A Good Dinner...

We had good enough weather today that I felt confident we could grill. I went through a book called Delights from the Garden of Eden: A Cookbook and a History of the Iraqi Cuisine and picked out some grilled chicken (djej meshwi), a baked spinach dish, and a tabbouleh recipe. I changed the seasoning in the chicken recipe a little bit, substituting thyme and Turkish-style baharat for the za'atar and ground coriander in the original. We marinated chicken tenders in a mix of buttermilk, grated onions, garlic, a little honey, lemon rind, herbs and spices. The spinach dish had two layers: the bottom layer was spinach, fresh dill and a little bit of potato to bind it a bit, while the top layer was a mix of seasoned eggs, feta and romano cheeses. The tabbouleh came out pretty much how I remember from Iraq...lemony, full of herbs, very fresh tasting.

The chicken skewers cooked quickly, using the breast tenders, and came out moist, very flavorful, and golden, with nice grill marks. We agreed that it was one of the best grilled chicken recipes I've made. And the other two dishes were good as well. Thankfully, there's enough for all of us to have lunch tomorrow!

Lately...

Not too much serious cooking of late.

Made Penang, Mussaman and Yellow Curry Pastes, along with the Red and Green ones earlier this month. Made a Penang Chicken Curry one night. It was good.

For Easter we had a piece of boneless pork tenderloin coated with a simple rub - paprika, smoked paprika, black pepper, cumin, allspice and rosemary - and cooked in the rotisserie, basting it with the peach tea and beer bbq sauce I made awhile back. We had a bunch of the sauce left over in the freezer. Then I took some canned pork & beans, drained them, and added chopped onions, peaches, raisins, the peach bbq sauce, a bit more ginger beer, hot sauce, and some spices. Baked these for a few hours. They are yummy! Took a second dish of 'em in to my work for an Easter potluck. We rounded the meal out with coleslaw and some leftover garlic bread. It was a pretty good dinner. Not too heavy.

Gina made some caramel popcorn and peanuts that is miles better than Cracker Jacks, or even the caramel corn from Harry & Davids'. Addictive and evil.

I'll make something good tomorrow.

Yesterday was Easy Stuff...

Gina had a craving yesterday morning for a sausage biscuit. By chance, we had a pound of bulk maple sausage in the house so I made sausage patties and whipped up some biscuits, served 'em with my cheesey hashbrowns. It took us years before we learned to make hashbrowns we were happy with. We tried all kinds of things. Nothing came out right. Finally, after giving up at some point, something sparked an idea in my mind (can't remember specifics though). Now we get consistently crunchy hashbrowns. Here's how we do it (this is more a guide than a strict recipe):

Vance Family Hash Browns

You'll need...

Potatoes, washed well (I find a couple medium ones, per person, works well if you want a BIG helping - otherwise one per...)

Onions, peeled and cut to fit in a food processor (probably one small-medium onion per every three or four potatoes is good)

Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Seasoning salt (I like to use a couple of different ones...yesterday was typical -Lawry's Seasoned Salt and Zatarain's Creole Seasoning...you could use whatever appeals to you...I've also added dried parsley - its full of trace minerals that are good for you...Mrs Dash works well, too)

Vegetable oil

Cheddar cheese, grated (optional, but very tasty)

Chili ketchup (ketchup with a little Sriracha, or other kinda' neutral hot sauce added, to taste)(also optional)

• Grate the potatoes and onions in your food processor - you need a coarse grate for this to work right. Toss to mix well, in a large bowl.
• If you've got the hand strength, take a big handful at a time and squeeze out the excess moisture over the sink, until you've done this with all of the potato-onion mixture. If you don't have the hand strength use a towel, twisting both ends until you get the same result, repeating until finished. Return to the bowl.
• Season liberally with pepper and the seasonings of your choice. Toss to distribute the seasonings throughout.
• Heat oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Use one that has slanted sides...suitable for omelets and tossing pancakes.
• Add the potato-onion mixture to the pan. If doing large servings, its probably best to do one serving at a time, for ease of cooking. Flatten the potatoes out with your spatula to a large round pancake. Cook until browned on one side.
• If you have the inclination and skills, you can flip the potato round just like you would a pancake. Otherwise, use a spatula. Add oil, if needed. Brown the other side.
• You can add the cheese 1) all over the top of the hashbrown cake 2) just on half, a bit heavy, than fold over to enclose the cheese 3) fold over, then add the cheese on top. Allow to melt.
• Remove to paper towels, to drain off excess oil. Serve, with chili ketchup if desired.
• Makes as many servings as feel like cooking.

Last night was simple, too - the grandkids had some little friends over, and the weather was gorgeous - so we barbecued hot dogs (for them) and cheddarwursts (for us). Today we'll heat up the barbecue again, this time for some pork satay (with peanut sauce, of course...lol).

More Thai Food...

Tonight was easy stuff...the Thai noodle dish Rad Na, noodles and pork in gravy. I wanted to make something I knew the kids would enjoy. I improvised with a couple of ingredients...I didn't have any taucho (yellow bean paste), so I substituted Japanese shiro miso. Gina doesn't care for fish sauce, so I have taken to substituting vegetable stock concentrate (the stuff that comes in jars at the store) with good results. I discovered I didn't have any wide rice noodles, so I substituted some imported Italian mafalda we'd gotten awhile back at Big Lots (for $0.59!), which came out well. And, of course, I had my homemade kecap manis, instead of the flat store-bought variety. It came out a little sweet, but mostly savory. And there were NO leftovers. Which is nice, for a change.

THAI-STYLE RICE NOODLES AND PORK WITH GRAVY
(Rad Na)

¼ cup vegetable oil
1 pound boneless pork tenderloin, thinly sliced across the grain
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
¼ cup yellow bean sauce (taucho) or yellow miso paste (shiro miso)
¼ cup sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 tablespoon vegetable stock concentrate or fish sauce
2 cups chicken or pork stock
6 cups broccoli florets or Chinese broccoli, chopped (fresh or frozen)
2 tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca flour dissolved in ¼ cup cold water
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8-12 ounce fresh or dried broad rice noodles, or other broad wheat noodles
Salted water, for cooking the noodles

• Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Swirl around to coat the pan. Put a stockpot of salted water on to boil over high heat.
• When the water is boiling, cook noodles according to package directions (so judge when to put the noodles in the water accordingly)
• Add the pork and cook until the meat has started to brown, stirring frequently, 3-5 minutes.
• Add the garlic and stir well. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes.
• Add the bean sauce or miso paste, sweet soy sauce and vegetable stock concentrate. Stir until they are mixed, form a thick sauce, and reach the boil.
• Add the stock and stir to mix. Bring to the boil.
• Add the broccoli and cook until it turns bright green.
• Add the cornstarch mixture and stir well. When the sauce has thickened, remove from the heat and season, to taste, with salt and pepper (I didn't need to add any salt...there's a lot in the various soy products and stock).
• Drain the noodles and add to the wok. Toss well. Serve.
• Makes about six servings.

This weekend I need to finish making curry pastes - Panang, Mussaman, maybe Yellow. We're supposed to have good weather this weekend, with 60+ degree weather, so I intend to barbecue. I want to make some pork satay with my hybrid peanut sauce - I use both kecap manis (for Indonesian peanut sauce) and red curry paste (for Thai peanut sauce), and we feel it can stand in for Thai, Indonesian and Malay dishes. And I think I shall make some Panang Chicken Curry.

Thai Food...

The weather has been a little warmer, and I've been wanting SE Asian food. So tonight I fixed Thai dishes...

Northern-style Red Curry of Beef and Green Beans

Southern-style Green Curry of Chicken and Greens

Spicy Shrimp Salad

Quick-pickled Cucumbers

White Rice

The curries were yummy, but it was the Shrimp Salad that was the star of the night! And I have lots of yummy food when I go to work tomorrow.

Sausage Gravy...

Sausage gravy (preferably over fresh biscuits) is one of those things that can be really, really good...or quite awful. I think the majority of restaurants offer something that leans towards the totally bland, pasty, gluey mess with just enough sausage specks in it to call it "sausage gravy". I like it thick and creamy, spicy, and chock full of sausage. My daughter counts it as one of her absolute all-time favorites. And she hadn't been able to get a decent plate full the whole three years she was in Germany, so its been high on her list of priorities since she got here. I obliged this morning, after my morning walk. She's a sated M now...

This isn't really a proper recipe...more of a formula or set of guidelines, as its one those things I've never measured when I make it.

Steven's Sausage Gravy

1 pound bulk hot breakfast sausage

1 pound bulk maple breakfast sausage

A little unsalted butter or vegetable oil, if needed

All-purpose flour

Milk

A couple of dashes Worcestershire sauce

Sea salt and LOTS of freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Biscuits hot and fresh out of the oven

• Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it up with your spatula, until it has lost all pink.
• Remove the sausage to a bowl, a little at a time, putting it first in a fine mesh strainer over the skillet, pressing all the grease out of the meat and returning it to the pan. When all the sausage has been removed, check the amount of rendered fat in the pan. If you think you'll need additional, add some butter or oil.
• Add sufficient flour to make a thick roux, stirring continuously, until the flour has lost its raw smell and the roux has darkened.
• Begin to add milk to the roux, a little at a time, stirring continuously to remove all lumps. As you are doing so, add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Season with sea salt and quite a lot of freshly ground black pepper.
• When you have the desired quantity of thick, creamy gravy, return the sausage to the pan, stir well, and cook until it just starts to bubble. Serve piping hot over biscuits.

Cooking For Our Daughter...

We haven't had M at home for several years, and she's missed our cooking, so its nice fixing things for her. There are a lot of things we make regularly now that she's never had, too. I gave her some of my pan-fried ham, cream cheese and hot sauce quesadillas last night. Tonight was babi kecap (pork in sweet soy and coconut milk), acar ketimun (quick-pickled cucumbers & onions), and rice...an easy Indonesian meal. Gina made a pineapple gooey butter cake (that is EVIL, basically a pineapple cheesecake). Sometime tomorrow there'll be sausage gravy and biscuits...one of her favorite foods. One she hasn't been able to reproduce since she lived at home (I make mine a particular way). I don't know what else yet...

Barbecue!...

I dragged the barbecue grill out this evening and threw a batch of gai yang, Thai-style grilled chicken, on it. I've made it several times in the past and never really been satisfied with the results, so I sat down today and came up with a new version. Hit the bullseye this time. Here's the recipe...

GAI YANG

(Thai-style Grilled Chicken)

4 teaspoons black or white peppercorns
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, stems, and/or roots
1/3 cup chopped fresh garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons palm sugar or golden brown sugar, tightly packed
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 tablespoons whiskey or rice wine
3 tablespoons coconut milk
12 bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and skin

• Toast the peppercorns, coriander, cumin and caraway seeds in a skillet over medium heat until they darken a little and smell toasted. Immediately remove from the pan and grind in a coffee grinder, pepper mill or grain mill.
• Combine the ground spices with the cilantro, garlic, ginger, palm sugar, salt, and turmeric in a food processor and process to a coarse paste. Add the whiskey and coconut milk and process to a smooth paste.
• Place the chicken thighs in a non-reactive bowl or casserole dish and pour the marinade over. Toss to coat the pieces well and refrigerate at least a couple of hours, or overnight.
• Grill as appropriate for your particular barbecue, until done. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with a Thai-style garlicky sweet-hot chili sauce. We use the one in Nancy McDermott's book, Real Thai.

We served it with rice and some broccoli stir-fried with mushroom soy sauce, sake, and lots of garlic. We've got leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

What Would It Mean...

...if we were to make an effort, culturally, to shift over to such a diet? The changes would be all-encompassing and profound. Vast tracts of land are devoted, both here and globally, to the grain- and meat-based diet of America. That would have to change.

Why did mankind (probably) switch to eating these foods? Ease of production, probably. A large game animal, and later, large domesticated animals, can feed quite a few people at one time. Cultivation and harvest of cereals was likely an efficiency issue as well. Both have subsequently been adapted to the techniques of the Industrial Revolution, which holds efficiency up as its Holy Grail.

To convert to a greens/vegetables/fruit-based diet would necessitate taking large amounts of land out of cereal cultivation and putting them into market gardens. Large, carefully managed parklands/rangelands with substantial herds of wild game animals (bison and deer are logical choices, as well as wild sheep and goat species) would have to replace feedlots, ranches and factory farming. These lands could support a broad range of biodiversity, as a matter of course. Today's monoculture farms bear little resemblance to tradional farms, which often had as many as fifteen or twenty different production projects going over the course of a year, providing a system of backups should any given project fail.

I like the idea, personally. It would certainly change the face of our world.

Is There Any Topic More Confusing...

...than that of what constitutes the best human diet? High carb, low carb, high protein, raw foods, vegan, macrobiotic, etc, etc, to infinity and beyond! I've read extensively on some of these, and at least a bit about most of them. Most of them can sound quite convincing, even though they often contradict one another. The whole thing can be quite frustrating. High protein-low carb has been one of the most popular in recent years, in a number of incarnations and, generally speaking, one of the diets I trust least. Let me explain a few things I think are important...

• The human digestive system does not resemble that of a carnivore, nor do we have the teeth and head/neck musculature of one. We do not manufacture vitamin C in our own bodies, a feature common to true carnivores.
• Neither do we have the digestive tract and teeth of a ruminant. We only have one stomach, just to point out one of the most obvious things.
• What we do have are teeth that are almost identical to those of an orangutan. It can be difficult for an expert to tell them apart if they are just loose on a table. What do they eat? Fruit, leaves, seeds and nuts are the mainstays of their diet, if I'm not mistaken.
• Chimpanzees and gorillas (more close relatives of ours, along with the orangs) are not all that different in what they eat. In lean famine years, chimpanzees supplement with starchy roots and tubers. They eat small amounts of meat and insects, as well.
• The highest rates of osteoporosis are found in the countries with the highest rates of dairy consumption (and protein, therefore). Excess protein in the human diet is excreted in the urine. Said protein leaches minerals (calcium, magnesium, etc) from the bones on its way out. There are a number of additional problems that can come from a high protein diet.
• Paleolithic people, if they had decent access to food, generally were bigger than us, and had better teeth and denser bones. They ate a lot of wild game and fish, wild greens, vegetables and fruits.
• The people of Crete were found to have the healthiest diet (in relation to cardiovascular disease and cancer) in a major study that spotlighted a variety of cultures around the globe. A lot of the low carb diets speak out on the evils of grains. And yet the people of Crete eat about three times the bread Americans do! All of it is whole-grain, though.

I could go on for awhile. A thing that I think is key, from all the reading I have done, is the consumption of omega oils. This was found to be central in the Cretan diet (The Omega Diet). It is also central to the paleolithic diet advocated in the The Paleolithic Prescription. There have been a number of books written on this topic since, but I was not happy with them. They seemed a simple repackaging of high-protein, low-carb diets. Domesticated meat sources are NOT the same as wild game and fish. When we start hybridizing (i.e., breeding) animals, one of the first things lost are the high levels of omega oils found in wild proteins. Additionally, wild game is much leaner than domesticated meat. Another key is the consumption of large amounts of dietary fiber...at least 30 grams a day.

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the ideal diet would include large quantities of leafy greens, vegetables, and fruit, supplemented with smaller quantities of wild game, fish and whole grains. Oils should all be cold-pressed. Highly processed foods should be avoided as much as possible. Fermented foods appear to be healthful in a number of ways. Pasteurization is not a good thing. Organic, locally produced foods are a good idea. Chemicals are not. Neither are feedlots and factory farms. If it is domesticated, it should at least be organic and free-range.

I believe there is some merit to the idea that a lot of a person's intestinal flora and fauna are set in youth. I do quite well digesting beans...but I ate them a lot as a child. If I am active and feeling good, I do well digesting dairy products...another thing I had large quantities of, growing up. Some people are not so fortunate. I do not digest large quantities of meat well. What works best for one person may not for another. We need to learn to listen to our bodies. They can tell us a great deal.

A good diet by itself is not enough. An active lifestyle is also required, as are good strategies for dealing with stress.

(And this is not meant to be a scholarly tract complete with hundreds of references, endnotes, etc...just my thoughts concerning something that bothers me a bit)

Potluck Sunday...

We often do potlucks at work on Sundays. This week, someone decided on hamburgers. I was tired when they asked me what I could contribute. I had no desire to stop at the store, so I said I'd make oven steak fries. We do them every so often at home. They're a lot less mess than deep-frying french fries. I just cut the potatoes into eight wedges each and tossed them in extra-virgin olive oil, and plenty of garlic, dried rosemary and freshly ground black pepper. Turns out we didn't have any salt in the breakroom, so I used some Zatarain's Cajun Seasoning. I bake them on cookie sheets at 425-450 degrees until they brown. I had a few requests for how to make them. I tried to eat light at the potluck (and throughout the day...it was slow, so the temptation to snack is a tough one) since I'm trying to get in shape.

For dinner, we had my Swedish meatballs, with mashed potatoes and green beans. Our daughter had never had them before, and ended up eating quite a few of 'em. Another convert...lol.

Sunny Weather...

With the Ultimate Recipe Showdown 3 deadline bumping back to the end of April, and Pillsbury not due 'til about then, we've kinda' eased up on so much rich cooking. I did make something pretty good a couple of nights ago that we're probably going to submit, along with some Pulled Pork and some Peach Tea & Beer BBQ Sauce before that, and some shredded beef (yummm...we enjoyed some machaca burritos for a bit...I LOVE machaca).

The recent sunny weather (which ended yesterday...grrr!) has created a renewed interest for me in SE Asian food. I've been browsing cookbooks, looking at stuff. Especially vegetarian and nearly vegetarian recipes. I've still got contest cooking to do. Light SE Asian dishes of green and vegetables have a great deal of appeal for the times in between. Plus, my interest in losing weight/getting in shape. Gonna' have to make a pilgrimage to an Asian market or two soon...