Food Poem Fridays: R.S. Gwynn's FRIED BEAUTY

Fried Beauty
By R. S. Gwynn

Glory be to God for breaded things–
Catfish, steak finger, pork chop, chicken thigh,
Sliced green tomatoes, pots full to the brim
With french fries, fritters, life-float onion rings,
Hushpuppies, okra golden to the eye,
That in all oils, corn or canola, swim

Toward mastication’s maw (O molared mouth!);
Whatever browns, is dumped to drain and dry
On paper towels’ sleek translucent scrim,
These greasy, battered bounties of the South:
Eat them.

My Critique of the Top 50 Recipes on RealSimple

Real Simple printed the list of the 50 recipes that were most often viewed on its website in 2008. From my critical perspective, they reflect the tendency towards agrobusiness-made-cheap chicken and inflammatory, high glycemic index foods in the American diet, which are at the root of so many chronic health problems plaguing our population's health, bloating our national spending on health, and hurting the environment, too.

My recipe for more universal health would be to reduce portions of animal protein and eat less dense, more fibrous foods - like more lentils, fruits, and vegetables - and substitute whole and "ancient" grains (like wild rice and amaranth flour) for processed, "post-agricultural" ones (like bleached all-purpose flour and polished white rice).

A dinner plate should look more like a colorful smorgas board and not be a big slab of white breast meat from a coop-raised, beak-snipped, chicken, slathered with cheese and white breadcrumbs with a few tasteless steamed green beans on the side like an afterthought.

Ice Cream Cake, for instance, was #2 (in fact, dessert recipes made up four of the top ten). Instead, how about antioxidant-rich fresh berries - maybe blended with some frozen hung and whipped organic, whole fat yogurt (satisfying, rich in calcium and the right amount of fat needed to absorb that calcium, and providing healthy pro-biotic "good bacteria"), sweetened with a little raw honey?

I tried to find some recipes that I would actually feel like making and eating myself. Probably only the grilled shrimp tacos and summer bouillabaisse, with a few modifications, would make it onto my plate, and maybe a modified version of the banana nut bread (more bananas, different sweeteners, some applesauce instead of all that fat, and ground flaxseed, almond flour, and whole wheat flour in place of the refined grains).

What did you think of the list?

Recipe: Spicy Tangerine Shrimp

Good served with brown or multigrain rice or noodles; cooks quickly; brightens up a wintry day; and is high in vitamin C, other antioxidants, and protein.

Spicy Tangerine Shrimp for 4

2 tangerines
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons water
3/4 pound shrimp
3 cups small broccoli florets (I used broccolini; you could use any crunchy
green vegetable you have on hand, like asparagus or snap peas)
3 scallions, cut on the bias into 2-inch lengths
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons nama shoyu
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1. Grate the zest from the tangerines; set aside. Peel the tangerines, removing all pith, and
separate into sections; reserve the sections. Stir together the cornstarch
and 2 tablespoons of the water (I actually used yuzu rice vinegar) in a cup until smooth; set aside.

2. Swirl a small amount of peanut oil (~1-2 teaspoons) around a nonstick
wok. When hot, add half of the shrimp and stir-fry until done, about 3
minutes, using a slotted spoon to transfer to a bowl. Repeat with the
remaining shrimp.

3. Add the broccoli and the remaining 2 tablespoons water to the wok; cook,
covered, about 2 minutes. Increase the heat to high. Add the scallions, bell
pepper, garlic, tangerine zest, shoyu, and crushed red pepper; stir-fry
about 1 minute. Stir the cornstarch mixture and add to the wok; stir-fry
until the sauce thickens and bubbles, about 1 minute. Return the shrimp to
the wok along with the tangerines; stir-fry until heated through, about 1
minute longer.

Recipe: Pomegranate-Date Tagine

I had resolved to make more tagines when we returned from Morocco - they're layered with sweet spices, a lingering tang (not a bright one), and the mouth seems to want to savor bites for longer, encouraging a healthy slowness in eating, lingering and conversation.  I haven't made very many in the last several months, but here's a particularly simple one, that could also be made in a covered baking dish if you don't have a tagine.

Pomegranate-Date Tagine for 2

olive oil
1 lb to 1.5 lbs wild coho salmon
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 preserved lemon
2 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Cup pomegranate juice
1/4 C chopped dates
1 tsp salt

Generously salt and pepper the fish. Heat a tagine over medium heat until
very hot. Lower oven rack to lower middle position and preheat to 275°F.

Add the onions, minced ginger and preserved lemon to the pan and saute for
about 20 minutes. Add the cinnamon sticks and coriander seeds and caramelize
the onions (another 10 minutes). Add the fish to the pot, the pomegranate
juice, and the dates. Bring to a boil and salt to taste.

Cover and place in the oven. Braise for 30 minutes or until the fish
flakes.

We had this with pistachio couscous (simply, couscous for 2 with
about 1/3 Cup shelled and coarsely chopped pistachios stirred into it while
hot; also added a dash of lemon juice).

Food Poem Fridays: Roy Blount, Jr.'s SONG TO ONIONS

Song to Onions

By Roy Blount, Jr.

They improve everything, pork chops to soup,
And not only that but each onion's a group.

Peel back the skin, delve into tissue

And see how an onion has been blessed with issue.
Every layer produces an ovum:
You think you've got three then you find you've got fovum.

Onion on on—Ion on onion they run,

Each but the smallest one some onion's mother:
An onion comprises a half-dozen other.
In sum then an onion you could say is less

Than the sum of its parts.
But then I like things that more are than profess—
In food and the arts.
Things pungent, not tony.

I'll take Damon Runyon
Over Antonioni—Who if an i wanders becomes Anti-onion.

I'm anti-baloney.
Although a baloney sandwich would
Right now, with onions, be right good.

And so would sliced onions,

Chewed with cheese,

Or onions chopped and sprinkled

Over black-eyed peas:
Black-eyed,

grey-gravied,

absorbent of essences,

eaten on New Year's Eve
peas.

Food Poem Fridays: Robert Hass's THE FEAST

The Feast

By Robert Hass

The lovers loitered on the deck talking,

the men who were with men and the men who were with new

women,

a little shrill and electric, and the wifely women

who had repose and beautifully lined faces

and coppery skin. She had taken the turkey from the oven

and her friends were talking on the deck

in the steady sunshine. She imagined them

drifting toward the food, in small groups, finishing

sentences, lifting a pickle or a sliver of turkey,

nibbling a little with unconscious pleasure. And

she imagined setting it out artfully, the white meat,

the breads, antipasto, the mushrooms and salad

arranged down the oak counter cleanly, and how they all came

as in a dance when she called them. She carved meat

and then she was crying. Then she was in a darkness

crying. She didn't know what she wanted.

Recipe: Roasted Vegetables with Grapefruit "Zesto" and Fennel Grapefruit Salad

For New Year's eve, we were at a friend's place for dinner and toasting 2009.  They were serving mainly seafood - cracked crab claws and lobster with a spicy, citrus-y dipping sauce, oysters, shrimp cocktail, and sushi and sashimi.  So we brought two vegetarian dishes in the hopes of complementing the seafood with some citrus flavors.

Roasted Vegetables with Grapefruit “Zesto” for 8

I call it grapefruit “zesto” because it’s kind of like a pesto of grapefruit zest : ).

3 medium Japanese eggplants, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2” pieces
3 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2”-thick rounds
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2”-inch pieces1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2”-inch pieces
1 large red onion, peeled, root end left intact, cut into 1/2”-thick wedges
1/4 Cup raw artichoke pate
1/4 Cup yuzu rice vinegar
1/4 Cup vegetable stock
1 bunch chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons minced grapefruit zest
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 475°F.  Place eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and onion in a large bowl.  Season with salt and pepper and toss well with raw artichoke pate and yuzu rice vinegar.  Arrange vegetables in a roasting pan and pour vegetable stock over.  Roast until tender, about 30 minutes.

In the large bowl you were using before, toss the now-roasted vegetables with the parsley, grapefruit zest, and garlic; if needed, season with additional salt and pepper.  You can either serve the vegetables in the large bowl or transfer them to a platter.

---

Fennel Grapefruit Salad for 8

Dressing:
2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Salad:
1 head Belgian endive, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1" thick strips
1 head treviso - save 8 leaves for decorating and then halve lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1" thick strips
1 head butter lettuce, leaves torn
1 cup fresh fennel bulb, tough bottom stem portion and upper green portions trimmed, cut lengthwise into 3-4 sections depending on width, then sliced thinly using a mandoline
3 small pink or 2 large ruby red grapefruits, sectioned

Whisk the dressing ingredients in a large bowl, then add all the salad ingredients except for the grapefruit sections and saved treviso leaves and toss to coat. Top with grapefruit sections. Stick the treviso leaves lengthwise around the edges of the salad.  Optional: top with one ounce shaved parmigiano reggiano.