Category Archives: Kitchen Tips

Simple Winter Salad for a Nourishing Menu

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As Lia noted in our Friday Digest e-mail update, we’re trying something new on NOURISH Evolution: We’re building this week’s Monday/Wednesday/Friday posts around a single nourishing menu. (If you haven’t signed up for Lia’s Friday updates, you can do so on our homepage.)

This week’s menu is elegantly simply and seasonal with a subtle Italian flair that feels just right for late winter. Here’s what we have in store:

So, today we’re highlighting simple winter salads, and that gives me a chance to share this inspirational salad of shaved celery root (celeriac) and radishes. Now, celery root and radishes are pretty humble ingredients–in fact, celery root is downright homely. But it’s all about treatment, as I was reminded the other week,  when Richard and I lunched at at London’s Bocca di Lupo, Chef Jacob Kenedy’s Soho eatery that specializes in regional Italian cicchetti (small plates). I ordered the shaved celeriac and radish salad with pecorino mostly because I figured we could use a plate of something veggie-centric in what was shaping up to be an otherwise-indulgent meal.

It turned out to be one of the afternoon’s highlights. It was earthy yet bright and light–everything you want a winter salad to be. A drizzle of white truffle oil underscored the earthiness of the crunchy, paper-thin slices of celeriac and radish while the cheese added a pleasant salty hit and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds contributed a tart note and gorgeous color.

It’s a delicious starter in our menu, and, I can attest, hearty enough to stand alone for a light lunch or supper.

My Bittersweet Valentine: An Introduction to Marmalade

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I married a marmalade man. This year, as a special treat for Valentine’s Day (don’t tell him!), I’ll be making him a tart, sultry (and dare I say sexy?) blood orange version. In case you want to join me in making marmalade for your sweetheart, here are a few things to know:

What Makes it a Marmalade?

Today, the word marmalade is used to describe a citrus jam containing bits of candied rind. We typically associate marmalade with oranges, but all manner of citrus fruits are good marmalade candidates. Meyer lemons, clementines, Minneola tangelos, grapefruit, limes, and kumquats are just a few of the fruits that can be cooked into excellent marmalades.

The Fruit

When selecting fruit for marmalades it’s best to find organic, unblemished specimens, since in many cases the entire fruit, peel and all, ends up in the jar (conventional citrus is often sprayed with a wax coating that’s time-consuming to scrub off). Overripe fruit is not recommended. The ideal source is freshly picked from a backyard tree, but for the rest of us, store-bought organic fruit will do just fine.

The Sugar

Sugar plays many roles in the marmalade jar: sweetener, thickener, and preservative. The right concentration of sugar deters the growth of micro-organisms. For this reason, reducing the sugar called for in a marmalade recipe is not recommended.

The Pectin

Pectin is a natural gelling agent found to varying degrees in many fruits. With citrus, pectin is most heavily concentrated in the peel, membranes and seeds, decreasing in concentration as the fruit ripens. Many marmalade recipes do not require the addition of commercial pectin to form a gel, relying instead on the high amounts of natural pectin found in citrus, or the addition of other high-pectin fruits, like lemons or apples.

Commercial pectin is a packaged product rendered from high-pectin fruits, often with the addition of preservatives and other agents (like citric acid) that promote the formation of a gel. Marmalades made with commercial pectin require less citrus rind and shorter cooking time, resulting in a spread where sweet often overwhelms the flavor of the fruit. Marmalades made without the use of commercial pectin often contain more peel and require a longer cooking time, resulting in a spread choc-full of tender, candied peel, with an intense citrus aroma and bittersweet flavor.

The Set Point

Identifying the set point, or point at which the mixture forms a gel, is key to making great marmalade without the use of commercial pectin. Gelling occurs when the right concentration of sugar, acid, and pectin is reached. Undercooked marmalade can result in a runny syrup or spread. Overcooked marmalade can result in an overly-dense spread with a caramelized sugar flavor that overwhelms the brightness of the fruit. The easiest and most reliable way to test for doneness is with a candy or deep fry thermometer. The marmalade is ready when the temperature reaches 220 degrees F. Subtract 2 degrees for every 1,000 feet of altitude.

Processing the Jars

Home canning strikes fear into the hearts of many, but with proper knowledge, it can be a safe and wonderful craft. There are a variety of ways to process marmalade safely. One of the best resources for information on home canning is The National Center for Home Food Preservation, an excellent reference to ensure your recipe is up to date with current practices.

So now that you know the basics, let’s roll up our sleeves and make us (and our sweethearts) some marmalade!

Oh, Meyer

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Whenever I spy Meyer lemons in the market I can’t resist grabbing a handful and bringing them up to my nose for a whiff of their bright, heady aroma. It transports me back to a trip I took to a small town in Connecticut several years ago.

It was late winter and I arrived in a snowstorm that took even the hardy Yankee locals by surprise. The next morning, I awoke in my snug little B&B to a world cloaked in a flawless blanket of snow sparkling under a clear blue sky. That postcard-perfect setting was a enough of a treat, but it got even better when I sat down to breakfast at a table beside potted Meyer lemon tree. Perfectly framed by the snow-covered scene outside, the tree was heavy with fruit and offered a fragrant, sunny harbinger of warmer days to come.

Ever since, I’ve been delighted to see availability of this fruit expand from gourmet stores to farmers’ markets and even supermarkets. Once coveted by chefs, they’re steadily becoming a staple for home cooks.

What makes them so special? First, they’re not entirely a lemon, but a cross between a lemon and an orange so they have smooth, thin skin that ranges from lemony yellow to nearly orange and a flavor that’s sweeter and less acidic than a standard lemon. They’re prized for their citrusy perfume and abundant juiciness. They tend to be smaller and rounder than regular lemons, so there’s a wonderful tactile pleasure to holding one in the palm of your hand.

You can use Meyers in any recipe calling for lemons. (Depending on the recipe, some cooks like to balance their sweetness with a squeeze of regular lemon–use your taste as a guide.) Try them in Kitchen MacGyver Lemon Curd (my, that would be lovely!), Go-To Vinaigrette or Roasted Cauliflower with Meyer Lemon Fauxaioli. Or simply use them as an excuse to make these scones.

Get a New Grain: Millet

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I love millet, so it throws me when, more than with any other grain it seems, people scrunch up their noses when I mention it. In an effort to remedy this, I’m going to wax on a bit about why I adore it. First off, it’s a quick-cooking grain; on your plate in just 20 minutes. Second, it’s like vanilla ice cream: good on its own, yet still a blank canvas for whatever you want to make it. Third, its texture is lovely—and versatile; you can make it fluffy like a pilaf, or sticky like sticky rice. And last but not least, it’s incredibly nutritious, packing a good dose of protein and vitamin B along with minerals like iron and manganese.

Those four reasons should be enough to inspire you to read further. After you do, let me know what you love about millet!

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What it Looks Like: Millet looks like butter-colored—the really intensely yellow of French butter–beads.

What it Tastes Like: Taste-wise, I find millet to be about the same “neutral but with a pleasing flavor’”as a basic brown rice. Texture-wise, as I mentioned above, millet can vary from fluffy and almost poppy (as in it sort of bursts to the bite) to somewhat dense and sticky.

How to Cook it: As with many grains, millet takes on a deeper flavor and retains its integrity better if you toast it in a bit of fat in the pot before boiling (skip this step, though, if you want to the millet to be sticky). Then add 2-1/2 cups liquid (with millet, I like to use some sort of flavorful broth) to 1 cup millet. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Finish by letting the millet stand, covered, for 5 minutes and fluffing before serving.

How to Use it: I like to use millet as a stand-in for rice in baked one-pot dishes, like the Cuban-Style Millet con Pollo below. Sticky millet makes a fun crust for savory pies and casseroles.

Additional Notes: Like many whole grains, millet can go rancid quickly in the cupboard. It’s best to buy it in smaller quantities (from the bulk bin is fine … although sniff it to make sure it doesn’t smell bitter) and keep it in the freezer. Another big note—millet is gluten free.

Waste Not: 5 Steps to Skip Food Waste

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The first day of the new year found me cleaning out the refrigerator, evaluating produce, sniffing the last of a bottle of cream, examining cheese. After a busy holiday season of cooking, things had piled up. Some of it could be used. Much of it couldn’t. Let’s just say it was an object lesson in food waste.waste-not-food-waste

I’m not alone in this, as food waste expert and blogger Jonathan Bloom details in his new book American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (DaCapo Press). Collectively, we toss an estimated 40% of our food, including a third of our vegetables. Food scraps are our second largest source of waste–and a significant source of greenhouse gasses.

Such food waste is as hard on your wallet, too. The USDA estimates that the average family of four throws away $2,275 worth of the food every year (or, more accurately, sends it down the drain since 75% of wasted food disappears down America’s garbage disposers).

Waste occurs throughout the food system, of course, from the farm (where less-than-perfect-looking produce is left behind in the field) to supermarkets (which dump tons of food past its sell-by date) to restaurants. But your own kitchen is the best place to start addressing the issue of food waste. As with so many goals, small steps yield powerful results.

“The most important step we can take to trim our home food waste is to shop smarter,” says Bloom. “Most of us buy too many fresh foods, making it difficult to use everything before it goes bad. Planning meals, writing detailed shopping lists and making smaller, more frequent shopping trips can all go a long way toward minimizing this problem.”

With that in mind, here are 5 strategies drawn from Bloom’s book:

Plan ahead. We’ve talked about the beauty of planning meals for a healthier diet. It’s also a key strategy to reduce kitchen waste, says Bloom. Start by planning meals to use up what you already have on hand in the fridge and pantry. If you need to buy ingredients for a specific recipe–especially items you’re not in the habit of using regularly–consider how you can use them up. Extra herbs can go into pesto, leftover buttermilk is great in baked goods or salad dressing, day-old bread is delicious in bread pudding and so forth. As always, make a list and stick to it.

Avoid impulse purchases. From special end-of-aisle promotions to deep discounts on items approaching their sell-by dates, stores are cunningly designed to encourage you to buy more food. True, such promotions can be real money-savers–if you actually use them. Otherwise, it’s money down the drain.

Know your dates. These days, all kinds of food is stamped with a “sell by” or “best by” date (sometimes both), which confuse retailers and consumers alike, says Bloom, and lead to unnecessary waste. “Infant formula and some baby foods are the only items required by federal regulations to carry a ‘best-before’ date,” he notes. Otherwise, dates on food lead many consumers to toss tons–literally, tons–of perfectly good food. Properly stored perishables should be fine for at least a week after their sell-by date; nonperishables have an even longer shelf life. Best-by dates are nothing more than a suggestion from the manufacturer. Don’t be afraid to use your senses–if it looks and smells fine, you’re good to go.

Buy whole food. Supermarket produce departments are filled with chopped, grated and otherwise prepped fresh ingredients, which can be welcome time-savers for busy cooks. But prepping ingredients also hastens  deterioration, which shortens their shelf life and leads to waste. Unless you plan to use that whole bag of grated carrots or cubed butternut squash promptly, buy the whole version instead.

Avoid food packaged in bulk. From shrink-wrapped vegetables to prebagged fruit to “value” packs of poultry, the growing trend of prepackaged fresh foods annoys Bloom for two good reasons. 1) When one item in a package goes bad, the whole thing is tossed (stores rarely break up and repackage fresh goods). 2) Shoppers are forced buy more than they want and often end up throwing away the extra.

Instead, shop at venues that allow you to buy only as much you need, whether it’s a farmers’ market that sells loose produce or a store with a full-service butcher and bulk bins so you can buy smaller amounts of dry goods.

Also in this series:
Nourishing Resolutions: Fruit of the Day
Nourishing Resolutions: Plan Ahead in 4 Steps!

Nourishing Resolutions: Plan Ahead in 4 Steps!

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When life gets hectic — as it so often does — it’s easy to put off this crucial step to eating well: Plan ahead. But isn’t that when you need it the most? We’ve said it before, and we’ll probably say it again: A little advance planning and few minutes of prep work here and there are often the difference between ordering take-out and cooking a delicious nourishing meal.

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I know that if I’ve thought ahead a little and shopped smart, it’s usually easier and faster to cook at home than to pick up something to go. Here are 4 simple steps:

Plan Meals for the Week

Chances are, you did some serious meal planning during the holidays. Lia’s tips for feasting without frenzy during the yuletide season are easily adapted for everyday use. I do a modified version of this every weekend, thinking about our schedule for the week ahead and which recipes I want to make. I usually make a more involved meal on Sunday evening, with an eye toward delicious leftovers (i.e., “planned-overs”) I can recycle later in the week. For example, I made batch of Easy All-Purpose Tomato Sauce for pizzas last night with an eye toward using the extra sauce with pasta and veggies later this week.

You don’t have to go so far as mark your calendar, though it can help you remember make-ahead steps along the way. For instance, I jotted a note to remind myself to put the farro on to soak for this 15-Minute Farrotto with Sage and Butternut Squash. And there’s also a note reminding me to marinate the steak for Grass-Fed Beef Bulgogi for tomorrow night (which I’ll stir-fry rather than grill, with some veggies that need to be used up).

Stock the Pantry, Fridge and Freezer

There are ingredients I always keep on hand so I can whip up something delicious at the last minute. If I have whole grain pasta, chicken stock, some bacon, eggs and a little hunk of cheese, I’ve got the makings of carbonara, which I can improvise with whatever veggies we have on hand (if there are none in the crisper, I always have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer).

This is a good time of year to reevaluate your pantry, too — get rid of items you’ll never use and restock a healthy pantry. Go ahead and use up that white rice, but replace it with brown; make the switch from white pasta to whole grain.

Shop Smart

Ugh, is there anything worse that stopping by the supermarket after a long day at work? It’s crowded, the lines are long, you’re hungry and then you have to schlep home and cook.

Instead, include shopping in your weekly plan and choose a time that works best with your schedule. My neighbor always hits the store early on a Saturday morning, when it’s uncrowded. This year, I want to visit our neighborhood weekly Friday morning farmers’ market, which is far more convenient (and much less hectic) than the weekend market.

When I have to hit the supermarket, I try to arrange my shopping list according to the store’s layout–grouping all the produce, all the bulk-bin items, all the meat, dairy, cheese, etc.–so I can zip through the store in no time.

Prep (and Cook) Ahead

Doing a few small chores when you have the time–from cleaning farmers’ market greens or chopping squash to cooking a pot of beans or simmering some stock–is painless and sets you up for great meals later in the week. And you don’t always need a lot of time. The prep-ahead step for this farro risotto recipe is as simple as putting the farro in a pot to soak in the morning so it cooks more quickly when you get home in the evening.

Also in this series:
Nourishing Resolutions: Fruit of the Day

Toast the New Year with Festive, Bubbly Cocktails

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Ever wonder why some wines or cocktails make you want to take another sip while others make you grimace and wish you’d ordered something else? Personal preference aside, the difference between a delicious drink and one you can’t stand often comes down to balance.

When mixing cocktails, the challenge is to balance three elements: bitter, sweet and acid. Bitterness comes from hard spirits, while sweetness might come from a fruit juice, a sweet liqueur or syrup. Citrus juice or sparkling wine contribute acidity.

I’ll let you in on a secret I learned when writing my book: If you start with sparkling wine, you don’t have to add very much to create a brilliant cocktail.

Whether it’s Prosecco from Italy, Cava from Spain, Champagne from France — well-made sparkling wines have a natural acidity that makes them a great base for delicious drinks. And I’ll let you in on a secret I learned when writing my book The Bubbly Bar: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Cocktails for Every Occasion (Clarkson Potter): If you start with sparkling wine, you don’t have to add very much to create a brilliant cocktail.

During wintertime, you’ll find that seasonal fruits like cranberries, pomegranates, grapefruit and tangerines pair beautifully with bubbly in cocktails. For parties, it makes things easier to either a) choose a signature cocktail to serve throughout the evening or b) create an interactive cocktail bar so guests can create their own concoctions.

If you’re hosting a New Year’s Eve party, guests are sure to show up with a bottle of a brut sparkling wine or Champagne in hand. As delicious as this crisp, citrusy sipper can be, after a few hours of drinking the same thing, it can get a bit monotonous.

Set all those bottles of bubbly in a large ice bucket and use them to create a cocktail bar that lets your guests be the mixologists. Your job is to stock the bar with complimentary mixers so guests can’t make a bad drink. Start with some liqueurs like the lemon liqueur called Limoncello, a berry liqueur like Chambord and something slightly exotic like St. Germain elderflower liqueur. Set out carafes of lemonade, tangerine or orange juice and cranberry juice. Fill a relish tray with garnishes like fresh basil and rosemary, raspberries, pomegranate seeds and slices of orange.

To make a super-simple holiday cocktail I call the Lava Lamp, fill a flute one-third with pomegranate juice or pomegranate liqueur. Top it off with brut sparkling wine, toss in a few fresh pomegranate seeds and watch the seeds dance up and down on the bubbles.

In my Green Grapefruit cocktail, juicy pink grapefruit marries with the anise flavors in absinthe to make for a sensational start to a holiday party.

No matter which cocktail you choose, you’ll find that any time you open a bottle of bubbly, it’s like uncorking a celebration.

Maria Hunt is and author of The Bubbly Bar: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Cocktails for Every Occasion (Clarkson Potter, 2009). For more recipes and information on entertaining with sparkling wine, visit TheBubblyGirl.com.

Compose Yourself (with an Entree Salad)

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One of Richard’s all-time favorite lunchtime treats is an old-school Cobb salad–a feast of salad greens, chopped chicken, hard-cooked eggs, tomatoes, avocado, bacon and whatever other fixings the chef decides to add. When it’s done carelessly, the Cobb salad is a sloppy tossed-together mess. When it’s done well, it’s served as a composed salad with each ingredient artfully arranged on a platter or in a large bowl. It’s as much a treat for the eye as for the palate. It’s also a classic entree salad.

7 Summertime Entree Salad Recipes

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The Cobb is an excellent example of the virtues of a composed salad, since it’s all about improvising with what you have on hand to create something greater than the sum of its parts. It was invented in the 1930s by Bob Cobb (awesome name!), owner of the long-gone landmark Hollywood restaurant The Brown Derby, when he raided the restaurant’s kitchen late one night in search of leftovers for a snack.

The elements of a composed salad can be as involved as Cobb’s concoction or as simple as a caprese salad. (With its tomatoes beautifully arrayed on a platter, topped with mozzarella and basil, and drizzled with olive oil, the caprese counts as a composed salad; a wintertime version of this might be thinly sliced orange topped with shaved fennel.) It’s only limited by your imagination–and what’s in the fridge. It’s the perfect opportunity to mix and match recipe elements to create something entirely different. Some building blocks to consider include:

Greens. Composed salads don’t have to include greens, but they often do, as a bed for the rest of the ingredients. Experiment with different types of greens, such as frisee, peppery arugula or mizuna, crunchy Napa cabbage, tender Bibb lettuce, or bitter, crunchy endive.

Dressing. Choose a dressing that underscores the overall flavor profile of your salad. Lia’s super-easy Go-To Vinaigrette can be pulled in any direction, depending on the type of oil or vinegar you use. For instance, give it an Asian flair with rice vinegar and ginger instead the white wine vinegar and shallots.

Other veggies. A composed salad is a great opportunity to raid the crisper. One of our favorites is roasted beets, which you can add warm or cold.

Protein. To make your salad entree-worthy, add a substantial protein, such as shrimp, smoked fish or shredded poultry. Hard-cooked eggs are another option.

Fruit. Embellish with seasonal fruit. For example, add shaved apple or sliced persimmon, or dress it up with sections of citrus. Sprinkle on some pomegranate seeds for color and tart flavor.

Grains and legumes. Lia’s Frisee Salad with Lentils and Duck Confit, below, is an ideal example of how legumes–lentils, in this case–fit into a composed salad. Grains like quinoa, bulgur and even rice would work, as well.

Other garnishes. Crown your creation with a sprinkling of crumbled bacon or cheese, toasted nuts or minced herbs.

Knead-less Bread-Baking

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When it comes to making bread dough, “kneading is an optional and flexible step,” says Harold McGee in his new book Keys to Good Cooking (Penguin Press). If you don’t want to hassle with kneading bread dough, you can let time do the work. The concept of no-knead bread has been around awhile–most recently popularized by Mark Bittman when he wrote about baker Jim Lahey’s technique several years ago in The New York Times. I gave it a try at the time, but my dog Rascal (NOURISH Evolution’s official mascot) ate the dough while it was proofing on the counter and I never got around to trying it again.

That is, until about a month ago, when a friend posted a Facebook link to a no-knead bread recipe by San Francisco-based cookbook author and cooking teacher Penni Wisner. Her recipe was a streamlined version of Lahey’s method and inspired me to give it another go. All went well–the ingredients came together just as she promised, Rascal left the dough alone, and resulting loaf was delicious with a lovely, chewy crust and tender crumb. Even better, letting time instead of elbow grease do the work yields a better-tasting loaf. “It has that long development, which gives it time to really increase in flavor,” says Wisner.

Wisner, who’s passionate about sharing this bread with everyone, agreed to let us share her recipe with the NOURISH Evolution community. She also has a few tips:

Pick the right flour(s). Yes, you can make bread with all-purpose flour, but you’ll get better results if you use bread flour (available at most supermarkets). “I do think it makes a difference,” says Wisner. Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose, so it forms more gluten to give your bread structure.

Wisner also adds a little whole wheat flour. “When you add it whole wheat flour to the mix, your dough acts totally differently,” she says. “It absorbs more water. Also, the dough is more active and ferments faster.” More water in the dough means the bread will have a more tender, loose grain. We both favor mild-flavored white whole wheat flour, but regular whole wheat flour works just as well. (You could use all whole wheat flour, but you’ll end up with a pretty tough-textured loaf.)

Measure carefully. Take a tip from the pros, and use a kitchen scale to weigh out your flour. This ensures consistent results–and it’s easier than aerating the flour, then spooning it into a dry measuring cup and leveling it with a knife.

Mimic a bakery oven. Professional bakers use high-heat ovens with steam to give bread a delightfully chewy crust. You can imitate that by cranking your oven up to 500 degrees F and preheating a Dutch oven. You’ll add the dough to the hot Dutch oven and cover it for the first 30 minutes of baking–this creates the steamy environment. No-knead dough also tends to be loose, and baking it in a Dutch oven yields a loaf with a pretty boule-like shape. “If you do nothing else but change your baking environment and use a Dutch oven, you’ll get better bread,” Wisner promises.

Practice. Wisner’s recipe is good from the first loaf, and it gets even better the more you make it. You’ll get familiar with the climate of your kitchen (if it’s warm, you dough will proof faster and be wetter) and the quirks of your oven, just two factors that can influence dough.

You’ll also become more confident handling the dough. “It’s a soft dough, so it’s not necessarily what you’re accustomed to,” says Wisner. “I think dough responds to confidence. It sticks to you less, when you movements are more confident.” Like many avid bakers, Wisner believes every dough has its own personality. I certainly do, and can’t resist visiting it while it ferments to check on its progress.

I’ve found the biggest challenge is allowing the baked bread to cool enough to slice it. That, and keeping it away from the dog.