Members of the Northwoods Food Project gathered at Java Moose in Grand Marais recently to show off samples of foods that could be featured in the upcoming A Backward Cookbook Celebrating Local Foods. With their delectable soups, breads, canned, and baked goods are (L-R) Kristine Bottorff, Joan Farnam, Jan Attridge, Kaitlin Erpestad, and Melinda Spinler.
The Northwoods Food Project is seeking recipes for a cookbook that turns the typical arrangement on its head: A Backward Cookbook
Celebrating Local Foods.
The cooks spearheading the cookbook gathered at Java Moose recently with samples of the sort of recipes they have in mind. There were bread and butter pickles, Norwegian salsa (no chilies), dried carrot chips, canned chicken and venison, beet-ginger sauerkraut, potatobeet patties, twice-baked squash, zucchini bread, pumpkin apple soup, and apple jelly.
Most non-commercial cookbooks are arranged by the purpose a given dish has in a meal: appetizer, main dish, etc. To find a recipe by an ingredient, you must use the index, if one exists.
Although an index will tell you where to find salads, breads, desserts, etc., this book will be organized by the locallyavailable food it highlights. Categories will include Garden Foods, Wild Foods, Wild Game, Fish, Farm Protein, and Orchard Foods. Its purpose is to recognize and celebrate the foods we have here in this corner of Minnesota—such as the samples on hand at Java Moose. The deer and chicken came from Melinda Spinler’s yard and forest. Joan Farnam’s twice-baked squash came from the community garden at WTIP community radio.
Some of the things made with homegrown and local ingredients—canned venison, Norwegian salsa (no chilies), beet-ginger sauerkraut, bread and butter pickles, dried carrot chips, potato-beet patties, pumpkin-apple soup, and apple jelly.
The purpose of this backward cookbook is to see what legacies of earlier generations we can honor with our cooking. What foods can we try that may be new but delicious? Those who cook and/ or preserve foods found locally are asked to consider the question: What ingredients do you source locally, and what do you make of those ingredients?
If you or someone you know makes “the most” of what we have here, you are invited to share those recipes, tips, and preservation techniques with your Cook County neighbors. Recipes should be submitted to Northwoods Food Project, P.O. Box 1152, Grand Marais, MN 55604, or by email to cookcountycookbook@ gmail.com. Recipes may also be dropped off at the Cook County Whole Foods Co-op, Java Moose, or Johnson’s Foods. Organizers ask that you indicate which ingredients you obtain locally.
Pumpkin Apple Soup
J. Attridge
1 tablespoon butter
1 med. onion, diced
1 pumpkin (or 1 can, pureed)
4 apples, peeled, cored, chopped
(or 2 cups applesauce)
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 pinch lemon zest
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon cracked pepper
2 cups organic chicken stock
1½ cups water (as needed)
To serve, dollop with Greek yogurt
(or sour cream)
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