I’m excited you’re excited for purslane. I feel like I’m on a marketing campaign for the succulent this summer.

I confess, however, the inspiration for featuring this ingredient came from my hubby. He’s been making green smoothies this summer (adding raw kale, spinach, collards and other greens into his berry smoothies for extra nutrients). One day he asked about “purslane” and I reminded him that he’s eaten it in tacos de verdolagas.

In most Mexican cookbooks, verdolagas/purslane are mentioned in recipes with pork. But, they are also frequently eaten scrambled with eggs. That’s how I remember eating them growing up. When I told my brothers and sisters that I was writing about verdolagas – they waxed nostalgically for those tacos with verdolagas, sautéed onions, chile and scrambled eggs.

For those new to purslane, the cooked version tastes like spinach and loses its tanginess. It’s a nice earthy compliment to eggs.

When you prepare the raw purslane, make sure to use the florets and use only the tender part of the stem. The whole stem is edible, but I find the really thick stems chewy. Substitute purslane in those recipes where you’d usually have sautéed greens like spinach.

This morning we had tacos de verdolagas with a little queso fresco and salsa. They are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a snack.

If any of you are already purslane fans, what’s your favorite way to eat it?

Tidbits on Purslane:

1. Purslane is loaded with vitamins and minerals but for anyone watching their nitrate intake – as in spinach, don’t over do it.
2. Its name in Malawi (a southeast African country) translates as “buttocks of the chief’s wife,” referring to the plants rounded leaves and juicy stems.

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In this post, a “chub” is not me in my bikini (no need to see those pics). Nor is it a fish. It refers to the tube, roll or log of ready-made polenta sitting on store shelves and maybe even in your cupboard?

Most people like chubs for their convenience – slice it and reheat. But, the taste of that pre-packaged polenta is closer to a log than what you get when you make it from scratch.

If you’re a chub buyer, you may also be purchasing the ready-made version because you’ve heard that polenta is difficult to prepare. It’s not.

Polenta is simply cornmeal simmered in liquid and stirred. (Read my post about grits v. polenta.) And, to bust a big myth, it does NOT require constant stirring; just a watchful eye and some stirring. It can be prepared simply, mixed with butter and cheese, or made a delicacy with fancy ingredients.

It is commonly eaten in two forms:  soft and creamy or hardened and shaped for baking, grilling or frying. In this post, we’re doing the latter. The ingredients are identical in both except that the polenta cooks longer so it thickens when it sets.

Making home-made chubs is easy – simmer polenta, add flavors, let it cool and set it in cyclinder container. That’s it.

Also note that you can freeze polenta – slice in individual portions, wrap and freeze. Take out what you need, when you need and reheat.

Chubs run about $4 for an 18 oz. roll. You can buy a whole bag of polenta for that much and it’ll make at least six (tastier) chubs. By making your chub, you can create entirely new flavors: green chile and cheese, sundried tomato and Parmesan (recipe below), or asiago and basil. Make sure to finely chop ingredients that don’t melt. I’ve included detailed instructions only as a guide as to the process but experimentation is always welcome.

Buon appetito!

Tidbits on Polenta:

1. Before corn made its way to the Old World, Europeans ate porridges similar to polenta that were made of millet, chesnut flour, barley and buckwheat. They were eaten much like polenta, seasoned with milk, cheese and meat.
2. When corn first arrived in Europe, it was grown for animal feed. But, between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries corn became a staple to peasants and mountain northern Italians. Southern Italians disparagingly refer to their northern countrymen as “polenta eaters.”
3. Around the world, many cultures that had adopted corn as a primary staple in their diet became afflicted with “pellagra” a niacin vitamin deficiency. They did not follow Indigenous culinary tradition by preparing corn with alkaline water (nixtamal), which increases niacin and lysine. In northern Italy, where many subsided solely on polenta, pellagra became wide-spread. Thought to be associated with corn, Italians at one point forbid eating polenta.

Primary Sources: “The Natural History of Maize” by Ruben G. Mendoza; Polenta by Michele Anna Jordan

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A few of you have said “grits” (the name) is off-putting.

True, it’s a little rough and abrupt. It doesn’t roll fluidly off the tongue. But, I like it. Just like I dig accents and colloquialisms – Southern included. When I lived in Texas, I couldn’t resist picking up a little twang and using “y’all” and “fixin’s” in my vernacular. It was signature to the South, just like grits.

To no surprise, shrimp and grits is also rooted there – South Carolina in particular. It was referred to as “breakfast shrimp” and was a simple fisherman’s breakfast during shrimping season–usually consisting only of shrimp, grits and salt.

Then along came Bill Neal, a young North Carolina chef whose interpretation of the dish has been described as “one of the signature dishes of the Southern culinary renaissance.”

Neal gussied up the low-country version adding sautéed mushrooms, bacon, garlic and cheese grits. It was a hit. Not really a surprise to me since it has bacon and cheese.

His version has become popularized with a little help from a New York Times review and his Southern cookbooks: Bill Neal’s Southern Cooking; Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie; and Good Old Grits Cookbook. Neal died in 1991, but his shrimp and grits are still a favorite at his former restaurant Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, N.C. For any of you into Southern food, you may also want to check out Remembering Bill Neal: Favorite Recipes from a Life in Cooking, another collection of his recipes used at Crook’s, which was published in 2004.

The recipe below is adapted from Neal’s version. I reduced the amount of bacon, increased mushrooms, tweaked the seasonings and used green chile cheese grits for some extra earthiness and depth. It’s relatively easy to make and is fantastic for brunch served with some home-made biscuits. It’s good. So good, my husband puts it in his top 5 recipes on this site.

Also, I wanted to share this quirky, little black and white film about grits that I found while perusing the internet.

Tidbits on Grits:

1. Southerners generally prefer stone-ground grits to the instant version. I found at least one reference to instant grits as “hog slop.”
2. St. George, South Carolina hosts the World Grits Festival.
3. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ga., Quaker (the grits producer) introduced the international audience to grits via its grits campaign.

Sources: Good Old Grits Cookbook by Bill Neal & David Perry; “Some South for Your Mouth,” Duke Magazine.

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Did you know there are chocolate holidays? May 15 is National Chocolate Chip Day, December 16 – National Chocolate Covered Anything Day (I like this one) and February is Chocolate Month. I am a bit of a chocoholic, so one or two recipes with this featured ingredient won’t cut it. Over the next few weeks, you’ll get several sweet and savory chocolate dishes – just in time for the ultimate of chocolate holidays – Valentine’s Day.

First up is Mexican hot chocolate. It journeys back thousands of years to the Mayas, Aztecs and other Central American Indians. In pre-conquest MesoAmerica, cacao trees were cultivated for many purposes, such as currency, ceremonial, and culinary use. Nobles and warriors drank cacahuatl, a bitter, frothy beverage made from ground cacao seeds, water, vanilla and chile.

Then, upon the arrival of the Spanish, cacao beans were used to make chocalatl, the precursor to today’s sweet hot chocolate. Cacao beans were ground with sugar and other spices such as cinnamon, cloves, anise, and almonds to create a paste that was hardened into tablets. The tablets were then mixed with hot water and corn broth, and made frothy. This sweet version, when taken back to Spain, grew in popularity and eventually spread throughout Europe.

Today, Mexican children often drink hot chocolate with breakfast and they’ve even got a little ditty called Chocolate that they sing as their chocolate is being prepared and frothed.

A brew of Mexican hot chocolate is very simple to make using the Mexican chocolate available in many American grocery stores. The chocolate comes in hard disks and is made of cacao nibs, sugar and cinnamon. It is course and gritty before it is melted, rather than smooth like American bars, baking chocolates or chocolate chips. It can be found in the ethnic food section. I prefer the Ibarra brand, but Abuelita is a good substitute.

I grew up drinking Mexican hot chocolate and, for me, nothing can compare to a taza (cup) of the slightly bitter, cinnamon, chocolate treat.

Bate, bate chocolate!

Tidbits on Chocolate:

1. The Mayas and Aztecs made their cacao drinks frothy by repeatedly pouring the liquid from high, back and forth between vessels. Then, the Spanish modeled a molinillo after indigenous whisks to make their chocalatl frothy. Molinillos are available in most Mexican markets and online (see images below).
2. Some lore indicates that cacao has aphrodisiac effects and that Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (“Montezuma”) drank fifty mugs of chocolate a day, especially before entering his harem.

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Since I started this blog I’ve become a food history nerd. I get excited about sexy stuff like botanical names and species, nutritional makeup, and how an ingredient was cultivated and used in a particular culture. As I learn, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation of food and its long, long journey over time and distance to my plate.

If you’re unfamiliar with quinoa, chew on this . . . Today, quinoa is considered a “superfood” and I’d venture to say it’s on the brink of becoming very mainstream.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) dates back more than 5,000 years and was a staple to millions of South American natives. The grain has a texture between millet and couscous, and can easily be substituted for rice or ground into flour. It was an ideal food in the Andes mountain region, where it sustained the altiplano Incas in Peru and Bolivia. It is high in protein and grows well in cold and high altitude areas; locations where maize could not grow.

The Incas considered quinoa to be sacred and referred to it as the “Mother Grain.” It was used in ceremonial practices, as well as consumed daily in porridges and soups. After the Spanish conquest of the Incan Empire in the 1500s, production declined for centuries. The Spaniards destroyed quinoa crops and forbid its cultivation because of its use in non-Christian rituals. Fortunately for us, the grain grew wild and people in remote villages still cultivated it.

Over the last several hundred years it has slowly re-emerged. The demand for quinoa has spread worldwide, particularly in the United States the last 40 years. If you haven’t tried it yet, now is your chance.

Take a lesson from the Incas, quinoa makes for a hearty and comforting breakfast. Like a porridge of oats or other grains, it’s easy to make and even better with cardamom, cinnamon, nuts, and dried or fresh fruit.

Tidbits on Quinoa:

1. Before cooking quinoa, always rinse the grain well to remove its slightly bitter coating. Rinse as you would rice, until water runs clear.
2. Quinoa is used and referred to as a grain but technically is a seed. Quinoa seeds expand about four times their size when cooked.
3. Quinoa is a complete protein because it contains all the essential amino acids, including lysine, which is usually deficient in most grains. It is high in protein (8 grams/1 cup cooked), fiber (5 grams/1 cup) and a good source of iron, zinc, vitamin E, and selenium. It is also good for those eating gluten-free.

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