The readers of this Babz Bites love to eat real food. Food that represents the Ohio River Valley and isn’t just the same commercialized something that can be found any place. Our community is special and it shows in how we eat, where we eat and what we eat.
As a river valley community the Appalachian foothills add a unique culinary touch to our kitchen tables. Our gardens grow in different directions but along the same river. This can be attributed to the variety of heritage and backgrounds the people of the river valley stem from. Our area has always been an artistic enclave harvesting its own renaissance and flavors. We don’t just create, we pull-up an extra chair to our table.
Give the second half of the Best Bites of 2024 a look, and maybe a taste. Let me know if there is
something you’d like to explore together next year!
Good luck and happy New Year!
July
Roasted chicken with sumac, olives and lemon
4 chicken leg quarters
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red onion, sliced
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons sumac powder
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 Meyer lemon, thinly sliced
1/4 cup pitted green olives and brine
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
8 ounces water (or chicken stock)
Salt to taste
Flat-leaf parsley
Pat chicken legs dry and marinate with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, olives and with brine,
spices, lemon juice and pomegranate molasses. Let sit for a couple of hours. Preheat the oven to
375 degrees. Heat a Dutch oven or large cast iron pan and add remaining oil. Add onions and
cook until they just start to brown. Add the crushed garlic and continue to cook until just brown.
Add chicken, skin side up, along with pine nuts and enough liquid to cover the bottom of the
pan. Place in the oven for 45 minutes to one hour or until chicken is cooked to 165 degrees.
Finish with a liberal amount of freshly chopped parsley. Serve with a bright-green salad, roasted
potatoes and thick yogurt with za’atar.
August
Norma’s Old-Fashioned Peach Cobbler
From the kitchen of Norma Linville.
“I like that it uses very little refined sugar, but uses apple juice instead,” said Norma, who credits The Healthy Heart Cookbook she was given in 1983, with the recipe.
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup unsweetened apple juice
10 cups sliced fresh peaches
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
½ cup sugar
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp almond extract
½ cup all-purpose flour
⅛ tsp salt
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp margarine
1 to 1 ½ Tbsp cold water
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Vegetable cooking spray
Fresh mint sprig (optional)
Combine cornstarch and ¼ apple juice; stir well, and set aside.
Combine peaches, 1 cup apple juice, sugar, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg in a Dutch oven. Bring to a boil;
cover, reduce heat, and simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until peaches are tender. Stir in reserved
cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat,
and stir in almond extract.
Let cool.
Combine ½ cup flour, salt, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg in a medium bowl; cut in margarine with a pastry
blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle cold water, 1 Tbsp at a time, over surface;
stir with a fork just until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape dough into a ball.
Sprinkle 1 Tbsp flour evenly over work surface. Roll dough to an 8-inch square floured surface;
cut into ½-inch strips.
Spoon peach mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange
pastry strips lattice-style over peach mixture. Seal pastry to edge of dish. Bake at 425 degrees for
20 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is bubbly. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig, if
desired. Serve warm.
September
Pawpaw Lassi
Created by the chefs at Casa Nueva Restaurant in Athens, Ohio. Winner of “Best Drink” at the
1999 Ohio Pawpaw Festival.
Makes about six cups.
½ cup water
4 cups plain yogurt
⅔ cup honey
½ tsp salt
1 cup pawpaw pulp
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Blend together all ingredients until smooth. Serve cold.
October
Roast Carrot & Coconut Soup
Serves 4-6
One of my favorite tools in the kitchen as of late is the immersion blender. If you don't have one,
treat yourself because it is well worth it and the clean up is even easier.
8 large carrots, just chopped not skinned
1 large sweet potato, or 2 small
2 small white potatoes
5 large cloves garlic
2 medium onion
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons turmeric, ground
1 can coconut milk
1 cup water
In a large pan, add olive oil, garlic and onions to medium heat. After about 3 minutes, add
carrots and potatoes. Cover pot to allow moisture to remain. Every few minutes stir so that
veggies do not stick to the bottom of the pan.
After all the veggies are thoroughly cooked, turn off the burner. The veggies will be soft and
will probably begin to mush up when you stir them. This will probably take about 30
minutes.
If you have an immersion blender, stick it in the pot and blend veggies. If not, add half of the
veggies to a blender with half the portions included in this recipe for water, coconut milk,
and turmeric. Blend. Do this one more time with the remaining veggies and portions.
Pour blended mix into a crock pot if you want to keep things at a slow cooking heat to serve
or a large pot. I prefer the crockpot because it allows me to make this hours before serving.
Soup may also be put into a storage container and placed in the fridge or freezer to eat at a
later time.
Dill and rosemary make a lovely garnish, but if you have time make some bacon and dice it up
then roll in brown sugar. Even try sprinkling a little Asiago on the brown sugar bacon. It really
makes a delicious treat for guests.
November
Tibetan Autumn Soup (Thenthuk)
Traditionally, Thenthuk would be made with meat, but the nuns in India eat a vegetarian diet.
This is a meat-optional recipe. Thenthuk is one particular kind of Tibetan noodle soup. Its name
means pull-noodle soup.
Serves 2-4
Noodle Dough
1 heaping cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water, room temperature
1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp oil
Broth
2 or 3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger, finely minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped into thin strips
1 large tomato, roughly chopped
4 to 5 cups vegetable or other stock
2 green/spring onions, chopped
cilantro, a few sprigs, roughly chopped
handful of spinach
soy sauce or salt to taste
Noodle Instructions
In a bowl, combine the dough ingredients, mix well and then knead for 4 minutes. Cover and
leave to stand for 5 minutes. Roll or flatten out the dough and cut into long strips and then make
the broth.
Soup Instructions
In a large pot on medium heat, sauté garlic, ginger, and onion in oil for 1 minute. Add carrots
and tomato and gently sauté for one minute. Add most of the stock and bring to a boil. Adjust the
amount of stock later depending on the soup to noodle ratio you prefer.
Put the noodle in the soup by draping the strips over your hand and tearing off pieces of about an
inch in size, throwing them into the boiling soup. Cook for 2 minutes until the noodles are
cooked and the stock is boiling. Add the chopped green onions, cilantro, and spinach and cook
for about 30 seconds. Season with soy sauce or salt. Serve immediately.
December
Hot Cranberry Drink
Delicious Suggestion: Add Bourbon & garnish with lemon slices & or Rosemary sprigs
6-8 cups
1 tbsp whole cloves
3 2-inch cinnamon sticks, broken
2 cups cranberry juice cocktail
2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice
1/3 light brown sugar
Put liquids and brown sugar in the bottom of the percolator. Put spices on top of the
percolator. Perk 10 minutes. Serve in hot punch cups garnished. Do not pour hot punch into a
glass punch bowl. If it’s too hot, it will break.
