Month: May 2009

From Matera, Italy: Bread Soup

olives and tree, schematic illustration

The hills near Matera, Italy stand brown and cragged against a cornflower-blue sky. For centuries their arid slopes defied nearly all attempts at cultivation; as a result, the inhabitants of Matera suffered the worst privation, such as living side-by-side with their livestock in caves. An 1878 guidebook describes Matera as “a dirty town [its] lower classes [being] the least civilized of the province of Basilicata.” But the farmers of Matera did manage to produce from the dry and rocky soil excellent wine and olive oil, and their traditional dishes reflect this meager but flavorsome yield.

Here is a recipe from the province of Basilicata for bread soup, a clever dish that turns day-old bread into a savory supper. Serve it with a green salad and red wine.

Bread Soup

9 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
4 eggs, well beaten
1/2 pound stale crusty Italian bread, crumbled or cut into squares
ground hot pepper
1 small bunch basil, chopped
1 pint (500 ml) water
Salt and pepper, to taste
Pecorino Romano cheese, to taste

Place crumbled bread in soup bowls. In a large soup pot, saute the garlic and ground hot pepper. Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for a few minutes, then stir in the basil and eggs. Pour soup over crumbled bread in soup bowls. Add salt and pepper and grated Pecorino Romano, if desired.

 
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A Gift from the Field: Dandelion Salad

Bright little dandelion,
Downy, yellow face,
Peeping up among the grass,
With such gentle grace;
Minding not the April wind
Blowing rude and cold,
Brave little dandelion
With a heart of gold.

With their pert yellow faces peering from amid clusters of jagged green leaves, dandelions are a distinctive flower. “You cannot forget it if you would those golden kisses all over the cheeks of the meadow, queerly called dandelions,” Henry Ward Beecher wrote in his delightful discourse on flowers. Belonging to the family of Compositae, the second largest family of flowering plants, dandelions are related to burdock, ragweed and the royal chrysanthemum. They are hardy plants, seemingly impervious to assault by rodents and grubs. They are also deceptively intricate: Each dandelion bears the weight of over two-hundred tiny blossoms, which eventually turn to the gentle puffs of fuzzy seeds beloved by children and lovelorn romantics.

dandelion, schematic illustration


Dandelion leaves make for a number of toothsome meals. They grow in abundance in fields and lawns. Gather dandelions before the flowerbud has attained any great size and serve them in a salad, as they have a pleasant bitter flavor when raw. Germans serve them with warm bacon fat, but a splash of olive oil and lemon is more refreshing. Here is a 1908 recipe for dandelion salad, a supposedly potent springtime tonic for the blood.

Dandelion Salad

Rub a salad bowl with a clove of garlic slightly bruised. Cut a small leek into thin rings and place in the salad bowl. Add a dash of English mustard, salt, pepper and a tablespoon of French wine vinegar. Drop by drop, add some French [or olive] oil, up to 2 tablespoons. Mix together. Add a hard cooked egg, cut in slices. Last of all, add the dandelion leaves, about four cups. Toss with the other ingredients. Serve with a crusty white bread.

 
Why Fast and Fermented Foods by Christine Baumgarthuber

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From Caernarvonshire: Thin Welsh Barley Cakes

A cottage on earth, and a castle in air,
And Diana Mereryd’s white apron shall wear,
And bake barley bread to a tender song
Of Love in a cottage, that always was young.

The old Welsh rhyme “Bara Haidd” (“Barley Bread”) celebrates the central role barley played in the lives of the Welsh peasantry, who valued it for its ability to withstand cold weather and rocky soil. In the mountainous region of Caernarvonshire, the peasantry lived almost exclusively on barley, buttermilk, oats, cheese and potatoes.

Violent storms, however, prevented the widespread cultivation of barley. Farmers would plant their crop only to have it decimated by the region’s merciless winds; half the country then remained as meadows and wastelands.

Life was difficult in mountainous Caernarvonshire. During the summer months, the peasantry herded their sheep and small cattle to wild and solitary uplands lined with walls of dry stone, which were used to mark the boundaries of a particular grazing area. The stone for these walls was carried by the peasants up the steep sides of the lofty mountains — a dangerous and tiresome business.

The region’s homes were also built of stone, with deep-set windows containing only a single pane. Moss plugged the thick walls of these simple cottages, which were sometimes drafty and cold. But their warm, roomy chimney corners offered a cozy retreat during winter nights when fires fed on peat moss blazed in the cottage fireplace.

Snowdon highest mountain in Wales UK Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales

The longevity of the inhabitants of these mountainous regions was attributed to their simple diets. Here is an 1867 recipe for barley cakes from a Welsh hermit (Meudwy) of ancient lineage who lived in a cell cut out of a rock opposite the Well of St. Gover. His diet, like that of the Caernarvonshire peasants, was austere but wholesome.

Thin Welsh Barley Cakes

Mix fine barley meal and milk together to the consistency of batter, and pour slowly on the bake-stone out of a jug until it has formed a circle the size of a small plate, then let it bake slowly. It ought to be very thin but soft, like a pancake or a pikelate; it is likewise eaten with cold butter.

 
Why Fast and Fermented Foods by Christine Baumgarthuber

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