Sorry! You are CHOPPED!!

Dear Friend,

I was channel surfing last night and clicked on a food program called Chopped.  I am not sure why I stopped to watch this station but something about the title and the concept intrigued me.  Four chefs compete for $10,000 by trying to create a tasty, appealing three-course meal from unique and unassociated ingredients. All ingredients must be used and on the plate within the allotted time constraint. It is done in rounds with appetizer, then entrée, and then dessert. After each round, one contestant gets “ chopped”.

Always

Use

I started feeling anxious as I watched the four of them racing about the kitchen area tossing farina into a bowl, slopping sauces on the stove, spilling milk on counters, and throwing utensils into the sink. They hurried by each other to grab pots, pans and other needed items and the entire scene turned chaotic (although with a $$$ purpose). The point of the show apparently was to see how fast a chef could work and put together a delicious, appealing dish using only what was on stage. Please don’t misunderstand, I did like the show but that is not my idea of cooking. Perhaps it is because I not only believe in eating well, I firmly believe that the energy that goes in to the preparation of food is just as important. Of course, all these chefs are probably excellent in their own element, but to watch them sweat, cry and stress as they cooked on television, well all I can say is that I would not want to be a judge.

Mindfulness

When

Cooking

Maybe all this is fine for TV but to me working with food represents life.  Whether I am planting a seed, digging up a potato, scrubbing a carrot, slicing a tomato, sautéing an onion, bottling maple syrup or doing anything with food, I consciously acknowledge that what I am handling fuels my body. And what is terrific about having this attitude is that one does not have to be a great chef or win $10.000 (though that would be nice just in case you are reading this blog Chopped TV producers) to make great food.

Any Meal

 So the next time you enter your kitchen take a deep breath, have awareness, and chop chop chop without feeling you are going to be CHOPPED!

RSVP

jude

Simple Roasted Asparagus and Poached Egg

My favorite dinner in March and April is quite simple – roasted asparagus with a poached or fried egg.  The prep time is literally about ten minutes and especially, if you have some bread and maybe even some cheese handy, makes a complete and satisfying meal.  I’ll often make this dinner when I go to yoga after work – I take 5 minutes to prep the asparagus and throw it in the oven when I get back.

The key to this dinner is to use fresh asparagus and eggs.  On the West Coast, we are probably getting asparagus a little sooner than the rest of the county (although with the bout of 70+ weather across most of nation, you may not have to wait too much longer), but fresh eggs are available everywhere.  Please consider supporting your local farmer when buying eggs – my friend Kate (a farmer) has a great blog post about this and she includes advice on how to find good eggs.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of asparagus (about the size of your fist)

1 TBL olive oil

coarse sea salt

pepper (optional)

egg(s)

Asparagus

1. Preheat your oven to 375.
2. Rinse the asparagus if there is a bit of soil on it and then stem it.  You can do this by breaking off the bottom of the asparagus.  The bottom two inches (approximately) should snap off easily.
3. Place the asparagus in a roasting pan, and coat with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  Cook for 15-25 minutes (depends on whether you like the asparagus slightly crisp or very well roasted).

I definitely need to clean my oven one of these days.

I’m far from an expert in poaching eggs.  You would think cooking an egg until the white is cooked and the yolk is runny would be relatively simple.  But it turns out there are infinite theories on how to poach an egg.  For better or worse, here’s how I do it:

Poached Egg

1. Bring a small pot or saucepan of water and 1 tsp of white vinegar to a boil.  (This helps the egg white bind when you poach it.) 
2. Reduce the water to a simmer. 
3. Crack an egg into a cup or small bowl and gently dump the egg into the water. 
4. Cook the egg on low or medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes.  The water shouldn’t be boiling.  Also, I usually err on the side of cooking longer.  Although with smaller eggs I sometimes end up with a yolk that is kind of softboiled, I also rarely have runny egg whites, which I find totally unappetizing.  
5. Scoop the egg out of the water and place on top of the asparagus.  Season with salt and pepper.  

I hope everyone has a good weekend.  I'm headed to LA to see some friends and am really hopig for some SoCal sunshine! 

Meghan

I'm Not in Hawaii

                                   


Dear Friend,

When I wasn't in Hawaii and I didn't get to pick a juicy, ripe pineapple straight off the plant, I opted instead to go to the Fresh Market in a nearby town. I paid $3.99 for it which was substantially less than the plane ticket I never bought. You see, I had a craving for pineapple ever since reading a delicious recipe that I received in the email from Epicurious. Of course, I tweaked it a bit using maple syrup, my favorite sweetener, rather than the honey it called for.  I also squeezed fresh oranges and used the juice as a marinade. Overall though, I have to credit Epicurious for showing up in my email and tempting me to make this delightful dessert. And just in time too because I had a good friend coming to stay for a few days and arriving that evening. I can honestly say that the Maple Roasted Pineapple with Pistachios gratified us one hundred percent.

Maple Roasted Pineapple with Pistachios

Sliced and Ready to Go

nuts chopped fine

Fresh Oranges and Dark Maple Syrup

Maple Roasted Pineapple with Pistachios 

 1/4 cup dark brown sugar - gives it a nice caramelized color

1/2 to 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice - of course you can use already made

3 to 4TBS maple syrup - I preferred the B for this recipe ( more flavor)

1 medium pineapple

plain but flavorful yogurt to serve on the side with it - optional

1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios - unsalted is better

some mint for garnish if you have it

Preheat oven to 450 F degrees. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Cut core fruit out of pineapple ( this pineapple core remover works great) and slice into equal pieces- 

In a large bowl mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, and orange juice. Add the pineapple and toss to coat.

Marinate for as long as you can - anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours. Turn occasionally. 

Then place slices on the baking sheet and brush marinade over them. Save some for later.

Roast pineapple for 15/20 minutes. Turn, brush a bit more marinade on them and bake for another 15 minutes until they begin to caramelize. Check often because ovens vary. You just want a nice color to them. See pic above.

When done put on separate plates and sprinkle chopped nuts over them. Add mint for garnish and yogurt on the side. Enjoy!

RSVP

jude

The Certainly Not Perfect Egg Roll

Dear Friend,

            Many years ago while a freshman in college, I sat eating in a Chinese restaurant with my good friend Sue and listened to her grumble about the egg roll that she ordered.

            “ This has been processed and frozen,” she complained.

            “ How do you know?” I asked innocently.

            “ Well, just look at it!  Have you ever seen an egg roll rolled so perfectly?” she exclaimed.

            “ Actually Sue, I have to confess. I never saw an egg roll before,” I said looking a bit sheepish.

            “  Really Jude, you need to eat out more often,” Sue said forgetting her disappointment over her meal for a moment.

            Obviously Sue and I had very different backgrounds and eating out was considered a big deal in my farming family. 

            “ What are they supposed to look like?” I asked staring at the one lonely bite Sue took before pushing it to the side.

            “ Not like this.” she answered.

   Over time that memory stayed with me as did Sue’s friendship. Then one day I decided to try my luck at preparing a homemade egg roll after seeing a package of wrappers in the new fresh food market in town. I looked at the back of the package for a recipe and it did not appeal to me at all so I decided to create my own filling. It is as follows:

stir stir stir

center

then fold

        

the certainly not perfect egg rolls

Hot oven (very important) 425 degrees. Be sure it is preheated before putting in the eggrolls.

Spray a fry pan lightly with oil

1 head of Savoy cabbage, chopped

3 carrots large and grated. You can just chop them small as well.

1 pkg of firm tofu, crumbled

A handful of shitake mushrooms or any kind really, just be sure to finely chop them

About 10 oz of chopped spinach or as much as you like. It cooks down.

2TBs of soy sauce

2Tbs Maple syrup (most of the time I use a bit more)

1 tsp grated fresh ginger or ¼ tsp of dry ginger (you can use more but it will get spicy)

Add the cabbage and carrots to the fry pan over medium heat. Sauté until cabbage begins to cook down.  Stir often. Stir in the mushrooms and tofu. Lower heat, put cover on, and let it cook down for about ten minutes. Stir regularly. Remove cover and add the spinach. Stir until spinach is cooked. Add the soy sauce, maple syrup and ginger. Keep vegetables on simmer until all liquid is absorbed. Remember stir, stir, stir.

Let it cool. Prepare a cookie sheet by spraying it with oil, or pour a bit of oil on it and spread around. Now you are ready to wrap. Place a small amount in the center of the wrapper. Cross over back to front, then again side to side and one more turn. Moisten the end with a dab of water for it to seal.  Roll the egg roll in the oil on the cookie sheet ( you also could just spray the top of them)and bake for about fifteen minutes, turn over and then they only need about five minutes more. They should be golden brown and crispy. And that’s it.

The first time I made these, I took several to Sue and her love of eggrolls returned. I hope you love them too. Oh one more thing. I serve them with warmed apricot jam and soy sauce. Enjoy!

RSVP

Jude

Hazelnut Apple Crisp

This past week we had some friends and their two daughters visiting from Santa Fe.  This winter has been unusually dry in California, with hardly any rain or snow and long stretches of sunny blue skies.  We had weeks where you really felt like you’re livin’ the dream.  So wouldn’t you know, the day our friends arrived we received the worst storm of the winter – a solid week of gray drizzly rain. 

While I couldn’t do anything about the weather, I could make sure they ate well.  On Friday we hosted a group dinner for our guests.  The kids were excited by all the new food they had tried in San Francisco, but were looking forward to some “normal food”.  My husband was responsible for the tortilla soup main course (a “normal” dinner for New Mexicans), while I focused on the salad and dessert.  

It’s a tough part of the year to try and eat seasonally, even in the Bay Area.  I’m sick to death of citrus, kiwis are on their way out, and at this point the apples have been in storage for months.  We had a bag of cheap organic apples sitting around that were a bit soft and tasted somewhat …… end of the season.  Not bad, just not like the apples you get in October.  An apple crisp seemed like a good way to use them up.

 

Ingredients

Fruit

7 medium apples, sliced lengthwise
2 tsp lemon zest (if your apples are very tart, 1 tsp should be fine)

juice from half a lemon (about 1 tablespoon)

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup maple syrup (or substitute ¼ brown sugar if you don’t have maple syrup.  If your apples are already very sweet, you may want to use a bit less sweetener)

Crisp Topping

½ cup oats
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup toasted, chopped hazelnuts

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup maple syrup

1 stick of butter, room temperature

¼ tsp of salt

1. Slice apples lengthwise and place in 8x12 casserole dish.
2. Add lemon zest and juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and maple syrup.  Mix until apples are well coated.  Evenly arrange in dish. 
3. Toast and chop the hazelnuts.  While they are toasting, add the oats, flour, salt and brown sugar to a mixing bowl and give it a stir until the ingredients are combined. 
4. Add the maple syrup, hazelnuts and butter.  Mix the topping until it is clumpy.  It shouldn’t look as smooth as dough, but you don’t want any loose flour or oats. 
5. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the crisp.
6. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until apples are bubbling and soft. 
7. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Variation: You can omit the crisp topping and just bake the apples.  This would make a delicious topping to vanilla ice cream or yoghurt. 

 

Lorien

     If I'd had Saint Patrick's Day dinner with my family, we would have been toasting my niece Lorien. We would have been eating salmon, mashed potatoes and asparagus and washing it down with champagne, her favorites as I remember them. Saturday was the 24th anniversary of her birth.
     Lorien's life as we know it ended in 2004, just before her 16th birthday. She had a belief system that included Buddhism, which I choose to believe helped her with her strong connection to life. She was an adventurer that wanted to experience all that growing up has to offer. Lorien was the first person to be granted an international wish from the Make A Wish Foundation. She and part of her family traveled to Dublin to celebrate the Millennium- she loved her Irish roots. Her perseverance also took her on a tour of Australia with a summer educational program.
     Although I can't tell you Lorien's favorite recipe, I can tell you that she loved Birds of Paradise, Audrie Hepburn and boat camping with her Dad. Lorien believed in random acts of kindness and living graciously. Donations to Heifer Project International was her wish for Christmas 2003. That same season she chose random names from the phone book and sent out cards filled with holiday cheer to unknown recipients.
     I know little about Buddhism except that the body is considered a vessel and that the soul moves on to other forms. Lorien's life has had a ripple effect on our family, we carry her forward in what we have learned from her. In honor of Lorien's birthday please do something kind for someone you don't know.

                                                 "Be life long or short, its completeness
                                                  depends on what it was lived for."
                                                                                       -David Starr Jordan-

     If you have a moment please leave a comment about the kindness you have shared. I know others would love to read about it and you never know who you might inspire.
  

Eggs Benny Brunch

This Sunday, we celebrated my grandmothers birthday. When it comes to food-we are a family steeped in tradition, meaning when it comes to celebrations- we don't veer off the path too often. For instance, I can tell you exactly what will be on the menu next Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas morning and  Christmas dinner. I love to eat adventurously in my day-to-day life, but when it comes to holiday and family celebrations there is something so festive and comforting about going through my mom's old recipe file, and pulling out our treasured recipes- which get more fragile and tattered with each passing year.  Our favorite recipes, however, require no written directions.

If you know me, you know that breakfast is my absolute favorite meal, and when you call it brunch, well, then its my weakness. I think its hereditary. We make Eggs Benedict for Nana every year, which has now become one of my favorites. There are so many things you can do with it- but as long as its covered with lemony-buttery hollandaise and the poached egg has a nice runny yolk- I am a very happy foodie.

This is a version from two summers ago- it was a welcome home brunch (not dinner) for Grace, who was visiting from San Francisco, and myself, who was just returning home from Australia. I dream about this meal sometimes.


My role in the Benedict production has become the hollandaise, and to be honest- it turns out a little different each time. Yesterday's turned out particularly well in my opinion, and I'd love to share it with you.

Hollandaise Sauce
Serves 6

1 1/4 sticks of butter- melted & cooled
1 Tbl lemon juice
1 Egg yolk
Dash of dry mustard
Pinch of cayenne (optional)

In a blender, combine lemon juice and egg yolk, mustard and cayenne.  Whizz on high. Through the top of the blender, while its running, slowly pour the butter in, in a steady but light stream.  The process takes less than a minute- but should be done at the VERY last minute, basically as the eggs are coming out of the water.

As for egg poaching- I've got nothing for ya. My dad is the specialist. I'll have to have him do a tutorial for us one of these days. His specialty is 12 at a time!

Here is the line of production, Dad on the eggs, mom on the english muffins, canadian bacon and home-fries, and myself on the hollandaise.

The end result looked like this:

The true end result was clean plates all around.

The guest of honor, queen bee and birthday gal herself,

Wouldn't it be fun to go to an eggs benedict bar, where you could choose variations like crab, lobster, bacon, and fun different flavored hollandaise sauces? I think one day I'll open a restaurant and dedicate Sunday brunch to eggs benny. Benny Bar Sunday! Who's with me??

I hope everyone had nice weekends- the weather on the east coast is out of this world right now-

KH

I am humbled or

So that’s what Mac and Cheese is supposed to look like!

Dear Friend,

            If you ever want to be humbled take a few good friends out to lunch and head to the Culinary Institute of America. DeVere, Susan and I did just that and we had an experience any foodie would trade her best ever recipe over. We are fortunate that it is less then ninety minutes away from us and that we could go on a weekday. Weekends are supposed to be unbearably crowded.

entry to CIA 

busy CIA students

Upon arrival, friendly students meandering the courtyard or hurrying to class greeted us. There are 2000 future chefs here and all share the thrill of great food. In fact the logo of the school is “Food is Life / Create and Savor Yours”. We were ready and headed towards the center of the large campus that housed five unique restaurants and a bakery café that showcased the cuisine prepared by the students.

Food is Life/Create and Savor Yours

But unfortunately there was no room at any of them for us except the bakery café. Reservations apparently are recommended specifically for this reason and we had none.  Who would have figured that there would be busloads of other enthusiastic food lovers on a Thursday? But rather than being disappointed, the three of us were overjoyed once we got a peek at this bakery cafe, unlike any we had seen before.

Bakery Cafe

Demo Kitchen or what I now call my dream kitchen

I  hesitated, however, before entering because I knew my weaknesses and bread and pastry headed the list. One deep inhale of fresh baked goodies, though, and I left all my hesitation at the doorway. I reverted to my five your old self and wanted one of everything. Fortunately, DeVere and Susan remained in their grown up bodies and snapped me back to reality.

Can you guess what this is? I ate the whole thing. 

I had to be restrained here

 We ordered caramelized onion and bacon quiche. We questioned how the eggs remained in a layer on top of the other ingredients and were told that it was in the whipping process of the eggs that made them lighter so they did not sink.  We also ordered macaroni and cheese and the secret here was the grating and type of cheese that determined the taste. The salad had a hint of yummy dressing. For dessert (and one does not go to the CIA without ordering dessert), the chocolate mousse satisfied our chocolate desires.

 I now aspire for my mac and cheese to look and taste  like this 

WOW! Unsinkable eggs. I have to strive for this too!

 So find the time and head out to the CIA or at least check it out online and dream.

They sprinkle edible gold dust on the topping

RSVP

Jude

The two step recipes

Dear Friend,

I am sure you are wondering what is a two step recipe.  First you should know that I sometimes like cooking simply. I want my prep time quick. But I also learned that when I use pure maple syrup I only need one other ingredient for a successful dish.  What follows is a simple dinner but it is elegant, delicious and healthy ( yes syrup is filled with lots of minerals and that is why the Grade B ( the B standing for BEST robust taste) is used in detox cleansing.  And that is not all.  Are you ready for this?  This meal is easy and fast.  Why make a thirty minute meal when you can do it in less than ten minutes. All that together along with the added flavor of great tasting syrup to celebrate March Maple Madness, it is no wonder I am giddy with sap fever.

baked maple marinated tofu 

  For your main course, you can use sockeye salmon, steelehead trout, or tofu. I will begin with the tofu.   I marinate the slices in maple syrup for several hours. The longer the better. Then I just saute them over medium heat or bake them in a hot, 425 degree, oven. For the fish I make a glaze of maple syrup and any very good tasting mustard using equal amounts of each.  Just stir the two ingredients and brush over the trout or salmon.  You may let it marinate for a bit or cook right away in a 375 degree oven. The time depends on the pounds. Just keep checking it, like I do.

brushed on fish

mustard and maple glaze

yum

I then do my carrots. Slice them or dice them anyway you want. Put them in a baking dish and pour a bit of maple over them and dab some tasty butter.  I use five medium carrots, One tablespoon maple syrup and a tablespoon of butter. You don't need much.  That is the joy of maple.

I then wash and pat dry my salad mix. I add whatever I am in the mood for to my salad. This one had low fat feta, slivered almonds, and tiny grape tomatoes. Now to dress it.  I take the best balsamic vinegar I can afford to buy ( and believe it or not I find it usually in the bulk department of the smaller fresh food markets) and mix about 1/4 cup to 1/2 tsp maple to create a burst of flavor.

That's it. Ready to eat in about twenty minutes or so. Great food, hardly any clean up and ready before I can finish an article in a magazine. Enjoy!!!

RSVP

Jude