Joyful cooking

New cookbook features 108 recipes to feed and refresh the body and soul

Patricia West-Barker | The New Mexican

9/16/2008 - 9/17/08

"My style," says Sharon Louise Crayton, author of One Taste: Vegetarian Home Cooking from Around the World, "is just don't make a big deal about cooking, let go of all the expectations and just enjoy the process."

As she makes clear in her introduction, in stories scattered throughout the book, and in a reflection on making salad dressing

— "The struggles that happen in our minds when making a simple dressing and salad: doubt and fear that we won't make it right; the expectation that it will be perfect, our idea of what is perfect; the hope others will praise you for making a perfect salad; the hurt when no one says anything positive or someone criticizes you; the pride of thinking you know the best way; the desire to be famous for making the best salad..."

— Crayton had much to let go of to reach this place of cooking simply, calmly and joyfully.

In the coming week, Crayton, a Santa Fe resident, will offer insights about food, eating and a spiritual practice based on everyday kitchen chores at a local cooking class and three booksignings.

A former food-company recipe consultant and restaurateur, Crayton credits her growing Buddhist meditation practice, under the direction of her teacher Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, who is based in the Dordogne, France, with the transformation of her approach to cooking — and to life.

"When you start to learn to meditate," she says, "meditation just sits on the cushion. And then, slowly, you learn to integrate it into your daily process because that's really what it's about. Because, if you don't use it in your daily life, it doesn't work.

"Through meditation," she says, "you just start letting go of the layers and just sort of be there and do it."

Expanding the mind and the menu

But along with the suggestions for fresh-mind meditations, simple exercises for quieting the chatter of the mind — "Stand straight, breathe normally, and take in the aroma of the basil; concentrate on this aroma for 30 seconds, bringing the mind back when it wanders." — and teaching stories that illustrate a way of cooking without stress or judgment, are well-tested, practical, easy-to-follow vegetarian recipes gathered from home cooks around the world. Chapters include Meditations for One Taste (the book title is also the title of a Buddhist meditation); Soups (for infinite flavors); Salads (for watching the mix); Main Dishes (for serving compassion); Side Dishes (for extra courage); Condiments, Spreads, and Sauces (for tasting the moment); Desserts (for serving generosity); Snacks and Baking (for hopes and fears); and Drinks and Remedies (for impermanence).

All 108 recipes — an auspicious mandala number and the number of beads on a mala, a focusing device used by Hindus and Buddhists for chanting and prayers — were collected by Crayton on her travels from home cooks who have become her friends.

Crayton married a Frenchman who brought her to Europe where, she says, she met many people from various cultures.

"I was always fascinated by people's kitchens," Crayton says, "because that's where I was always visiting with people ... so everywhere I traveled, I was always asking people, 'What do you cook?' "

So when she decided to write a book, she says, she wanted to write about what people really cooked on a daily basis, dishes that reflected their cultures as well as their personal tastes. "And I tested (all the recipes) on every continent there is," she laughs, "in all these assortments of kitchens."

Taking a fresh approach to food

Fresh ingredients and a fresh mind with which to approach them are the key to her style of simple cooking that can satisfy body and mind, Crayton says. In the book, she tells the story of an old French woman who taught her to open the refrigerator every morning, take out what was there, and make something out of what she found.

"(What you find in the refrigerator) are old ingredients in a way," Crayton laughs. "But with fresh ingredients (and a fresh mind) you can go to the market and just sort of look at something and bring it home and say OK, I'll make this with it ..." The point she says, is not to have any fixed ideas "because things are always changing when you are cooking."

At her class at Las Cosas on Saturday, Crayton will teach students to prepare and balance the foods of many cultures — a hibiscus cooler; curried mung bean soup; aromatic herb rice-stuffed peppers; olive oil and mint orange salad; and a fresh farmers market fruit crisp for dessert. She'll also offer a sample of foods in the book to people who come to the booksigning that follows the class. She recently found some wonderful New Mexico popcorn, Crayon says, so she'll make a seasoned popcorn that was served at the Aloha Theater in Kona, Hawaii, combining nutritional yeast, tamari and cayenne pepper. ("As the corn pops," says the Mind Refresher that accompanies this recipe, "wish that all minds may be popped open and filled with wisdom and compassion.")

For the farmers market booksigning on the Sept. 27, Crayton plans to make something with chiles, since they are in abundance now; at the signing at the Inn of the Alameda on Sept. 24, wine and cheese will be served.

One Taste has been beautifully designed by Santa Fe publisher Provecho Press, and features fine photography by Eric Swanson. The quality of the paper and the printing makes it as much as pleasure to hold as to read.

So far, Crayton says, response to One Taste has been both positive and gratifying.

People coming to her booksignings have been telling her that the book pleases them on a number of different levels, "and I'm really quite pleased because I wanted to make it universal," she says.

"Some people are just fascinated by the beauty," she says, "others just like to read all the stories ... and the next person wants to cook all the recipes and thinks that it's not intimidating — and that's really one of the most important gifts I wanted to give, to inspire people to cook."




WHAT: Sharon Louise Crayton teaches a cooking class and signs copies of her new book, One Taste: Vegetarian Cooking from Around the World (Provecho Press, 2008, $27)

WHEN/WHERE:

* 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday
Cooking class at Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe, DeVargas Center
($75, call 988-3394 to register)

* 1-2 p.m. Saturday
Booksigning at Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe, De Vargas Center
(Free, all invited)

* 4-5 p.m. Sept. 25
Booksigning at Inn on the Alameda, 303 East Alameda St.
(Free, all invited)

* 9 a.m.-noon, Sept. 27
Booksigning co-sponsored by Collected Works Bookstore at Santa Fe Farmers Market, 1607 Paseo de Peralta, at South Guadalupe Street
(Free, all invited)



"A friend's father used to make this dish as a weekend treat when she was a child," Crayton writes. "Kids like the trick of the egg inside the bread. Using good-quality eggs and flavorful whole wheat bread makes it delicious. The French eat their eggs for lunch or dinner, and this dish can work as a meal at any time of day."

BULL'S EYE EGGS
(Serves 1)

2 slices whole wheat bread
4 tablespoons softened butter
2 large eggs

Using a small glass, cut 2-1/2-inch circular holes in bread slices.

Spread most of the butter on both sides of slices, making sure to reach all corners.

Place slices in a nonstick skillet and cook over medium-low heat until browned.

Crack an egg into each hole. Cook, covered, until white is cooked through and yolk is soft, or until egg is cooked to your preference.

Transfer to a plate and serve.

Mind Refresher: Stand straight and keep your attention on the knife as you spread the butter.


"The traditional Abruzzi way to serve coarse ground polenta is sulla tavola, on a board," Crayton writes. The polenta is cooked to a creamy consistency, poured on a board at the center of the table, and then topped with tomato sauce and finished with freshly grated Parmigiano cheese. Everyone digs in and eats until no more is left."

To make the dish more quickly, Crayton suggests using fine cornmeal instead of the medium-coarse. It will cook in 5 to 10 minutes, she says.

CREAMY POLENTA WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE
(Serves 6)

8 cups water
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 cups medium-coarse polenta
Sauce:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled, halved and sliced (about 11/2 cups)
3 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
1/2 ounce dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water and finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 bunch chopped fresh basil leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmigiano or Romano cheese

Bring water and salt to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Slowly add the polenta in a steady stream, stirring continuously with a long wooden spoon.

Lower heat to a gentle boil and continue stirring 30 minutes, or until polenta pulls away from the sides of the pot and is not gritty. (You may need to add more boiling water as it cooks.)

When it's done, cover the pot with buttered waxed paper and place in a warm-water bath. The polenta will stay hot for several hours.

Make the sauce: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until onion begins to caramelize. Stir in tomatoes, garlic and mushrooms, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, uncovered, 15 minutes. Stir in basil, salt and pepper.

To serve: Pour hot polenta onto a clean, unfinished wooden table or a large chopping board, 18x18-inches, and shape into a thick circle. Make a 4-inch indent in the center, pour in the tomato sauce, and sprinkle with cheese.

Mind Refresher: Stand straight, breathe normally and reflect on patience while stirring the polenta.


"Many varieties of mushrooms can be found in the countryside of Bhutan," Crayton writes, "which is nestled in the Himalayas and bordered by Tibet, Sikkim and Bangladesh. This dish combines mushrooms and cheese, usually a yak-milk cheese in Bhutan."

QUICK MUSHROOMS AND CHEESE FOR RICE
(Serves 2-4)

8 ounces thinly sliced fresh mushrooms (about 3 cups)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup shredded melting cheese, such as Cantal, fontina or Monterey jack
1 medium tomato, diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Cooked rice, for serving

Place mushrooms, water, butter and salt in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook for about 5 minutes.

Stir in cheese, tomato and green onion and cook 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Pour into a serving dish and serve with rice.

Mind Refresher: Appreciate whatever is happening.


"Condiments in Indonesian cooking are just as important as the savory dishes they are served with," Crayton writes. "Meals come with a small platter of three or four different flavored, textured and colored sambals (condiments) to taste. The soy sauce in this condiment," she says, "gives it a salty flavor, with pungent and sour notes."

SPICY SOY-SAUCED TOMATOES
(Makes 1 cup)

2 medium tomatoes, cut in half and sliced
2 small Thai or serrano chiles (red or green), seeded and thinly sliced (use to taste)
2 small shallots or 1/4 onion, peeled and thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil or fresh cilantro leaves

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Serve as a condiment.

Mind Refresher: Stand straight, relax and breathe normally; appreciate whatever is happening.