June 2011 NewsletterJim Casada
Web site:
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
That’s enough by way of excuses though, and what follows is sort of a retrospective or reflective look at what June has meant to me over the years. The style comes directly from one of my favorite writers, and I daresay it’s a name relatively few of you will recognize. John Parris was, like me, a son of the Smokies, and for decades he wrote columns for western North Carolina’s daily newspaper, the Asheville Citizen-Times. His work focused squarely on mountain ways, Appalachian traditions, and a keen appreciation of the rhythms of the seasons. Those columns became several books, including My Mountains, My People; Mountain Cooking; Mountain Bred, and Roaming the Mountains. The latter title, incidentally, was the one he used for his columns. I’m no John Parris, but I admired his work a great deal and what follows uses his repetitive style in an attempt to capture the moods and mystery, the ways and whimsy, and most of all, the joys, of June. June's JoysJune is a month filled with an abundance of joy, and all too often, as we complain about heat or worry about too little (or too much) rain, we take for granted or fail to appreciate what its thirty days has to offer. It’s new potatoes fresh from the garden, perhaps with a mess of green peas or spinach on the side. It’s the first squash and zucchini of the season, as welcome now as they will become worrisome in a few weeks thanks to the amazing productivity of these plants. It’s blackberries beginning to show red and with that color change conveying the welcome message that late in the month (at least hereabouts) it will be pickin’ time. Better still, if you know where to find them dewberries and wild raspberries are ripening now It’s early corn tasseling as it bears promise of the indescribable delight of a couple of ears slathered with real butter and bursting with golden sweetness. It’s bees busily going about their business, with sourwood bloom in the offing before long. It’s barefooted boys catching June bugs in the dewy coolness of early morning, attaching a piece of sewing thread to a leg and, once the sun warms wings and the air, enjoying the simple thrill of having control of an insect helicopter (never mind that the June bugs soon tire of the frustration and refuse to fly). It’s family picnics and reunions, with enough culinary bounty to meet, greet, and fill even the hungriest of souls. It’s an old man wearing a straw hat and patiently hoeing corn, down one row and back, row after row, until at long last he is truly in the short rows. It’s the incomparable taste of water from a mountain spring, so cold it sets one’s teeth on edge and so refreshing that it is sweeter than an ice cold dope (and if you don’t know what a dope is, I reckon my Grandpa Joe would have said you weren’t raised right). Come to think of it though, he wouldn’t have said that, because Grandpa resolutely refused to take so much as a swallow of a dope (a cola or soda pop or bellywasher). He said they weren’t good for you and once, to prove his point, showed me how a coke would dissolve the fat portion of a piece of streaked meat as if it was acid. He then asked: “Why would anyone put something like that in their belly?” It’s home-churned ice cream atop a fresh-baked cobbler, the perfect end to a filling meal. It’s a mess of speckled trout fresh from a stream lying somewhere back of beyond, all dressed up in cornbread dinner jackets and fried to a golden brown right beside the creek. Or if you are fishing in warmer, flatter climes, it’s a similarly prepared mess of catfish or bream. It’s young boys riding bikes to go to a “secret” fishing hole in a nearby stream or pond. It’s digging worms, catching spring lizards, or seining minnows, all in fond hopes they will, in turn, produce a fine stringer of fish. It’s running a trot line, managing a throw line, setting limb lines, or jug fishing for cat fish. It’s lazy times in the shade with a buddy, waiting for a bobber to bounce and not having a care in the world. It’s rocking chairs on the porch in the gloaming, stringing and breaking beans while enjoying simple conversation with family or friends. It’s making music in an impromptu pickin’ and grinnin’ session or shaking a leg in an old-fashioned hoe down. It’s a young boy and his grandfather selecting just the right dogwood fork for a sling shot and then patiently crafting the product. It’s an old man and a young boy or girl enjoying special time together while fishing or just plundering about. It’s hikes to waterfalls, trips to the old swimming hole, raft rides down a creek, and general revelry in the world of water. It’s somber remembrance in visits to remote graveyards, with loving looks back to a world we have lost and those who prepared the way for us. It’s bittersweet recollection, at least for those of my age, of simpler days and simpler ways in yesteryear, when it didn’t take much to entertain a youngster and when family gatherings were times of true celebration. June is birds singing in the cool of morning, young rabbits frisking around the edge of fields, crows fussing for no other reason than that they seem to enjoy being raucous, and the eerie eight-note call of a barred owl in the twilight. It’s a wary old brown trout rising to a perfectly delivered dry fly at dusk, and fish feeding in frenzied fashion in the aftermath of an afternoon thunderstorm. June is a month of countless faces and moods without end, but no matter where you live it is a time, most of all, to enjoy all of our abundant blessings. SIMPLE CATFISH FILLETS1 cup lemon juice Pour the lemon juice into a bowl. Dip fillets in juice and then sprinkle generously with seasoning. Cook on a grill pan or in an oiled skillet for 10 minutes per inch of thickness or until the fish flakes readily. CRAPPIE DELIGHT2 pound crappie fillets Cut the fillets into serving-size portions and arrange in a baking dish. Pour the lemon juice over fillets and let stand for six to eight minutes, turning once. Combine eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl. Roll the fillets in the flour, and then dip into the egg mixture. Heat oil in a large skillet and fry fish until brown on one side, then turn. Sprinkle cheese on the cooked side. It will melt as the fish cooks. Serve immediately when done. BACKYARD FLOUNDER ITALIANOOlive oil Heat 1/4 inch olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Sauté the bell peppers, mushrooms, and onion in the oil until softened. Remove the vegetables to a plate with a slotted spoon, reserving the oil. Season the fillets with salt and pepper. Cook the fillets in the oil until light brown on both sides. Add the veggies and cook for a minute longer. Makes four servings, and you can substitute other fish such as crappie fillets. SHRIMP GRAVY1 cup olive oil Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté the onions in the oil until translucent. Add the flour and stir until well blended. Whisk in two cups of the milk. Stir until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the remaining two cups mile and stir until the mixture thickens. Add the parsley and shrimp. Simmer for five minutes or until the shrimp turn pink. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over grits, rice, pasta, or cathead biscuits. Thank you for subscribing to the
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