Peanut Sauce #2: Senegalese

Peanut Sauce to go with rice:
3 tbs oil
2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 -1tsp of your favorite piment (hot pepper)-
1/2 tsp salt
1 bullion cube-
1 cup water-or more depending on the density of the peanut butter you’re using
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup diced onion

Saute tomato paste, hot pepper, salt, onion and bullion cube in oil for a few minutes. Add peanut butter and water. All natural peanut butter is better than the processed type because it doesn’t have any sugar that clashes with the salt. Mix and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Makes enough sauce for 3 servings (1 1/2 cups dry rice). Serve with white sweet potatoes.

I got this from this site:
http://www.geocities.com/fon_is_fun/beninese_food_recipes.htm
I like to imagine that I was in the peace corps group with these girls, and when I make it, I always reminisce with fake memories of people I might have met in Benin.

This one doesn't keep in the fridge for as long as Peanut Sauce #1 but has a richer flavor. It is better for dinner-type meals like beans and rice.

Risotto Cakes

Shape leftover risotto into small cakes.
Shallow-fry in olive oil.
Serve wrapped in lettuce or on a bed of spinach.

Inspired by a recipe in The New English Kitchen by Rose Prince. Hers added an egg to them but I like to keep my leftover heating up a little simpler.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients
4 cups stock (veggie or mushroom)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1/2 head celery, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 3/4 cups arborio rice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups white wine
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. olive oil
Fresh basil or parsley, chopped, for sprinkling on top
Fresh and rehydrated wild mushrooms (about 1/4 pound fresh and 1 handful dried is a good amount)
1 Potato (yukon gold is best), peeled
Oregano and thyme

Directions
1. Boil 4 1/4 cups water in saucepan. Add potato and let boil until potato is soft. Add boullion after potato is removed to make stock.
2. Rehydrate dried mushrooms by covering with warm water (just enough to cover mushrooms)
3. Mash up the potato and set aside. Chop fresh mushrooms if necessary.
4. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic. Cook until soft, 10-15 minutes. Add rice, salt and pepper, cook one minute, or until rice is slightly translucent, stirring constantly. Turn up heat to medium high.
5. Add wine and cook until absorbed, stirring constantly. Stir in a pinch of salt.
6. Add one ladle of stock (1/3 to 1/2 cup), cook until absorbed, stirring constantly. After stock is absorbed, add another ladleful. This process should take 15 minutes or so. Add mushrooms and potato about halfway through the stock. Add water from dried mushrooms along with the mushrooms
7. When all the stock is absorbed, turn off the heat, put on the lid and let it sit for 3 minutes. Then take off the lid and stir in the rest of the olive oil. Stir and serve with chopped fresh basil or parsley sprinkled on top.

The flavor comes from the fresh herbs and the rehydrated mushroom water. The potato gives it creaminess.

Base risotto recipe from http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=268

Butternut Squash Risotto

2 pounds butternut squash (I do half yams instead of all butternut)
2 tablespoons each butter and olive oil
1 1/2 cups diced onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 1/2 cups arborio rice
3/4 cup of dry white wine
7 cups stock
1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan or asiago cheese
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper
chopped chives and shaved parmesan and basil oil to garnish.

Peel the squash and remove seeds. Cut into small 1/4 inch dice. Set aside.
Heat the butter and oil together in a deep saucepan and saute the onions and garlic until soft but not browned. Add the squash and rice and continue to saute and stir for 2-3 minutes longer. Add wine and stir until absorbed. Add stock in 1/2 cup increments, stirring until absorbed. Continue adding stock and stirring until rice is creamy on the outside but has some texture to it. Gently stir in cheese, zest, nutmeg, and correct seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately in warm bowls garnished with chopped chives, additional Parmesan and a drizzle of fresh basil oil, if desired.

This recipe was given to me by Lisa Dale Beevers, or Dale Beevers for short. We made it at her house in East Oakland in 2002 during a meeting where a few of us were sketching out ideas for an archaeological guide book to San Francisco.

We never finished the guide book but did get a good outline going, and I still make the risotto from time to time. Her email to me, dated Febuary 27, 2002, says this recipe is "Exported from MasterCook II" and is by "Cooking Right Show #CR9665".

Molasses-Ginger Cookies

Mix together:
3/4 cups shortening
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg.

Sift together (or, mix well):
2 c flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp Cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt


Stir in dry ingredients
Chill.
heat oven 375
Roll dough into balls size of walnuts. Dip top in sugar.
Place on greased baking sheets about 3" apart.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
Makes about 4 dozen.

This recipe is from my grandmother; my dad's mom. I don not know where she got it but will ask. She used to have them made when we'd stay with her, and the feeling of sitting down in front of "you can't do that on television" with some milk and a ginger cookie is the coziest feeling ever. We didn't have Nickelodeon, so you understand...

Later my friend Jen B saw this recipe and noted the "Chill" step and thought it was so funny. Like this was the time in the recipe that we were all supposed to just "chill".

This is the only recipe I have that is properly written on one index card.

Kelly's Friend's Aunt's Doctor’s Moroccan Stew

2 cans garbanzo beans
garlic
onion
ginger
pimento (4 oz)
1 25 oz can of chopped tomatoes
25 oz vegetable broth
sweet potatoes
cumin
curry powder
chili powder
salt-n-peppa
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
4 teaspoons of peanut butter
1/2 cup raisins
celery

Directions
1. Sautee the garlic, onions, pimentos, celery
2. Add the spices
3. Add the sweet potatoes and coat with the paste of the spices
4. Add the broth and garbanzo beans and tomatoes and bring the soup to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes.
5. When the sweet potatoes are tender, remove from heat and add peanut butter, raisins and cilantro.

My friend Kelly gave me this recipe. She got it from a friend who got it from an aunt. The aunt was sick with a major disease and the doctor gave her this recipe to help her stay healthy.