Monday, August 27, 2007
Dining on Memories
I learned to cook watching my grandmother on summer afternoons in August, when the Feast of the Madonna of the Water was celebrated in her neighborhood and twenty or more of our family would gather under the grape arbor in the backyard for dinner every evening before wandering out to the street fair. Homemade fettucine with fresh pesto; meatballs filled with garlic, parsley and Parmeggiano; fennel sausages and chicken salmi were the staples of her repertoire.
My mother continued my education in the kitchen, and by the time I was an adult, I knew I loved to cook. Wherever I found myself in the world I gathered recipes and techniques, and when I moved to the Rheingau in Germany—a Riesling wine region—I taught friends how to make American apple pie in exchange for their traditional recipes.
The first time I tasted winzergulasch I had spent the day hiking the vineyards with my eight-month-old son in a backpack. We ate in the open air at trestle tables set up on the top of a mountain. I recreate the hike and the meal in my novella, “The Hand That Gives the Rose,” (in the February 2008 anthology THE VALENTINE GIFT) as Marielle remembers a carefree and secure past far different from the challenges she faces as a young woman taking on her family’s winery.
Although the preparation requires some work to chop the vegetables, once you throw everything into the pot and get it simmering, you can walk away and go read one of our books!
Winzergulasch (Vintner Stew)
One pound cubed chicken or pork
Canola oil
2 medium onions, chopped into quarter-inch dice
1 large leek, sliced into rings
1 large carrot, chopped into quarter-inch dice
1 bay leaf
A pinch of dried tarragon
A pinch of dried oregano
1 cup water
1 cup Riesling wine (or substitute 2 cups of chicken broth for the water and wine)
¼ pound grapes
Salt and pepper
Brown the meat in a small amount of oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the onions, leek and carrot and sauté until onions are golden.
Add the herbs, the water and wine.
Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add the grapes and simmer for 10 more minutes.
Serve over noodles or dumplings.
Do you have recipes that stir memories? Share them with us!
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5 comments:
Linda,
This sounds wonderful. Once the weather cools below 100 degrees, I'll make it for the family. Thanks :)
Tracy,
Thanks! This is definitely one I would consider a cold-weather dish--especially with all those simmering root vegetables. But the first time I had it, the weather was scorching. I usually pour myself a glass of Riesling to drink as I cook.
Recipes and food are definitely a part of family traditions and love stories. My grandfather used to make these corn cakes with cornmeal that were thinner than pancakes and thicker than crepes. No one in the family was ever able to duplicate the corn cakes quite the way he made them. As a kid, I loved spending the night over at their house and reading at night and waking up to the smell of corn cakes cooking on the griddle. thanks for the yummy looking recipe!
Merri,
Thanks for sharing your memory. I find food to be so evocative and powerful. I have similar memories of sleeping over at my grandmother's house. She had a sleeping porch in the back of the house and my cousins and I got to pile together in a couple of beds and tell scary stories after the lights were out.
I recently had dinner with one of those cousins and she used recipes that my mother had given her before she passed away. Seeing the recipes written in my mother's handwriting and eating some of my favorite dishes brought tears to my eyes. It was such a wonderful gesture for my cousin to think of honoring my mother in that way.
Thanks for the recipe!
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