A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [117]
“I am curious to select one or two of the best species or variety of every garden vegetable and to reject all others from the garden to avoid the dangers of mixing or degeneracy,” Jefferson wrote. Which explains why he grew twenty varieties of beans at Monticello and fifteen of English peas (his favorite).
He was equally experimental with fruit. Between 1769 and 1814, Monticello historians tell us, Jefferson planted 1,031 fruit trees in his South Orchard, a vast horseshoe-shaped plot embracing two vineyards and berry squares. Growing here: 38 varieties of peach, 27 of plum, 18 apple, 14 cherry, 12 pear, seven almond, six apricot, and one quince.
To Jefferson, a plant’s ornamental potential was also important. He made an arbor of scarlet runner beans; juxtaposed rows of green, purple, and white broccoli and even of purple and white eggplant. Sesame or okra framed his tomato beds, and cherry trees lined the “long, grass walk” to filter the downpouring summer sun.
Try as he would, however, Jefferson failed to produce an acceptable table wine at Monticello. While minister to France, he’d toured vineyards there and in northern Italy as well. He even brought an Italian vintner to Monticello but he, too, was unsuccessful (see Southern Wines, Chapter 3).
Jefferson’s contributions to the American table do not end with the fruits and vegetables he introduced. He was the first to serve ice cream (his hand-written recipe for vanilla ice cream still exists). The first, too, to acquaint us with macaroni. Indeed, Jefferson was so fond of pasta he sketched the design of a pasta machine and later imported one from Italy. It’s said that today’s ubiquitous mac ’n’ cheese descends from one that Jefferson served at the White House.
Thomas Jefferson may even have been the father of the vegetarian movement. “I have lived temperately,” he wrote, “eating little animal food, and that…as a condiment for vegetables, which constitute my principal diet.”
Is that why he lived to be eighty-three?
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GREEN BEANS WITH BROWNED BUTTER AND PECANS
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Fairly new as southern recipes go, this one’s more popular with the younger generation than the boiled-to-death beans of their grandmother’s day. Because they cook quickly in a minimum of water, these beans retain most of their nutrients. They complement every kind of red meat, also fish and fowl. Note: It may take half an hour for the butter to brown, so begin there. If you try to rush things by revving up the burner heat, you’ll burn the butter in no time.
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon salt
1 pound tender young green beans, tipped and snapped in two if large
¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
½ cup lightly toasted coarsely chopped pecans (8 to 10 minutes in a 350° F. oven)
1. Place the butter in a small, heavy saucepan and set over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, swirling the pan often, until a rich topaz brown (see Note above).
2. Meanwhile, bring the salted water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan over moderately high heat. Add the beans and return to the boil. Adjust the heat so the water ripples gently, cover, and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes or just until the beans are crisp-tender. Watch carefully and if the beans threaten to boil dry, add a bit more water.
3. When the beans are done, drain well, return to the pan, add the pepper, and shake over moderate heat to drive off excess moisture. Add the nuts and browned butter, toss well, and heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.
4. Transfer to a heated vegetable dish and serve.
BLACK-EYED PEAS WITH SMOKED HAM HOCK
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
On New Year’s Day, Southerners feast upon black-eyed peas (for good luck), collard greens (for prosperity), and hog jowl or other cut of pork (for robust health). It’s an old and convivial custom. Being the daughter