The Final Menu

We had a lovely small Thanksgiving yesterday. I think I have a bit of a food hangover. Three glasses of cava early in the meal probably didn't help.

Overall I was really pleased with how all of the "new to me" dishes turned out. This is what we ate (and will be eating for the next few days):

- Turkey breast roulade stuffed with fig, cranberry, and sausage stuffing
- Stuffing! Pretty much agreed upon to be the best part of the meal. So good.
- Gravy
- Pureed sweet potatoes with a bit of brown butter, maple syrup, and toasted pecans
- Braised brussels sprouts with pecorino
- Potato rolls
- Cumin-scented carrots
- Clementine and cinnamon scented cranberry sauce (delicious gift from a good friend)
- And, of course, pumpkin pie

As planned, every recipe I prepared was new to me... except the cumin-scented carrots. I make those a lot, they are super-easy and I knew they would add a little kick to the meal.

I was so happy with the turkey breast roulade and stuffing. It fell apart slightly as I was slicing, but the meat was juicy and the stuffing was delicious.

How was your Thanksgiving meal?

Nigella Reminds Us You Don’t Need to Be an Expert to Cook

Thanks to The Food Section I ran across this interesting Eater.com interview with Nigella Lawson, the buxom British cookbook writer and television host. I’ve been a fan of Nigella since I first bought How to Be a Domestic Goddess many years ago. I think she’s a terrific writer – her voice is so clear and distinctive. I can hear her talking as I read her words. Like her, I am a big proponent of getting people into the kitchen, and I’m also of the loosey-goosey, tailor-it-to-your-tastes school of cooking.

This was a somewhat serious interview about food, cooking, and class, and while I didn’t agree with everything Nigella said, I did find it thought-provoking. A few of the most interesting bits:

“There is something disenfranchising in making people feel they need a qualification or a great level of expertise before they are allowed in the kitchen.”

“In the Victorian age the peasants just ate local and in season and the aristocracy spent fortunes building greenhouses and growing pineapples. It was a class issue. It was about the elite. Now suddenly because of supermarkets and air travel, the masses — if you want to talk in class terms — can get out of season produce. So what do the elite do? They say If it is not seasonal, if it is not local, it isn't good.”

“For me cooking is an act of independence. I don't feel entirely comfortable handing over the means of sustenance and survival to someone else. It's empowering.”

Click here to read the whole interview.

My Thanksgiving Mission

Show me someone who loves to cook and I’ll show you someone who loves Thanksgiving. (Right? Tell me if you are an exception.) For people who feel happily at home in the kitchen, there is nothing like having a whole day dedicated to food. The once-a-year opportunity to plan, execute, and, of course, eat this amazing meal is reason enough to celebrate.

And I haven’t made Thanksgiving dinner in three years! Last year Dave and I were in Paris.





The year before we were in Montreal with Dave’s family.

So this year I should have been raring to go. But strangely, I was feeling uninspired. I knew it was just going to be the three of us, so that was probably part of the Thanksgiving blah feeling. It’s not nearly as much fun to cook a feast for three people as it is for 6, or 8, or 10. (Beyond a dozen, it’s not as much fun either!) I toyed with the idea of suggesting we go away for the long weekend, or, gasp!, even eat Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant.

Then I hit upon a solution, a plan to put the culinary fun back in my Thanksgiving. The mission: to make all new dishes for Thanksgiving this year. No family favorites, no classics that I have been making for years and my mom making for decades before that. Each year I page through my favorite food magazines looking at all their mouth-watering Thanksgiving recipes knowing that I won’t ever cook any of them because I’ll be making (delicious) sausage-cornbread stuffing, maple-roasted sweet potatoes, and the rest of the reliable repertoire.

Since we’re not having guests this is the perfect year to experiment. No one beside my family will witness a flub, and neither Dave nor Rosa has a blog yet ;).

So I’m scouting around, trying to decide what to make. I’ve settled on the Roasted Turkey Roulade from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics.

It’s a whole turkey breast, boned, butterflied, and stuffed with sausage, cranberries, and figs among other tasty things. I think I will make one of Dorie Greenspan’s pumpkin pies, and I have my eye on a Brussels sprouts recipe from Martha Stewart’s test kitchen blog.

I’ll make the rest of my recipe decisions this week, probably. And I’m excited! Maybe one of the new dishes will supplant one of my classics. We’ll see…

Zucchini Bread Season

This is the time of year when I get out the mixing bowls, turn on the oven and make batch after batch of zucchini bread. We eat the tender, cinnamon-sweet loaves for breakfast on the weekends, or I freeze them or give them away. Sometimes I bake the batter in muffin tins, but most often in small loaf pans.

The zucchini bread was one of my mom’s specialties when I was a kid, and I’ve probably made it every late summer since college. In the last few years I’ve tweaked the recipe, cutting back on the sugar and oil, and substituting whole wheat flour for part of the white flour. But after an earlier batch this summer I realized that I’d gone too far. The bread was too heavy. So I added back in the oil and found a perfect balance I think.

Recently I also remembered another zucchini bread my mom used to make – a savory, white bread. She’d lost the recipe over the years, and finally this summer I tried to make something similar. I used a Joy of Cooking recipe as a jumping off point, and turned my loaf into a flavorful, Parmesan-flecked bread. It’s crunchy on top and tender in the middle, perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. (I think it would be especially yummy with tomato soup.) New York Family Magazine posted the recipe on its site on a round-up of brunch recipes.

Here is the well-tuned recipe for the sweeter bread.

Zucchini Bread

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (use the large holes on a box grater)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease the loaf pan(s) or muffin tin with a bit of canola oil.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, canola oil, sugar, and vanilla.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until almost incorporated. Add the zucchini and mix until the ingredients are just combined. Do not overmix or the bread will be tough.
5. Transfer the dough to the baking pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Begin checking the muffins at 25 minutes, the small loaves at 40 minutes, and the large loaf at 50 minutes.
6. Cool in the pan(s) for five minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Yield: 12 muffins, 1 large loaf, or 3 small loaves

Bittersweet Summer

I am usually the type of cook (and the type of person) who welcomes the change of seasons. I relish returning to crisp apples and creamy butternut squash after a long hot summer and, of course, the first strawberries of summer raise my spirits sky high.

But this summer I find myself holding on for dear life. I cannot get enough of the tomatoes, peaches, and corn, not to mention the plums, golden summer squash, and tender baby potatoes. A little olive oil, basil, and salt make nearly everything taste divine. And, aside from the food, I love the sunshine. I love not wearing socks. And even when it’s too darn hot I think ahead to the cold February alternative, and I’m happy.

Sadly, my desire to keep summer here is having little effect (surprise!). Strawberries are already long gone. A sign at the farmer’s market on Saturday warned that it was likely the last week for blueberries. We’ll be able to enjoy tomatoes, sweet corn, and peaches for a few more weeks, and then it will be onward to apples, pears, and Brussels sprouts. C'est la vie.

Maybe my reluctance to welcome fall this year has to do with the fact that we had a particularly cold winter last year. Maybe it’s because my daughter is starting pre-school and the change of seasons are magnified when there’s a growing girl in the house and everything seems a little bittersweet. Or maybe I just need to move to LA where the seasons can pass unnoticed.

Whatever the reason, I am cooking like crazy these days -- in that easy breezy style that only summer allows -- and with an eye toward winter. Saturday I whipped up some tomato salsa in the food processor and froze half of it in small containers to be defrosted for tacos and rice and beans. And, on the not easy breezy front, I made a large batch of killer ratatouille from Francis Lam’s recipe on Salon.com. This weekend I will make zucchini bread and tomato chutney, both destined for the freezer. If I can’t stop winter from coming, at least I'll still be able to taste some summer sunshine come January.

If you’re looking for simple recipes that make the most of summer’s bounty, check out these recipes for chilled soups that I developed for iVillage. My favorite is the ginger-beet, although they’re all pretty good if I do say so myself. The green gazpacho, in particular, freezes well and would be a welcome reminder of summer this winter.

What's on the menu for Father's Day?

I love cooking for Father’s Day (or any holiday really). It gives me an excuse to pull out at least some of the stops and make a special meal. Luckily for me, my husband likes almost everything so I have a lot of options when I want to make something I know he’ll love.

In past years I’ve gone the traditional route and cooked big, brawny steaks. While that’s usually a hit, this year we overdosed a bit on steak as I was developing five new steak recipes for iVillage. Our overdose is to your benefit, though. Any of these recipes would be great for Father’s Day (or any day). My favorites are the hoisin steak wraps, the strip steaks with tomato salsa, and the steak and arugula salad.

Still, we’ve eaten enough steak over the past few weeks as I tweaked those recipes. So, this year I’m going to prepare a traditional seafood paella for Father's Day. Thanks to my friend Sarah at paellapans.com I have a real paella pan to use!

And while it’s hard for me not to make a fruit dessert in summer, I’m going to bake the chocolate hazelnut cake from Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess. The cake consists of ground-up hazelnuts, bittersweet chocolate and an entire jar of Nutella, one of my husband’s favorite things. Whenever we have it in the house I catch him standing at the pantry with the jar and a spoon in his hand.

Photos to come after the big meal tomorrow, and I’d love to hear about your Father’s Day celebrations too.

Spring Stinks (the fruit, that is)

Fruit, even more so than vegetables, I try to eat seasonally and locally as much as possible for one simple reason: it tastes so much better.

Since we are a family that likes fruit, each spring I face a similar conundrum. Long before March, apples and pears have become mealy and tasteless. The height of winter citrus season is over, and strawberries won’t grace my local farmer’s market until June bringing with them the promise of a summer full of berries and stone fruit… that leads to fall’s bounty of apples and pears. But for now – March, April, and May – I’m stuck.

So this time of year I tend to fall back on a couple of strategies that aren’t perfect. First off, we eat more dried fruit, which I love, especially dates, figs, cherries, and apricots.

Secondly, I spring for the imports: grapes, kiwi, mango, and pineapple. They’re bright-tasting and keep color on my daughter’s plate. I know there are many reasons not to eat fruit from abroad, food miles being chief among them, but as I said my solutions aren’t perfect.

This year, I’ve added a third arrow to my quiver: frozen fruit, which has the benefit of being picked and frozen at the height of ripeness, so at least it tastes pretty good. And while nothing will taste as sublime as a local, summer strawberry, in the fruit doldrums of spring a frozen one isn’t half-bad.

Kitchen Influences

Who influenced you in the kitchen? Growing up, my mother made our kitchen warm and accessible. She never discouraged me from trying a new recipe or baking, provided I cleaned up afterwards, of course. My friend, writer Dina Cheney, inspired me to go to culinary school. Her infectious enthusiasm for cooking and her ability to cook without recipes made me excited to learn as much about food as I could. My husband influenced me too. His desire for good, home-cooked food most nights led me to develop a similar palate.

I recently wrote about one of my biggest influences in the kitchen, my mother-in-law, Iolanda. Born and raised in Italy Iolanda is an exceptional cook. From her I learned how satisfying cooking for your family can be, as well as numerous helpful tricks and new flavor combinations. In this piece on iVillage I remember the days when we first met and I really couldn’t cook at all. I was so intimidated by her culinary abilities and almost afraid to help for fear she would see just how inexperienced I was.

Click here to read the story.

Today when I visit her, I am usually perched by her side in the kitchen with my notebook in hand, helping out here and there but mostly watching and recording her every move.

Wasted

When I cook my trash can fills up quickly. I try to buy fruits and vegetables that don’t come wrapped in plastic, but it's not always possible. And, of course it’s difficult to avoid Styrofoam and cellophane wrapped meat and chicken. Cans, boxes that once contained broth, milk cartons, and mustard jars all go into the recycling bin. But still, when I think about food packaging my knee-jerk reaction is less – and preferably none – is better.

So I was surprised to read a defense of food packaging in the New York Times Freakonomics blog today: “In addition to protecting food from its microbial surroundings, packaging significantly prolongs shelf life, which in turn improves the chances of the food actually being eaten.”

And that’s where things take an even more interesting turn:

“[W]hen it comes to saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, our behavior in the kitchen far outweighs the environmental impact of whatever packaging happens to surround the product. Consumers toss out vastly more pounds of food than we do packaging—about six times as much. One study estimates that U.S. consumers throw out about half the food they buy. In Great Britain, the Waste and Resource Action Programme (funny enough, WRAP) claims that the energy saved from not wasting food at home would be the equivalent of removing ‘1 out of every 5 cars off the road.’”

That’s pretty powerful stuff (even if the stats are somewhat exaggerated, as some comments claimed). I work hard not to waste food, saving even dribs and drabs of various dishes to incorporate into other dishes – a half-cup of sautéed spinach to put on a pizza, three sundried tomatoes to chop up for a frittata, the ends of onions for chicken stock. There is nothing more satisfying than cleaning out the fridge, making good use of forlorn leftovers. It makes me feel thrifty – an underrated, and in my life, rarely felt, quality.

But even though I'm wasting less food in the kitchen, I know I can do better. Fresh herbs are one of the trickiest foods to make good use of since the bunches are usually larger than I require. When I have extra basil, mint, or parsley I'll make a batch of pesto to freeze. But, rosemary, thyme, and sage? Hm, I'm still thinking about that.

When Cooking Became Optional

A few weeks ago I picked up the book Something From the Oven. Written by Laura Shapiro, the book chronicles the evolution of American home cooking in the 1950s as more and more convenience foods found their way into American kitchens. As Shapiro notes, post-World War II, “the food industry found itself confronted with the most daunting challenge in its history: to create a peacetime market for wartime foods.” It was an uphill battle, because most of the frozen and canned food, frankly, didn’t taste that great. (And some of the things the marketers attempted to sell – frozen coffee, dehydrated wine – never caught on.)

Convincing American women to purchase these products was also a challenge because, at the time, many women felt that using convenience food was cheating, taking the easy way out, and that part of their responsibility as a wife and a mother was preparing food from scratch for their families. As the decade progressed packaged foods made their way into more and more kitchens as advertisements and women’s magazines persuaded women that they weren’t shirking their duties by opening a can of soup. One of the ways food writers convinced women to use convenience foods was by encouraging them to “glamorize” the food to make it more sophisticated. Examples included flambéing canned peas in sherry, and concocting recipes like Gourmet Crab: canned crabmeat, frozen spinach, cream of mushroom soup, and Cheez Whiz.

What strikes me the most about this era in American cooking is that it’s the period when, for the average family, cooking became optional. For some people, women in particular, that was probably liberating. But, I think it’s clear that, as a country, we followed the food industry too blindly and too far. One of my favorite passages from Something from the Oven comes near the end:

“By now the steady accumulation of packaged grease, salt, and artificial flavors in the American diet [from packaged foods] constitutes a genuine threat to health and culture. Back at the turn of the twentieth century, we began the long process of turning over to the food industry many of the decisions about what we eat, in the name of habit or convenience or taste. Today our staggering rates of obesity and diabetes are testimony to the faith we put in corporations to feed us well. But the food industry is a business, not a parent; it doesn’t care what we eat as long as we’re wiling to pay for it. Although some people think of cooking as a choice now, no more necessary to learn than sewing or shoemaking, that perspective holds up poorly when we gaze around a mall or an airport at Americans en masse. Home cooking these days has far more than sentimental value; it’s a survival skill.”

My sense is that today people are starting to make their way back to the kitchen. Maybe they don’t cook from scratch every day, or they’re following the “semi-homemade” strategy, but I do think there’s a hunger to take our appetites into our own hands, to take responsibility once again for what we eat.

--

A couple of odds and ends:

If you haven’t seen it, check out my piece on iVillage about convincing my daughter to eat spinach.

Did you know Coolio had a cookbook? For a big laugh just read this page. I was quoted commenting on the celebrity cookbook trend in The National, an Abu Dhabi paper.

Do You Have Any Parmigiano?

That was the question my three-year-old daughter asked the mom of one of her classmates at his birthday party on Saturday. The boy’s mom asked Rosa if she wanted some cheese, referring to the cubed cheddar nearby, and Rosa asked, “Do you have any Parmigiano?” The mom reported this conversation to me, laughing. She knows that food is a big deal at our house, and she wasn’t altogether surprised to hear those words coming out of Rosa’s mouth.

When I heard, I was both proud and embarrassed. It was a complicated emotional reaction. I thought it was adorable that my little girl would ask for Parmigiano – using the real Italian name, no less! But I was also embarrassed. I didn’t want the other mother to think we were food snobs (even though maybe I am), or have her think that I was overly proud of Rosa for her food precocity.

I want Rosa to be choosy about what she eats, but not picky or snobby. So, I guess the happy ending to this story is that upon learning there was no Parmigiano available, Rosa happily ate the cheddar.

A Stress-free Thanksgiving

I love planning big meals like Thanksgiving dinner. I make spreadsheets for my grocery shopping and detailed prep timelines for the week before and day of. Organization excites me! And, otherwise, I know I'll never get the shopping list right, and the odds of all the dishes making it to the table at the same time are very slim.

I'm introducing a new class to share my tips, tricks, and shortcuts for pulling off a delicious, and less-stress, holiday meal. The 3-hour workshop is held in my clients' kitchens, so cooks can practice in their own space with their own equipment.

Together we will:

* Plan the menu - from family classics to new favorites
* Decide what to make and what to buy (and from where)
* Put together a comprehensive shopping list
* Pinpoint dishes that can be made ahead of the big day
* Create a detailed preparation timeline
* Practice the dishes that are particularly challenging to you, be it the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, or pumpkin pie

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! For more details send me an email at jenna@rosaberry.com.

Vegetable Ambassador

By now, it must be only a cliché that people dislike Brussels sprouts. Most people know that these miniature green cabbages are one of fall’s most delicious vegetables. They realize that the reason Brussels sprouts get a bad rap is because too many generations of cooks boiled them to death, turning the sprouts into smelly mush. But sautéed or roasted these beauties are addictive, a delicious truth that has finally made its way into the mainstream. Right?

Well, based on the reactions of numerous passersby at the Tribeca Greenmarket today who were offered samples of my delicious Brussels sprouts I would sadly say no. Yes there were a few wonderful folks who proclaimed their love for Brussels sprouts, but most of their fellow shoppers were openly skeptical.

This particular Greenmarket draws an interesting mix of people – mostly office workers and moms/nannies with strollers. Unlike my neighborhood market, this one isn’t set apart from foot traffic. Instead, it occupies part of the sidewalk for an entire block, so a lot of people walking through aren’t necessarily interested in the Greenmarket per se; they’re just trying to get from Duane St. to Chambers St.

As the Greenmarket’s demo chef I consider myself an ambassador of sorts, someone who can introduce delicious vegetables to eaters, and encourage them to prepare the veggies themselves. I pushed hard on the Brussels sprouts today, cajoling people to try samples, and I think this simple recipe won a few converts.

EASIEST AND BEST BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Brussels sprouts often get a bad rap, but when cooked properly they are a savory, addictive fall and winter vegetable.

Ingredients: 2 TB butter
1 TB minced shallot
4 cups thinly sliced Brussels sprouts
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
pepper

1. Heat the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted and the foam subsides add the shallot and cook for about a minute.
2. Add the Brussels sprouts and salt to the pan. Stir and continue to cook until the sprouts are bright green, about two minutes.
3. Add the water to the pan, cover and cook for three minutes. Test for tenderness; if sprouts are nearly tender uncover pan and continue to cook until remaining water evaporates, about two minutes. (If sprouts aren’t yet tender cover and continue to cook for another couple minutes.)
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Yield: 4 servings

Happy Moms

This morning I worked with four terrific women on the Upper West Side who wanted to expand their kid-friendly, yet adult-appealing, dinner repertoire. One of the moms, Lauren Slayton, is a nutritionist who has her own company, Foodtrainers, and her own blog. Click here for her review of our class. We prepared spinach-basil pesto, turkey-herb meatballs, ham and white bean soup, and a few other dishes.

One of my favorite recipes is for the spinach-basil pesto. Pesto is a favorite in our household, on pasta, chicken, or even fish. While basil is traditional, pesto can be made with other leafy herbs, and this summer I decided to incorporate some baby spinach as well. The experiment succeeded, and spinach-basil pesto has become one of my favorite teaching recipes. It tastes great, and moms (including me) love that it's a vehicle for getting spinach into our kids! The pesto is also exceedingly simple to make and can be stored in the freezer for up to three months. I like to freeze small amounts in ice cube trays to defrost at a moment’s notice.

SPINACH-BASIL PESTO

Ingredients: 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups moderately packed baby spinach leaves
2 cups moderately packed basil leaves
1 small garlic clove, roughly chopped
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup grated parmigiano cheese

1. Pour the olive oil into a blender or food processor. Add the spinach, basil, garlic, nuts, and salt. Blend until smooth.
2. Add the parmigiano cheese and blend until combined.
3. Check seasoning. Add more salt if necessary.

Yield: scant one-cup

Rosaberry on the Newsstand!

I am very happy to share Rosaberry’s latest press. I was featured in the August issue of Time Out New York Kids magazine offering strategies to busy parents who want to learn to cook fresher, healthier meals for their kids. Pick up the issue at the newsstand or click here to see the article. There's even a picture!

Cooking (or not) in America

Obviously I am a big believer in cooking from scratch, and I am always saddened (and amazed) when I read about how little Americans cook these days. When I saw Michael Pollan's cover story in this week's New York Times Magazine -- with the tagline "No One Cooks Here Anymore" -- I dove right in. Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, a slim volume that is one of my favorite food books (so practical and persuasive!), uses the release of the upcoming movie featuring the life of Julia Child as a springboard for the piece. He contrasts Julia's empowering cooking shows with most of today's cooking shows, which are actually more about eating than cooking. People could watch Julia's shows and feel like they could take a crack at preparing beef bourguignon or an apple tart. Julia actually enjoyed cooking and inspired others to enjoy it. Pollan notes that today's cooking shows are either about getting dinner on the table as quickly as you can with as few ingredients as possible (think Rachael Ray), or they're pure theater, like Iron Chef America.

As someone familiar with the economics of the television business I understand why Food Network airs what it does, and, really, today's food shows are just one result of the larger cultural shift away from cooking.

One of the biggest reasons for that shift is the rise of industrialized food, primarily introduced to consumers after WWII. Companies had the technology to make these foods (frozen dinners, cake mixes) and looked for ways to sell them to us. And after decades of marketing, Americans now accept cans of condensed soup, bottled salad dressing, frozen chicken nuggets, processed cheese, and brownie mix as real food, when they're really just products designed to make corporations as much money as possible. To make these processed foods taste decent, the manufacturers laden them with sugar, salt, and fat.

This is one of the reasons that Pollan argues that the decline of cooking from scratch in America is responsible for all sorts of ills, chiefly among them the rise of obesity.

I highly encourage everyone to read the full article. Click here. But here are some of my favorite quotes:

-- "Child was less interested in making it [cooking] fast and easy than making it right, because cooking for her was so much more than a means to a meal. It was a gratifying, even ennobling sort of work, engaging both the mind and the muscles." This is one of my favorite parts about cooking. It is literally the only sort of labor or craft that I can competently perform. I cannot fix anything. I cannot sew. I cannot draw well. I cannot bead pretty necklaces (like my mom can!). Like most people in my generation who do most of their work in front of computers or at service jobs, I cannot produce anything worthwhile. Except for food. I can put together a pie crust, shape a loaf of bread, transform a raw piece of meat into something healthy and delicious.

-- "Currently the most popular meal in America, as both lunch and dinner, is a sandwich; the No. 1 accompanying beverage is a soda." Sigh.

-- "People think nothing of buying frozen peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches for their children's lunchboxes." Really?? How long does it take to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Why are people throwing away their money?

-- "A 2003 study by a group of Harvard economists led by David Cutler found that the rise of food preparation outside the home could explain most of the increase in obesity in America."

-- "Cutler and his colleagues also surveyed cooking patterns across several cultures and found that obesity rates are inversely correlated with the amount of time spent on food preparation."

For the article Pollan spoke with a food marketing expert who was very pessimistic about the idea that Americans would ever go back to cooking their own food from scratch. Pollan asked him how Americans "might begin to undo the damage that the modern diet of industrially prepared food has done to our health." The marketer replied: "Easy. You want Americans to eat less? I have the diet for you. It's short, and it's simple. Here's my diet plan: Cook it yourself. That's it. Eat anything you want - just as long as you're willing to cook it yourself." Amen brother.

Pollan argues for home cooking not only to stem the tide of obesity, but under the premise that cooking is deeply ingrained in the human beings (one of the reasons so many people watch cooking shows these days even if they don't cook). Cooking and eating together is central to what makes us human.

What's on my menu tonight? Pasta with homemade pesto sauce and cherry tomatoes from the Farmer's Market and spicy Italian sausages. It will take me about a half-hour to prepare, and Dave, Rosa, and I will sit around the table for another half-hour eating, talking, and appreciating our good-tasting food. We will leave the table feeling satiated but not stuffed and ready to enjoy the rest of our evening.

Pie Perfect

Pie crusts do not come naturally to me. Long before I can remember, my mother reached the conclusion that her pie crusts turned out badly, and from then on she was resolute in avoiding them. Our Thanksgiving pumpkin pies always had store bought crusts (or even better, we asked that our holiday guests come with dessert in tow). When I was a teenager, a family friend famous for her pastry tried to teach me her method, which I believe involved warm water, but I wasn’t interested enough to attempt it later on my own.

Once I started really cooking in my mid-20s, I made a few pie crusts. Some turned out well; many others stuck to my counter when I rolled them out. Of course I made numerous pies and tarts in culinary school, and once I bought a food processor and KitchenAid mixer for my home kitchen my pastry comfort level moved up a few notches.

This weekend, inspired by an online video at Gourmet.com, I went back to basics and made a crust using only my hands. It was the best I ever made – rich and flaky, yet strong and easy to handle.

I really credit the video. It featured Julie Richardson, co-author of Rustic Fruit Desserts. In six minutes she walks viewers through the pie crust process, from mixing the dry ingredients to working in the butter to laying the pastry in the dish. Best of all, the accompanying recipe yields four crusts! This weekend I made a double-crusted ginger-peach pie (my mouth is watering as I type those words). The filling was sweet and succulent, and the pastry tender and toothsome. On the second night we ate the pie Rosa was so excited she literally got up and did a dance. And I have two crusts waiting in my freezer for an upcoming pie or pies.

Click here to watch the video. I think you have to sign in to the site, but it’s a small inconvenience next to the pie crust wisdom you will receive.

Dinner Together & Recipe Contest Winner!

As a cook who always wants to feed people and a mom who wants to encourage healthy eating habits I am a big proponent of eating dinner together. So imagine how happy I was when I saw that there is a company called just that: Dinner Together.

Started by Dr. Kathleen Cuneo, Dinner Together helps solve children’s behavioral problems related to eating and offers busy families strategies to help make dinner together a regular part of their lifestyles. As Cuneo notes on her website, “Research has shown that children who eat meals with their families frequently have better eating habits, better academic success, better mental health, and lower risk for both obesity and substance abuse.”

You can’t beat that.

I’ve been receiving Cuneo’s newsletter for a couple of months now and always come away with a great tip or appealing recipe. Recently she announced a No-cook Recipe Contest in honor of the steamy days of summer. I submitted Tuscan Tuna and White Bean Salad, one of my all-time favorite recipes, summer or not. It’s exceedingly simple (put a bunch of stuff in a bowl and stir), very flexible (don’t have one herb? Use another), and extremely versatile (try as a salad on greens, as a sandwich on toasted bread, or even tossed with hot pasta). It’s a winner, if I do say so myself, and happily Cuneo agreed! The recipe will be published in Dinner Together’s next newsletter, so go here and sign up for it. She also mentions the contest and the recipe on her blog. (For those of you who don’t want to get more messages in your in-box I will post the recipe here after it’s published in the Dinner Together newsletter.)

If anyone else has a great no-cook summer recipe I’d love to hear about it!

Greenmarket Love, Part II

When I shop for my family at the Greenmarket, I stick mostly with fruits and vegetables, ordering our proteins and dairy from Fresh Direct. But, when I was planning my Tribeca Greenmarket demo a couple of weeks ago I decided to make use of the wonderful, fresh seafood on offer there. Behold Sauteed Scallops with Salsa Verde -- a light, simple, and delicious dish. My favorite part of this recipe is how nicely the punchy lemon flavor of the salsa verde complements the richness of the scallops. And after tasting the impeccable freshness of the Greenmarket seafood I am vowing to expand my Greenmarket horizons.

This salsa verde is also one of my favorite ways to get vegetables into my toddler. A variation on pesto, it also works mixed into orzo or rice or served over roasted chicken.

SAUTEED SCALLOPS WITH SALSA VERDE

Ingredients: 1/2 cup, plus 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
2 cups greens and/or herbs, e.g., spinach, arugula, basil, parsley
1 TB lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt, plus more for sprinkling
pepper
16 large scallops

1. In a blender or food processor, blend together _ cup olive oil, the greens, lemon juice, salt, and a few grinds pepper. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice if necessary. This sauce should be loose enough for drizzling.
2. In a large saucepan, heat 2 TB olive oil (or canola oil). Season the scallops on both sides with salt and pepper. When oil is hot add the scallops and cook.
3. When the underside of the scallops are well-browned, about two-three minutes, flip the scallops and cook four more minutes, or until just cooked through.
4. Serve scallops drizzled with salsa verde.

Yield: 4 servings

I have another Tribeca Greenmarket demo coming up on Wednesday, July 15. I’m testing recipes this weekend… I think something with peaches is on the horizon.

Greenmarket Love

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure to demo recipes at the Tribeca Greenmarket. It was a beautiful day. My friend Cara came and took a few photos (see above), and I got to meet farmers, shoppers, and several moms and their kids who stopped by to watch the demo.

I have been absolutely in love with the Greenmarkets (NYC’s system of farmer’s markets) the last few weeks. Every Saturday morning Rosa and I head up to Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn as early as we wake up, usually by 7:30 AM. The weather then is perfect -- warm, but not hot -- and I'm always surprised and impressed by how many other people are awake and starting their day at that hour. We buy enough fruits and veggies for the week, sampling as many of the berries as possible, and head home for coffee (for me) or milk (for Rosa), the paper, and then breakfast with some of the foods we've purchased. It's a lovely start to the weekend.

This year, more than ever, I have been very attuned to the week-by-week changes in the market’s offerings. One week the strawberries are sweet, perfect jewels. The next week they’re a little mushier, and I know that I won’t be eating many fresh strawberries for another 10-11 months. That’s a long time! And it makes each bite of strawberry, when they are in season, even sweeter. As I'm getting older I'm trying to hold on to time, and it's really not possible. The fleeting seasons of my favorite foods only reinforce that. We must appreciate them while they're around and then let go.

At the Tribeca demo I prepared two dishes: Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Arugula and Pan-seared Scallops with Salsa Verde, two simple, delicious dishes that really capture the flavors of early summer. Here is the Sugar Snap Pea salad recipe; the scallops will come in an upcoming post.

SUGAR SNAP PEA & ARUGULA SALAD

Sugar snap peas usually rank high on kids’ vegetable list – not nearly as egregious as other veggies. For even more takers, try calling arugula by one of its other names: “rocket”.

Ingredients: 3 TB extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 TB fresh lemon juice
1 TB minced shallot
1 tsp. salt, plus more for sprinkling
pepper
1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
1 cup baby arugula
1 cup other baby lettuces, like a mesclun mix
1/2 cup crumbled soft cheese, like chevre or ricotta salata

1. Heat 1 TB olive oil in a medium sauté pan. When hot, add the sugar snap peas and sprinkle with salt. Cook until sugar snap peas are bright green, one to two minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside.
2. In large bowl, whisk together 2 TB olive oil, lemon juice, shallot, salt, and a few grinds of pepper.
3. Add the sugar snap peas to the dressing and mix.
4. Add the lettuces to the sugar snap peas and toss gently.
5. Add the cheese and toss gently.
6. Taste for seasoning and add more olive oil, lemon juice, salt, or pepper as necessary.

Yield: 3-4 servings

Variations:

• Replace the arugula with more baby greens, or vice versa (my favorite).

• Omit the green entirely and serve only the sugar snap peas.

• Omit the shallot or cheese if they’re unavailable or unpopular in your household.

I’m still thinking about what recipes I’ll prep at my next Greenmarket demo on Wednesday, July 15. I think peaches may be mandatory – I made a tasty peach relish to serve over T-bone steaks on the 4th of July. Perhaps that will go on the menu -- we still have a few more weeks to eat all the peaches we can get our hands on before they disappear for another year.