How do you pick a peach?

Dude, seriously!  I JUST wrote a Tumblr on this very subject!

http://yummyfixins.tumblr.com/post/91950361779/how-to-pick-a-peach-im-on-my-way-home-from

Alert: The Fiddleheads at Integral Yoga are beautiful!

It’s Friday in NYC (and probably everywhere else, too!) and I was just at Integral Yoga.  You bitches know how much I love that place! Check out these fiddleheads!  And, they have the BEST LOOKING GINGER EVER!  And, as usual, everything is organic.  I love you so much, Integral Yoga!  And your produce dudes are THE BEST!

Look at how tender these are! They were so beautiful!

Local. Organic. Expensive. But man, they look good!

Look at this ginger! Oh man.

 

 

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Boneless, skinless chicken breasts?

I’m not sure what you’re asking exactly, but in general, I disagree with boneless, skinless anything. If you cook meat, then you should cook pastured, organic meat with bones and fat. I think the minerals from the bones are important for balancing acidity and nutrition, and the fat helps protect the lining of your small intestine, and helps you to absorb fat-soluble vitamins. But keep in mind these are mere opinions and I am not presenting them as fact..

However, every so often, boneless, skinless chicken breast is on sale, so I buy it and make something with it. In the past, my usual dish was chicken fingers, but now that I no longer eat grains and have adopted a paleo / specific carbohydrate diet, I needed a new way to make chicken fingers, but I was bored out of my mind with boneless, skinless chicken breast in general.

Enter Chicken Ennui.

I created this recipe out of sheer boredom (thus the name) and it’s easy and quick, and can probably be made with stuff you already have in your kitchen. As usual, I didn’t measure anything, so here are some pictures.

Preheat oven to 350 and put your baking pan in there to get hot. Gather dried herbs that go together, such as these:

Rosemary, basil, fennel seed, thyme and black peppercorn.

Other herbs that would work well with all or some of these are: oregano, sage, parsley, and corriander. You can use any kind of peppercorn, but you can’t skip it. Add some salt, and grind all of these in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder to a fairly fine powder. Don’t use pre-ground pepper, because it’s gross. Always grind your peppercorn fresh. Trust me. I’d use about a tsp of each for each pound of chicken breasts, because I like a ton of herbs, and chicken breast needs flavor. Oh god, it’s just so dull.

Slice up chicken breasts so they’re evenly sized for even cooking. I usually make them between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. Slather mayonnaise on every slice (you’ll only need about a tablespoon per pound), then press them into the herb/salt/pepper mixture.

Place the coated chicken strips on the hot baking pan (I used a slotted pan) and bake for about 10 -15 minutes.

I put the chicken strips on a pre-heated slotted roasting pan. You can bake them on any kind of baking pan. Pre-heating it will help them to not stick.

I like it to be a little browned, so I leave it in for a while.

See, I didn’t cut all of the chicken breast the same size. Uneven cooking! Learn from my mistakes, people!

I served my Chicken Ennui with spaghetti squash with a dollop of Artisana coconut butter, and arugula with Kerry Wood Lemon Tarragon dressing. If you’d like to see pretty much everything I eat, you can follow my meals on Tumblr.

Dinner! Yum!

How do you make dumplings?

Pan fried and steamed dumplings

Dumplings can be filled with pretty  much anything.  My recipe for 50 pork dumplings is below.  I make 50 at a time because that’s how many wrappers are in a package, and they freeze and reheat well.  I don’t eat dumplings anymore because I don’t eat grains and am on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), but my family still loves them, so I make them.  At the end of this post, I have notes that include how to make burgers out of dumpling filling for my Paleo, SCD, gluten-free, and grain-free followers out there.

For 50 dumplings (plus extra filling to make 8 paleo /SCD Legal “dumpling filling burgers” – see end of post).

• 1 package of Nasoya all natural Wonton Wraps (see notes at end as to why I recommend these specifically)
• 1 lb ground pork (preferably pastured and/or organic)
• 3/4 of a pound of green cabbage, shredded
• 2 peeled carrots, peeled and chopped
• 12-15 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, chopped (they’re even better if sautéd in butter or ghee first)
• 2″ piece of ginger, peeled, grated (a microplane does a great job)
• 5 scallions (mostly green parts), chopped
• 2 large or jumbo eggs, beaten (plus one extra egg for dumpling filling patties at the end, if you want to make them)
• 2 TBS coconut flour
• 1 Tbs of fish sauce (preferably Red Boat fish sauce, due to no sugar, preservatives or extraneous ingredients)
• 1 Tbs coconut aminos
• Optional: 4 sunchokes, peeled and chopped (this is to replace the traditional bamboo shoots, which I think are gross when canned – if you could find fresh bamboo shoots, I would use them)
• few Tbs of butter, ghee, or coconut oil for sautéing (bacon fat is also wonderful… I’m just saying… don’t judge me!)
• a cup or so of rice flour to generously put on each layer of dumplings so they don’t stick together if you are going to freeze them.

It takes me just over an hour just to fill 50 dumpling wrappers, so set aside around 2 hours for initial prep, filling, and clean up.  It will be worth it when you have a freezer full of quick-to-cook dumplings!

You’ll also need a food processor of at least 8 cup capacity (or you can process in batches), large mixing bowl, smaller bowl, 10-12″ diameter frying pan with lid, flipper, and a little bit of water (both important for steaming and for wetting down the wrapper), a finger bowl, and if you’re freezing most of them, a freezer container with lid (the Pyrex 3 cup container is a perfect fit for approximately 12 of them, and the 6 cup is great for 20-24, depending on how full you fill them).

Though you could close up the dumplings by hand or fork, it is much easier and looks better when you use one of these dumpling presses. I got this one for $3 at Bowery Kitchen at Chelsea Market. If you’re not near Chelsea Market, here are some cheap ones at Amazon: $4.99 one, and a set of 3 for $4.99.

This dumpling maker will save you a ton of time and energy. It’s the best $3 I ever spent!

First, process the cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, grated ginger, scallions (and sunchokes, if you added them), just until the mixture is fairly homogenous.

Then, place the processed mixture in a large mixing bowl.  Add the ground pork, flour, eggs, fish sauce and coconut aminos.  Mix it all together with your hands, like you are making meatballs (you’ve made meatballs, right?).  This way, you don’t overwork the pork, as you would if you put the pork in the food processor (plus, you’d need a bigger food processor).

Setting up your workspace properly will make the arduous task of making 50 dumplings go just a bit faster and easier.  Ignore the juicer and the Kitchen Aid.  They just happen to live there.

Next, set up your dumpling-making station.  It will take a while to make 50 dumplings, so only have a little bit of your filling out at a time.  Take about two cups of the mixture out into a small bowl, and put your large bowl with the rest of the filling in the fridge with a cover on it (either a plate or pan lid over the bowl or some plastic wrap or foil).

Place about a tablespoon of the filling in the wrapper and with a wet finger, moisten two consecutive edges with water, fold it over and put it in the dumpling press.  If you don’t have a press, you can squeeze with your fingers, or press down on the edges of the folded dumpling with a fork.

Put the filling in the dumpling wrapper and moisten the edges, so when you fold it over, it will stick together.

Put the folded dumpling in the press and squeeze down, sealing and crimping the edges.

This is how the dumpling looks after it is pressed.

Dumplings fit perfectly in the 3 cup Pyrex rectangular storage dish with blue lid. Don’t forget to generously dust with rice flour between layers to prevent sticking.

You can boil, steam or pan fry dumplings.  I like them best when they are pan fried with a bit of steaming at the end.  To cook your dumplings my way, heat up a frying pan over medium heat and melt a little less than a tablespoon of butter, ghee, coconut oil, bacon fat or whatever fat you’d like in the pan making sure you coat the whole bottom surface.  Place the dumplings in the pan, ensuring no overlap and turn the heat down to low.  Flip the dumplings, turn the heat back to medium, and let the other side brown (see first picture of this post).  Once both sides are browned, put a tablespoon or so of water in the pan and quickly put the lid on the pan to trap the steam.  This finishes cooking the dumplings as well as softens the consistency of the cooked wrapper a little.  Your dumplings should have an interior temperature of at least 160 degrees F or more.

NOTES:

• On the wrappers:  I specify Nasoya wrappers instead of most other varieties because they do NOT have sodium benzoate, which I try to avoid when possible.  Tang’s natural dumpling wrappers would be my preferred choice, but they are hard to find.  If you’re looking to make your own gluten-free wrappers, these recipes look great and well-researched.
• Making “dumpling filling burgers” to maintain your Paleo, SCD, gluten-free, grain-free lifestyle.  Obviously, don’t use the wrappers.  Also, don’t add the sunchokes if you are doing the SCDiet.  Take the leftover filling (around 3 cups, give or take), add another tablespoon of coconut flour and one egg to the mixture and hand-mix.  Form fairly thin burgers (you want them to be able to cook through completely).  In a separate pan from the burgers, with a separate flipper (so you don’t contaminate them with the rice flour/wrappers), sauté in butter, ghee, coconut oil, bacon fat, or your fat of choice  until browned on each side and to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees F .

I’m cooking the dumpling filling burgers on the left and the regular dumplings on the right.

Browned dumpling filling burgers

If you want to see how I ate these, my plate will be posted in a few days on Yummy Fixins!

How do you make bone broth?

I make it slowly.  I don’t use just bones and joints (which are necessary to get the minerals and collagen you need to have a true bone broth).  I add a lot of meat and aromatics for extra flavor because I drink it like coffee and use it in a lot of dishes I make.  Also, I try to use up leftovers (like mushroom and parsley stems) and ingredients that I won’t be using before they go bad.  I never use cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts or potatoes in a stock because they ruin it.

In my latest chicken bone broth I used:

Top row, left to right:
Fresh chicken parts that I didn’t use in a recent recipe, frozen chicken parts and leftover bones, leftover bones from the recent recipe (after I ate it).

Bottom row, left to right:
Pure Indian Foods brand ghee, 2 diced onions, chopped leftover shiitake mushroom stems (with 2 diced carrots under them), chopped fresh ginger, chopped fresh garlic, 3 fresh bay leaves, fresh oregano, 2 stalks chopped celery, leftover parsley – mostly stems.

I also add white wine (I’ve had good luck with Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay – it’s cheap and works well in my stock)  and plenty of filtered water.

My Bone Broth Ingredients

I melted a few tablespoons of ghee in a 12 quart stock pot over medium-high heat and start my sautéing.

Sautee the onions in ghee until they are translucent, then add mushroom stems until fragrant, then carrots.

Now it’s time to start heating up the water to add to the stock later.

Add the oregano, bay, ginger and garlic. Sauté only long enough for the garlic to become pleasantly fragrant, and no longer. Browned or burned garlic will ruin the stock.

You may need to add more ghee if you weren’t liberal enough with it in the beginning.

I add the celery last and mix throughly.

Add in the fresh chicken.

Add the fresh chicken, pressing it skin down into the pan to encourage browning and some fat release.

If I had thawed the frozen stuff, I would add it in after the first round of meat browned. The more brown (not burned) bits you have on the bottom, the more flavorful the broth.  When the chicken starts browning, stir everything around a bit and adjust heat (if you need to) to make sure nothing is burning.

Look for a good amount of browned (not burned) parts on the bottom. Time for deglazing!

Add wine to a nice hot pan and stir, scraping up the browned bits to mix into the liquid.

Add wine. Be liberal. Good life advice, I think.

This is where I would add any of the frozen parts and leftover bones from cooked food.  The cooking off of the wine will help to heat those up.  Mix them in once they’ve been warmed up.

The remaining bones get to heat up and the rest of the chicken gets a chance to brown.

I add the hot water, a kettle-full at a time until the the pot is about 2/3 full.  Then I stir lightly to make sure nothing is left on the bottom of the pan.

Water is added. Bring to a light boil and immediately shift the heat to simmer. Let the waiting begin!

Many people add a tablespoon or so of vinegar into the pot at this point to help extract the minerals and collagen from the bones.  If I have it, I will add apple cider vinegar, though it doesn’t really have an effect on the taste.  If you add too much water and/or you boil too furiously, your broth will not gel up after cooling , as a good bone broth should.  I like to partially cover the pot for the long, slow simmer to keep the heat in and to make sure I don’t over evaporate.  I want a high yield!

I don’t usually touch the stock during this time (8-12 hours).  At the end of the simmering time, most of the joints and collagen should be rendered into the stock and the bones should be brittle or at least break easily.

Strain the stock and put into glass jars.  Leave ample space between the broth and the jar lid if you are freezing it, as the broth will expand.  Let the jars sit for an hour (uncovered) before putting them into the refrigerator or freezer.  (Cooks Illustrated tells us that an hour is optimal in The Science of Good Cooking, p. 101.)

I will drink most of this broth within the week, but risotto and some delicious sauces will be made, and a jar or two may actually make it into the freezer.

Remember to heat the broth to boiling when you use it, and if you used organic, pastured chickens, eat the fat!  It’s wonderful for you!

NOTE: If you want to speed up the extraction of minerals from the bones, besides adding a tablespoon of vinegar during the simmering phase, you can also hack up the bones and joints prior to cooking.  Also, if I had them, I would add more backs, necks, giblets and feet to this stock as well, as they are great sources of flavor, collagen and minerals.

Alert: Good restaurant opens in Chelsea Piers!

Chelsea’s Table

UPDATE JANUARY 2013: CHELSEA’S TABLE IS CLOSED!
Their website is still active, with no indication of closure, but I assure you, Chelsea’s Table is no longer at Chelsea Piers.  The location is now a ‘wichcraft.  I like ‘wichcraft, but I will definitely miss Chelsea’s Table.  In looking at their Facebook page, I’m not the only one.  I called them today to find out if they have any plans to re-open, either at Chelsea Piers or anywhere in Manhattan.  I was told they do not have any plans to do so.  Sniff!

Chelsea’s Table opened this month (May, 2012).  Last weekend, five of us ate lunch there and were all very pleased with the selection, freshness, price and taste.  One caveat – we were all dying of thirst later in the day – was it the heat, too much salt or both?  Another trip is necessary!  I had the cous cous salad with grilled chicken, which was delicious.  The pastas and sandwiches got high ratings from others in my party.  This place is a goldmine for families.  There are tons of kid-type things to do right nearby (waterside playground, all the facilities at Chelsea Piers, bike paths, lawns and skateboard park above Chelsea Piers, etc.), and the food here is healthy, delicious and fairly reasonably priced (for a desirable area in Manhattan).  I highly recommend it!

If you are interested in farm-to-table restaurants in downtown Manhattan, see this earlier post of mine.

Can you buy truly raw almonds in the U.S.?

In 2007, a law mandating pasteurization for all U.S. almonds was passed.  Some of these pasteurized almonds can be sold as “raw,” which is deceptive and wrong in my opinion, but legal nonetheless.  A consumer can apparently get around this rule by either buying truly raw almonds from abroad, or buying truly raw almonds in bulk from a U.S. almond farm.  I buy mine from Briden Wilson Farm.  I have purchased several 10lb boxes of raw, organically grown almonds from them, and I have no complaints.

 

Great food in Atlanta?

My family and I were so pleased to find a great farm-to-table restaurant / brew house in Atlanta called Five Seasons.  We went to the Alpharetta location and loved our meals.  We went with a big group and some of the dishes we had were the pretzel, beets, iceberg wedge, asparagus and mushroom pizza (w/grilled steak addition and gluten-free crust), beef burgers, regular fries, sweet potato fries and kid’s chicken fingers (which were impressively made from chicken breast, not miscellaneous processed chicken pulp!!!).  Also, those of us who tried the beer (which is made in house) loved it!

I loved everything about this place – the service was fantastic (I think our server’s name was Johnny), the place was not the least bit pretentious and very comfortable, the food was amazing (with a good variety on the menu, everything is prepared fresh, and they know what gluten-free means!) and everything was local and organic and reasonably priced (it was not cheap, but it was good quality food, so I felt it was worth it).  And, oh my gosh, we just happened to go on a Sunday and KIDS ATE FREE!

Also, during our trip to Atlanta, I discovered Georgia-based American Gra-Frutti Coconut Drops and Arden’s Garden Very Very Berry Squares, both of which are absolutely amazing!  The next time I go to Atlanta, I have to be sure to stop into an Arden’s Garden (I found the berry squares at a Whole Foods), because it looks like a great juice and raw food place!

How do you make those chocolate peanut butter cups?

Carob peanut butter balls

They are actually carob peanut butter balls, and before I tell you what I put in them, let me give props to American Gra-Frutti, who make the Roasted Carob Coconut Drops that inspired me so much, I had to try to make them at home!  I found the A. Gra-Frutti drops at a Whole Foods in Atlanta and fell in love.  They are spectacular, gluten-free, dairy free, vegan and are sweetened with raw, organic agave.  They’re available all through Atlanta and also through mail order (according to the Agrafrutti.com website, which has all sorts of gluten-free goodies on it, and seems like a responsibly-run company, at least from my quick persusal of the site!).  I think they (or many other products on this site) would make great gifts, too!

Here is my version:

1 cup Chatfield’s carob powder
1/2 cup of raw, unrefined coconut oil (I used 1 part International Harvest’s Coconut oil and 1 part Artisana coconut butter)
2 Tbs raw honey
1/4 cup Go Hunza raw, unsweetened coconut flakes (I chopped them more finely in my Vitamix before adding)
1/4 cup Maranatha organic no-stir creamy peanut butter (I wish I read the label on this one before getting it – it has sugar added)

NOTE: It really helps if the coconut oil/butter and honey are warm, like they are on a hot day, and if the peanut butter is cold, and the natural kind (that gets kind of hard when it’s in the fridge).

Mix the carob, coconut oil/butter and honey together until uniformly blended.  You can use a food processor, but since I did this on a very warm day, the coconut and honey were nearly liquid, so it was easy enough to do with a spoon.  Then, fold in the coconut flakes until evenly distributed.   Put a quarter-sized sphere of the carob mixture in your hand in a ball.  Press a small amount of peanut butter (about 1/8 tsp) into it and press the carob mixture around the peanut butter to cover it.  Roll into a ball.  Refrigerate until solid.  Serve cold.  This recipe makes about 20 of these delicious treats.

ANOTHER NOTE: If you are nut-free, a good substitute for the peanut butter would be sunbutter.

What’s wrong with soy?

Nothing is wrong with fermented soy products, such as tempeh, miso and fermented soy sauce.  In fact, fermented soy products are good for you and many of the proclaimed benefits of soy are attributed to fermented soy and not, as some people would have you believe, in the more regularly consumed unfermented items such as soy milk, tofu and edamame.

The people that believe unfermented soy products negatively impact your health cite hormonal disruption, nutrient absorption issues, thyroid impact, fertility issues, toxicity, etc. as potential issues, but there are some who argue that the science behind the blaspheming of soy is not exactly compelling.

In my humble opinion, there is enough research out there that makes me feel that unfermented soy is a bad idea (especially this 1999 letter from two FDA soy experts, wherein they protest the FDA approval of soy), so I avoid soy milk and tofu like the plague and limit consumption of other forms as much as is realistic (it’s hard to avoid completely – check your ingredients and see).  However, I do think fermented soy products are very beneficial and worth eating.