I made a comment a couple of days ago about *peasant cookery*, and there were no responses. Maybe my comment didn't merit a response, or maybe the term *peasant* was misconstrued. We don't have a *peasant* class in America, and many of us tend to think of peasants as poor illiterates, bound to the land, and to their masters. This is, however, not really the way it was. The peasants of Europe (and, I assume, of the rest of the world) were the land workers, living from the land, and from their work on the land. They weren't serfs, nor were they necessarily poor (though probably also not rich; sound familiar?). In fact, my reading makes them sound very much like what we all on SS are striving toward. From "The Old World Kitchen - The Rich Tradition of European Peasant Cooking" by Elizabeth Louard: "The glow of embers on the hearth, a savory broth simmering in the cooking pot on it's tripod, a flitch of bacon from last autumn's pig smoking in a hollow in the chimney - until very recently these were not nostalgic pleasures; for centuries they were the very stuff of life in Europe. Peasant cooking was always dominated by practical rather than economic factors. There were few peasant recipes for offal, since this was only available in quantity to the poor of the towns. Sugar was an expensive commodity in all but Ottoman-dominated Europe until recently, so there were few high sugar recipes."
So, when I suggest that we should look towards peasant cookery to feed our families well, and inexpensively, I'm not suggesting that we *live poor*, but rather that we look to the *old ways* of whichever culture speaks to us best. My own ancestors came mostly from Scotland and Ireland; my DH, as many of you are aware, was born and raised in Germany. My sister-in-law was born and raised in Korea. I enjoy cooking, and learning new ways, and so enjoy looking at all these different ways of *peasant cookery*, but tend to think first of the British Isles and Northern Europe.
The peasants of Europe gave us such things as cassoulet (French beans and meat), Choucroute garni (sauerkraut and various sausages and other bits of pig), many of the pasta and polenta dishes of Italy, Hungarian gulasch, and any number of other dishes - those particular *comfort foods* that emigres so often long for when they are far from their home countries.
This evening for dinner I made a *Bauernomelette* - a Farmer's omelette in German, very similar to a Spanish tortilla, or an Italian frittata. I had various veggies left from over the Christmas holidays, and went from there. Usually I make this all in one pan, but this time I cooked things separately, and added them back together. One could use any number of veggie combinations; as a nod to my own California upbringing, and to the Italian immigrants before, I often add artichoke hearts, but not today. I sliced up some mushrooms, and sauteed them with some diced onions. I removed these from the pan, and sauteed some sliced Brussel sprouts, and then, separately, some chopped kale. I steamed some diced potato (often I use leftover boiled potatoes). Then I browned the potatoes, adding in the veggies, and some sausage pieces (DH likes his sausage!
). Then I poured over several beaten eggs. I seasoned it all with some pepper, marjoram, and chopped garlic chives (left here by my Korean SIS after Christmas). Once the eggs were almost set I turned everything over with a spatula. A salad would have gone nicely with this, but I didn't do that this evening.
So, when I suggest that we should look towards peasant cookery to feed our families well, and inexpensively, I'm not suggesting that we *live poor*, but rather that we look to the *old ways* of whichever culture speaks to us best. My own ancestors came mostly from Scotland and Ireland; my DH, as many of you are aware, was born and raised in Germany. My sister-in-law was born and raised in Korea. I enjoy cooking, and learning new ways, and so enjoy looking at all these different ways of *peasant cookery*, but tend to think first of the British Isles and Northern Europe.
The peasants of Europe gave us such things as cassoulet (French beans and meat), Choucroute garni (sauerkraut and various sausages and other bits of pig), many of the pasta and polenta dishes of Italy, Hungarian gulasch, and any number of other dishes - those particular *comfort foods* that emigres so often long for when they are far from their home countries.
This evening for dinner I made a *Bauernomelette* - a Farmer's omelette in German, very similar to a Spanish tortilla, or an Italian frittata. I had various veggies left from over the Christmas holidays, and went from there. Usually I make this all in one pan, but this time I cooked things separately, and added them back together. One could use any number of veggie combinations; as a nod to my own California upbringing, and to the Italian immigrants before, I often add artichoke hearts, but not today. I sliced up some mushrooms, and sauteed them with some diced onions. I removed these from the pan, and sauteed some sliced Brussel sprouts, and then, separately, some chopped kale. I steamed some diced potato (often I use leftover boiled potatoes). Then I browned the potatoes, adding in the veggies, and some sausage pieces (DH likes his sausage!
). Then I poured over several beaten eggs. I seasoned it all with some pepper, marjoram, and chopped garlic chives (left here by my Korean SIS after Christmas). Once the eggs were almost set I turned everything over with a spatula. A salad would have gone nicely with this, but I didn't do that this evening.
) but somehow missed it, sorry! I love the idea of peasant food...fits right in with the idea of traditional foods, sort of the same thing, I guess. 
