On a Michiana Homestead

And today's word of the day: Farinata [fariˈnaːta] - A simple culinary creation from humble pantry staples that is absolutely exquisite; a chickpea skillet cake – a creamy moist center within a thin crisped crust, served fresh from the oven; nutritious, deliciously satisfying, easy to make, easy to personalize. A recent comment on our Dosas post caught my attention (a huge shoutout to Paul B. LeBeau @mockmill) – mention of a skillet pancake made with chickpea flour and olive oil – another way to feature a fabulous fabaceae, how could I resist making it? Chickpea flour is not as esoteric...

One of the side delights in growing staple crops is exploring how to use them in the kitchen. Mung beans do well in our garden and I love growing them with their stout stature and slightly fuzzy little pods. These nutritional little nuggets from the bean family are typically sprouted or used whole in side dishes. While I do enjoy them this way, I wanted a way to showcase them as a main ingredient which lead me to discover Bindaeduk Cho Kanjang, Korean Mung Pancakes with Dipping Sauce (that and a culinary newsletter I subscribe to offered that it is...

Earlier this month our friend John Sherck shared a pdf of Priscilla Mullin Sherard's 1975 collection of Indian Recipes. Not only is it inspirational from a staple crop perspective it is quite timely for us as one of the benefits of processing winter squash for seeds is we have an abundance of squash for culinary ventures. So Sunday's kitchen adventure featured Scott cooking up a batch of savory squash cakes based on the following recipe: “OOWISSIMAU'N NO'KIYA "Pumpkin Dough" Potawatomi Recipe Wash and cut open a pumpkin and cook until soft enough to mash. Stir fresh pumpkin adding cornmeal to...

Aahhh the humble dry bean... I am often asked why I don't have many bean varieties for fresh eating. It's really quite straightforward. The primary focus of our gardening is on staple crops to improve our food security, those dependable, nutrient rich varieties that store well for sustenance later in the year. A while back I came across an informative article on the benefits of the Haudenosaunee Three Sisters cropping system which provides a great answer to the “How'come you have so many dry beans?” question: “Green beans contain very little energy or protein, but when harvested as mature dry...