Quotable Quote

Everyone knows there are foods that are sexy to eat. What they don't talk about so much is foods that are sexy to make.

- Julie Powell

Recipe: Grated Beet Salad

Yesterday, I had already used the food processor to grate some carrots for tossing into our main dish, and we had a few beets left over, so we had an extremely simple salad as an accompaniment to our meal that ended up being the most profoundly satisfying thing.

Grated Beet Salad

Take 4 beets, and peel, trim, and grate them, either manually or in a food processor. Stir them in a bowl with the juice from half a large lemon and 1-2 tablespoons of very high quality extra virgin olive oil. Optional: stir in some of your favorite green herb, minced, like parsley or basil or cilantro. I think chopped pistachios would also be great in this salad. Voilà!

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Here's more nutritional information about The Amazing Beet!

Beets are superfoods and contain nutrient compounds that prevent heart disease, birth defects, and cancer. Betacyanin, which gives beets their deep ruby color, is a cancer-fighting agent. The fiber in beets is also healthy for your colon. Eating them grated or julienned is a wonderful way to get the maximum amount of active nutrients -- nutrient activity is diminished after heating.

The betaine found in beets (and also spinach) is anti-inflammatory (chronic inflammation is something to avoid, as it has been linked to heart disease, osteoporosis, cognitive decline, Alzheimer's, and type-2 diabetes). In fact, the choline found in egg yolks and soybeans works well together with the betaine found in beets, spinach, and whole wheat products to reduce inflammation -- so try a poached egg atop some wilted beet greens!

The B-vitamin folate is especially important for women to consume during pregnancy to prevent fetal neural tube defects. Just one cup of boiled beets provides 34% of the recommended daily intake of folate! (Raw beets may provide more.)

The only individuals who need worry about eating too many beets are people with kidney or gallbladder problems (beets have oxalates, which can form crystals in people with not entirely functioning kidneys or gallbladders).

% DV that 1 Cup (Boiled) Beets provides of:
folate 34%
manganese 27.5%
potassium 14.8%
dietary fiber 13.6%
vitamin C 10.2%
magnesium 9.8%
iron 7.4%
copper 6.5%
phosphorus 6.5%

Quotable Quote

You must be careful with your indulgences. The more you eat of something you love, the less of a luxury it becomes.

- Mary Roach

Recipe: Spicy Yam Latkes

Happy Hanukkah! I love yams and Jewish holidays, so voila, yam latkes. These taste pretty good eaten with cranberry chutney.

Spicy Yam Latkes

1 lb. yams, peeled and coarsely grated
1/4 cup amaranth flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour, or soaked and rinsed quinoa
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed

1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 medium eggs, beaten
about 1/2 cup yogurt
Oil for frying

In a medium-sized bowl mix the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt and pepper. Mix in the eggs and as much yogurt as needed to make a stiff batter. Mix in the yams; the batter should be moist. If it seems stiff, add a bit more yogurt.

Fill a frying pan about 1/4" up the sides with oil and heat over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, drop tablespoonfuls of batter in it and flatten them with the back of the spoon or a spatula. Fry the latkes over medium-high heat several minutes on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels.

What my grandparents think of this site

Recently, my grandparents checked out this blog. They were completely unimpressed: "Making yogurt at home?" It is hard for them to imagine that these are not things people here do instinctively and on a daily basis.

So I have been trying to think about what to post that might actually impress them. It's difficult, because their whole life experience with food preparation is going back much further along the steps it takes for something to make it to the table.

For instance, they buy wheat from a wheat farmer, take it to someone who specializes in milling and grinding wheat, get it ground in different ways so they have some for making chapati and some for making batura. At home they keep lots of other grains like raggi (millet) and chawal (rice).

Growing up, I would often hear them express their disbelief that we could even live here in America, with the food being so bad. Even the carrots tasted bland to them. (It's true that every aspect and element of food in India is sooooo good... even the onions are better. The cucumbers are heaven. If you've been to Italy, think about any salad tomatoes you had there, and how you felt upon eating a tomato when you got back here.)

Nowadays, you get readymade pasta in India, but for a long time, it was difficult to come by, and my uncle had us bring him a pasta maker, and he even makes homemade pasta.

Nani (my grandmother) makes a sweet dish of reduced milk and dates that takes three days to finish. She makes floral-flavored syrups to mix with soda -- my favorites are jasmine and sandalwood.

Sometimes I feel pangs of regret for what we're losing in living our fast-paced, readymade lives. I don't like to think negatively, so I try always to think of what we've gained -- advancements in gender equality, for instance. And right now in America, people are realizing the importance of fresh, delicious produce, sitting down and eating together in community, getting your nutrition from real food instead of industrialized food, and there's even been a resurgence in gardening, canning, making homemade preserves, etc.

But I think when it comes to food, we've got nothing on the Old World.

Recipe: Gingerbread (Cake)

Gingerbread (Cake)

Oil spray (I have grapeseed)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used apple-apricot sauce)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 cup whole wheat flour or other whole grain flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup ground almonds / almond flour
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray baking pans (I used 4 mini-loaf pans, one regular size loaf pan, and a mini cake pan; I think it's a total of 12 Cups capacity) with oil spray. Whisk maple syrup, molasses, applesauce, oil and egg in large bowl to blend. Add the flours, ground ginger, and sugar and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda and salt and stir again. Whisk in 1/2 cup boiling water.

Pour the batter halfway up the sides of the baking pans.

Bake until the gingerbread begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 35 minutes.

Transfer to rack and cool in pans, 30 minutes.

Invert onto platter(s) and cool at least 15 minutes.

Recipe: Avgolemono

Avgolemono is a Greek egg-lemon-rice soup, a comfort food, which we had last night alongside a simple bread stuffing with apples, dried cranberries, celery, leeks, carrots and herbs, with cranberry chutney (which I always find myself craving a second round of shortly after Thanksgiving). Since the oven was hot, I also popped in some gingerbread.

Avgolemono might be an acquired taste, be forewarned.

Avgolemono for 4
1 quart vegetable stock
1 Cup uncooked brown basmati rice (that's what I used, because it's what I have, but any brown or white rice would do)
1/3 Cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 egg
a celery heart, including the leafy parts, chopped; or chopped fresh parsley, to taste; or dill, torn into bits, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Put the rice and stock into a soup pot. Bring to boil over high heat, then turn heat to low, cover, and let simmer until the rice is tender, about 15 minutes. While the rice is cooking, chop the celery heart or parsley or tear the dill into bits and divide it among four bowls. Beat the egg and lemon juice together in a small bowl. When the rice is done, turn off the heat, whisk a big ladleful of hot -- not boiling -- stock into the egg and lemon juice. Stir the egg-lemon-juice-stock mixture into the rice-stock mixture in the soup pot and continue stirring, for up to three minutes.* Season with salt and pepper to taste and ladle the soup into the bowls over the celery/parsley.

*If you are serving this to a small child or pregnant woman and concerned about properly pasteurizing the eggs, use a thermometer and make sure the egg mixture remains at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for three minutes, or use store-bought pasteurized eggs.

Recipe: Winter Tricolor Salad

Just had this two nights in a row -- first with three big men, then with a petite New Yorker woman, and it was a hit with all of them.

Winter Tricolor Salad for 4

Dressing

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons stone ground mustard

2 teaspoons honey

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 cups watercress, shredded

2 cups radicchio, shredded

1 head Belgian endive, thinly sliced

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 large green apple, cored and julienned

1/2 cup dried cranberries or dried cherries

Optional: grated aged Parmigiano cheese

Whisk dressing ingredients. Toss watercress, radicchio, endive, fennel, apple, and dried fruit with dressing in a large bowl to combine. Serve immediately. (Can top with some grated Parmigiano if you like cheese.)

Food Poem Fridays: Jenni Pahl's HUNGER

Hunger

By Jenni Pahl

The woman behind the counter at Krispy Kreme calls me sweetie.

Arms tattooed with bruises, her face is a mask.

She puts an extra donut in the bag

and touches my hand when I pay with a pile of quarters.

Outside, spastic balloons dance down Main Street.

The sky fills with the absence of birds.

Even the pigeons have stopped their begging.

I think if I put my ear to the ground I would hear a rumbling

as if the earth were aware of my hunger.

Recipe: Ruby & Golden Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Pistachio Dressing

Ruby & Golden Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Pistachio Dressing for 8

3 large red beets
2 large golden beets
1/4 cup minced shallot
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
4 oz soft mild goat cheese
3 tablespoons shelled pistachios, finely chopped
1 oz mâche, trimmed (4 cups)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Separately wrap red and golden beets in foil and roast in oven, 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Unwrap and allow to cool.

Whisk together shallot, lemon juice, chopped pistachios, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil in a stream, whisking. Allow to sit at room temperature while the beets are roasting.

When beets are cool enough to handle, slip off and discard skins. Dice red and golden beets into 1/4" dice and put in separate bowls. Add almost half of the dressing to each bowl and toss to coat (saving at least a tablespoon of dressing). Place a 2 to 2 1/2" cookie cutter in the center of 1 of 8 salad plates. Put 1/8 of the red beets into the cutter and press down with your fingertips or a spoon. Crumble 2 teaspoons goat cheese on top, then 1/8 of the golden beets, packing down. Gently lift cutter up and away from stack. Make 7 more servings in same manner.

Strain the remaining dressing and toss the mâche with just the strained olive oil/lemon juice (just enough to coat) and gently mound on top of beets.