Kitchen Witchery!




I consider myself a Kitchen Witch - that's sort of a catch-all term for a witch who primarily makes magick in her kitchen, through cooking and crafts.
In my case, that's natural - I was a stay-at-home Mom for nearly 15 years! I had my oldest at 23, and didn't go back to work full-time until 2 years ago, when my youngest was 4. I now have 4 children, aged 6 to 18! *phew*
I did manage to get two B.A.'s during that stretch, but my primary focus was my home and family. Of necessity on our sometimes meager budget, I cooked nearly every meal we ate. This vastly expanded my repertoire of recipes, let me tell you!! No one wants to eat the same few things, over and over and over again (not in MY household, anyway!) And the ingredients need not be expensive to make the meal delicious.
I live in Northern California, so a very wide variety of fresh produce and meats are plentiful and inexpensive. With lots of good ingredients and a little creativity, the results a careful cook produce can be nothing less than magickal!

I believe that what you make for others to eat should always be made with love and positive intention, so that your loved ones feel as good eating it as you did making it. I didn't have a name for what I did, up until I discovered my Pagan roots, but even so I knew that the nourishment I provided went deeper than just physical health.
I am a very good cook, if I do say it myself! I really enjoy it and it's easy for me. I can make just about any style of cuisine, as long as I have access to the correct ingredients (and I'm not bad at improvisation, either).

There are certain things I make that just taste amazing - they transcend the ingredients, so to speak! The recipes themselves are fairly simple. Magick? You be the judge! Several of them were handed down to me, by my parents and grandparents, others I found in cookbooks, and a few I concocted myself!
I'm glad to put the recipes up here, as my own tiny BOS. Give them a try! I hope you and your loved ones enjoy them, too.

This soup is so good - better than anything I've EVER ordered at a Thai restraunt! Filling, but not too rich.


THAI COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP

8 kaffir lime leaves or the zest of 1 regular lime
2 cans (13 1/2 fl. oz./425 ml each) coconut milk
2 cups (16 fl. oz./500 ml) chicken stock
6 fresh or 4 dried galangal slices, each about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter (Galangal is Thai ginger. Look for it in the produce section of your local Asian food store. If you don't have one of those handy, you may substitute chinese ginger root.)
4 lemongrass stalks, cut into 2-inch (5-cm) lengths and crushed
4 fresh small green chili peppers, halved (These are optional; if you can't tolerate spicy food, by all means skip them! It won't effect the taste of the soup at all - just the heat.)
1 tablespoon Thai roasted chili paste (nam prik pao)
2 whole chicken breasts, boned, skinned, and cut into 1/2-inch (12-mm) cubes
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz/75 g) drained, canned, sliced bamboo shoots (You can find this item in most large supermarkets - check the Asian food aisle)
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz/75 g) drained, canned whole straw mushrooms (Ditto for these!)
About 8 medium fresh button mushrooms, washed, stemmed, and quartered
1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) Thai fish sauce (This may not be very easy to get your hands on, but there's really no substitute - it gives the soup so much of its flavor and body!)
Juice of 2 limes (about 6 tablespoons/3 fl oz/90 ml)
1/4 cup (1/4 oz/7 g) fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves

  • Place 4 of the lime leaves or half of the zest in a large saucepan. Add the coconut milk, chicken stock, galangal, lemongrass and chiles. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean saucepan. Discard the contents of the sieve.
  • Bring the strained stock to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium so that it boils gently. Add the remaining 4 kaffir lime leaves or the remaining half of the zest, roasted chili paste, chicken, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and fish sauce. Boil gently until the chicken is cooked throughout, about 3 minutes.
  • Stir in the lime juice and cilantro leaves. Ladle in to warmed soup bowls and serve hot.

Serves 6 - 8

Here's another Asian-inspired recipe, one I came up with myself! Great on a cold evening, with a glass of beer and a side salad.


JAPANESE BEEF AND POTATO STEW

About 2 lbs. of the best quality beef you can afford, cut into 1-inch cubes; Chateaubriand is cheap (relatively speaking!), here in Nor Cal
4 extra-large, or 6 medium-sized Russet potatoes
2 -3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large sweet onion, (Maui, Vidalia, or red) sliced into very thin rings
White Zinfandel wine
Soy sauce
Pepper
Cornstarch