Witchy Kitchen

Tag: magical realism

  • Cazuela Blanca

    Cazuela Blanca

    The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende is a poignant and whimsical story of a family, told in beautiful rolling prose. The story unfolds across generations and across Chile, from Santiago to the countryside at the family’s estate, the Trés Marias, where they spend their summers and the daughter, Blanca, feels most at home.

    Their traditional first night dinner is cazuela de ave, consequently the national dish of Chile. It’s a soupy stew, very unfussy with the chicken still on the bone and the corn still on the cob. It’s lightly seasoned and intensely homey and comforting. This version is vegetarian, using cannellini beans in place of chicken. With the white beans, white sweet corn, and potatoes, it’s light and bright, and named for the character that loves it most. Cazuela feels as warm and familiar as curling up with the book.

    Cazuela Blanca

    • olive oil
    • 1 white onion, sliced (halve first, then cut the halves into thirds so the slices aren’t crazy long)
    • salt and white pepper (black pepper is fine)
    • 3 cloves garlic, grated
    • 8 cups vegetable broth (optional, I create more umami by simmering a piece of kombu with the broth and removing at the end)
    • 2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed
    • 4 ears white corn, peeled, cleaned, and cut into thirds
    • 1 pound potatoes, peeled and cubed
    • 1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cubed
    • garnish: hot sauce, cilantro, parsley

    Heat a couple tablespoons olive oil, and cook onion with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper until translucent and just starting to color. Add garlic and cook for a minute or so, then add vegetable broth, stirring to make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom. Add beans and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add corn, potatoes and butternut squash and check seasoning, adding more salt if necessary. Simmer until potatoes and butternut squash are very soft but not falling apart.

    Serve hot over rice or with crusty bread, sprinkled with herbs and with a dash of hot sauce.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 59: THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS & MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER in which Carrie and Diana discuss pastries, country food, bland translations, pretty edible flowers, and elaborate picnics!

  • Lemony White Bean Hummus

    Lemony White Bean Hummus

    My 9 year old, Zoeya, has snapped up all thirteen novels in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and all of us in our family are fans of Netflix’s adaptation which I have dubbed the NPH Show (Neil Patrick Harris’s murderous Count Olaf is exquisite).

    Being a bit of a smartypants herself, Zoeya loves the too-clever children Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire and their counterplots to escape Count Olaf’s clutches. I myself love the Victorian gothic undertones, creepier elements, and fun quirky appearances of actors I love. Joan Cusack is an adorable Justice Strauss in the first two episodes which essentially cover the first book in the series, The Bad Beginning.

    Justice Strauss lives in the charming and bright house next to Count Olaf’s dark and dilapidated manor. Although she is an example of one of the adults that fail the children over and over again, her flaw being ridiculous and extreme pedanticism, she is kind and has their best interest at heart. She returns from the store at one point saying she has the ingredients for white bean hhhummus (over-enunciated with some hocking from the epiglottis).

    Inspired by this, I pulled back my hair Violet Baudelaire-style and made a very lemony (pun intended) version of white bean hhhummus with rosemary as charming and bright as Justice Strauss’s house, served with baguette which we can see in her grocery sack as well as crunchy veggies which biting baby Sunny is partial to. It’s very “festive”, a word which here means “fun” (narrator wink).

    Lemony White Bean Hummus

    • 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans (or one can, rinsed)
    • 1/4 cup tahini
    • zest and juice of 1 lemon
    • 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
    • 3 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed and roughly chopped (you could also use other herbs such as parsley or thyme, or a combination)
    • salt & pepper to taste
    • 1/4 cup olive oil (plus a little for garnish)

    In a food processor, combine white beans, tahini, lemon juice and zest, garlic, rosemary, and a generous pinch salt and pepper until well combined. While still running, drizzle in olive oil. Check seasoning and adjust if necessary.

    Serve drizzled with a little olive oil with toasted baguette or pita and crunchy veggies.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 54: A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS in which Carrie and Diana discuss the first four lamentable books in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events in relation to the grievous new Netflix show. We talk putrid puttanesca, crummy coconut cake, cumbersome cucumber soup, and tragic chewing gum. You’ve been warned. We’re sure there are more uplifting things you could be listening to, so feel free to turn away now.

  • Prune Kouign Amann

    Prune Kouign Amann

    This month’s Fandom Foodies theme, hosted by The Hungry Bookworm, is Magical Realism, one of my favorite genres of fiction – and let’s be honest, the one I wish I was living in. Find lots of magical realism dishes using #MagicalRealFood.

    Amélie is an adorably quirky film, one of my favorites of all time. Romantic and twee, and even a bit dark at times, it’s a movie for dreamers – and times are hard for dreamers.

    In a sweetly heartbreaking scene, Amélie does what a lot of us do when miserable which is sad-baking. For her that means her famous plum cake. I never really knew what her plum cake was supposed to be, only that it was a yeast cake which seemed interesting and unusual. On latest viewing I dug into it a little and was introduced to kouign amann, a cake from Brittany, that is made with a yeast dough, and then folded and rolled into layers of butter and sugar, then baked until it is nice caramelized. With all the folding and layering, there’s opportunity for fillings, such as chocolate, cinnamon, jam, or fresh fruit.

    For my first try, this wasn’t bad. Lessons to take away:

    • It was a little dense, so next time I might try my pizza dough method, which is to add the flour gradually until it juuuuuust makes a dough, rather than add it all at once.
    • Also, as you can see, caramelization is good, but there’s always too much of a good thing – I’ve complained before about my oven running hot (and yet, forgot to check how things were going along the way), so my cake got veeeery caramelized, and even a little burnt in spots. Next time I’ll lower the heat a bit and babysit it a little better.
    • Finally, as plums are not in season I used plum preserves, which was definitely tasty, but a little messy as it leaked out of the dough, onto my counters, and into the oven as well (I had to slide a sheet pan underneath to catch the drips). While this is still a legit version, I’m excited to try it with fresh fruit, so that’s the plan come July or August.

    Amelie’s Famous Plum Cake (Prune Kouign Amann)

    Rather than transcribe the entire recipe, I’m just going to link to David Leibovitz’s as I pretty much did that exactly, and he has very detailed instructions as well as pictures along the way (the folding pattern can get a little confusing without a visual).

    The only thing I did differently was replacing one of the 1/4 cups of sugar with several tablespoons of plum preserves. Again, just a note, that you may have to adjust temperature and cooking time to your oven.

    Recipe for Kouign Amann

    This dish was first posted for Fiction Kitchen Episode 38: AMELIE in which Carrie and Diana discuss the 2001 French film in which times are hard for dreamers, but things work out ok. Plus, cherry earrings, cracking crème brûlée, plum cake, endives, and scribbles for nibbles.