Wednesday, October 31, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Food & Home
Sisters hometown recipes — inspired by locals
By Jodi Schneider
Correspondent
Trails made by Native
Americans as they gathered
huckleberries, fished, and
hunted were followed by fur
trappers and explorers before
becoming settlers’ wagon roads
through forests surrounding the
Three Sisters peaks. When the
first post office was established
in 1888, the folks settled on the
name Sisters, maybe for the
beauty of the mountains sur-
rounding the scenic area.
From the spirit of its Western
history to today, Sisters has
a diverse food culture from
simple old-fashioned comfort
foods to elegant gourmet cui-
sine. Locals enjoy meals from
home-grown grass-fed beef
burgers to the best vegetarian
dishes around.
And when temperatures
drop, it’s time to head to the
kitchen to make a hearty, warm-
ing meal. From meaty stews
and chilis to healthy hearty
soups, The Nugget is sharing a
diversity of comfort foods for
fall from a few of the locals that
made Sisters their hometown
where they enjoy preparing a
warm meal on a cold day.
Here’s a comfort food that
Sisters resident Spurge Cochran
recently fell in love with:
“I was looking for a dish
that would use ingredients that
I have an abundance of, and
this one caught my eye and,
eventually, my taste buds.”
Enjoy the rich flavors of the
simple meal of shakshuka.
Sisters resident Sana Hayes
loves a hearty soup that she
named “Hobo Soup.”
HEALTHIER: Comfort
food can be good
for you
Shakshuka
Continued from page 19
2 large or 4 small tomatoes
1 large or 2 small sweet onion, diced
6 to 8 cloves garlic, diced
4 to 6 eggs
Pink salt
Paprika
Olive oil
Optional: Additional spices such as black
pepper, cumin, coriander, basil. Toppings
such as feta cheese, cilantro, olives.
Use a stainless-steel fry pan on low heat. Drizzle in the olive oil and let heat.
Heat onions in fry pan until translucent; add garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add salt and paprika
and stir so all the oils in the paprika blend in (about a minute and a half).
Add halved and quartered tomatoes to fry pan and stir. Let the tomatoes cook and reduce down to make
a sauce/paste. Add whatever spices you fancy (black pepper, cumin, coriander, basil).
When the tomatoes have reduced down, with a spoon, push away a small hole to the bottom of the pan
and drop in an egg, do that for the 4-6 eggs. Cover.
When the eggs look like poached eggs, serve on a plate. Add feta cheese and cilantro on top if desired
(olives are good, too).
“It’s called Hobo Soup
because you put whatever
you can find (in your fridge,
freezer, or cupboard) into it,”
she said. “It is comfort food to
me because it’s hot food on a
cold day and warms me on the
inside, and the potatoes remind
me of my ancestors in Ireland.”
“The fun of this soup is
adding whatever you have in
the refrigerator or cupboard
that you need to use up!”
Sisters resident Sheila Jones
says fall is one of her favorite
seasons for comfort foods.
“Every time I make this rec-
ipe [curried pumpkin soup] it
reminds me of fall, warm days,
cool crisp nights.”
Hobo Soup
On medium-high heat, sauté 10 to 30 garlic cloves and 1 large
onion, chopped into penny-size pieces, in a large stock pot with
1/4 cup of butter or olive oil until soft and translucent. Add 8 cups
water to boil 6 celery stalks chopped into 1-inch pieces. While celery
is boiling, chop 6 large carrots into bite-size pieces and add to boiling
water. Then add 6 cups of potatoes (peeled and diced) and continue
to boil until potatoes soften. Pour in 20 oz. of V-8 vegetable juice. Add
3 cups of cabbage, chopped, 1 can of corn or 1 cup of fresh corn,
1 cup of peas, frozen or fresh. Add chopped tomatoes, bell peppers,
green beans, cauliflower, and/or chopped mushrooms if you like.
You may also add some noodles, but you will need to add another
cup or two of water or V-8 until the soup is the consistency you prefer.
Add some sea salt, 1 Tbls of garlic salt, 1 tsp of no-salt seasoning,
1/2 tsp of pepper, and a pinch of dried chili peppers.
Curried Pumpkin Soup
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms,
sliced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Tbls vegan butter
2 Tbls all-purpose flour
1/2 to 1 tsp curry powder
3 cups vegetable broth
1 can (15 oz.) solid-pack
pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) coconut milk
1 Tbls honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
In a large saucepan, sauté
the mushrooms and onion in
butter until tender. Stir in flour
and curry powder until blended.
Gradually add the broth. Bring
to a boil; cook and stir for 2 min-
utes or until thickened. Add the
pumpkin, milk, honey, salt, pep-
per and nutmeg; heat through.
minutes or until onion
is tender and bacon is
cooked through, stirring
occasionally. Remove
bacon from pan; drain on
paper towels. Chop bacon
and set aside.
Stir potatoes, cauli-
flower, thyme, pepper,
and reserved clam liq-
uid into onion mixture.
Bring to boiling; reduce
heat. Simmer, covered,
for 10 to 12 minutes or
until potatoes are tender.
Remove from heat; cool
slightly. Transfer half of
the potato mixture (about
2 cups) to a blender or
food processor. Cover
and blend or process until
smooth. Return to the
remaining potato mixture
in saucepan.
In a medium bowl,
whisk together milk, half-
and-half, and flour until
smooth. Add all at once
to potato mixture. Cook
and stir just until boil-
ing. Stir in chopped and
whole clams and carrots.
Return to boiling; reduce
heat. Cook for one minute
more. Sprinkle each serv-
ing with chopped bacon.
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SHOP LOCAL
Hopping
freights
in Sisters
The Nugget is brought to you weekly
because of our advertisers’ support. .
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
Local author Rick Steber
will read from and sign his lat-
est novel, “Fall Down Angel,”
on Friday, November 2, at
6:30 p.m. at Paulina Springs
Books in Sisters.
The story is based on the
true-life adventures of two
runaways who work their way
west hopping freight trains.
The genius of the story is
in the strange twist of events
when the two main characters
meet again decades later and
discover they share a common
past.
Woven into this rich tap-
estry of a story is a particular
time — the era surrounding
the Great Depression — and
the coming of age of the
American West.
Paulina Springs Books is
located at 252 W. Hood Ave.
21
So we ask you to support the local
businesses which help make your
community, hometown newspaper possible.
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