Eggplant with MInt

This eggplant dish is perfect as an antipasto, party food, a summer side dish or to take on a picnic. All the flavors work well together - garlic, mint, a bit of vinegar for tartness and of course the earthiness of the eggplant. Easy to make a looks cool on a serving plate. Here's how you do it - 

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant 

Oil for frying (all olive oil or 2/3 olive oil/ 1/3 canola oil)

2 cloves of garlic chopped

10 fresh mint leaves chopped

White wine vinegar

Thinly sliced hot chili to taste

3 - 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 tbsp coarse breadcrumbs

Kosher salt

Process: 

Peel a little of the skin off the eggplant and cut the eggplant lengthwise into pieces about 3“x 1”.
Put the pieces in a colander and sprinkle with Kosher salt

Let them sit in the colander for about half an hour.

Wash off the salt and dry the eggplant pieces on paper towels.

Fry the eggplant pieces in about ¼ inch of oil until browned. Don’t crowd the pan – fry in batches. 

Let drain on paper towels, then put on a serving plate

In a bowl, mix the extra virgin olive oil and the garlic together and drizzle over the eggplant pieces.

Sprinkle the mint, chili, white wine vinegar, a little salt and bread crumbs over the eggplant.

Serve at room temperature.

Seed Bombs - Creative Help for the Declining Honey Bee Population

Seed "Bombs"

It is very clear that there has been a major decline in the honeybee population. As an avid vegetable gardener I am very concerned.

Just a little background that many of you already have some familiarity with. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is the mysterious abrupt disappearance of worker bees from the bee colony. During the past 20 years, beekeepers around the world have observed this mysterious and sudden disappearance of bees, and unusually high rates of decline in honeybee colonies. These kinds of disappearances are not new and have occurred throughout the history of beekeeping. In the past they were known by various names - disappearing disease, spring dwindle, May disease, autumn collapse. More recently the syndrome was renamed colony collapse disorder in light of this drastic rise in the number of disappearances of western honeybee colonies in North America and Europe.  

Colony collapse disorder is significant economically and effects all of us because so many agricultural crops are pollinated by honey bees. The whys and hows of CCD and the reasons for its increasing prevalence remain unclear and controversial. Many possible causes have been proposed: pesticides, primarily neonicotinoids; infections with varroa mites; malnutrition; various pathogens;  genetic factors; loss of habitat; changing beekeeping practices; or a combination of these.

One simple way we can help is to increase pollinator habitat by planting native wildflower seeds all over the place. Check out this video showing what the company that makes Seedles, has done. Seedles are wild flower seeds encased in clay balls made of seed bombs. that can be hand broadcast and This company -

Aerial Seed Bombing

Here are links to a few resources that show a simple way we can help that is much more than just a symbolic gesture with no substance - you are actually doing something constructive.

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/nature-and-technology/save-the-honeybee-sterilize-the-earth-pollination-industrial-complex-95566/

http://growtherainbow.com/

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/diy-seed-bombs

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/edb1/

Adventures in DNA Analysis - Discovering Our Ancient Origins

This will be a departure from the usual food and garden posts but it does fit in very well with "good stuff for the soul". Lisa and I thought it would be interesting to get our DNA tested to explore our genealogical make up. Maybe you’ve seen the ads on TV for Ancestry and 23 and Me. Ancestry is a well known genealogy web site that has more recently gotten into the DNA analysis business. 23 and Me is a company set up to do DNA analysis. Lisa went with Ancestry. Among other things, they will give you a report on what percentage of your DNA makeup comes from what part of the world by geographic region. I used 23andMe because they will also test for your Maternal and Paternal DNA haplogroup. 

With both Ancestry and 23andMe you receive a kit that includes a test tube-like container that you fill with spit. Your spit contains cells from lining of your mouth. DNA from those cells is extracted and analyzed. We sent them off in early February and got them back last week.

If you enjoy history, are interested in learning more about your family's ancestral roots and you feel your ancestors are living within you and want to know more about them (like we do), read on. You might want to have DNA testing done too. Here is a comparison chart of labs that do DNA testing for genealogical research - 

DNA Testing Providers Comparison Chart

Without getting too much in the weeds, this is my understanding of how this all works - 

Most of us have some degree of understanding of what DNA is. We know it is something in our cells that can be used to identify characteristics about ourselves such as parenthood (You ARE the baby's daddy!) or physical traits that can be passed down from your parents/grandparents like blood type, male pattern baldness (not me though :)), eye color, toe arrangements... and a propensity to have certain health issues, DNA evidence left behind at the scene of a crime can be used to help convict or exonerate a suspect. BUT there is so much more. The DNA that we carry in our cells is a compilation of all of our ancestors going back many many years. Some believe that our ancestors memories are also passed along to future generations through DNA. So if you are interested in genealogy and learning about your family's roots, DNA contains a treasure trove of information for you. Genetic scientists have learned how to unlock and access this amazing window into who our ancestors were and where they came from. For all intents and purposes you ARE your ancestors! They lived and loved and struggled for millennia just for you to exist today. Don't disappoint them. Live a good life! 

We have hundreds of thousands of ancestors. The number of ancestors doubles each generation we go back: 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great grandparents, 32 great-great-great grandparents and on and on. There is type of DNA - autosomal DNA - that determines most of the DNA traits we inherit. Because it is a mixture of all those thousands of ancestors from both our fathers and mothers sides, we can’t tell which specific ancestors we inherited what traits from. However, it can still show us our ethnic makeup and the geographic region our ancestors lived in. For example, what percent of our DNA makeup is Italian or Irish or German, or Mediterranean or Scandinavian, North African, Polynesian, etc.

But it gets even more interesting. Of those thousands of grandparents we have, only two of them - our direct male line - father’s father’s father’s line going way back thousands of years in time and our direct mother’s mother’s mother’s line also going way back in time - have left specific mutation markers in their DNA that is carried forward to future generations. They are y-DNA and mt-DNA.

Y-DNA tells the origin of a person’s genetic paternal line(father to son), representing your own original “Adam”, so to speak. This piece of DNA has a mutation - a genetic marker - inherited from father to son in a direct line going back, virtually unchanged, over thousands of years. So the y-DNA that a male carries in his cells today, correlates with his distant paternal grandfather’s y-DNA thousands of years ago—and it stores a history of the migration pattern and deep ethnic roots of this particular grandfather.

Likewise, mt-DNA tells the origin of a person’s genetic maternal line (mother to daughter) representing one’s own original “Eve”. This piece of DNA has a mutation that is inherited from mother to daughter in a direct line going back, virtually unchanged, over thousands of years. The mtDNA that you carry in your cells today, correlates with your distant maternal grandmother’s mt-DNA thousands of years ago—and like y-DNA, stores a history of the migration pattern and deep ethnic roots of this particular grandmother.

So how do they do this?  To analyze and organize all this y and mt DNA data, genetic scientists have created a HUMAN MALE FAMILY TREE and a HUMAN FEMALE FAMILY TREE. The branches of this tree are called haplogroups. Through research and testing different populations all over the world geneticists can trace and track concentrations of haplogroups along with the genetic mutations that give them their particular characteristics. We all belong to a particular branch. Through y-DNA and mt-DNA analysis each branch can be traced back to its origin, where it is attached to the genetic “tree trunk”.

OK, finally, the RESULTS!

Turns out Lisa’s genetic makeup is 100% European, broken down like this –

38% Western European (Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands)

22% Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales)

15% Ireland

14% Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)

8% Iberian (Spain, Portugal)

3% Finland, NW Russia

She pretty much figured she was some combination of English and Western European but the Scandinavian and Iberian was a big surprise. We can't find anyone in her family tree going back several centuries that is Scandinavian, Spanish or Portuguese.

Now, as for me, we found out I am 99% European, broken down like this - 

23% Southern European (Italy, Greece, Mediterranean Islands)
22% Great Britain (England, Scotland Wales)
44.5% Western European (Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands)
5.6% Scandinavian  (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)

3.9% Eastern European (Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary)

1 % African

My results make sense except for the 1% African, but I'll take it. Now, if your brother, sister had their DNA analyzed, they may be quite a bit different than your results because even though you are very closely related you inherit different parts and amounts of your ancestors genes. 

And oh, 23 and Me also tests for the amount of Neanderthal DNA you have... I have some.

Haplogroup results - 

The analysis I got from 23 and Me determined that the haplogroup of my paternal branch of the Human Male Family Tree is J2b2*. This haplogroup originated some 10,000 plus years ago in what was Mesopotamia. Over the centuries my grgrgrgr+ grandfathers migrated from Mesopotamia through Syria, across Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and over into southern Italy where they stopped for about 1000 or so years until my great grandfather Bruno Fusca’ decided to leave the little town of Vazzano, Italy in 1895 and bring the family to America settling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania adding another migration arrow.

Link - Haplogroup J2b2* Research Study

Migration routes for haplogroup J2b2* over the last 10,000 years

Haplogroup J2 as a % of the population - current

The haplogroup of my maternal branch of the Human Female Family Tree is H11a. This haplogroup originated about 10,000 years ago in what is now western Russia. Over the centuries my grgrgrgr+ grandmothers migrated from the Steppes of Russia through eastern Europe, across Germany and France and up into England. Maybe some were carried off by invading armies or fled from invading armies. In 1839 my grgrgr grandmother, 13 year old Mattie Sinclair, left out of Liverpool, England with her widowed father and family to settle in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. 

Migration route for haplogroup H11a over the last 10,000 years

And so, as fate would have it, from my own original "Adam and Eve" some 10,000 plus years ago, through all those thousands of grgrgr+ grandfathers and grandmothers and all those countless miles of migration spanning the Mideast and Europe eventually crossing the Atlantic, Bruno Fusca's grandson Tom met and fell in love with Mattie Sinclair's great granddaughter Elizabeth next door neighbor childhood sweethearts and made me and my sister. It was all meant to be.

Loose Meat Sandwiches

Our version with added bread and butter pickles, a side of homemade french fries and a cold beer.

I have to confess my ignorance here. I never heard of  Loose Meat Sandwiches until this election year during the current coverage of the political campaigning in Iowa prior to the Iowa Caucuses. Apparently Loose Meat Sandwiches are a Hawkeye State specialty. I heard them being talked about during a lighter side news coverage segment of the campaign this morning. Lisa and I decided to find out what the heck they were, how they differed from "tight meat" sandwiches and how we could make them in our very own test kitchen here in Georgia. 

We found out quickly that the founder of an Iowa based restaurant chain - Maid-Rite originated these sandwiches back in the 1920's and that they couldn't be easier to make. Not surprisingly, as their name implies, they are loose meat sandwiches, basically Sloppy Joes without the slop. Their flavor comes from a few key ingredients: a good grade of ground beef, onions, garlic powder (we used minced garlic), yellow mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. We also used a little white vinegar.

Ingredients

1 lb ground chuck

1 medium onion, minced (reserve some for garnish)

1 Tbsp yellow mustard

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsps. sugar

1 clove garlic minced

salt and pepper to taste

6 hamburger buns

Sliced pickles

Instructions

Heat a large saute pan or skillet on medium heat.

Add onion and cook until translucent

Add ground beef and cook until browned

Mix in the other ingredients until well combined

Serve on toasted hamburger buns topped with minced onions and pickles and a side of fries. Have a fork handy because the loose meat is going to tumble out of the bun with every bite.

Bacon Chocolate Shot Glasses Whoah!

Have to share this with you from another food blog - http://throughtheeyesofmybelly.com/

Thank you Through the Eyes of My Belly!  Very clever!

I will update with photos of us making them here.

How to make bacon and chocolate shot glasses

Roasted Cauliflower With Indian Spices

This will totally change your perception of cauliflower. Addictive!

Ingredients

1 head Cauliflower

3 cloves Garlic, minced

1 Tsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp crushed hot pepper flakes

1 tsp powdered Cumin

1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Turmeric

4 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 cup Cilantro leaves, chopped

1/2 Lime, juiced

Salt to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F. 

Separate the Cauliflower into small to medium florets and spread them out in a shallow roasting pan

In a bowl, mix together the garlic, chili powder, red pepper flakes, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, salt and olive oil

Pour the spice and olive oil mixture over the florets and toss gently to mix together and coat well.

Roast for 40 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

When done, remove from oven, dress with lime juice and the chopped cilantro leaves.

Awesome Home Fries and Eggs

What can make humble home fries and eggs awesome... and fill you home with a wonderful aroma at the same time?  Check this out - 

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

4 medium russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks and parboiled in salted water until just done but still firm

1/2 sweet onion cut into strips

1 teaspoon sumac * (or sub with garam masala)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon lime juice

Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 Fresno chile, chopped or thinly sliced

1/4 cup coarsely chopped mixed herbs - an equal combination of cilantro and parsley

4 large eggs

* Sumac is a widely used, essential spice in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking. It has a tangy lemony flavor, although more balanced and less tart than lemon juice. It's used in everything from dry rubs, marinades, and dressing. But its best use is sprinkled over food before serving. It's great over vegetables, grilled lamb, chicken and fish. Not readily available in supermarkets, but it is available easily on line and worth having some in your spice cabinet. When mixed with thyme and sesame seeds, it is called za'atar.

For the Home Fries: 

Heat the butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to shimmer. Add onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes, garam masala, paprika, turmeric and a very generous amount of salt and toss to coat the potatoes and onions. 

Use a spatula to press and crush the potatoes against the bottom of the pan. Cook until golden brown and crisp on the bottom, about 5 - 7 minutes. 

Turn over in large chunks and press again to crisp the other side. 

Cook until browned on the bottom, another 5 - 7 minutes.

Taste and add salt as needed.

While the potatoes crisp, heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the chiles and cook, stirring, until warmed and very slightly softened, about 1 minute. Add the herbs.

Spoon the chile herb mixture over the potatoes and drizzle with the lime juice. 

Serve straight from the pan. Leave a little of the oil and herbs in the pan.

For the eggs: 

Cook the eggs as you like in the pan you made the herb chili sauce.

Roasting Figs in Fig Leaves

If you like figs, you will really enjoy this post. I found the pic below of roasted figs wrapped in fig leaves that chef Alex Guarnaschelli posted on her Facebook page recently. She described them this way - "These are baked figs from Italy.They are wonderfully chewy and seedy and sweet and taste like candy and dirt and earth and diamonds and emeralds and cake." 

Besides the taste description, what a cool look they have wrapped up in fig leaves! I knew immediately that I had to try to duplicate them at home. We love figs, and in fact, have three fig trees in our backyard. Fig season is winding down but there were enough ripe ones to pick to make this experiment do-able.

There is not much information available on the exact process but basically fresh figs are baked in a warm oven (170 - 200 degrees) for 12 hours where their flavor is concentrated and they become very sticky. Then they are pressed together into a ball and wrapped in fresh fig leaves to be baked again for several hours in a warm oven. I figured the fig leaves would add to the unique taste but was unsure if any herbs, spices, flavorings were added. And maybe wine or a liqueur of some kind? Since there is no information available on these kinds of details, I decided to add a few that made sense - a pinch of ground fennel seeds, a drizzle of honey, orange zest and a splash of red wine.

I also found this interesting video that shows a commercially made fig ball being opened - 

Here are our figs after being roasted overnight in a covered ceramic crock with the fennel, honey, orange zest and wine. They shrunk quite a bit but they did not dry out and become hard. The kitchen smelled great by the way -

I picked and washed 9 good looking fig leaves, fanned them out in a circle and piled the figs in the middle with their juices. 

Wrapped the leaves around the figs and tied with some cotton yarn (thanks Lisa). And placed the "ball" back into the crock for the second low and slow roast. 

Here is the fig ball back out of the oven after a 5 hour bake. 

Here is the fig ball being opened. The figs were plump,moist and chewy. The taste was everything I had hoped for - earthy, sweet, figgy with hints of orange and anise, maybe not the "diamonds, emeralds and cake" that chef Alex described but that's OK, because I'm glad they didn't taste like cake. Really very nice and will definitely make more next year.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

It's the first day of Fall and locally grown summer vegetables are played out, but seasonal fall/winter produce has started arriving in grocery stores.This includes a variety of hard squash like acorn, kabocha, sweet dumpling, delicata, carnival and pie pumpkins. 

Here is a link to a guide to fall/winter hard squash from Epicurious:

Visual Guide to Winter Squash

We like to make roasted acorn squash brushed inside with brown sugar butter and filled with chickpeas, couscous, onion, carrot, celery and dried fruit. It is perfect served alongside chicken or pork, or all by itself. The filling without the squash is a good side dish on it's own.

Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main
Ingredients

2 large acorn squash, halved and seeded

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter, melted

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, sliced on the bias

2 carrots, chopped

1/2 large sweet onion chopped

1 cup garbanzo beans, drained

1/2 cup golden raisins, chopped dried apricots or other dried fruit bits

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth

1 cup uncooked couscous

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut the squash in half lenthwise and remove the seeds.

Arrange squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes, or until tender. 

Dissolve the brown sugar in the melted butter. Brush the inside of the squash with the butter mixture, and keep warm while preparing the stuffing.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, celery, and carrots, and cook 5 minutes. Mix in the garbanzo beans and raisins. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender.

Pour the chicken broth into the skillet, and mix in the couscous. Cover skillet, and turn off heat. 

Allow couscous to absorb liquid for 5 minutes. Stuff squash halves with the skillet mixture. 

Roots in the Boot

This blog post is a little departure from food and gardening but I wanted to give you all a little background. Vazzano, Italy is our family's ancestral home. It is a small rural agricultural village of about 1,100 in Calabria, the southernmost region of Italy, the "toe" of the boot. The town dates back to the Roman Empire when it was called Subsicium. My great grandfather, Bruno Fuscà, came over in 1895 with his brother and two friends. He worked on the Pennsylvania railroad doing grunt labor for the next three years and saved his money. In 1898 he sent for the rest of the family - my great grandmother Marianna Nicolina DePalma,and my grandfather Domenico Antonio and his two brothers,Giuseppe and Francesco. They settled in Pittsburgh where Bruno bought a building which he converted into a combination grocery store and home. The store was on the ground floor and the family lived upstairs. At some point early on, due to an error in some important paperwork, our last name was mistranscribed from from Fuscà to Fusia. They decided to keep the new American name.

 

Vazzano, Italy

Panoramic video of the olive tree filled countryside around Vazzano

Out on a walk around Vazzano by Micuccio Caloiero

Just in case, some day, someone might want to visit Vazzano by flying to Naples and driving to Vazzano, here is a link to the directions - 
                                           

Driving Directions from Naples to Vazzano

Liquore di Fichi d'India - Cactus Pear Liqueur

Southern Italians use the fruit of the prickly pear cactus in sweets and desserts where they are called fichi d'india - literally, India figs. They also make (typically at home) a liqueur with them by infusing the fruit in alcohol, similar to how limoncello is made. In Calabria it is called liquore di fichi d'india. The original home of the prickly pear cactus, by the way, is the desert states of the United States and Mexico! They were brought to Italy by the Spanish explorers in the New World and found a perfect new home in southern Italy which, at the time, was ruled by Spain. The explorers also brought tomatoes and peppers and potatoes. 
Mille grazie, Cristoforo Colombo!!!

Liquore di fichi d'india recipe

15 ripe cactus pears
4 cups 151 proof grain alcohol 
2 cups sugar syrup

Use the amounts above as a base. They can be adjusted for different quantities of cactus pears.

Procedure -  

Peel cactus pears and cut in half. I wear rubber gloves when doing this because sometimes there are hair-like almost invisible thorns left on the surface of the pear that can get into the skin on your fingers and drive you crazy with itching. 

Let the cut fruit steep in the grain alcohol in a large sealable glass container for 10 days. The solution will turn a dark orange to red color. 

After 10 days, remove fruit and add sugar syrup. Age for 20 days.

For the sugar syrup

2 cups water
2 cups sugar

Bring the water to a boil in a pot and add the sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar and take off the heat to let cool. Pour into the glass container with the liqueur and reseal.

After 20 days, pour the liqueur into sanitized bottles through a fine mesh sieve and funnel to remove any remaining bits of fruit. Seal or cork. Keep in the freezer or in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

My family's ancestral home, the town of  Vazzano, in Calabria, Italy, holds an annual Fichi D'India Festival. Here are some videos of the event.