Cincinnati Burgoo: pie

Friday, March 14, 2008

Happy Pi Day!

On March 14th, math geeks around the world celebrate the beauty of Pi by eating pie and toasting the birthday of Albert Einstein. The Exploratorium gave rise to Pi Day some twenty years ago and the holiday continues to grow in popularity with each passing year. You can gaze in Zen-like wonder at Pi calculated to one million digits or marvel over Pi-Ku. Or you could just eat some pie, be it apple, pizza or shepherd's.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Repercussions

Today I learned that one should not gloat about a day off work, lest one arrive at work the following day to find that one's assignments were not taken care of whilst one was frolicking in the park. Indeed, I paid for my hubris with a nine and a half hour day today. I should have stayed longer but I was really out of steam by dinnertime.

Apparently today is National Pie Day. I'm down with that. Pie is a good thing.

Lastly, here's an interview with one of my favorite people on the planet, Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Cincinnati Burgoo

I created this dish one day when I was thinking about making something using only ingredients native to the Americas. I thought it was quite original at the time, but later I found it had more than a passing resemblance to both Kentucky Burgoo and Brunswick Stew. I still quite like my version however and have taken to calling it Cincinnati Burgoo:

1 pound ground turkey
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 whole red chilies, minced
1 large zucchini, sliced
1 pound sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1 pound lima beans, fresh or frozen
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes OR
1 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1 cup beef, chicken or vegetable broth
salt and pepper, to taste

Sauté onion and ground turkey in a small amount of vegetable oil until turkey is browned and crumbled. Add the zucchini, garlic and chilies and sauté for about five minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer until all the vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes.

I realize the onions and garlic aren't native to the Americas, but they add a nice flavor to the dish. Serve up some cornbread on the side.