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Pardon My Huevos: Raincoast Books’ Cookbook Book Club
by Megan
Excerpts + Food & Drink / April 05, 2013
If your culinary prowess is anything like mine, any foray into "serious cooking" involves several things:
1). Perusal of a lovely and accessible cookbook.
2). Changing into a suitable frock that may be destroyed/burned/ripped/pureed with mininal sorrow (helllloooo sweats).
3). Attempting to make a spatula & wax paper stand in for all manner of elaborate kitchen gadgetry (melon baller? Flour sifter?).
4). Removal of batteries from ye olde smoke alarm, & pardons asked from neighbours for black smoke/fire trucks on scene.
I'll admit it: I'm a little intimidated by fancy cookbooks. Yes they're lovely, but will my renter's insurance cover the fire damage I am sure to incur from trying the recipes therein?
In that spirit (apprehensive), I picked up Lucy Knisley's graphic novel Relish. Part cookbook, part memoir of growing up with foodie parents with a penchant for experimentation with food, it seemed a safe venture. I happened to thumb to a page that was an entrypoint of complete identification and love for this book, and that was Knisley's secret adoration of a culinary masterpiece:
Lucky Charms.
Yep, you better believe it.
Knisley has love for the marshmallow-laden cereal, something most foodies probably wouldn't readily confess to. As the daughter of two foodies and a lover of exquisite, fresh, lovingly prepared food from infancy, Knisley confesses to an alternative affinity for the prepackaged and the sugary. I totally get this. As a child vigilantly kept away from sugar, I can attest to the siren song of sweet lady Oreo, the forbidden, lusty wiles of a McD's cheeseburger.
This is what makes Knisley's writing on food so lovely: it is the memory and the connection of food that she focuses on and which takes the descriptions from tasty to succulent. It is the idea that any food can be delicious, and even the horrible experiments with food can be a treat if there are people to laugh about it with you. Reading about Knisley's apricot-jam-filled fresh croissant on a Venice stoop, or bushel of strawberries picked for jam in rural New York will in equal parts take you to her memory and take you back in time to your own. To the streetcarts of rainy afternoons, the farmers' markets in the summer sunshine, and everywhere in between.
I devoured this book, and chose a recipe (the first of many I'm going to try!) that evoked my own memories of dusty, sweat-dappled mornings in Mexico with the sea breeze at my back... The recipes and stories in this book are a lovely trip down memory lane. And they're pretty delicious too.
Huevos Rancheros
Prep Time: Approx. 20-25 minutes
Ingredients
-Tortillas (Corn)
-2 Eggs
-Black Beans
-Sour Cream
-Salsa
-Cheese
-Avocado
-Corn Oil
Directions
Fry one tortilla in corn oil until it Heat up black beans and add to
rises. Dab with paper towel to base.
soak up excess grease.
Add salsa... Avocado...
Sour Cream... A 2nd fried tortilla & 2 fried eggs...
Some more salsa, and some TA-DAH! (CHOMP!)
sriracha.
Want to win a copy of Relish? Tell me your favourite food memory in the comments below, and one lucky person will be selected at random to win the book! It can be a serious, delicious, awful, or downright silly memory (like Knisley's story of a friend who created an ill-advised delicacy: lemonade chicken!).
And be sure to check out Lucy Knisley at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival May 11-12.
Comments
On April 05, 2013 at 02:31 PM, joy mills said:
On April 05, 2013 at 02:41 PM, Christy said:
When I was young my Mother would make us a hot breakfast every morning before school. My younger sister (by 2 years) hated eggs. One day she hid her fried eggs behind the napkin holder. When we came home from school my Mom had found the egg. Younger sister claimed it wasn’t hers it was mine. My Mother made me eat it. As soon as I had finished gagging it down while crying my sister said: “it was really mine”. I still have not forgotten nor forgiven.
On April 05, 2013 at 03:58 PM, Megan said:
@Joy Mmmmmmm potato chip sandwiches… That sounds strangely delicious!
On April 05, 2013 at 04:02 PM, Megan said:
@Christy Oh. My. God! I had to suppress a gag reflex while reading :O I hope you retaliated with wedgies.
On April 05, 2013 at 04:49 PM, SandraP said:
Fav memory would be on Chrustmas day,age 7, opening up my easy bake oven and the proceeding to bake breakfast cake for everyone. Will always remember and cherish my first “cooked meal” for the family
On April 05, 2013 at 05:44 PM, Megan said:
@SandraP Do you still have your Easy Bake Oven? I’ve never heard of breakfast cake, but good on you for pioneering it!
On April 05, 2013 at 05:46 PM, Lauren said:
In my kindergarten years, I stayed with my Noni (that’s Italian for grandparents!). Far from being a spoilt grandchild, they put me to work daily (once Inspector Gadget was over).
I’ll never forget the day I peeled potatoes - that had just been BOILED - with my bare hands to make gnocchi. Have you ever tried handmade gnocchi? Totally worth it.
On April 05, 2013 at 05:53 PM, Megan said:
@Lauren I have not made handmade gnocchi, but I have a friend who might be bribed to make some for me (HINT HINT). I’ll even let you allow the potatoes to cool off first (maybe).
On April 10, 2013 at 01:38 PM, Megan said:
Congratulations to Joy for winning a copy of Relish! Stay tuned every week for more cookbook giveaways and tasty recipes :)
when i was a kid, when i got home school, i always wanted a snack - so i would raid the fridge, and see what i could find. often i would make a sandwich, and i would layer everything and anything in the sandwich. cheese, bologna, mustard, mayo, peanut butter and sometimes potato chips - they were the best sandwiches ever!