Serge the Concierge

Papaya Salad, Sunny Days Are Here Recipe from Meat Free Monday Cookbook

Earth Day is almost here (April 22, 2012). It has nothing to do with salad going tropical.

Today's recipe, excerpted from The Meat Free Monday Cookbook (Kyle Books, Spring 2012) is perfect for Summer like Spring we've experienced this week.

Papaya Salad

SERVES 2 

Papayas, or pawpaws as they are known in some parts of the world, are sweet, perfumed tropical

fruits with deliciously soft flesh. This is an ideal dish for communal eating on a hot summer

evening, with everyone tucking in using lettuce leaves as scoops.

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3–4 small fresh red or green chiles, chopped

2 yard-long beans or 20 French beans,

chopped into 2-inch lengths

11/2 cups fresh papaya, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped

1 tomato, cut into wedges

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice

TO SERVE

Boston lettuce leaves

Pound the garlic in a large mortar, then add the chiles and pound again. Add the beans, breaking them up slightly, then tip into a bowl. Add the papaya to the bowl and lightly mash together, then stir in the tomato and lightly mash again.

Add the sugar and lime juice, stirring well, then transfer to a serving dish. Serve with lettuce leaves, which can be used as a scoop for the mixture.

(* Recipe from The Meat Free Monday Cookbook edited by Annie Rigg, photography by Tara Fisher, Kyle Books- March 2012, reproduced by permission of the publisher)

Persian Cucumbers, Haricots Verts, Feta, 3 Reasons to Love Green Goddess Salad Recipe

With temperature in high 80's on Tax Day 2012, salad for lunch (or dinner) seems a good fit.

Persian Cucumbers, Haricots Verts, Feta are 3 reasons to love today's recipe from Salad for Dinner 'Complete Meals for All Seasons by Jeanne Kelley (Rizzoli USA, April 2012).

You get bonus points for making it a Meatless Monday.

Green Goddess Salad

-------------------------------------------------------| 4 servings

I am lucky that the closest restaurant to my home is a wonderful little place that is famous for its sea-salt caramels. Aside from her fabulous sweets, Christine at the Little Flower Candy Company makes delicious sandwiches and salads. The Goddess Salad is one of her most popular. While the Goddess Salad at Little Flower is dressed with a lemon-thyme vinaigrette, I just couldn’t resist merging Christine’s Goddess with a tangy green goddess dressing and juicy green zebra tomatoes.

8 ounces haricots verts (thin French green beans), trimmed

12 cups mixed greens

2 Persian cucumbers, sliced

2 tomatoes, preferably green zebra or yellow tomatoes, sliced into thin wedges

4 hardboiled eggs (page 97)

4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

COOK THE HARICOTS verts in a saucepan of rapidly boiling salted water until they are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer them to a bowl of ice water to cool rapidly. Drain the beans well and pat dry with a clean dish towel. (Haricots verts can be prepared up to 2 days ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

Divide the greens among 4 large individual salad bowls. Arrange the haricots verts, cucumbers, and tomatoes in sections atop the greens. Using a cheese grater, grate 1 hardboiled egg onto each salad. Sprinkle the salads with the feta cheese and serve with the Green Goddess Dressing.

Green Goddess Dressing

----------------------------------------------------------| Makes about 1 cup

There was a time before my mom started making salad dressings from scratch when I was allowed to choose any kind of bottled dressing I wanted at the supermarket. I always picked green goddess. As I was a little girl, I think the whole goddess thing was a big part of the appeal, but even by the age of six I had acquired quite a taste for chives (chive cottage cheese being the only form of curds that I would eat). I don’t buy the bottled version anymore, but a taste of the homemade reminds me why this delicious dressing, created at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel in the ’20s, has never really gone out of style. Anchovies are in it, but if you plan on serving this to vegetarians, capers make a worthy stand-in.

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup snipped chives

1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2 teaspoons chopped anchovy (about 2 fillets)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

COMBINE ALL OF the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Season the dressing to taste with salt and pepper. (The dressing can be prepared 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Persian Cucumbers

You might notice that in many of the recipes calling for cucumber, I specify a Persian cucumber. If you are not familiar with Persian cukes, go and meet one right away. Persian cucumbers are smaller than the standard slicing variety; generally, they are about six inches long and an inch in diameter. These delicate cukes have thin, edible skin and are nearly seedless. Peeling or seeding is not required. The Persian cucumber has the sweetest flavor of any cucumber I have tasted and the coolest crunch. It used to be that I could only find Persian cucumbers at my local farmers’ market or at the Middle Eastern produce store. Now my neighborhood supermarket carries them almost year-round.

(* Recipe reproduced with permission from 'Salad for Dinner' Complete Meals for All Seasons by Jeanne Kelley- published by Rizzoli USA, April 2012- Photos by Ryan Robert Miller, all rights reserved)

Beacon Food Forest in Seattle will Show What Growing Food looks like

Turning hills currently only covered with grass into a food forest is serious work compared to front lawns turned into edible gardens.

Urbanites who don't really know how things grow will be able to see it up close and personal in Seattle once Beacon Food Forest becomes a reality.

Robert Mellinger lays out details on the project in Nation's largest public Food Forest takes root on Beacon Hill (Crosscut, February 16, 2012).

Harrison Design, the landscape architecture firm who helped turn ideas offered by the community into a working plan describes itself as focused "on bringing nature into people's daily lives to promote physical and mental well being. We work to make spaces that are healthy for the body, comforting to the spirit, and beautiful to the eye."

On Beacon Hill for Green Day # 214

Previously: Search Your Slow European Travel Options with Loco2, a Search Engine for Rail Trips

(* Beacon Food Forest layout image by Harrison Design)

Amaranth Sesame Breadsticks Recipe from Dairy Free and Gluten Free Kitchen

I am back with second helping of The Dairy Free & Gluten Free Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, Paperback, January 2012) by Denise Jardine . Book offers 150 recipes (from Pancakes to Pizza) for all occasions and seasons.

After spinach, doughy goodies.

Amaranth Sesame Breadsticks

Free of egg, soy, nut
makes 12 breadsticks

1 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup Gluten-Free Flour Mix (page 172)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, plus more for sprinkling
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)
1 package (21/4 teaspoons) quick-rise dry yeast
1 teaspoon olive oil
Kosher salt, for sprinkling (optional)

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside.

To prepare the dough:

Combine the amaranth flour, flour, sesame seeds, sugar, xanthan gum, salt, and onion powder in a large bowl. Mix together with a whisk until blended. In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in warm water and whisk in the olive oil. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture. Using a sturdy wooden spoon, stir until the mixture comes together and forms a ball. Divide the dough into 12 balls. Line a flat work surface with parchment or waxed paper. Using your hands, roll the dough to form 12-inch-long, cigar-shaped rolls.

Transfer the rolls to the prepared pan. Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel and place it in a warm, draft-free location for 20 minutes or until the breadsticks have risen slightly. If desired, sprinkle with kosher salt. Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the breadsticks are dark golden brown and slightly crisp on the bottom. If desired, sprinkle with additional sesame seeds.

(* "Amaranth Sesame Breadsticks recipe from THE DAIRY-FREE & GLUTEN-FREE KITCHEN by Denise Jardine, Paperback published by Ten Speed Press, January 2012, all rights reserved)

In the Belly of the Olive Oil Beast, Extra Virginity Talk with Tom Mueller

Having spent 5 years working on his first book, Extra Virginity (WW Norton, Fall 2011), Tom Mueller shares good sides as well as shady corners of the olive oil world.

After a bit of back and forth, Tom finally found time to answer a few questions I sent his way.

Here's my Extra Virginity talk with Tom Mueller.

Q: Tom, did your piece 'Slippery Business' for New Yorker in 2007 plant seeds for your book 'Extra Virginity'? 

Yes – I knew next to nothing about olive oil before writing that story, though I'd lived in Italy for over a decade.  I started looking into olive oil when I happened to see a video of olive farmers blockading a port in south Italy – Monopoli, to be precise – claiming that fake olive oil was being illegally imported.  This made me want to investigate further.

Q: Was there a moment, a person, something that incensed you, that motivated you to write this book?

Flavio Zaramella, terminally ill w/ cancer and raging at the inequities in the market.  And a hundred or more honest, determined olive farmers and millers, talking about how their customers sometimes called them thieves for charging an honest amount for their oil.

Q: The prologue 'essences' takes us to Mastri Oleari in Milan, can you describe what the organization stands for?

Highest quality olive oil and high ethical standards.

Q: Being around people like Flavio Zamarella at Mastri Oleari or with the De Carlos family where there times when you felt like you knew next to nothingabout olive oil?

Certainly the learning curve was steep at first and I find I never stop learning about olive oil – even 5 years on, every time I speak w/ an expert or visit a mill I learn something new.

Q: If you had to pick 3 of the worst odors/ characters of bad to worse 'olive' oils what would they be?

Rancid (gone off – the most frequent flaw), worm (grubs from the parasitic olive fly inside olives, ground into oil), and musty (mold)

Q: How do farmers/producers who have poured their life, their soul into making 'honest' olive oil survive in a market flooded by cheap knockoffs?

They often don't.  Many are abandoning their groves, and going into bankruptcy.  Those who do make their money elsewhere (eg wine), and take a loss on their oil.  Ridiculuous situation, but omnipresent.

Q: Who are the worst offenders in pushing virgin in name only oils? Is it country specific?

The biggest industrial olive oil companies are all Iberian (Spanish & Portuguese) bottling companies. They often sell oil under Italian labels, but the oil is usually Spanish, Tunisian, etc.

Q: Why is 28.9 temperature important for professional olive oil tasters?

The aromatics in the oil become volatile and therefore enter the taster's nasal passages more easily – it's like warming brandy in a snifter.

Q: Greeks celebrated aesthetic and spiritual aspects of olive oil while Romans concentrated on its commercial possibilities, what is at the root of this difference?

Deep-rooted cultural differences:  Greeks were more oriented philosophical, scientific, hedonistic pursuits, the Romans to business, conquest, orderly human structures. 

Q: If in time of amphoras as oil receptacles one could tell what he was buying, why is it so difficult to sort the bad from the great now?

In large part because the central governments aren't taking the time and going to the expense to police the market.  At times because the big companies have strong political ties at the governmental and EU level.

Q: Are labels, first press, extra virgin, organic, meaningless and how can trust be restored?

Right now they are empty phrases.  Trust can be restored by a minimum of enforcement from above, and a lot of education from below among consumers – that's how the quality revolutions in wine, microbrew beer, coffee, artisanal cheeses, etc,  got started.

Q: How much should we expect to pay for authentic 'extra virgin' olive oil?

Wide range of prices.  Perfectly good, fresh, extra virgin  olive oil should be available at current supermarket prices (Corto Olive and COR now produce it in the states, adn Kirkland at Costco is real extra virgin).  The really grand cru estate oils, esp those made in high-price places like Tuscany, can (inc labor, shipping etc) cost $30/lit.  Much more than this however is markup by the retailer.

Q: Last, name 3 'honest' olive oils at various price points that one should try in the U.S?

See above.

Thanks Tom for your time

Egg, Soy, Nut and Sugar Free, Spinach, Pear and Beet Salad with Sherry Dressing

Whether for health reasons or making a choice to eat in a more balanced way, The Dairy Free & Gluten Free Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, Paperback, January 2012) by Denise Jardine offers 150 recipes (from Pancakes to Pizza) for all occasions and seasons.

For lunch or dinner a salad is always welcome. In the winter say it with pears

Spinach, pear, and beet salad with sherry dressing

Free of egg soy nut sugar

serves 4 to 6

Salad
3 medium golden or red beets, trimmed
6 cups stemmed baby spinach leaves, lightly packed (about 1 bunch)
3 ripe Bartlett or Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1/3 cup dried cranberries
 

Dressing
1 cup peeled, cored, and diced ripe Bartlett or Bosc pear (1 or 2 pears)
1/3 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 small shallot, chopped
1 teaspoon gluten-free Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Date Syrup (page 189) or honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 

 

To prepare the beets: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Wrap the beets individually in aluminum foil, enclosing them completely. Roast the beets in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork. Allow the beets to cool completely, about 2 hours or overnight. Using a sharp paring knife, peel the beets and slice them 1/2 inch thick.

Meanwhile, prepare the dressing.

To prepare the dressing: Combine the diced pear, sherry, olive oil, lemon juice, shallot, mustard, date syrup, salt, and pepper in a blender and puree until smooth. Taste and correct the seasonings.

To assemble the salad: Place the spinach in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the greens and toss to coat. Divide the greens equally among 4 to 6 plates. Arrange the pear slices and beets atop the greens, and scatter the cranberries over them.

Serve immediately.

(* "Spinach, Pear, and Beet Salad with Sherry Dressing” recipe from THE DAIRY-FREE & GLUTEN-FREE KITCHEN by Denise Jardine, Paperback published by Ten Speed Press, January 2012, all rights reserved

Wild Mushroom, Parmesan, and Arugula Bruschetta Recipe by Clodagh McKenna

After a holiday week-end of eating and imbibing excess, a healthy salad along with a simple bruschetta like the one below from Homemade (Kyle Books, 2011) by Clodagh McKenna will do the trick and double as Meatless Monday correct.

Wild mushroom, parmesan, and arugula bruschetta

There are lots of different toppings for a bruschetta, including the traditional tomato and basil or roasted asparagus and feta cheese.

Serves 4

olive oil
14oz mixed wild mushrooms (such as porcini, oyster, chanterelle, and morel)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
8 slices of sourdough bread
2oz Parmesan cheese

Place a skillet over medium heat and drizzle in some olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and squeeze over the lemon juice. Let cook for 3–5 minutes, tossing all the time.

Toast the sourdough bread on both sides and drizzle with a little olive oil.

When the mushrooms are cooked, divide them between the 8 slices of toasted bread.

Place slivers of Parmesan cheese over the mushrooms (I find that my vegetable peeler is the best utensil for this).

(* Recipe from Homemade by Clodagh McKenna- Kyle Books 2011- reprinted by permission of the publisher, all rights reserved. Photo by Alberto Peroli)

Snowshoeing Best Way to Burn Calories Piled Up at Holiday Parties

After piling up the calories at holiday parties, can we shake some of them off?

Acccording to Get Fit for the New Year (December 27, Inside Vancouver), Snowshoeing beats jogging or hiking by making you burn up to 1000 calories per hour.

They offer 3 local options including Discovery Trails on Mount Seymour.

Closer to my New Jersey digs, John P. Kelly in Snowshoeing in New Jersey mentions abandonned rail trails like the Sussex Branch Trail as good options.

John P. Kelly notes that there are 2 types of showshoes, bearpaws ans teardrops. He recommends teardrops for newcomers.

Want to give showshoeing a try, check Tips for New Snowshoers by Snowshoe Vancouver.

A pair of adult snowshoes might cost anywhere from $140 to $300 if results of my quick search were accurate.

All you need is snow.

(* Showshoes photo by Willmcw from snowshoe piece on Wikipedia)

Shy Shy, Go for the Blushing Greyhound Drink, Alcohol, Gluten & Lactose Free

Shy, shy go for the Blushing Greyhound non-alcoholic drink from The Intolerant Gourmet: Glorious Food without Gluten & Lactose by Barbara Kafka (Artisan Books)

Blushing Greyhound

Makes 1 Serving

Enjoy as a beverage or use as a base for a sorbet.

½ cup ice cubes
½ cup fresh grapefruit juice
2 ½ teaspoons grenadine syrup
Wrap the ice cubes in a dishtowel and pound with a heavy saucepan. Place the remaining ingredients in a tall glass with the crushed ice. Stir well. Serve immediately.

Variation

Blushing Greyhound Sorbet
Makes 1 Quart
To make a sorbet, combine 2 cups grapefruit juice, 3 ½ tablespoons grenadine, and 1 cup Simple Syrup and freeze the mixture overnight. Make sure to scrape it periodically with a fork to prevent it from becoming one solid block. Otherwise, pour the mixture into ice cube trays, freeze overnight, and then process in a food processor. Alternatively, use a sorbet maker.

Simple Syrup

Makes 3 cups

Simple Syrup is often used to sweeten cold drinks—alcoholic and non—as the sugar is already dissolved. It is also used to make sorbet. It sweetens the dish but also keeps it from degenerating into large crystals.
The simple syrup given here is a one-to-one syrup, meaning one part water to one part sugar. Sometimes a heavier syrup made with two parts sugar to one part water is desire, or, conversely, a lighter one made with one part sugar to two parts water. Boiling the syrup not only dissolves the sugar but also stabilizes the mixture.
2 cups sugar
Combine the sugar with 2 cups water in a small saucepan. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

(*Excerpted from The Intolerant Gourmet: Glorious Food without Gluten & Lactose by Barbara Kafka (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2011. Photographs by Johnny Miller.

Empire of the Senses, Spices, A Little History, Spices by Fabienne Gambrelle

Add cloves, galangal, coriander, sumac, cinnamon and any number of spices to a dish and it will give it another dimension (if the match is right).

I received a copy of Spices (Flammarion, September 2011) by Fabienne Gambrelle at the end of the summer. Under the cover you actually find 2 separate books, one dedicated to The History of Spices, the other to The Flavor of Spices.

Why did it take so long for me to share this wonderful introduction to the empire of the senses and spices? I needed to soak in its content, especially, the first part (history) which I will try to do justice today.

Fabienne Gambelle begins her introduction to The History of Spices with a trip back to 18th century:

"June 10, 1760: a gigantic fire lit up the Amsterdam skies. Four million florins' worth of spices went up in smoke, estimated Valmont de Bomare, a French naturalist who witnessed the blaze. Spectators waded through scented clouds, eyes streaming from the nutmeg and cloves that were burning up on the bonfire. Anyone who dared to snatch a few spices from the pyre, guarded by soldiers, would be put to death."

First chapter 'At the origins of a dream' opens in fantasy land:

"Whether bought from the King of Perfumes, the bearded snake who reigned over the Land of the Pount, or gathered in spice-rich Arabia from phoenix's nest made of frankincense, cinnamon or myrrh, or even harvested by the wind and transported to men over the rivers of the Garden of Delights, spices most assuredly come to us from a place that was imagined by the peoples of ancient times and the Middle Ages as quite fabulous"

Back in fact land, the author notes that "the first perfume ever written about is frankincense, also considered a spice. Frankincense was burned to diffuse the odor of gods in temples, and later to suggest divine presence in churches."

As for cures, "Arab medicine considered the malady of love an illness in itself, to be cured with spices that would extinguish or awaken desire, depending on the prescription of the doctor or magician".

Its cleansing power was another attribute "to avoid contagion and disinfect the chambers of the sick...The Chinese freshened their breath by chewing on cloves. The Egyptians were partial to the perfume of cardamon water, and the Romans were fond of cinnamon and saffron oils and balms. At Nero's banquets, spices were not only found in the guests' plates: they were also vaporized into the air using a sophisticated system hidden in the ceiling of the Golden House."

As for pepper, we learn that "the first author to describe pepper was Theophrastus, a disciple of Plato and then Aristotle, in the third century B.C.E. He knew it was a fruit, but had no idea where it came from" and "Pepper signaled luxury and refinement and was widely used in the sophisticated Roman cuisine advocated by Apicius, the first century Roman gastronome."

I never used 'asefatida' which the author says is also known as 'devil's dung' and on the sensory side "when added to food, it brings an enticing garlicky aroma."

Another chapter is dedicated to The Spice Wars from 16th to 18th centuries. Fabienne Gambrelle writes that after Europeans took over commercial routes from Arabs they fought wars with local tribes and kingdoms to take over plantations of spices they loved. They then fought amongst themselves for control (monopoly) for routes between the Malaccas (the Spice Islands) and Europe.

Huge profits were at stake as she states that "the value of a cargo-load of cloves could be multiplied by eight hundred."

Fortunes changed when "Spain invaded Portugal in 1580-81, the smaller kingdom lost its overseas posts to Most Catholic Spain, which soon ran into conflict with the ambitions of England and the Netherlands, both Protestant."

Then 'early in the seventeenth century, the Dutch took over the Sunda Islands, the Malaccas, the port of Malacca, and then the island of Ceylan."The French wanted a seat at the spice table and were served in that quest by the resilience and audacity of 'the aptly named Pierre Poivre'.

The last pages of The History of Spice document changes under way. While originally certain spices were limited to specific parts of the world, this started to change in late 19th and eraly 20th century. Author offers as an example cardammon in 1920's "introduced into Guatemala to replace coffee. According to United Nations statistics, Guatemalan cardamon production now exceeds that of India."

On this, I will stop my take on first half of Spices. I will hopefully sooner rather than later have time to cover 'The Flavor of Spices' section of the book. If you are looking for food related books as gift ideas besides cookbooks, 'Spices' is a perfect pick, a beautiful object too.

(* All quotes from Spices by Fabienne Gambrelle with Photographs by Sophie Boussahba, published by Flammarion, all rights reserved)