Hot and Sour Soup!

There's this place near my house that bills themselves as serving "New York Style Chinese". My favorite things on the menu were their General Tso's Chicken and their Hot and Sour Soup. Two things are keeping me from eating those things now: 1.) I started reading the health board ratings of local eateries and 2.) I have gone vegetarian, cut way back on carbs, upped the exercise and have lost weight in the triple digits (in FRONT of the decimal point, where it counts the most!). I could do without the General Tso's, but Hot and Sour soup was and is like crack. I tried nearly every recipe I found online and every mix I could get my hands on,but nothing quite came close to the dark, rich delight of takeout H&S Soup. I had pretty much given up on cracking the recipe until this past Wednesday.

A trip to the East Nashville farmer's Market netted me a bag of goodies from various vendors. Everything was great, but one particular score made me decide to make one more run at making Hot and Sour Soup. Delvin Farms had these gorgeous peppers and shittake mushrooms.



I was pretty shocked that people weren't pouncing on the shrooms. They were gorgeous, airy and smelled great. The only thing I can figure out is that the 12.00 per pound price tag was scaring people away. It takes a lot of mushrooms to make a pound. The big double handfull I bought came to a little over four bucks and they'll go a long way. The peppers, sweet, hot and delicious came from the same place.

Since I was supposed to attend a show meeting, I was pressed for time and wanted something good, so I decided to make a quick soup and stumbled upon my ideal Hot and Sour.

Ingredients:

1 cup finely shredded or chopped cabbage - I used napa, but any kind will do
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 Tablespoons chopped sweet pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped jalepeno pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped hot Thai pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cubes "not-beef" boullion - I use Edward & Sons but there are other brands out there that are probably just as good.
1/2 teaspoon of dried cilantro (you can substitute 1/4 teaspoon of coriander)
1/2 cup sliced white button mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced shittake mushrooms - The stems can be a little tough, but that's where the strongest flavor is. Either very thinly slice the stems or chop them. Stop just before the bulb at the end for best results. If they're very big, the bulb will be too hard to eat.
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon corn starch
soy sauce and black pepper to taste


Instructions:

In a sauce pan, saute the cabbage, peppers, onion and mushrooms in the olive oil until the onions are soft but not quite clear. Add four cups of water, the cilantro and the boullion to the veggies and allow to simmer over medium heat until the veggies are fairly soft and the broth is infused with the flavors of all the ingredients (about 20 minutes). Take up a couple of Tablespoons of the broth and whisk it with the cornstarch and then pour it back into the pan to slightly thicken the soup. allow to sit over low heat for another 20 to 30 minutes.

To Serve:

Like many soups, the longer this one sits, the better it tastes. One thing I've noticed is that the heat from the peppers is pretty intense within the first hour, but tends to mellow pretty quickly. Some people top it with fried or baked won ton strips, but I prefer a tiny bit of dried cilantro and diced green onion.

Take care until next time and keep eating green, earth-friendly and as local as possible!

Hairy Greens!

The CSA has started and I'm loving what we're getting. I know it will change in a couple of weeks but right now the bulk of the box is filled with various kinds of greens: lettuce, bok choy, chard, spinach and one of my favorites, fennel.

I've read plenty of essays by people who claim that they love the CSAs but that there are always a few things that end up sitting in their refrigerators until they go bad. That's a pity, because North Americans, particularly Americans and Canadians, have access to more food than nearly everyone else in the world and yet we tend to eat within the same small group of foods. This is especially true when it comes to root veggies and the leafy stuff. This a shame, because two of the main ingredients I'm using today are a good source of vitamin C, fiber, manganese, folate, and niacin (vitamin B3).

So, without further ado, today's recipe:

Hairy Greens

ingredients

• approximately three cups of chopped fennel greens, this can include some of the stalks and bulb
• 1/2 to 1 cup carrot greens stripped from their stalk
• two tablespoons sliced garlic
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, cut in medallions
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Be sure to clean your greens thoroughly so that you won't find any surprises such as bugs or grit. This is also a good idea if you're not sure of the provenance of your greens because the grower might have used a pesticide and washing will (hopefully) remove any residue of that.In a nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil and add the ingredients. Stirfry until the onions and garlic are soft but not neccesarily translucent. This makes a great wrap ingredient with feta or a light soybased cheese or a bed for a serving of baked tofu, fish or chicken.

I know some people are put off by the licorice note of fennel. Hey, that's why there's chocolate and vanilla. If fennel just isnt your thing, try carrot greens with the tops of radishes or beets. The thing is, keep experimenting. You'll findthere are some foods you've probably passed up that are good for you, good for your wallet and great for reducing your carbon footprint!

Something To Warm You Up Without Bulking You Up: Egg Float Soup

Going low-carb and keeping a good DM can be a bit of a challenge when the weather calls for food that is hot and filling. More than once I've found myself wishing for a plate of oh, so bad for you but oh, so yummy Chinese food. While I haven't found a magical carb-free recipe for General Tso's Chicken, I have managed to slim down an American Chinese fast food favorite.


The egg flower soup I used to get from the "New York Chinese" place was rich, deep gold in color and had small, frilled shreds of egg that hung in the broth the way clouds hang in the sky in midsummer. This broth is lighter, but has a lot of flavor and is satisfying with a small bit of protein on the side or a greed salad with citrus dressing.


Ingredients
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 cube chickenless bouillon
1/4 t grated ginger
1 T chopped green onions or dried chives
1/2 T corn starch
2 cups water

In a small saucepan add 1 and 3/4 cup water, bouillon and ginger. Put on medium heat until the bouillon dissolves and the ginger has diffused aroma and flavor into the broth. Turn the heat to low and mix 1/4 cup water and corn starch. Stir into the broth and allow to simmer until the broth has thickened, approximately three to five minutes. Then turn the heat completely off and slowly pour the egg substitute into the broth while moving the tines of a fork through the stream. Serve with the chives or onions sprinkled on top.

Calories: approximately 40
Fat: 0
Carbs: 7


copyright 2009 jas faulkner

Cheese! Glorious Cheese!

Tis the season and sometimes you have to find ways to keep everyone fed and at the same time offer enough delight to the senses to make it worth everyone's while. Below are five cheeses that you might want to consider before you reach for that cheddar ball.

Mizithra (The Kryssos Company)- This is a pasteurized sheep's milk cheese from Greece. The first taste to hit your palate is cream and salt mixed with a strong herbal/anise note. The finish is strong and acidic but dissipates quickly. I have to admit that it wasn't like at first taste, but there is something about it that is compelling enough give it another go (or five). Alice, who adores lamb, says it has a strong muttony taste and smell and Jefferey said it tasted a little too much like some of the Tibetan food he's tried. I'll take their word for it (but I still want to go to Tibet someday.)

Kasseri (provenance unknown, it was cut and packaged at Simonton's Cheese in Crossville, TN) - Like the Mizithra, this is a sheep's milk cheese, presumably from Greece. This cheese is a little smoother, much milder and more buttery in taste. It's slightly pungent but it doesn't beat you over the head with it's lambiness like the mith. I loved it coupled with a slice of pear and with vegetarian pepperoni (Yves). Kasseri is definitely on my list the next time I head to the mountains.


Farmer Cheese (Troyer) - Troyer's Farmer Cheese is a good, serviceable white cheese made from cow's milk. The taste is like a very very very mild cheddar. Lower in fat and carbs than most white softs and semi-softs, it's good with fruit and flatbread.

And now, two that are so good they may spoil you for any other cheeses:


The Drunken Goat (Montesinos) - This delicate Spanish cheese has a smooth, creamy mouthfeel with just enough of a bite from the wine and the goat's milk to add a sunny, citrus note to anything it's paired with. A bit on the spendy side, but if you're looking for something special that looks pretty (the cheese is a soft white and the rind is purple) and is delightful to taste, you can't go wrong with Queso de Murcia al Vino.

Chevre (Bonnie Blue Farm) - My friend, Stewart, will sometimes refer to something he's eaten as, "so good it'll make you want to slap your Mama." While I don't think I've experienced anything THAT good, this soft ripened goat's milk cheese comes pretty close. Creamy, buttery and with a satiny melt in your mouth finish, this cheese is great on crispbreads, fruit, the cheese spreader and anything else you can think of to put it on. I've given it to two people who claim to hate chevre (and who will remain nameless, ahem!) and they both loved it and swore it wasn't goat cheese.


copyright 2008 jas faulkner

Just Like Candy

Sometimes I really wonder about people. They'll pass up the best thing for something familiar and it amazes me every time they do it.

Monday, my mother and I made our first run to Kentucky for the start of freezing and canning week. One of the market had pints of grape tomatoes. I was used to seeing thumb to ping pong ball sized red or yellow tomatoes, but these were tiny, some of them not much bigger than peanuts. Most of them were a rich red color. What made two of the pints stand out was the fact that there were tiny purples and pinks along with the reds and yellows.



We bought one of the multi-colored pints and took them to the car. On the way back to Nashville, we tried a couple. They were very sweet and had thin, soft skins. We nearly polished off the whole carton before we got home.

Yesterday, I made a second run and to my surprise, even though a few more cartons of the reds were gone, the other multicolored pint was still sitting there.




If you see tomatoes like these at your local market, you'll be missing out on a good thing if you don't pick up at least a pint of them. Aside from the fact that tomatoes are very good for you, the subtle differences in taste from tomato to tomato and the overall yumminess make these a not-to-be-missed treat.


copyright 2008 jas faulkner

Kosher Food Doesn't Suck

There's this weird thread that runs through modern Jewish humor about traditional Jewish cooking. Most of the last century or so, nobody could cook like Mama or Grandma or Bubbeh. Ask any Jewish comedian now, and they'll tell you that the reason the tribe wandered for 40 years was that they were searching for a decent bite to nosh. Some people -and I will not name names- will go so far as to declare that traditional Jewish fare, kosher fare, the breakfast of Red Sea Pedestrians sucks.

Fine. More for me. I like it. Maybe it's because it was never on the menu when I was growing up. Mom was born and raised Methodist and as she loves to tell me at least once a week while surveying the bookcases bursting with food lit in my kitchen, she fed a family of four on ONE COOKBOOK. That book was a sixties vintage "Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook". A cursory look at the table of contents does not show anything resembling matzo ball soup or kasha. My paternal grandmother, bless her heart, is an interesting cook. The fare at her house is a mishmash of Sephardic/Panamanian/Southern Fried goodness. Everything has a name that she has given it and she has no idea where any part of it came from. I don't either, and it's not for lack of trying.

In my late teens, I would go to the "ethnic" aisle of Kroger and pick up boxed mixes of matzo ball soup, kasha and so on. At first I was happy to have the mixes every now and then. Over time, I wanted learn to make them from scratch. There had to be more to my paternal culinary heritage than fried plantain and the fist-sized empanada-like mortars of sweet dough and ground meat Abuela referred to as "brown tings".

So I found cookbooks by ladies with three names and started learning to cook the food of my Father's East European coreligionists. The results have been mixed. I make a wicked good challah and my matzo soup isn't half bad. What I do best are latkes. I even got together a panel of tasters (Livy, Kevin, and Alice) and they gave them thumbs up.


What are latkes? You may know them as potato pancakes. If you do a lot of fast food breakfasts, you might mistake them for the cakes of hash brown potatoes you get at any drive-through. Here's what they aren't: Fast food hashed taters or the crunchy/doughy patties of leftover mashed potatoes that have been dredged in flour and crisped in a skillet of bacon grease. Those things can be good, but as Howard, who has spent a lifetime eating latkes would say, they'll fix you right up. Latkes look substantial, but when done right, they're lacy and light on the tongue and tummy.


Here's my not-too-traditional-but-technically-still-a-latke recipe.

ingredients

1 medium to medium/large potato
1/2 small white or yellow onion
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
bread crumbs, preferably panko or crushed matzo
peanut and/or canola oil

1.) Into a mixing bowl grate the potato until you have approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cups potato.

2.) Finely dice the 1/2 onion.

3.) Combine the onion, egg, salt and red pepper flakes and mix gently with your fingers so that you don't break up the potato shreds too much.

4.) Take approximately a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of the mix and gently press them into 1" thick patties. Press each side one time in a shallow dish of bread crumbs. The idea is not to coat them, but to create some extra crunch and texture.

5.) In a cast iron skillet or anything that works best for you, put enough oil to almost cover the latkes. Remember that as you add cakes to the pan, it will displace the oil and cover more. Heat the oil to 325. (I swear by Lodge Cast Iron, but I'm all about "buying Tennessee".)

6.) Slid the patties from your spatula into the oil. You will only be turning them once. What works best for me is to wait until the edges turn light brown, the oil has bubbled through the patties and they seem to float.

7.) When they are golden brown on both sides, put them on a baking rack to drain and rest. They're still cooking at this point, so a few minutes on the rack is a good thing.

My favorite way to serve them is with a little fresh dill rubbed between my hands over the top and Tofutti sour cream stuff. Kevin swears by corn relish, Livy and Alice like them with grated parm. Somewhere there is probably a person with a soul so dead that they'd eat them with ketchup. That's okay, bubaleh, we love you anyway.

copyright 2008 jas faulkner

It's Easier Than You Think To Be Green (Includes A Marinara Recipe To Die For!)

For the past six months, I've been trying to find ways to do a nutritional makeover that would make things simpler, more economical and healthier. My friends' responses to this have been twofold:

1. Fresh foods and organic foods are too expensive.

2. Preparing stuff at home takes too much time.

That was when I started seeing how the old canard about varying milage could come into play. I can see where people might get that impression, but lets take a closer look at these ideas. First of all, if we're buying less expensive processed foods and imported produce, we're more than likely buying quite a bit of it. How much of it do you and I waste? Yes, I know that feels like a pretty confrontational question. I asked myself that very thing quite often. I still ask myself that question when doing a head check on how I'm living. It's something I had to take a hard look at. For two weeks, I kept track of everything that went into the trash and composter, not to mention how much of the processed stuff is wastefully packaged and intended to be thrown away. It was appalling. I could have probably fed another one to two people with the stuff that never made it to my plate. The thing is, if you had asked me if I was wasteful, I would have probably bragged that I tried to use every bit of every thing. The bottom line? We're paying for what goes into the trash. The bit of food that we never ate because of the way it was packaged or our expectations of consumption that never happened is expensive for you, for your fellow earthlings and the environment. Doesn't it make more sense to buy just what we need of something that is beautiful, locally and often lovingly produced and more often than not sold by a local small business?

Whether or not we're looking at the dollars and sense (Heh! Cough! Cough! Never mind...) of how we manage our kitchens, time is also probably a concern. The short view is that it's probably simpler to zip open a box and pop it into the microwave. Let's look at the big picture. I might have traded the five minutes I took to prepare that meal for the time I spent to make the money to buy that box, shop for that box and the energy expended to maintain storage to keep it edible. There are also the aforementioned environmental issues and health issues involved.

Okay, let me clarify my stance on this. I am not one of those people who brushes her teeth with a twig and thinks broccoli cries when you wash it. However, I do think that what the food industry expects us to identify as edible has changed drastically over the last sixty years and not always for the better. If you want to read more about that, take a look at Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and Marian Nestle's Food Politics. One of the best compressed pieces of wisdom to be found in Pollan's book is that you should never eat anything your Grandmother wouldn't identify as food. Does this mean to avoid nori because Grandma would look at it and offer a raised eyebrow and a chuffed "Good Lord!" or "Oy" or "Mio Dios!"? No. She'd figure out it was pressed dried seaweed and maybe eventually find some way to incorporate it into her stuffed cabbage or meat loaf. What Pollan is getting at is that Gramma wouldn't have had much use for cereal straws or premade peebeenjays that are probably full of additives made of chemicals that were never intended to be consumed when the big bang was putting together all of those elements.

So. The solution? When you can, eat fresh, eat locally, eat in season and grow what you can. That's a big part of what this blog is about.

First up, we'll look at something that will be fun to make, tastes good and will save you a trip to the store (or worse, the nearest drive-through.) A good vegetarian marinara is one of those all-purpose things that can pinch hit in a variety of capacities through out the week: I use it as-is on pasta. Add some chopped chiles and cumin and you've got a salsa that is great with wedges of raw green and red bell pepper. Spread it on pita with additional toppings and cheese for quick pizza... I could go on, but let me cut to the chase and give you the recipe.


Oy Mama, Dat's a Marinara!

2 quarts of stewed tomatoes (home canned or from the local grocer)
1 medium onion white or yellow
one bulb of garlic
1/4 pound of white/button mushrooms (less if you use portabellas or crimini)
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh greek oregano
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 cup cheap, sweet red wine (Maneschevitz, Stonehaus Davenport Red or any "communion style" wine)
salt to taste...Be stingy with the NaCl, you're going to be using this with other ingredients that may already have enough salt.
3 tablespoons of olive oil


Pour the olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Mince and add the garlic, herbs, onion and mushrooms. Immediately after you've added your herbs, aromatics, fungi, etc, hand crush the tomatoes into the pan and stir. Allow it to come to a very slow boil and then add the salt and wine and let it simmer. At minimum, it should simmer for at least an hour, but this is actually one of those things where the longer it's allowed to sit over low heat, the better it gets. Once you have the consistency you want, allow it to cool and store it in the fridge in a sealed container. It will keep for around a week.


And one to grow on...

Jas' Easy as 3.14159

1 pita bread
1 cup marinara sauce
approximately 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
approximately 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
(I prefer Organic Valley or locally produced cheese when I can get it)
1/2 cup browned "sausage"
In my life, I've met only one pig that I didn't like. That little cochino lunged, snapped and barked at my sweet tempered giant of a shaggy mutt in a vet's waiting room. Screw him. The rest of pigkind is pretty cool. So I use Primms Spring Soysage and Yves Pepperoni for my protien. Once again, this is a case of varying milage. If you want to use critter or no protien at all, go for it. Hey, it's your pi!
Olives
Peppers
All those fine little veggie things your heart desires?
Don't skip 'em!
(with apologies to Fats Waller)

Put the pita in a shallow, round pie pan or other type of baking dish. First add the marinara. Then add the browned protien. Next? Top with your veggies. After that add the mozz cheese and then the parm. The cheese needs to be in that order so the mozz creates a gooey top crust that cooks the veggies and the parm provides a crispy light brown outer crust.

Bake in the oven at 300 to 350 degrees. You will know it's done when you have a gorgeous golden crust and the whole pizza will scoot cleanly in the pan once you've loosened the cheese from the edges. My pies usually take around 25 minutes. Once you take it from the oven, let it rest for about 20 to 30 minutes. Then serve with a nice glass of something you like and a good movie.

Until the next time I feel like writing about food!
Jas


copyright 2008 jas faulkner