Month: January 2011

Asian Chicken-Beef Noodle Soup

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This spin on classic chicken noodle soup is somewhat of an imagined amalgamation of my favorite Asian soups: the star anise-laced Hanoi beef noodle soup and Chinese wonton soup. The flavors bring both comfort and cold-fighting compounds to bring serious “ahhhh” to flu season. To serve, you’ll put paper-thin slices in bowls and top with the flavorful broth. The piping-hot broth will cook the chicken by the time it reaches the table.

asian-beef-chicken-noodle-soup2 unpeeled onions, halved and studded with 3 cloves apiece
5 large cloves garlic, unpeeled
7 pounds beef bones
3 pounds chicken carcasses
6 quarts cold water
2 carrots, chopped into 3 pieces each
8 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 (1-inch) pieces of ginger, bruised with the heel of your knife
5 dried Asian red chiles
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup fish sauce
6 ounces rice vermicelli, cooked 3 minutes in boiling water and drained
2 chicken breast halves, cut into paper thin slices across the grain (freeze for 20 minutes to make slicing easier)
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 cup green onion, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges

Char the onions and garlic in a large stockpot over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes, until well-colored but not burnt. Add the beef bones, chicken carcasses and water, and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam, gray crud and fat as they rise to the surface. Boil for 45 minutes to an hour, or until there isn’t much foam being produced any longer.

Add carrots, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, chiles and salt. Lower heat so the broth gurgles a few times each second. Let the broth cook at this low heat overnight or for an least 8 hours.

Skim broth one more time and strain through a fine mesh strainer (a Chinois or “China cap”) or a colander lined with cheesecloth. Stir in fish sauce. Rinse out the pot, return the broth to the pot, and bring back to a boil before serving.

To serve, divide vermicelli, chicken breast, cilantro and green onion between 8 large bowls. Ladle broth into each and finish with a squeeze of lime.

Serves 8

1/6/11 Nourishing News Roundup

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As the first week of the new year draws to a close, food news has already made some headlines. Here are some of our faves:

Safe Food at Last?

The landmark Food Safety Modernization Act is signed into law. But will the new Congress cough up the cash needed to make it work? NOURISH Evolution

Vote for SuperFood Drive

We recently profiled Nourishing Hero and SuperFood Drive founder Ruthi Solari, who is dedicated to stocking America’s food banks with nourishing whole foods. Ruthi is one of five finalists in the Sambazon Acai Warriors of Change Contest, which will award a $10,000 grant to an individual who is making positive social, environmental and economic change. Cast your vote by Jan. 21 to help Ruthi win: Sambazon site

Something’s Fishy at Costco

Shop at Costco? You may have noticed the company’s recent efforts to “green” its image and banish red-list fish from its stores. As the Greenpeace Oh No Costco campaign reveals, these amount to greenwashing rather than genuine efforts (for example, many of the threatened fish Costco has turned away were never sold in its stores in the first place). Now you can let Costco CEO James Sinegal know you expect better: Oh No Costco

True Sustainable Living

Does living a truly sustainable life mean living like a peasant? Or is there a middle ground? San Diego-based journalist Jill Richardson explores those questions while spending time in Chiapas, Mexico. AlterNet

Ban the Bottle

If you haven’t broken the bottled water habit yet, the Environmental Working Group’s 2011 Bottled Water Report may provide the motivation. By and large, the industry gets low marks for transparency on the source of water, how it’s purified and testing for contaminants. Even when companies are required to share information they don’t. Less than one-quarter comply with a California law that requires bottled-water labels to list the source of water and two ways for consumers to reach the company to obtain a water quality report. Which water is best? Filtered tap water, says the EWG. Environmental Working Group

Focus on What You Eat

A pair of new studies provide more evidence for the benefits of mindful eating. Carnegie Mellon University research finds that if you vividly imagine eating a food you crave you’ll eat less of it in the long run. Another study, from the University of Bristol in England, reveals playing a computer game while eating lunch makes you more likely to snack later in the afternoon. Why? Distracted eaters were less likely to remember how much they’d eaten and felt less satisfied than study participants who paid attention to what they ate.

What’s Food Safety Really About?

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Back in 2011, President Obama signed the long-awaited–and much-needed–Food Safety Modernization Act into law. The act updated America’s food safety system for the first time since the Great Depression and “represents a sea change for food safety in America, bringing a new focus on prevention,” noted Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., commissioner of food and drugs at the Food and Drug Administration.

food-safety

Now the FDA has the authority to enforce food safety measures domestically and internationally, including mandating food recalls (before, recalls were voluntary) and blocking food imported from countries or producers who refuse FDA inspections. As Hamburg notes, half of our fresh fruit, 20% of of our vegetables and 80% of our seafood is imported. However, lack of funding has made implementing measures in the act slow at best.

An avalanche of high-profile food recalls in 2010 may have encouraged lawmakers to pass the act. From the nationwide recall that reclaimed more than a half-billion eggs through a recall of potentially tainted baked goods sold at Whole Foods, 2010 may go down as the year of the food recall. As Kurt noted in his commentary about the egg recall, large-scale industrially cultivated food that’s distributed nationwide can create nationwide food-safety problems.

The real fight is just beginning, says Marion Nestle, author of Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety (University of California Press), because Republican lawmakers have repeatedly balked at appropriating the estimated $1.4 billion needed to implement the law’s measures. Without the money, the law won’t have teeth. That’s bad news for the 1 in 6 Americans who are sickened by food-borne illnesses every year (not to mention the 3,000 killed by tainted food), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the meantime, Bill Marler, an attorney who has devoted his career to litigating foodborne illness cases (starting with the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in 1993), predicts that despite the new law “2011 may well look like many of the years before to me – more outbreaks, more suffering and more lawsuits.”

Crispy Kale Chips

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Kale chips are a hot snack these days. They’re also expensive when you buy that at the store. But they’re so easy to make at home. Oven-roasted kale becomes crispy and satisfies a yen for something crunchy that’s better for you than potato chips. It’s also a tasty way to win over kale naysayers. Serve these kale chips as a snack or use them as a garnish, as we do with our Colcannon Soup. Any variety of kale is fine, but choose organic, since kale is on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of produce most likely to be contaminated with pesticides. You can change the flavor by using a different oil (sesame oil will take in an Asian direction) or adding different spices.

crispy-kale-chips-recipe

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Pear and Goat Cheese Sandwich with Toasted Walnuts

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This is inspired by my favorite vegetarian sandwich at Chez Lulu, a cafe and bakery in Birmingham, Alabama. I love the combo of thinly sliced sweet pear with pungent goat cheese, lightly dressed greens and toasted nuts. I used a plain version of our Knead-less Olive-Rosemary Bread, but any type of whole grain bread will do the trick.

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Fruit of the Day

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Here’s a healthy eating resolution that’s easy to do: Eat at least one piece of seasonal fruit a day. “I’m not much of a fruit person, so I tend to just skip over them,” Lia confesses. “But when I do finally bite into an apple or peel an orange, it makes me feel so grounded and good and vibrant.” I’m in the same boat. Fruit isn’t the first thing I reach for when I’m hungry, and I have to make a point of eating the stuff.

fruit of the day

Lia and I aren’t alone in this challenge. In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a state-by-state analysis of fruit (and vegetable) consumption among American adults. When it comes to fruit, the numbers are dismal: Overall, less than a third of grown-ups eat fruit at least twice a day. Among states, just 18% of Oklahomans eat fruit twice daily while Vermonters and New Yorkers are the most consistent fruit-eaters. But even that doesn’t guarantee adequate consumption. According to the market research firm NPD Group’s Nutrient Intake Database, just 8% of Americans–of all ages–eat their recommended daily intake of fruit.

That means however much fruit you’re eating now, you probably need to eat more. How much is enough? That depends on your age, gender and activity level, and the CDC’s Fruits & Veggies More Matters website has an online calculator. Turns out, I should be nibbling at least 1-1/2 cups of fruit a day (along with 2-1/2 cups of veggies). That’s a modest goal, really, when you consider that a small apple or medium pear counts as 1 cup.

Here are four simple strategies for getting more fruit into your day:

Eat in season. Fruit that’s in season tastes vibrant–and it’s affordable, too, because it’s so abundant. Eating seasonally also helps expand your fruit vocabulary. These days I’m gobbling satsuma tangerines by the flat, but I can also sample other super-seasonal citrus, like the exotic Buddha’s hand. Not sure what to with an unfamiliar fruit? Ask the farmer at the farmers’ market or the produce manager at the store for ideas. Also experiment using seasonal fruits in your favorite recipes–it’s easy to swap fruits and the flavor will be even better. The Cook’s Thesaurus is a helpful resource to research how to use different ingredients.

Keep it sweet. Put fruit front and center in desserts to satisfy a sweet tooth and boost your nutritional profile. This time of year, try Pumpkin Oat Bread with Golden Raisins and Walnuts (yes, pumpkin counts as a fruit) or substitute sliced seasonal kiwi for the strawberries in Lia’s Strawberry Cheesecake Tartlets.

Make it savory. Fruit can lend wonderful nuanced flavor to savory fare, as I was reminded when I dined recently at Ludo Bites, Chef Ludo Lefebvre’s wildly popular Los Angeles pop-up restaurant. My favorite dish was his mussels and pineapple in veloute sauce–the sweetness of the fruit added a subtle, bright note to balance the richness of the dish. Try this sweet-savory strategy in our Fennel and Granny Smith Salad with Blue Cheese or Fennel, Red Onion and Blood Orange Salad with Miso-Orange Vinaigrette. You can use different fruits in spicy salsa (swap pineapple for peach in our Fiery Sweet Peach Salsa) or in a sauce (like our Star Anise and Brown Sugar Pear Butter, below) to pair with roasted pork or chicken.

Discover the range of flavors and textures. Many of us associate fruit with sweetness, but that isn’t always the case. Consider the avocado. It’s a fruit that boasts creamy texture and mellow vegetal flavor. So if you fix a bowl of Guatemalan Guacamole, you’ll enjoy a bonus serving of fruit.

 

Star Anise and Brown Sugar Pear Butter

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We’re calling this a “butter” but it’s really more of a cross between butter and sauce–a thin butter or a thick sauce, if you will. It’s inspired by an abundance of gorgeous pears in a holiday gift box and adapted from a recipe of Farmgirl Fare, a delightful blog that chronicles life on a 240-acre farm in rural Missouri. Most of the sweetness comes from the ripe pears themselves (any variety will do here), but a touch of brown sugar adds a caramel-y touch while the whole star anise brightens the overall flavor. It’s dandy spread on toast or dolloped on waffles or pancakes, and it would be a delicious condiment with our Spiced Roast Pork.

pear-butter-recipe4 pounds ripe pears (any variety), cored and cut into chunks
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of sea salt
3 whole star anise pods

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Place pears in a food processor; pulse until pureed (depending on the capacity of your processor, you may need to do this in batches). Add sugar, juice and salt. Pour mixture into a 9 x 13-inch (4-quart) baking dish. Add star anise. Bake at 300 degrees F for 3 hours or until thick, stirring every 30 minutes. Cool completely (mixture will continue to thicken as it cools). Refrigerate up to 1 week.

Yields about 4 cups

FoodBlogSouth Conference Coming in January!

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We have lots of friends down in Birmingham, Alabama, so we’re excited to tell you about the FoodBlogSouth conference on Jan. 22, 2011. It’s a must-go event if you live in the South and love writing about food.

It’s being organized by Shaun Chavis, an editor at Time Inc. in Birmingham and co-founder of the Birmingham Foodie Book Club, to celebrate Southern food culture, which has always been all about honoring local traditions. “The South is hot in American culture,” Shaun says. “People want comfort food. They want classic American flavors with new twists.  Some want to garden and can and cook local food. They’re looking to the South for ideas, because those things have always been a part of Southern life.”

Chavis and her fellow organizers have put together an impressive lineup of speakers. Highlights include sessions with New York Times food writer and author of Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life Kim Severson; Southern culinary icon Virginia Willis; and culinary literary agent Lisa Ekus-Saffer of the Lisa Ekus Group, who will talk about how bloggers can become cookbook authors.

Southern Living senior photographer Jennifer Davick and Southern Living food stylist and test kitchen professional Marian Cooper-Cairns will be on hand to teach the basics of food photography and styling. Christy Jordan, blogger at Southern Plate (averaging 13 million page views a month) and author of Southern Plate: Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family, will cover tips to market your blog. Two-time Shorty Award winner John-Bryan Hopkins, “The Foodimentary Guy,” will reveal social media strategies,  while cookbook author/recipe developer Alison Lewis shares the finer points of recipe development.

We’re especially pleased about FoodBlogSouth’s emphasis on sustainability, particularly in light of the recent environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. “The South provides much of the seafood in the U.S., and it was drastically impacted by the Gulf oil spill tragedy,” Shaun notes. “I think bloggers can guide people on what to eat, and connect their audiences with the people in the seafood industry who are our neighbors.” To that end, the day will include a panel about Southern seafood in wake of the Gulf oil spill.

Proceeds from FoodBlogSouth will benefit the Alabama Gulf Coast Environmental Recovery Fund, which assists with recovery efforts from the Gulf oil spill, as well as the Desert Island Supply Company, a new nonprofit writing center for children.

It’s a packed day and an amazing value at $135 (that includes a pre-party on Friday evening, lunch on Saturday and a post-conference mixer). Even better, FoodBlogSouth is offering a $20 discount for NOURISH Evolution’s readers. To take advantage of the discount and register, visit http://foodblogsouth.eventbrite.com/ and enter code FBSnourish.

Enjoy, y’all!