Food


2012-08-08; Devon's Gazpacho #1

Gazpacho is a cold tomato & vegetable soup, originally from Spain. There are many different Spanish styles, as well as localized versions from various former Spanish colonies in the New World. My recipe is based on a recipe that my mother adapted from who-knows-where. I'll call it "California-style" for lack of a more accurate sourcing. This recipe is really easy to make; all you need is a knife, cutting board, and blender. Its great for summertime, since no cooking is involved, and the soup is served cold. Its ridiculously healthy. The key elements are fresh, ripe tomatoes, and fresh cilantro. This recipe creates a slightly tart, very peppery gazpacho. You can substitute low-sodium vegetable juice (i.e. V-8 or equivalent) for the low-sodium tomato juice.

Vegetables;
2 lb Roma tomatoes; chopped & seeded
8 oz cucumber; peeled, chopped, & seeded
4 oz white or yellow onion; chopped
4 oz green or red bell pepper; chopped, seeded
4 oz celery; chopped
2 oz green onion (white part); chopped

Liquids;
1 cup low sodium tomato juice
1 Tbl red wine vinegar
1 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl lime juice

Spices;
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 clove minced garlic or 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp fresh cilantro or 1/2 tsp dried cilantro
1 Tbl fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder

Procedure;
1) prepare ingredients - chop, de-seed, weigh
2) blend oil, vegetables in blender (on my blender, low speed "grate" is about right)
3) add spices, re-blend
4) add lime juice,  re-blend
5) add low-salt tomato juice as needed for consistency, up to 1 cup
6) add red wine vinegar, re-blend
7) refrigerate for at least 4 hours

The result will be a puree with a pink color. It stores pretty well in the fridge, I have not tried to freeze any yet.


2012-03-10; A note on soy sauce

Most soy sauce available in supermarkets and restaurants is a bitter Chinese style. I have found that most Japanese style soy sauces are sweet rather than bitter, and thus much more to my liking. I keep a bottle of low-sodium Tamari style soy sauce in the fridge. Its sodium content is still pretty high, but its more tolerable than the full-sodium stuff. The brand that is available locally, these days, is San-J.

2012-03-10; Asian Chicken & Asparagus Stirfry

Doing this one right requires fresh asparagus! I used to use frozen asparagus, when I had a craving for it. Not often, because the frozen stuff costs $5-6 per pound when you do the math. But having bought some fresh asparagus recently, I now realize the frozen stuff is not even remotely worth what they charge. This is one vegetable that just doesn't freeze well.

1 Ziploc of marinated check thighs, as described previously.
Fresh asparagus, about twice the weight of the chicken.
3 Tbl light olive oil
2 Tbl low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp potassium chloride salt

Caveat; I like my food spicy, so keep that in mind when looking at these recipes.

1) Thaw & drain the chicken.
2) put the chicken and olive oil into a large frying pan and set heat to medium-low.
3) Wash the asparagus,  cut the "butt ends" off, and cut the spears into 3rds. 
4) Cook the chicken for 20 minutes or so.
5) push the chicken to the side of the frying pan and put the asparagus in.
6) Immediately roll the asparagus bits around so that they get coated with the olive oil.
7) Reduce heat after a few minutes. Add the soy sauce and spices.
8) Continue cooking until a fork can puncture the asparagus easily but the asparagus is still crunchy.
9) Remove from heat, and serve.






2012-02-27; Devon's Heart Healthy Chili

Any lean meat can be used, not just turkey. Pork tenderloin tips are affordable and healthy. Likewise for chicken breast, if you can catch it on sale. I'm not a big fan of ground beef or ground turkey from the supermarket; it doesn't help the texture, and the meat quality does not seem all that great.

Note that the spice amounts listed below create what I would call a "spicy but not hot" chili. The minced jalapeño pepper is the "hotness dial" that you can adjust as necessary.

Key points;
1) fresh tomatoes are ESSENTIAL!!!
2) its all about the ratios;
2a) most important ratio is the ratio of meat to tomatoes, by weight; 2:3 is standard, 1:2 is okay
2b) second important ratio is the ratio of chile powder to meat+tomatoes
2c) third most important ratio  is the ratio of bell pepper to meat+tomatoes (don't overdo it!)
3) either Roma or Beefsteak tomatoes are fine, as long as they are meaty and ripe
4) watch out for excessive blood in the meat, if necessary drain juice through a strainer


Ingredients;
3 Tbl         E.V. olive oil
2 lb           lean meat, either ground or diced
1/4-1/2 cup    low sodium chicken broth or beef broth

3 lb             fresh Roma tomatoes
1/2 lb       diced sweet yellow onion
1/4 lb       diced bell pepper
2 cloves     fresh garlic, minced (or 1 tsp crushed garlic)
1/2 tsp      minced fresh jalapeño pepper (up to 1 tsp)

5 Tbl        chile powder
1 tsp        ground cumin
1/4 tsp      basil
1/2 tsp      black pepper
1/4 tsp      ground red pepper
1/4 tsp      salt (can use potassium chloride salt substitute instead)

6 oz can of good quality tomato paste (watch out for hidden salt!)

----

Procedure;

1) wash, clean, and dice tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, garlic
2) pour olive oil in large stewpot, preheat to medium (wipe entire inside of pot with oil to ease cleanup)
3) drain ground turkey, brown thoroughly in stewpot, reduce to simmer (drain and strain juices at this stage, if necessary)
4) add spices, jalepeno pepper, garlic, half the diced bell pepper, half of the diced onion, and the chicken broth
5) cover and simmer for 20 minutes
6) add tomatoes, remaining diced onion, and remaining bell pepper to stewpot
7) add tomato paste to thicken as needed, simmer another 15 minutes
8) remove from heat, and serve

Note that an excellent way to serve chili without beans is over rice, especially a brown/wild rice mix.



2012-02-27; Tackling the "family pack" of chicken

Just a quick shot. Here's how I handle large amounts of meat from the supermarket. I rinse each individual piece under the kitchen faucet and then place one meal's worth in a quart-sized Ziploc bag. Note that chicken breasts are getting bigger every year, so you may find it wise to cut them in half to maintain portion control. Also note that most supermarket chicken has been soaked in water at the processing plant, to increase the sale weight. So getting them fully thawed and rinsed gets them back to a more natural state, IMHO. As a caveat, the food safety people are now recommending that you not wash your chicken; the process of washing uncooked chicken supposedly spreads raw chicken juice (and thus salmonella, potentially) around your kitchen. Who knows. I'm not a "foodie" but I do prefer to get all the blood and soak water out of my food before i eat it. So, back to the chicken. After getting all the chicken parts into their Ziplocs, I pour some marinade in the bags; just enough to ensure that the chicken is completely covered in marinade when the Ziplocs are "burped" of air. The bags are then put in the freezer. The lack of air-to-chicken contact in the Ziploc bags prevents freezer burn and ensures thorough marination. Note that the chicken will be marinated twice; first when the bags are put into the freezer, and then when they are thawed in the fridge. The time it takes to thaw a bag will vary a lot, depending on the temperatures of your freezer and your refridgerator. I find that it takes a Ziploc with 8 ounces of chicken about 12-18 hours to fully thaw. I try to eat the chicken within about 36 hours of moving it from freezer to fridge. The advantage of most marinades is that they seem to be hostile environments for bacteria.

Here is a simple marinade I use often;

I also use Italian salad dressing. I've been messing around with a liquid smoke based marinade, but it needs work.






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