VEGETABLES

This is genuinely Acadian, no jalapeno peppers or other additions please. It is a seasonal dish, and the relationship to succotash is obvious. My mother made something very similar which we called corn stew. We did not speak Cajun.

Cut the kernels from 12 ears of fresh corn and scrape the cobs with the back of the knife in order to capture the milk and seed germs from the corn. Set aside.

Melt one stick of butter and ¼ cup of vegetable oil in a casserole over medium heat. Add 1 ½ cups of chopped onions and 1 cup of chopped green peppers, cook until soft, then add 3 large fresh tomatoes – peeled, seeded and chopped. Simmer until the tomato looks cooked, about 5 min., then add the corn and its juices, mix. Cover and simmer on a low fire for 15 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper, adding a little piquancy with a pinch of cayenne or some Tabasco. Cook about 20 minutes more, or until the corn is tender and the mix is creamy.

Stuffed tomatoes all share the same basic preparation: Cut the stem end off and hollow out the tomato, (a grapefruit spoon is perfect for the job) leaving all of the outside wall and some of the ribs for structural purposes. Sprinkle the inside of the tomato shell with salt and turn it, cut side down, to drain for about 10 minutes.

Never waste the liquid surrounding the seeds, it is a tasty part of the tomato. Put it into a fine strainer and force it through with a silicon spatula or a spoon, discarding the seeds. Save it in a jar in the freezer, adding to it from time to time. It can be used for everything from salad dressing to bolstering the flavor of a sauce or soup. Lots of umami.

The tomato may be filled with Macquechoux from the recipe above, mixed with the chopped tomato flesh, leveled off and sprinkled with breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan. Bake it for 20 minutes in a hot oven, or until the tomato skin begins to wrinkle. If necessary, brown the top in the broiler. Whenever you are doing this kind of dish, have the filling hot, so that it does not have to be in the oven for a long time. The filling should be precooked.

Another good filling is cooked onion, celery, garlic, thyme, minced ham, breadcrumbs and a little butter or olive oil. Shrimp can be used in place of (or teamed with) ham. One may use cooked rice in place of or with the crumbs. Add fresh chopped parsley and the tomato flesh to all of the above. Use your imagination and invent something.

Tomatoes do not freeze well, they turn to mush. In season we peeled and seeded fresh tomatoes then lightly cooked and froze them for making sauce later. They were mushy, but made a good sauce.

Obviously an American Indian name and derivation. This is an easy one.

Into two tablespoons of butter in a skillet put two or three chopped scallions, 1 medium tomato – peeled, seeded and chopped, and a small yellow squash - sliced. Cook on a medium fire until the liquids thicken, then add 1 cup of cooked corn kernels, 1 cup of cooked small Lima beans, salt and pepper and chopped parsley. Cook for about 15 minutes on a low fire to meld and thicken. A little fresh thyme helps boost the flavor.

This is a really useful thing to cook. It can be made in winter with those strip -mined tomatoes from Mexico, or it can be even better in Summer, using good home-grown tomatoes. It assorts well with any roasted, fried or grilled meat or fish. The nice thing about it is that it can be prepared well ahead and cooked at the last minute in the oven while you are belting down Martinis with your guests. (Keep a good English gin and Boissiere vermouth in the fridge, Mix 2 parts gin to 1 vermouth. Serve in small glasses so that they are consumed before they get warm. Olive OK, lemon twist required.)

Now that you have a little buzz going, it is time to think about putting the tomatoes in the oven. You will have cut the tops off and scooped out seeds and juice from the top 1/2“ or so. This will make a bed for the herbal mix.

Make a mix of breadcrumbs and fresh herbs – thyme, parsley, tarragon, basil, scallions and garlic, all minced. More herbs than breadcrumbs. Create your own combination. Add salt and pepper. Put the mix into the area recently vacated by the tomato seeds, fill lightly. Rub the tomato skin and thoroughly moisten the crumbs with olive oil. Arrange the tomatoes in an ovenproof serving dish so that they touch and stay upright. Put them in a preheated 400° oven, upper shelf, for 10 to 15 minutes – until the crumbs have lightly browned and the tomatoes are wrinkled.

• 2 lbs. plum or other medium size tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• rosemary, thyme and parsley
• salt & pepper to taste
• pastry dough, either feuillite or a pie pastry

Cut the tomatoes in half, lengthwise. Put them, skin side down, into an oiled cake pan or similar baking dish. Sprinkle with minced herbs, garlic, sugar, s&p and more oil. Bake for 20 minutes, uncovered, at 375°.

Flip them over so that the cut side is down (I like to pinch the skins off, but this is optional). Roll out the pastry larger than the pan and cover the tomatoes with it, tucking the edges along the inside rim of the pan. It should be a sort of pie shell holding the tomatoes when baked. You may want a clean pan for this step.

Bake for 20 minutes longer, or until the pastry is browned. Let the pie cool a little, then cover it with a platter and flip it over to turn it out and it becomes an open-faced pie.

Thickly sliced tomato sauteed in butter is a great quickie vegetable. It can be garnished with herbs, or not. Good with scrambled eggs at breakfast, or with a broiled chicken at dinner.

This was CC’s favorite. She would cut them in half lengthwise and simmer them in consomme, just until they are crisp-tender. They can also be cooked in consomme, drained, then roughly chopped and made into a gratin with Bechamel sauce and breadcrumbs.

She also made a delicious amuse gueule by putting a little sour cream topped with a dab of caviar onto the base end of each leaf of raw endive. Blue cheese mixed with cream is also good on it, or just make up something.

Peel and slice 2 lbs. of carrots. Simmer them in stock or consomme, with a little salt (taste first). When soft, drain and puree - along with a stick of unsalted butter,a good pinch of sugar, white pepper and heavy cream to thin it to your taste. (Save the stock for soup or other things.) Reheat in the microwave or in the oven. To make a really smooth texture, pass the puree through a fine sieve before reheating.

To string celery, snap a stalk in half and pull up so that the strings come out. Repeat with the other half. Cut into 1” pieces and cook the celery in enough beef consomme to cover (Campbell’s is OK for this, be sure to thin it) on a low fire until it is tender-crisp to your liking. Drain and save the consomme. Usually we made this with the tender inside of the celery head. No need to string it, just wash and cut it up, leaves and all. This was also one of CC’s favorites.

Put the cooked celery, mixed with a little Béchamel sauce, into a gratin dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs mixed with a couple of pinches of grated cheese (very little, we don’t want a Chicago pizza), dot with butter. Gild under the broiler.

A large number of veggies can be cooked this way – almost any leafy, or carrots, fennel, peas, onions, etc. Mornay sauce is even better for a rich gratin.

This has to be simmered for about 20 minutes and watched very carefully. If it is boiled at a high temperature the tender heads will become mushy and fall apart.

Cook it until the heads are just tender, take it out and cut off the branches, then return the stem to cook some more. Place the cooked pieces in ice water to stop the cooking. Use it to make a gratin or salad or simply reheat it and serve with butter.

For a nice presentation, trim as much of the big stem as possible without breaking it up. Boil the whole head, covered with foil; stem side down, and when cooked place it in a bowl, still stem side down Dress it with melted butter and (optional) chopped boiled egg and parsley.

We also liked to make a gratin of the cut up pieces covered with Bechamel or Mornay sauce and a sprinkle of grated parmesan and bread crumbs and broiled to gild the top.

My mother and CC could both saute eggplant. When I try it there is a greasy mess. It seems that the trick is to cut it into slices or sticks, dust it with flour and fry in very hot (350°) oil. It can also be panneed. It is sometimes served with powdered sugar as a dessert.

Peel a large eggplant and cut it into 1” slices. Sprinkle the slices with salt and put into a colander to drain for about ½ hour. The salt will draw out moisture and reduce bitterness.

Prepare the following:

• 1 large eggplant or its equal in smaller ones, peeled and cut into 1” slices or chunks.
• 1 large sliced onion
• 4 or 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 large tomatoes (or 5 or 6 plum tomatoes, or the same canned) – peeled, seeded and cut into 1” chunks
• 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.
• Olive Oil

Rinse the eggplant and put it into a casserole in an even layer, cover with the other ingredients. Repeat the layering. Pour in at least ½ cup of olive oil and bake, covered, at 350° for about 45 minutes. Poke at the vegetables to see if they are soft. They should not be chewy. If there seems to be too much watery liquid, take the veggies out and boil down the liquid. Recombine and cool, then chill. Peeled small eggplants are good here. Cut them in halves or quarters – you decide.

Serve in small bowls, with spoons, cold or room temperature, as a first course or a side dish.

This should be done in Summer, when eggplants are plentiful and the small ones are available.

This recipe is all vegetable but it is also made with shrimp or ham (often both) or with a cooked ground meat. Try ground lamb, and serve with a garlicky tomato sauce. It is given here as a basic method for making this dish.

• 4 small to medium eggplants
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire
• 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
• 1 ½ cups crumbled stale bread
• 1 large green bell pepper, minced
• 1 celery rib, minced
• 4 or 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves or ½ teaspoon powdered
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, fresh
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• Tabasco to taste
• 4 tablespoons oil, butter or bacon drippings
• 2 beaten eggs
• ¼ cup chopped parsley
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Cut the stems off the eggplants and cut them in half lengthwise. Cook at a lively simmer in salted water until soft (about 10 - 15 min.). Carefully scoop out the pulp from the eggplants, leaving about ¼” of pulp on the walls. Chop the removed pulp. In the bacon drippings, sauté the onions, celery, green pepper, bay and thyme; add the garlic and scallions toward the end of the cooking (about 15 min.). Add the eggplant pulp and cook, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes, stir often.

Moisten the bread, squeeze it out and mix it with the Tabasco and Worcester and eggs, along with ½ stick of melted butter, salt and pepper, parsley and lemon juice and combine with the eggplant mix.

Fill the eggplant shells with the mixture and sprinkle the tops with a mix of grated Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs, dot with butter and bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes. The topping should not be a thick crust, but a light sprinkle.

When using ground or shredded meat in the stuffing be sure to cook it first. Allow about 1/4 pound for each eggplant.

To add shrimp, cook 1 ½ lbs in the butter for about one minute on each side and add them in the final mixing. The New Orleans traditional eggplant includes both shrimp and crabmeat. The crab is folded in last, before stuffing the eggplant shell, to keep the pieces of meat whole. Crayfish is another option.

This can also be made with a thick Béchamel sauce with an egg yolk as the binder, instead of the bread crumbs. A very elegant version. Use a small amount of breadcrumbs as a filler. This works best when using seafood.

Peel and clean Spanish (yellow) onions and cut in half horizontally and rub each half with olive oil and salt. Put them into a baking dish, cut side up and cook in a 350° oven for 45 minutes to one hour. Before serving, sprinkle lightly with vinegar and black pepper. Allow one onion per person.

The large red onions are great halved, oiled, skewered and cooked on the cool end of a barbeque for about 30 minutes, or until softened.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive or vegetable oil in a large saucepan and heat, add some chopped scallions and cook to soften. Put in a pound or so of spinach that has been picked over, well rinsed and dried. Add a pinch of salt and a good pinch of sugar and a small pinch of nutmeg. Cook, stirring, until the spinach is cooked to your taste – usually just a minute or two. Pour off excess water, pressing the spinach with a spoon, then dry out in the pan over a brisk fire.

Thawed frozen spinach can also be cooked in this way, as well as Collards or chard. A favorite variation is spinach cooked as above and reduced to a puree in the processor along with a generous amount of butter.

There was a period when the fresh asparagus had an unpleasant, strong taste. CC started blanching them before fully cooking and it worked.

In a frying or saute pan, bring water to a boil and add the asparagus. Turn off the fire and drain after 1 minute. Rinse with cold water and drain again, then cook the asparagus in salted water at a simmer for ten minutes – or to taste. Serve immediately or have iced water ready to put them in after draining. They can be gently rewarmed in simmering water.

We usually had asparagus with just butter melted on them, but on State Occasions CC would make Hollandaise sauce. That is Nirvana. They are also good cold with vinaigrette. We always peeled the stem part, using a vegetable peeler. At least take off the thorny bits.

The stems can be chopped and cooked with shallots for a pureé, cook the shallots to soft in butter. Meanwhile, cook the stem pieces: cover with water and boil for 10 min (or until soft), drain, add the shallots and pureé. Use the tips for garnish or for salad at another meal.

The most elegant of all vegetables. There is the wonderful thing that water drunk after eating artichoke tastes delicious to some people. It seems that it is genetic. Until St. Bernard parish became an industrial town, and another urban sprawl, it was where the artichokes were grown for the local market. We would buy them by the dozen (50 cents total) and each of us had an artichoke for salad, or stuffed – as an appetizer.

Corrine Dunbar's restaurant on St. Charles Ave. had a great success with the oyster and artichoke hors d'oeuvre in the 1950's and 60's. This recipe is from The Plantation Cookbook and serves eight.

• 5 cleaned and boiled artichokes
• 1 ½ pints of oysters (3 doz.)
• 2 cups of water
• 2 sticks of butter
• ½ cup of flour
• 1 ¾ cups of minced onion
• 9 cloves of garlic – minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
• ¼ cup of chopped parsley
• 8 thin lemon slices
• bread crumbs

Save 6 or 8 of the best looking large leaves from each artichoke for dipping. Scrape the rest, and mince the tender lower part of the small center leaves. reserve the scrapings. Trim each base, cut in eighths and put into eight ramekins.

Drain the oysters, reserving the liquid, and feel each oyster for bits of shell. Put the oysters Into the 2 cups of water and let them soak for 30+ minutes. Drain and reserve this liquid.

Make a brown roux with the flour and half the butter. Cook the onions in the other half of the butter, adding the garlic and thyme toward the end of cooking. Add the artichoke scrapings, lemon juice and S&P. Mix it all with the roux, then stir in about 1 ½ cups of oyster water (strained through cheesecloth), adding the water slowly until a thick sauce is formed.

Simmer slowly for 45 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching.

Add the oysters and parsley; cook at a slow simmer 5 minutes longer. Can be made ahead up to this point and kept refrigerated.

Serve four oysters and five pieces of artichoke bottom in each small ramekin and add sauce. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, top each with a lemon slice and reheat in a 350° oven. Garnish with minced parsley and surround with the reserved artichoke leaves – to be used like spoons to dip up the sauce. Forks and crusty bread are also needed.

This is a legacy from the large number of immigrants from Sicily. Stuffed artichokes are very popular in New Orleans, but those available in supermarkets and restaurants are generally not edible, since they take no care in stuffing, but mound the breadcrumbs on a sort of smashed and overcooked artichoke. Make your own.

Snap off the small leaves around the base of 2 artichokes. Cut off the stem and rub the base with a cut lemon. With kitchen shears cut off the thorny ends of the leaves and slice off ½ “ or so of the top, to make it flat and openable. Parboil the artichokes for about 5 minutes, drain and put into ice water with a little vinegar or lemon juice added, until they are cooled. Lightly squeeze them to get the water out, then push down gently on the top to open the leaves a little. Let them drain, base up, on towels.

At this point you may remove the “choke” - the filaments in the center bottom. Optional.

Fill down to the bases of the leaves, one leaf at a time, with the following:

• 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs
• 1 mint leaf, minced very fine
• salt and pepper
• minced parsley
• 1½ tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon of oregano, fresh or powdered
• 1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest

Mix all of the above into a thick, dry paste and fill each leaf with a good pinch of the mix until you reach the inner cone of thin leaves. Use it all up. Truss each artichoke with twine to hold the leaves together, as you would tie a roast.

Put the artichokes into a steamer or a colander that will fit onto a large pot. Put about 2“ of water in the pot and bring it to a boil.. Drizzle each artichoke with olive oil and put a slice of lemon on top of each. Cover the artichokes loosely with foil and steam for 20 minutes, or until a leaf will come out easily. Do not let the colander touch the water in the pot.

Test by pulling a leaf and tasting it, and by piercing the base with a fork to judge the softness; it should be firm but easily pierced. Cool before serving. It is a labor of love.

The Italians use a form of mint in many recipes. The variety used is called Nepitella and grows wild in Italy. It is related to the catmint, or catnip (Nepeta). In this country one can sometimes find it in collectors' nurseries under the name of “Mountain Mint”or “Calamint”. The taste is mint/oregano. Our common peppermint, or spearmint, combined with marjoram or oregano, can substitute for it.

Clean 18 or so fresh baby artichokes, if you are lucky enough to find them. Chop 2 or 3 shallots and 2 oz. of prosciutto and add to a casserole with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add the artichokes and cook for about 5 minutes, turning. Add ½ cup of meat stock and 10 ounces of peas, s&p. Cook on a medium fire until both vegetables are tender. Add more stock if needed. Frozen peas and artichokes both work well here. Serve as an hors d'oeuvre or vegetable.

Baby artichokes grow on side shoots of the plant after the big artichoke grows at the top. To clean them, pull off the small leaves around the base then snap off the dark green leaves until you come to the paler green leaves. Bend the leaf where it is tender and snap and pull off the green part. Takes practice. When you get down to all light green, cut across the top of the leaves to remove the thorny parts. Trim the base and rub it all with lemon and put into acidulated and salted water for cooking. When boiled, these little artichokes are delicious in salad; hot - with butter, or just dressed with vinagarette and eaten comme ça.

Several recipes use only the white part of leeks, and this is what to do with the green leaves: Cut off the worst looking green parts and discard and cut across the remainder about every inch or so. Wash the pieces well and put them into simmering consomme or stock. Cook until tender, strain and save the cooking stock for other uses.

Butter a gratin dish, put the strained leek greens in, including any clinging liquid. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese, dot with butter and bake at 350° for 15 minutes or so. Very simple.

God must have had this in mind when He invented potatoes. I often regret that I did not learn to cook it from my mother, she did them as beautifully as any French chef.

This is the way we cook it:

Use red potatoes. Boil them in salted water until almost soft, then drain and cool. Peel and slice. Peel and slice about the same weight of onions. Fry the potato slices in a generous amount of butter until golden, then remove. Add the onion and cook slowly, stirring often, until soft and somewhat browned. Return the potatoes and reheat. Salt and pepper. Try white part of leeks instead of onions.

Wash well and bake some small Idaho potatoes. Cool and cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides, leaving a ¼ inch wall. Mix the roughly mashed pulp with softened butter, grated sharp Cheddar cheese, salt and pepper and a touch of cream. Put the mix into the potato shells, top with a little grated cheese and bake at 350° for ½ hour or until the shell is semi - crisp. Good made with any of the sharp cheeses.

The unfilled shells can be cut up and baked to crisp to be served with cocktails.

This is mostly root vegetables: potato, turnip, rutabaga, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, onion, garlic, etc., but others are suitable; like celery, winter squash, cauliflower, broccoli, fennel, or whatever will maintain its integrity after ½ hour in the oven. Experiment!

Clean, peel and cut the vegetables into manageable pieces, toss to coat in butter or olive oil, salt and pepper and herbs - as you see fit. Rosemary, Oregano and Thyme are some that are suitable. Place all on foil on a rimmed baking sheet and into a 400° oven for about 20 minutes, turning a couple of times. Poke with a fork to see if they are soft. Remember that some need more cooking than others – play this one by ear (or by poke). Serve with a sprinkle of parsley.

This is a great Thanksgiving dish, it covers the vegetable bases and can be baked while the turkey is resting. Peel and prepare a day ahead and keep moist wrapped with damp paper towels and placed in plastic bags in the fridge. Some peeled and halved garlic cloves are good in the mix.

When you peel large turnips and rutabaga, be sure to remove the fibrous layer under the skin – it is a lighter color than the pulp. Parboil rutabaga if they are large.

• ¼ lb. bacon, chopped
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 5 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
• 5 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 green tomatoes, stems cut out, peeled and sliced to 1/4”
• salt, pepper, ½ teaspoon of thyme leaves or powder.
• ½ teaspoon sugar

Lightly brown the bacon, remove and use the fat to cook the onion until it colors and is soft. Combine the cheese, crumbs, salt, pepper, sugar and oil in a small bowl. Mix the bacon, thyme and onion in another bowl.

In a gratin dish or similar, smear the tomato slices with the bacon mix and stand on edge in rows and then sprinkle the crumb mix evenly over the top. Cover with foil and bake at 325° for ½ hour. Uncover and bake 20 minutes longer.

Since writing this recipe, I noticed it in an old Time-Life cookbook where it is called “Brown Tom”. I recommend it highly - it is easy, different and delicious. It is best with tomatoes that are just turning from green to red, sweeter and tastier.

• 1 green or red sweet pepper, cleaned, peeled and sliced
• 1 small cabbage, shredded
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 1 large carrot, peeled and grated coarsely
• celery seed or caraway seeds - 1 scant teaspoon
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• ½ stick of butter (or as needed)
• salt and pepper

Cook onion, sweet pepper and grated carrot in butter until softened, add caraway seeds and cook briefly. Add the cabbage and saute for about 7 minutes, cover and simmer until the cabbage is softened to your liking. Add lemon juice, stir, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

This is a local favorite, and I always assumed that it was French or German in origin, but I recently found it in two Italian cookbooks. Marcella Hazan writes that it is a Venetian dish, and Ada Boni’s book claims a Lombard origin. It certainly does not fit our idea of Italian cuisine, but there it is. The two recipes are essentially the same (and the same as ours), even to an alternate recipe that mixes the cooked cabbage with rice.

In New Orleans it is best when the local cabbages are in season, around January. They are as big as basketballs and have a robust cabbage flavor. This recipe works with any cabbage, although the Italian recipes both use Savoy. Here, it is traditionally plated over rice and accompanied by cornbread and contains enough pickled pork, ham or sausage so that everyone can have some meat.

In the pre-WW II days, this dish always contained the peppery chorise sausages that were common here. They vanished with the rise of the grocery chains and the disappearance of neighborhood butcher shops.

Use a large stockpot. Slice an onion and put it in 2 tablespoons of hot bacon fat. Cook until soft, then add the meats and 1 large or 2 small cabbages, chopped coarsely and the stem removed. Add a good teaspoon of sugar to start the caramelizing.

Cook, stirring, until the cabbage softens and reduces. Lower the fire and cook, stirring often, until the cabbage is a dark tan color and the liquid has evaporated. Taste and adjust seasoning and serve.

This should also have some kind of pork in it. The best is pickled pork, but it is not available in the more benighted parts of the country. One can use ham hocks, a smoked sausage or a peppery one. Add the meat early in the cooking, or even parboil it if it is something like smoked or pickled pork.

Take off the tough, floppy leaves and use the largest of the light green leaves and cut out the thick part. Parboil until they are limp enough to roll.

Make a stuffing mix with ground beef or lamb, using cooked rice instead of bread. Be generous with cooked onions in the mix. Also add some minced garlic, thyme and bay. Also add some chopped parboiled cabbage leaves. Make a “sausage” of about 1/4 cup of the filling and roll it up in the cabbage leaf, folding in the sides to enclose it. Place the rolls in a shallow baking dish, seam side down.

Pour a thin tomato sauce over them and cook for 1 hour at 350°.

Peel and core 2 apples (Golden Delicious work well) and slice them about ¼” thick. Peel 2 or 3 cold baked sweet potatoes and slice them a little thicker. Stand the slices in a shallow baking dish, alternating rows of apple and potato. Top with pieces of butter and a little nutmeg or cinnamon (or both, or none). Moisten with apple cider, juice or white wine. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes, or until the apple is softened.

This is good with roasts, especially pork. Do not, under any circumstances, use marshmallows with sweet potato dishes. The combination destroys the taste buds. Marshmallow is good only for making little bunny candies at Easter.

CC’s method is to wash the potatoes well, dry them and smear the skin with bacon fat or oil and individually wrap them in foil to retain moisture. Place them on a rack in a baking sheet and cook them at 350° for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until they feel soft. Use a potholder to feel them. Treat like a baked white potato and cut them open and eat with butter and pepper. CC was delighted when she first had them cooked like this by my mother. She had never had them just baked in their skins.

When I was growing up, I believed that one never bought a mirliton. If we did not raise them, a neighbor would. They were passed along, like zucchini is today. When we lived in Burdette St., we had a pergola in the garden on which to grow the mirliton vine and provide a shady spot in summer.

We most often ate mirlitons when they were no more than 2“ or 3” long. They would be boiled, cut in half, seeded, slashed with shallow slits, slathered with butter, salt, pepper and lemon juice, then broiled to color the butter. This was CC’s method. A wonderful “side”.

They are also delicious when boiled, halved, scooped out, and the shells filled with a stuffing of bread crumbs, thyme, the mirliton flesh and cut-up boiled shrimp. Top with bread crumbs and broil or bake. See Stuffed Mirliton under Seafood.

These are not artichokes, of course, but are the fast-spreading rhizomes of a variety of sunflower, Helianthus tuberosa. It is native to North America and grows very well in most of the US. to zone 4 (southern Vermont south). They can grow to 12' tall, but usually less than that. Best in compost - rich moist soil, and full sun. Plant some, try mail order for seeds or rizomes. The flowers are much like a black-eyed Susan.

One rarely sees them in a store any more, if you do see them they are usually called 'Sunchokes'. An old name for them is “Jerusalem Artichokes” or the French topinambours.

Ground Artichokes are cooked by boiling for 20 minutes, or until tender (test with a sharp fork}, plunged into cold water to stop the cooking, then peeled when cool. There is a core layer surrounded by a more fibrous layer. Be warned that the inside core cooks faster than the rest and will be somewhat mushy. If they are very fresh, they will cook evenly throughout.

Serve them hot with butter or mashed with potatoes. Our favorite was to slice them, pour on some vinaigrette and chill for salad. The flavor is sweetish and starchy, the texture similar to boiled turnip. The boiled rhizomes can be sliced and sauteed in butter.

To peel tomatoes, place them in boiling water for 10 seconds, then rinse with cold water and the skin will come off easily. This works with peaches.

When you burn yourself, quickly put ice cubes on the burn. It stings, but hang in and it will prevent blistering. Keep the ice on for a few minutes.

A tablespoon of vinegar in a pint of water is a good vegetable wash. It has bactericidal properties, use it on any salad ingredients, veggies or fruit.

If you cook spinach (or almost anything) in an aluminum pot, it will taste like you got it from a can.

This is a seasonal vegetable. It is almost out of style now, which is too bad because it is really tasty when cooked properly.

The whole squash is baked for about an hour at 350°, then split open and the seed area removed and discarded. The “spaghetti” is scooped out and tossed with a pair of forks to loosen and separate it. It is good with a light, fresh tomato, onion and garlic sauce – seasoned with oregano and thyme. Cook the squash in it until it is less crunchy.

You can also generously butter it and serve it like that, or put into a gratin dish with butter, cover lightly with breadcrumbs and parmesan or pecorino cheese and bake in a hot oven to cook and brown the top.

We sometimes had fried banana as a vegetable, particularly at breakfast with eggs. Just cut a firm banana in half across, then halve lengthwise and quickly fry in butter. Easy. Also see Cuban Eggs recipe in the pasta, etc. section.

Melt some brown sugar in a little water in the pan, and pour it on fried bananas, flame with heated rum and serve with ice cream for dessert. Very easy.

Diane doesn't remember where she found this recipe, but it's a favorite when the summer vegetables come in (around the end of July in Deerfield).

• Olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2-3 oriental eggplants (the long slender kind)
• 1 red bell pepper (green or yellow can substitute, but red is best)
• 2-3 summer squash, depending on size
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 medium tomato, peeled and chopped
• Salt (1/2 teaspoon or more)
• Pepper
• Balsamic vinegar
• Thyme, parsley, oregano, (fresh basil and rosemary optional)

4 quart pot or Dutch oven (for cooking) Large bowl (for combining cooked vegetables)

Cook the ingredients in stages so they don't get overdone: Chop onion and sautée in olive oil until soft, then transfer the cooked onion to the bowl. Slice the eggplant about 1/2 inch thick. If it's large in diameter, cut the slices in half. Diane prefers to leave the peel on, but you may remove it before slicing. Core the bell pepper and remove the seeds, then chop in large pieces (about 1 inch square). Sautée the eggplant and pepper together in olive oil until soft, then transfer them to the bowl. Chop the summer squash and garlic and sautée in olive oil until soft — transfer cooked vegetables to the bowl. Add chopped tomato to the hot pot with about 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar to deglaze pot — transfer all that to the bowl, season with salt and pepper, and stir to mix it all up.

Return all cooked vegetables to pot/dutch oven, add the herbs, and simmer for 20 minutes. Correct the seasoning to taste. Serve in bowls with bread to mop up the juices.