If this is the table of contents for Mrs Darwin’s dishes, it akes me wonder who achieved the greater fame as an author … in their life times. 
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Well, it’s adapted in this century by Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway–they have copies of the Darwins’ hand written originals, too. It’s interesting! Thanks.
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It’s great to see recipes being shared on Bio Logos! I’m a university Chaplain and have been developing recipes that uniquely connect the food to the Gospel for a few years now. Food is a wonderful way to inspire meaningful conversation. I currently have 6 themed Feasts including one Feast that pairs the history of science to a 6-course dinner. You can find more info including a number of recipes on my website Theosfeast.com
Here is a link to one of my favourite Salads called Salt of the Earth:
God bless and happy cooking!
Gary
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Here is a recipe I make for a large gathering where many can be counted on to be vegetarian. Like others, my recipe evolves from reading several recipes online and combining the ingredients that appeal to me.
Gazpacho is an uncooked vegetable soup served chilled. Usually (as here) tomatoes form the bulk of the soup, though I’ve also experimented with cucumber and watermelon in the starring role. This is my favorite way to do it. Since I don’t blanch and skin the tomatoes it would be thicker than I like without adding the tomato juice at the end. Bon appetite!
Gazpacho
8 pounds of roma tomatoes, blendered
4 large yellow bell peppers, grilled, outer skin removed, chopped
2 or 3 jalapeno peppers diced very fine
1 large sweet onion chopped
3 ears of sweet white corn, microwaved just a little & then cut from the cob
one bunch of cilantro leaves only, diced
half a bunch of radishes sliced thin
1 c red wine vinegar
1/2 c cold press olive oil
sea salt
1 quart of a good quality tomato juice.
(It’s good served with croutons.)
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Often the whole point of making something yourself is because you want it your way and not the way someone else makes it.
For example…
I first made muhammara because when I got it from a restaurant it was too insanely hot. So I thought I have to make this myself to tone it down a little.
I find the hummus in grocery stores too sour, so I make my own.
You will not save a lot of money by making kimchi yourself. The nappa and radish by itself is not cheap (though I guess you might get a little higher quantity for your money). But more importantly, kimchi is a balance of many tastes and getting it just the way I like it is what makes it worth making my own.
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I agree, and welcome, Gary. While this is a bit outside of the usual science and faith conversation, I think it is part of what it means to develop community. Sharing meals played an important role in the early Christian community, and of course, Christ initiated the communion meal. We may seldom share a table with one another, but this seems a way to share a table in spirit.
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My all-time favorite easy-peasy comfort food is corned beef and veggies. 1 pint water in slow cooker (2 cloves garlic optional), 10 hr on low. Put in veggies (onions, carrots, skinned and quartered taters) with 1.5 hours to go. The secret is to let the beef rest for 30 to 45 min wrapped in aluminum foil. If you want the classic cabbage side, cut the cabbage in eights lengthwise and fry in light oil. The beef reheats like a champ for sandwiches on rye bread.
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West African Doughnuts (Fankai, Puff Puff, Bofrot)
In Niger, where I grew up (and also in much of West Africa), you could buy lots of delicious food on the street–fresh roasted ram covered with yaji pepper, deep fried damkali yam, kosai fried bean cakes, spicy kulikuli peanut balls, sugar cane, and delicious, sweet, fankai doughnuts, among other dishes. My 12 year old son and I have made fankai here and shared them with schoolmates and friends.
We use this recipe. Nigerian Puff Puff Recipe
Author: 9jaFOODie
Prep time: 50 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 1 hour 5 mins
Serves: 14
This recipe makes 20-24 medium size puff puffs
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour (375 grams)
- 4 teaspoons quick rise yeast
- 2/3 – 1 cup sugar (133 -201 grams)
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- Frying oil
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add in water while mixing. Stop as soon as water is incorporated and batter is smooth. (Batter should be thick and smooth with a couple of bubbles )
- Cover the mixture with a table cloth. Set aside in a warm place for 45-60 minutes
- Set a large pot on medium heat, add in the oil and heat until hot. (I think peanut oil gives a better flavor)
- Scoop enough mix with your hand and drop the ball in oil. Repeat until pan of oil is full. Fry until golden brown on all sides. (we use about 1-2 tablespoons/doughnut)
*. You can sprinkle these doughnuts with granulated or powdered sugar for added sweetness.
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Our family has corned beef and cabbage once a year on St. Patrick’s day.
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Same here but every time I think we shouldn’t have to wait a whole year to do it again. But then we do. Not the lowest calorie option I suppose but yummy.
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Do you have a recipe for baba ganoush you can share? I have some extra eggplant! Thanks…
Two other recipes:
1 Honey MIlk Balls–I used to make these for a Sunday late afternoon snack, just before evening church, for our kids. They are from “More With Less.” They’re really simple, and kids play with them like Play-Doh before eating.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup milk powder
1/2 cup rolled oats
Mix all together. Divide into amounts adequate for each child to play with the dough. They can make it in to snakes, balls, and animals, and then eat them. The calories are high (and are similar to those found in PlumpyNut, the peanut formula for feeding children victims of famines by the UN).
- My kids also like the variation on Nestle Tollhouse Cookies in which you add an extra egg for glue, then 2 more cups of oats, and substitute butterscotch chips for half of the chocolate chips. We can’t take peanut butter to our schools because of allergies, but eating at home, we sometimes add some peanut butter for taste.
Well we decided against making a huge batch of gazpacho to draw from for easy meals while I recuperate from my knee surgery. Instead I picked up a big family pack of chicken thighs to make another Persian stew, Fesenjan Chicken. (It’s better with duck, but the chicken fit the budget better.
I started by grinding the walnuts coarsely and then toasting them lightly in a large dry rying pan, and then setting it aside on a plate for later.
Then I browned the chicken thighs in the same pan in some olive oil and set those aside, added a little water in the pan and scraped the bottom with a wooden spoon.
In that same pan I sauteed the chopped onions up in the butter. As they got a little glassy I added the turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper.
The spicy sauteed onions then got dumped in a deeper pan, into which I stirred in a quart of chicken stock, the honey, pomegranate molasses, chicken pieces and toasted walnuts. I used a dutch oven and brought it all to a boil, turned it down to a simmer and cooked it another two hours.
The chicken gets set aside so that you can reduce the liquid down to a thicker consistency without obliterating the chicken.
I serve it over basmati rice and a generous sprinkle of the fresh pomegranate arils over the top.
Here is a list of the ingredients:
4 cups of walnuts, coarsely ground
4 pounds of chicken thight
a little olive oil
4 medium onioins
4 tbsn butter
1 qt chicken stock
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
10 tsp pomegranate molasses
4 tbsn & 4 tsp of honey or brown sugar
1 cup fresh pomegranate arils (fleshy seeds)
(Next time I’ll increase the amount of pomegranate molasses. This stuff is awesome.)
This is the original youtube video I adapted to my chicken version.
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Put 2-4 Tablespoons of sesame in a pan and roast them over medium heat stirring often until they just start turning a light brown then let them cool.
I cut football sized eggplant in 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices (some like to soak these in water for an hour to take out some of the bitterness), paint them with olive oil and broil them until soft (10 min each side?). You can try doing that with a chips of wood in a foil packet to get a smoky flavor but that never worked so well for me. You can also roast 3 cloves of garlic at the same time, but if you forget use just one clove of fresh garlic below instead. After that peel the eggplant skin off (if too difficult because skin is too soft you can just leave it on).
Put the sesame in the food processor with a couple of Tablespoons of olive oil. This should make something with the look and consistency of peanut butter (i.e. tahini) adding more olive oil if needed. Toss the eggplant in the food processor with the juice of medium lemon (seeds removed), your garlic, and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt. (a pinch of cayenne and a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin are optional, some like to add chili powder, and others like to add a little yogurt - I try all of these at times for variety)
PS. no great secrets here… I took this directly from my notes but it all orginally came from recipes right off the internet. Though most just have you using tahini instead of fresh sesame (and half the sesame oil above) and you can use that if you have a jar of tahini on the shelf or if you find tahini for a good price.
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Thank you! It looks delicious. I haven’t had any since my med school days in Detroit, when my Chaldean neighbor introduced me to it.
That does sound tasty! Thank you for the recipe!
I hope you are healing well.
Sounds like a bit of the same ingredients as muhammara. That is made with walnuts and pomegranate molasses too.
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Hadn’t heard of that before but yes lots in common.
I came across the Fesenjan while researching possible Persian dishes to bring to a Christmas dinner with that theme. My wife’s Jabberwocky group, a group of women artists who meet for walking and talking all over the north bay. That has given way -except for a few who get together still to do pool walking- to a monthly event which somebody comes up with and hosts for the others. These ladies can cook but my Fesenjan chicken was a huge hit.
We always take our turn in the spring or early summer when we can be outside. As large as our old warehouse is, it isn’t a very aesthetic environment for the annual Christmas party (never actually held on Christmas, of course). So we put on an English style tea in the garden. I’ve gotten pretty good about constructing a large enough table to seat us all and have made a ‘lazy Susan’ three feet across so that dishes can be accessed by everyone. This is a picture from one of these events from four years ago, showing off my wife’s grandmother’s china.
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Here’s a review by “The Hungry Artist” of the Darwin recipe book, and some of the recipes she tried out. Creme brulee looks good!
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