or the breaking of the fast. With that thought we explored the similarities between faiths in regards to fasting and feasting at it’s end. Christians have Lent ending with Easter Dinner, Muslims have Ramadan ending with Eid al-Fitr and Jews have Passover and the Seder supper. We could have gone on with more but they started to see how alike we are even in our differences. And of course we had to end with breaking bread, literally every child broke a piece of naan with me to show our camaraderie.

My week ended with me doing a food demo at the Monroe Farmers Market. Yes I was back to teaching the masses again. This time in the midst of fresh fruits and veggies and under a lovely white tent. It was all good until the rain decided to stop by. Know this, rain can’t stop me from cooking. even with the rain thinning out the crowd and vendors starting to pack up I still managed a good group and continued on with what I do best…cook. I know the next question is where’s the recipe? Well next blog post will have all the details on how to make zucchini fritters.

Busy weeks are the best for making memories. With the week I had you know I have plenty of memories. Now it’s your turn. Tell me about your busy week and what memories you’ve made.

Until next time.

~The Chef In Pearls