Corona Cuisine
– All images © W. Scott Rawlins, unless otherwise noted.
Many of us are no longer able to work as illustrators— either because there is no work coming in or we have been prevented from accessing our usual workspaces (and necessary equipment). Without the usual work incentives to persuade us to illustrate, we are finding a variety of ways to exercise our creativity. In addition to dealing with our need to create, these activities are a way to combat depression, anxiety, and stir-craziness. They also allow us to feel more independent, more self-sufficient, and in greater control of our lives.
A psychologist coined the term “fruitful boredom" to refer to the drive to explore ways to engage ourselves when we are unable to “carry on as usual.” Many of us already spend a great deal of time in front of computer screens—working on digital illustrations or (more recently) participating in numerous online classes and meetings. So, instead of watching films online and playing computer games in our “free time,” what can we do that is more active, appealing, and (potentially) constructive—that is, activities that could produce some satisfying, tangible results?
Some people write to fill their time. Others compose music, garden, or in my case: cook. There is actually a name for it—Quarantine Cooking, which generally refers to savory dishes thrown together that can be eaten as an entire meal, such as soups, stews, and stir-fries. (A subset of this phenomenon is Quarantine Baking that focuses on sweet creations.) Quarantine cooking generally involves “real” food that meets nutritional needs.
Though things are opening up a little throughout the US (and world), people are still staying at home, limiting trips to the grocery store, and having to deal with the realities of a quarantine mindset such as hoarding supplies. I limit my shopping to twice a month, which requires a certain amount of planning ahead, and there’s no guarantee that what I want will be on the grocery store shelves. Online grocery shopping might seem like a good idea, but items are often on backorder, involve complicated delivery procedures, and/or are overpriced. For example, a five-pound bag of flour I ordered online cost me $18.
I decided that I needed to set some goals for my Corona Cuisine. Number one was to use ingredients that have been in my cabinets/refrigerator/freezer for lengthy periods. I also wanted to be creative, so I decided to devise recipes for items that might not normally be combined. In other words: to play, but still be productive.
GARDENING AND FORAGING
Gardening can be thought of as another example of “fruitful boredom.” Less reliance on what is available in grocery stores can be achieved by growing your own fruits and vegetables but this is not something that yields immediate results. I will have to continue to rely mainly on grocery shopping for a while, but did manage to do some local foraging. Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are common weeds in my neighborhood. Conscious of the “produce problem,” I decided to use nettles in a number of recipes, generally substituting them for spinach. And thinking about all of those tufts of wild garlic (Allium vineale, a.k.a. onion grass, crow garlic, and stag’s garlic) that are popping up all over lawns in my neighborhood, I was wondering if I could figure out how to combine these weeds in one recipe. In addition to the usual ingredients for an omelet, I substituted nettles for spinach and wild garlic for onions. Both of these plants were growing in my yard—or my neighbor’s yard (I didn’t ask, but I don’t think she minded me harvesting her weeds).
Left: Wild Garlic (Allium vineale)© 2020 W. Scott Rawlins
Right: Stinging nettle shoots (Urtica dioica)© 2020 W. Scott Rawlins
Voilà—the Stinging Nettle, Wild Garlic, and Feta Cheese Omelet:
Stinging Nettle, Wild Garlic, and Feta Cheese Omelet:
Serves 1
Ingredients:
- 8 stinging nettle shoots
- 20 wild garlic bulbs
- 2 large eggs
- 2 T crumbled feta cheese
- olive oil
- butter
- salt & pepper
Directions:
1. Pick the nettles using gloves, wash them (the nettles, that is, not the gloves), place them in a small saucepan, and
boil them about three minutes. Drain
and cool slightly. Using kitchen scissors, remove the stems. (You will be left with something that looks like cooked spinach or green filamentous algae.) Set aside.
2. Pull up a couple of clumps of wild garlic. Grasp firmly and pull steadily upward until the bulbs are free. Wash off the dirt. Trim off the “stems” and the rootlets so that only the bulbs remain. Cut each bulb in half. Save some of the leaves for garnish!Heat a little olive oil in a pan and sauté the bulbs until slightly transparent. Raw wild garlic is kind of strong, so sautéing it will reduce the pungency. Set aside.
3. Using a medium-sized bowl and a wire whisk, beat the eggsuntil uniform in t texture.
4. In a small skillet or frying pan, melt about a tsp. of butter and manipulate
the pan so the butter coats the inside.
5. Pour the eggs into the pan and cook as you would any omelet. Before all
of the egg has congealed, heap on the nettles, garlic, and cheese. Add a little salt and pepper. Fold the omelet onto itself, flip, and cook the top. Slide
the finished omelet onto a plate.
6. Garnish with some chopped garlic leaves.
*ASIDE: I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to make omelets for years using olive oil until I encountered an Arcadia chef who, without knowing what my problem was, immediately offered a solution: butter. (Butter seems to be the solution to a lot of things in life.) So—use butter in the pan.
CREATIVE COMBINATIONS
What to do with an excess of carrots? Those warehouse stores can be time and money savers, but everything seems to be available only in large quantities. I adapted a classic glazed carrots recipe using chopped praline pecans that by themselves are so sweet that they make your teeth hurt. Fortunately, when mixed with the carrots, a nice balance was achieved. Along with the carrots, I received a large quantity of celery. Cream of Celery Soup seemed like a good way to use up the excess! The grocery store was out of “regular” rice, so I purchased a bag of jasmine rice. Using leftover flaked coconut, golden raisins, mango chutney, carrots, and various curry spices, Corona Curried Rice was born.
Two wrongs can make a right! Those excessively sweet pecans and some overly dark (i.e., very bitter) chocolate, when mixed together, resulted in a perfect combination of flavors in a sweet treat: Corona Chocolate.
I can’t recall how long I’ve had a container of dried morel mushrooms in my refrigerator but decided that now was the time to use them. The result: Spaghettini with Mushroom Sauce.
Spaghettini with Mushroom Sauce © 2020 W. Scott Rawlins
I tried to buy some sweet potatoes online, but the system would not allow me to purchase more than one. What can you do that is interesting with just one sweet potato? I found a recipe for sweet potato casserole online and made some additions and substitutions: fresh wild garlic for garlic powder, agave syrup for maple syrup, chopped pecans (yes, those overly sweet ones!) for chopped walnuts, olive oil for butter, Italian seasoning for fresh thyme and rosemary, and “regular” seasoned breadcrumbs for unseasoned Panko breadcrumbs. The result was quite acceptable.
SOME NOTES ON MY QUARANTINE BAKING
I’m not a very experienced cook (though maybe that will change before things get back to “normal”). However, I do have experience baking, so I have done quite a bit of that. The challenge was not how to bake what I wanted, but how to use ingredients I’d been storing for years and where I might make substitutions for ingredients that were unavailable. In addition, for some reason I decided to use the heat from my fireplace to help the bread dough to rise. This increased my sense of self-sufficiency. Some concoctions I tried included:
• Pandemic Applesauce Bread (what to do with uncooked apple pieces—from my own tree!—that had been in my freezer for at least a decade…)
• Cranberry and Pineapple Biscotti (what to do with leftover dried cranberries and pineapple)
• Marmalade Cake (I don't like marmalade but couldn't just throw it out! The cake was OK—and probably very good if you like marmalade.)
• Yellow Cake with Raspberry Sauce (what to do with last year’s frozen raspberries)
• Cupcakes (what to do with some Russian cocoa powder I “discovered” in one of my cabinets)
• Oatmeal Bread (what to do with agave syrup that had been around for several years)
• Basic Biscuits (what to do with some old buttermilk powder)
All things considered; I think my experiments with “Corona Cuisine” have been successful. The process has certainly been productive—and instructive—and I’ve been able to exercise my creative energy. An added bonus is that I now have a lot more room in my refrigerator, cabinets, and freezer! You know what they say—when life gives you lemons… make something interesting with what you have in the refrigerator.
Featured Recipes:
Corona Curry
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
- 2 c. jasmine rice
- 4 c. water
- 3 T. olive oil (divided)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 T. mango chutney
- 2 carrots, grated
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- 2 tsp. vadouvan*
- ½ tsp. tumeric
- ½ c. golden raisins
- 1–1½ tsp. seasoned salt
- flaked coconut (for garnish)
* Vadouvan is another type of curry powder often used in the Puducherry region of India.
DIRECTIONS:
- Add 1 T. of oil to the water and bring to a boil.
- Add rice and stir briefly. When the water begins to boil again, cover, reduce the heat, and cook about 15 minutes—or until all of the water is absorbed.
- In a small saucepan, sauté the onion over low heat in 1 T. oil. When the onion has become fairly transparent, add the chutney, spices, carrots, raisins, and salt. Continue to cook, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes.
- Combine the rice and sautéed vegetables in a large container. Add the last T. of oil and mix well.
- Add additional salt and/or pepper to taste. Garnish with the flaked coconut.
Corona Chocolate Covered Pecans-
24 pieces
INGREDIENTS
- 2 dozen overly sweet praline pecan halves
- 20 bite-sized dark chocolate bars (70–80% cacao)
- Tb vanilla extract
- milk chocolate sprinkles*
TOOLS
- A small double boiler
- A piece of waxed paper
- A chocolate-dipping fork or a table fork
DIRECTIONS
- Melt the chocolate bars in a double boiler.
- Remove boiler from heat, add the vanilla extract, and stir to combine ingredients.
- Using a fork or chocolate dipper, dunk each pecan half in the chocolate and turn until the pecan half is coated.
- Place each enrobed pecan half on a piece of waxed paper.
- Garnish the pecans with the milk chocolate sprinkles.
- Allow the enrobed pecan halves to cool before removing them from the waxed paper.
- Store the candies in an airtight container.
* I used ChocoMaker 100% natural milk chocolate flakes.
Easter Sweet Potato Casserole
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
- 1 large sweet potato
- 3/4 T. agave syrup
- 20 wild garlic bulbs, washed, cut in half
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/3 c. breadcrumbs
- 1/4 c. chopped pecans
- 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 T. butter, melted
- Pinches of savory spices (rosemary, sage, thyme)
DIRECTIONS
- Pierce the sweet potato in several places with a fork and wrap it in a barely damp paper towel. Cook the potato in the microwave for about 7 minutes. Remove it from the microwave, unwrap, and cut the potato in half lengthwise. When it has cooled a little, remove the outer skin and discard it.
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mash the potato with the agave syrup, wild garlic bulbs, and salt. Spread the mixture into a small 2-qt baking dish.
- Combine the dry topping ingredients in a separate bowl and mix in the melted butter.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping over the sweet potato and bake for about 30 minutes.
Pandemic Pasta
Serves 1 or 2
INGREDIENTS
- 1 c. dried pasta (I used rotini)
- 1/2 c. cooked nettle leaves, chopped
- olive oil (~1 T.)
- seasoned salt (about 1/2 t.; this contained garlic and pepper flakes)
- pesto paste (about 1/2 t.)
- Italian seasoning
- 1 small tomato (2” in diameter), diced
- parmesan cheese, grated (~1/2 T.)
- black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare the pasta as directed on the box—note that to achieve an al dente texture you might have to reduce the cooking time by a minute or two.
2. Mix together the olive oil, seasoned salt, Italian seasoning, pesto paste, and cooked nettle leaves.
3. Combine the pasta and the olive oil “dressing.”
4. Assemble the pasta dish. Fill two small bowls or one medium-sized bowl with the pasta. Arrange the tomato pieces on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Finish with some freshly-ground black pepper.
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