After a brief panicked flail, I ran to the pantry. I had onions, garlic, fire-roasted tomatoes, canned black beans, canned corn, and cornbread mix. In the fridge, I had some pre-cut butternut squash, green onions, sour cream, and eggs. So I decided to make Three Sisters Stew with Cornbread Dumplings.

I’m a former chef who trained as a historian, so settle in for a bit of food history nerdiness. (Or you can simply scroll down for the recipe.) The Three Sisters refer to an agricultural technique used by indigenous people across North America. Corn, beans, and squash were grown together; this is called companion planting. The corn provided a trellis for the beans to climb, the beans in turn stabilized the corn and fixed nitrogen in the soil, and the squash shaded the ground, keeping the soil moist and preventing weeds from growing.

Food history nerdiness over! I hope you enjoy this hearty stew. We did!

Three Sisters Stew with Cornbread Dumplings

Ingredients

For the stew

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, diced
4 to 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (I use a mix of sweet and hot smoked paprika)
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
3 cups diced butternut squash or one container diced butternut squash
1 15-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (you can use any kind of canned beans that you like)
1 11-ounce can vacuum-packed corn
1 8-ounce can creamed corn
1 32-ounce container low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1 10-ounce bag chopped greens (I had a mix of collards, mustard, and turnip greens)
salt and pepper to taste

For the dumplings

1 package cornbread mix (I like either Corn-Kits or Martha White Yellow Cornbread Mix – they don’t have added sugar, and sugar is NOT an ingredient in cornbread!)
1 large egg
1/3 cup sour cream
2 green onions, sliced

Directions

In a stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, and Mexican oregano and sauté for another minute. Add in the butternut squash, fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, drained beans, corn, cream corn, and broth. Bring to a simmer, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add in the chopped greens and taste for seasoning. Adjust if needed.

While the stew is simmering, make the dumplings. In a large bowl, combine the cornbread mix, egg, sour cream, and green onions. Stir until a stiff dough forms. Once you’ve stirred the greens into the stew and adjusted the seasonings, drop the dumpling mixture by the spoonful into the stew. Cover the stew and steam the dumplings for about 10 minutes. The dumplings will puff up as the cook. After 10 minutes, remove the lid and test the dumplings by inserting a knife, skewer, or toothpick into one. If the knife, skewer, or toothpick comes out clean, the dumplings are cooked. If not, cover and steam for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Garnish the stew with more sour cream and some chopped cilantro if you like. This is a delicious and (relatively) healthy winter’s night dinner!

The post Three Sisters on a Chilly Night first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

Photo courtesy of The Table

The result of this mixture of diverse personalities and talents is The Table Market & Culinary Studio, which is now open in the Near Southside on St. Louis. Headed by Dena (the chef) and Trent (the professor/baker) Shaskan, along with Dixya Bhattari (the dietician) and Hao Tran (the teacher), the Table aims to reinvent the neighborhood market for 21st century Fort Worth. 

There was a time when most big city neighborhoods had a neighborhood market. Call it a corner shop, a bodega, or a neighborhood market, these were places where you could get a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a quart of milk, and a newspaper. You might be able to find some locally grown vegetables, homemade soups, or deli sandwiches, and you could always find a neighbor to chat up. The neighborhood market was the center of the community, and it anchored the neighborhood.  

The rise of the suburbs and the two-car family all combined to drive the neighborhood market out of business. It was more convenient for most people to drive to a supermarket, with its wider selection and lower prices, to load up on groceries for a week than it was to go to the shop every day, and neighborhood markets declined. 

With the popularity of food television shows came an interest in eating local and eating seasonally. Farmers markets, which along with the neighborhood market, had declined throughout decades following World War II, suddenly became popular again. And it was at a farmers market that the idea for The Table took root.  

Hao Tran is a chemistry teacher at Trimble Tech High School. She learned to cook from her Vietnamese parents and aunt and was managing the short-lived West 7th Street Farmers Market when she met Trent Shaskan. Trent is a San Francisco native who missed the amazing sourdough breads he grew up eating. A former political science professor, he decided to try his hand at making bread, and after a long period of trial and error, he had perfected his bread and started his own company, Icon Bread, and was selling at the market. He knew Dixya Bhattari, a dietician at a local hospital, and said that Hao needed to meet her.  

Nepalese-born Dixya taught herself to make mo:mo, the Nepalese dumplings she grew up on. She runs the food blog Food, Pleasure and Health, while Hao runs Lost in the Sauce. The women started teaching popup dumpling classes around Fort Worth, garnering a loyal following. However, they had no professional kitchen to support their growing business.  

Photo courtesy of The Table

Call it serendipity. Call it a coincidence. Trent’s wife, Dena Peterson Shaskan had left her position as the executive chef of Café Modern to start her own catering business, Mockingbird Food Co.. Trent used Mockingbird’s kitchens for Icon’s breads, so Dena and Trent invited Hao and Dixya to share the space. The friends started talking, and the idea for a market and space to teach classes was born. 

“All four of us bring something to the table,” Trent says, perhaps intentionally punning. In addition to showcasing the partners’ products, The Table also features products from local farmers and food producers. On any given day, you can find produce from Demases Farms, cheeses from Latte Da Dairy, olive oil and olives from Fratelli Colletti, and bread, soups, entrees, and dumplings from the owners.  

Photo courtesy of The Table

And the Table’s neighborhood is responding. When I went for my interview, The Table was full of people sampling baked goods, deciding which soup sounded best, and above all, talking with each other. Dena and Trent’s daughter Frankie was sitting at the end of one of the community tables, drawing. The offical taster of The Table, Frankie’s palate is impeccable. When I asked Frankie what her favorite bread was, she thought really hard before answering. “Weeellll, I guess I like the Classic best. But they’re mostly all good.” High praise from a seven year old! 

With space to teach and host tasting dinners, The Table is a warm, inviting space. Products line the walls, and the reach-in refrigerators are full of gorgeous produce and delicious foods. The space opens onto a courtyard which is shared by Leaves Book & Tea Shop and The Salon Upstairs. “We’re really like a modern bodega,” says Hao. “We’re that neighborhood market where you can get whatever you need.”  

The Table 

120 St Louis Ave, Suite 103B 

Open Mondays through Saturdays 

www.thetablemarket.com 

The post Bringing Something to The Table first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.