* * *
Lula Mae Austin, who grew up in Clarksville, near Paris, in East Texas, helped us shape this book by sharing with us her fond reminiscences about a lifetime of cooking and eating. Her family added sugar rather than honey to greens, and often did the same with their other garden vegetables.
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Spinach Tejano
Spanish settlers brought spinach from their native country to the New World. This dish salutes that legacy with Tex-Mex seasoning.
1½ tablespoons bacon drippings or olive oil
3 tablespoons minced onion
1 teaspoon chili powder, preferably homemade ([>]) or Gebhardt's
1½ pounds fresh spinach, chopped
Salt to taste
Serves 4
Warm the bacon drippings or oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and sauté it briefly over medium heat, until it is softened. Mix in the chili powder, and cook until it is fragrant. Stir in the spinach, and heat until it is wilted and warmed through. Add salt to taste, and serve the dish warm.
Variation: For a complementary flavor, add a handful of yellow or red cherry tomatoes, and warm them through with the spinach.
* * *
The Texas spinach industry dates back to the first decade of the twentieth century, when M. H. Crockett of Manor defied the agricultural experts and became one of the largest growers in the country. The state now leads all others in spinach cultivation, raising 40 percent of the nation's production.
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Creamed Spinach
This is a hearty Tex-Czech specialty.
2 pounds fresh spinach
3 slices slab bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1½ cups half-and-half
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1
or
2 dashes of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
Serves 4 to 6
Cook the spinach in a small amount of boiling salted water until it is wilted. Drain the spinach, rinse it in cold water, and drain it again, squeezing out the excess moisture. Chop the spinach and reserve it.
In a medium skillet, fry the bacon until it is browned and crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, drain it, and reserve it. Add the butter to the warm bacon drippings. Add the garlic and onion, and sauté them until they are soft. Stir in the flour, and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Add the half-and-half a few tablespoons at a time, stirring to avoid lumps. Add the seasonings and the reserved spinach and bacon. Serve the dish warm.
* * *
In the heart of Texas's Winter Garden region, Zavala County calls itself the "Spinach Capital of the World." The most prominent feature of Crystal City, the county seat, is a statue of Popeye, erected decades ago during the Depression.
* * *
Greens Soup with Cornbread Dumplings
Try this tasty way to clear out the refrigerator. One version we like uses chard, mustard greens, carrot tops, and beet greens. If the greens have tender stems, you can include these as well as the tops, but chop the stems into small pieces.
1 recipe Just Good Plain Cornbread batter ([>])
2 pounds mixed greens (mustard, turnip, collard, dandelion, and beet greens, spinach, lamb's quarters, chard, kale, and carrot tops all can be used), tough stems removed, coarsely chopped
1 onion, chopped
2
or
3 celery ribs, chopped
½
to
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups unsalted chicken stock
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons cider vinegar, preferably unrefined
2 teaspoons Creole or Cajun seasoning
½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 medium baking potato, peeled or unpeeled, diced
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
Serves 4 to 6
Measure out ½ cup of the cornbread batter, and reserve it. For cornbread to serve on the side, bake the rest of the batter according to the recipe, but reduce the baking time by about 3 minutes.
Into a stockpot or large saucepan, toss the mixed greens, onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, chicken stock, paprika, vinegar, Creole seasoning, pepper, and thyme. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Add the potato to the soup. Simmer the soup an additional 20 minutes, until the greens and potato are tender.
Spoon out about half the soup, and purée it in a food processor or blender. Return the purée to the pan, add the corn, and bring the soup back to a simmer. Add the reserved cornbread batter by teaspoons to the simmering soup. Cover the soup, and cook it 15 minutes more, or until the dumplings are tender.
Ladle the soup into bowls, and serve it immediately with warm cornbread on the side.
* * *
Knox County, the "Vegetable Capital of North Texas," celebrates its crops in the Vegetable Festival each summer. In some events, contestants make human faces and other sculptured forms out of their favorite vegetables.
* * *
* * *
Technique Tip
Like unrefined oils, unrefined vinegars offer more of the character of their source. Unrefined cider vinegar smells distinctly of the fall's apple harvest.
* * *
Minted Beets
Minus a half-cup of butter, this recipe comes from a 1950 cookbook, Favorite Dallas County Recipes, compiled by the Dallas County Home Demonstration Clubs.
6
to
7 medium beets (to yield about 3 cups when cooked and sliced), trimmed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons peach, apricot, or jalapeño jelly
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2
to
2½ tablespoons minced fresh mint
Serves 4 to 6
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Place the beets in a covered dish, and bake them approximately 1 hour. The beets are done when they can be pierced easily with a knife or skewer.
Allow the beets to cool until they can be easily handled. Peel the beets, and slice them.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, and add the beets and cloves. Over medium heat, warm the beets, stirring occasionally. After a couple of minutes, add the jelly and lemon juice, stirring to combine. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the mint. Serve the beets hot or at room temperature.
* * *
The Home Demonstration Clubs that developed this recipe were part of Texas A&M's Extension Service. The service provided home-economics guidance to the state's rural areas, which in 1950 included most of Dallas County.
* * *
Shiner's Soused Carrots
A success with any beer, this recipe comes from the Spoetzl Brewery in the tiny town of Shiner, Texas. The beer adds complexity to the glaze.
8 medium carrots, sliced into thin rounds or matchsticks
1 cup beer
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1
to
2 teaspoons sugar
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Salt and coarse-ground black pepper to taste
Serves 4
In a saucepan, cover the carrots with the beer. Simmer the carrots over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until they are almost tender. Drain the carrots, reserving them and ¼ cup of the cooking liquid.
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and add the carrots. Sauté the carrots for 1 minute. Add the reserved cooking liquid, sugar, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook the carrots 4 to 5 minutes more, stirring frequently, until the sauce reduces to a glaze. Se
rve the carrots hot.
Creole Green Beans and Potatoes
Some early Texas cookbooks paid scant attention to vegetables because the writers assumed everyone knew how to boil them into submission. Occasionally the lengthy cooking works, as in this recipe, even though the time here is less than half of what you find in old recipes.
2 tablespoons oil, preferably canola or corn
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, preferably red, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
½ cup chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
4 cups unsalted chicken stock
2 pounds fresh green beans, sliced in 2-inch lengths
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
¾ teaspoon salt, or more, to taste
1
to
2 tablespoons pure liquid hickory smoke, optional
3 medium baking potatoes, cut in bite-size chunks
¾ teaspoon filé powder
Serves 6 to 8
In a large, heavy pot, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, parsley, garlic, and bay leaves, and sauté until the vegetables soften.
Pour in the chicken stock, and add the green beans, vinegar, pepper, salt, and, if you like, the liquid smoke. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Add the potatoes, and cook another 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the filé powder, and remove the pot from the heat. Serve the dish warm.
Once the filé powder has been added, the vegetables can be reheated, but they should not be boiled. The dish keeps for several days.
* * *
Texans often like smoke flavor in vegetable dishes; they get it by adding pieces of smoked meat or liquid smoke. Stonewall Jackson seems to have invented liquid smoke during a barbecue, by dissolving tar (from burned wood) in water. in the "pure" commercial product today, tars and resins are removed, making it a "natural food" in U.S. Department of Agriculture classifications.
* * *
Granny's Green Beans
Actually these beans are better than Granny's, because they aren't cooked quite as long. Nobody would consider them al dente, but they still have some life left and, sure enough, the flavor of Grandma's.
1½ pounds fresh green beans, cut into 1- to 2-inch lengths
3 cups unsalted chicken stock
¼ pound chunk fatback or bacon
½ medium onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon coarse-ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Serves 4 to 6
Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan. Cover the saucepan, and simmer over medium heat for 35 to 45 minutes, until the beans are very tender but not mushy. Discard the fatback or bacon.
Serve the beans warm. They reheat easily.
* * *
A Texas cookbook from the 1880s says green beans should be boiled with bacon for three to four hours, "until quite tender."
* * *
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Vegetable- and rice-stuffed peppers gained popularity during World War 11. One of our old recipes describes them as "easy on points," the rationing system in place at the time. This version adds more vegetables than most cooks used fifty years ago.
6 medium bell peppers, red, green, or a combination of the two
1 12-ounce can V-8 juice, regular or spicy
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or unrefined corn oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 small tomatoes, preferably Roma or another Italian plum variety, chopped
1 small yellow squash or zucchini, chopped fine or grated
1
to
2 fresh jalapeños, minced
4 green onions, sliced
2 cups cooked rice
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon minced cilantro
1 cup (4 ounces) grated monterey jack cheese
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Serves 6
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a baking dish that can hold the peppers snugly upright.
Slice off the tops of the peppers, and remove the seeds and cores. If any of your peppers won't stand upright, slice a little off the bottom, being careful not to cut into the pepper's cavity. Chop the pepper trimmings, and reserve them.
Pour about one-third of the V-8 juice into the baking dish. Place all the peppers in the dish, and bake them, empty, about 20 minutes.
While the peppers bake, prepare the filling: Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Sauté the garlic with the cumin over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the corn, tomatoes, squash, jalapeños, and reserved pepper trimmings. Cook the vegetables until they are softened, sprinkling in the green onion shortly before removing the skillet from the heat. Mix in the rice, egg, cilantro, and ¾ cup of the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste, keeping in mind that the V-8 juice will contribute flavor.
Remove the peppers from the oven, and stuff each with a portion of the rice-and-vegetable mixture. Top with the remaining ¼ cup of cheese. Pour the rest of the V-8 juice on and around the peppers. Bake the stuffed peppers for 30 minutes longer.
Serve the peppers warm, spooning some of the sauce over each one.
Green Chile Corn with Cream Cheese
The Hicks family of Amarillo introduced us to this dish. The Dallas actress Morgan Fairchild also claims it as a favorite in a Texas celebrity cookbook. This version is a little spicier than either of theirs.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
6 ounces cream cheese, cut in several chunks
¼ cup milk
4 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen
½ cup chopped roasted green chile, preferably new mexican or poblano, fresh or frozen
½ teaspoon salt, or more, to taste
¼ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
¼ cup dry bread crumbs
Paprika
Serves 6
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a medium baking dish.
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Sauté the garlic in the butter until it is soft. Add the cheese and milk, and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cheese melts. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Mix in the corn and green chile, and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Top with the bread crumbs, and sprinkle paprika over the top. Bake 25 minutes, or until the casserole is bubbly. Serve it immediately.
Texas Veggie Trio
Potatoes, onions, and corn on the cob, simmered together with a lot of seasonings, make a great accompaniment for smoked or grilled meat and seafood.
2 quarts salted water
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 corn ears, halved
6 small new potatoes
6
to
12 boiling onions
Butter, salt, and additional chili powder
Serves 6
In a large saucepan or small stockpot, bring the water and 1 tablespoon chili powder to a boil. Add the vegetables, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the vegetables until they are tender, about 15 minutes. Serve them hot with butter and sprinklings of salt and chili powder.
* * *
Technique Tip
If you're trying to cut saturated fat, don't substitute margarine for the butter here. Instead, try unrefined corn oil, which has a buttery corn taste all its own.
* * *
Flash-Fried Okra
A U.S. Department of Agriculture survey named okra, eggplant, and turnips as the three vegetables people like the least. Some people must not know how to cook them. No one who has tasted fried okra is going to vote against it.
1
to
1¼ pounds okra pods, preferably under 2½ inches each<
br />
Ice water
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups medium-grind cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
Oil, preferably peanut, for deep frying
Serves 4
Place the okra in a bowl, and cover it with ice water. Add the salt, and refrigerate the okra for 30 minutes to plump it up.
Spoon the cornmeal into a medium-size brown-paper bag. Drain the okra, and cut it into thin rounds.
Pour the oil into a heavy saucepan, to a depth of at least 3 inches. Heat the oil to 360° F.
Dredge the okra in the cornmeal. Fry the okra until the cornmeal deepens slightly in color, a matter of seconds. Drain the okra, and serve it immediately.
Texas Home Cooking Page 37
