Fare Exchange: Cool color combinations range from salad to cornbread

Welcome to June, sage and often hungry readers. There’s work to be done and inspiration to be given, so let’s begin. Today, once again, I have requests from my neighborhood. First, “What about ghee? How do you use it, what are its benefits and do you store in the refrigerator after opening? My jar does not say.”

The second request is for a make-ahead grits casserole, “one that may also be frozen.” And here’s the third. How do you smoke a whole rib-eye on the grill, particularly with a Kamado-style cooker?

SLOW-COOKED LAMB STEW

Linda Leake’s recent envelope contained a recipe for lamb stew made in a crock pot.

Lamb Stew

2 pounds lamb, cubed

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons oil

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup flour

2 cups water

3/4 cup red cooking wine

1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

6 medium carrots, sliced

4 small onions, quartered

4 ribs celery, sliced

3 medium potatoes, unpeeled and diced

Sprinkle lamb with sugar. Brown lamb in oil in skillet. Remove lamb, and place in slow cooker, reserving drippings. Stir salt, pepper and flour into drippings until smooth. Stir in water and wine until smooth, stirring until broth simmers and thickens. Pour into cooker. Add remaining ingredients, and stir until well mixed. Cover. Cook on low 8 to 10 hours. Serve with crusty bread. Makes 6 servings.

COLORFUL SALAD

Here is a green and orange salad from the vegetarian stash of Rose Secrest.

Chard Salad

1 bunch Swiss chard, chopped

1/4 head green cabbage, shredded

2 carrots, julienned

1/4 yellow onion, diced

Combine and stir in dressing (recipe follows).

Chard Salad Dressing

1/4 cup apple juice

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

Fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Whisk together and serve.

GINGERED OKRA

Elsewhere in her correspondence, Ms. Secrest brought up a fascinating combination of foods: fresh ginger and fresh okra.

“I thought fresh ginger was for raw food, while ginger powder was for cooked food. I don’t have a recipe for this dish, but one time I ate okra with fresh slivers of ginger in an Indian restaurant, and it was the best dish they had. To re-create it, I would think you would roast or sauté okra with an optional Indian spice such as curry powder or garam masala. Remove from heat, and then toss in those slivers of fresh ginger.”

BROCCOLI-CHEESE CORNBREAD

There were absolutely no identifying marks on the envelope or the recipe received this week from a Chattanooga postmark. So I will assign the initials V.G. to the sender, who wrote at the bottom of this green-flecked cornbread, “Very Good.”

Broccoli Cornbread

2 (8.5-ounce) packages Jiffy cornbread mix

1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped broccoli

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

8 ounces cottage cheese

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients with a whisk; mix really well. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

NOTES ON VANILLA

Enter Mr. and Mrs. Sunday, our behind-the-scenes (or rather behind-the-recipes) experts on all things edible, all around the world.

On homemade vanilla: Some prefer to store homemade vanilla for up to a year before using, as the flavor will grow in intensity. Madagascar’s vanilla is often called Bourbon vanilla for the region it is grown in and is described as creamy, sweet, smooth and mellow. Madagascar is the world’s largest producer of vanilla, and it is also considered the highest quality. Indonesia is the second-largest producer of the world’s vanilla and is described as woody and pungent. Mexico’s vanilla is described as creamy, sweet, smooth and spicy. Mexican vanilla is the grandparent to Bourbon vanilla, and they are essentially the same. Tahiti’s vanilla is from a different vanilla orchid and is described as flowery, fruity, anisic and smooth. It originates from the Mexican stock as well but has been mutated over the last 50 years into its own species.

FOR BUSY COOKS

Maureen Witmer offered a six-ingredient recipe in a parallel discussion to the one in this column: “Please share some easy meals for busy cooks for growing kids.” This one came from “Take Them a Meal,” the online site for recording meals to be sent to someone in a crisis or a busy season.

Easy Mexican Chicken

1 pound boneless chicken breasts

2 cans corn, drained

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 jar mild or medium salsa

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup cheese

Place chicken in crock pot, and cover with the corn, beans and salsa. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4. During the last 30 minutes, shred the chicken, put back in the crock pot and add the sour cream and cheese. Serve with rice and tortilla chips.

SENIOR COOKS

It is not uncommon to get Fare Exchange ideas from those of you who have scaled down from cooking for familial crowds, but are still much in the kitchen. “Are there teachable, creative cooks among you 87 and older?” I asked.

Peggy Bookout responded. “I still have three weeks before I reach that age, but maybe that’s close enough. Preparing three meals a day for my husband and myself keeps me looking for new ideas. In addition, I often cook for family and always read Fare Exchange. Finding new recipes and learning about new products helps keep some spice in life. I am looking forward to next Wednesday.”

Hooray for you, Peggy Bookout. I want to be like you.

JUST A DASH

R.J. Johnson offered a just-a-dash-size hint for flavoring unsweetened yogurt. “We always have pure maple syrup in the kitchen, and it’s wonderful for sweetening plain yogurt. We can also add anything else on hand like fruit, nuts, seeds, whatever sounds good. However, maple sweetened yogurt is outstanding by itself.”

Thanks to you all, and here’s to summer and the recipes you will share, in virtual reality and in actual reality.