Category Archives: Kitchen Tips

Pizza Dough: A Blank Canvas

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

I love a good pizza, but I don’t always want to go out for one and I’ve gotten fed up with the too-expensive, ho-hum pies delivered by our local pizzeria. If I want a decent pizza at home, I’ll need to make one. And that means making my own pizza dough.
pizza-dough-blank-canvasBut it’s no chore. Making pizza from scratch is simple and invites culinary creativity. You can play with the dough by experimenting with different types of flours (we’ve found a combo of all-purpose and whole wheat flours, plus a long proofing time, yields a hearty yet light-textured crust). Even if you opt for a premade crust or dough (choose a whole wheat version, if you do), you can make it all yours with the toppings you choose.

In fact, toppings are where the fun takes off. We polled the NOURISH Evolution Facebook community to find out what our fans like on their pizzas. The top 3 vote-getters (drumroll, please…):

  1. Prosciutto, ricotta and caramelized onions
  2. Pepperoni (a classic)
  3. Spinach, green olives and tomatoes (tied with pepperoni!)

People also shared their personal favorites, like chicken, artichoke, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, or artichoke hearts and salami (hmm…I sense a theme: artichokes!). Turns out, we have many inspiring pizza components on NOURISH Evolution:

The Sauce

Of course, the sauce is optional, especially if you want to make a pizza bianca (white pizza), but it adds a nice layer of flavor. Tomato sauce is a classic, and our Easy All-Purpose Tomato Sauce or Kelly’s “Sneaky” Veggie-Laden Marinara Sauce would do the job nicely. Also think beyond tomato. Pesto (like our Spicy Sage and Parsley Pesto or Asian Pesto) adds a zingy kick. Or you could try our Spanish-Leaning Spinach Dip, which has a lovely creaminess that lets you get away with using less cheese–I’d like this one topped with a light sprinkling of grated Manchego cheese and thinly sliced Spanish chorizo. Come summer, try our Roasted Red Pepper Romesco as a smoky alternative to tomato sauce.

The Cheese

It’s easy to go overboard on cheese, but if you combine it with other strong-tasting ingredients, you can use less. Also opt for high-quality, flavorful varieties like pecorino Romano, goat cheese or feta.

The Extras

There’s no limit to what you can add to your pie–sausage, pepperoni, roasted or sauteed veggies Tamara Murphy’s Wild Mushrooms Roasted in Parchment would make a beautiful topper; I love roasted beets. Lia’s Swiss Chard with Grated Garlic is simple and stunning on a pizza. NOURISH Evolution advisor Rebecca Katz suggested using it with red chili flakes, a grating of fresh nutmeg and feta or goat cheese.

With a combo like that, maybe I should open my own pizzeria.

Five Ways with Chicken Breasts

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

I have a very funny story about chicken breasts that has become something of a legend amongst our friends. And it has nothing to do with how to cook them.

5-ways-with-chicken-breasts

Ten years ago, my husband and I lived in Costa Rica for a few months. While we were there, we treated ourselves to weekly massages with Marie and Omar. One night, after a month or so, I was on my back sinking into a lull when Omar folded the sheet down … to my waist.

I tensed. Chatter flooded my head. Was I being prudish for cringing? Was he totally out of line? Don’t the Europeans do breast massage? I agonized about what to do all through the next week. Should I wait and see where the massage goes? Should I tell him up front that breasts are off limits? Should I even be going back?

In the end, I decided to face the issue straight on. I rehearsed what I was going to say, I practiced my Spanish; I was prepared. When I walked into the room with Omar, I turned to him and said, “No mas pechugas.”

Omar looked at me with a blank face. “No mas pechugas,” I repeated.

Omar shook his head. “No intiendo,” he said. So I grasped the body parts I was talking about and repeated. “NO. MAS. PECHUGAS.”

At that moment, Omar’s wife Marie walked into the room with my purse. Her eyebrows shot up and her lips curled into a grin. “You forgot your purse in the kitchen, Lia,” she said. I dropped my hands and flushed. “And just so you know,” she added, “pechugas are chicken breasts.”

So now you know Lia’s infamous pechuga story.

Aside from the fact that I chuckle whenever I think of pechugas, I have a love-hate relationship with chicken breasts. During my many years of low-fat dieting I, like millions of others, felt compelled to make boneless, skinless chicken breasts the foundation of my meals. I still remember how the dry strands made a sticking sound as I chewed — and flavor … what flavor?

So as I adopted a more nourishing approach to food (and lost weight, by the way), I swore off boneless, skinless chicken breasts and embraced chicken thighs and legs with abandon. But I’ve come back around … sort of. I haven’t cooked a chicken breast as-is out of the tray since those fat-fearing days. Here’s what I do instead:

  • Pound it. One of my favorite ways to use chicken breasts is to place them inside a plastic bag (I often use one of the produce bags I got from the grocery store) and pound them with the back of a heavy pan or meat pounder to a uniform thickness of about an inch. This lets the breast cook evenly and quickly, and stretches it far enough to be able to serve two people with half a chicken breast.
  • Split it open like a book. This is a similar approach to the pound with all the benefits, only even easier. Just slice the breast horizontally right down the middle (with your knife parallel to the cutting board), stopping an inch before the far edge; as if you were slicing open a book to the spine. Then open it up and flatten it out.
  • Cut it into chunks. Boneless, skinless chicken breast makes a great addition to stir-fries and sautés if you keep the chunks big and keep the cooking short. Season them well with salt and pepper before you add them, so the chunks will develop a nice, flavorful crust while staying tender. But don’t keep them in the pan for more than a few minutes or they’ll dry out.
  • Thinly slice it. Another great way to use chicken breast is to slice it super thinly and let residual heat do the cooking. Thinly sliced chicken breast has a lovely texture and stays nice and juicy this way.
  • Stuff it. Stuffed chicken breasts may sound dated, but, man are they good. Adding a moist stuffing (like sautéed mushrooms) keeps the meat tender, while very small amounts of cured meat or cheese can amp up the flavor.

These simple tweaks to the old boneless, skinless chicken breasts can make your pechugas, well, simply irresistible.

Get Your Greens!

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

My mother never told me to eat my greens, because she never made them. I’m not sure if she didn’t like greens or just wasn’t sure what to do with them (most likely), but spinach, collards, kale and other hearty cooking greens didn’t join my plate until I grew up and discovered I love them.

eat-your-greens

That’s why I’m always look for ways to add greens to the menu. Of course, they’re good for you–rich in a host of vitamins (especially A and C), minerals (like iron and manganese) and phytonutrients. Even better, hearty greens are at their peak right now, and their earthy flavor is a perfect fit for winter meals … right up to the cusp of spring.

Select greens that have fresh, crisp, unblemished leaves; they’ll keep in the fridge for up to five days. Their leaves tend to trap dirt and grit, so you’ll want to wash them thoroughly. I like to zip the leaves from the stems (check out Lia’s speedy technique to “Zip Some Greens“), toss them in a big salad spinner, which I fill with water and dunk the leaves several times (this allows any grit to settle at the bottom) before spinning them dry. Then I tear or chop the leaves as needed.

Though you can use most greens interchangeably, their  flavor ranges from mild to spicy. For substitution guidelines, visit The Cook’s Thesaurus. Here’s a rundown of a few of our faves:

  • Beet greens: If you buy a bunch of beets with the leaves still attached, don’t throw those delicious, earthy-tasting leaves away. Instead, simply saute them, much as you would spinach. Or try them boiled in Mama Kourtesi’s Beet and Green Salad.
  • Broccoli rabe has a pungent, bitter quality that Italian cooks adore. A bit of olive oil and salt helps tame the bitterness. Try it steamed, broiled or braised. In Lia’s Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage, a pot of boiling water does double-duty to cook the pasta and rabe at the same time.
  • The Italians also love bitter chicory, which they boil and serve with a white sauce or puree with a touch of cream.
  • I’ve come to love the mild flavor of collard greens, which generally benefit from long braising. But if you slice them super-thin, as we do with our Quick Collards below, you can cook them quickly with a combo of sauteing and braising.
  • Kale is a part of the cabbage family, so it (not surprisingly) has a cabbage-y quality. Discard the center stem and treat the curly leaves much the way you would spinach. Frilly-leaf kale is the most common variety, but you’ll find other types (lacinato, for example) at farmers’  markets and gourmet stores. Try it in our Crispy Kale Chips or White Bean and Kale Ragout with Turnips and Sausage.
  • For a spicy, peppery bite, try mustard greens, which do well braised with bacon. For an even more assertive selection, try turnip greens (yep, you can use turnip greens in place of the sausage in the ragout).
  • Spinach may well be the most popular variety. Large, mature leaves should be cooked (steamed, boiled, braised), while baby spinach does fine with a quick saute or even raw in a salad. Make a batch of Cheryl’s Stir-Fried Greens with Cremini Mushrooms and Soba.
  • With bright green leaves and colorful stems in a variety of hues, from magenta to orange-gold, Swiss chard is another favorite in the NOURISH Evolution kitchens. It’s hearty enough to braise, yet tender enough to saute. Try it in our Spicy Sauteed Rainbow Chard with Golden Raisins, which incorporates those pretty stems.

This is by no means a complete list. If you visit an ethnic market or farmers’ market, you’ll find many other varieties. Just ask the merchant for tips to cook them. The broader your repertoire of greens, the more often you’re likely to eat them!

The Economics of Local Food

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

If there are any doubts that local food is a hot commodity these days, you need look no further than the supermarket produce section. And when I say “supermarket” I mean the regular grocery store, not the likes of Whole Foods, which already has a long track record of prominently marketing local products in its aisles. These days, supermarket produce-department signs now tout “locally grown,” and in some cases even highlight specific growers.
economics-of-local-foodWhile I enjoy the convenience of buying produce from local growers when I zip into the store to pick up pasta and loo paper, I can’t help wondering if it’s a good deal for the farmers, too.

It can be, says Mark Marino, of Cinagro Inc., a Carmel, Calif., organic farm and garden design firm. Marino has worked as an organic farmer and horticulturist for over 30 years and knows the often-difficult economics of running a small farm. Selling crops through a variety of outlets–farmers’ markets, CSAs, retail outlets and restaurants–is smart business, he says.

“It affords the smaller to medium farmers a chance to find their economic balance,” says Marino. “It’s a lot like a stock portfolio–you want to have a good mix in there, so if one goes down, you can sell elsewhere.”

Which is the best? That depends.

CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture)

How it works: You buy a share in a farm’s crop for a season and pick up a box of produce at a set location each week. CSAs vary tremendously–some are farm-direct; others are coordinated by a third party. For the basics on how they work, check out “CSA 101.”

Upside: Financial liquidity for the farmer. “It’s huge for a farmer to have that money upfront and not have to pay interest on it,” says Marino.

“One of the advantages of selling through a CSA is that the farmer already has a market and doesn’t have to spend the time selling,” says Erin Barnett, director of LocalHarvest.org.

You get peak-season produce. While you may have a rough idea of what to expect each week, there are bound to be some surprises in the box. If you’re an adventurous cook, it’s a weekly version of a chef’s market-basket challenge in which you’re given ingredients and have to improvise what to do with them.

Downside: “CSAs tend to require a wide range of produce, and it can be challenging for the farmer to keep up,” says Barnett.

You don’t have much control over what arrives in the box each week and may also find yourself looking for ways to use a bumper crop of something you don’t love. CSAs may also deliver more than you can use up in a week, although some also offer half-shares that are ideal for single people and couples. You can also split a share with a friend or neighbor.

Best for: Those who want a direct relationship with a farm. Some CSAs even welcome shareholders to spend a day working on the farm.

Farmers’ Market

How it works: The farmer sets up a stand at a regularly scheduled pop-up market and sells direct to shoppers. Depending on the market, the farmer pays a small flat fee or a commission on sales.

Upside: “The beauty of the farmers’ market is that it’s cash,” says Marino. Farmers don’t have to give payment terms or wholesale prices (as they would to a store or restaurant) so more money stays in the farmer’s pocket.

Shoppers enjoy a selection of uber-fresh produce and often other farm-fresh goodies like eggs, poultry and meats. You’re likely to find more varieties. For instance, instead of one or two types of beets you’d find at the supermarket, a farmers’ market stand will offer three or four. You’ll also have better luck finding ultra-seasonal specialty items, like sunchokes or romanesco cauliflower.

Depending on the market, you may or may not find yourself chatting with the farmer. I live in Southern California, where some growers have stands at more than a dozen markets a week. By necessity, they hire workers to run the stands.

Downside: “Mother Nature,” says Marino. A rainy day will scare shoppers away, which means less money for the farmer.

I’m also spoiled because I live in Southern California, and farmers’ markets are year-round. But for shoppers in other parts of the country, farmers’ markets are only open part of the year. Still, as farmers’ markets gain popularity, many are extending their season for weekly markets and offering less-frequent markets in the off-season.

Best for: Shoppers who want to buy super-seasonal items direct from farmers but need more flexibility and choice than they’d get with a CSA membership.

Stores

How it works: Farmers sell their crops to stores at wholesale prices–usually 50% below retail.

Upside: It provides another outlet for the farmer. “If it’s raining this week at the farmers’ market and no one comes out, they’re still selling to the stores,” says Barnett. Also, the farmer doesn’t have to staff a farmers’ market stand or package multiple boxes for delivery at various pick-up locations for a CSA.

Shoppers–particularly those who aren’t likely to join a CSA or go to a farmers’ market–enjoy a convenient way to support local growers.

Downside: Farmers typically have to wait 30-60 days to get paid by the store. And even then a retailer may balk at paying for items that don’t sell or were mishandled after delivery. “It doesn’t happen often, but it can,” says Marino.

Best for: Shoppers who aren’t interested in a CSA and unlikely to make it to the farmers’ market regularly.

And what about price? Farmers’ markets and CSAs typically have the edge over grocery stores–but not always, says Marino. In any case, he adds, farmers’ markets and CSAs offer a connection to the land and the people who grow your food that’s priceless.

Get a New Grain: Amaranth

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

The more I’ve learned about amaranth, the more I’ve come to think of it as quinoa’s little cousin. The two certainly have a lot in common. Like quinoa, amaranth has a long New World history. It was revered among the native peoples of Mexico and Central America, and it was so crucial to the Aztecs’ diet, culture and even religion that the Spanish conquistadors outlawed its cultivation.
get-a-new-grain-amaranth

Also, like quinoa, amaranth is considered a “pseudo-grain” because it isn’t a true cereal grain, though it shares many of the same nutritional and culinary qualities. Amaranth “grains” are actually the seeds of the plant, which also yields very tasty, tender green leaves that you might have seen labeled as “Chinese spinach” at farmers’ markets or Asian groceries.

And, along with quinoa, amaranth is a nutritional dynamo. A quarter-cup uncooked amaranth (about 3/4 cup cooked) has 179 calories, 3 grams of fiber and a whopping 7 grams of protein. Even better, amaranth is one of the few plant sources of complete protein (like quinoa, surprise, surprise). If you’re a vegan or simply trying to enjoy more meatless meals, amaranth should have a place on your plate. Oh, yeah, and it’s gluten free, too.

So what’s the difference? For all its similarities to quinoa, amaranth has some unique characteristics:

What It Looks Like: Amaranth’s teeny-tiny pale-golden beads look like a much dinkier version of quinoa. (Tip: The tiny grains tend to scatter everywhere, so if you buy amaranth from the bulk bins, use a funnel to decant it into another container. I learned this the hard way.)

What It Tastes Like: Texture is the first thing you notice about amaranth. Whereas quinoa cooks up with fluffy individual grains, amaranth releases lots of starch during cooking. That lends it a gelatinous consistency with each grain creating a subtle, caviar-like “pop” when you chew it. Amaranth has a mildly nutty quality and readily absorbs the flavors of other ingredients.

How to Cook It: Use 1 part amaranth to 3 parts liquid, which can be anything from plain water to stock to milk. Bring the amaranth and liquid to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 25 minutes or until tender. Stir it occasionally. To enhance amaranth’s nutty flavor, saute the grains in a little bit of fat before adding your liquid. One cup of uncooked amaranth yields about 3 cups cooked.

How to Use It: Choose dishes that make the most of amaranth’s rich, pudding-like texture. Indeed, we’ve found it makes an excellent dessert in our Chai-Spiced Amaranth Pudding or Chocolate Amaranth Pudding (yes, we love pudding around here!). I’d also try it for breakfast in place of millet in our Creamy Millet with Blueberry Compote. Or use it instead of corn in grits or polenta.

Additional Notes: You’ll also find amaranth flour, which you can use to in baked goods or to make atole, the warm, thick traditional Mexican drink. Look for puffed amaranth at health-food stores (or pop it yourself at home), which you can use as a cold breakfast cereal or to make like alegria–a lovely Mexican snack that has been described as Mexico’s answer to the Rice Krispie treat.

Crepe Maker

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

Neither my schedule nor budget has room for a trip to France anytime soon. So if I want to enjoy my favorite Parisian street food–Nutella crepes–I’ll have to join the (very) long line at the crepe stand at the Sunday farmers’ market or make them myself.

Happily, it’s incredibly easy to make crepes crepes at home. If I can do it, you can, too.

I wanted to experiment with using whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour in the batter. As I’ve noted before, whole wheat pastry flour is a fantastic find. It has all the fiber and nutrients of regular whole wheat flour, but because it’s made from soft white wheat, it has less protein (and therefore less gluten development) than regular whole wheat flour. Its soft texture makes it ideal for delicate baked goods or uses where you don’t want a lot of gluten development–like crepes.

Here are 6 steps to making crepes at home:

Mix your batter. Crepe batter is much the same as standard pancake batter except it doesn’t have a leavener like baking powder. So, instead of fluffy flapjacks, you’ll get a thin, flat pancake. Also, classic crepes aren’t typically sweetened, but you can add a tablespoon or two of sugar to the batter if you prefer them sweet.

Let it rest. Cover the batter and let it stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. This allows the flour to absorb all the moisture, which ensures the crepes cook evenly with tender results.

Choose a pan. Sure, you could use a dedicated shallow crepe pan, which might be a nice investment if you make crepes often. Otherwise, a nonstick skillet does the job beautifully. The number of crepes this recipe yields depends on the size of your pan. I used a 10-inch nonstick pan and got a dozen 7-inch crepes.

Heat the pan over medium heat. Don’t use a higher temperature, or the batter will start to set before you have a chance to swirl it around in the pan.

Brush the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of canola oil. Then use a small ladle to pour in just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan–2 to 4 tablespoons should be plenty. Again, how much depends on the size of your pan.

Swirl, cook, flip. As soon as the batter is poured in, swirl the pan to distribute the batter evenly over the bottom. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the edges of the crepe are light brown and the bottom is golden (use a thin rubber spatula to gently lift the crepe and peek at the bottom. Flip the crepe with the spatula and cook the other side for another minute or until golden. Turn the cooked crepe out of the pan onto a wire rack. Practice makes perfect with this process, and you’ll find the results become more evenly round as you progress from the first crepe to the last.

Crepes are a perfect make-ahead component, since they refrigerate and freeze beautifully. You can thaw them at room temperature, then reheat them in a low oven or warm pan. Fillings are limited only by your imagination, since crepes can envelope both savory and sweet fillings deliciously. But you may want to gobble your first batch hot out of the pan with just a dusting of sifted powdered sugar.

The NEW My Nourish Mentor is LIVE!

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

Oh my goodness. I am so excited to post this I can’t even stand it. Y’all probably know that I launched the pilot of a small group coaching program called My Nourish Mentor about a year ago. And it’s been incredible. Nearly everyone who has gone through it has achieved their goals, 90% lost weight, and most improved their overall “relationship” with food by roughly 20% (yep, we track that).

But as gratifying as it’s been to walk with peeps on this journey, it’s been disheartening to have so many others say no to such a life-changing opportunity. So I decided that, gosh darn it, I’d ask and ask and ask every time I got a “no” so I could reshape My Nourish Mentor into a program that didn’t just get a yes … but a YES. And, I’m getting a little verklempt, I think we’ve got it.

My Nourish Mentor is now:

  • 12 weeks long (start with Level I, move on to Level II if you’re inclined)
  • entirely online (be as involved or as quiet as you want to be on the member forum area)
  • $49/month!

Approachable, affordable, doable. It’s 12 weeks that will transform the way you look at food, the way you eat, the way you feel, and the way you feed your family and connect with your community. Yes, you’ll likely end up losing weight. Yes, you’ll end up healthier. But My Nourish Mentor goes far beyond a traditional weight loss program or nutrition class.

So if you find yourself having conversations like these:

  • “I am so OVER not being able to eat what I want! I can’t do diets any more!”
  • “Do I really need to buy these (organic) carrots?”
  • “When I lose these last 20 pounds, life will be …”
  • “What kind of fish was on the green list?”
  • “My kids absolutely will not eat vegetables.”
  • “I don’t know what to believe about ‘nutrition’ … what’s good for me one day is doom the next.”
  • “Great that my doctor just told me I need to eat a healthier diet or go on medication forever … now how the heck do I do that?”

Know that, 12 weeks from now, you’ll be enjoying peace of mind as much as you will what’s on your plate.

Here’s what you’ll learn in My Nourish Mentor:

Week 1: One key practice that will change everything … the way you think about food, the way you buy food, the way you eat food and more

Week 2: Get the tools in your kitchen to where they’re working for you–without spending as much as you think

Week 3: How to stack the odds towards eating healthy by stocking a healthy pantry

Week 4: How to get more pleasure … while eating less

Week 5: How to prioritize what matters most to you

Week 6: Techniques to make veggies so irresistible your kids will snap them off the plate

Week 7: How to shrink your “foodshed” and find foods grown, raised and produced near you

Week 8: All about the great big world of whole grains (there’s so much more than brown rice!)

Week 9: Which fats our bodies need; what kinds of oils to buy and how to use them in the kitchen

Week 10: How to balance the budget when you’re spending more on healthy, sustainable food

Week 11: How to foolproof your week against take-out and microwave meals

Week 12: How to make the big leap into enjoying what you eat

Each week, the carefully-crafted curriculum solidifies learnings through experience, so you internalize it as part of you. My Nourish Mentor gradually shifts your paradigms and empowers you to make smart choices–and enjoy making them–rather than dictating what to do. The result? Profound. You’ll feel better about your body–and the food you eat–than you’ve ever felt before … and the transformation will last a lifetime.

Are you ready?

I hope to see you in My Nourish Mentor!

PS — If you’re not ready, shoot me an e-mail and let me know why. Lia (at) nourishnetwork (dot) com. I’d love to hear!

Smart Guides to Winging It In the Kitchen

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

We’re big fans of recipes at NOURISH Evolution, and we invest a lot into developing recipes to inspire your time in the kitchen. Over the years, recipes have helped me master skills, get acquainted with new ingredients and discover innovative flavor combos.

Sometimes, though, you want to wing it. Most often, I’m moved to improvise when I need to use up leftover ingredients, and often, that’s motivation enough to just get on with it. But occasionally I need a little inspiration, and we’ve found a quartet of great resources to help.

My favorite these days is The Flavor Thesaurus: Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook by Niki Segnit. Segnit is a passionate home cook who set out to boost her own understanding of flavors–why one ingredient works with another, the different qualities that make up taste and so forth. The result is 99 ingredients gathered around a flavor wheel with items grouped by qualities, such as “roasted,” “meaty,” “green & grassy,” “fresh fruity” and “woodland.” Segnit doesn’t claim her list is the last word (how could it be?), but the way she writes about flavors and ingredients is engaging and inspiring. She covers plenty of classic combos (chocolate and chile: “one of the original ‘wow’ flavor pairings”) as well as some surprises like pineapple and sage.

Lia’s a huge fan of Sally Scheider’s The Improvisational Cook, which inspires readers with seemingly endless suggestions to embellish, alter and modify recipes. Caramelized onions easily morph into onion jam, onion soup, bruschetta topping or onion dip–and that’s just to start. I love this approach because it really encourages you to take a recipe and run with it.

Another favorite of mine is The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, which is a very straightforward listing of ingredients, their qualities and what goes with them. It’s a great quick reference to have on hand.

If you want to delve more deeply into how ingredients work together–turn to Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. “A culinary ratio is a fixed proportion of one ingredient or ingredients relative to another,” he explains. “These proportions form the backbone of the craft of cooking.” If you already know how to improvise a vinaigrette with 3 parts oil and 1 part vinegar, you already know a basic ratio. Ruhlman’s book explains the details behind the ratios for everything from bread dough to sponge cake to sauces, sausage and custard. His companion smartphone and iPad app puts the basics at your fingertips.

You intuition is a good guide, too. If it tastes good in your mind’s palate, it’s definitely worth a try. Chances are, it’ll be delicious. And if not, so what? In cooking, even failures can lead to future successes since, at the very least, you’ll know what doesn’t work. Here are 3 simple strategies to keep in mind:

  • Pair foods harvested in the same season. The old adage–”if they grow together, they go together”–really works. Lia’s recipe for Roasted Winter Veggies is all about using whatever seasonal root vegetables you find. It doesn’t matter which ones–they all play well together.
  • Foods that hail from the same region are harmonious. Consider wine pairing as an example. As New World cooks, we call on an enormous range of flavors, cuisines and ingredients, which can make pairing wine and food challenging (what should I open with that Indian dish? what works with that Vietnamese recipe?). Old World cooks had it much easier–they simply opened a bottle of local wine to serve with traditional dishes made with local ingredients and it worked because everything had the same terroir.
  • Experiment with fusions based on similar ingredients. Fusing cuisines can be tricky and has been known to inspire some kooky combinations. It can also be inspired, especially if you look for similar ingredients to create a happy marriage on the plate.

Here’s an example: The other week, I had some leftover Carnitas de Lia, which I’ve wanted to use in a riff on a banh mi, the popular pork-filled Vietnamese sandwich. Other fillings that typically go into a banh mi also figure in Mexican fare: cilantro, carrots, cucumbers, hot peppers. So I made a simple guacamole of avocado, salt and lime juice, which I spread on a fresh baguette as a substitute for the more traditional mayonnaise or pate. Then I layered on the carnitas, grated carrots, thinly sliced radishes and cucumbers, some leftover Quick-Pickled Red Onions and cilantro, and topped it with a generous dollop of Sriracha hot sauce.

The result: a thoroughly satisfying improvisation that made our leftovers taste entirely new.

Throw-Together Desserts

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Dark chocolate is a pantry staple in our household, right alongside spices, whole-wheat pasta, barley and several types of flour. And by that I don’t mean a little bag of chocolate chips or a petite bar. I mean a 1-pound brick of the stuff. As long as there’s chocolate in the house, I know we can have something sweet after dinner, even if it’s just nibbling the chocolate itself.

But without much more effort than that, you can have a dessert that makes a bigger statement in terms of flavor and presentation. As with any home cooking, the key is to have a few simple ingredients on hand, which can add up to something surprisingly satisfying and impressive. Don’t believe me? Check out Lia’s Chocolate Crostini recipe below.

Another strategy is to keep thick, creamy Greek yogurt in the fridge, which you can use as a stand-in for pudding. Stir in a little sugar or agave nectar and a dash of vanilla extract (add a spoonful of unsweetened cocoa for a chocolate version), then top it with shaved chocolate and a sprinkling of fruit or toasted nuts.

As early-season strawberries start rolling into markets (believe it or not, they’re already starting to show up here in Southern California), you can slice them up and macerate them with a tablespoon or two of sugar, a splash of orange-flavored liqueur and squeeze of lemon juice. Let that lovely mixture sit for 20 minutes or so while you eat dinner, and you’ll be rewarded with a fresh topping to serve over yogurt or ice cream.

This wraps up our week-long look at elements of a simple late-winter supper. Here are all the recipes that go into it. Try it this weekend to nourish those you love with the appeal of seasonal flavors.

To start:: Shaved Celeriac, Radish and Pecorino Salad with Pomegranates and White Truffle Vinaigrette

Entree: Spiced Roast Pork Loin with Sweet Potato Puree with Honey and Crispy Shallots and Spicy Sauteed Rainbow Chard with Golden Raisins

Sweet finish: This Chocolate Crostini with Orange Zest and Sea Salt. Chocolatey, sweet, salty–it’s my idea of the perfect last-minute treat.

Community Supported … Pasture?

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

It’s inevitable. As people learn more about where their food comes from and start to shift their buying habits from whatever’s on the shelf to more deliberate, sustainable choices, they run up against a wall. Where do I find the foods I can feel good about? Happily, in many communities, local food now offers pasture-raised chicken, grass-fed beef, and sustainably raised pork.

community-supported-pasture

Farmers’ markets, CSAs and even community gardens abound these days, offering an abundance of fresh, seasonal produce. From December, 2001 to July, 2005, the number of reported CSA farms rose from 761 to 1,144, an increase of roughly 50 percent. And here’s some more good news: There’s a burgeoning movement on the meat front too.

A growing number of CSA farms are expanding beyond produce to offer meat, poultry and eggs from the pasture. Part of the reason is just smart business; farmers are diversifying their product mix. Another driver for many farmers is the desire to create the closed-loop system that agriculture was meant to be.

What do I mean by that? To explain, I’ll borrow an illustration that Wes Jackson of The Land Institute used when I saw him speak at a conference a couple of years back. He popped a slide of Norman Rockwell’s “Visit From a County Agent” illustration up on screen and then articulated how it encapsulated all the elements that make agriculture work.

Right off the bat, you can see that there are a variety of animals in the photo, and each has its purpose. The cats catch the mice. The dogs ward off predators. The chickens lay eggs and produce poultry. The cows produce milk and meat.

But that’s just the surface. Jackson also pointed out that the chicken and cows were essential for more than just their eggs, milk and meat. Their manure was the gold the land needed to grow the crops that fed the livestock and the family.

There’s your closed loop. Waste from the animals to fertilize the fields to grow the crops to feed the livestock and the family … and on back around again. Compare that to monoculture crops and feedlot cattle—the two ends of the spectrum in a ruptured farming system—where synthetic fertilizer must be purchased to grow the crops, and excess waste from cattle creates toxic cesspools.

If you’ve read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma or watched FRESH or Food, Inc., the concept of a closed-loop farming system isn’t new to you (nowadays we call it polyculture). What is new, to bring us back around to the topic of this post, is the fact that it’s inspiring more and more small farmers to expand beyond just crops.

Some, like Dearing Country Farms in Illinois, have expanded their CSA produce offerings ($330 for roughly five months of produce) to eggs and chickens ($700 for produce plus a chicken and a dozen eggs each week). Others, like Oregon’s Inspiration Plantation’s “CSP” (Community Supported Pasture), focus strictly on meat; in this case, chicken, turkey, lamb and pork.

As rosy at it may seem to jump into a meat CSA, there are challenges for both farmer and consumer. The first is the added complication and cost of processing; in order to be sold commercially, meat must be processed in a USDA-certified facility. Second is the fact that meat is highly perishable and must be stored—and sold—frozen. Third is a matter of scale: A cow is a lot larger than a head of cauliflower. What’s easiest for the farmer, to sell a side of beef, for instance, is not the most convenient for the customer … unless you happen to have a very large, empty freezer and a penchant for cooking nose to toes. But I’ve found that that’s changing. Most of the meat CSA options I run across nowadays focus on primal cuts and sausages.

So where, you ask—you plead—can you find a meat CSA? The best source I’ve found for direct-to-consumer meat is www.eatwild.org. You have to cull through the listings in each state to find those near you, but it’s worth it for the range it offers. Other resources are www.localharvest.org and www.eatwellguide.org.

Don’t forget one of the major benefits of joining any CSA … to get to know the people who grow, or in this case raise, your food. Who knows, maybe they’re fans of Norman Rockwell.