The Dollar Meal for Vegans ~ Where Have You Bean?

I was passing by a fast food joint.  I started to wonder about the economics of feeding oneself.  How does one beat the dollar burger?  It's filling.  It saves time.  It's yummy.  And if there are children involved, they don't mind.  But are there any vegan alternatives for the same price?

T. Campbell's The China Study does bring one to consider the merits of a plant food diet.  I suspect China's economy and way of life is changing so I wonder if the outcomes linked to geographical demographics in the study will be vastly different years from now.  Good reason to keep studying China.

I have, however, stopped thinking that a certain diet is a panacea.  Every one is different.  But I will say I am ever open to challenges with value.  And the value is to provide an alternative to vegans - or omnivores who wish for variety.

So this was my quest the past week:  To provide a vegan option to the dollar burger.

The solution came in the form of organic mung beans.  Yes, organic labels come with a premium on groceries.  However, consider eating less as organic groceries have higher nutritive value. [1]

With a higher nutritive value, there is the benefit of eating smaller quantities of food.  My grandmother who grew up under Japanese imperialism always spoke about eating 80% of maximum stomach capacity.  It has been my observation that Koreans eat way more than their Japanese counterparts.  Eating 80% of stomach capacity keeps the mind active and the body with more reserve in energy for other housekeeping matters than digesting food.

How does one gauge the effective point of satiety?  I suppose the threshold is reached when one thinks, "Gosh, I want another piece of that pie but I really shouldn't."

George Burns took the 80% rule further to 50%;  he only ate half of what was served on his plate.  He gave the Okinawans a run for their yen.

Of course longevity has other factors than diet.  Following one's dharma and cultivating meaningful connections are essential.  I have a feeling George Burns was doing what was in his seed - making people laugh.  He's the only centenarian I know who's puffed a lot of cigars. 

But back to the quest.  I take a cup of dry organic mung beans.  Price:  $1.00

The germination / sprouting charts make my head spin and I always forget information I can look up.  So I soak most things for 24-hours.  There is no harm in over-soaking.

Then I filter out the water and place the beans in a mesh cloth bag.  Hang it and water the bag morning and night.  If you tend to forget, place it in your shower.  You'll remember it in the morning.

Once the tail grows the same or twice the length of the bean, take it out and steam in a small pot for a couple of minutes.  Keep whatever green coat is left on the mung bean.  I steam for a minute or two in boiling water.  The green coats stay a vibrant green color.  If the green becomes a dull khaki, there are less enzymes - and it just doesn't taste as good.

Take the beans out and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle a little salt for taste.  It's so simple and satisfying.  There's warmth and texture.

And the nutritive value:
*  5 grams of protein.  This is complete protein, meaning all 9 essential amino acids are there.  What's more, the sprouting enhances proteolytic cleavage of protein. [2]   Digestion is less taxing and there are amino acids for maximal uptake into the body.  This is efficient protein. 

*  9 grams of fiber

*  One-third the daily recommended value of Vitamin C

*  Significant amounts of Iron, Folate (necessary for mental well-being), Copper and Manganese.

*  Polyphenols that help detoxify the body from pesticides and heavy metals


For a dollar a day, less than the price of hipster coffee, it is possible to grab a meal, stay mentally alert, and boost one's immunity.

Oh, and let's clear the air about flatulence and beans.  Sprouted legume seeds are not as farty so you (and your office mates) can breathe easy. [3,4]  Have a happy and healthy New Year! ~e

REFERENCES

1.  Marcin Baranski, Dominika Srednicka-Tober, Nikolaos Volankakis, et al., "Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systemic literature review and meta-analysis,"  British Journal of Nutrition, 112, no. 5 (2014): 794-811.

2.  Dongyan Tang, Yinma Dong, Hankun Ren, et al., "A review of phytochemistry, metabolite changes, and      medicinal uses of the common food mung bean and its sprouts (Vigna radiata)," Chemistry Central Journal, 8, no. 4 (2014). Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3899625

3.  Purintraphiban Sathithon and Xia Yan-bin, "Effect of sprouting the chemical and nutritional qualities and phenolic alkaloid content of lotus seeds," African Journal of Food Science, 6, no. 7 (2012): 204-211.

4.  Hugo C. Silva and B.S. Luh, "Changes in oligosaccharides and starch granules in germinating beans," Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology Journal, 12, no.3 (1979): 103-107.

Küchenkinder Potatoes

This piece first posted on October of last year.  Due to popular demand (friends have been asking for the kinder kartoffeln recipe), the article's been reposted. Whether it's for you or your tiny tots, enjoy!

With the first heat coming through last night, I looked forward to sleeping a full 8 hours and waking up to a white, warm, silent fuzziness with the occasional hissing from the radiators.  Instead, at 5 am,  I was alarmed by a clattering, explosive noise.

My first thought was that some pipe had burst and pieces of it had shattered to the floor.  Sensing it was pre-dawn I wondered what time would be appropriate to call the Super as I turned on the light.

Thankfully, it wasn't a pipe.  A porcelain teapot had fallen off the counter.  After sitting on the exact same spot for over a week without a complaint, the teapot decided to leap to the wooden floor.  If this was my old place in San Diego, I would have suspected an earthquake. 

It's a küchenkoller day, I thought.  Anna and Bernhard Blume captures this possessed kitchen phenom quite well in their gelatin silver prints like the one above. 

A great word - Küchenkoller.  It sounds nice to say, but it's a terrible thing.  It's when the furies of Vesta descend upon one's kitchen and wreaks havoc.

For example.  The pressure-cooker lid shoots up to the sky.  Or the evil fridge freezes all your greens.  And the blender somehow throws up the beets and splatters your cabinets with blood.

Or maybe everything is spinning around the salad-spinner except for the spinner.  Blame it on küchenkoller.

Küchen, I am sure means kitchen.  Koller means frenzy or tantrum.  Why koller would come to mean tantrum is interesting.  Maybe there was a man named Koller who often had meltdowns.

When I sense a full-blown küchenkoller episode coming on, I stay away from complicated dishes and approach the kitchen like a child at play.  I keep it very simple but fun.  I call this küchenkinder.  Not sure if this is a true German term or if I'd just made it up.

But I figure it appropriate as "kinder" means children.  Think Kinder Happy Hippo.  I frequently visited one grocer that had the only Kinder Happy Hippo with whole hazelnuts in each bump.

So today's dinner will be an easy kiddie dish that adults can enjoy.  I call it Küchenkinder Potatoes.  First, you will need to buy bite-sized potatoes.  I like the ones from Tasteful Selections that can be had at Whole Foods. 

Just to give you an idea of their size, these have been placed in a small ramekin for 1 serving.

Küchenkinder Potatoes Recipe   (1 serving)

 Ingredients
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 ramekin-full of bite-sized potatoes
1 to 2 teaspoons of Sriracha

Instructions
Turn on oven to 450 degrees.  Meanwhile, cut each potato in half.  Coat the potato halves with the salt and oil by hand in a roomy bowl.

Put the glossy potato-halves onto a non-stick oven pan.  Place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Pull out pan, wearing a mitt.  Slide the potatoes onto a dish.

Squeeze out the Sriracha on the side for dipping.  You really don't need much as it is pretty strong.  1 to 2 teaspoons would be enough.  It's also a great condiment for dieting.  There's so much flavor,  satiety is reached pretty quickly.

If this is to feed real children, hold the Sriracha and substitute with a little ketchup.  If ketchup is not allowed,  then use mustard or Greek yogurt as alternatives.

It's a pretty assortment of red, yellow, and blue mini potatoes made with the least effort.  And the Sriracha on the side takes potatoes to another level.

A small cherry tomato has been placed on the plate to show how small these baby potatoes are.  Yes, they are wee little things.  And yet, these 'kinder' potatoes can really satisfy the 'erwachsene' for supper.

Happy Küchenkoller ~e

 

Asparagus Soup

It's Spring and there are gorgeous daffodils and tulips, but I never buy them.  They're beautiful to look at, and that's about it.  I like designs that have form and function. 

Hyacinths I'll take because they perfume the room.  Asparagus I'll take because it creates one of my favorite soups.  And it was all because of William Poll.

When I first came to the Upper East Side, I was distressed at how there were fewer food choices than in the West Village.  In the WV, one could roll out of bed and find multiple places to find food.

So wasn't I thrilled to explore the William Poll shop and see a variety of dishes already made.  My pick was a glass jar filled with asparagus soup - no heavy cream, no oily film - no nonsense.  Just pure heaven.

I felt the shop was old New York.  At the time, I had no idea Lew Wasserman's wife or Joan Crawford had been regulars.  There was a patina to the place that would be unparalleled.  This much I knew.

When I started asking questions, James Poll looked more than happy to go into everything in every fascinating minutiae.  At the end of the tour, he led me to a delicate woman in her 90s.

She got up from her chair to plant a kiss on my cheek.  Following his mother, James did the same.  At the time, I was a bit baffled and embarrassed.  I wanted to say, "Guys, it's just a jar of asparagus soup."

The nonagenarian was Christine Poll and I now consider myself blessed and proud to say I had been kissed by this amazing woman. 

You don't have to be a Hollywood starlet to have a jar shipped to your poolside.  You don't have to come from New York's bastion of old money to taste it.  On a cold, rainy April day, I stayed in and was inspired to create my own version.  And I think it comes very close to what I tasted years ago.

Asparagus Soup  (1-2 servings)

You will neeed:
1 bunch of asparagus 
100 mL of filtered water

¼  teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt

2 large garlic cloves, pressed

Instructions:
1)  Cut and discard the hard parts of each stalk.
2)  Boil water and steam the asparagus for 4 minutes (with the lid closed)
3)  Cut up the steamed asparagus to fit into a mini food processor (I use a small KitchenAid)
4)  Place the garlic, the salt, asparagus, and the water into the processor (or Vitamix, NutriBullet, etc)
5)  Whiz until you achieve a smooth consistency.  If you prefer a thicker, chunky soup,  whiz less.

The benefits of asparagus are many.  It's a great anti-inflammatory agent.  It regulates your blood sugar.  It's great for gut health.  It is a prebiotic.  Prebiotics feed your gut flora.  Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium need prebiotics to multiply.  The best benefit of all is that it's delicious.

April to May is peak season for asparagus, so get out there and grab a bunch for the last hurrah! ~e

The Cheese Stands Alone

It came to mind that if it wasn't for the cheese, the farmer in the Dell could never have taken a wife.

See, the mouse takes the cheese, the cat takes the mouse, the dog takes the cat, the kid takes the dog, the nurse takes the kid, the wife takes the nurse, and the farmer takes the wife.  We see the evolution of a dairy farm here.  Yes, Heigh-ho, the dairy-o!, the cheese stands alone.  It is the end and the beginning.

As cheese is the Source, it is my deep interest and pleasure to make sure the curds come from the milk of well-treated cows.  That - and I simply love nibbling on a good piece of fromage.

"How do we really know these cows are happy?"  This was what I did on my spare time in San Diego.  Yes, you take a girl out of New York City and she drives people crazy in all other parts of the country.

I was asking the poor man at Jimbo's if raw dairy products from Happy Cows truly came from happy cows.  "Have you ever gone to the farm to see how happy they are?"

"And what is the gold standard on surveys for bovine happiness?  Do they say Moooo once for content and twice for very happy?"  The employee was good-natured and affirmed the dairy engaged in best practices.

A friend visiting from NY thought I was nuts for shopping at Jimbo's (forget even mentioning raw dairy back then).  The prices were a bit higher than at Vons, Trader Joe's, etc.

"Hey, if you're going to Bimbo's, would you please get me an avocado?" was one of the endless stabs at my favorite market in Del Mar.

The reason why I loved Jimbo's and Happy Cows during my Cali days was that they gave consumers the power of choice.  This is the beauty of California.  It's not so paternal in governing our way of eating.

But thank goodness, Hotel Cali-farmia doesn't hold a monopoly on lovely places and lovely faces.  Welcome to Vermont by way of Bardwell Farm.   And meet Kelly, Bardwell's remarkable cheesemonger.

Lovely and so gracious.  She will stop cutting the cheese, offer a sample to a curious stranger, and smile. This is the holy trinity of good foods:  passion, competence, and care.

So why do we want raw cheese?  The enzymes are intact - for digestion.  There are many people who are short on dairy enzymes, but many of us love cheese.   At this time of the year, we'd like to indulge a bit.  So, for the holidays, consider raw cheeses - consider Bardwell Farm.

What makes good cheese?  Good milk, of course.  Here are some qualities to consider in making good milk:

Certified Organic
No Antibiotics
Heritage
Rbst-free
Range-raised
Hormone-free
Pasture-raised
Family farmed

What makes a good cheese raw?  Raw milk, conscientiously collected - with the qualities listed above - is treated at 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit to create the curds.  These curds are then aged anywhere between 2 to 18 months at 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rupert, the raw Alpine is delicious.  I just can't get over it.  It's perfect for holiday events.  Just cut it up and offer with marcona almonds and dried fruit.  Then watch your guests get happy - just like the cows at Bardwell Farm.

The Post-90: Gluten-Free Bialys

I ran into a friend at the gym.  She was kicking a habit she no longer felt served her. "I'm at Day 56."


"Wait, didn't they say it was 21 days to lose a habit?  Now they've upped it to 56?!"  I'm always the last one to receive the memo.

"Actually, it's been increased to 90 days.  They say it takes 90 days for us to see something differently."

They say.  They say.  I guess one ought to really do than accept what they say sometimes.  So what did I do in terms of giving up things?  I'd given up TV over a year ago.  Or maybe it's been two.  Now,  I don't miss it.  My approach to passive viewing has changed.  I derive much more pleasure from TV because it's occasional, conscious, and more social.  I have to watch it at other people's homes.

And the same thing seems to apply to food.  I believe it's been over 90 days since I had a bialy or a bagel.  My long work commute had ended and there was no routine to go into Grand Central to grab one. 

And living in an area with no deli to roll out of bed to (if you're in the 60's between Mad and Fifth, you know what I mean), getting a morning bagel or bialy takes focus and planning.  I need to channel my morning focus for other things so bagel/bialy fell out of routine.

So how did I find myself approaching the bialy differently after 90 days?  I wanted to make a homemade bialy.  I upped the ante.  I wanted it homemade and gluten-free.

I don't have Celiac's but seeing a friend not be able to eat a baked good because it wasn't gluten-free made me realize this holiday baking would have to include GF items to my sleeve of tricks.  It just seems to be necessary to stay relevant in the kitchen.

An amazing find was Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum.  Plant-derived, it replaces gluten's job of giving a dough its elasticity and rise.  

Loving the onions in the middle of the bialy, I decided to raise the bar again and make it an onion/potato/leek bialy with mango chutney.  Hot out of the oven, I took a bite and I don't think I'll ever be the same again.  It was that good.  It was worth the 90 days of doing without.

The Post-90  Gluten-Free Bialy Recipe

You will need:

6 three-inch diameter tartlet pans  (can be found at Williams - Sonoma)

1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free (wheat free, dairy free) All Purpose Baking Flour 

2 teaspoons of  Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum

1 teaspoon of Aluminum-free baking powder (can be had at Whole Foods)

1 cup of lukewarm water

2 tablespoons of olive oil (and a little more for greasing the tartlet pans)

1/2 an Idaho potato

1/2 cup of chopped leeks (some from the base and some from the top)

1/4 cup of chopped onions

2 cloves of garlic

olive oil - q.s. (quantity sufficient) to sauté the vegetables

Himalayan pink salt - q.s. to make it tasty but not salty

optional - a little mango chutney to dab on your bialy

Instructions:

1)  Chop up the potato, leeks, onions, and garlic.  If you have a mandolin slicer with a wide tooth, it's easier to run the potato through it as if you were making latkes.  I prefer to smash my garlic through a press.  But you can easily get by without these gadgets if you just stick to chopping finely.

2)  Sauté the vegetables with olive oil until the onions become translucent.

3)  Put the flour, the xanthan gum, the baking powder, lukewarm water, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a Vitamix.  Turn the dial slowly to 10 and keep it there until you feel resistance from the blades.  There should be a small, smooth ball if you look into your Vitamix.  If not, set the dial back to zero and swish around the lumpy things with the tamper and turn the dial back up.  The end result of Vitamix effort should look like this:

 

The dough feels a little gummy.  And that's okay.  It's supposed to feel gummy.

4)  Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

5)  Grease the tartlet pans with olive oil.

6)  Using a spatula, fill and spread the gummy paste of dough into the tartlet pans.  If the tartlet pans look like the outer paper mold of a large Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, fill and smooth the dough so that the top of the paste looks as even as the top of the chocolate cup confection.

7)  Add a little bit of the potato / leek mix in the middle of each "tart".

8)  Bake for 25 minutes.

9)  They will rise like popovers but once out of the oven, they will fall again.  Out of the oven and a bit cooled, they are ready to flip out of the pans.  Using a metal spatula or a knife, gently separate the bread from the edges of the tartlet pans.  Turn it upside down and have the bialy gently fall off.

10)  Dab a bit of mango chutney onto the center and you have an incredible bialy.  This is fabulous. 

And what was more fabulous was how easily I digested this bialy.  This is the bialy that'll love you back.

Happy Post-90! ~e

Life is a Tabaré

There are so many undiscovered food places in Brooklyn, I feel like Ferdinand Magellan when I'm in this borough.  The natives are friendly so I just hop on a train and ask one where I should eat.

"Go to Tabaré.  It's a Uruguayan place."

"What should I order?"

"The empanadas."

Really?  I wasn't too keen on this local's advice.  The last time I had an empanada, my stomach felt like there were sandbags inside.  From then on, I dismissed empanadas as gut-bombs.  Every culture seems to have one.

In Korean tradition, one would have super glutinous rice cakes piled high on festive occasions.  One piece of rice cake is probably equivalent to 10 compressed bowls of rice.  Unless your stomach is made of iron, you will suffer.  This is one tradition from my heritage I'm not sure I'd keep.  

In Lebanese culture, there is the fried lamb kibbe.  A friend's aunt who is Lebanese kept insisting I eat her lamb kibbe.  To be polite while trying to catch a flight, I slammed that kibbe and regretted it soon after.  On the plane, I thought about pulling out the oxygen mask.

And then there was my first empanada.  It was at a potluck years ago at work.  A colleague urged me to try it.  The pastry looked thick.  Not wanting to offend, I ate it and almost died.
 
I asked the local, "Can you recommend anything else?"

"No.  Get the empanadas."

Something in his tone was quite compelling.  So I went to Tabaré and ordered what I'd silently used to refer to as the Hot-Pockets of Death.  Empanadas caseras.  Caseras, que sera.  Let's hope for the best.

I took a bite and it was so divine, I was smitten.  I never even thought to take photos of them.    There are no empanada photos to share.  Nada.  So you will have to go there to see these light purses of gold nuggets for yourself.  Order the caramelized onions, gruyere, & fontina cheese empanada if you are somewhat vegetarian.  If you're an omnivore, make sure to have the free-range chicken empanada in the mix. 

Unbelievably light and airy.   I was lost in enjoying these empanadas.   I even want to learn how to make them!  And perhaps this will have me re-examine the whole rice cake / kibbe situation.  Maybe there are better ways to make them...

Anyway, I dipped these empanadas caseras into a chimichurri that blew all chimichurris out of the water.  Actually, all of Tabaré's dipping sauces and herbed oils were sensational.  I told Bruno (co-owner), if they bottled their condiments, I would stock up on the chimichurri.  He said I wasn't the only one who's told him this.

Here was something else that is a must-try.  The hostess brought over a complimentary dessert.  It was flan.  I like flan but the last time I had one was years ago - the one packaged in Goya.

Goya's is good.  But it's Tabaré's twist on the flan that will have you gasp, "Oh boy-a."  This was an incredible dessert.  I usually don't take dessert because I rarely like to end a fabulous meal with something sweet, especially if it's dry like pies, cakes, or cookies.  But I would have cried if I'd missed out on this one.  It was topped with bitter coffee or espresso.  So each bite was moist, just the right sweet, with bitter, and silky.  Heaven.

If I'm not mistaken, Tabaré was named in honor of Tabaré Aguerre.  An agronomist, he is Uruguay's Minister of Stockbreeding, Agriculture, and Fisheries. 

I am pretty sure he is the Tabaré who inspired the place from reading a bit of their philosophy on the menu.  The namesake restaurant supports sustainable fishing practices.  It acknowledges our responsibility in animal stewardship.  The restaurant also believes good food comes from strong relationships with their suppliers.  "We like to know where our food comes from - farmers, ranchers, artisans."

The ambience is just as perfect.  There is a very relaxed, cozy vibe.  Dimly lit with great music (perfect volume) from all parts of South America, it is really a cozy place to go alone or with a date.  I was utterly content to eat my empanadas with a glass of Malbec and listen to the music.

The hostess, Lorena, adds a great deal of personality to the place.  Her stunning beauty is matched with a very charming, gracious, and easygoing manner.  If reincarnation is possible in this world, I'd love to come back as a beautiful Latina from South America. 

Tabaré Co-owner Bruno (left) and Hostess Lorena (right)

Tabaré Restaurant

221 South 1st Street

Brooklyn, NY 11211

ph: 347.335.0187

Red Red Wren

Another lifetime ago I was with Voice-Over Guy.  We met at a UB40 concert in Irving Plaza.  Between "Red Red Wine" and the noisy crowd, all I heard him say was "voice-over" in describing his occupation.  And the rest that flowed out of his mouth was a river of velvety Bordeaux.  

Months into dating him, I realized he was actually a voice-over engineer.  But with his lovely warble, he could have easily been a voice-over actor.

He was a redhead and I was surprised at the chemistry.  Let's call him Red.  Red was the first and so far, the only person who has made me believe that Howard Roark (The Fountainhead) could be a redhead.  Gary Cooper doesn't count.  Even if they did dye his hair, the film was black and white.

Red had a best friend who was also a carrot top.  I'll refer to him as Rusty since his hair was well... more rust in shade.  And Rusty had a partner I'll call Wren.  They had a brownstone in Brooklyn and a newly purchased country home in Connecticut.  That Fall, when the leaves were ablaze in all shades of red, Rusty invited us out to their bucolic haven for the weekend. 

It was just before sunset.  Outside, Red and Rusty were having cocktails and cracking more inside jokes than I cared for.  I left and went back into the house.  The sole entrance being the kitchen, it was easy to catch Wren making dinner.  He was a House Wren. 

So fastidious was his attention to the meal prep, I perched on a wooden stool to look on.  He periodically referred to a tome of a cookbook propped on a counter stand to make his fabulous quinoa.  This was long before gluten-free became a household name.

When he gave me a taste, it was so divine, I knew I had to add it to my grain repertoire.  And it has never failed to delight and provide quick solutions in entertaining.

So today, I share with you this recipe.  It is easy and elegant.  Compatible with anything - fish, poultry, meat, tempeh...  And because quinoa is a complete source of protein, it is just as perfect going solo.  A complete source means it has all 9 essential amino acids.  Essential, because our body cannot produce these building blocks for protein. 

Whether you're a meticulous little house wren or just a rusty old bird in the kitchen, you will love this quinoa.

Wren Quinoa, the Recipe

You will need:

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups of water

1/4 cup of roughly chopped cilantro

1/3 cup of roughly chopped salted pistachios

1/3 cup of roughly chopped dried cranberries

A small drizzle of olive oil

Instructions:

1)  Pour the quinoa and water into a 1¹/₂ quart saucepan.

2)  Bring to a boil.  Then lowering the heat to simmer, place the lid on the saucepan and cook for about 15 minutes - or until all the water is absorbed.  The quinoa should look fluffy with little tails.

3)  Add the chopped pistachios and dried cranberries.

4)  Drizzle just enough olive oil and toss so that there is a glistening effect.  We do not want to drench this beautiful mixture in oil. 

5)  Add the cilantro and toss once more.

Servings: 2

Enjoy! ~e

Zucchini Gets Inspiralized

Passing through the post office, I spied a neighbor of mine.  His face was unusually shiny and radiating youth.

"Paul,  you are positively glowing.  What have you done with yourself?"

He smiled and said he'd been eating raw zucchini "pasta".  He had purchased a spiralizer and made all the raw, vegan "spaghetti" with olive oil and garlic because the commercial ones were just too costly.  And he was quite happy as he found himself losing some weight in the process.

A solution came to mind.  I knew what to do with all that zucchini in my dad's garden.  They always grow so abundantly and it's almost as if one can't eat them fast enough.   

a real beauty

I congratulated him on his new program and made my way to Williams - Sonoma to buy my own.  I mused how this thing that used to be such an odd item made its way to mainstream cookery - or uncookery, shall I call it.  When beauty is at stake, raw cuisine is the prescription.

The Paderno Spiralizer was light and easy to assemble.  Minutes, later, I was cranking out the squash noodles.

And it was quite fun, seeing how long and wavy this angel's hair was flowing through the blade.  I hadn't had this much fun since my Play-Doh Factory days.

Now I needed to dress my "pasta".  Pesto was on my mind.  I went to a 24-hr deli to look for fresh basil.  No basil.  They were out.  How could they be out of basil?  I could have easily dropped the project but being a bit ambitious, I started to look for an alternative.

Arugula made eye contact.  I love greens who are bold and direct.  Arugula will be in my pesto.  Arugula also makes for a good aphrodisiac.  According to a cab driver from Cairo, some Egyptians would sleep with a bunch of Arugula under the pillows.

I pulled out the mini KitchenAid and whipped up a recipe for Arugula Pesto.

You will need:

1 bunch of Arugula (a small handful is fine)
juice from 1 whole lemon
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1/3 cup of pine nuts
1/3 cup of cold-pressed olive oil
1/3 cup of filtered water
1 teaspoon of fermented bean paste (miso)

Now, a word about the miso.  One of my favorites is South River's Sweet White.  It is creamy and not as overpowering as the other brands.  If I were to make a cheese analogy, the Sweet White is the brie of miso.  I want creamy here because the Arugula is sharp already.

Sweet White is made with organic brown rice, organic soybeans, sun-dried sea salt, organic sea vegetables, and koji culture.  There is no gluten ingredient in this product.   It is also unpasteurized so I am keeping in form with the rigors of raw cuisine.  Excellent.  I am delighted when I find myself consistent on occasion.

Now, throw and mix all these ingredients into the mini KitchenAid.

So whiz, whiz, whiz, until you are sure there will be no Arugula piece big enough to get stuck in between your teeth.  If you're looking to get social with this dinner, that smile with greens wedged between your central incisors just might ruin the moment.  Don't ruin the moment.

And don't worry about the garlic.  He'll have some, you'll have some - it's okay.  Garlic is also an aphrodisiac.  Tibetan monks were not allowed to eat them because they made them a little too excited for monastic living.  Gosh, with everyone doing a lifestyle magazine these days, I wouldn't be too surprised if there was one called Monastic Living.

But back to the pesto... The mixture should have this sort of smooth consistency.

Go ahead.  Stick your finger in there (after you pull out the electrical cord) and try a taste.  I don't add salt because there is sea salt in the miso paste.  And the acidity from the lemon juice makes one think it's saltier than it is.  But if you'd like, do add a pinch of Himalayan pink salt to suit your taste.

Not only is this stuff gorgeous, it will, in turn, make you gorgeous.  This is a good way to hydrate the skin (after Summer, your body is badly in need of rehydrating - note the lack of turgor in the bonier parts of your flesh).  The zucchini also has a lot of collagen which aids in rebuilding skin - elasticity, tone, texture.  Hence, my neighbor's glow.

It's full of Vitamins A and C to keep your hair shiny and the hair follicles strong.  Not many know this, but it has a vitamin that is infused in some shampoos -  Pantothenic Acid.  This is extremely important to ward off hair loss.  Known as Vitamin B5, it is also essential for reducing stress.

In community pharmacy, I'd once had a patient walk in and tell me she would never work in the fashion industry again because the stress caused her to lose her hair.  So if you are losing an inexplicable amount of hair and attribute it to stress - this may likely be the truth.  Either find a way to manage the stress - or avoid it altogether - or eat a ton of zucchini.

In addition to Vitamin B5, the zucchini, on the whole, provides a good B-complex profile (B1, B2, B3, B6) to regulate sugar metabolism.  Highly recommended for those with Diabetes Type II.

So make the best of Autumn's harvest and get inspiralized with zucchini spaghetti.  Truly, it's the Pasta Courgette you won't ever regret. ~e

Truffle to the People

The 70's came back with such vengeance, I had all my polyester clothes dry-cleaned.  Kidding, of course.  That decade was not my coming-of-age.  I am a bit too young.  What I know about that time is second-hand:  my cooler, older cousin from Hawaii who showed me how to disco (mahala!), TV shows, movies, and a San Diego friend who has a flair for 70's interior design to this day.

Speaking of Cali - I did some time in La la land.  And when I was homesick, I flew out to northern California.  What I discovered!  If I could choose a place to have grown up - it would be Napa Valley or Sonoma.  That would be home. And as for my friends, I'd see them in San Francisco.  And when I needed to write in solitude, I would have a place in Santa Cruz.  A girl can always dream.

I devoured Luke Barr's Provence, 1970 because I had the privilege of knowing what casual dinner parties could be like in northern Cali.  It is one of the most wonderful things that could be enjoyed in this world. 

Those casual get-togethers opened up a can of wonderful duck confit.  Ideas would be thrown left and right.  And they centered mostly around food.  What is going on with the restaurant scene, who opened up a specialty food store, and which chef was doing something revolutionary.

I never thought about how magical it all was until I finished reading Barr's account of a time and place that would impact the culinary world to this day and beyond.

It's All Alimentary, Part 1: Gluten-Free Socca

For those amber waves of grain, there is a winnowing of sorts.  America, the Beautiful is sifting through its cereals.  Amaranth is good.  Barley, not so much.  Quinoa is in, rye is out.  Wheat fields are being looked upon in a pernicious hue as people take more note of Celiac's and gluten sensitivities. 

Is gluten intolerance actually climbing or are we just getting better at diagnosing and disseminating information? Is hybridized wheat to blame?  One can mull and stew on this phenom endlessly.   Epidemiology is better left to the WHO*  to figure out the WHY's.

But the HOW of cooking gluten-free was a personal quest for a a food editor of Bon Appétit.  Kristine Kidd discovered she had celiac disease and decided to change her lifestyle.

She shook a fistful of bread sticks and swore, "As God is my witness, I'll never eat gluten again!"

No, that part never happened, but as food editors have standards, she did vow to always eat well.  Hence, her new cookbook:  Weeknight Gluten Free.

And who could breathe life to a cookbook better than the chefs at Williams-Sonoma on E. 59th.  Ms. Ivana Giuntoli took the helm in the lesson while Ms. Wendy James took note of additional dietary restrictions the guests had.  This could be a chef's nightmare.  Gluten-free, dairy-free,  sodium-free, sugar-free - all reasons for a chef to walk over to a guest and suggest he/she dine at the Mayo Clinic.  Attitudes have changed.

Of course I was skeptical.  How fabulous will this meal be?  Manager Garrett Williams laid out yet again, an impressive tablescape - unusual red coxcomb flowers and a gray-linen runner so the event was visually inviting.   But how was one to break bread with another sans the bread?  How would conversation begin?  Given the subject matter, wouldn't a question lead to disclosures on personal health issues? 

It turned out that everyone was open on matters of digestion.  There was a remarkable man who shared his journey from diagnosis and beyond.  The gentleman was working full-time in a business environment and committed to never putting a gluten product in his mouth.  When there was nothing to eat, he drank water to stave off hunger.  He has become a more resourceful person through this ordeal.  And 3 years into changing his diet, his clinical outcomes improved dramatically.  Compliance is key.

Well, compliance didn't appear to be a problem when the chefs brought out the gluten-free chili, cookies, and socca.  The soft socca dish with its particular toppings sent me straight to socca heaven.  If I could compare it to anything, it was like a pizza.  It's really an inadequate comparison as it is light years ahead of pizza.  Even a person with no gluten issues would be delighted by this dish.

The texture of soft socca is similar to that of an uttapam (an Indian flatbread) and a pita - without the tough chewiness of a pita.  Uttapam is made of lentil flour; socca is made of garbanzo bean flour.  And a soft socca is elementary in building delicious socca "pizzas".

So as much as I'd like to jump to the dish that made my heart skip, one must learn to make a basic socca.  I know, boring.  But it is no different from having to learn Bach fugues before one can compose like Pachelbel.  


                           Soft Socca
Recipe from Weeknight Gluten Free, by Kristine Kidd



 You will Need:

1 3/4  cups of garbanzo bean flour (use Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Garbanzo and Fava Flour)
Olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons of minced fresh rosemary
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 cups of water

                                                           Instructions:

 1.  In a bowl, combine the water and flour with 1 1/2  tablespoons of oil, the rosemary, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, with a generous amount of pepper.

2.  Whisk until smooth.

3.  Pre-heat the oven to 325〫  F.

4.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and brush with oil.

5.  Lightly brush a medium-sized frying pan with oil and warm over a stove until very hot.

6.  Add a fourth of the batter and swirl to coat the pan.

7.  Cook until air bubbles appear on top and the bottom is brown (2 minutes).

8.  Using a silicone spatula, turn the socca over and cook until spotted brown on the other bottome (1 minute or so).

9.  Slide onto the parchment.  Repeat 3 more times until there are 4 rounds in total.

10.  Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.  Now you have socca to add your toppings.

Summer's harvest has begun.  Stroll to the farmer's market for ideas on building your socca masterpiece. ~e

*  WHO:  World Health Organization