From Jenn Purnell

• 3 large onions, chopped up
• ½+ cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• ¾ cup tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon wine vinegar with a touch of brown sugar added
• Optional: 1 ½ teaspoon hot sauce
• Optional: ¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• ¾ teaspoon parsley
• ¾ teaspoon marjoram
• ¾ teaspoon oregano
• ¾ teaspoon thyme
• ¾ teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 6 (28-ounce) cans whole Italian plum tomatoes.
• 9 heads roasted garlic, peeled (or 3 heads roasted elephant garlic, peeled)

Directions:

Sauté the onion in the olive oil until soft, then add minced garlic.

Add everything except the tomatoes and roasted garlic.

Squish the tomatoes and add them (including the liquid!). Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes.

Add the roasted garlic, mix. Simmer for 45 minutes.

From Alice

• 30 g wasanbon sugar
• 2 ml water
• 20 g mijin-ko (kanbai-ko) flour made from sweet rice
• Food coloring
• katakuri-ko (potato starch)

Directions:

Mix water and food coloring. Mix sugar into water and food coloring. Add mijin-ko and mix until the dough holds finger marks.

Dust your molds with katakuri-ko. Fill molds tightly, and tap out onto a plate.

These are dry sugar candies – and go well with the tea ceremony. Shapes of these candies are seasonally linked and generally very specific. Since I only have a few molds, those are what I plan to make.

If you do not have rakugan higashi molds, you can buy candy or chocolate molds at many craft supply stores. They’ll hold you over until you can make a friend in Japan to send you some molds.

From Jessica Branom-Zwick

• 3 lbs spinach (or your preferred quantity)
• 2 cups dried cranberries
• 1 small Walla Walla or other onion
• 2 tasty pears or 4 satsumas (your choice)

Directions:

Chop, toss, and serve.

From Alice

• 2 ¼ cups white, short-grain, Japanese rice (or medium-grain California rice).
• rice wine vinegar
• ¼ lb sashimi-grade salmon

Directions:

Broil the salmon until justflaking.

Cook the rice. Add rice vinegar until the flavor of the rice is right–like sushi rice. This should be ¼ to ½ cups of rice wine vinegar.

Make tightly-squished balls of rice with bits of salmon hidden in the middle. Using an onigiri mold makes this easy.

You can put other things in the middles too!

From Corinne Cooley

• 2 lbs free-range lamb, chop finely
• 1 large onion
• 2-4 tomatoes, chop finely
• Optional: 2 green chilies, chop finely
• ½ inch ginger, grated
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• Optional: ½ tsp red chili powder
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp coriander, grind up
• ½ tsp cumin seeds, grind up
• ¾ tsp home-made garam masala: grind together white peppercorn, clove, bay, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander (red pepper & mustard seeds optional)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves
• 2 green cardamom pods
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• Chopped cilantro

Directions:

For 5-10 minutes, boil 1 clove of garlic, bay leaves, and lamb in 2 cups of water. Pour off the water.

For 1 minute, activate the spices by frying the cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves in the oil.

Add the onions. When the onions are lightly browned, add the ginger, garlic and green chilies.

For 5 minutes, saute all that with the boiled meat.

For 5 minutes, cook with half the garam masala mix and the rest of the spices (turmeric, red chili powder, cumin, coriander).

Add the tomatoes and salt and cook until a couple minutes after the liquid is gone.

Add 2 cups of water and cook until the meat is tender.

For 5 minutes, fry the whole thing up with the remaining garam masala mix. Serve with the cilantro.

From Jason Enevoldsen

• white peppercorn
• clove
• bay
• cumin
• cinnamon
• cardamom
• coriander
• Optional: red pepper
• Optional: mustard seeds

Directions:

Grind together.

From Corinne Cooley

• 1 ½ pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut up
• 1 zucchini, cut into large pieces
• 1 onion, cut into large pieces
• 2 apples, cut into large pieces
• olive oil to coat vegetables and fruit
• Salt and ground black pepper

Marinade:

• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup minced fresh cilantro or mint
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix up marinade.

Marinate chicken for as long as possible – preferably 3-24 hours.
Lightly coat vegetables and fruit by tossing in medium bowl with oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Skewer chicken and vegetables.

Grill, turning each every couple minutes, until chicken is fully cooked

From Jason Gift Enevoldsen

• 6 pieces bacon, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 pound green tomatoes, chopped
• Optional: ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ cup white wine
• a small handful of pepperoncini, also chopped
• ½ bunch Italian parsley, chop it up
• black pepper

Directions:

Cook the bacon and set aside, saving a little of the fat.

Simmer garlic in olive oil, then add the tomatoes (and the red pepper flakes) until they start to brown a little. Add wine and perpperoncini and cook down to a sauce. Mix with parsley and bacon, serve over thin pasta.

This and Green Tomato and Bacon Pasta Sauce are similar but different.

From Jason Gift Enevoldsen

• 1 orange
• Rosemary (or juniper berries)
• 2 tablespoons Earl Grey tea leaves
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• ½ teaspoon mustard seed
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 ½ – 2 lbs salmon
• Salt and pepper
• parsley

Directions:

Zest the orange, mix with all spices and Earl Grey. Grind with a mortar and pestle. Sauté salmon in oil (skin side up) until brown. Turn over, coat with tea rub. Drizzle the oil over the top of the salmon and garnish with orange slices.

Bake until salmon is done.

Before all the broth is added (prettier, so you can see all the goodies), and after. Photo (c) attribution: Alice Enevoldsen

From Julie Enevoldsen

• 2-3 Lbs Stew-able chicken
• a little oil
• 1 Onion
• Enough chicken broth (unsalted) to fill your pot — about 12 cups? 2-3 boxes.
• 1 head Celery
• 1 medium package Baby carrots (Medium package)
• 1-2 Lbs Small potatoes
• 1 can Hominy or fresh/frozen peas
• Fresh parsley
• Fresh thyme
• Fresh oregano
• Black pepper
• Flour or potato starch for thickening

Directions:

Saute chicken parts and chopped onion. Add chicken broth and cook until chicken is tender. Add diced celery, carrots, potatoes, and herbs: fresh parsley, thyme, possibly oregano, and black pepper. Sometimes Julie adds green beans or peas with just enough time to cook through (10-20 minutes)

Thicken the stew: Mix a little flour with cold water and stir into the simmering broth. Stir until thickened. How much? Not sure. You don’t want it really thick. Maybe 2-3 tbs flour for 4 cups broth? Add some, wait until it thickens, add more if needed.

This would work in the slow cooker. Probably about 4 hours on high, or better, 8 hours on low. Make sure the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are soft.

This is the same recipe as the stew for Chicken and Dumplings.

A big bowl of the tastiest chicken soup. Photo attribution: Alice Enevoldsen

I have a theory that everyone loves their own mom’s chicken soup recipe when feeling ill. This is true whether your mom opened a can of Campbell’s, or boiled up bone broth overnight and spiced it according to her own mom’s mom’s mom’s tradition.