Date I made this recipe:
October 27, 2014
She Came in Through
the Kitchen Window – Recipes Inspired by the Beatles and Their Music by
Stephen J. Spignesi
Published by: Citadel
Press
ISBN: 0-8065-2359-X
Purchased at Half-Price Books, St. Louis Park
Recipe: "Give (Pasta and) Peas a Chance
("Give Peace a Chance) – p. 143
So. This is one of
those long stories not made short. And that's because we have to go backwards in
time to August 9, 1969 and an awful event that played out in the national news
that involved celebrities, famous families, a clan of murderers and even the
subject of today's blog, The Beatles. So buckle your seatbelts because try as I
might, I cannot think of how to talk about this cookbook and this recipe
without going long on the details of how I came to select this book. Ready?
On August 9, 1969, actress Sharon Tate (Valley of the Dolls),
wife of director Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby), her unborn baby (she was 8
months pregnant), and four others, including an heir to the Folgers coffee
fortune, were brutally murdered at 10050
Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, CA (north of Beverly Hills). News of the event swept the nation and for
months, eyes were glued to the set and to print news as we tried to make sense
out of what happened. I was 10 years old,
my 11th birthday being just a few months away in October.
The day after the "Tate murder," in a seemingly
unrelated event (it wasn't), Rosemary and Leno LaBianca were murdered in Los Angeles in similar
fashion. Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were
successful business owners. The two
murders eventually became known as the "Tate-LaBianca Murders."
At both scenes, messages were written on the wall in the
victim's blood: "Pigs," "Piggies,"
and the now infamous "Helter Skelter" (misspelled by murderer
Patricia Van Winkle as Healter Skelter with an extra "a"). "Helter Skelter" was the name of a song
on the Beatle's White Album, along
with "Revolution" and "Piggies." This eventually becomes an important tidbit.
After quite the investigation and much piecing together of
puzzle pieces, LA's police and sheriff's departments determined that cult leader,
Charles Manson, a career criminal, and his followers known as "The
Family" were behind these murders.
LA Deputy District Attorney, Vincent Bugliosi, finally brought this
group to trial for the Tate-La Bianca murders.
He then wrote a book, Helter Skelter
– The True Story of the Manson Murders – which I read for the first time in
1974 when the book was released. (I was in 10th grade at the time,
but what can I say – I was fascinated by this story.) In 1977, Bugliosi came to
speak about the murders at my undergrad alma mater, Northern Michigan
University – props to
NMU for having him and okay, props to me for going. You might think that this
is what eventually spurred me to start law school, but alas, kids, that didn't
happen until 2001. (PS—most of The
Family was convicted although some made deals in exchange for testimony.)
So to fast forward just a bit here: 45 years have now gone by since the
Tate-LaBianca murders. (What would I do
without People magazine reminding me
of this?). And that prompted me to
re-read this 670 page tome. And I have
to tell you that this is one of the best "primers" for how to build a
case and argue that case in court that I've ever read. If we would have been assigned this book and
this book alone in law school for my Criminal Law class instead of a boring
case book, I would have been one, happy 1L (nickname for first year law
students) camper! Honestly, although the
details of these murders are horrifying and the Manson family's capers were
chilling, this was a riveting read. That
said, my husband chuckled at my whining:
"Oh My God! I've been
reading forever and I still have 400 pages to go! I'll never finish!" Then later on: "Okay, only 300 pages to go. I'm making progress!" Still later:
"I'm within spitting distance – only 200 pages." And once I got to the last 100, I was a woman
on a mission, determined to finish this up ASAP. It did not hurt that my book was due (second
renewal, no less) two days after I turned the last page. So I got 'er done just under the wire – whew.
At this point, I bet you're wondering when on earth I'll get
to the point of this blog and this cookbook.
Patience, people, patience – we're almost there!
Over time, detectives and Bugliosi were able to make the
connection to why Mason's Family attacked the people at 10050 Cielo Drive, particularly because none
of "The Family" members had met any of the residents or their guests. But Charles Manson did. The
person Charles met previously was Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son. Terry was a record producer. Terry previously rented 10050 Cielo Drive before Sharon Tate and
Roman Polanski took over the lease.
Manson, thinking himself a man of considerable song-writing talent,
yearned to make a but Melcher didn't concur and refused to record Manson. Manson was more than a bit peeved. And so to get back at Melcher, he ordered the
attack (he didn't participate that night) on the people living at 10050 Cielo Drive.
Also important to know:
Mason believed that "Helter Skelter," the name of the Beatles tune, signified the
"revolution" of the black man rising up against the
establishment. Manson called the
"establishment" (i.e. people who were better off than he was)
"pigs" or "piggies." (At the time, cops were often referred to as
"pigs" and so the LAPD was understandably confused when the murders
didn't have any connection to cops.) And
so that's what those words written in blood meant. In Manson's mind, he planned to make it look
like those killings were the acts of the black men who he would help with their
revolution. The only thing he
accomplished was putting the fear of God into everyone in the Los Angeles area, particularly those in the
movie or music industry. And it didn't
set too well with folks outside that LA area, either.
This brings us (at
long last) to The Beatles. (Ta Da!) Manson worshipped The Beatles. He thought that
they were four angels (he was the fifth) and he pretty much ordered "The
Family" to listen to their White
Album for inspiration for all their soon-to-be criminal activities. So when news reported all this, suddenly the White Album became the evil empire. And while I was a little too young to be a
die-hard Beatles fan, I also didn't
see what all the fuss was about until this all erupted. You'd have thought the Beatles were
personally involved in the crimes for all the caterwauling that went on but you
have to understand that people were very freaked out by this. Actually, make that terrified. In another ironic turn, Manson also happened
to meet the Beach Boy's drummer,
Dennis Wilson, while at a party attended by Terry Melcher. So that tidbit hit the news as well. And as a postscript, as hard as it might be
to believe, Charles Manson songs were covered by several groups, most notably Guns and Roses. I tell you what, I learn something every day.
So, the entire time I was re-reading Helter Skelter, I had an ear-worm going of many Beatles tunes including "Helter
Skelter" (later covered by U2)
and "Revolution," among others.
And OF COURSE I had a Beatles-related
cookbook at the ready so I could tie the whole thing together. Our author, Stephen J. Spignesi, took
(mostly) Beatles tunes (or singles performed by Beatles members or by Paul
McCartney's band, Wings) and
fashioned them into recipes. What I
loved was his inclusion of Beatles songs that fell through my musical filter
such as "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" (drink)," "Mean
Mr. Mustard" (Mean Mr. Mustard Dip), or "Sun King" (cake). Don't know as I ever heard those songs.
Then there were songs that informed my childhood (in no
particular order): "Yellow
Submarine" (Yellow Submarine Sandwich); "Come Together" (Crumb
Together – cherry crumb cake); "Get Back" (Rosetta's Roaster Red
Pepper Spread) (BTW, the author mentioned that Rosetta is only mentioned in the
Let It Be LP. Loretta (make that
"Sweet Loretta") is mentioned in all other versions), and
"Lovely Rita" (Lovely Pita).
And just like picking a favorite Beatles' song (I'm not sure I can), selecting a recipe proved to be
a challenge. Many items sounded good,
some were eliminated because there wasn't much to the recipe and others were
bounced because they weren't really Beatles tunes. Like oh, say, the recipe we ended up making: "Give Peace a Chance" was written
and performed by John Lennon. But my
husband, Andy, liked the recipe (and the song) and that decided things so there
you go.
Interesting tidbit:
John Lennon, his son, Sean, and I all share the same birthday – October
9th. Sadly, John Lennon was
killed on December 8, 1980 the day before my brother's birthday on December 9th. Somehow, this felt like a death in the
family. And unbelievably, instead of –
like the Manson murders – being "inspired" by Beatles music, Lennon's
killer, Mark David Chapman, was inspired by J.D.
Salinger's seminal book, The Catcher
in the Rye. Chapman apparently
wanted to model his life like the main character, Holden Caulfield. And in another one of those creepy moments
somewhat emulating the Mason murders, Chapman stayed on the scene reading The Catcher in the Rye until the police
came. Makes you realize that while the
vast majority of us are inspired to do good things due to reading a book or
listening to music, a few whackadoodles (my friend, Ann's term) go in a very
scary direction.
It is somewhat sadly ironic, then, that Lennon's
anti-war/anti-killing song, "Give Peace a Chance," was the basis for
today's featured recipe, "Give (Pasta and) Peas a Chance.
This recipe was easy to make but I can't say as I'd make it
again, at least not without modifications, specifically, nixing the canned
peas. It's not that I hate canned peas;
on the contrary, I love them. But canned
peas are super sweet and super mushy and I thought they overpowered the rest of
the ingredients. I was "this
close" to using frozen peas but since I always remain true to the
ingredients listed, I stuck with them this time around.
I was also not fond of using garlic powder, preferring
instead to use garlic cloves but again, the recipe said to use powder so I did.
And finally, pancetta instead of Canadian bacon might have
added more zip and been more traditional (to an Italian recipe for spaghetti
carbonara) but again, pancetta wasn't called for so it wasn't used.
So we "gave peas a chance" and it was satisfying
but I think I could – and probably you can – do better the next time
around.
BTW, was this cosmic, or what? I was just on my way home from the grocery
store, picking up these ingredients, when my favorite radio station – The Current (89.3—and you can and also
should stream it online – Thecurrent.org) played Siouxsie and the Banshees' cover of the Beatles song "Dear Prudence." Dear Prudence was also on the White
Album. Then this morning, The Current played The Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There" as well as
"Paperback Writer." And
finally, one of the local magazines featured several local recording artists in
a recent article, one of whom was Nicholas David, who some of you will remember
from Season 3 of The Voice (he was
one of the three finalists) in 2012. But
prior to his appearance on that show, I heard Nicholas sing The Beatles "Across the
Universe" on The Current as part
of a feature on artists who participated in the Minnesota Beatle Project.
Nicholas was on the very first year's (Vol. 1) album and I loved his
cover of this song.
So folks, you have a lot to do: read the book - Helter Skelter - listen to the White
Album, listen to a lot of other Beatles
tunes, and check out the Minnesota
Beatles Project. Oh—and cook,
naturally!
Give (Pasta and) Pease
a Chance ("Give Peace a Chance") – serves 4
1 large onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 slices Canadian bacon, cut up into bite-sized pieces
(Ann's Note: You might want to try
pancetta)
1 14.9-ounce can of peas (retain water) (Ann's Note: definitely try frozen peas, adding a little
water to emulate the canned peas)
1 8-ounce can of peas (drain water) (Ann's Note: use the same amount of frozen peas)
Garlic powder, salt, pepper and grated cheese to taste
(Ann's Note: Instead of garlic powder,
mince a few garlic cloves and sauté along with the onion)
2 medium eggs, beaten
½ pound spaghetti (broken in half)
Sauté the onion in the olive oil in a covered skillet until
it's soft. Add the Canadian bacon to the
pan and cook, uncovered, until bacon is tender.
Slowly add the 2 cans of peas, including the water from the larger can,
to the onions and bacon. In a small
bowl, add salt, pepper, and grated cheese to taste to the 2 beaten eggs. When the pea-and-onion mixture begins to
boil, add the seasoned eggs to the skillet.
Add a dash of garlic powder to taste and cook this mixture for about 10
minutes. While this is cooking, boil the
spaghetti to al dente texture in a large deep pot. Drain the spaghetti and add the
peas-and-onion mixture to it. Toss
together and serve with more grated cheese and a green salad.
