Month: January 2011

Vegan Aloo Gobi

/ Ren

Fresh cauliflower, plum tomatoes, green chiles, sweet potatoes and ginger are sauteed and seasoned with toasted coriander, cumin, turmeric, brown mustard seeds, ajwain and nigella seeds.  Garnished with fresh cilantro and served with warm onion and garlic naan..

Vegan Aloo Gobi

Aloo gobi (Hindi: आलू गोभी is a dry Indian and Pakistani cuisine dish made with potatoes (aloo), cauliflower (gob(h)i) and Indian spices.  It is yellowish in color due to the use of turmeric, and occasionally contains kalonji and curry leaves.  Other common ingredients include garlic, ginger, onion, coriander stalks, tomato, peas, and cumin. A number of variations and similar dishes exist, but the name remains the same.

This post is part of Meatless Monday!

Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.

USDA Caves on GE Alfalfa

/ Ren

USDA DECISION ON GE ALFALFA LEAVES DOOR OPEN FOR CONTAMINATION, RISE OF SUPERWEEDS

ROGUE AGENCY CHOOSES “BUSINESS AS USUAL” OVER SOUND SCIENCE

CENTER ANNOUNCES IMMEDIATE LEGAL CHALLENGE TO USDA’S FLAWED ASSESSMENT

The Center for Food Safety criticized the announcement today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that it will once again allow unlimited, nation-wide commercial planting of Monsanto’s genetically-engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa, despite the many risks to organic and conventional farmers USDA acknowledged in its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).  On a call today with stakeholders, Secretary Vilsack reiterated the concerns surrounding purity and access to non-GE seed, yet the Agency’s decision still places the entire burden for preventing contamination on non-GE farmers, with no protections for food producers, consumers and exporters.

“We’re disappointed with USDA’s decision and we will be back in court representing the interest of farmers, preservation of the environment, and consumer choice” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director for the Center for Food Safety. “USDA has become a rogue agency in its regulation of biotech crops and its decision to appease the few companies who seek to benefit from this technology comes despite increasing evidence that GE alfalfa will threaten the rights of farmers and consumers, as well as damage the environment.”

On Monday, the Center sent an open letter to Secretary Vilsack calling on USDA to base its decision on sound science and the interests of farmers, and to avoid rushing the process to meet the marketing timelines or sales targets of Monsanto, Forage Genetics or other entities.

CFS also addressed several key points that were not properly assessed in the FEIS, among them were:

  • Liability, Implementation and Oversight — Citing over 200 past contamination episodes that have cost farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales, CFS demands that liability for financial losses incurred by farmers due to transgenic contamination be assigned to the crop developers.  CFS also calls on USDA to take a more active oversight role to ensure that any stewardship plans are properly implemented and enforced.
  • Roundup Ready alfalfa will substantially increase herbicide use – USDA’s assessment misrepresented conventional alfalfa as utilizing more herbicides than it does, which in turn provided a false rationale for introducing herbicide-promoting Roundup Ready alfalfa.  In fact, USDA’s own data shows that just 7% of alfalfa hay acres are treated with herbicides.  USDA’s projections in the FEIS show that substantial adoption of Roundup Ready alfalfa would trigger large increases in herbicide use of up to 23 million lbs. per year.
  • Harms from glyphosate-resistant weeds – USDA’s sloppy and unscientific treatment of glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds ignored the significant contribution that RR alfalfa could make to their rapid evolution.  USDA failed to analyze how GR weeds fostered by currently grown RR crops are increasing herbicide use; spurring more use of soil-eroding tillage; and reducing farmer income through increased weed control costs, an essential baseline analysis.

“We in the farm sector are dissatisfied but not surprised at the lack of courage from USDA to stop Roundup Ready alfalfa and defend family farmers,” said Pat Trask, conventional alfalfa grower and plaintiff in the alfalfa litigation.

The FEIS comes in response to a 2007 lawsuit brought by CFS, in which a federal court ruled that the USDA’s approval of GE alfalfa violated environmental laws by failing to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa, the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds, and increased use of glyphosate herbicide, sold by Monsanto as Roundup.  The Court banned new plantings of GE alfalfa until USDA completed a more comprehensive assessment of these impacts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice affirmed the national ban on GE alfalfa planting.  In June 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ban on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Alfalfa until and unless future deregulation occurs.

“Last spring more than 200,000 people submitted comments to the USDA highly critical of the substance and conclusions of its Draft EIS on GE Alfalfa,” said Kimbrell.  “Clearly the USDA was not listening to the public or farmers but rather to just a handful of corporations.”

http://truefoodnow.org/

 

http://organicconsumers.org/

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If I had a deli,

/ Ren

I would serve European-style smoked salmon on a toasted, by-God real New York bagel with locally-made triple-cream mascarpone, fresh dill, home-made preserved lemon, seasonal heirloom tomato, Sicilian capers, red onion, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper..

Classic Smoked Salmon on a Toasted Bagel

Contrary to common legend, the bagel was not created in the shape of a stirrup to commemorate the victory of Poland’s King Jan Sobieski over the Ottoman Turks in 1683.  It was actually invented much earlier in Kraków, Poland, as a competitor to the bublik, a lean bread of wheat flour designed for Lent. In the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the bajgiel became a staple of the Polish national diet.

There was a tradition among many observant Jewish families to make bagels on Saturday evenings at the conclusion of the Sabbath.  Due to Jewish Sabbath restrictions, they were not permitted to cook during the period of the Sabbath and, compared with other types of bread, bagels could be baked very quickly as soon as it ended.

That the name originated from beugal (old spelling of Bügel, meaning bail/bow or bale) is considered plausible by many, both from the similarities of the word and because traditional handmade bagels are not perfectly circular but rather slightly stirrup-shaped  (this, however, may be due to the way the boiled bagels are pressed together on the baking sheet before baking).  Also, variants of the word beugal are used in Yiddish and Austrian German to refer to a round loaf of bread (see Gugelhupf for an Austrian cake with a similar ring shape), or in southern German dialects (where beuge refers to a pile, e.g., holzbeuge, or woodpile)…

Bagels were brought to the United States by immigrant Jews, with a thriving business developing in New York City that was controlled for decades by Bagel Bakers Local 338, which had contracts with nearly all bagel bakeries in and around the city for its workers, who prepared all the bagels by hand.  The bagel came into more general use throughout North America in the last quarter of the 20th century, at least partly due to the efforts of bagel baker Harry Lender and Florence Sender, who pioneered automated production and distribution of frozen bagels in the 1960s. -Wikipedia

BBQ Pork Pizza on a Crisp Cornmeal Crust with Anaheim Peppers and Crumbled Tajo

/ Ren

Tangy mesquite BBQ sauce and well-marbled pieces of tender, pastured pork on a crunchy corn crust with onions, thinly sliced Anaheim peppers, crumbled Tajo and fresh cilantro.  A little bit Tex-Mex, a little bit San Francisco..

BBQ Pork Pizza on a Crisp Cornmeal Crust with Anaheim Peppers and Crumbled Tajo

Cotija comes in two primary versions. El Queso Cotija de Montaña or “grain cheese” is dry and firm, with little taste beyond salt (the cheese is usually several times saltier than typical cheese, traditionally for preservative reasons).   “Tajo Cheese” is a moister, fattier, and less salty version of the cheese that holds its shape when cut, with a flavor similar to Italian Parmesan and Greek Feta.

El Queso Cotija de Montaña is a seasonal cheese and is of limited production.  Cotija cheese is produced only during the months of July through October because the cows are fed only on the rich grass that grows naturally on the mountains during the raining season, giving the cheese its unique color and flavor.  Queso Cotija is an artisan cheese made by hand, thus every cheese has something unique.  This cheese usually comes in 17 kilogram cylinders with a creamy color crust;  it is a queso de montaña because the cheese makers live in the mountains as high as 1,700 meters (5,500 ft). -Wikipedia

Chicken and Farro Dumplings with Chanterelles and Melted Leeks

/ Ren

Similar to a Provençal harvest soup, local pastured chicken pieces are gently poached in homemade chicken stock infused with fresh thyme and marjoram and served with heirloom baby carrots, fresh chanterelles, garlic, melted leeks and shaved celeriac.  Tender farro dumplings provide a little déjà vu for those familiar with the Southern US classic..

Chicken and Farro Dumplings with Chanterelles and Melted Leeks

There is much confusion or disagreement about what exactly farro is.  Emmer, spelt, and einkorn are called farro in Italy, sometimes, but not always, distinguished as farro medio, farro grande, and farro piccolo, respectively.  Regional differences in what is grown locally and eaten as farro, as well as similarities between the three grains, may explain the confusion.  Barley and farro may be used interchangeably because of their similar characteristics.  Spelt is much more commonly grown in Germany and Switzerland and, though called dinkel there, is eaten and used in much the same way, and might therefore be considered farro.  Common wheat may also be prepared and eaten much like farro, in which form it is often referred to as wheatberries. -Wikipedia

Pan-Seared Berkshire Rib-eye with Habanero Bomba, Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

/ Ren

Thick chops of heritage black Berkshire pigs are briefly brined in a mixture of cold, filtered water, salt, cracked pepper, Mexican oregano and a few scrapings of piloncillo before being seared in cumin oil over high heat.  Finished in the oven and served with habanero bomba (rice, chicken stock, habanero chiles, Asadero cheese) and roasted tomatillo sauce (tomatillos, garlic, fresh green chiles, white onion and cilantro)..

Pan-Seared Berkshire Rib-eye with Habanero Bomba, Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

Berkshire pigs are said to be “Britain’s oldest pig breed”, originally bred in the Faringdon and Wantage regions of the English county of Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).  They apparently became popular after being ‘discovered’ by Cromwell’s troops while they were stationed at Reading during the English Civil War.  Today’s animals descend from the herd maintained by the House of Windsor 300 years ago

Berkshire pork, prized for juiciness, flavor and tenderness, is pink-hued and heavily marbled.  Its high fat content makes it suitable for high-temperature cooking. -Wikipedia

Gulf Coast Gathering: Foodways Texas Annual Symposium

/ Ren

Foodways Texas, the new organization that aims to “preserve, promote and celebrate the diverse food cultures of Texas” has announced their first symposium, to be held in Galveston next month..

“Join us at Texas A&M University in Galveston for our 2011 Symposium, “Gulf Coast Gathering,” February, 25-26. We’ll post the final program and hotel information soon, but plan for meals by featured chefs, Tim Byres of Smoke in Dallas, Chris Shepherd of Catalan in Houston, and Casey Gaido of Gaido’s in Galveston (all scheduled meals included in registration price), an oyster tasting and happy hour, and a full day of speakers and panels regarding Texas Gulf Coast food culture.”

Gulf Coast Gathering
2011 Foodways Texas Symposium
February 25-26, 2011
Galveston, Texas

“Foodways Texas is an organization founded by scholars, chefs, journalists, restaurateurs, farmers, ranchers, and other citizens of the state of Texas who have made it their mission to preserve, promote and celebrate the diverse food cultures of Texas. By joining and supporting Foodways Texas, you become part of a movement to preserve the vibrant foodways of Texas through oral history projects, documentary films, recipe collections, and scholarly research. You will join us in highlighting the state’s distinctive foods and food cultures at our annual scholarly symposium, supporting educational food-based seminars, promoting local food networks, and partnering with universities and other non-profit organizations to educate future generations about healthy and sustainable food practices.”

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  • Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook pulls together recipes that define South (commercialappeal.com)

Crispy Wild Halibut with Fried Jamón Serrano, Dijon and Green Peppercorn Sauce

/ Ren

Fresh filets of wild Alaskan halibut are lightly seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground pepper, then quickly seared in clarified butter over high heat until the skin is crisp and brown and the fish is moist and flaky.

Served over a sauce of Pinot gris, shallots, green peppercorns,  and Dijon mustard, finished with cold, cultured butter and brightened with a little fresh parsley.  Accompanied with some bits of fried jamón serrano for flavor and texture..

Crispy Wild Halibut with Fried Jamón Serrano, Dijon and Green Peppercorn Sauce

The North Pacific commercial halibut fishery dates to the late 19th century and today is one of the region’s largest and most lucrative.  In Canadian and U.S. waters, longline predominates, using chunks of octopus (“devilfish”) or other bait on circle hooks attached at regular intervals to a weighted line that can extend for several miles across the bottom.

Halibut have been an important food source to Native Americans and Canadian First Nations for thousands of years and continue to be a key element to many coastal subsistence economies. Accommodating the competing interests of commercial, sport, and subsistence users remains a difficult challenge. -Wikipedia

Pots on Fiyo (Filé Gumbo)

/ Ren

Shrimp stock thickened with sassafras and loaded with lump crab, andouille sausage, jumbo shrimp, garlic, celery, onions and green bell peppers, seasoned with oregano, cumin,  bay, thyme and mace..

Pots on Fiyo (Filé Gumbo)

For hundreds of years the Choctaw Indians have had a settlement at Bayou Lacombe on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain; they had a way of making Gumbo long before the Africans and Europeans arrived..  –NOLA Cuisine


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  • Harlem’s Danny Glover’s Seafood Gumbo (harlemworldblog.wordpress.com)

Heirloom Yellow Hominy with Roasted Tomatoes, Bacon and Chipotle Crema

/ Ren

A Northerner tells a waitress that he wants to order grits.  “Hominy, sir?”  the waitress asks.  “Oh, about four or five,” replies the confused customer..

Hominy with Roasted Tomatoes, Bacon and Chipotle Crema

Heirloom yellow hominy corn is nixtamalized, then simmered until the kernels have popped and become tender.  The cooked corn is cooled by being rubbed between your palms under cold running water, with the pericarp (the skin that gets stuck in your teeth when you eat corn on the cob) being left behind.  The corn is then set aside until ready to use.

To prepare the dish, slowly fry diced bacon on a cast iron comal or in a heavy skillet until all the fat has rendered and the bacon is very crisp.  Remove the bacon to the side to drain, and pour off all but a tablespoon of the fat from the pan.

Roast a plum tomato or two in a very hot oven until blistered, then remove and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, return the comal to the stove and add half a chopped yellow onion and a diced Poblano pepper and saute until lightly browned.  Add hominy and garlic and cook until vegetables are nicely browned.  Dice the roasted tomatoes and add to the pan with some fresh minced garlic, chili powder, a little filtered water and some oregano (Mexican preferred).  Allow to simmer, stirring often until the sauce begins to tighten, about 5 minutes.

Pour hominy into serving bowls, dress with reserved bacon, fresh cilantro and chipotle crema and serve immediately.

Monsanto and the Merchants of Death

/ Ren

From the Organic Consumers Association
January 6, 2010

“In the 1990s, Monsanto found an ingenious way to sell large quantities of its broad-spectrum toxic herbicide RoundUp to farmers. The company’s scientists gene-spliced corn, soy, cotton, and canola with foreign DNA, enabling these “Frankencrops” to survive massive doses of RoundUp. Farmers could now repeatedly spray their fields with RoundUp, killing weeds but not the crop. Unfortunately, the collateral damage of heavy RoundUp spraying includes groundwater pollution, toxic residues in crops, and destruction of essential soil micro-organisms. The Genetically Modified (GM) crops themselves create herbicide-resistant Superweeds and spread genetic pollution to organic and non-GMO crops as well as plant relatives. Last but certainly not least, Monsanto’s GM foods have been linked to serious health damage – not only for animals, but humans as well.

Today, a major portion of crop-land in the US is sown with Monsanto’s “RoundUp Ready” corn, soy, cotton, canola, and sugar beets. Eighty percent of these GM crops are then sold as animal feed to the nation’s 125,000 factory farms or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that produce most of the non-organic meat, dairy, or eggs sold in grocery stores or served in restaurants, schools, and hospitals. The other 20% of Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Organisms are laced into non-organic processed foods (soy lecithin, corn or sugar beet sweeteners, cooking oils, etc..) that are found in every grocery store aisle.

There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and the $2 trillion the US spends annually on medical care, namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases. Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal products, US factory farms and food processors produce a glut of genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is directly costing the United States $56 billion a year in diet-related chronic diseases.

Monsanto’s GM crops are highly profitable for the food industry, turning cheap, federally subsidised, genetically engineered crops and GE-fed animals into cheap, ubiquitous, junky foods. But from the standpoint of public health and environmental sustainability, Monsanto and their factory farm collaborators are nothing less than merchants of disease and death.

A critical mass of consumers would turn away from GMOs and Factory Farmed meat, dairy, and eggs – IF they knew what they were eating..”

“Over the next few years, the Organic Consumers Association will focus on strategic grass-roots campaigns to promote health, justice, and sustainability, with a special emphasis on local-based practical solutions to the energy and climate crisis. Organic soil and land management can and must be scaled up now in order to buy us the time we need to make the long-term transition to radical energy efficiency and solar, wind, and geothermal power..”

Organic Consumers Association
6771 South Silver Hill Drive
Finland MN 55603
Inquiries: 218-226-4164

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Roasted Broccoli, Potato and Vintage Cheddar Cheese Soup

/ Ren

Fresh broccoli, heirloom garlic and Yukon gold potatoes are lightly buttered, seasoned with sea salt and cracked black pepper and roasted until golden brown.  The vegetables are then simmered in a rich base of homemade vegetable stock with vintage yellow and Jasper Hill clothbound cheddar cheeses (in Austin, try Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in the Hyde Park neighborhood).  Seasoned with Piment d’Espelette and just a few red chili pepper flakes..

Roasted Broccoli, Potato and Vintage Cheddar Cheese Soup

The Espelette pepper (French: Piment d’Espelette; Basque: Ezpeletako biperra) is a variety of chili pepper that is cultivated in the French commune of Espelette, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, traditionally the northern territory of the Basque people.

Originally from Mexico and to a lesser extent South America, Piment d’Espelette was introduced into France from the New World during the 16th century.  After first being used medicinally, it subsequently became popular for preparing condiments and for the conservation of meat and ham.

Espelette peppers are harvested in the late summer, with characteristic festoons of peppers are hung to dry on balconies and house walls throughout the communes. –Wikipedia

This post is part of Meatless Monday, a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns
in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Rustic Lobster Bisque

/ Ren

Butter-poached North Atlantic lobster in homemade shell stock,  teeming with fresh thyme, celery, onions, plum tomatoes, heavy cream and aged sherry.  Cracked pepper, crunchy sea salt and a few drizzles of chili oil..

Rustic Lobster Bisque

“Bisque is a method of extracting every bit of flavor from imperfect crustaceans not good enough to send to market. In an authentic bisque, the shells are ground to a fine paste and added to thicken the soup.  Julia Child even remarked, “Do not wash anything off until the soup is done because you will be using the same utensils repeatedly and you don’t want any marvelous tidbits of flavor losing themselves down the drain.” –Wikipedia