Grapefruit Avocado Salad with Grapefruit Glazed Shrimp

Lou was visiting his parents last week while attending a conference in Fresno and brought home a huge bag of grapefruit from their neighbor's grapefruit tree. Lou doesn't care for grapefruit alone and I doubt I can devour all of them on my own, so I have been creative about incorporating them into our meals, mostly with various takes on grapefruit salad. I served a smaller version of my Grapefruit Avocado Shrimp Salad as a starter for a dinner I made for a friend the other night. I had forgotten how good this combination is.

About a year ago, I submitted this recipe for a recipe contest at gofloridagrapefruit.com. Apparently, I didn't win, because I never heard from them. Perhaps my original recipe was too common or boring as it seems everyone does some combination of avocado/grapefruit/shrimp salad. Winning recipe it's not, but I think this dinner salad is tasty, easy, and fresh and well worth sharing with you. Let me know what you think!

Grapefruit Avocado Salad with Grapefruit Glazed Shrimp

Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter

1 Grapefruit
½ head bib lettuce or about 3 ounces mixed greens
1 medium avocado, diced and salted
¼ of a large daikon radish, peeled and julienned (cut into 1 inch long matchstick pieces)
¼ red onion, sliced thin

1 to 2 Tablespoons Olive oil for sautéing
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Remove the peel and pith from the grapefruit by cutting around the fruit with a sharp knife. Next, section the grapefruit by cutting along the membranes, collecting the fruit in a wide mouth bowl and capturing any juice. Squeeze the membranes to release any extra juice before discarding them. Set aside.

In a large bowl, place the prepared greens, diced avocado, daikon, and sliced red onion. Remove the grapefruit sections from their juices and add the fruit to the salad greens, reserving the juice.

Heat a 10 or 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cover the bottom of the skillet with olive oil. Add the minced garlic, then the shrimp. Salt the shrimp to taste and stir until pink and just cooked through. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set aside. Put the hot skillet back on medium-high heat and add the reserved grapefruit juice to the pan, scraping up any garlic left in the skillet until the juice is reduced to a glaze. Pour the glaze over the shrimp and stir to coat.

Make vinaigrette by mixing one Tablespoon white wine vinegar with two Tablespoons olive oil. Add a dash of salt and fresh ground pepper.

Pour the vinaigrette over the greens and toss. Separate the greens onto plates, then top them with the grapefruit glazed shrimp and serve.

Scones

It seems scones get a bad wrap these days. A lot of us think of the dry, over-sized clumps of cooked dough sitting under the lights behind the glass of the coffee shop counter. Then we here how fattening they are, causing some of us to avoid eating them altogether so the same coffee shop resorts to making an even less tasty, just as over-sized low-fat version. Yum. There's no denying that the coffee shop scone is high in fat, but it has more to do with their being unnecessarily over-sized than with the nutritional content. My local Starbucks sells a blueberry scone for example, that has 12 grams of fat and 370 calories. One serving is 121 grams! What I was very happy to see and to their credit is they also sell a "Petite Vanilla Bean Scone". They call it "petite", but it is actually a normal sized homemade scone or one purchased anywhere outside the US. One serving weighs 31 grams. Of course they also have to sell a three-pack of these, because one is just not enough for some of us super-sizers. (Perhaps we will see more down-sizing as a positive side effect of the slowing economy?)

As you might have guessed, I have never actually tasted the blueberry or the Petite Vanilla Bean Scone sold at our local Starbucks. Not only do I restrain from spending money at the big corporate coffee houses, I know that I can make them better and get them fresher if I make them at home... and eating them freshly baked is what makes a scone taste truly great.

A few years ago, after a trip to London, I was missing the scones that were served with the ritual teas which we indulged in almost daily. I experimented with a few unique recipes I had found, using more or less liquid and changing them as seen fit to get a lighter, flakier texture. I ended up with what I would call a pretty good scone, but it didn't "wow me". It wasn't something we craved and my lack of enthusiasm for it's taste and the difficulty of its preparation caused me to set the recipe aside. About a year ago, I found some dried currants at the market and thought... scones! Instead of going back to that old recipe, I started anew with a fresh perspective. I went back to basics with the ratios that Betty Crocker suggested. After only a few trials, bingo, we had it... a tender, flaky, flavorful. Exactly what a scone should be. With very few tweaks and some improved techniques, this is the recipe that I will make again and again.

This recipe is truly basic not only because it uses simple ingredients that most of us have on hand but also because you need no fancy equipment for it. You may use a food processor or a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients, but I get great results by using my fingers to rub the butter into the flour mixture and a simple table fork for stirring. For baking, no fancy partitioned scone pan is necessary, just cut with a bench scraper or knife and place on a baking sheet. Note that a pastry brush will come in handy if you choose to brush the scones with the egg wash. It's an optional step that results in only a cosmetic improvement so don't delay making these for lack of a pastry brush. Dried currants may prove difficult to find, and when you do find them, they may be expensive, so I suggest dried sweetened cranberries as a fine substitute. They both have a strong pungeant flavor with just the right level of sweetness.

Scones
1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
1/3 cup unsalted cold butter, cubed
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup dried currants or sweetened dried cranberries
4 or 5 Tablespoons milk

optional- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together with a fork. Add the cold cubes of butter and rub the butter into the flour mixture with the tips of your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. With the fork, stir in the beaten egg with 4 tablespoons of milk and the currants or cranberries. Dough should come together and away from sides of bowl. Add another tablespoon of milk if necessary.

Lightly flour a small area on your countertop and dump the dough out onto the flour. Sprinkle a very small amount of flour onto the top of the dough and knead the dough by pressing into it and away from you with the heals of your palms, then folding the dough in half, turning it 1/4 turn and repeating this another 7 times. Don't over-handle the dough. Pat it into a rectangle that is aproximately 6 X 12 inches. With a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the rectangle in half so you have two 3 X 12 inch strips, then cut 6 triangles from each of those strips to get 12 equally sized scones. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet and brush with the egg wash if desired. Place on the middle rack of your preheated oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until browned. Remove from baking pan and cool before eating if you can stand the wait.

I calculated the fat content of one scone to be about 6 grams if you make 12 scones in total.

Inaugural Luncheon

Today was the Inauguration of our new President, Barack Obama. He is coming into office during a recession, but we set aside our lack of confidence today and celebrated in grand style. Besides all the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony itself, the news of course covers all the social events that surround the inauguration... 10 official inaugural balls (I wonder how many unofficial ones there are), a grand parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, and the Inaugural Luncheon. While NBC was covering the luncheon, I heard Brian Williams or Tom Brokaw comment that the menu garnered the most hits on a particular website. I was glad to hear that Americans were interested in more pertinent subjects than what the First Lady would wear today. (By the way, she looked great) We are a nation of foodies afterall! The menu consisted of three courses for which they even list wine pairings. It started with a first course of Seafood Stew, followed by "A Brace of American Birds", (pheasant and duck) and finished with an Apple Cinnamon Sponge Cake. Yum. To my delight, the recipes are available as well! I considered making the menu for our dinner today until I read the list of ingredients for the seafood stew- it called for 6 Maine Lobsters. That'll have to wait until the recession is over.

Point Reyes Lighthouse

Yesterday, we took a drive up Highway 1 along the California Coast to visit the Point Reyes Lighthouse. On the way, we stopped at Stinson Beach to bask in the sun and enjoy our lunch. I hate to admit it, but our lunch consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, although, they WERE made with my own recipe for homemade mulitgrain bread. The lunch wasn't fancy, but I think anything would have tasted gourmet sitting on the beach watching the waves on January 15. Our unseasonably warm weather and Lou's lack of work due to the economic slump were the reasons for our little day trip. After our lunch and an unsuccessful search for seashells, we packed the car back up and headed north for Point Reyes Station. We took a short stroll through the quaint couple of blocks of the downtown and stopped in at Bovine Bakery for a coconut macaroon and an oversized chewy ginger cookie. I wondered, why is it that commercial bakeries always make their cookies so big? I guess they can charge a lot more that way. Anyway, we didn 't seem to mind as they were a perfect size for sharing. After dropping in at Cowgirl Creamery, we started the drive off of highway 1 in search of the Point Reyes Lighthouse. It was a long and meandering drive through historical ranches. Appopriately called the Pastoral Zone, our car weaved up the windy road that led us through cow pasture after cow pasture. There were happy cows everywhere, eating lush, green grass. We left the unusually warm January sun behind us and found ourselves in a thick, dense fog, more dense than any I'd seen in San Francisco. It was surely responsible for keeping the fields so thick with greens. When finally reaching the parking area for the lighthouse, we realized we'd vastly underdressed for the outing. The summerlike weather was miles away and we were bare-legged and sockless and standing in cold, blustery fog. After deciding we should finish the trek as we had come this far afterall, we scrounged around for extra clothes and started the half mile hike. It ended with 300 stairs down to the lighthouse. The light was well-kept and we received a personal tour from the park ranger on duty who was enthusiastic even at the end of his day. I thought he must rattle off the same details to tourist after tourist a few times every hour day after day. After our tour, we hiked back up the 300 stairs, walked the half mile back to our car, and drove a little over an hour back to San Francisco, where the sunny city seemed a world away from those foggy pastures.



The Point Reyes Lighthouse in the dense fog.

A break in the fog.

These two photos were taken from the very same spot within seconds of each other. The first is looking west down the steps to the lighthouse and the second was taken facing south.

New Years Resolution #1

Normally, I do not make new years resolutions. I am a big believer that if you need to make an improvement in your life, just do it.
This year, it was different. January 1, 2009 caused me to reflect on myself and my accomplishments, or lack thereof. Perhaps because I'm older now, or because I am a parent. Maybe because my full time job as a stay at home mom doesn't have quotas or deadlines and January 1 presented itself to me as just that. Perhaps I've disappointed myself by neglecting what I so much like to do... post to my blog. Whatever the reason, I have decided that resolution #1 is to take more time for myself and to pursue my writing. Ok, so it's taken me thirteen days to realize this, but the important thing is I have resolved to just do it.

Recipe: Whole Wheat Banana Bread

With a one year old that loves bananas and is particular about their degree of ripeness, we have a continuous supply of over-ripe bananas at our house. Not being able to waste a morsel of food, I have dug out my whole wheat banana bread recipe. The fact that it uses whole wheat makes this recipe a tad healthier than conventional banana bread. You can use either traditional whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour, also labeled whole wheat pastry flour, made from white wheat. The latter has a milder wheat flavor and I think it works better for sweet breads like this one. I skip the step of mashing the bananas before adding them to the batter. I find that the paddle attachment on my stand mixer does a wonderful job of breaking up the banana for me. If you'd like, make two small loaves instead of one large one by using the smaller size loaf pans. Then eat one immediately and freeze the other. If you find yourself with one or two ripe bananas or you don't have time to make this recipe when they are at their peek of ripeness, peel them, cut them into one inch chunks, place the banana chunks in a freezer bag and freeze until you have a third banana or time to make the bread. Then just remove the frozen bananas, allow them to thaw and use them in place of fresh bananas.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

1 cup granulated or brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature or softened in the microwave (not melted)
2 large eggs
3 ripe medium sized bananas
1/3 cup water
1 2/3 cup white whole wheat or traditional red whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/2 teaspoon table salt
2/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one 9X5" loaf pan or two 7X3" loaf pans with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Cream sugar and butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer. Blend in eggs. Then add bananas in 1 inch chunks, increasing the speed of the mixer and allowing the paddle or the beaters to break the banana into smaller pieces. When the banana is sufficiently dispersed into the batter, add the water. Add all at once, the whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then blend just until moistened. Stir in the chopped walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan(s) and bake at 350 degrees until they test done and are nicely browned on top. About an hour for the large loaf or 45 minutes for the two small ones. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan, then cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

My earliest memories of rhubarb consist of walking along the patch in our garden as my mom harvested what seemed like bushels. She would cut the stalks close to the earth, trimming the large leaves off immediately, leaving them lie in the hot June sun to whither and wilt in the garden. My mom would warn me, "the leaves are poisonous, do not eat that part". She reminded me of this everytime she cut rhubarb, so naturally I was deathly afraid of rhubarb leaves as a kid.

We'd bring the freshly harvested rhubarb up to the house to be cleaned. Often after the first harvest of the summer, my mom would give us each a bright red sampling. We'd dip the end of the tart, fibrous stalk into a dish of sugar and take a bite... and remember that we liked it better cooked. I didn't particularly like the taste of raw rhubarb, I think I just ate it because I could and as a way to celebrate- summer was finally here.

Rhubarb is a vegetable that we treat like a fruit. We bake it into pies and layer it in tortes, crisps, and crumbles. It is no wonder- the tart, pungent vegetable tastes decidedly fruit-like and like most fruits is improved by adding a little, or a lot of sugar. Ice cream doesn't hurt either.

I was at home at my mom and dad's farm in Wisconsin for the first week of June- just in time to enjoy all the fresh cut asparagus I could eat and of course, rhubarb. I hauled home as much as I could fit into my suitcase and have since made two crunches, a pie, and some jam and still have enough for one more dessert. I bought some fresh organic strawberries from Ella Bella Farm down at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market for this simple Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

2 pounds rhubarb, diced
2 pounds strawberries, hulled and dried
7 cups granulated sugar

The night before you make jam, place rhubarb into a large, non-reactive saucepan or small stockpot. Cover with sugar, place cover on pot, and allow to sit overnight. The next day, clean, hull, and dry the strawberries and add them to the rhubarb mixture. Heat over medium-high heat stirring often until the mixture boils. Reduce the heat to medium and boil until thick, about 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and skim off the foam with a metal spoon. Ladle into sterilized jars and seal. Yields 9 half-pint jars.

Key Lime Pie with Graham Pastry Crust

I bought 100 key limes for our cinco de Mayo party we had a couple of weekends ago. Margaritas taste best when using key limes. Unfortunately, due to their miniature size, you need about 2 1/2 limes for each margarita, which can really give your wrists a work out, so wouldn't you know, the regular sized limes were used leaving me with a few dozen key limes. What does one do with key limes? Make key lime pie of course. And so I researched a few recipes for this classic southern dessert. I found little variance on the ingredients in the custard. Some recipes called for baking the pie, some relied purely on the reaction between the eggs and the lime juice to create a custard-like filling. I had no problem deciding to use the baked variation, as it claimed to result in a creamier consistency. The piece of this pie that kept me searching for a better solution was the crust. All the recipes I found called for a graham cracker crust, made by crushing either purchased or home made graham crackers. Of course, I didn't want to buy graham crackers that would contain hydrogenated oils and I didn't like the idea of having to make the crackers to ultimately crush them for a crust making a simple key lime pie an all-day ordeal. I thought why not make a home made graham cracker crust in one step? I looked back at my own graham cracker recipe and using the ratios from my favorite pastry crust, created a graham pastry crust. It turned out to be a simple and tasty alternative that contains no hydrogenated oils.
The following recipe can be made in a 9 inch pie plate, but the pastry crust works well in a 9 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, plus it looks more elegant.

Key Lime Pie with Graham Pastry Crust

1 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (Bob's Red Mill) or white whole wheat flour (King Arthur)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon table salt)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 1/2 Tablespoons cold water
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Blend in the cold butter with a pastry blender or your findertips until you have pea sized chunks. In a small mixing bowl, combine the cold water with the honey, molasses and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients over the butter and flour mixture, stirring with a fork to bring the dough together into a ball. When just starting to come together, turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and gather into three or four separate pieces. Them "shmear" each piece against the countertop once with the palm of your hand to distribute the fat. Gather the dough together forming a disc, wrap in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4 Large Egg Yolks
4 teaspoons grated lime zest (from about 12 key limes)
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from about 14 key limes)

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and zest until thick and creamy with a light green tint. Whisk in the milk, then the lime juice. Cover and set aside allowing to thicken while baking the crust.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove the cooled pastry dough from the refrigerator, unwrapping the dough, but leaving it on top of the plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out on top of the plastic wrap until it is about 12 inches in diameter or is large enough to fit into your pie or tart pan. Using the plastic wrap to transport the dough, place the dough over the pan, plastic side up. Remove the plastic wrap and fit the dough into the pie or tart pan, trimming the excess from the sides. Cover the dough with tin foil and weight with pie weights or rice. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

When the pastry crust has baked for 20 minutes, remove from oven and reduce heat to 325 degrees. Pour the set custard filling into the baked crust and return the pie to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until the center is firm. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled. Serve chilled with sweetened whipped cream.

The Dirty Dozen

There are many reasons to choose to eat organic food. My family's health is my main priority, but the fossil fuels used to fertilize and transport food is a growing concern, especially as the prices of oil and gas sky rocket. Unfortunately, organic does not mean local, so many foods that do not use petroleum-derived fertilizers are driven across numerous states before they are finally sold and consumed. Here in the bay area, we have the luxury of being able to buy sustainably grown food raised locally on small farms. We are able to use our food dollars to provide a better way of life for small farmers and in turn get a higher quality product.
I often hear the complaint that organic is too expensive. It can be more expensive, especially when your only option is to buy them from a store. Fortunately, farmer's markets are becoming ever more popular so more consumers have the option of buying directly from the source. Not only is buying directly from the farmer more cost effective, but it also gives one the opportunity to ask how and where something was grown. For example, if it isn't "certified" organic, the farmer can explain why.

I realize that not all of us have the time to shop at farmer's markets and sometimes you find yourself choosing between organic and non-organic produce in the supermarket. There are undoubtedly price differences between the organic and conventional and perhaps you cannot even find certain vegetables grown organically. As I mentioned earlier, my family's health is my main priority and it might be yours too, so here is a little tool from Environmental Working Group to help make those decisions. It's the Dirty Dozen, the twelve most contaminated vegetables and the twelve least contaminated. I am now more comfortable buying conventionally grown avocados (number 2 on the least contaminated list) and put more emphesis on buying those grown in California. You'd be surprised how often I see a "grown in chile" sticker on a bumpy skinned Haas. On the other hand, there are certain things I will only buy organic mainly because they taste so much better and those things just happen to be on the Dirty Dozen list. For example the celery I buy is actually green with slender stalks that have flavor- a far cry from the pale green, overgrown stalks you find in the grocery store.

These are the ones you'll want to choose organic varieties of if at all possible:

1) Peaches
2) Apples
3) Sweet bell peppers
4) Celery
5) Nectarines
6) Strawberries
7) Cherries
8) Lettuce
9) Grapes (imported)
10) Pears
11) Spinach
12) Potatoes

And, when organic is not available or very cost prohibitive, these are the least likely to have pesticide residues:

1) Onions
2) Avocados
3) Sweet Corn ( frozen)
4) Pineapples
5) Mango
6) Sweet peas (frozen)
7) Asparagus
8) Kiwi
9) Bananas
10) Cabbage
11) Broccoli
12) Eggplant

You can download a wallet-sized version at FoodNews from Environmental Working Group.

The Road Back to Mexico City

We find ourselves back on the road leading out of Oaxaca and I again have some time to write. Traveling with a 9 month old gives me little down time, but it is a very rewarding vacation. She has been stimulated by new faces and languages and the Mexican people love children. This is a great place to travel with kids. She is napping in her car seat as we head back to Mexico City. It turns out the bus ride is one fifth the price of the flight and the trip to Oaxaca took 5 hours instead of the planned 6 1/2, and so we risked taking the bus and are hoping we have smooth travels once again.

We spent one week in the central southern town of Oaxaca. I say town because the city of 250,000 felt very small. With a compact city center and a population that congregated in the Zocalo nightly, Oaxaca was not only a journey in distance but also in time. I imagined that the activity of the Zocalo might have been what was experienced in our own pre-TV society’s small town squares. On any given night, Oaxacans come out of their houses to be entertained by street performers, to enjoy almost any genre of live music, to watch the tourists play with the long, tubular balloons that are sold there, or perhaps just to people watch as tourists and locals alike stroll around the perimeter of the Zocalo. Last night, our last night in Oaxaca, we went to Terranova Cafe for a taste of their crepes with cajeta and their chocolate caliente. Marissa had fallen in love with cajeta, which is caramelized goat’s milk and sugar. This topping is thinner, more syrupy than the caramel we often enjoy in the states and I have determined I will need to replicate this concoction at home. The hot chocolate was the perfect strength for our tastes and we are not worried about duplicating this at home because earlier in the week I had bought one half of a kilogram of ground up cacao mixed with cinnamon and sugar. That was the minimum amount the shop owner would sell and so we have enough Oaxacan chocolate to enjoy for a year. Well, knowing Lou, make that a month or two.

Last Saturday, we went to the main market, Central de Abastos. Marissa gave us the tour. The market consisted of everything from Nike shoes to handmade clothes to fresh and prepared foods. Here we captured our first glimpse of the ingredients of Oaxacan cuisine such as fresh and dried chilies, tomatillos, and cacao. The fresh produce was similar to what we see now in San Francisco with more abundance of certain things such as Chermoya and Nopales (cactus leaves). We got our first taste of the bright purple-pink Jamaica drink, which I am told is Hibiscus petals steeped in hot water, then cooled and sweetened to taste with simple syrup. It is something that should be easily duplicated at home and I have decided to either buy the dried Jamaica petals or find them at home. Marissa tells me they can be bought at health food stores. The drink was very refreshing and hydrating on that very hot day.

We had another market visit as part of a cooking class that Marissa and I took at Casa Las Sabores on Tuesday. Pilar Cabrera is a well known and respected cook in Oaxaca. She runs the bed and breakfast as well as a restaurant in the middle of town called La Olla, where we ate our first meal in Oaxaca last Friday. Pilar started the class going through a market list of ingredients we were to buy. Most of the ingredients were familiar, but their names were not. We had for the second time run into the Yerba Santa, also seen spelled Hierba Santa. It is a unique, large leafed herb that was like a mix between mint and basil, with a strong minty-licorice flavor. We made a rice pudding for our dessert that was topped with the flesh of tuna, the fruit of a cactus. The name suggested the thought and the color of the fruit supported that perhaps it was called tuna because of its similarity in looks to Ahi, with its scarlet hue. It tasted like kiwi fruit. I asked about the rice and where it came from, assuming it was from Asia. The teacher confirmed this, adding that Oaxaca doesn’t have enough water to grow rice. I wondered why we were making rice pudding, but didn’t want to press the issue. We also made what Pilar called a quick mole with few ingredients compared to the traditional moles. To make the mole, we basically made salsa from a combination of dried and fresh chilis and then thickened it with masa. The mole did not have as deep or rich of a flavor as a traditional mole, but it was repeatable and easily could be made at home, so I think it was an excellent choice for a cooking class for a bunch of Gringos. We also made a corn soup with squash blossoms. For us, squash blossoms are quite seasonal as is fresh corn, so this might be harder to reproduce as I am not sure I will be able to find squash blossoms when corn is being harvested. To make the soup, we cut kernels of corn from the cobs and blended them in a blender along with some chilies and chicken stock until they were liquefied. Then, we poured the mixture through a sieve to filter out the skins of the kernels. Pilar had a handy way of tapping the sieve to roll the solids off its floor and allow the liquid to pass through the mesh to the soup pot. She said it was how her grandmother did it. Blocks of raw sugar were added to the soup to sweeten it. I volunteered to stir the soup while I wondered if I could even find this type of corn in San Francisco. It was not the sweet corn we buy on the cob, it was a tender white corn filled with starch. In fact, our hands and cutting boards were covered with the dry white starch after we cut the kernels from the cobs. If I cannot find similar corn, I can perhaps try to duplicate the soup by using sweet corn and deleting or reducing the added sugar while adding a thickener such as corn starch to make up for the lack of natural thickener in the less starchy sweet corn. The most interesting part of the meal was the salsa we made from dried red chilies that were roasted then ground in a molcajete along with salt, roasted garlic, and if desired, worms. To this paste we added roasted tomatillos. It was good, classic salsa rioja and definitely something I’ll duplicate at home, without the worms.

As I mentioned earlier, we ate our first dinner in Oaxaca at La Olla. Lou and I each had a different type of mole- red and black. Moles are found at most every restaurant in Oaxaca and they were not of the characteristic black mole that you often find in the states. Every single mole we tasted over the course of the week was unique. I wouldn’t say I absolutely loved any one of them, but I also didn’t find a single one that I wouldn’t eat.

Fresh Fruit Stand (above) and dried beans (below) at the Central de Abastos market.

Red and Black Mole pastes. Kind of like Mexican Hamburger Helper.

On the Road to Oaxaca

There is a field of Sonoran cacti outside my window. Some of the Saguaros are as large as trees with multiple arms branching out and reaching for the sky. Some are just tall poles standing alone in the desert. We are on our way to Oaxaca – a 6 ½ hour drive from Mexico City. We’re 3 ½ hours into it and have decided we should check into flights for our return as the road to Oaxaca is long and monotonous. Little resides between these two cities save some makeshift cafes and a couple of churches, which by the way are packed on this Good Friday. Mexicans are passionate about Semana Santa, or Holy Week and on this Good Friday, reenactments of Christ’s crucifixion take place across the country.

We landed 3 days ago in Mexico City, on the Tuesday afternoon of Semana Santa. As the days passed, the crowded city became even more congested as Mexican families flocked to their capital for what is Mexico’s most celebrated holiday. We had read that it would be a busy time to travel, but we decided that the rewards of being in Mexico during Easter Sunday would outweigh the inconveniences. I have yet to determine that, but the crowds are a spectacle in themselves. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I imagine it may be like Mecca, Saudi Arabia when Muslims of the world flock there for Ramadan. The Zocala in Mexico City, which is the city’s central square, is flanked by such sights as the Catedral Metropolitana and Palacio Nacional, and was a temporary home to a nomadic museum housing an exhibit named “Ashes and Snow”. The line for this exhibit was 5 to 6 people deep and stretched around the massive temporary structure. The Mexican people must be very patient, because the wait had to be hours. The congestion of Mexico City reminded me of Hong Kong and Shanghai, places where you just get used to waiting in line. There was a bustle of people at certain peek times, one of those being 7:00 in the evening, which is when we would venture out for a bite to eat. Last night, on Holy Thursday, or Maunday Thursday, the sidewalks in the Central Historico district were so packed, one could only move at a snails pace. We inched our way to the café lined pedestrian-only streets. With a 9 month old in tow, we no longer were seeking out an atmospheric bar, but instead a nice quiet café where we could relax with beers and a light meal. Not finding any “light” Mexican food, we ended up at a sushi joint where we ordered two rolls that were stuffed with far too much cheese and not enough fish, and soggy Udon noodles in a dark, over flavored broth. It was supposed to be shrimp tempura, unfortunately, they missed the mark a bit with shrimp that was covered in a heavy, overcooked batter. It was a disappointing meal compared to the one we had the night before in Condessa. Condessa, in contrast to the Central Historico, is a peaceful, relaxing neighborhood made up of picturesque tree lined avenues. When we stepped out of the subway stop, we felt like we were transported to an entirely different city. Trendy bars and cafes abound there and we had a hard time choosing where to eat. We decided to follow the crowd and scored a table at a bustling little open-aired eatery called the Village Café. I chose enchiladas verde and Lou had their soup of the day which was outstanding and a salad that was less so. With their delicious house vino tinto or red wine, a quaint atmosphere, and excellent service we were more than satisfied to spend our time there.

Our guide book took us to an upscale restaurant on our first night. Los Girasoles at 84 Tacuba “specializes in alta cocina Mexicana”, according to Lonely Planet, Mexico. The food was excellent and inventive. To me the food seemed like a fusion of French and Mexican: French in technique and Mexican in flavor. We were far from the ocean, but we both had fish that was perfectly seared and fresh- as if we had an ocean view. It was a great way to start a culinary tour.

The Crowds in and around the Zocalo on Holy Thursday.

Chocolate Snob

For a Christmas stocking stuffer, I bought Lou a pack of 10 bars of dark chocolate. Each bar was from a different growing region. We finnally broke them out a couple of weeks ago and we became chocolate snobs over night. After tasting the chocolate from Peru and the Dominican Republic, which were determined to be the favorites, the bars from Venezuela and Sao Tome seemed bitter and grainy while Grenada was just average- a good everyday chocolate. One day earlier, we wouild have gobbled any of these up without hesitation. We so enjoyed the chocolate tasting, (although, admittedly, I was a bit chocoloated out) that on my last trip to Trader Joe's I intended to buy another pack and one to spare for our friend, Marissa, who we will be visiting soon in Oaxaca and is in need of some good dark chocolate. Unfortunately, the specialy packaged chocolate bars were only available for the holidays so we were out of luck. (Don't worry, Marissa, I bought some other chocolate for you!) If Trader Joe's brings the chocolate back next Christmas, I will be sure to stock up, but in the meantime, I look forward to seeking out and tasting some more regionally grown cacao and filling my new chocolate-snob boots.

Food Prices

There was much talk today in the news about the worldwide wheat shortage that has caused an increase in the price of commodity wheat, resulting in a higher price on flour and therefore a higher price on all things made with flour: bread, pasta, pizza, crackers, cakes, bagels, and donuts, just to name a few. Weather was to blame for much of the worldwide shortage and further reducing supplies, US farmers replaced wheat fields with ethanol producing corn.

It is interesting to me that the hype surrounding ethanol, also largely fueled (pun intended) by the high price of gasoline, has resulted in increasing prices of food. Corn was originally commoditized and government subsidized to prevent this very thing. Corn, which before the ethanol boon had become cheap, found its way into possibly every processed food in the form of sweeteners, thickeners, fats, and fillers, creating a surplus of high calorie, convenient cheap food and an overweight population. Perhaps food that is too cheap is not a good thing either...

Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes

No, I don't watch the Martha Stewart show everyday, but once in a while, I'll have it on in the background. I just happened to catch it Tuesday, when Candace Nelson of Sprinkles' Cupcakes shared her recipe for Strawberry Cupcakes. I made these on Valentine's Day and these were the BEST strawberry cupcakes I have ever eaten. Both the cake batter and the frosting are made with a fresh strawberry puree-just enough for a delicate strawberry taste. The cupcakes were moist and slightly dense and the frosting was sweet, light, and creamy. A perfect balance. They were beautiful too. These pink treats would make a great treat for a little girl's birthday party.

Although the frosting is amazing, I cut the recipe in half for the 12 cupcakes. I thought it would make too much for our taste and I was right- half ended up being plenty. These were so good that I think next time, instead of cutting the frosting in half, I will double the cupcake recipe. I hope you find time to try them!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Today is Mardi Gras! It kind of snuck up on us this year since we are having an early Easter. Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday, thus it is 41 days prior to Easter. Mardi Gras literally means Fat Tuesday in French. The idea is you eat and drink to your heart's content on the last day before lent begins when it is the tradition to give up something you can't normally live without. The 40 days of lent are an acknowledgement of Jesus' 40 day fast in the desert. Whether they recognize lent or not, it seems everyone likes to celebrate Mardi Gras.

I have no new recipe for you, but will point you toward an old posting from February, 2006 for King Cake. I'm about to make one myself. Indulge a little and have a happy Fat Tuesday!

Cheese Fondue

The holidays are behind us and I never thought I'd say it but I am tired of sweets. Today, I had a hankering for something more savory and seasonal. Something I would want to eat while curled up in front of a fire in a Tahoe ski cabin. My thoughts turned to last year's ski trip to Chamonix and all that stinky cheese fondue! Chamonix had record low snow fall last year, and so the hightlights of the trip were not skiing down the steep slopes, but instead eating and drinking and enjoying the low elevation of the valley. Even with snow, that would likely be the highlight for me. With German Brick in my arsenal, and a fresh baguette ready to be dipped into a gooey concoction, I set out to make a fondue that might rival that which we devoured in a Chamonix restaurant so many months ago.

There's something about the taste of stinky cheese. It has so much depth, so many layers. As I added the grated cheese to the simmering wine, the flavors seemed to be unlocked in the pot, and the luscious, smooth, earthy smells of the cheese coupled with the acidic and citrus smells of the chardonnay brought me right back to Chamonix. I knew I was on track. We dipped cubed pieces of crusty baguette deep into the finished fondue twisting them on the end of a fork so as to coat each bit of surface area with the liquid cheese. As we continued to devour the cheese-coated bread, we reminisced about our ski trip wishing we were there, not on the slopes, but in the village, eating fondue.

Cheese Fondue

8 ounces Swiss cheese, grated
8 ounces Aged German Brick, grated
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour

1 clove garlic, halved
1 cup dry white wine
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 Tablespoons brandy or dry sherry

French bread cut into cubes for dipping

Using a box grater, grate the cheese onto a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Sprinkle the 2 Tablespoons of flour on top of the cheese and toss with the cheese to coat.

Rub the halved garlic on the bottom and sides of a medium saucepan or fondue pot. Discard the garlic. Add the wine and heat until simmering. Stir in lemon juice. Stir in the cheese mixture, a handful at a time, allowing the cheese to melt before each addition. Stir in the brandy or dry sherry.

Keep the fondue warm over low heat or pour into a fondue pot kept warm. If the fondue becomes too cool and stiffens, reheat over medium-low heat stirring constantly. Leftover fondue can be saved. Just reheat fondue over medium-low heat. If the fondue separates and becomes oily and chunky, add a small amount of milk and continue to stir, adding more milk if needed, until the fondue is creamy.

Cranberry Apple Pie

As Thanksgiving approaches, my thoughts veer towards turkeys, pumpkins and of course, cranberries. Cranberries belong on the thanksgiving table. They are native to North America and were introduced to European settlers by the Indians. The Indians ate the "crane-berry", which supplied them with vitamin C and used the dark red berry for dye. They called them crane berries because the blossom and vine looks like the neck of a sand hill crane.

Unfortunately, cranberries often grace the thanksgiving table in the form of a tin can, ripples and all, plopped out onto a serving dish. I think this jellied sauce does an injustice to the pungent berry and is the cause of their under-appreciation. I have a favorite cranberry sauce that I make every year that is nothing like the canned jelly. The cranberries are cooked in ruby port, which produces a savory sauce, and uses dried figs for texture and sweetness. It goes wonderfully with turkey, stuffing, and even pork. Still, no one tries it without prompting, and when they do partake, it's a very small spoonful. Then the usual response is, this is cranberry sauce?

I completely understand the aversion to cranberries, although we never had canned cranberry sauce... Growing up in central Wisconsin, much of my extended family and neighbors were cranberry farmers. Since we usually received gifts of berries at harvest time, Cranberries were on our table year round, not just for the holidays. The jar of sauce would be poured into one of my mom's crystal serving dishes and most of it minus a couple of spoonfuls would return to the jar after each meal. When I went to a friend's house for dinner whose family lived on a cranberry marsh, my mom would tell me that I should be polite and eat the cranberries if they served them at the table. It was a lot to ask of a 7 year old. Strong, pungent, and sour, these sauces were straight cranberries with a little sugar. Then Ocean Spray started marketing Cranberry juice blends and the prices of cranberries went up and more and more cranberry bogs appeared around the neighborhood. Today, my parents' farm is an island in a sea of cranberry bogs. All because someone figured out that cranberries taste best when blended with other fruits.

My mom and dad still get crates of cranberries from relatives and neighbors, so when my sister came to visit a few weeks ago, my mom sent along a gallon size bag of cranberries, freshly picked from the neighbor's marsh! I plan on making the above mentioned sauce for Thanksgiving and possibly a very small batch of the more classic sauce for the purists. With the rest of the berries, I am taking free reign to mix them as I please with other fruits, blend them into breads, and make some sweets, like this cranberry apple pie...

This pie is sweet, yet tart and is the perfect companion to vanilla ice cream.

Cranberry Apple Pie

Double pie crust for a 9 inch pie (Click here for my butter crust recipe)

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 medium baking apples cored and sliced (about 3 cups)
2 cups whole fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries, thawed

2 Tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Mix togther the sugar, flour and cinnamon.

Into a 9 inch pie pan filled with the bottom half of a pie crust spread one cup of sliced apple, then cover with the sugar and flour mixture. Layer one cup of cranberries again covering with the sugar and floud mixture. Repeat layers ending with the apple slices. Dot the top of the filling with the butter then top with the pie crust. Seal the edges of the crust, flute and cut slits in the top to allow the steam to vent.

Place the pie on a cookie sheet so the filling doesn't spill onto your oven floor, then place in a 425 degree oven. After 15 minutes of baking, place a pie ring on the fluted edges or cover the edges with strips of aluminum foil to prevent from over browning. Set the timer for an additional 25 minutes. The pie is done when the top crust is lightly browned and the filling starts to bubble through the slits in the crust.

Halloween Sweet Treats: Peanut Butter Eyeballs

I married into a family of Buckeyes, the Ohio State kind. As a Wisconsin Badger, I've taken a lot of crap through the years as the Buckeyes climbed to the top of the sports rankings. In anticpation of the two teams meeting on the field or on the court, my father-in-law without fail tells me he's going to have "badger stew". So when I ran across the recipe for Peanut Butter Buckeyes a few years ago, I couldn't resist making them for a chance to devour their mascot.

When I was trying to come up with some scary homemade candy ideas for Halloween, the recipe for the peanut butter buckeyes seemed to be the perfect starting point for making eyeballs. The buckeyes are a sweetened peanut butter filling rolled into balls, then partially covered in semi-sweet chocolate. For the eyeballs, I painted an iris on the peanut butter filling and replaced the chocolate with white chocolate for the whites of the eye, then added a chocolate chip for the pupil. The plain white seemed a bit bare, so I painted on some blood vessels with red food coloring. Not bad for a little experimentation.

Next time I think I will try using mini chocolate chips - I think they would make more realistic pupils and would be easier to press into the cold peanut butter filling.

Peanut Butter Eyeballs

Filling:
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups smooth peanut butter (preferably all natural, containing no hydrogenated oils)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 teaspoon Diamond kosher salt)

Coating:
6 ounces white chocolate, broken into pieces

Decorations:
Food coloring, a small clean paint brush, mini chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, stir together powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until combined. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet that fits into your freezer. Paint blue, green, and brown iris on the eyeballs using food coloring. Place a few drops of the desired color on a small square of waxed paper, then dabbing the paint brush into the food coloring, paint a circular iris on each peanut butter ball. It doesn't have to be perfectly round, as the white chocolate will form the outer border of the iris.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl set over a small pot of simmering water. Remove from heat.

To dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate, stick a toothpick into the center of the iris, then swirl into the chocolate, leaving the iris visible. Allow the chocolate to set. Remove the toothpick and place a mini chocolate chip in the center of the iris, covering the hole left by the toothpick. To make them extra ghoulish, paint red blood vessels on the whites of the eyes using the paint brush with red food coloring.

Happy Halloween!

Recipes for Homemade Halloween Treats: Mint Meltaways

Halloween is fast approaching, and I have been working on improving some old recipes for homemade Halloween treats. I never buy packaged cookies. Almost every label of a packaged cookie indicates that they contain partially, or now fully hydrogenated vegetable oils. They have to- the hydrogenation keeps them from spoiling on the shelf. But even before the evils of trans fats were realized, I rarely ate a cookie from a package. I stick to the mentality that they are too easy to access if you buy them- you must want them badly enough to go through the trouble of making them from scratch- that's right, no mixes either. Having said that, I am going to contradict this ideal by using packaged cookies in the recipe- a sleeve of graham crackers is in the bottom crust. To make them completely trans fat free, you could either make your own graham crackers or, you could buy trans fat free crackers from Trader Joes or a trustworthy natural food store, double checking the ingredients for partially hydrogenated oils. Unfortunately, hydrogenated fats could be lurking in the ingredients without specifically being listed...

On a recent trip to Safeway, I found that their "honey Graham crackers" indicate they have "0g Trans Fat Per Serving" right on the front of the box. Well we all know that doesn't mean they used no trans fats, there is just less than half a gram per serving. I checked the side of the box for the ingredients and found "interesterified" oil. Wondering what in the heck that was, I brought the box home to investigate. Turns out "interesterified oil" is fully hydrogenated oil mixed with un-hydrogenated oil and no that does not make it partially hydrogenated and so technically there are no trans fats. It still sounds unhealthy to me. Perhaps my best option would be to recreate the crust from scratch, but for now I will publish the recipe using the graham crackers. It is only a trace amount of hydrogenated oil and these are really good!

Mint Meltaways are a triple layer dark chocolate and mint bar cookie that my mom used to make every year for the St. Patrick's day bake sale at my grade school. They were appropriate for that occasion because the middle layer is a bright green. It happens to also be the spooky green of a witches face, which is why I like them for a Halloween spread. The peppermint makes them an easy choice for a fast Christmas treat or for a Holiday cookie swap, so if you don't get around to making them for Halloween, you've got two other Holidays these will be appropriate for.

I was tempted to try bittersweet chocolate for the topping, but it just isn't as good. The bitterness of the unsweetened chocolate contrasts with the sugary sweetness of the mint frosting. Also, an easy way to make graham cracker crumbs without getting a food processor dirty is to place them in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin or heavy glass to crush them into crumbs.


Mint Meltaways

Crust
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sweetened coconut (I used Angel Flake)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon peppermint flavoring
2 cups confectioners' sugar
pinch of salt
Green food coloring

Glaze
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To make the crust, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat in a medium saucepan. Stir in sugar, salt, egg, and vanilla. Add the cracker crumbs, coconut, and nuts. Mix well and press into a prepared 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature and then place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

For the frosting, beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the food coloring until it is the green of a witches face. Spread over the cooled crust and then refrigerate until the frosting has set.

Melt the unsweetened chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and immediately pour over the cooled layer of frosting, spreading to cover the bars with a thin coat of chocolate. Refrigerate until the chocolate has set and cut into squares.

Recipe: Easy Lasagna

There is nothing like Lasagna to feed a crowd or to have on hand for out of town visitors, especially when the visitors are your sister and her two teenage sons. When my sister, Marcy, visited in March I made two lasagnas- one sausage and one spinach. In response to her request for the recipe, I promised to blog about it. At the time, I was 6 months pregnant, so I hope she doesn’t mind that I am writing this almost 7 months later-I’ve been a little busy.

Basic lasagna, as we know it, usually includes noodles, a tomato sauce, and a Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is also known as white sauce, and it consists of butter, flour, milk, and salt. This is an “easy” recipe for Lasagna that instead uses eggs mixed with cheeses. Fresh homemade lasagna noodles would be the ultimate choice for any lasagna, but since this is an easy version of the classic, store bought noodles will do just fine. I particularly like Barilla’s “oven ready Lasagne”.
These perfectly flat noodles are extra thin and unlike those with the squiggly edges, are more like homemade. The very best part is you do not need to boil them first. They come in a smaller box, so do a double check at the store to make sure you’re buying the right ones. (The last time Lou was sent to the store to pick up noodles, he came home with Barilla’s other lasagne noodles, which require boiling before assembling.)

Lasagna

One package lasagne noodles, cooked as directed on package if required.

Tomato Sauce:
Olive Oil for sautéing
1 yellow onion, diced
4 to 6 (depending on size) crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1 16-ounce can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil

Cheese Sauce:
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons sour cream or nonfat plain yogurt
1 teaspoon salt or 2 teaspoons Diamond kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (black pepper works too)
1 15-ounce carton ricotta cheese
½ pound mozzarella cheese, grated
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Extra grated parmesan cheese for the top.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and coat the sides and bottom of a large baking dish with olive oil.

Heat some olive oil in a sauté pan. Add the onion and mushrooms and sauté until soft. Add the garlic and cook, stirring for about a minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, dried oregano, and basil. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, breaking tomatoes up.

While the tomato sauce is simmering, beat the eggs in a medium sized bowl. Add the sour cream or yogurt, salt, pepper, and ricotta and stir until blended. Then stir in the grated mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

To assemble, first spoon some of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the baking dish. Then layer the noodles, followed by the cheese sauce and then tomato sauce. Repeat layers ending with tomato sauce and top with additional grated parmesan cheese. If using the oven ready noodles, you’ll have 4 layers, each consisting of 4 sheets of pasta, alternating the direction of the noodles with each layer. They may overlap slightly and will spread out to fill in the gaps when baking. If using boiled pasta with the squiggly edges, you’ll have 3 layers, each consisting of 3 noodles, all layed out the long way.

Variations
Italian Sausage Lasagna:
Add one pound cooked and crumbled Italian sausage on top of each cheese layer. We like the spice of hot Italian sausage.

Spinach Lasagna:
Blanche ½ pound fresh spinach in salted water. Drain well and chop. Add to the cheese sauce mixture along with a couple pinches of ground nutmeg.

This is a very satisfying meal to have waiting for you in the fridge, but the best place for it might actually be the freezer. You’ll have an arsenal at the ready when you unexpectedly do not have time to cook for yourself or to give to a friend or family member who is in need of some home-cooking. You can freeze an uncooked, assembled lasagna or you can fully cook the lasagna first, allow to cool, then cover tightly and freeze whole or in smaller portions.