We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea: Greening the Desert

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Greening the Desert

My father is a man of the earth; that is, he knows how to analyze soil by sight and what to add to make it soft and rich and fertile. When I was young he would brag that he could turn the Sahara into arable soil if he were given a chance (his plan involved some B-52 bombers that would spread compost and rock powder over vast tracts of land). Obviously it was a little impractical but I always liked to imagine it anyway, since desertification is such a seemingly unsolvable problem. This video, however, makes me think that perhaps my father wasn't so far from having a solution as I thought he was. Hearing about a land that was salty and dry that is now producing dates and figs is a good antidote to all the other stories I've been hearing lately about dying honeybees and global warming.

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Too Many Cooks (recipes we can't live without)

Shakshouka

Onions Garlic Ginger Tomatoes Tomato Paste Anything else you have in the cupboard Spices (cumin, pepper, thyme, etc) One egg per person (some people may want more)

Chop onions, garlic and ginger and sauté. Add tomatoes and paste, along with spices and whatever else you feel like adding. Simmer until tasty, then crack eggs into the sauce and cover until poached but not cooked through. You could top with goat cheese (or any other similar cheese). Serve up so that each person gets at least one egg in their serving.

Dad's Apple Pie

1 cup flour

1 stick butter

1 cup ice water

5-6 T sugar (1 for the crust, the rest for the fruit)

5-6 sliced and peeled apples (granny smith; if you use a sweeter apple, use less sugar)

1 container raspberries

Leave the butter out until it reaches room temperature. Then cut the butter and sugar into the flour (using a pastry cutter or the way Dad does it, with two knives going cross-ways) until it's crumbly. Slowly add the ice water 1 T at a time, whirling with a knife. Before the dough gets sticky, it should start to cohere into a ball; feel free to help it out by patting the last few chunks together with the knife. Err on the dry side; you can always add more water if need be.

Cut the dough ball in two and refrigerate for an hour if you have time (optional). Preheat the oven to 425F. Flour a smooth surface, and begin to roll out one of the dough balls in smooth, even strokes. When it's a little bigger than the pie dish, set it aside and repeat with the second dough ball.

Lay out one of the pieces inside the dish and fill with apple pieces. Dot raspberries into the spaces. Sprinkle approximately 4-5 T of sugar and place the top crust. Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork, and cut off the excess dough around the edges. Crimp edge with the fork. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, and then turn down to 350 for another 20 or so minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Enjoy! I highly recommend rolling out the excess crust again and cutting into small pieces to make roll-up jam tarts, or wrap bits of crust around chocolate chunks. Bake in the oven alongside the pie; they'll be done in 15 minutes or so and will sate your hunger until the pie comes out, or will console you later when the pie's all gone.