Blackberry ribs and Ethiopian ribs with berbere spice rub


Kale and garbanzo beans, Libyan mango and couscous salad, and Moroccan eggplant butternut squash salad

When I was a girl in Nebraska, succotash meant over-the-hill lima beans, leftover sweet corn, and milk—edible but not frequently requested. Nancy Pringle changed that concept over ten years ago when she made a recipe for Indiana Succotash from a country-style cookbook. Her version calls for top quality, seasonal ingredients recently picked and prepared. As in so many memorable dishes, the secret is in the simplicity. The recipe calls for a bowl of brothy slow-simmered cranberry beans, chopped ripe tomatoes, diced sweet onions, corn cut directly off the cob, and a big pat of butter. She and Tom planned to serve the dish once at their annual summer party but due to aggressive requests they repeat the event, year after year. Hoping to expand our horizons, one year Tom and Nancy added blackberry baby back ribs to the succotash menu. Now we expect both every summer.

Wanting to break out of the succotash box this year, Nancy added African dishes to the regular menu and served:
BBQ oysters

South African curried meatballs w/chutney (Bobotie)

Moroccan humus w/dipping bread & cucumbers

South African curried bean dip

Indiana Succotash

Tunisian kale and garbanzo beans with lemons

Ethiopian ribs w/berbere rub
Blackberry ribs

Libyan mango couscous salad

Moroccan eggplant butternut squash salad

Twice baked caramel apple crisp w/ice cream 

I'm not kidding! It was start-to-finish delicious. We ate all day, watched the sunlight change to twilight, solved all the currently bothersome problems, revisited old memories, and made a perfectly beautiful new one.

Nancy made her version of bobotie into meatballs, glazed with chutney. The following recipe is from the Internet at: http://www.inmamaskitchen.com.

Bobotie

"Pure South African comfort food! Especially nice in winter, or cold with a salad in summer."

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 1/4 pounds good quality lean ground beef
1 thickish slice of white bread
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon medium curry powder (or hot for the hale and brave)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
freshly grated pepper (about a half teaspoon)
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/2 tablespoons malt vinegar
1/2 cup seedless raisins
2 tablespoons strong chutney
2 bay leaves (or fresh lemon leaves if available)
2 medium eggs 

Preheat oven to 350°F.Heat oil in medium sauté pan. Stir in onions. Cook over medium heat until transparent. Add ground beef. Cook until lightly browned and crumbly.

Soak bread in half the milk, squeeze out excess milk and mash with a fork - DON'T TOSS SQUEEZED OUT MILK! Pour it straight back into remaining milk. Set milk aside.

Add curry, sugar, salt, pepper, turmeric, vinegar, raisins, chutney to the beef mixture. Spoon the mixture into a greased baking dish, and place bay leaves on top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes in preheated 350°F oven.

Beat egg with remaining milk and pour over mixture approximately 25 - 30 minutes before end of baking time.

Serve with steamed rice (traditionally yellow!) and extra chutney.

Garbanzos and Swiss Chard in the Style of the Tunisian Sahel
Recipe from: Mediterranean Cooking, by Paula Wolfert

3/4 pound Swiss chard leaves, stemmed, rinsed and torn into large pieces
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 small dried red chile
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup cooked garbanzos, with 3/4 cup cooking liquid
1 lemon, cut in wedges, optional

In pot steam, parboil or microwave chard leaves until tender, about 5 minutes. Set leaves in colander to drain. Squeeze out excess moisture and shred coarsely. Crush garlic in mortar with salt, coriander and chile until thick, crumbly paste forms.

Heat olive oil in 10-inch skillet and saute onion until pale-golden. Add garlic paste and tomato paste and stir into oil until sizzling. Add chard, garbanzos and cooking liquid and cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until ready to serve.(Contents of skillet should be very moist but not soupy. For looser texture, stir in more garbanzo cooking liquid.)