Getting Back to Basics

It’s been awhile since I’ve had time to do ANY blogging. In order to make it easier, I’m going to post more ordinary, everyday recipes and menus. I've been too ambitious in my postings to this blog, so I need to scale back my ambitions.

My original intent was smaller to begin with. This was supposed to be an everyday food journal, with only occasional forays into documenting larger food adventures. Another goal was to document meals that helped me reach weight loss goals, which I think is of interest to many more people than my more elaborate adventures (even if those adventures are also healthy, low-calorie pursuits). Few people, myself included, have the time luxury to try fancy new recipes very often. So I herewith vow to DO LESS (elaborate meals) in order to DO MORE (blogging)!

Salads have long been my specialty, as my friends will tell you. Few meals I've served lack them. I've loved them since I was a kid. I have made thousands of different salads, using what's fresh and available in my kitchen, and I like to think I have a certain flair for matching those ingredients with a compatible dressing and, usually, accent ingredient (such as cheese, nuts, or croutons). Sometimes the salads I make are very traditional, sometimes they're more unusual. Some of the best salads are the simplest. Here’s a simple one that I made this evening.

Belgian Endive Tuscan Salad
1 (60g) belgian endive, chopped
1 (30g) raw cucumber, chopped
1 tbsp red onion, chopped
1 (130g) small tomato, chopped
1/4 cup (15g) sliced, dry-toasted unsalted almonds
Combine all ingredients and toss with dressing.
I used Trader Joe’s Tuscan Italian Dressing. I use half the recommended serving size found on most salad dressing labels. I like a lightly dressed salad, and a 2-tablespoon serving is way too much dressing for me. This of course cuts the calories in half, but at only 40 calories per tablespoon, TJ's Tuscan is relatively low to start with.

I used a ripe fresh heirloom variety of tomato which was quite sweet and flavorful. The combination of its flavor and texture with the crunchy, slightly bitter endive and the crisp cucumber was a big reason this salad was so satisfying to eat. By not peeling the cucumber, I'm adding extra fiber to my meal, and I've gotten used to the taste and texture. Occasionally I'll create a salad that demands peeled cucumbers, but for a garden salad like this one, it's fine. A bit of finely chopped red onion adds just the right amount of bite. The addition of the almonds raised the overall fat content, but nuts have "good fat" that helps lower LDLs (bad cholesterol). They also add protein and fiber, and their chewy texture provides a nice contrast to the crisp veggies.

The salad accompanied a meal of chicken breast “tenders” marinated in Soy Vey Island Teriyaki Sauce. It was baked in a covered dish for 22 minutes in a 375 degree toaster oven. Even on a hot evening, this was an easy to prepare main dish. Chicken and marinade together have 228 calories.

For the side dish, I steamed green beans and baby carrots together (100g of each, about 75 calories), sprayed them with olive oil (another 18 calories) and seasoned them with salt, pepper and some table seasoning. (I like Mrs. Dash because my grandmother used it for years, and I grew fond of it. It adds no sodium to the meal, just flavor.)


Total calories for this meal: 541 calories
Analysis:
Fat - 36.7% (23 grams)
Protein - 34.1% (48 grams)
Carbohydrates - 29.2% (41 grams)
Sodium - 755 mg
Cholesterol - 102 mg
Fiber - 13 grams

Bitter Melon Curry

I am behind on my blogging. This dinner happened three days ago!

I served the curried bitter melon and eggplant along with brown basmati rice as an accompaniment to chicken tikka. Another side dish of dal (curried lentils) could be added to the menu, but I served cold Greek style yoghurt instead, to keep the number of carbs (and calories) in the meal down. I also added a small bowl of mango chili pickle to the table.

T brought wine as usual; this time, both a red and a white, to see which would stand up to the strong flavors the best. The red was Tuscan; a 2003 Monte Antico, and the white was a '99 Gewurz from Alsace. Both wines held up very well, but the white, with its bold fruit, was preferred by consensus.

We found that the bitter curry benefited by mixing in some of the pickle, each to a different degree. T used more pickle than I did. The mildness of the chicken tikka was a big advantage, given the strength of flavors in the side dishes. The surprise was, despite its bitterness, we both liked it! We liked it well enough to reprise the meal with leftovers a couple of days later.

Bitter Melon and Eggplant Curry

2 tbsp. canola oil
1 whole yellow onion, chopped finely
1-1/2 tsp. whole coriander seeds
1 tsp. whole cumin seeds
3 tsp. chili powder (or substitute 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh chili)
2 tsp. turmeric powder
600 grams of chopped bitter melon
550 grams of cubed eggplant
Salt to taste (I used approx. 1 tsp.)

Saute the onions in the canola oil until they're transparent and limp. Grind the whole fresh seasonings with the turmeric and chili powder and add them to the onions. Add the bitter melon and eggplant, cover and lower the heat. Cook until you get a pleasing texture when you bite into the melon. Add salt to taste. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves (cliantro) if desired.

Makes 7 200-gram servings.

Here is the nutritional analysis for one serving of the curried bitter melon:
Fat =4.5 g
Protein = 3 g
Carbs = 13.25 g
Sodium = 216 mg
Fiber 5 g
Calories 97

Fat - 37.6% (31 grams)
Protein - 12.1% (22 grams)
Carbohydrates - 50.3% (93 grams)
Sodium - 1517 mg
Fiber - 34 grams

Calories Grams Fat Carbs Protein
677 1,386 31 93 222

Bitter melon is supposed to be beneficial for those trying to keep their blood sugar level even; it is recommended as a supplement to people with hypoglycemia and diabetes because of its effects of lowering plasma lipids and VLDL. My hunch is, you can learn to love this vegetable, but it will take some time and experimentation. I bought another bitter melon today, this one quite ripe, and will try another recipe this week.

Discovering Bitter Melon II
I have decided to make an Indian curry with my bitter melon. I am going to adapt a recipe I found on the bitter melon fan's web page will get me started. The recipe is from a Bengali kitchen, but I will adapt the masala to something a little more southern, a more familiar style for me, learned when I lived briefly in Bangalore, back in the 80s.

Many of the web sites I read about bitter melon have stressed that it is indeed very bitter, and an acquired taste. This makes me a bit nervous; even though I like some bitter foods, I don't want to overwhelm my capacity for acquiring new tastes. No doubt I should have found out before I purchased the fruits I now have that the riper the fruit, the less bitter. In that case, I would have looked for the lighter, more yellow color and spurned the darker green ones, at least for this first bitter melon adventure. Riper fruits also have bright red seeds. Despite my attraction to the darker fruit, I did manage to buy one ripe one, as I discovered when I cut the melons open.

Several other web sites recommended blanching the melons for 2-3 minutes in boiling water to reduce the bitterness, and I decided to try this. I prepared the melons by scooping out the seeds and the fibrous core. Since I had somewhat smaller than usual fruits, I blanched them for about 2 minutes. I noticed immediately that this changed the fruit's odor, for the better in my opinion.

The curry calls for onions and eggplant to accompany the melons in their curry sauce. I used yellow onions and Japanese eggplants.

I will serve the curry tomorrow evening and will post the recipe and nutritional information along with a review of the flavors.

Discovering Bitter Melon
Weekends are always so busy! Not much time to blog. As I do every Saturday, I went to the Farmers' Market this morning.

It was a mixed day at the market for me. My favorite vendor, who sells beautiful fresh organic lettuce, wasn't there today! Neighboring vendors speculated the farm took the day off, which seems a reasonable theory. I am going to have to find another source of greens this week. On the other hand, I did find some nice baby onions, some beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and some fabulous peaches and nectarines. I love summer!

I also kept a promise to myself to buy some bitter melon. I took this gorgeous photo last week, and then became curious about bitter melon. Was it really bitter? How is it used? When I came home I googled it, and discovered bitter melon has a legion of fans out there. People make extravagant health claims for it. It even has its own National Council. Kitchens from Thailand, India and the Philippines have dozens of dishes that feature it. It reportedly is very bitter. Bitter is one of the most intriging notes on the flavor palette. I like bitter things like chococolate, coffee, and Belgian endive. So I've picked out a couple of recipes to try, culled from fellow food bloggers. First, I have to pick up a few ingredients missing from my kitchen, and tomorrow I will spend my kitchen time trying one or more of those recipes.

More bitter melon to come.

The Salted Pork Loin

Herewith my report on the pre-salting experiment, as outlined in the previous post.

I started with good, organically raised, lean pork. As I described in yesterday's blog entry, it was salted for a little over 24 hours. Except for the pre-salting, I followed my usual methods of cooking covered, 20 minutes in a moderate (350 degree) oven, followed by uncovered, under a broiler for 5 minutes more.

The result: An almost veal-like texture. T's comment: the meat seems "perfectly cooked." Fully cooked, with just a hint of pinkness at the center, without a trace of the dryness that suggests overcookeding. His take on the texture -- firm and moist at the same time. Mine: Lots of juice, with the character of pork meat quite deliciously distinct, even with the absence of fat in the lean cut.

I shouldn't have been surprised that the meat seemed salty, since I use salt quite sparingly in my everyday kitchen. T tasted the meat first and immediately remarked on the saltiness, but said that although he didn't find it excessively so. Indeed judging by how quickly he devoured it, it didn't bother him at all. For me, it was borderline, but I could probably adjust my taste with more experience of food cooked with this method. I'm very curious, now, to have a Zuni Cafe experience. I definitely want to try the method with chicken.


What went right:
The chutney glaze was a good choice because it countered the saltiness with tangy sweetness. Many sauces, teriyaki or a mustard- or vinegar-based sauce for example, would have accented the saltiness, to the detriment of the meat.

What I'd do differently:
Next time I think I would try washing the salt off before glazing the meat. I suspect the difference would be subtle; the salt flavor was pervasive deep into the meat, but it might take the edge off it.

The focal point of the meal was the fine-textured, salty meat with its distinctive flavor and contrasting fruity glaze. The supporting players were a spelt pilaf with roasted red pepper and edamame, endive salad and a fresh red wine.

Spelt is an interesting grain with a nutmeat-like texture. It's cooked by searing in hot oil and then adding broth bit by bit until the grains are dry and toothsome. Tonight I used Trader Joe's Spelt with Red & Green Bell Peppers, but plain would do, too, in fact I'd prefer it, but I'm a pragmatic cook and that half-package was in my cupboard, waiting to be consumed.

Spelt is a bit tricky to get right, but I've learned a few things. These grains never seem to need as much liquid as the package recommends. To get a good texture, use a little less than half as much water as recommended. Olive oil was used for the saute step. Be careful not to let the oil overheat and produce smoke (and trans fats). After the grains are initially coated with oil, reduce the heat and toss and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add water or broth slowly, allowing the grains to absorb the liquid before adding more, until you get the texture you want. This is basically the method given on the package.

On top of the dried flakes of peppers and seasonings that came in the Trader Joe's mix, I added my own diced red onions and freshly fire-roasted, seeded and peeled red peppers cut into small strips. As a finishing touch, when the spelt neared its state of perfection, I threw in a half-cup of pre-cooked edamame. The grains were served garnished with angel-hair parmesan. A new twist on the rice-and-beans side dish.

For the salad, I started with Belgian endive, a favorite because of its crisp texture and slightly bitter flavor. Both red and green-leafed varieties were used. To this I added: diced red onion, chopped Haas avocado in perfect, buttery firm texture, a whole nectarine chopped into small pieces, and a half-cup of chopped walnut pieces, tossed with Champagne Pear Vinaigrette with gorgonzola cheese (another Trader Joe's find -- it's surprisingly low in calories!). Normally, I make this salad with apple, but I have these wonderful, full-sugar but still hard and crisp nectarines. That turned out to be a very good choice for this salad.

T had brought a 2005 George Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau and put it into the refrigerator for a light chill. Theoretically, its forward fruit would be a good match for the salty, buttery textured pork. This one didn't live up to that promise. T's speculation was that the 2005 may already have been too old. We would have preferred even bolder, fruitier flavors and less structure, but you can't score in every inning. As a dinner, it was above average. As a learning experience, it fulfilled all my expectations. It was fun.

Nutritional details

Spelt pilaf
1-1/4 cups water
1 tsp chicken base
1 red pepper
1 tbsp chopped red onion
3/4 c spelt
1/2 cup raw or frozen edamame
11/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp parmesan cheese

Servings = 3
Serving size = 91 g
Calories = 231
Fat = 9.5 g
Carbs = 28 g
Protein = 3.3 g
Sodium = 444 mg
Cholesterol = 5.5 mg
Fiber = 22 g


Endive salad
2 whole Belgian endives, chopped
1 tbsp chopped red onion
1 small apple, pear or other firm-fleshed fruit, cut into small pieces
1/2 avocado cut into small pieces
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tbsp Champagne Pear Vinaigrette dressing with Gorgonzola cheese

Servings = 4
Serving size = 136 g
Calories = 134
Fat = 9.6 g
Carbs = 11 g
Protein = 3.3 g
Sodium = 237 mg
Fiber = 12 g

Pre-salted pork loin with chutney glaze
Lean pork loin
Salt
2 tbsp Crosse & Blackwell Major Grey's Chutney

Servings = 2
Serving size = 131 g
Calories = 190
Fat = 4 g
Carbs = 14 g
Protein = 24 g
Sodium = 1225 mg
Cholesterol - 75 mg

Synchronistic Experiments

I recently received a free copy of Cook's Illustrated magazine. Out of the blue. A direct-mail solicitation that, in this case, might net them a sale. I'm thinking about getting a subscription for my sister for her birthday (shhh... don't tell!). The publication is slim and beautifully printed, with lovely illustrations -- as you'd expect -- and NO ADVERTISING!

More to the point, there is a lot of wonderful writing about cooking methods, processes, tools, techniques and ingredients. One of the more interesting articles in the Number I received was on using pre-salting techniques for barbequed chicken, based on a technique developed by San Francisco's Judi Rodgers, of Zuni Cafe fame.

I'm always interested in techniques for making meats more tender and moist. Salting is something I'd never considered. I thought that salting meat made it tough. Turns out this is a common misconception.

Since reading the article, I've thought about trying the method. Raising the sodium level in my food isn't something I'd ever take lightly. Still, I was intrigued. I wanted to try it just to see the difference for myself.

So I'd had this in the back of my mind for a couple of weeks when I picked up the Food section from today's Los Angeles Times. There was an article on the front page [Salt of the earth -- can you believe it, they couldn't think of a more original title] about Judi Rodgers, focusing on her techniques for pre-salting meats. Again, I was intrigued by the descriptions of the results obtained by salting the meat as compared with not salting it.

Now, how is it that I've lived and cooked for over 50 years and never heard about pre-salting, and then suddenly twice in one month I read two articles about the doyenne apparent of briners? I took this little coincidence as a sign.

One of my kitchen's staple dishes is lean pork loin. It's hard to get it consistently tender. I usually bake it in a covered dish in a moderate oven for 20-25 minutes, and then expose it to the broiler for 5 minutes more before pulling it out to rest before slicing. This works most of the time, but isn't foolproof. It has a narrow margin of error, so if I misjudge the moment to switch on the broiler, the difference can be noticeable. Even the type of marinade or glaze I use seems to have an effect.

So I've decided to try the pre-salting method. Fortunately, I haven't been advised to avoid salt in my diet, so before I started dinner this evening, I pulled out a small pork loin, coated it with salt, put it into the refrigerator, and then got on with making tonight's meal.

Tomorrow I will add a glaze before cooking -- probably chutney-based, because I've been playing around with it for awhile and it will give me a good basis for comparison.

Both articles stressed the importance of timing. For chicken, the Cook's article recommended pre-salting at least six hours but not more than 24 hours before cooking. Now that's what I call a margin of error!

I don't think a day will be too long. The Times article states, "...the time spent curing...varies, from a couple of hours to several days. This depends on the type of meat -- chicken and pork are denser than beef or lamb so they take longer -- and the size of the cut." My first pork-salting experiment will be about 24-hours before cooking. If this timing works, it makes a very convenient window for someone who usually gets into the kitchen just once a day.

For tomorrow I will invite a guest to help me judge, and I will let you know the results of my experiment.

Hi! My name is Moi, and I'm a foodie...

This blog is intended to share my love of food, and I hope to make it enjoyable reading, too.

Not every meal, even for a foodie, is worth logging. I don't want to bore the reader (assuming I have one). Some selectivity will be applied.

Even if I never have a single reader, writing about food helps me stay on the straight and narrow. Loving food as I do, it's important to me to reality-check my nutrition. As evidence, I offer my initial goal, to lose 8 pounds. My weight creeps up if I neglect the simple realities of calories in, calories out. The eight extra pounds are the result of ignoring both ends of the equation. Resolved: exercise more and get nutrition back to healthy levels, including caloric levels.

So between now and my first goal (target: end of August) this blog will feature menus, recipes and tips for restricted calorie eating. After that, it will feature menus, recipes and tips for normal healthy eating. Along with accounts of my food adventures, photographs, and musings about food and life.

Feedback is especially welcome. Let me know if you like my menus and musings about food. Encourage my fine madness, and it'll fuel it.