Orts & Reports: Cinchy Recipes

Sparkling Gazpacho & Berry Crumble

Okay, I confess: vintage recipes have become my comfort food. I’ve spent the past year immersed in the Cook & Tell archives, 32 years’ worth of Mom’s monthly foodletter, in all its non-digital hard-copy glory. Her writing studio in our old island farmhouse is like the reference room at the library; these newsletters, her sketchbooks and handwritten family recipes are my history books. And this house—its barnboard bookshelves filled with books by my grandparents, its walls showcasing the artwork of past generations—is the family museum.

As if all this weren’t enough to keep me busy, I’ve also been haunting vintage shops. I wrote about that here.

In this issue, I’ve got a recipe from “Fiesta Favorites,” the spiral-bound paperback cookbook I scored for two bucks on a recent vintage shop treasure hunt. On the battered cover, a blurry photo of tacos and Spanish rice and salsa. Inside, a cornucopia of recipes from the Home Ec Teachers of Southern California. Bored one night, I time-traveled back to 1982 when this little book came out and cobbled together a menu for a proper fiesta, choosing dishes that sounded festive.

• South of the Border Stuffed Mushrooms

• Sparkling Gazpacho

• Fish Veracruz

• Zucchini Acapulco

• Margarita Pie

Zucchini Acapulco, a vegetable lasagna of sorts, was…not great. The Sparkling Gazpacho, however, kicked ass! Easy, zesty, vibrant veggies in a blender, chilled overnight. Seltzer water gives it a boost.

Amie’s Headnotes

If you’re not in the mood to cook; if it’s just too damn hot to even turn on a burner; if you’re looking for an easy-yet-elegant starter for a dinner gathering and you don’t make a face when I say “cold soup” like subscriber Allie D did, this one’s for you. I made a few tweaks and added some new stuff. It can be easily halved, which is what I did because, well, my husband also made that face.

SPARKLING GAZPACHO

Makes 6 - 8 servings

• 1 ½ c. Clamato juice

• 4 medium tomatoes

• 1 medium cucumber

• ¼ c. sliced green onion

• Handful of cilantro

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 3 T. extra virgin olive oil

• 3 T. red wine vinegar

• 1 jalapeño pepper

• Dash of cloves (yes, cloves)

• 1 t. Trader Joe’s Chili-Lime Seasoning

• Juice of ½ a lime

• ½ c. seltzer water

• Avocado chunks for garnish

Combine all ingredients except seltzer water in blender or VitaMix. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Stir just before serving, then stir in seltzer water and avocado chunks. Ladle into chilled bowls.

Adapted (massively) from Fiesta Favorites Cookbook

Updates on my specially-curated Fiesta Favorites menu will appear in a future foodletter.

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While we’re talking about food that practically cooks itself, which is how cookbook author, recipe developer, and food stylist

Susan Spungen

referred to my response to her recent What Are You Cooking Right Now? post, here’s a super-easy dessert recipe for Berry Crumble, submitted by subscriber and fellow marathoner, writer and now official pen-pal,

Julie B. Hughes

. We’ve recently begun writing notes and recipes in longhand and, yes, snail-mailing them to one another because, why not?

Amie’s Headnotes

Julie mailed in this recipe last month, and since then, I’ve made it with both frozen and fresh-picked Maine strawberries and blueberries. For obvious reasons, fresh gets my vote, but the frozen version, which I made for my husband’s birthday before I departed to Maine for the summer, did not stick around long. And he did not make a face. And you’d never know it’s vegan. And, if you use gluten-free oats, it’s also gluten-free.

“We love this for breakfast the next day,” Julie writes. “I make it for all birthdays and special days.”

Every day is special here on the island. Guess I’ll need a lot of berries.

BERRY CRUMBLE

Makes 8-10 servings

• 1 pound fresh or frozen berries (any combination of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries)

• 1 T. lemon juice

• 2 T. tapioca flour or starch

• 1 c. old-fashioned rolled oats (I used Kodiak Protein Oats. Highly recommend!)

• 1/2 c. almond flour

• 1/2 c. chopped pecans

• 1/2 t. ground cinnamon

• 1/4 t. ground ginger

• 1/4 t. sea salt

• 1/3 c. maple syrup

• 1/4 c. virgin coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In large bowl, toss together the berries, lemon juice and tapioca flour or starch. Spread in 13" x 9” baking dish.

In same bowl, stir together oats, almond flour, nuts, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Combine maple syrup and oil in separate bowl and stir; add to oats. Spread mixture evenly over berry mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve warm with ice cream or yogurt.

Adapted from Run Fast, Eat Slow: Nourishing Recipes for Athletes

Yup, it’s me, your Cook & Tell pantry pal. Clearly, I’m neither fashionista nor food stylist…