Mise en place at Il Falconiere, Cortona, Tuscany

Packing Eggs

Boy packing eggs at Farmers Market. Portland, Oregon (Photo:RLW)

Methyl Iodide & Strawberries – Oxymoron? Not!

Where do your strawberries come from?

The New York Times reported today on a growing dispute between the California State Department of Pesticide Regulation and a scientific committee over the approval of a new chemical in the growing of strawberries. It is another interesting example of where big agricultural interests trump the safety of you, me and our children.

For decades strawberry growers injected methyl bromide into their soil as a soil fumigant and structural fumigant to control pests before growing strawberries. However this chemical is an ozone-depleting chemical and it was banned by the Montreal Protocol international climate treaty.

Methyl iodide was found as a substitute in 2007. More than 50 chemists and scientists, including members of the National Academy of Sciences and Nobel laureates asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency not to approve the chemical. Nevertheless the California State Department of Pesticide Regulation has bestowed provisional approval for this chemical.

“This is without question one of the most toxic chemicals on earth,” said John Froines, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California.

Breathing methyl iodide fumes can cause lung, liver, kidney and central nervous system damage. It causes nausea, dizziness, coughing and vomiting. Prolonged contact with skin causes burns. Massive inhalation causes pulmonary edema.

But the strawberry business in California is a $2 billion industry. I wonder who will win this battle. I wonder even more about what else they spray on the food you, me and our children eat grown in California?

Richard Wottrich

Marius Market, Paris (Photo:RLW)

Brown Rice versus White Rice?


A just-released Harvard study came to the stunning conclusion that eating brown rice instead of white rice decreases the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes by about 10 percent compared to people who eat it less than once a month. And those who eat white rice on a regular basis — five or more times a week — are almost 20 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who eat it less than once a month.

This is of course patently clear to anyone with any knowledge of whole foods, versus highly refined foods - as their perishable nutrients have been removed to make them shelf-stable. Hence The New York Times headline today is a sad commentary on the apparent fact that many think this is new information.

What is more interesting in my opinion is that this study reinforces the erroneous “single ingredient” fallacy of our approach to healthy eating. Year after year studies highlight one ingredient or another and make claims regarding their healthy benefits. Highly engineered foods clog our grocery shelves with absurd marketing claims regarding the few nutrients that have been added back into cheap highly refined food commodities such as high-fructose corn syrup, white rice, refined white flour, and de-oiled soy flakes.

In the holistic approach to healthy eating it is preciously the great diversity of whole foods availability that delivers everything the healthy body needs to function. Isolating down to a single ingredient such as brown rice misses the point and misleads people into thinking there is a “sliver bullet” out there that bestows good health.

One of my cooking heroes, Julia Child, said it best, “Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.”

Richard Wottrch

Quinoa, Rice & Spinach Steamed Pilaf

Quinoa (pronounced "KEEN - wa") is a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is not a true cereal, or grain, or member of the grass family. Quinoa is closely related to beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth.

Quinoa originated in the Andes of South America and it has been an important food for 6,000 years. Its name is the Spanish spelling of the Quechua name. Quinoa is generally easily grown and altitude-hardy, so it can be cultivated in the Andes up to about 4,000 meters (over 13,000 feet).

Quinoa’s protein content is very high (12%–18%). Quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source among plant foods. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.

I created this particular dish to take advantage of unique crunch of Quinoa with the addition of some flavor notes and nutritional side kicks that result in a very tasty side dish, similar to a pilaf - but steamed instead.

1 cup Quinoa (Nuts On Line)
1 cup premium white rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1 large tomato, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh spinach
1 tablespoon butter
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Splash of lemon juice
Parsley as a garnish

In a rice cooker combine the Quinoa, rice, chicken stock, wine, tomato, oregano, spinach and butter. Set the cooker to white rice. When done remove the mixture to a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Add sea salt and pepper to your taste, lemon juice and serve with parsley as a garnish. This presents well with grilled lamb loin chops.

Richard Wottrich

Relative Nutritional Value - Distance Shipped Plus Time to Market Are Inversely Proportional to Nutrients


Chamonix, France (Photo:RLW)

Why ask where your food comes from? Fresh fruits and vegetables in your supermarket travel an average of 1,500 miles before sale. Fresh fruits and vegetables in a typical farmers' market travel an average of 50 miles.

Fresh fruits and vegetables that come from fields in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, China or any other country may or may not comply with U.S. Department of Agriculture or EPA rules and regulations. What are they spraying on your food in these countries? How do we know?

The antioxidants in fresh fruits and vegetables are there to help the plants ward off insects and diseases. If a plant is grown in the genetically identical mass plantings of an industrial farm it does not need to produce antioxidants to fend off insects and diseases - they have all been killed by herbicides and pesticides.

Fruits and vegetables have been developed to stand up to shipping over great distances. The chief consideration is appearance and long shelf life. There is little if any consideration of nutrient value. In fact, the longer a fruit or vegetable stays on the shelf the lower its nutrient levels are. Nutrients deteriorate over time. That is why the Food Industry breaks foods down and removes active nutrients - to extend shelf life. That is why you have white rice and refined white flour. Those pesky nutrients mess everything up for Food Industry profits.

Donald R. Davis, a research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, recently analyzed data gathered by the USDA in 1950 and 1999 on the nutrient content of 43 fruit and vegetable crops. He found that six out of 13 nutrients had declined in these crops over the 50-year period (the seven other nutrients showed no significant, reliable changes). Three minerals, phosphorous, iron and calcium, declined between 9 percent and 16 percent. Protein declined 6 percent. Riboflavin declined 38 percent and ascorbic acid (a precursor of vitamin C) declined 15 percent.

A study of the mineral content of fruits and vegetables grown in Britain between 1930 and 1980 shows similar decreases in nutrient density. The British study found significantly lower levels of calcium, magnesium, copper and sodium in vegetables, and of magnesium, iron, copper and potassium in fruit. The report concludes that the declines indicate "that a nutritional problem associated with the quality of food has developed over those 50 years."

Relative Nutritional Value (RNV) equals the nutrient level (n) divided by distance shipped plus time to market (d + t), where the nutrient level is assumed to be 100 at perfection. Hence a tomato that travels 1,500 miles in 10 days to reach market has an RNV of .07, while an organic tomato shipped 50 miles in one day has an RNV of 2. And a sprig of parsley grown in your garden that you pick and eat on the spot has an RNV of 100. This is my own equation and its purpose is purely to highlight the issue of nutrient value in our foods.

This formula supposes that local foods are organically grown. Thus their produce had to develop antioxidants to ward off insects and diseases. It also supposes that the soil these plants were grown in is richer than the chemically maintained and exhausted soils of huge industrial farms. This may or may not be true. That is why you ask. Know where your foods come from and how they are grown. It makes a difference.

Richard Wottrich

Sautéed Pineapple & Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are a cultivated member of the wild cabbage family, probably refined in ancient Rome. The first written reference to them is in 1587 in what is now Belgium, hence the name. Folks who don’t like Brussels sprouts probably have had them over cooked - overcooking should be avoided because it releases glucosinolate sinigrin, which has a sulfurous odor.

The combination of pineapple and Brussels sprouts at first seems an unlikely one, but the pineapple’s semi-sweet tartness contrasts beautifully with the butter and cinnamon and the fresh crunch of the Brussels sprouts. Pineapple is a good source of manganese (91 %DV in a 1 cup serving), as well as vitamin C (94 %DV in a 1 cup serving) and vitamin B1 (8 %DV in a 1 cup serving). The contrast of the bright green and white of the Brussels sprouts and the bright yellow of the pineapple make this a great summer dish.

1 whole pineapple, skin removed, quartered, cored and cut into pieces roughly the same size as the Brussels sprouts
1 pound of Brussels sprouts, washed, bases removed, cut in half lengthwise
1 stick of butter (eight tablespoons)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Zest from one orange
Juice from one orange, freshly squeezed
sea salt and pepper to taste
fresh mint as garnish

Put the cleaned Brussels sprouts in a large pot of salted boiling water and blanch for three minutes. Shock them in cold water immediately and reserve. In a sauté pan large enough to hold all the drained Brussels sprouts in a single layer, melt the butter. Add the sprouts and sear at high temperature until they just start to turn brown. Reserve. In the same pan place all the pineapple chunks in a single layer and sear until they just start to brown. Put the Brussels sprouts and pineapple chunks into a large bowl. Deglaze the pan with the orange juice, zest and cinnamon for two minutes. Pour the pan butter mixture over the pineapple and Brussels sprouts. Throw in a quarter cup of chopped fresh mint, sea salt and pepper and toss. Serve at once. [The acid in the pineapple will turn the bright green of the sprouts to a dull color if you let this dish sit too long.]

Richard Wottrich

A Tsunami of Chemicals Hits Your Food

The big food crops globally consist of sugar cane, rice, wheat, corn, soy beans and tubers. These crops account for roughly 80% of everything the world eats. To bring these crops to the worlds’ masses, set to hit 7 billion in 2011, vast amounts of herbicides are used. This is efficient for huge industrial farms because it cuts down on spoilage and weed losses, keeping profit margins robust. We apparently tolerate this as the price we pay for feeding the world. Why?

Most of these industrial crops are broken down into basic cheap derivatives, such as high-fructose corn syrup, that show up in the thousands of engineered foods that populate our supermarket shelves. The food industry churns out advertising that makes absurd health claims about these products. In other words, the nutrients are removed from these foods to be broken into cheap easily shipped bulk commodities, which are then engineered into high value, shelf-stable packaged “food” products we buy to feed our children. Why?

If you look into the world of industrial food crops you’ll see companies like Monsanto, a $10.7 billion giant that sells both crop seeds and the glyphosate-based herbicides (Roundup Ready) that are used to protect them. Monsanto is a fine company. They do a good job for their shareholders and for the farmers who buy their seeds and the chemicals to control weeds. What is missing from this equation are the stakeholders who eat the end products – you and me and our children.

Roundup Ready is an excellent herbicide that has about as small an environmental footprint as can be engineered. Since it was introduced a decade ago it revolutionized farming in that it gave farmers a very effective and relatively safe method of controlling invasive weeds. The trade off for this was the requirement that their crop seeds be genetically engineered with the insertion of genes that made them immune to Roundup Ready. My question is where are the studies regarding the effect of these genetic changes on the nutrients, quality and safety of the resulting food products?

Unfortunately Monsanto lost control of both sides of this equation when the Roundup Ready patent ran out. Chinese companies have been offering look-alike herbicides at drastically lower prices. We all know how trustworthy Chinese chemical companies are. Have you read anything recently about the safety of Chinese herbicides used on U.S. crops?

Mother Nature has changed the game plan as well. Predictably, “superweeds” have appeared throughout the U.S. that are immune to Roundup Ready. Farmers are frantic to kill these weeds. Other herbicide companies are racing to roll out older, more toxic herbicides that can kill them. Monsanto is lowering the price on its Roundup Ready to compete with the Chinese and these older toxic herbicides. Remember, we are talking about the food we eat here.

In order for these older toxic herbicides to work effectively, food crop seeds must be genetically altered again through the insertion of genes to make them immune to these “new” poisons. Rules and regulations governing the use of these herbicides are set by the EPA. The giant herbicide companies obviously lobby congress to influence the EPA rules, many of which were set years ago before genetically engineered foods were so prevalent.

The giant seed companies have petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to approve these new genetically altered seeds. Often, as in the case of Monsanto, these companies offer both products – meaning they have a special inside knowledge of how they want the rules and regulations to favor their products. We all know how effective government rules and regulations have been in the Gulf of Mexico recently.

Superweeds have opened up the herbicide business in a big way, as companies rush new chemicals and new genetically altered seeds to market. It is an insidious cycle of poison – new seeds – new weeds - new poisons – that is disturbing. Everyone is happy - the food company executives, their shareholders, the farmers, members of congress receiving industry political contributions, EPA and USDA career bureaucrats who have what amounts to tenure – all are happy except the folks missing from this cycle – you and me and our children. Who represents the interests of the people who eat these highly engineered commodity food components?

So what can we do? We can eat whole fresh foods that are not part of the industrialized food industry. We can stop buying the highly engineered shelf-stable food products that clog the shelves of our huge supermarkets. And when you have to buy a packaged food item, study the label. When you see derivative food commodities such as high-fructose corn syrup or de-oiled soy flakes or refined white flour, and other nutrient-barren additives on the label, don’t buy it. If a packaged food product has more than five ingredients, or has any ingredient you do not understand, don’t buy it.

Buy fresh. Buy local. Cook.

Richard Wottrich

From Teosinte to Maize to Corn to High-Fructose Corn Syrup in 9,000 Years

For most of the past 100,000 years Homo sapiens relied on gathering fruits, nuts, seeds, tubers and other offerings from nature in order to survive. It was a relatively recent 10,000 years ago that humans began to domesticate and raise animals and plant their own food.

Sean B. Carroll of The New York Times reported in an article on May 25th that the origin of domesticated maize has been determined through advances in DNA research. Corn has of course become an important food globally for humans, livestock and energy. Corn is the third largest food crop in the world behind rice and wheat.

In the past botanists have not found any direct ancestor of modern corn. The biological origin has thus been a bit of a mystery. However through DNA matching it is an unassuming Mexican grass called teosinte that is the Rosetta stone of this puzzle.

Teosinte of the genus Zea is a group of five grasses that grow in Central America and Southern Mexico. Its skinny ears have just a dozen kernels wrapped inside of rock-hard casings, like the tail of an armadillo. It is hard to imagine this plant as the ancestor of corn and in fact in the past it has been classified as closer to rice than to corn.

The DNA evidence taken from teosinte plants throughout its geographical range provides evidence that maize originated in the tropical Central Balsas River Valley in Southern Mexico. It is interesting that the geographical origin of maize is almost a template of the ancient civilizations of Mexico – Olmec, Zapotea, Teotihuacan, Maya, Toltecs and Aztecs. Maize was the mother food of these grand cultures and teosinte is the mother of maize.

It is amazing to me that small groups of people 9,000 years ago were able to select and grow the desirable features of teosinte and evolve it into a high yielding and easily harvested food crop. I thank them for the great American tradition of eating sweet corn with butter and salt on a summer day.

And of course today huge industrial farms across our continent grow just a few highly bred varieties of corn for the production of ethanol, feed for cattle and other animals, and for the great crack cocaine food product of the 21st century – High-fructose corn syrup.

Richard Wottrich

Where It All Began

The Mediterranean Diet, made famous in a study of mortality on Crete by the United Nations published in their demographic yearbook for 1948, is something many of us are familiar with. Cretans lived longer than any other people in the region at the time; hence the interest in their diet. What may not be so familiar is that this diet is largely the result of the influence of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1299 to 1923 (over six centuries) and was succeeded by the modern state of Turkey.

So the natural cuisine of Turkey was dispersed and assimilated and added to throughout the Mediterranean Basin. And Turkish cuisine was influenced over the centuries by its earliest people, the Kurds and their cuisine.

The Smithsonian has an article this month entitled "Heritage Reclaimed" that is well worth a read. In it a quote caught my imagination as the perfect expression of a natural holistic approach to life. A Kurdish woman, Semi Utan (age 82), smiled wistfully as she recalled her childhood.

“In my time we lived a completely natural life,” she said. “We had our animals. We made yogurt, milk and cheese. We produced our own honey. Herbs were used for healing the sick. No one ever went to a doctor. Everything was tied to nature.”

Smithsonian article

Raita Sauce

Raita (Raitha) is a Pakistani/Indian condiment based on yogurt (dahi) and used as a sauce or dip. The yogurt is seasoned with coriander (cilantro), cumin, mint, cayenne pepper, and/or other herbs and spices as you wish. It is prepared by frying cumin (zeera) along with black mustard seeds (raie) and these mixtures are mixed into the yogurt.

Minced, raw vegetables or fruits—such as cucumber, onion, or carrot, pineapple, or papaya— are mixed into the yogurt. Raw ginger and garlic paste, green chili paste, and sometimes mustard paste, are used to enrich flavor. 

Serve Raita chilled. It cools the palate with spicy Indian dishes. Raita is also great with kebabs, any grilled meats, poached fish or roasted vegetables. Raita is similar to Greek tzatziki.

We keep a simple version in the frig that can be added to as your imagination allows:

1 large Cucumber, drained, seeded and chopped
1 cup Greek Yogurt (Fage, Oikos, Chobani)
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped Mint
juice from one lime

Richard Wottrich

Gazpacho Full Circle

Gazpacho is a tomato-based raw vegetable soup, originating in Spain in the southern region of Andalusia. Gazpacho is now ubiquitous throughout Latin America and in fine restaurants worldwide.

Upon their arrival in Tenochtitlan the Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valle de Oaxaca, were purportedly astounded by the ninth Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II (1466–1520) and his large gardens. The Emperor had a botanical garden and an aquarium. The aquarium had ten ponds of salt water and ten ponds of fresh water, containing fish and aquatic birds. Several large gardens were irrigated by water channels and had pathways so that visitors could enjoy them.

According to the scholar Francisco Cervantes de Salazar (1514? – 1575): "These gardens contained only medicinal and aromatic herbs, flowers, native roses, and trees with fragrant blossoms, of which there are many kinds." (Granziera 2001:188). Montezuma did not allow his gardeners to grow any edible plants that could be used for food because he believed that only lower classes should grow plants for sustenance. His gardens were only for pleasure; they also served as a collection of plants from all areas of the empire.

Cortez found tomatoes growing in Montezuma’s gardens in 1519, and brought them back to Spain as bounty. Because of its origin the tomato (a member of the Nightshade family) was deemed poisonous and used as a decorative plant. (Who had the strength of character to first eat a tomato in Spain is unknown, but it may have been the brother of the first person to eat an oyster.)

This is my take on this classic cold summer soup:

22 ounces of V-8 juice (four 5.5 ounce cans)
2 pounds of tomatoes, quartered, seeded and finely chopped
3 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced in sea salt
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 banana pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons unfiltered extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
1 juice from a lime
chives for garnish (or Yellow Chinese chives)
toasted bread points and olive oil

In a stainless steel or glass bowl mix all the ingredients except the garnish. Cool for two hours. Serve the same day it is prepared. Garnish with chives. A dollop of Greek yogurt adds a cool note.

Thyme

The whole point of a holistic approach to eating is that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This refutes the entire notion of big food companies that specific ingredients must be purchased from them and ingested - that we need to take supplements to be healthy. It just doesn’t wash.

Herbs are a case in point. Humans have been eating herbs for thousands of years for good reason - it makes them healthy. In the case of Thyme what follows is a listing of just the antioxidants that have been identified in the leaf of Thymus vulgaris or Common Thyme:

Alanine, anethole essential oil, apigenin, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, caffeic acid, camphene, carvacrol, chlorogenic acid, chrysoeriol, derulic acid, eriodictyol, eugenol, 4-terpinol, gallic acid, gamma-terpinene, isichlorogenic acid, isoeugenol, isothymonin, kaemferol, labiatic acid, lauric acid, linalyl acetate, luteolin, methionine, myrcene, myristic acid, naringenin, rosmarinic acid, selenium, tannin, thymol, trytophan, ursolic acid, vanillic acid

It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature.

Viva D. Rodriguez Cuba!

I didn’t really plan on being in Miami two weekends in one month, it just worked out that way. I stayed at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental and then at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The Fontainebleau recently had a one billion dollar makeover (you heard me right, $1 billion) that resembles a rehab center for celebrities.

The nexus of Latin cool, Miami is vivacious, tacky, hot, multilingual, gaudy, tattooed, hipped and hopped, alive, seedy, gleaming, and whatever you want it to be. It is where the tectonic plates of North and South America collide in a cacophony of human diversity.

Close friends in Chicago recommended that we go to the top Cuban restaurant in town, D. Rodriguez Cuba. Opened last December in the art-deco Astor Hotel at 956 Washington Avenue in South Beach, D. Rodriguez is a big space with high ceilings, a live salsa band and with multi-leveled terraces outside. For a quieter dinner dine around 7:00 pm as the live music starts at 8:30.

Cuban cuisine is historically a blend of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines. Typical fare consists of rice and beans; a main pork or beef course; vianda that encompass yucca, malanga, potato, plantains, unripe bananas and even corn; and a salad composed of tomato, lettuce, avocado, including at times cucumber, carrots, cabbage and radish. Fruit is often ignored, except ripe plantains, which can be served with the rice and beans. Cuban fare is usually served family style.

Chef Douglas Rodriguez is considered to be the Godfather of Nuevo Latino Cuisine. He has opened restaurants in Miami, Philadelphia, Arizona, and the most recent, D. Rodriguez Cuba at the Astor Hotel in Miami Beach. You may know him as the executive chef and co-owner of the Patria in New York City.

I won’t dwell on his cuisine except to say that his Tapas (crab and lemon with cucumber yogurt Empanaditas), Ceviches (Fire and Ice - Salmon, lemon juice, chives, jalapenos, dill over yogurt and cucumber granite) and Cassabe Flat Breads are not to be missed. The menu is an adventure. And a few puffs of a good cigar out on the terrace afterwards might have you exclaiming, “Who lives better than us!”

Richard Wottrich

Photo: Andre Baranowski

Slow Cooked Salmon with Leeks in Cream and Red Wine & Pomegranate Butter

I adapted this dish from Gordon Hamersley, the chef and owner at Hamersley Bistro in Boston, who created this to feature wild Alaskan King Salmon. King has the highest fat content of wild Salmon we can source in the US and thus is especially well suited to this method of roasting. The succulent result is an instant “melt in your mouth” moment that causes immediate silence at the dining table.

Salmon available in the US include the Alaskan King, the Coho or Silver, Humpback or Pink, Atlantic or Leaper, Sockeye or Red, and the Chum or Keta. As in all cooking the absolute freshness and quality of your fish selection either makes or breaks this dish. Wild Salmon in my opinion has a better taste.

Recognize that Salmon is an animal protein source and as such should be restricted to 10% of your caloric intake. In January 2004, the journal Science warned that farmed salmon contain 10 times more toxins (PCBs, dioxin) than wild salmon. The study recommends that farmed salmon should be eaten only once a month, or perhaps only every two months, as it can pose cancer risks to the human beings.

Ingredients:
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice berries
6 whole peppercorns
2 shallots
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (6 softened, 2 diced)
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus 1 tablespoon thinly sliced
3 medium leeks, washed and julienned
½ tablespoon fresh marjoram, finely chopped
½ tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tablespoon crushed fennel seeds
1/3 cup vermouth
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 6-ounce skinless boneless Alaskan King filets
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Preparation:
Combine the red wine, pomegranate molasses, chopped shallots, cloves, allspice and peppercorns in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil until reduced to roughly two tablespoons; about 15 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, discard solids. When the sauce is cool add the softened butter and chopped parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir until well combined. At this point you can refrigerate the butter as is, or put it on a sheet of plastic wrap and twist it into a thick cylinder about 1 inch by 5 inches. This is best made the day before.

Heat the remaining butter in a skillet over high heat. Add the leeks, marjoram, thyme, fennel and season with salt, stirring occasionally until the leeks are slightly wilted – about 2 minutes. Add the vermouth and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost all the liquid has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Add the cream and lemon juice and cook at low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cream thickens, about 20 minutes. Add water if the mixture becomes too dry. Keep warm and reserve.

Heat your oven to 275 degrees. Arrange the Salmon filets on a foil-lined baking sheet or pan. In a small bowl combine the remaining shallots, olive oil and garlic. Rub the filets with the mixture and season with salt and pepper. Roast the Salomon until done to your taste. Medium rare takes about 12 minutes. Done to an even consistency takes about 18-20 minutes. Put a tablespoon of the wine butter on top of each filet and let it melt slightly in the oven.

Presentation:
Spoon the leeks in cream onto the center of the plate and place a Salmon filet on top. Garnish with parsley. As a main course I served seared fresh pineapple slices and Brussels sprout halves (par boiled for 5 minutes and then sautéed in pineapple juice) until both were slightly caramelized.

Adapted from Saveur, July 2008

We're Talking About Cheese...

Excerpt from the The Belly of Paris, Émile Zola (1840-1902)
(Paris Market, Photo: RLW - click on picture)

All around them the cheeses were stinking. On the two shelves at the back of the stall were huge blocks of butter: Brittany butter overflowing its baskets; Normandy butter wrapped in cloth, looking like models of bellies on to which a sculptor had thrown some wet rags; other blocks, already cut into and looking like high rocks full of valleys and crevices. Under the display counter of red marble veined with grey, baskets of eggs shown like white chalk; while on layers of straw in boxes were bondons placed end to end, and gournays arranged like medals, forming darker patches tinted with green. But for the most part the cheeses stood in piles on the table. There, next to the one-pound packs of butter, a gigantic cantal was spread on leaves of white beet, as though split by blows from an axe; then came a golden Cheshire cheese, a gruyere like a wheel fallen from some barbarian chariot, some Dutch cheeses suggesting decapitated heads smeared in dried blood and as hard as skulls – which has earned them the name of ‘death’s heads’. A parmesan added its aromatic tang to the thick, dull smell of the others. Three bries, on round boards, looked like melancholy moons. Two of them, very dry, were at the full; the third, in its second quarter, was melting away in a white cream, which had spread into a pool and flowed over the thin boards that had been put there in an attempt to hold it in check. Some ports-saluts shaped like ancient discuses, bore the printed names of their makers. A romantour in silver paper suggested a bar of nougat or some sweet cheese which had strayed into the realm of bitter fermentations. The roqueforts, too, under their glass covers, had a princely air, their fat faces veined in blue and yellow, like the victims of some shameful disease common to rich people who had eaten too many truffles; while on a dish next to them stood the fromages de chèvre, about the size of a child’s fist, hard and grey like the pebbles which the rams send rolling down stony paths as they lead their flock. Then came the strong smelling-cheeses: the mont-d’ors, pale yellow, with a mild sugary smell; the troyes, very thick and bruised at the edges, much stronger, smelling like a damp cellar; the camemberts, suggesting high game; the neufchâtels, the limbourgs, the marrolles, the pont-l’évèques, each adding its own shrill note in a phrase that was harsh to the point of nausea; the livarots, tinted red, as irritating to the throat as sulphur fumes; and finally, stronger than all the others, the olivets, wrapped in walnut leaves, like the carcasses of animals which peasants cover with branches as they lie rotting in the hedgerow under the blazing sun. The warm afternoon has softened the cheeses; the mould on the rinds was melting and glazing over with the rich colors of red copper verdigris, like wounds that have badly healed; under the oak leaves, a breeze lifted the skin of the olivets, which seemed to move up and down with the slow deep breathing of a man asleep. A livarot was swarming with life; and behind the scales a géromé flavored with aniseed gave off such a pestilential smell that all around it flies had dropped dead on the marble slab.

Sinhagad Fortress, near Pune, India (Photo:RLW - click on picture)

Chronic Hunger & Solutions

In the pursuit of our own healthy eating and loving families we all lose sight from time to time of the "other reality" in this world. Over one billion people suffer from chronic hunger, lack of potable water and extreme poverty globally. And these people have children who suffer along with them - the very definition of a living hell on earth.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private charitable foundation in the world and it targets these basic problems head on. In 2009 its endowment was worth roughly $33.5 Billion. Warren Buffett has committed to contribute the bulk of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which should add another $30 billion.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, joined representatives of the governments of the United States, Canada, Spain, and South Korea at the U.S. Department of the Treasury today to launch a global trust fund to help the world’s poorest farmers grow more and earn more so they can lift themselves—and their countries—out of hunger and poverty.

Initial contributions to the fund total nearly $900 million, including a $30 million commitment from the foundation. Proposed by the G20 last year after the economic crisis and rising food prices pushed the number of hungry people to 1 billion, the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program is a concrete step to translate $22 billion in food security pledges into action.

“Investing in small farmers is an incredibly effective way to combat hunger and extreme poverty—history has proved it many times,” said Gates, whose foundation has committed $1.5 billion to date to agricultural development. “The launch of this fund is an important step forward, but only a first step. Other countries meeting at the European, G8 and G20 summits in June, and at the U.N. Summit in September should join the four founding partners and make good on their pledges. If we all sustain focus until the job is done, hundreds of millions of people will lead better lives.”

This is worth tracking - worth helping - worthwhile...

Richard Wottrich

Islamic Girls School, Istanbul, Turkey (Photo: RLW) - click picture

April

Latin aperire, "to open," the modern Greek use of ἁνοιξις (opening)

April 16, 2010

Apéritif

Champagne Mango, Ginger & Sparkling Hard Cider with Lemon Grass

Jamie Oliver Tarragon & Grape Salad with Goat Cheese

2006 Saint-Hilaire, Estate Bottled Champagne

Asparagus Risotto & Sautéed Shrimp

2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Helena, Gran Reserve

Pineapple, Melon & Kiwi Italian Ice with Thyme

2006 Riesling, Niersteiner Kranzberg

Slow-Braised Wild Alaskan King Salmon, Leek & Fennel Cream Sauce with Grilled Pineapple & Brussels Sprouts

2007 The Sum, Tuck Beckstoffer

Sharon’s Strawberry Meringue Cake

1996 Chateau Doisy Daëne, Sauternes

Cocachinos!

Starting in 2010 I decided to give up my mainlining habit of consuming Coca-Cola & Starbucks Frappachinos. My diet beyond those indulgences is pretty good. I cook most everything from scratch and try to keep aninal fats to a minimum. However I knew that my Cocachino addiction was keeping extra pounds on me. My mind's eye did not match my surface tension.

How many? Well I was averaging two cans of regular coke a day and sometimes more. I also had my daily Frappachino sugar fix and averaged perhaps five a week. That works out to roughly 3,500 calories a week, which is roughly how many calories it takes to gain one pound.

In a year that adds up to 182,000 calories, or over 50 pounds! Obviously I burned up most of those calories, but my “calorie deficit” (the difference between calories consumed and burned) was high enough to keep extra pounds on me.

My Body Mass Index (BMI) was an overweight 26.6. I have dropped 12.5 pounds over the past several weeks quite naturally for a BMI of 24.9, considered “normal.” I attribute roughly half of this weight drop to ditching Cocachinos. The rest however is the natural result of a diet of 100% fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and keeping total animal proteins to 10% of total intake.

The real benefit is in better nutrition. But more than that I just feel better!

What do you mainline?

Spicy Fagioli Cannellini and Swiss Shard in Tomato Sauce

Dried white beans are a wonderful flavor platform for all types of sauces. They are an excellent source of folate, manganese, dietary fiber, protein, iron and Vitamin B1. But not all beans are created equal.

True Fagioli Cannellini white beans are a rare thing, true Italian cannellini beans. Most "cannellini" beans in the U.S. market, even in top-end stores, are American, Canadian or Argentine beans. It's mostly size and texture that make the difference. Fagioli Cannellini are large, white beans, with a beautiful, creamy feel that wonderfully soaks up sauces, soups, meat juices, olive oil. They are great for cassoulet.

The following spicy sauce stands up to grilled lamb chops, flank steak or barbecued chicken quite well.

Ingredients:

2 cups dried Cannellini beans, or two 15-ounce cans, drained
1 15-ounce can roasted chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 tablespoons of roasted red peppers, chopped
1 bunch Swiss chard leaves, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped Vidalia onion
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup chives, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (Aleppo preferred)
1 teaspoon powdered Sumac
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon apple vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Grated Pecorino cheese to taste

Preparation:

Put the olive oil in a deep cast iron pan and sauté the mirepoix (chopped onion, carrots and celery) until soft. Add the garlic and sauté one minute more. Add the chopped Swiss chard and wilt the leaves for one minute. Add the drained white beans after soaking them over night, or the drained canned beans. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, white wine and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. When hot add the chives, red pepper flakes, Sumac, oregano, vinegar, lemon juice, red curry paste and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for at least 20 minutes, or until the beans are just done. Add more stock if the beans become dry. They should flow like a spaghetti sauce.

Serve with grated Pecorino cheese, fresh bread and the wine you used in the sauce.