Grains of Paradise

Often called "Pink Peppercorns" Grains of Paradise are not peppercorns at all.

Pizza night

Gazpacho

When the last weeks of summer bring ripe delicious tomatoes, it is time for Gazpacho.  Sharpen your knives and get out the blender; here we go!

A typical gazpacho recipe will start with tomato and cucumber.  The cucumber is the balancing cool to the heated ingredients of gazpacho.  The following recipe will appeal to those of you who might not care for cucumber.  (Fortunately, not an allergy issue, but Brooke does not care for cukes.)

Ingredients are listed from most to least.  Don't forget: It is always easier to add more than it is to remove any.  

Ingredients:

Vine-ripened tomatoes (Ripened on the vine on the farm, not on the vine in a truck.) Peeled seeded and chopped.

Fresh Pears, peeled, cored and chopped.

Red Bell Pepper, peeled and chopped fine.

Orange Bell Pepper, peeled and chopped fine.

Red Onion, diced.

Jalapeno, seeded and minced.

Garlic clove, minced.  (The garlic at your megamart and the garlic at your farmers market are two completely different edibles.)

EVOO

Lime juice

Balsamic vinegar

Worcester shooster shiester sauce (What's this here sauce)*

Cumin, toasted or not 

Salt, Kosher or Penzey's Shallot Salt

Freshly ground black pepper (optional)**

Fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (added at service)

Directions:  Boil water to peel tomatoes.  Cut an X on the bottom of the tomatoes and put them in boiling water for 20-30 seconds.  Remove and put them in an ice bath.  After cooling, peel, core and seed.  Use a strainer to catch the juice when seeding.  Tomato water is culinary gold.

Gazpacho should have a wonderful texture and the temperature must be just right. 

After mixing all of the ingredients (except the basil) put some of the mixed ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree.  Adjust until you have the texture and consistancy desired for your Gazpacho.  Chill (overnight if possible) and add the freshly chiffonade basil when serving.

* Three Stooges reference.  Don't feel bad if you didn't get it.  You are old if you did get it.

**  Penzey's is one of my favorite suppliers, but... Penzey's sells freshly ground pepper - in jars.  Does freshly gound pepper come out of a jar?  or a pepper grinder?    

M, E, P, S, N, Se, F 

Delicious and completely free of most-likely allergens. 

Key: M, E, P, S, N, Se, F

Milk-free, Egg-free, Wheat-free, Peanut-free, Soy-free, Nut-free, Sesame-free, Fish-free, Shellfish-free


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Apple wood smoked Jerusalem Artichokes (sunchokes)

We haven't yet decided what we will concoct with these tasty tubers.  We are going to try not to eat them all while we work on the recipe.

Best French Fries

 Steak Frites

Kenji Alt-Lopez has a posted recipe on SeriousEats.com for French Fries that, if you make real French Fries at home, will change the way you make them. It might make you change the way you make them in a commercial kitchen as well.  While Kenji has a preference for peanut oil, those of us dealing with peanut allergies might want to stick with Canola or Vegetable oils. 

Properly refined peanut oil will not contain any of the proteins that would cause a reaction with a peanut allergic consumer.  So...is it ok for someone with peanut allergies to eat foods fried in peanut oil?  Well, technically it is, but considering the number of oils with similar and higher smoke points, why not avoid the potential allergen.  

Email replies

Researching allergy-friendly food sources is best done at the source, but that is not always feasible so sometimes we make a phone call or two or write emails and sometimes we rely on the product itself including our assessment of the packaging and the product itself when making recommendations.

During the decade or so that we have been managing food allergies, there have been many changes. We have a stack of older email replies from company PR and Marketing folks with a primary message of “we cannot guarantee [anything].” More recently, companies are posting food allergy information on their websites, but occasionally we still email queries to smaller companies with food allergy related questions. There are companies producing products with vague labeling such as “proprietary blend of spices” which makes the product unusable to someone with an allergy to a spice. We are not interested in the ratios of ingredients. We simply want to know all of the ingredients if we are going to use or recommend products for use by the growing number of people with food allergies.

Over the years, many of our emails have gone unanswered. Some have been answered by people who expressed genuine concern. Interestingly, we received a personalized reply to an email from Planters (a subsidiary of Kraft Foods®) that stands out as one of the most thoughtful, helpful emails in the stack. We also have rambling email responses from people who clearly should not be allowed access to company computers. When we queried one small company in Maine via email, their reply, in so many words, was, “go fly a kite.”

It is often tempting to post the exchanges with companies that reply with ignorant or downright stupid replies to food allergy questions.

We have decided for the time being to not include a not recommended list. If a company is not on the recommended list, they are not recommended.

Please tell us if you know of a food allergy friendly supplier that should be recommended. We will check them out and post accordingly.



One absolute truth is that things change. A company that does everything the right way for years might be sold to a company that doesn’t do anything the right way and the packaging looks almost the same. Always read labels.

Mmm...mmm...not good

Fifteen million pounds of Campbell Soup Company SpagettiOs were recalled in a Class I recall.  Class I is the most serious of the three class (I, II, III) categories of recall. 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_035_2010_Release/index.asp

This is serious even if you do not eat SpagettiOs.

Best test yet!

Sometimes the tests, despite a reputation for unreliable results, are accurate.

Let's go back a few years...shortly before Brooke was tested for peanut allergies at the age of two, she ate scrambled eggs for the first time.  Moments later she threw them up.  We thought nothing of it at the time.  Toddlers throw up from time to time. We have learned a lot in a decade.  At the time, food allergies were not yet widely acknowledged as an issue for our children.  We didn't know. 

We know a little bit more now, but I digress! 

Why do we test?  We test for negative results.

Today we skin tested for the usual suspects with phenomenal results.

Peanut still produced an obvious weal, but everything else was negative! 

Egg whites and Egg yolks were tested seperately.  Both were negative.

Brooke can eat eggs!

Avoiding peanuts and treenuts is still mandatory, but peanuts and treenuts are not the center of the culinary universe; eggs are.

Cake, cookies, brownies, soft boiled, hard boiled, scrambled, quiche, cupcakes, custard, omelet, egg salad, mayonaise, salad dressing, fried, poached, pancakes, batter, breads...did I mention cake?

It is a new world today.  Eggs are on the ingredients list.

Our allergist approved a food challenge.  Brooke has eaten eggs and eggs are BrookeOK.

Time to stop mocking food allergies

Link to article by Gwen Smith, editor at Allergic Living Magazine

Bravo Ms. Smith!  Well said.

Lobster Bisque

If you asked me, a two pound (or more) lobster should be divided into two parts; the lobster tail best served as a bisque and the rest of the lobster.  The rest of the lobster should be enjoyed immediately after cooking.  The tail can be refrigerated and incorporated into your bisque a day or two later.  The bisque itself can be frozen and kept in the freezer for a month or so.

Fresh is better.  If you think you don't like lobster bisque because the last one you had tasted metallic, the last one you tasted came out of a can.  Fresh is better.

Ingredients:

2 lobster tails cooked and some chopped, some diced.

1 pint light cream

4 oz strained tomatoes

2 T butter

1 T EVOO

2 T AP flour

1 oz cognac

1 T tomato paste

1 T red bell pepper diced

1 T red onion diced

1/2 -1 tsp Sriracha chili sauce

chopped chives garnish

sprinkle paprika

Over medium heat make a rue with the butter, EVOO and flour.  Stir in light cream, add tomato paste and strained tomatoes.  Add lobster, onions, bell pepper and sriracha. Simmer for a few minutes.  Do not boil.  Salt to taste.

Add cognac and simmer for one more minute.

Serve hot, topped with chopped chives and paprika.

Contains: Milk, Wheat, Shellfish




Key: E, P, S, N, Se, F
Milk-free, Egg-free, Wheat-free, Peanut-free, Soy-free, Nut-free, Sesame-free, Fish-free, Shellfish-free







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Spring!

Morel mushrooms are the epitome of Spring! 

The culinary prize, and here are some fresh Morels. 

Maitake mushrooms are often touted for their health benefits,

maybe the reason they taste so good has

something to do with whay we should eat them.

Here are some morels, sauteed with a little garlic

atop a romaine salad with cold chicken, carrots,

radishes, red onions,  pea sprouts, and

Aged Parmegiano Reggiano.

contains milk

Key: E, W, P, S, N, Se, F, Sh



Milk-free, Egg-free, Wheat-free, Peanut-free, Soy-free, Nut-free, Sesame-free, Fish-free, Shellfish-free



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The view from 1017 at ME&E after a long day. Bye Bye Sun...Bye Bye Tonsils.

You can't make this stuff up...

Walong Marketing, Inc. Issues Nationwide Voluntary Recall of Flying Horse Black and White Sesame Chewy Candy Due to Undeclared Peanuts

Topping the recall list, every food recall list: Candies from China and ice creams from everywhere.

Despite the recall, with a name like "Flying Horse Black and White Sesame Chewy Candy" you know it has got to be good.

Cheating the sauce

In a perfect world we don't need much refrigeration. The beer and wine need to be kept chilled, of course, but in a perfect world today's catch is on ice in a cooler and all of the other perishible ingredients came from the market shortly before the meal was prepared.

In the real world, fresh ingredients for a sauce or even a mirepoix might be light on occasion. I know, I know, hard to imagine, but it does happen. On those rare occasions, fortunately there is a pantry ready sauce available to save the day.

More than Gourmet of Akron Ohio offers a classic demi-glace Red Wine Sauce and a velouté White Wine Sauce. Both are ready to heat and serve or you can use them as a base and use the ingredients you do have on hand to make a red wine mushroom sauce or tarragon sauce for fish. See more recipes at www.morethangourmet.com

Both sauces contain Wheat and Milk ingredients.

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If you have read my blogs you know that I often praise of Idylwilde Farms in Acton, MA. Not this time:

Idylwilde Farms: $4.29

Whole Foods: $3.39

Brooke's sign

Sea Scallops and Asparagus Arborio Rice with a velouté sauce and Panini Toast

Ingredients:

Sea Scallops
Asparagus
Arborio rice
Potato bread
Lemon
Dill
Paprika
Shallot salt
White wine
Butter
Flour

E,P,S,N,Se,F

contains milk, wheat and shellfish

Key: M, E, W, P, S, N, Se, F, Sh

Milk-free, Egg-free, Wheat-free, Peanut-free, Soy-free, Nut-free, Sesame-free, Fish-free, Shellfish-free

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Email for directions.

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and texture

The case for texture as the most important component of flavor.

Sweet, sour, salty and bitter are all either too little or too much in any given dish.

Umami is either there or it is not. A more subtle flavor charactoeristic than salty, I cannot imagine even the most pompous of food critics suggesting that a dish is too umami.

Of all the flavor components, by far the most complex, and also by far the most influential, is texture. Not merely a host for tastebuds, the tongue is a sensitive detector of texture.

Texture, of all the flavor components, is also the most difficult to adjust. Or, as the case may be; the easiest. We'll get back to adjusting texture.

Not salty enough; add salt. Too salty; add liquid, add pepper.

Too sweet; add sour. Too sour; add sweet.

The evidence: Exhibit A.

As the website proclaims: All natural, no sugar added, 110-120 calories, and 2 servings of fruit.

No high fructose, no nuts, no egg, no fish, no soy, no wheat, no fat...no nothing but fruit. Two servings of fruit in a convenient recyclable container. No peels. No sticky fingers. You do not need a knife or a fork.

No nitrates. No gluten. The cost is about $2 for 200mL. (6.75oz) It would be less expensive to buy and eat regular fruit which generally has more fiber and a few less calories than the fruit2day concoction. Let's keep in mind that bottled water sells for $1 for a similarly sized portion.

So far the argument for fruit2day is pretty strong isn't it? I saw the fruit2day in the refrigerated section nestled amongst the pomegranate juice and the acai berry cocktails. This is where the health concious, or perhaps the truly gullible, find their juices and elixers.

I brought some Pineapple Banana Fruit2day home to try it out. Like the rest of you, I don't get enough servings of fruit. This could be the solution. We have bought pineapples before. It is a time consuming task to make the pineapple ready to eat and they don't stay fresh for very long. Bananas are not difficult to serve but they go from unripe to ripe to mushy at the speed of light.

Two servings of fruit, no fruit flies. What is not to like?

Cold fruit juice drink in my livingroom. Shaken and cold. Pop the top and pour some back...

Reflex reaction: Oh No! Stop! Wait! Did I just throw up in my mouth? Is this bad milk? Chunks...I have chunks along with the liquid in my mouth. Errrp.

OK. OK. Wait...the taste is fine. No bile. No sour milk. Some of those chunks are fresh pineapple. OK. OK. I can down this. Phew. What a relief.

The texture, regardless of the ingredients and other flavor components induced a reflex reaction, "Spit this out!" Concern for the rug, combined with an underlying understanding that this was an experimental food saved the day...and the rug. Other than the texture, there was nothing wrong with the fruit2day.

Tomorrow I will buy some apples and some bananas. Maybe some mangos and a few cherries.

And a pineapple.

--

Adjusting texture isn't as easy as adding a little salt or pepper, but in the case of a fruit drink with disturbing chunks...think smoothie. The blender is your friend.

M,E,W,P,S,N,Se,F,Sh

Key: M, E, W, P, S, N, Se, F, Sh

Milk-free, Egg-free, Wheat-free, Peanut-free, Soy-free, Nut-free, Sesame-free, Fish-free, Shellfish-free

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