Lucid Food_ Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life - Louisa Shafia [44]
Sassafras Tea
This refreshing drink needs just a hint of sweetener, as sassafras is naturally quite sweet.
Makes approximately 5 cups
1 small handful sassafras roots, washed in cold water
½ cinnamon stick
1 thin slice fresh ginger
Maple syrup or honey for serving
Sparkling water
Using a heavy knife, chop up the sassafras roots or pound them with the handle until you can smell their spicy scent. Place the roots in a saucepan with the cinnamon and 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Add the ginger and simmer for 2 minutes more.
Line a fine-mesh strainer with a coffee filter and set over a bowl. Pour the tea through. Sweeten with maple syrup or honey to taste. Drink hot, or serve cold over ice and topped off with sparkling water.
Sassafras: The Original Root Beer
Root beer’s flavor originally came from the roots and bark of the sassafras tree, which grows along the Eastern Seaboard. Today, however, most commercial root beer is produced with artificial flavorings, because safrole, a compound in sassafras, was deemed carcinogenic by the FDA. Nevertheless, homemade root beer and sassafras tea are still favorites in many rural kitchens and at state fairs. Above is a recipe for making the tea. Don’t worry about overconsumption of safrole, though, because digging up the roots requires too much hard work to drink it in large quantities!
On hikes in spring and summer, look for the distinctive mitten-shaped, three-fingered leaves of foot-high sassafras saplings. Dig down with a pocketknife and pull up the sapling by the root, where there’s the most flavor. Don’t feel bad about killing a tree; sassafras is often considered invasive because of its rapid proliferation.
Rhubarb Spritzer
Rhubarb (see image at end of recipe), native to Asia, was only introduced to the United States in the 1800s. It now grows throughout the northern part of the country. Every spring rhubarb arrives pretty and pink at the farmers’ market, but it’s largely passed over because most of us don’t know what to do with it except to make pie. This spritzer shows off rhubarb’s bright color and tangy taste. Mixed with champagne, it makes a unique and delicate cocktail.
Makes approximately 8 cups
10 stalks fresh rhubarb
2 cinnamon sticks
Honey to taste
Sparkling water, seltzer, or champagne, for serving
4 strawberries, thinly sliced
1 sprig mint
Slice off the leaves and brown parts from the rhubarb stalks and discard. Rinse the rhubarb stalks and slice into 2-inch pieces. Put the rhubarb slices and cinnamon sticks in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the rhubarb is soft, 3 to 4 minutes.
Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth, pressing as much liquid out of the rhubarb pulp as possible. Whisk in the honey, tasting to adjust the sweetness. Discard the cinnamon and cooked rhubarb (or use the rhubarb to add bulk to a strawberry pie) and let the liquid cool.
To serve, pour into glasses over ice and top off with sparkling water, seltzer, or champagne. Garnish with a few strawberry slices and a mint leaf.
Matzoh Brei with Caramelized Apples
When I was growing up, my mother would make a special treat of fried matzoh, or matzoh brei, during Passover. My sister and I always looked forward to it; it was even better than French toast, its fluffier cousin. Try making this in spring, when matzoh is easy to find in stores.
Serves 4
2 firm apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
3 tablespoons unsalted butter plus extra, at room temperature
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons maple syrup, plus more for serving
3 eggs
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
6 pieces lightly salted matzoh
Slice each apple quarter lengthwise into 4 pieces. Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the butter, followed by the apples. Cook the apples, flipping