More Foods to Avoid and How to Do It

Only a couple of weeks after I wrote about fish and shellfish I’m no longer eating, I find this compelling op-ed in the New York Times (via CookThink) about why we should add salmon to that list. It seems that only wild Alaskan salmon is not endangered this season, but since it’s selling at record high prices, you may not have to think twice about whether to avoid it. Farmed salmon is not an option; the article tells you why.

Food additives are in the hot seat as well. The best rule of thumb is to stick to eating foods in their least processed state, but if you have to buy processed foods, here is a list of 10 additives to avoid from The Consumerist.

And if you’re trying to cut down on eating meat, Mark Bittman provides some good tips in his Minimalist column.

Speaking of Mark, here is a nice article from his Bitten blog on how to find simplicity through reduction. Good advice as we’re constantly reducing the number of foods that are safe and sustainable to eat.

Caprese Salad

Melon Caprese Salad, originally uploaded by shannon_turlington.

A classic insalata caprese hardly needs a recipe. Just layer tomato slices, fresh mozzarella slices and basil leaves, and drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. For me, this simple Italian salad is one of the best ways to enjoy the goodness of summer.

But what about when the tomatoes aren’t yet ripe or you’re avoiding them because of salmonella fears? Why not try the caprese salad with other fruits? (Yes, tomatoes are fruit.)

Here, I mixed fresh mozzarella balls with cubes of juicy cantaloupe and drizzled it with a basil vinaigrette. I think avocado or mango would also make terrific substitutions. Who says you have to wait until the end of summer to enjoy a caprese salad?

Caprese Salad

Time to make: ~5 minutes
Yields: 4 servings

For the dressing, combine in a blender or food processor:

• 2 tbsp. champagne or white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 small handfuls basil leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

On each plate, layer:

• 4 slices fresh mozzarella or mozzarella balls
• 4 slices cantaloupe or other fresh fruit

Drizzle over the dressing.

Hummus: Simple and Easy

Image via Wikipedia

Hummus and other Middle Eastern/Mediterranean foods have become very popular lately, and with good reason. They are not only delicious, but usually chock full of things that are good for you, while low in fat. But I have to say that grocery stores and Mediterranean delis have a good scam going selling prepared hummus. If you have a food processor, it is dead easy to make it yourself, just the way you like it. And the cost of a can of chickpeas is much lower than the cost of a small tub of prepared hummus.

I love to keep hummus around for a quick lunch or snack. I’ll eat it on pita, regular bread, crostini or in a wrap with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber. It’s a great picnic food or a nice addition to a party spread. Hummus keeps for about a week in the refrigerator.

I don’t have a set recipe for making hummus. Each time I make it just a bit differently, experimenting with the amounts, spices and herbs. The following recipe provides suggested amounts, but taste and adjust as you go to your own preferences.

Quick tip: A recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated had an article on hummus. In it, they suggested processing the chickpeas and spices first, then adding the liquids separately through the feed tube. I tried this, and it resulted in a lighter, smoother hummus. While this step is not necessary, and you may want to omit it if you like your hummus chunkier, I include it below because it did improve the texture for me.

Hummus

Process together:

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• ½-1 tsp. cumin, or to taste
• pinch cayenne
• salt
• 1 tbsp. parsley

While the food processor is running, pour in:

• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. tahini blended with 2 tbsp. olive oil

If the hummus isn’t the desired consistency, add a few tablespoons water. Garnish with minced parsley, toasted sesame seeds and maybe a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes: Adjust amounts freely to your tastes. Some people like a good deal more tahini than I do, for instance. I have substituted other spices for the cumin with good results, such as smoked paprika. You may also want to add more garlic or parsley, use paprika instead of cayenne, or even throw in some roasted red peppers. There are no rules — or at least there shouldn’t be.

Classic Macaroni and Cheese

IMG_8846.JPG, originally uploaded by tantek. Full disclosure: This photo is not of my mac and cheese. But it’s a better photo than the one I took.

One thing I hate is other people telling me what or what not to eat. The American culture seems obsessed with what you should or shouldn’t eat to be the healthiest, slimmest, longest lived, but this constant obsessing over what we put in our mouths robs eating of all enjoyment, in my opinion. My philosophy about food is simple: Eat what you like, just not to excess.

The truth is, if I have to choose between being a few pounds heavier and never eating cheese (for example) again, I’ll take the extra pounds. Yes, Americans by and large are excessively overweight and eat a lot of junk. That’s not the sign of a healthy relationship with food. But neither is obsessing over every bite, so that having a meal feels more like work than pleasure. Eating in a sensual experience. When we do allow ourselves a “bad” food, then we should savor the experience.

Enter macaroni and cheese, the quintessential comfort food. A plate of macaroni and cheese isn’t going to make you any thinner. But every once in a while, it’s just what you need. When you make it from scratch, with a smooth, creamy sauce and a crunchy topping, you’ll appreciate it more. So the next time someone’s lecturing you about how much fat and calories are in a forkful of mac ‘n’ cheese, just close your eyes, tune them out and savor each bite.

This recipe is for classic baked macaroni and cheese. It starts with a standard bechamel sauce combined with a healthy amount of cheese. I suggest using cheddar and Monterey Jack, but many other cheeses will work, as long as they melt well. The recipe can be made ahead, refrigerated or frozen, and then baked just before serving. While this recipe is for plain mac and cheese, feel free to throw in a few vegetables, if you want to make it “healthier” (suggestions follow the recipe).

Macaroni and Cheese

Time to make: ~45 minutes
Yields: 4-6 servings

What you need:

• 3 tbsp. butter
• ½ onion, diced
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. dry mustard or 1 tbsp. Dijon
• pinch cayenne or 1 tsp. hot sauce
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2½ cups milk
• 1 thyme sprig
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup Monterey Jack, shredded
• 1 cup cheddar, shredded
• ½ lb. macaroni or similar pasta, cooked
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup Paremsan, grated
• Italian herb mix

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high.
3. Add the onion and saute until it turns translucent, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the flour and whisk until it deepens in color, 1 minute.
5. Stir in the mustard, cayenne or hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
6. Gradually pour in the milk, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the herbs, and simmer until the sauce is thickened and the flavors have melded, about 15 minutes.
8. Take the sauce off the heat and remove the herbs.
9. Whisk in the cheeses until melted.
10. Stir in the cooked pasta.
11. Transfer the mixture to an oiled baking dish.
12. Combine the bread crumbs, olive oil, Parmesan and herb mix, and sprinkle over the top.
13. Bake for 15 minutes, untl bubbling and the top is browned.

Notes: If desired, add cooked vegetables with the pasta. I have tried broccoli, canned tomatoes and roasted peppers or chiles — they were all good. For a Southwestern-style mac and cheese, stir in 1 cup salsa with the pasta. For a heartier dish, add some cooked ham or bacon. Or make up your own variations — almost anything goes with mac ‘n’ cheese!

Pan-Braised Carrots with Orange

This simple recipe was my favorite of everything I cooked for Thanksgiving, and it was also a big hit around the table. The recipe came from Fresh Every Day, but it is so easy that it’s more of a cooking technique than an actual recipe. Although I served it for Thanksgiving, it is quick to make and would serve as a side for any wintertime meal.

Although this recipe will work with baby carrots, I think using whole carrots makes for a better presentation. When choosing carrots, select the slenderest ones you can find, with the green tops still attached. People enjoyed picking them up by the tops and eating them like french fries.

Pan-braised Carrots with Orange

Time to make: ~20 minutes
Yields: 6-8 servings

What you need:

• 2 bunches slender carrots with the tops on
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• juice of 1 orange
• fresh rosemary, minced
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Snip off the green tops of the carrots, leaving about 1 inch of green.
2. Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high.
3. Once the butter is melted, add the whole carrots in a single layer and let brown, turning once or twice, for about 8 minutes.
4. Add the rosemary, salt, pepper and orange juice plus about ½ cup of water.
5. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the carrots are tender, about 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary.
6. Uncover and raise the heat to let any remaining liquid bubble away.

Notes: You could substitute or add other vegetables for the carrots, such as parsnips or turnips.

Garden Destruction and Pesto Making

It hurt, but we tore out the garden this weekend. It has been a strange growing season. Up until Tuesday of this week, we were still experiencing temperatures in the 90s and humidity that felt more like July. Despite being in “exceptional” drought for the last two months, the tomatoes must have thought we were having a second summer, because they all put out new flowers, and we even had tiny green tomatoes on some plants, too small to save.

Then, the temperature plummeted overnight 20 degrees to more fall-like weather, and nighttime lows fell into the 30s. We knew the baby tomatoes wouldn’t survive, but it was still painful to pull up all those plants in flower and toss them into the compost pile.

Still, I did manage to harvest quite a lot of basil from my three plants, despite letting them all go to flower for the past six weeks since it was so brutally hot that nothing would get me working outside. I made two batches of pesto: one regular-style for freezing, and one batch of arugula-basil pesto with ricotta and walnuts for eating this week (see recipe below).

Reading through my Cook’s Illustrated Italian Classics‘ section on pestos, I discovered two new tips for making pesto. The first recommendation was that before processing the pesto, put the basil or other herbs in a plastic bag and pound them with a rolling pin. This has the effect of bruising the leaves, producing a more authentic taste, a la Italian ladies pounding pesto with their mortar and pestles.

I decided not to adopt this technique, though, mainly because it seemed like too much trouble, and I wasn’t sure the gain in flavor would be worth it. If anyone else has tried it, I’d love to know what your results were. I just settled for treating the basil extra roughly when I pulled it off the stems and washed it.

The second recommendation was to toast the garlic cloves whole and unpeeled until spotty brown before processing with the rest of the ingredients. This, on the other hand, seemed like a great idea, and it was easy enough to toast the garlic in the same pan as I toasted the nuts. Since toasted garlic isn’t as strong as raw, I was able to use more, always a good thing, in my book.

Arugula-Basil Pesto with Ricotta and Walnuts

Process together until smooth in a food processor:

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1 cup arugula leaves
• ¼ cup walnuts, toasted
• 3 whole garlic cloves, toasted until spotty brown and peeled
• 1/3 cup ricotta
• ¼ cup Parmesan
• 7 tbsp. olive oil
• salt to taste

Toss with hot, cooked pasta and serve.

Notes: Adapted from a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated’s Italian Classics. Pesto can be stored under a film of olive oil or with plastic wrap pressed against the surface in the refrigerator up to 3 days.

A Big Batch o’ Gazpacho

There’s no denying it. Despite the hotter-than-Hades August that seemed like it would never end, fall has arrived. The cool, crisp days with no humidity almost make you forget that we’re still in the midst of a record drought. Who needs rain when you have glorious blue sky and it’s 72 degrees out?

So why am I posting a quintessential summer recipe just when fall is upon us? Well, I spent all summer eating gazpacho, and I finally nailed down the recipe to my satisfaction, so I wanted to share it. If you’re lucky and happen to have one last harvest of tomatoes — as I’m still hoping for — gazpacho is a great way to use them up.

Gazpacho is the national soup of Spain, but as it’s gotten more popular, the name has been applied to almost any cold soup. For my tastes, gazpacho requires three things to properly be called “gazpacho.” First, it should be made with vinegar, preferably a good sherry vinegar; the taste impact is worth the extra cost. Second, it should have a base of tomatoes and cucumbers; other vegetables can be added, but these should not be omitted. Finally, it should be thickened with French-style bread. I used to make gazpacho without the bread, but the result was more like a chunky V-8. Adding the bread gives it a wonderfully thick, smooth texture that transforms it into soup.

Aside from those rules, gazpacho is a versatile recipe that can accommodate whatever you have in the crisper. Enjoy.

Gazpacho

Time to make: 15 minutes + chilling time
Yields: 2 servings

1. Combine in a food processor or blender:
   • 2-3 tomatoes, diced, some reserved for garnish
   • 1 cucumber, peeled and diced, some reserved for garnish
   • 1 red bell pepper, diced, some reserved for garnish (optional)
   • 1 shallot or ¼ red onion, minced (optional)
   • 1 mild chile, minced (optional)
   • salt and pepper to taste
   • 1-2 slices French-style bread (day-old is okay), crust removed, torn into chunks
   • 2 tbsp. sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
   • 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
   • 1 cup water or tomato juice
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Chill about 1 hour.
4. Before serving, garnish with the reserved vegetables and other garnishes as desired (croutons, scallions, hard-boiled eggs and avocado all make good garnishes).
5. Drizzle with a little more olive oil to serve.

Really Great Guacamole

Guacamole is one of my favorite foods in the world. I could easily eat a whole bowl by myself, and if I see it on the menu of a Mexican restaurant, I have to have it — which is why I tend to avoid Mexican restaurants.

Yes, guacamole is high in fat and calories, because avocados are high in fat and calories, and guacamole is mainly an excuse for showing off the tastiness of avocados. But avocados have the good kind of fat, so it’s okay to indulge every now and then. I think guacamole should be pure, not muddied up with mayonnaise or sour cream or a lot of additions, as some recipes will have you do. Really ripe avocados* are tasty enough by themselves, so why throw any unnecessary ingredients into the mix?

*How do you know if an avocado is really ripe? Squeeze it — it should have some give, but you shouldn’t be able to smoosh it. If it’s not ripe yet, let it sit out on the counter for a couple of days and it will ripen on its own.

Guacamole

1. Remove the flesh from 1 avocado and chop, reserving the pit (how to chop an avocado).
2. Mix in:

   • 1 tbsp. red onion, diced
   • ¼ tsp. garlic, minced
   • 1 tbsp. lime juice
   • 1 tsp. fresh chile, cayenne or hot sauce
   • pinch salt
3. Mash with a fork.
4. Taste and adjust salt, hot sauce, lime juice or garlic to suit.

Notes: All amounts are approximate — guacamole is a matter of taste, not measurements. A drizzle of olive oil may be necessary. A small amount of chopped tomato, cilantro or crumbled queso fresco is appropriate, but not at all required.

Let the mixture sit a few minutes so the flavors can mingle, but serve within one hour for best results. (If you must let it sit longer, bury the avocado pit in the guacamole and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic against the surface of the guacamole; this will prevent the avocado from turning brown.)

This recipe serves 2-4 people, depending on how much they love guacamole, but it can be easily doubled, tripled or quadrupled for more guests.

Tomato & Bread Salad

Tomato and Bread Salad is a resourceful way to turn day-old bread and an abundance of summer tomatoes into something delicious. This is actually one of my favorite salads, one I could eat every day for lunch during the height of tomato season.

Although bread salad, called panzanella in Italy, is most often associated with Italian cooking, it is actually a pan-Mediterranean salad. The Lebanese version, called fattoush, uses stale pita and has a few more vegetables. In Greece it is called dakos, and features feta and cucumbers in addition to the tomatoes and stale bread. In truth, this salad is very versatile, which is why it is often referred to as “leftover salad.” But I prefer the spare Tuscan version, which reduces the salad to just the essentials.

Tomato and Bread Salad

Time to make: ~15 minutes
Yields: 2-4 servings

1. Chop 2 tomatoes and sprinkle with salt.
2. Cube 3 cups of day-old Italian or peasant-style bread.
3. Combine the tomatoes and bread, and let the juices soak the bread.
4. Thinly slice ¼ red onion and scatter into the salad.
5. Combine 3 tbsp. olive oil and 1½ tbsp. red wine vinegar, and toss into the salad.
6. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil and oregano.

Note: If the bread is not stale enough, brown the cubes in a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes or so. It needs to have enough crunch to absorb the tomato juices without becoming too soggy.

Mediterranean-Style Roasted Vegetable Salad

Are you overrun in garden goodness? Then try this salad. It was a big hit at our house and is chock full of delicious veggies. While I made it with eggplant and squash, I think it might also take well to additions or substitutions of tomatoes and sweet peppers. A little bit of roasted chile is absolutely essential, though — the mild bite makes this salad special.

Mediterranean-Style Roasted Vegetable Salad

Time to make: ~30 minutes
Yields: 4-6 servings

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut 1 eggplant and 2 summer squash/zucchini into fairly large chunks.
3. Add 1 onion, sliced, and 1-2 mild chiles such as Anaheim, diced.
4. Toss all the vegetables in a roasting pan with 2 tbsp. olive oil, coarse salt and pepper.
5. Roast until browned at the edges, about 25 minutes.
6. Whisk together 2 tsp. garlic paste or 2 pressed garlic cloves, 2 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tbsp. lemon juice and 1 tsp. cumin.
7. Toss with the vegetables and add more salt and pepper to taste.
8. Sprinkle over with shredded basil.
9. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Notes: All amounts are approximate and based on memory. Taste and adjust as you go.