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Gingerbread offers the perfect combination of spices for short days

By Barbara Shark Redstone Review

LYONS – As we approach the solstice, I sometimes begin dinner preparations at 4:30, following the prompt of the fading daylight. When I realize it’s too early for dinner I decide to make a dessert. I hunger for spicy, deep tastes. Gingerbread fits the bill. And it perfumes the house with irresistible aromas. This is an easy dessert to prepare at the last minute, requiring about 15 minutes of prep and 30 minutes of baking. My mom served gingerbread with a dollop of whipped cream. We sometimes add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I like it plain with a cup of coffee or tea.

Combine 1 2/3 cups unbleached flour, 1/2 cup brown

sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon salt. I add fresh ginger for an extra punch, about a 1/2 inch piece, finely grated. Stir in 1/2 cup blackstrap or other molasses, 1/2 cup safflower oil, and 1 large, beaten egg. Add 1/2 cup boiling water and mix well. Pour into a buttered and floured 8 or Shark 9 inch square pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Make the glaze while the cake is baking. Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar with enough lemon juice to make a pourable glaze, about a tablespoon. Pour glaze over the hot cake and cool on a rack.

Barbara Shark is an artist and author of How I Learned to Cook, an Artist’s Life. She lives near Lyons, Colorado. For more recipes, read her blog at www.howilearnedtocookanartistslife.blog.

Baccalà stew: Salted cod makes the holidays ancient and new

By Catherine Metzger Redstone Review

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY – Codfish has been salted to preserve it without refrigeration for most of recorded history. The Vikings brought it south into France and the Norman Conquest of Italy brought it further down into Italy at the end of the 10th century. The Italians quickly co-opted salted cod and called it their own – “baccalà” – and haven’t looked back since. After making this dish for the first time today, I can see why it’s so close to their hearts.

Salted codfish saved millions of people over time from starvation around the world. The air-drying and salting process allowed the codfish to be transported inland from the coast and to be stored so that the land-locked could eat it all year long. And the delicious tradition continues.

When you are selecting for good salted cod, look for fish without any yellow coloration and no fish smell. I ordered mine two weeks ago from Parthenonfoods.com via Amazon and I paid $29 for one-and-ahalf pounds. However, as the holidays approach, the price has gone up. The cost for the same amount of fish from Parthenon is $32 as I write.

Salted cod will need to be rinsed and soaked in cold water for at least 48 hours, with a change of water every 12 hours. Even when cooked, cod will be firm and flaky and delicious.

This recipe is from Naples and it includes tomatoes, olives and capers. It is one of many Neapolitan recipes, where there are reportedly hundreds of recipes for baccalà.

Many Italian New Jersey housewives know this recipe by heart and make it for Christmas. By making this peasant dish you too can close your eyes and discover and share in the ancient, delicious flavors that will transport you through history and right to southern Italy by way of your kitchen.

Baccalà Stew Serves 4; soak time 2 to 3 days; preparation time 45 minutes; cooking time 25 minutes

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces 1 1/2 pounds salted cod, rinsed, and soaked in fresh water in your fridge for 2 to 3 days with a water change every 12 hours 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 large, sweet onion, diced 2 large celery stalks, diced 1 cup dry white wine 1 cup vegetable stock 1, 14-ounce can diced Italian tomatoes A pinch to 1/8 teaspoon red chili flakes 1/4 cup whole, buttery green or black olives 1 1/2 tablespoons of chopped capers 1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped • In a large Dutch oven parboil the potatoes for 5 minutes on medium-high heat then remove from water and drain, then set aside. • Cut the cod into bite-sized pieces. Add half the olive oil to the same Dutch oven. • Lightly flour the codfish pieces just before placing onto the hot oil in the pan. Do not move the pieces for 3 minutes then check. If they are golden, turn the pieces and continue frying for the next several minutes. Remove fried fish to a plate and repeat this step until all the codfish is cooked to a crispy, golden brown. Note: Use a splatter shield to prevent coating your stovetop with oil splatter. • Add the rest of the olive oil to the pan then add the onions and celery, cooking until the onions are transparent, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. • Pour the wine over the onions and celery, and let the mixture reduce until most of the moisture has evaporated. • Add the stock, potatoes, tomatoes, chili, olives and capers to the pan and cook covered until the potatoes are tender, about 20 more minutes. Add the fish back into the pan for the last five minutes of cooking. Garnish with refreshing chopped parsley and serve hot with a nice piece of crusty bread.

ADDING THE FRIED FISH TO THE VEGETABLES

Catherine Ripley Metzger has been cooking professionally and privately since 1979. She was a French cuisine journeyman at the celebrated Henri d’Afrique restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Today she is the proprietor of the food blog www.foodfortheages.com and cooks with curiosity from the ground up in her log cabin home on the western slope of Colorado.

READY TO SERVE

A book about race and guns in a fatally unequal America

By Andi Pearson Redstone Review

DENVER – The Second – Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America is a book by Carol Anderson, Ph.D., and professor at Emory University in Atlanta. Her book is carefully researched and historically supported and, while the second amendment is law, this discussion probably opens more questions than it provides answers.

As early as 1639, the colony of Virginia prohibited Africans from carrying guns because “what White Southerners feared the most ... was an armed Black man unafraid to retaliate against both the system of slavery and those who fought to defend it.” Nevertheless, uprisings and slave revolts took place in virtually every state and every year while Virginia was a colony and into the time of statehood.

In South Carolina, rice was the key cash crop and slaves were needed to plant and tend and harvest. Even after statehood and after the U.S. Constitution was premiered in 1776, Blacks outnumbered Whites in the South. In 1774, 81 percent of slave owning estates owned firearms. Why did slave owners arm themselves? Because they knew that should there be organized uprisings, blacks with guns could outnumber them and overthrow the system that functioned profitably for plantation owners.

The Articles of Confederation were drafted in 1777 and ratified in 1781. Virginian James Madison stated that America was in “disarray.” In an effort to protect the Southern states, Madison went so far as to voice the idea of scrapping the Articles of Confederation and drafting a new Constitution.

By 1787, Madison was squeamish about slavery but South Carolina legislative delegates had no such qualms and Charles Pickney argued that slavery was “justified.” John Rutledge of South Carolina clearly threatened that if Blacks were allowed to own firearms, “the dismemberment of the Union” might easily be a consequence.

And this is the climate that prevailed when the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were written. Called the Bill of Rights, the first amendment protects freedom of speech, a founding principle of those who first came to the shores of the new country. And the second amendment says that “the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” It’s easy to read but it was a complicated process to write the amendment and its meaning and interpretation still presents complex conversations. So how was this controversial amendment arrived at?

Madison, at one point in the heated debate, had proposed that Blacks be counted “at least as three-fifths” of a person. When North Carolina and South Carolina demanded that become the wording, Madison caved in. Why? Fear. And three-fifths of a person could not vote, could not own land and definitely could not own a firearm.

Andrew Johnson, who became President upon Lincoln’s death, pardoned many leaders of the Confederacy, upheld White supremacy and affirmed that “people of African descent cannot be considered as citizens of the United States.” He made sure that black troops were withdrawn from the interior of the South and sent to “outpost on the coast.”

Anderson follows the historical thread of unarmed Blacks right up to George Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse. And she raises more questions than answers.

What is the future of the second amendment? What is the role of the NRA and what will the law of the land be going forward?

Carol Anderson, Ph.D., and professor at Emory University in Atlanta, has written The Second – Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, a damning look at the history connecting slavery and the creation of the second amendment.