America I AM Pass It Down Cookbook (7 page)

Whisk together the yogurt, lime juice, cider vinegar, sugar, cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to mingle.

When ready to serve, combine the jicama, green onions, and red bell pepper in a large bowl and add the dressing. Toss gently but thoroughly to combine. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste.

Mom’s Deviled Eggs

Springfield, Ohio

SERVES 6

The exact history of deviling eggs is unknown, but the idea of liberally spicing—or “deviling”—eggs goes back a few thousand years. One of the staple foods in the South, deviled eggs were most popular in the summertime, when laying hens were turning out eggs faster than most folks could cook, sell, or give them away. Scooping out the yolks and mixing them with simple seasonings like salt, pepper, mayonnaise, and mustard was and is the norm but folks will put just about anything in these bite-sized beauties, from relish to anchovies, caviar to chilies, shrimp to chives and more. However you eat them, deviled eggs are a star attraction at picnics and potlucks and Debra Wilkerson’s mom’s recipe for classic “sweet and sour” deviled eggs is a must-have favorite at family events.

12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/3 cup Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
paprika for garnish

Slice each egg in half lengthwise. Using a small teaspoon, gently remove egg yolks from the egg whites.

Place the yolks in a bowl and mash with a fork until crumbly.

Add the sugar, cider vinegar, Miracle Whip or mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix well until creamy and, using the spoon, gently refill each egg white with an equal amount of yolk mixture.

Sprinkle with paprika. Chill, covered, for up to 3 hours.

Pass It Down healthy variation:
Substitute low-fat sour cream or non-fat strained yogurt for the Miracle Whip or mayonnaise. Alternatively, use hummus in place of the egg yolk to stuff the egg whites.

Soul Food Museum Southern Style Potato Salad

Atlanta, Georgia

SERVES 10 TO 12

As the owner of The Soul Food Museum, the only museum in the world celebrating African American’s contributions to the culinary arts and hospitality, Dr. Kenneth Willhoite has a long index of recipes for great-tasting dishes for every type of event. He says his Soul Food Museum Southern Style Potato Salad is great to eat year round, but is a must-have for Juneteenth, family reunions, and of course, barbeques.

5 pounds Idaho potatoes
1 dozen eggs
½ cup mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup mayonnaise
1 large onion, diced very small
3 stalks of celery, diced very small
1 medium jar of sweet pickle relish
1–2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Pass It Down TIP

The perfect hard-boiled egg is not so much boiled as steeped in hot water. First, bring eggs to room temperature so they don’t crack when they are heated up. Place your eggs in the bottom of a pot in one layer and don’t stack them on top of each other. Add enough cold water to cover the eggs by about 1 inch of water. Place the pot on medium-high heat. Once the water is boiling rapidly, remove the pot from the heat and cover tightly with the lid. Let the eggs sit for 17 minutes (large eggs) or 20 minutes (jumbo eggs). Pour off the cooking water and place the eggs in cold water to cool down. Peel and use.

Cook potatoes until the skin is tender when stuck with a fork then remove skin and mash.

Boil eggs and cut into small pieces. Set aside pieces from three of the eggs for garnish. Mix the potatoes and eggs then add in the mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, mayonnaise, onion, celery, and relish. Add salt and pepper to taste. Additional mustard and mayonnaise cab be added for a moister texture. Chill overnight to bring out the best flavor.

Garnish with paprika, fresh parsley, and sliced eggs. Serve warm or chilled.

CK’s Brie in Puffed Pastry

New York, New York

SERVES 4

Chaz Foster-Kyser is a fan of easy-to-make meals, and loves that this scrumptious pastry takes only 10 minutes to prepare yet smells, tastes, and looks delicious. The recipe was passed down to her from Dr. Derina Holtzhausen, one of her former professors, who prepared it for an end-of-semester student get-together. “She served it as an appetizer, but I ate so much of it that I didn’t have any room for dinner,”Foster-Kyser says. “It’s great for small parties and is sure to impress your guests.”

1 puff pastry sheet (package comes with 2 sheets)
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup walnuts, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 small wheel of Brie (8 ounces)
½ cup raspberry or strawberry preserves

Pass It Down TIP

This dish’s sweet taste makes it perfect for dessert.

Preheat oven to 375˚ F.

Defrost 1 sheet of puff pastry and unfold. Place the remaining sheet back in the freezer for later use.

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add the nuts and sauté until golden brown, about 2–3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Brush the side of the pastry sheet facing you with the beaten egg.

Scrape the rind off of the Brie with a butter knife, and then center the wheel of Brie on top of the pastry sheet. Gently spread the jam on top of the Brie and then the nuts on top of the jam. Bring all four corners of the sheet together above the Brie and fold them across each other so they overlap. Brush the top and sides of the pastry sheet with the beaten egg. You can be creative and use bits of the other puff pastry sheet to make a bow or other design for the top of the brie.

Place your little masterpiece on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 20–25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Serve with top-quality wheat crackers such as Pepperidge Farm’s Harvest Wheat Crackers.

Passing It Down Online à Deux

BY CHRYSTAL BAKER

      
The Duo Dishes, Chrystal Baker and Amir Thomas, are a Los Angeles-based food blogging pair who mix up old school recipes and new school styling for 21st-century African American culinary flair.

Chrystal Baker and Amir Thomas are young Los Angeleans whose blog Duo Dishes is an exploration of the soul food and home cooking they’ve grown up with—with new millennium twists. The blog also features the pair trying their hands at everything from cheese grits fries to Vietnamese, Persian, and other international cuisines. A perfect product of African American heritage and 21st-century techno-savvy, the Duo Dishes are just one example of the soulful future of passing our foodways down.