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Beet Greens Anyone?
If you are like me and most others, you hated beets when you were a child. Even if you didn’t hate them you probably didn’t ask mom or dad to have beets with lunch or dinner. You would have been thought of as just plain weird if you liked beets in my school. They were tops on most kids list as the vegie to hate. There was no cartoon hero like Popeye for spinach to pump up the image of beets so they languished for years. I didn’t start liking beets until I was in my 30’s working at restaurants that knew how to prepare them differently than pickled beets, or Harvard Beets. Why this beautiful vegie received so much scorn from children all over the US is beyond me! They have a great flavor with a nice touch of sweetness and are good for you too. I think there was a conspiracy from some other vegie group to discredit beets. How else can you explain beets reputation amongst children,and some adults? While beets are not as power packed as some other vegies they are low in calories and the greens are high in vitamin A. The greens have four grams of protein and fiber in one serving. The most important aspect of beets to me is the taste and color they bring to a salad, or side dish. They brighten up any plate in a big way. I love to have beets that have simply been boiled, peeled and sliced as part of a salad. They go great with goat cheese or toasted walnuts as a salad dish.
Fresh from my garden
Since moving to Baltimore over four years ago we ended up with home in the burbs that has room for a vegie garden. This is my third year of vegie gardening here, and what a difference it is from the garden I had in Sterling, Alaska. Why I don’t even have to chase moose from the garden here. I do however get an occasional bunny or deer that wants to sample my garden. Lots of things grow well here that didn’t in Alaska. I grow tomatoes, carrots, peppers, eggplant, onions, okra, gobs of herbs, and beets. I get different results each year as to what grows well and what does not. Beets are the exception to that as they have done well each of the three years. Yesterday I picked my first batch of beets and brought them into the kitchen to test the goods.
They looked great, even if they had a couple of holes eaten out of them by some sort of bug. After washing the beets I was ready to have them all to my self, and cut off the greens for instant gratification.
In the fridge the beets went while their tops hit the saute pan with a bit of my garlic infused olive oil,http://www.fastandfuriouscook.com/garlic-infused-olive-oil-roasted-garlic. This side dish cooks quick!
After I added a bit of fresh grated parmesan cheese on top I was sitting at the table wolfing down the plate of greens all to myself in near bliss after just 5 minutes in the pan. With a bowl of Pinto Bean Soup it was a great lunch combo. Where ever you live in the US you should be seeing fresh beets, grown locally, now or in the near future. Give this greens recipe a try and let me know if you love beets and beet greens too. Beets are good food!
Sauteed Beet Greens
5 ounces or so of beet greens
1-1 1/2 teaspoons garlic infused olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
grated parmesan, optional
Wash the greens well, and trim most of the stem within about a half inch from the green part. Dry well and saute on medium heat for about five minutes. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of water halfway to speed up the cooking process. Add salt and pepper during the last minute of cooking. These merely need to be wilted, not cooked to a shriveled state where you don’t know what kind of green your eating. Grate fresh parmesan cheese over them and serve.
Serves two
Yummy beautiful beet greens
Giving Back
I’ve had an amazing life! Part of the responsibility that goes with such a life is to give back. I haven’t always felt this way, but for the last 15 plus years I’ve done my best to give back to this abundant world in which we live. It’s hard to find a better way to give back than mentoring fatherless boys. I started back in 1975 while on active duty in the US Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. I had the privilege of mentoring a 9 year old boy living in the projects of New London with his mom and three or four sisters.
a fine thankyou note indeed
It’s been so long ago I don’t remember the exact number of sisters, but this kid needed a positive male role model. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the boy, and I might have done a lot more of it but I was transferred to Alaska ending our relationship. After I was discharged from the USCG an inconvenient lifestyle kept me out of mentoring for a lot of years. Lucky for me I got over it and rebuilt my life. I’ve been able to mentor several boys over the last 16 years. Two of those boys participated in a lot of cooking with me. They learned quite a bit about cooking, and I learned a lot about teaching cooking to kids from that experience so when I moved to Maryland in 2009 and started a new phase of mentoring for Catholic Charities at their St Vincent’s Villa, and Villa Maria complex I was ready to take it to the next level.
a colorful thankyou note.
Now these boys at St Vincent’s and Villa Maria were healing at a residential treatment center, and they were not all suited to cooking lessons, not all kids can be around knives and such. With the matching of my fourth mentee it was all about to change. This boy liked going down to the kitchen at the Mara Pre-Voc Center with me and we cooked up a bunch of fun stuff. My boy loved the mixing, cooking and tasting process, but he really shined when going back to the unit and gave away most of the goodies we had just made. It was a significant self esteem booster for him, and I loved watching him gift the goods to staff and the other boys each time we returned from our cooking lessons. We also would gift some of the goodies to the Volunteer Coordinator, Miss Lauren, who was liking what she saw. One day Miss Lauren asked me if I’d like to start a cooking club for on of the girls units.
Knowing that most of the kids might not be trusted around knives and other kitchen equipment I had some interesting thoughts about 10 girls in the kitchen for a cooking class! However we jumped into the design phase of the St Vincent’s Cooking Club and fired off a grant proposal to fund the project. It took a couple of months to find out we were turned down, but luckily we found enough support from the good folks at McCormick’s Spice Company who have supplied volunteers and some of the needed items. We had our first cooking club at the end of April, for the older girls, and the next one the first week of May. Both went well and I had a lot of fun, as did the girls and two boys that were moved into a new co-ed apartment.
They learned about making home made applesauce, and the different types of apples for baking, or eating raw. Some of them got to handle a vegetable peeler for the first time, and all the older girls peeled an apple for the project. The smell of cinnamon was in the air and there were high spirits in the kitchen when we dished up the applesauce for all to try. Now this was not sweetened with sugar. Just a tablespoon of honey went into 11 apples worth of applesauce and they all loved it. We plan on having the cooking club the first Wednesday of the month for the older girls unit and the second Wednesday of the month for the younger co-ed unit all the way into December for the finale. Life isn’t easy for these kids and if we can teach them a valuable and fun lesson we have accomplished something good. Who knows how they will look back on this experience years from now? I feel like it is a great success already.
Today I was invited by Miss Lauren to attend the quarterly staff meeting so I could add a little something after the powerpoint of the cooking club. I had not seen the pictures of the kids in the kitchen before today, or the poster boards they have already made with pictures and notations of the first cooking club. I was truly touched by this, and am so happy they appreciate our little club. I’m not allowed to post any pictures of the kids due to confidentiality rules, but believe when I say there were some world class smiles on their faces. I can however post some of the thank you letters I recieved from some of the older kids I did a career day talk and demo of stove top popcorn in April. It’s not all that often I see tangible proof that I’m helping the kids I volunteer to help, but today I received plenty, and that’s why I give back all I can.
Fast and Furious popcorn video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc0pPIbqBz0
1/3 cup popcorn
2-3 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon Spike Seasoning Salt
1/2 teaspoon jalapeno powder, optional
In a 4-5 quart cast iron or enamel cast iron pot with a lid heat oil until just about smoking. Add popcorn and put lid on loosely. With hot mitts or hot pads grasp the pot by the handles and shake occasionally while the popcorn is popping. You need the lid to be loose, not tight fitting or the steam will turn the popcorn tough. Once the popcorn is popping well, about 1-2 minutes turn down the heat to about medium and take off the stove when popping slows to a few seconds between audible pops. Dump into a big bowl and sprinkle half of the Spike and half of the jalapeno powder and stir. Repeat with the rest of the Spike and jalapeno powder. You can pour 1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil over it at this point if desired,(I do).
Note: It takes just a bit of practice to do this without burning the popcorn. It’s best to give it a few tries until you master the uniqueness of your stove, and pot. It’s worth it in the end. Jalapeno powder can be purchased at Penzey’s Spices Stores or online at penzeys.com or my favorite spice store Market Spice in Seattle and www.marketspice.com You can also use ground black pepper, ground white pepper, Lawrey’s Seasoning Salt, or many other seasonings you might like to try. Be creative!
Ten Weeks and Counting
It’s hard to believe that the ball of fluff sleeping 5 feet from me is almost 10 weeks old already. Tucker the German Sheperd pup is fully acclimated to the kitchen, family room,and back yard after coming home from Denver with me on May 6th. It was quite a journey flying with the little guy who just barely fit under the seat in front of me in his crate.
7 1/2 week old Tucker
I had never flown with a dog, or cat in the cabin of a commercial aircraft before and had visions of a crying pup bothering the passengers around us, but the little guy hardly let out a peep. It was only when we were climbing up to cruise altitude he got a bit noisy for 2 minutes and that was it. Five whole hours in a soft sided crate that would not hold him now, and he did great. Not that I’m in a hurry to do it again, but I can tell you it was a breeze looking back on the adventure. This three weeks with Tucker has been a blur of 11pm, 1 am and 4 am walks outside in the yard to do what puppies do often, pee and poo. Last night he broke his record and went from 10:30 to 6am without any problems. It won’t be long until he can go 8 hours or more overnight, and sleep outside of his crate. That will be great! However there is nothing like raising a large breed puppy. Especially when you get them as young as I got Tucker. Not that 7 weeks old is too young. My first German Sheperd went home with me at just over 5 weeks, but my room mates took his sister so that made it quite doable. I had forgotten what it’s like to be around a 7 week old pup. They bite and mouth just about anything they can get iahold of. When he’s in the kitchen with me it’s fun to see what scraps of vegies he likes that I toss on the floor. So far I think carrots and parsley are his favorite.
Which is bigger? Dog or toy.
All in all he is a joy, and I am so grateful to have him. Even if my blogging has suffered a bit it’s worth it in the end. With any luck we will get 12 or more awesome years out of the little guy, and plenty of stories. He’s got big paws to fill though. My first GS was legendary for his favorite toy, a 16 pound bowling ball. My next GS was know for big sticks and being exceptionally trained. The last one was remembered for her ability to work with kids that were scared of dogs, and befriend the boys I mentored at a residential rehab facility in Timonium, Maryland. At some point they might all blend together into one dog when I’m sitting in the rocking chair at the old folks home, but for now they are all remembered clearly.
One of Tucker’s best days so far was yesterday while I filmed 5 recipes for my Youtube channel. The little guy hung out in the same area we were filming from and hardly let out a peep until the filming was done. I took him out back for 2 minutes to pee, and came back in to finish up the Youtube portion of the session, and that was that. I expect he will be the best trained dog I have ever had as with each one I become a better dog owner and trainer. They have all been great, but this is the first one to be on a youtube video at the end of my recipe shoot. Who knows? Maybe he will show up in other sessions with a chef hat and T-Bone in his mouth. As long as he doesn’t steal the show it’s ok with me for him to have a few seconds on youtube.
With yesterday’s shoot fresh in my mind here’s a good vegie recipe that can be used with spinach or Kale. Kale seems to be all the rage and I think it’s worthy of the attention. It’s healthy, tasty, and versatile. I bake it into Kale chips in the oven, stir fry it, put it into green salads, and I’m quite sure it would be good in vegie lasagne too. So give this one a try with some fresh Kale or spinach soon.
Sauteed Mushrooms and Spinach
2 cup fresh baby spinach
6 ounces, 2 cups sliced white button mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 teaspoon garlic infused olive oil, or plain olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Saute mushrooms in oil for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add Green onions and cook for for two minutes stirring. Add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted, about 3-5 minutes. Add salt and pepper and serve.
Serves 2
Note:
If using plain olive oil you can add a minced garlic clove with the green onions.
Lawrey’s Seasoning salt is a good seasoning for this dish.
Kale can be substituted for spinach.
Keeping Things Simple
I remember those days that I would spend hours cooking up some complicated recipe in restaurants or at home that would inevitably turn out well. Whether it was a classic French cake, or deboned and stuffed chicken hind quarters, with gravy made from home made chicken stock that cooked for 8 hours or more. I did not shy away from recipes that took a lot of time, but now it’s a wonderful thing to embrace simplicity in cooking especially when you don’t sacrifice taste in doing so. In this phase of my 42 years of cooking I love finding the simplest ways to prepare foods that taste great. It’s not that I don’t have the time to cook the complicated stuff. It’s just that I have so many other things to do rather than spend hours cooking a meal that should only take 30 minutes.
With asparagus season in full swing here in the Mid Atlantic I have been cooking the lovely stalk once thought to be from the lily family often and in many ways. I’ve stir fried it with rice. I’ve simply steamed it. I’ve baked it with garlic infused olive oil, salt and pepper. And it’s made many an appearance in green salads. My favorite invention of all my newly developed recipes has been the dairy free, chilled asparagus soup made with unsweetened almond milk. This one is so yummy, simple and so easy to make. Gone are the times where I would have used home made chicken stock for the base and half and half for creaminess. This soup needs no heavy calorie additions. The almond milk gives it a nice texture and the asparagus if treated right will hit you with it’s distinctive wonderful fresh green flavor. You still have a few weeks of asparagus season so get to your local asparagus place, whether it’s a farm stand or grocery store and give this one a try.
3 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
2 cup fresh asparagus cut into 1 inch lengths
1 1/4 unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Spike, optional
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, optional
In a 1 1/2 quart pot bring 3 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt to a boil. While water is heating wash asparagus and trim off the bottom tough part until you have about 2 cups cut in 1 inch lengths. Cook simmering for about 5-8 minutes depending on thickness of the asparagus then drain and rinse briefly in cold water. Add almond milk, oregano, salt and Spike, if using. Blend well in a table top blender or use an immersion blender. Chill for about an hour then serve with chopped chives on top.
Serves two but can doubled if needed.
Note: If you want a bit of a kick add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
I bought one pound of asparagus and ended up with a little over 2 cups after trimming the tough part off.
* You could probably use whole milk instead of almond milk and this would still turn out well.
Frederick, Maryland. Small Town, Big Fun.
I don’t remember exactly who told us about Frederick four years ago shortly after moving from Denver to Baltimore, but it had to do with a very good restaurant named Volt. We went and loved both the restaurant and the historic town center and have been going back to visit about every two months since then. Frederick is very foodie friendly with many good to excellent restaurants and food shops. Our favorite restaurants are Volt, Isabella’s, and Brewers Alley. Volt is a place for fine dining and since the chef, Brian Voltaggio, was on Top Chef’s season 6, it’s been hard to get in to this restaurant. He came close to winning, but his brother Michael took the top prize. You can try to get a reservation one month ahead if you want to get a table. They do however have brunch on Saturdays and Sundays that if you don’t have reservations you can get into the bar and lounge for a meal on a first come, first serve basis. I love the market fresh salads Brian conjures up. He sources many items from the farms nearby for freshness and quality. Everything we have ever ordered has been great. One of our favorite dishes is the Young Chicken with sunchokes and black trumpet mushrooms. The home made breads are great too, but be careful not to eat too much so you save room for the main dish.
Isabella’s is a Spanish themed tapas type restaurant that doesn’t crash your bank account to eat well. I have eaten at many tapas restaurants since moving to Maryland and put Isabella’s near the top just a hair behind Jaleo in DC. Isabel’s is open for breakfast Sat-Sunday 8am to 11 am, and lunch Mon-Saturday 11:30 to 3:30 with excellent express lunch options for those in a hurry. Dinner is Mon-Thursday 4pm to 10pm and Fri-Saturday 4 to 10 pm. Sunday dinner is 3 pm to 8pm. We always order ala carte and get the Papas Bravas a wonderful potato dish with a thick chili tomato sauce that has just the right amount of spice. We usually get the Paella of the day too. The Paella unlike most places that make it actually has enough saffron in it. Since saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world a lot of restaurants cheat by putting turmeric in the Paella with little or no saffron. Another one of our favorite tapas is the Artichoke and Crab with Saffron Butter. Wow is this a winner. Crab and artichokes go together great but when you add saffron butter it takes it to a whole new level of flavor explosion. The service is always good at Isabella’s and food usually comes out of the kitchen quite soon after ordering unless you order a Paella that is not the Paella of the day. That takes about 25 minutes to make one of these. I’d like to try the one with black rice someday soon.
Paella at Isabella’s
Brewer’s Alley is a brew pub type restaurant we hit when we want good old American food that’s affordable and delicious. They always have several good specials to choose from and good soups too.
There are a couple of good candy/chocolate shops to check out if you go to Frederick. Candy Kitchen, 52 N Market St has been around for over 110 years satisfying sweet needs. This is a good choice for many but if you want really high end fun chocolates try Zoe’s, 121 N Market St has the type of special dark chocolate truffles I love. Try them all if you dare. I like the boozy ones and hazelnut too.
As for other foodie shops be sure and check out Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium, 214 N Market St for an amazing selection of olive oils and vinegars. Most Americans have no idea that vinegar can taste so amazing. They have special little tasting cups so you can try before you buy. I love their Champagne Vinegar, and Red Wine Vinegar for my special salad dressings. I recently purchased their Lemon Vinegar, and Cinnamon Pear Vinegar to try in my kitchen soon. Lebherz is located just a couple doors down from Volt so you can try both on a weekend visit as they are open Saturday 11am to 9pm and 12 to 6pm on Sunday. They have many recipes on their website to help you whip up something good with your purchase. I get nothing for mentioning them, but be sure to tell them I sent you anyway.
Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium
Firestone’s Market on 109 N Market is a fun little food shop with jams, jellies, good breads, gift baskets, as well as soups and sandwiches too. They also carry some nice cheese, snacks and specialty foods worth checking out.
For a great long walk of 30 minutes or more try visiting the Carroll Creek Park downtown and walk it all the way to the end of Baker Park. It’s one of my favorite parks to walk in the whole US. The trail follows the creek through the park with beautiful trees and ponds for a peaceful interlude during your shopping and eating extravaganza.
There are many attractions near Frederick worth seeing.I haven’t been to the Flying Dog Brewery south of town yet but intend to do so on a future visit to Frederick. I have been 15 minutes north to Thurmont where I love to buy fruit from Pryor Orchards. Every June I go and pick the best blueberries money can buy and freeze some for the winter. Their peaches, apricots, and apples are very good too.
Catoctin Mountain Park is a fun place to visit whether by foot or car. We went on a nice hike with a ranger to the Catoctin Furnace area of the park and have driven up the mountain on the ridge line with great views of the area. Cunningham Falls is worth seeing as well as the visitors center, but note that the visitor center is closed Monday-Thursday except for some holidays.
I hope I’ve convinced you that Frederick is a must see historic town, and you find time to get there soon. I am still exploring Frederick and know there still must be some hidden gems waiting for me on a future visit. Don’t you think that half the fun is finding those hidden spots? Well get out there and explore then!
Carroll Creek Park
What’s It got In It’s Pantry?
As I was doing a bit or organizing in my pantry today I thought of Gollum asking Bilbo, “what’s it gots in it’s pocketses”? Well many a thing can hide in my pantry for unknown lengths of time so I decided to pick a hidden item to do a new recipe with. Some times I like to go to the grocery store just to find something fun to cook, but today it was going to come from the pantry. What I found that I thought needed to come out and play was a tiny bit of whole wheat shell pasta that wouldn’t amount to an entree, but could be my lunch special. One item I do have in abundance is fresh oregano since it survived the winter and exploded into new growth in April. I have never had pesto made with oregano, but figured this particular type of oregano would work well in pesto. It has more of a minty taste to it than a pungent flavor typical of fresh oregano. I think it could be Greek Oregano, but it’s plant identification marker has long since disappeared. So the lunch special for one was shaping up, Whole Wheat Pasta in Oregano Pesto. I had some pine nuts in the freezer that were still quite fresh, and some farmer’s market asparagus in the fridge from yesterday’s shopping downtown for the dish. I figured that the asparagus would be a nice touch.
I confess to having pesto on the brain since I read a post from one of my favorite bloggers, Marge Perry’s Sweet and Savory Life, this morning that included a pesto recipe. That recipe was quite different in that it used linguine, basil, spinach etc that I did not use. I probably would have done her recipe except my basil is not in production mode yet.
I put this all together in about 25 minutes including boiling the pasta, cleaning the oregano, and food processing the pesto. Not to mention the distraction of making sure Tucker, our 8 week old German Shepard puppy wasn’t getting into trouble. I had fresh greens from the garden to serve as a perfect base. I set up for the photo part of the gig and, after shooting the photos sat down to sample my prize. It was quite good, but next time I will put some cilantro in with the oregano for a bit more herbal punch. Maybe even a jalapeno for fun. It’s just so much fun to experiment with all the amazing choices we have at our local grocery stores and farmers markets. From Fast and Furious Cook’s kitchen I wish you all a wonderful summer of experimenting with something new and fun.
Oregano Pesto
1 cup fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup roasted pine nuts
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-2 fresh garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix parmesan cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, salt and half of the oregano in a food processor. Scrape with spatula and add the rest of the oregano. Mix well, scrape and mix a bit more until all the pine nuts and broken up well.
Serve with your favorite pasta, hot or cold.
Fun With Black Olives
I haven’t bought a can of black olives in a long time so when I received two free cans from the good folks at California Ripe Olives I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Well I popped open a can and munched one, and what do you know I do still like black olives! I’d been caught up in all the olive bar type olives for so long I forgot about my first love affair with olives. Yes I was just a tot when I became fond of black olives right out of the can. Then came black olives on pizza, and it was good. Then came black olives in iceberg lettuce type salads and that was good. Somewhere along the line I started eating stuffed green olives. kalamata olives, oil cured olives, jalapeno stuffed olives,etc. there was hardly a new olive that I didn’t like, but my first love sat neglected on the grocery store shelf for many years. What fun it is to explore the possibilities of black olives in my kitchen and blog about it. These tasty California black olives had a long trip to get to my home in Baltimore. I didn’t know that California produces 95% of the ripe olives in the US, with more than 1,000 multigenerational families taking part in the process. That’s a lot of homegrown expertise. For my entry into the black olive competition I wanted something original, and something using an ingredient from my garden. I love fresh herbs and thought that fresh oregano would be a fun choice for an olive appetizer on a toasted baguette slice. I wanted some color so from the fridge came the roasted red bell peppers I made last week. For the fat content I chose garlic infused olive oil to brush on the baguette slices. For the topping I grabbed some Parmigiano Reggiano to shred on top using my new Oxo Good Grips medium grater. It was a fun project and I tasted several of the treats. The only thing I might do different is put a slice of roasted garlic on each toast slice for a bit more oomph. I was happy that the olive flavor was not drowned out by the other ingredients and took the whole tray to my favorite Vet clinic to have them taste test it.Apparently they scarfed them down quickly indicating a good vote in the first round. With any luck I have a winner for the competition at the upcoming Eat, Write, Retreat food bloggers event in Philly. For all you you that might want to give this a try at home I include the recipe. I think you will find it fairly easy and tasty. Don’t forget your favorite white or red wine to go with it. I would recommend a good, crisp California Sauvignon Blanc. Please leave a comment on what you think of this recipe on my blog. Bon appetit!
California Ripe Black Olives on Toasted Baguette Rounds with Fresh Oregano
1 can of CaliforniaRipe Black Olives, drained and sliced in half lengthwise
1 baguette sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds
2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil
1 package of fresh oregano
2-3 ounces roasted red bell pepper, in 1 inch slices
2 ounces fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano chese
Brush baguette rounds with garlic infused oil on one side only and toast under broiler until lightly browned. Remove from oven and repeat broiling on other side. Let cool. Pluck the leaves of the oregano for placement on top of the baguette rounds when they are cool. Use just enough to cover about 1/3 of the surface of the rounds, reserving the rest to mince and sprinkle on top at the end. Put on slice of roasted red bell pepper on each round, and two pieces of black olives. Grate parmigiano reggiano over toast rounds. Put minced oregano on top and serve with a Sauvignon Blanc if you like white wines best, or a Zinfandel if red wine is your favorite.
Gratitude
There are many things I am so grateful for in my life. I was reminded of one of those simple pleasures Saturday while cooking for Phillip’s Mushrooms 2nd anniversary of their retail shop in Kennett Square, PA. One of the three appetizers I was cooking during the 4 hour event was my Maitake Mushroom Bruschetta topped with 5 year old Gouda on french bread. Lucky me that I am not gluten intolerant, because this recipe rocks! However out of the approximate 50 people that came through the kitchen to taste the appetizers about 5 couldn’t eat the bread. Twice when I cut the oh so crispy bruschetta to serving sizes I had someone hear that sound of a crusty bread being cut and lament that they could not eat it.
Mushroom Bruschetta
Bread is one on the oldest prepared foods known to human beings! Thousands of years ago it was one of the first things we clever humans mixed up and cooked. I suppose there were other things we mixed and cooked that didn’t pass the taste test, but bread is one of those that stuck with most cultures. I heard on National Public Radio’s Science Friday show several years ago that it is thought that bread is the oldest prepared and cooked item that we eat! Yet now we have a significant portion of our population that can’t eat it without adverse affects. I won’t go into the theories behind this problem, but wanted to point out to all of you out there that can eat bread that we are members in a lucky club indeed! Imagine life without a typical sandwich, toast in the morning, croutons on a salad, stuffing at Thanksgiving, and the list goes on. In celebration of this wonderful food I give you one of my favorite recipes that I made up just last month.
To try in this in your home you need just a few ingredients and about 20 minutes. For this recipe it helps to buy a very good quality loaf of french bread, and a good quality cheese. The mushrooms should be very fresh and if you have it, use fresh thyme added about one minute before sauteing is finished, instead of dried thyme. The result is a simple, wonderful combo of bread, mushrooms and cheese that cries out for a glass of your favorite wine, like a Pinot Gris, or Petit Sirah. This appetizer with a nice salad would work as a light meal on a warm spring day. That way you can celebrate spring and the fact that you can eat bread too. Welcome to the club.
Mushroom Bruschetta with Aged Gouda
1 pound maitake mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup sliced yellow onion
1-2 cloves fresh garlic minced
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 ounces shaved or grated aged gouda or good quality parmesan
1 loaf French Baguette split lengthwise and cut into 3 inch lengths
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Saute onions and garlic in large saute pan with oil for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add mushrooms, and thyme and cook for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is cooked out of the mushrooms. Put bread in oven on a sheet pan for 3-5 minutes to toast it a bit. Remove bread from oven and top with mushroom mixture and then cheese.
Return to oven and heat for 5 minutes. Serve hot out of the oven.
Serves 8-12
Note: Works well with white button, oyster, crimini mushrooms or mix and match.
*Substitute aged gouda with Parmigano Regiano if you can’t find a good aged gouda.
Disclosure:
Even though Phillip’s Mushrooms gifted me a couple of pounds of mushrooms to practice with for the cooking demo I would still have written about them as their mushrooms are the freshest I have ever bought, and the price is significantly less than grocery store mushrooms too!
Sweet Stuff
Good news! According to the US Agricultural Department us Americans now only consume 76.7 pounds of sugar each year. I read this in an article from the NY Times from October, 2012 about the USDA’s new sugar numbers. That is down from what they say was 100 pounds of the white bad stuff. Some how or another the USDA decided to use a new methodology to compute sugar usage. Curious how they do that sort of thing since this might mean we aren’t actually eating less sugar. Regardless of how they are computing this sugar usage I believe we Americans eat too much of it, and that includes high fructose corn syrup too! It shows up in so many foods we consume on a fairly regular basis, like ketchup for instance. There was a time,quite a bit of it, when I didn’t even know there was sugar in ketchup. I used to think I ate less than 5 pounds of sugar per year until I took a closer look at all the foods that contain hidden amounts of sugar. Of course there are the obvious sources of sugar like sodas,cookies, cakes etc. We all would be well served to take a closer look at the ingredients list of everything we buy from the grocery store to know what we are putting into our bodies, and cut down on our consumption of sugar. There are many health concerns for consuming too much sugar like:
diabetes
increase risk of cancer
acne
depression
yeast infection
dental cavities
and the list goes on and on. I don’t get to concerned on who’s study is right or wrong on the effects of sugar as there is a quite bit of conflicting information out there. For instance, the American Heart Association says the average American adult eats around 150 pounds of sugar per year. That’s quite a bit different from the USDA’s new numbers. There are numerous health studies that can confuse us too on the health effects of sugar. Why not just err on the side of caution and do what I do. I use very little white sugar. Maybe 5 pounds per year in my kitchen, but probably less. What white sugar I use is usually for gifts of baked goods for people who aren’t as health conscious as I am. When a recipe calls for sugar I’ll usually use a less refined type of sugar,( brown sugar, honey, molasses, or tubinado) and less of it. I find that most baking recipes can do with 25% less sugar than called for and still be plenty sweet. Eat more fruits for your sweet tooth, which brings us to today’s healthy and quick recipe. This is a dish I use in some variation or another often. Yesterday when I saw beautiful organic strawberries at the grocery store I knew what to do with them. Give this one a try and let me know what you think.
Fresh fruit salad
16 ounces of fresh strawberries sliced, or quartered
1 apple or pear peeled, cored and cut into bite sized pieces
1 banana sliced
juice of 1 fresh orange
1/4 cup sweetened coconut chips, or shredded coconut
In a medium size mixing bowl toss strawberries, apples, and banana with the juice of 1 orange. Chill for 30 minutes or more, and serve with in small bowls with coconut on top.
Note:
You can use fresh squeeze grapefruit instead of an orange.
Pineapple is a good fruit for this dish.
If using apples I recommend Honey Crisp, or Braeburn.
Caution, this gets a bit mushy if kept too long. I like to eat it up with in 8 hours of making it.
What to do with a hunk of 5 year aged gouda?
I went to one of my favorite foodie havens(Talula’s Table) on my way to a cooking demo at The Woodlands at Phillips Mushrooms. Talula’s is well known for their combo food market and restaurant. I was stopping by to buy their french baquette for the cooking demo but was snagged by the free sample of the 5 year aged gouda cheese while browsing. This stuff has seriously great taste that makes you want more. The gouda went well on top of my Maitake mushroom bruschetta at Phillip’s, but I had a good amount of it left over. I pondered what to do with it over the last two days and at about 5 this morning while laying awake in bed I got inspired to make a special breakfast using the gouda.
the goods
I had some Kale leftover from my brussel sprout and kale salad, and remembered reading about kale for breakfast on www.greennapkinnutrtion.com. I also had some beautiful oyster mushrooms from Phillip’s so I sauteed the mushrooms with 10/15 sweet yellow onions in garlic infused olive oil.
When the onions and mushrooms were halfway cooked I added the kale and cooked it for a few more minutes.
saute time
I also had some nice Wisconsin Cheddar Sourdough dinner rolls from Talula’s that I sliced to a half inch thick cut and popped them in the toaster for the base. I put the mushroom and kale mix on top of the bread that had an over easy egg set on top of it. I placed shaved gouda on top of the egg and broiled it for about a minute and a half. I cooked up some home fried potatoes and sliced an avocado and orange for garnish to round it all out. The result? An amazing breakfast for a good start to the weekend.
If you want to give this a try here’s the basics:
A handful of kale
a handful of oyster mushrooms, or whatever you have available
about a third cup of diced sweet onion
garlic infused olive oil
toast of some type for the base
aged gouda
and a willingness to experiment!
Disclosure:
Even though Phillip’s Mushrooms gifted me a couple of pounds of mushrooms to practice with for the cooking demo I would still have written about them as their mushrooms are the freshest I have ever bought, and the price is significantly less than grocery store mushrooms too!
Breakfast time