The Perfect Pantry

Ground turkey (Recipe: turkey-escarole soup)

The first of two posts this week featuring ground turkey and pasta, together in our favorite recipes.

When I was a child, I thought I was one of a kind -- the kind of person who loves chicken, but doesn't love turkey.

My mother indulged my taste in poultry, and instead of insisting I make a meal out of side dishes, for every holiday she'd cook two main courses. Turkey and brisket. Turkey and meatballs. Turkey and....

As I've grown older, my tastes have grown up. I still don't love roast turkey, but I love ground turkey and always have some in my freezer.

Homemade chicken stock (Recipe: black bean and peach soup)

My friends share many things.

Woodworking tools. Kayaks and fishing poles. Giant chili pots.

An electric knife sharpener.

A chipper-shredder that scares the daylights out of me whenever someone sticks a branch into it.

Currently, several friends are sharing a wicked head cold.

I'm making soup for everyone, starting with many quarts of chicken stock.

Sherry vinegar (Recipe: gazpacho)

Updated post, new photos, new recipe, new links.

 

Every time I sit down to write, I start singing.

She-e-e-e-e-e-e-ry ba-a-by (Sherry baby)
She-er-rry, can you come out tonight (Come come, come out toni-i-ight)

Now you'll be singing, too.

Of all the vinegars I've known -- and I've known a few -- the newest and oldest addition to my pantry is sherry vinegar, which comes not from Frankie Valli, but from the Guadalquivir River Valley, in Andalucia, Spain.

Red curry paste (Recipe: mussel stew)

Sometimes it takes a waiter with attitude to remind me of the value of a great pantry.

Last month, while visiting San Francisco, Ted and I and two of my favorite blogging friends went to dinner at the Fog City Diner, which has been a fixture on the dining scene since 1985.

We ordered a few different starters; I recall a tuna-avocado thing, and a nice salad with local greens. Ted chose a curried mussel stew, served with slices of baguette. While the other appetizers were good, the mussel stew was transcendent, and the four of us descended upon it until we'd dunked and devoured all of the bread and had to ask for more to mop up every bit.

When our waiter returned to clear the licked-clean soup bowl, we asked whether the chef would be willing to share the recipe.

Oh, it's not that hard, he replied. I'm sure you can figure it out.

And he walked away.

After a few seconds, we realized that no recipe would be forthcoming, but we agreed that yes, we surely could figure it out.

And so I returned to Rhode Island, to my well-stocked pantry, to extricate a can of coconut milk and my stash of red curry paste, for clearly those were the key ingredients in the mussel stew.

Star anise (Recipe: Vietnamese pho bo)

What's the difference between star anise and aniseed?

Are they two parts of the same plant?

Is one the seed of the other?

Do they taste alike?

And are they equally effective against the Evil Eye?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Balsamic vinegar (Recipe: mango-mint gazpacho)

You're not going to believe me when I tell you there is no balsamic vinegar in The Perfect Pantry.

Of course there is, you will say.

You write about balsamic vinegar all the time, you'll point out. And look at the label on the bottle. It says balsamic vinegar. Of Modena. It-a-ly.

You won't be wrong, exactly, but you won't be absolutely correct, either.

Chicken broth (Recipe: chilled asparagus soup)

When is store-bought chicken broth better than homemade chicken stock?

I know. The answer is supposed to be never.

Or is it?

Food blogging, and my ancestors' pantries (Recipe: chicken soup)

Guest post by Arlo from Ottawa

My first blog post was actually a letter I wrote to Lydia in autumn 2007, to thank her for helping me get through a difficult period in my life (loss of father, early winter depression, unemployment) and giving me the motivation to reclaim my lost pantry.

Now that I’m a more regular guest blogger here on The Perfect Pantry, I’m starting to understand the essence and appeal of food blogging -- not just the posting of recipes, but also the chance to engage with others who share similar interests and build a community, albeit via internet. I feel good when I can share tidbits of my life and my culture, and thoroughly enjoy reading the comments and following the links to individual related blog sites.

While I do not aspire to replicate, nor can I afford, many of the meals and restaurant fare that dominate some ‘foodie’ blogs, I truly enjoy having the staples, spices, herbs and condiments that can make a meal any place, any time, and in a wide range of conditions, at home or on the road.

My native North American heritage -- Cree and Dakota -- comes from a long line of nomadic people. Only in the last century have we become more sedentary. Before that, we moved with the various migratory and seasonal patterns of our food sources -- animals, birds, fish, and plant life.

Sesame oil (Recipe: squash and chicken soup)

The second of two posts about essential oils.

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

Sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you feel like a seed, which is just a nut without its hard shell.

Sometimes you feel like a seed that's been crushed and smooshed and toasted and pressed until the oil inside it dribbles out.

That's when you know how sesame oil feels.

Beans and corn (Recipe: Twisted Three Sisters Soup)

Today, Arlo joins The Perfect Pantry as our first guest blogger. Many of you remember her letters earlier this year. A wonderful and generous storyteller, Arlo writes from Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, and I'm delighted to welcome her. Watch for her posts once a month or so.

Guest post by Arlo from Ottawa

Years ago I was asked by my son’s school council if I had an Aboriginal recipe I could prepare for our first ever Stone Soup Café, a fundraising event that would sell the students' hand-decorated bowls and a range of parent- and restaurant-donated soups.

Being new to the Ottawa region at the time, I immediately called a friend who is indigenous to this territory and asked her how to make corn soup, a traditional fare at many eastern Native festivals and ceremonies. Sadly, she never really made the soup herself and didn’t know where I could buy white corn either. So that year I ended up making a venison stew, a popular feast dish in my home prairies. The following year I made Metis boullets, a meatball soup made every New Year’s Eve. This year, I was determined to succeed with Three Sisters Soup, a recipe that has been passed down since the time when corn, beans and squash were first planted.