A Recipe To Honor Tinker

By Sidonie Maroon, Culinary Educator for the Food Co-op.

Tinker Cavallaro passed away, and Port Townsend lost a valuable citizen. Her death feels like a former way of life packing its bags, but I think she left enough seeds to sprout decades of renewal.
Tinker taught yoga, called contra dances, and rode her bike everywhere, especially up “F” street. You’d remember her smile, intelligence, energy and vitality. Tinker moved, danced, and, most of all, tended life to its fullest. She quietly impacted farmers, gardeners, orchardists, seed savers, cooks and everyone who cares about local food. If you needed to know — why your tomatoes weren’t well? If your soil was right, or if chickpeas, quinoa or buckwheat would grow in our region? She was the legendary source of agricultural knowledge. The amount of people, especially young people, who’d name her as an influencer is staggering.

Forest Shomer Recalls

“Tinker arrived in Port Townsend in the early eighties, and was immediately involved with the Abundant Life Seed Foundation, and was a major helper at the Yesberger Farm seed garden at the west end of 37th Street. She was involved in the Port Townsend Grain Cooperative, where she and Malcolm Dorn raised a beautiful wheat crop. Masanobu Fukuoka, of ‘One Straw Revolution’ fame, came through on his Western U.S. tour and visited the grain field and we have a wonderful photo of him in traditional garb and sickle.

One might call Tinker a MVP (most valuable player) of organic horticulture in our Quimper area.

Let’s Preserve and Share 

She lived here for forty years. I remember her talking about running the early tofu shop at Fort Worden, her involvement with The Food Coop Uptown, her trips to Italy to work on farms, and how that inspired her relationship to growing and eating food. She’s left a significant impact on the Port Townsend community, in the realms of organic gardening, local food systems, and sustainable living. Let’s continue to preserve and share memories of Tinker. Now is the time, and it’s important to keep her knowledge alive.

She mentored me as a gardener, inspired me as a cook, taught me so much about being human. Our last couple of years of text messages are all about delivering soup, garden dates and cucumbers. Tinker’s own garden was magical, and I was in awe of her easy way of making it both productive and pleasing.

A cherished memory is winnowing amaranth at dusk, in early fall at Tinker’s house. She had a big tarp spread out on the ground, and as usual if people came, she put them to work shelling beans for winter storage, or some other delightful yet useful task. The sunlight came through the bright red and rainbow hued seeds and chaff. The air was swirling as we cast dried amaranth seeds high into the air and let the screen catch them as they fell.

This was Tinker, always in motion, brightly lit, nutritious and oh so beautiful. In gratitude for what she left—the quiet wealth of good soil and seeds planted for our future. My deepest condolences to her three children, Sam, Molly, Kia Cavallaro and everyone who will miss her.  

Orange and Kalamata Olive Chopped Salad

Ingredients

1 cup pitted kalamata olives

½ of a red onion, chopped and blanched for 1 minute if too sharp

2 navel oranges, zested, peeled and sliced into sections

Zest of both oranges

Zest and juice of one lemon

½ cup Italian parsley, minced

1 cup celery, diced

1 cup walnuts, toasted 

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon sea salt

Directions

1. Assemble and prepare the ingredients.

2. Add olives, blanched red onion, orange sections, zests, parsley, celery, toasted walnuts, lemon juice, salt and red pepper flakes to a food processor bowl. Pulse several times until everything is fresh salsa consistency.

3. The salad will continue to develop its flavors. Keeps refrigerated for a week. 

Orange and Lime Mint Chutney

Makes 3 cups

A chunky hot, sweet and sour, refreshing chutney. Perfect accompaniment to dal and rice.   

Ingredients

Dry roast 

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

¼ cup hulled sesame seeds

½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

½ cup cashews

1 cup cilantro leaves, washed and roughly chopped

1 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped

2 teaspoons pickled jalapeno

1 inch of fresh ginger, unpeeled, finely minced

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon fine sea salt 

2 tablespoons coconut sugar

Juice of two limes, about ¼ cup

Zest of both limes

½ cup fresh orange juice

Instructions

On a low heat, dry roast the first 5 ingredients, stirring frequently, until the coconut and nuts darken a few shades and the sesame seeds pop.

In a food processor, combine the dry-roasted ingredients with everything else and pulse until you have a chunky chutney. 

Transfer to a bowl and serve, or store and keep refrigerated for up to a week.

Broccoli and Black Olive Salad

Serves 2-4

A delightful way to eat your broccoli! Try this recipe and method for anything in the broccoli family — cabbage, kale, collards, mustard greens etc. Boiling salads is a traditional Italian technique, and makes lots of sense to use the same water for pasta.

1 bunch broccoli, about 3 ½ to 4 cups, using florets and peeled stems, chopped

½ cup kalamata olives, sliced

Dressing

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli florets and peeled stems. After the water comes back to the boil, set a timer for 2 to 3 minutes or until the broccoli is just tender. Scoop it out with a strainer, and run it under cold water. Shake the strainer to release any water. Chop the broccoli into smaller pieces.

2. Puree the dressing ingredients together in a small food processor. Toss the dressing and sliced olives with the broccoli in a serving bowl.

3. Serve at room temperature. 

Sunny Salad

Serves 4

Salad

4 cups grated carrots

2 sectioned Cara Navels, cut into bite-sized pieces

4 stalks celery, finely diced

½ cup toasted pecans, chopped

½ cup sliced dates

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

(Maldon flaked salt at the table as needed)    

Dressing

⅔ cup avocado oil

⅓ cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger finely minced

¼ teaspoon powdered turmeric

For the salad: mix the grated carrots, celery, and dates together in a large low salad bowl. Grind the black pepper and fennel together and mix in. Lay the sectioned fruit on top in a sunburst design.

Serve the dressing at the table alongside the salad.

For the dressing: In a food processor, pulse the ginger and garlic together into a paste. Add and process the lemon juice, zest, mustard, turmeric and salt. While the machine is running, slowly add the oil until emulsified.