go ahead honey... it's gluten free! indigenous foods

venison* and a new england fall fruit egg bake

When I proposed indigenous foods for this month's "Go Ahead Honey... It's Gluten Free!" I was thinking of all the wonderful New World foods that the Americas have to offer. I wanted to encourage research into what food stuff are native to an area. I wanted to have an idea of what people were preparing here 600 years ago. Before the arrival of the Dutch and English what were the natives of Manhattan Island and New England harvesting and storing for the winter.

Corn, fruits, berries, game and seafood I discovered. Apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and cranberries to name a few that we still enjoy. Others are lost to history or only found wild in the woods.

On the New England coast fish were a staple and shellfish abound. The clambake is a tradition adopted from the natives. At thanksgiving every school child hears the story of Squanto, the native who taught the newcomers to plant each seed with a fish to fertilize it.

In the wooded areas game was plentiful. I expect anything that could be caught could be eaten. I must confess I had a desire to cook venison when I formulated this month's theme.

The natives of this area dried fruits, berries and nuts for the winter, to be eaten along with smoked meats, stews and pemican.

After dutiful research and a thorough brain wracking my New England Fall Fruit Egg Bake was born. Mixing squash, apples and New England's fall favorite: cranberries. An experiment with good ingredients that turned out wonderfully, great as a side, elevenses or even dessert. In the spirit of authenticity, I attempted to dry my own cranberries with partial success, not having a dehydrator at my disposal.

New England Fall Fruit Egg Bake

1- apple, sliced
1/4- baked squash, about 1/2 cup
1/4- cup dried unsweetened cranberries
1- tbsp dark honey
6- eggs or egg whites
Sea salt
Butter, oil or fat to grease skillet

•Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease cast iron skillet, pie pan or baking dish

•Arrange apple slices to cover the bottom of the dish.

•Sprinkle dried cranberries over apple slices.

•In a blender, whiz the squash, eggs and a liberal pinch of sea salt.

•Slowly pour egg mixture over apples and cranberries

•Bake for 30 minutes or until firm.

While the torte was in the oven I managed to trip the circuit in my electrically challenged apartment when I started to heat my electric grill to cook the venison. The frittata had to finish cooking itself in the preheated oven, but after a trip down to the basement, flashlight in hand, the power was restored and I was able to finish cooking the meal.

The venison was simple to cook, 4 minutes in my grill at 400 F was just rare enough for me. The sweet frittata was a perfect compliment to the flavorful, hearty meat.

*Those of you who are squeamish, please turn away, but I must get this out of my system. Yes! Yes, I had Bambi for dinner, he was delicious, and I make no apologies!


Sent from my iPhone

autumn, or anatomy of a squash

In the Michigan of my childhood the crisp air and turning leaves of October could only mean one thing: Halloween.

A trip to my elementary school’s gym, parents in tow. The terrifying basketball court turned, for an evening, into a pumpkin patch. Neat orange rows from hoop to hoop. The annual pumpkin sale.

Three Pumpkins. Every year, three. A tall skinny one for Mom, a big fat on for Dad, to sit on our front steps like Bert and Ernie. Me, hunting, searching, always seeking the Perfect Pumpkin. Odd in shape, a vegetable that spoke to me.

Back home with newspapers strewn across the kitchen floor it’s carving time. First; you have to cut off the top, on an angle of course, and with a notch so it won’t fall in later. Then: scoop out the guts. This is child’s work if there ever was, arms up to the elbow, no- the shoulder, in sticky, slimy, slippery bright orange pumpkin guts.

Mom carved hers with a simple geometric face. Dad tried something imposing. The budding artist agonized over a new, avant-garde pumpkin face each year. Later, I carved all three. One memorable year the huge pumpkin ate the screaming little pumpkin with relish as a strawberry-shaped alien pumpkin watched through green glowing eye slits.

To end the late evening, one of a very few school nights I stayed up late, Mom produced a tray of fresh, salty warm pumpkin seeds. A once a year treats for autumn.

True autumn, for me, began with the carving of pumpkins. As my masterpieces sat on the stoop, the squirrels sampled their flesh, distorting my handy work. The night frosts made the faces wilt and melt, more ghoul-like several days after All Hallows Eve.

sweet squash soup

1 butternut squash
1 sweet apple
1 small onion
2 cups cashew milk or water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
olive oil
kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 F

Prepare the squash by cutting it in half and removing the pulp and seeds. Save the seeds from the pulp for roasting.

Lightly oil the cut edges of the squash and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 30-45 min depending on the size of the squash.

In a heavy pan saute the onions until translucent. Add chopped apple and continue to cook until the apple is very soft.

When the squash is cooked, carefully scoop the flesh out with a spoon.

In a blender puree small batches of squash, apple mixture, and fluid. Put each small batch into a medium size sauce pan.

When all the vegetables are pureed, add the cinnamon and vanilla to the pot. Stir and simmer to combine flavors. Add extra water to change the consistency.

roasted pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 200 F

remove all the pulp from the seeds

soak the seeds in a bowl with salt water

pour off the water and arrange the seeds on a baking sheet

bake for 2 hours and allow to cool.

Fall Comfort Food

Here I sit, at my small home desk with my cup of Sleepytime tea and a small dish of incinerated nuts (my last attempt at roasting in an unpredictable oven), the first fall rain is pattering against the window and I am finally trying to decompress after a very long four days.

It auction season, all the big houses have sales in the next few weeks, Doyle's, Sotheby's, Christie's, so things are hectic at work to say the least. Our neighbors were evicted and the landlord decided to fully exterminate both the vacant apartment and ours, we're the only two on the floor, on Wednesday. Tuesday the Trainer and I, and his family, had to remove all our clothes and books from the apartment, only to put it all away again Wednesday evening. The past few evenings they have been doing work next door as well, last night until after 11pm.

I'm very glad that I had the foresight to prepare some comfort food last weekend. I roasted a large spaghetti squash and prepared a batch of my Nonna's pasta sauce to go with it. I hadn't planned on eating it every day, but it's warm and comforting, and it's all ready for me to grab from the freezer. I learned how to make this pasta sauce from my Nonna and my uncle and I certainly don't follow a recipe, but I do follow a few guidelines.

Spaghetti Squash

Clean the outside of a spaghetti squash and cut it in half. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place both halves of the squash cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the squash. When it's cool enough to handle scrape the meat with a fork to create the spaghetti-like strands and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.

Nonna's Pasta Sauce

1lb- ground beef
1- onion
5cloves- garlic
6- Roma tomatoes
4- vine ripe tomatoes
1/2bunch- parsley
2tsp- Italian seasoning (basil, oregano, majoram, thyme, savory, sage & rosemary)
Olive oil
Sea salt

To prep- chop the onions and garlic, wash the Roma tomatoes and remove the stem part and peel the vine ripe tomatoes*

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil with 1tsp seasoning until translucent.

Remove 2/3 of the onion mixture and place in blender.

Add ground beef to remaining onions and sautee, breaking up into clumps of desired size.

In blender, puree onions and Roma tomatoes.

Transfer meat and tomato puree to a sauce pan, add peeled, chopped vine ripe tomatoes, remaining seasoning and chopped parsley. Simmer for at least 1 hour until flavors are well blended.


*to easily peel the tomatoes score an X over the stem and place tomatoes top down in a heat proof bowl. Cover with boiling water. After a few minutes, rinse in cold water and remove peels