A Tomato in Winter

My kingdom for a tasty tomato! Chances are that any tomato you buy during winter will not have much in the way of flavor (with the notable exception of cherry or grape tomatoes that are great out of the container for snacking). But don’t despair! Tomatoes rule!

Today’s picture is of canned Italian Plum tomatoes.

Buy cans that do not have ‘calcium’ in the list of ingredients. Added calcium can prevent canned tomatoes from breaking down during cooking. You want your tomatoes to break down for sauces and soups. Canned tomatoes also make a quick salsa when combined with some chopped onion, garlic and spices.

Plum tomatoes have a higher flesh to liquid ratio, which translates into flavor. Buy whole, peeled tomatoes and, if you can manage it, cans that say Roma or San Marzano (San Marzano is an area in Italy that is renowned for it’s deluxe tomatoes). Italian tomatoes in general are usually a good bet.

Rich in Vitamin C and an antioxidant called carotenoid lycopene, these jewels will help you to survive those winter days indoors.

Do not keep any tomatoes in an open can. Store them in a glass jar or plastic container and, to really be safe, label and put them in the freezer. Kept this way they will be in perfect shape for crowning your next meal and feeding any lion-sized appetite wanting a taste of summer.

Avocado Journey

Now you can judge an avocado for ripeness, know how to open it and remove the pit, here’s an idea for the simplest start to a meal. Serve half an avocado with balsamic vinegar and a little extra virgin olive oil. Along with a dash of salt (kosher if you have it) and some freshly ground pepper, you will have an elegant start to a meal or, if you are not all that hungry, a meal in itself.

It wasn’t necessary to traverse the Road to Guacamole in order to enjoy an avocado. The pleasure of this healthy fruit, just as it is, was always there!

The California Avocado Commission has this nutrition information on its site:

• One-fifth of a medium avocado, or about one ounce, has 50 calories and contributes nearly 20 beneficial nutrients to the diet.

• Avocados contribute nearly 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are thought to help prevent many chronic diseases.

• Avocados contribute nearly 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, including 4% of the recommended Daily Value (DV) for vitamin E, 4% vitamin C, 8% folate, 4% fiber, 2% iron, 4% potassium, with 81 micrograms of lutein and 19 micrograms of beta-carotene.

• Avocados act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene as well as lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.

I guess it’s not always about the journey!

Greetings from Guacamole

Now that you have arrived with everything ready (gather a friend or two, this makes enough for company), here’s the actual recipe:

In a large bowl mix together:

2 ripe avocados (peeled and diced)-use Hass avocados (the small, rough, bumpy kind)
1/2 of a small onion or one shallot- finely chopped
1 or 2 small garlic cloves- finely chopped
1 small ripe tomato- chopped (very, very optional)
1 Tablespoon of lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon of chili powder – or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients with a fork, mashing the avocado against the side of your bowl. Leave some chunks; it’s more fun that way! Also, this is one of those recipes that are totally up for interpretation. Try it this way than adjust to your preference.


Health Note: If you are going to eat this with tortilla chips, do yourself a big favor and choose a brand made with non-hydrogenated fats.

Road To Guacamole- Part Two: Destination Fruit!

After you have determined that your avocado is ready (the skin is uniformly dark the avocado yields slightly to pressure), it’s time hit the road!

Slice through to the pit, rotating the fruit (yes, an avocado is a fruit) so that you have divided it in half. Turn the halves in opposite directions. You will have one half with the pit and the other without. A sharp (but not too heavy) hit of your knife into the pit will release the pit from the fruit to the knife. Another little angled rap of the knife and pit (on the end of the chopping board or counter side) will release the pit. Do not throw the pit away. Along with some citrus juice, embedding the pit in your smashed avocado will prevent it from going brown.

You can now scoop out the flesh. If you want to get a jump-start with the smashing, cut it into cubes while still in the skin.

Are your avocadoes not ripening fast enough? Place them in a paper bag at room temperature for a day or so. If they are ripe and you are not yet ready to hit the road, they will stall in the refrigerator for about a week.

The Road to Guacamole- Part One: Getting Started

I think it’s time that we made something to eat. Lately it’s been about the how-to’s and the instant-eats (apples and such). I thought something requiring a little preparation was in order.

Today is about ingredients. The avocados in the picture aren’t quite ready to eat, but they will be soon and that’s when the fun begins. How to choose an avocado? Most probably they will be bright green and/ or very firm at the supermarket. They will not be ready to eat, but that’s all part of the plan. In their ‘firm-osity’ they will make it to your kitchen counter without getting bruised or damaged on the way. This is not a case of instant satisfaction. Wait until your avocados (you have bought a pair of them in matching color- so that they ripen at the same time) are almost black and soft, not mushy, dimply soft - just yielding to gentle pressure. Because avocados are a tropical fruit, they are best left at room temperature and enjoyed as soon as they are ripe. Like most things used to warm climates, they are not happy chilled and will not ripen in the refrigerator.

While you are shopping in anticipation of future guacamole delight, make sure you are ready with the other ingredients. Here’s a full shopping list:

2 avocados
1-2 garlic cloves
1 lemon or lime
1 small onion or shallot (something that looks like a small, brown, egg-shaped onion)
1 ripe tomato (optional- tomatoes are not in season so you might want to skip this for now)

Ground cumin
Chili powder
Salt and pepper

Love Child

Apples were everywhere at the Farmer’s Market today. There were so many different varieties that it was difficult to keep all the names straight, but no problem remembering this favorite. Let me introduce you to a Honey Crisp, which is just that, sweet (but not too sweet) and crisp. Honey Crisp apples were first produced in 1960, which is totally groovy considering they are the ‘love child’ of two other varieties, the Macoun and Honeygold. The University of Minnesota bred this apple as part of a program to ‘invent’ winter hardy fruit, how cool is that?

Stored in the refrigerator, Honey Crisps can last up to six months, but that would only happen if you were away on a world tour or lost the ability to find the bottom drawer of your refrigerator. These are way too delicious to hang around that long.

If you are craving something just a little more far-out than a solitary apple, add a slice of cheese or a bit of peanut butter.

Strained Relationships

This is a colander (well, two colanders). I know that I have mentioned this piece of essential kitchen gear before, but while we are on the subject of tools, I though I would remind you of this necessary object. If you want to cook and you don’t own one of these things, start saving now! I’ve seen a tennis racquet used as a substitute (in the movies), but that seems like a ‘don’t try this at home’ sort of thing.

So why is a colander so useful? Apart from straining pasta or anything else you need to separate from boiling water, a colander is very handy in the sink for other cooking moments. Place your veg or fruit inside when washing (using cool water please). If you want to keep some fruit on the counter, the extra holes in a colander will make for good air circulation and your fruit will last longer (also rotate your fruit every once in a while, for the same reason).

This is the best of strained relationships…you might even want more than one!

Main Squeeze

Citrus juice is pretty essential stuff. How do get it from your lemons and limes? Of course you can go the no-gadget way and simply cut the fruit in half and squeeze with your hand. Nothing wrong with that!

However, it’s my understanding that Man (as in homo sapiens) distinguishes himself (or herself) from other species by way of tools. We make them and use them. Nothing exemplifies this theory more than the kitchen.

Here you have just a few of the tool possibilities for getting juice from a lemon or lime.

The stainless steel and wood reamer illustrated here are characterized by the multi-sided shape. When you squeeze and turn your lemon or lime on either of these, the juice is pressed and scraped from the interior of the fruit. The stainless steel reamer can sit on a cup or bowl, straining the seeds from the juice. Seeds actually stick (sort of) to a wood reamer and this is held over whatever needs juice as you press the fruit against the reamer and twist.

The fancy cast aluminum double handled thing relies on brute force. Just put in a fruit half and squeeze the handles together.

There are many uses for citrus juice. Here are two very basic ones:

• Lemon juice and some olive oil will make a lovely simple salad dressing.

• If you want to jazz up a glass of seltzer, a little bit of juice will do it.

Seize the Day... and the Dessert

What to say? This dessert is now just a memory (and obviously its descent into the memorable had started before I even thought to take this picture… sometimes a photographer just wants to eat!).

These are the last bites of homemade pastry ala Chef Cathy (my sister if you haven’t read earlier blog entries). This photo taken just before a rushed flight to Wales. My soon-to-be-ninety-years-old mother had a heart attack last week and Cathy rushed out of Brooklyn to be with her. It was always Cathy’s intention to leave New York after finishing her pastry course, but this was very sudden and unexpected.

As I relished this beautiful apple tart, I suddenly choked, not on the pastry, but on the knowledge that sometimes everything feels as fleeting as a lovely dessert.

Perhaps that’s what fascinates me about food. The things we eat are solid and real and necessary, but in the end, always become just a moment. This particular moment was shared with Cathy and a friend. Once I came up for air long enough to fully realize that my private pastry chef was leaving, I stopped to savor. The apple thing was particularly delicious.

Steamed!

This is no time for rebellion (are you listening Sylvia?). Adding steaming to your toolbox of cooking methods will be good for everything from the pragmatic: your pocket book and waistline (if that is a concern), to the cosmic: time. Nothing is simpler, healthier, faster and tastier than steamed vegetables.

Today’s illustration has two types of steamers. The silver one is metal and easily expands inside your pan. The green one is made of flexible silicon and comes in a few sizes. They both have little legs to raise them above the water at the bottom of the pan. There are other sorts of steamers, but let’s start with these.

Place a steamer in a pan with water enough to be just below the floor of the steamer. Place your washed and prepared vegetable (try to keep the sizes as consistent as you can so that everything cooks at the same rate) and put it on the stove.

Turn on the heat and cover the pan. When the water heats up and creates steam, it’s the steam that cooks the vegetables. Different vegetables cook at different rates. Carrots will take longer than say, asparagus. Once the water is really creating steam, and it's had a bit of time (say 5 minutes or so) carefully pick up the lid (don’t have your face too close and wear a mitt, the steam is going to escape!) and check out what’s going on. Color is usually a good indication. Broccoli will turn bright green when it’s done. You want to take it off the heat before it gets dull and over-cooked. A thin, sharp knife inserted into one of your veg pieces will let you know how cooked it is. If it goes in easily, it’s done. Maybe you like a bit of crunch and want to feel a little resistance… that’s good too. This is all about how you like it, cook it for as little or as much as you wish, but try to avoid overcooking. You'll lose nutrients and flavor. Also, don't let your pan boil dry.

Dish your beautiful vegetables up with a splash of soy sauce or hot sauce or anything else you fancy. And the bonus? Very, very easy clean up. That’s both practical and cosmic if you ask me.

How to Boil an Egg Revisited

Let me guess. You thought that we would be finished with something as fundamental as boiling an egg? Wrong! After yesterday’s blog, you have the information you need to cook an egg without spending money on gadgets.

That said, the gadget in today’s photo is a really simple way to judge how your eggs are cooking. If don’t have one, you may want to take a trip to the local kitchen shop. I think that this ‘Egg-Per’Fect Egg Timer’ thing is pretty cool. You simply put it in the pan at the same time as your eggs and judge how they are doing by where the dark circle is on the indicated lines. Remarkably straight forward.

You can still refer to yesterday’s blog about how to peel an egg, but I wanted to tell you a method that Cathy taught me this morning that also works. By swirling at least 2 eggs in the pan (after they have cooked and without the water) the eggs bump against one another and the sides of the pan. After a while the shell is so finely cracked that the peel comes off with very little effort. Now that’s a-peeling! (sorry, couldn’t resist)

You are close to eggs-pert! (sorry, couldn’t resist that one either!)

How to Boil an Egg

To be honest? I have been avoiding this entry. Now I know that sounds silly. What’s the big deal about a hard-boiled egg after all? Well, if you are not planning on making deviled eggs for the Bridge Club, and if you are not embarrassed by slightly unsightly eggs, I can say with full confidence, “Let’s Proceed!”

Equipment you will need:

A saucepan (a high sided pan with a handle) and lid
A timer
A pushpin or something very like a pushpin (see photo above)

• Make a small hole in the large side of the egg (put the pin in about a 1/4 of an inch).
• Put however many eggs you want to cook in the pan with water to cover. Don’t crowd them; they need to have plenty of room and water.
• Place pan with eggs on the stove and bring to a boil (large bubbles).
• Turn off the heat, put the lid on and set your timer.

If you want a hard-boiled egg set your timer for 17 minutes
If you want a soft-boiled egg you can scoop it out of the water right away (use a slotted spoon)


Now what’s the big deal?

The hole at the base prevents the shell from cracking while cooking.

In order to peel your hard-boiled eggs, chilling them will make everything easier (use a bowl of ice water or refrigerate for a while). Peeling under cool water will help too. Eggs are funny things. Sometimes they peel easily (rap them on a hard surface- just enough to get started) and sometimes they don’t. When they don’t, they look a little, well, unsightly, but they still taste great and make a terrific food to take to work for lunch or a snack.

If you don’t overcook your egg, you will not get a green rim around the yoke (this is what you do not want your Bridge Club to see). No Bridge Club (or other fussy guests)? No worries. There is nothing wrong with a green-rimmed yolk. It’s perfectly edible.

Soft-boiled eggs can be peeled and smashed in a bowl with a hint of butter.

A little salt and pepper and you are good to go! Now what was I worried about?

Four! or Potato Head Finale

Now that you are on speaking terms with your Potato Head self, I thought that I would wrap up with some nutritional information. This can’t always be all fun and games! (well, I suppose it can… just being silly) Besides, what’s better than eating something that is delicious and also delivers in the ‘good for you’ department?

A great source of vitamin C, a medium potato has a full third of the daily suggested requirement (I'll have to write about who makes these requirements soon!). There’s also plenty of Thiamin, Niacin, B6, Iron, Magnesium and Potassium. All good. As a special bonus, there’s plenty of fiber too. Some of the starch contained in a potato is resistant to digestion. This functions as ‘fiber’ as well… so add that to the fiber already inherent in a potato and you have extra protection against colon cancer along with other health benefits. And don’t forget the skin! Almost all of a potato’s protein content is in the thin layer between the outside and the inside.

There will be more ways to prepare potatoes in future blogs, but we have a good start. Remember to store your fabulous tubers away from light and moisture (don’t keep them in the same basket as your onions or any other moist veg-something I just learned) and simply cut out any ‘eyes’ (little buds that are the beginnings of new roots and stems) and remove any black or green patches. If your potato is totally green, toss it.

Voila! (today’s illustration is the baked potato that was made famous on January 9)

Three Potatoes…Start to Finish Roasting or How to Become a Potato Head

This is number three in the ‘Potato Series’, and considering that there are 4000 varieties and unlimited ways to prepare, I don’t think that my ‘spud’ entries have entered into the excessive.

Here are three spud varieties, Blue, Yellow and Fingerling. I wanted to introduce you to some variety (you know, the ‘spice of life’ stuff). Only one sort of potato? That’s fine too.

Here’s a recipe for one pound of potatoes- this will serve 2 or leave you with some leftovers, which are always a good idea.

1. Heat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Scrub and dry potatoes. You are drying them because oil and water don’t mix, and that’s the next step.
3. Cut them into pieces roughly the same size.
4. Toss them in a bowl with a Tablespoon or more of olive oil, salt and pepper.
5. Place potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven (use your mitts!).
6. Bake for about 20 minutes and then carefully, stir them around a bit on the pan (you want to turn them over and move them around. If they are dry, sparingly drizzle a little more oil).
7. Continue to bake and stir (every 10 minutes or so) until they are crisp and browned on the outside and tender on the inside. Times will vary depending on how big your potato pieces are. Insert a knife to test for done-ness or pull a chunk out and cut it to see how things are going.

There seems to be an awful lot of steps here, but really, it’s all rather straight forward and you will have this recipe down (and be a ‘Potato Head’) in no time. Don't forget to turn off the oven!

Two Potato…or Baked!

Here are Russet potatoes, plucked out of a large box at the Coop earlier today. They need to be scrubbed, but that’s about it in the way of preparation. Russets are great baking potatoes and can make a meal just by themselves. All you need is a potato and an oven.

Figure one spud (potato) per person.

1. Heat your oven to 425 degrees.

2. Scrub your spud under cool water with a brush and then poke it in a few places with a fork.

3. Using your mitt, place potato in the oven. No need to wrap it, just place it on the rack, or if you prefer, on a baking sheet.

4. Bake until tender, about 50 minutes. Use a mitt to remove it from the oven. If the potato yields to pressure and is soft when you insert a knife, it’s done.

Slit lengthwise, pinch open and serve with just about anything (grated cheese, sour cream, butter, salt and pepper, ketchup… you get the idea!)

These potatoes comprised our lunch today. Cathy used sour cream, but I was very happy with a little butter, salt and pepper.

One Potato…

This is first in ‘The Potato Series’.

Here is a picture of a good-looking potato. Even though I have had this potato for over a week, it’s still firm, does not have green spots and the sprouts are not yet obvious. One way to keep your potatoes in good shape is to store them away from light in a covered basket or brown paper bag at the cool end of the kitchen. If your potato has some green spots, sprouts, or cavities that look unappealing-cut them out before cooking. It’s that easy! Look closely at the picture, you will see that the potato behind our hero is not looking quite as handsome. Not as firm, and with beginning wrinkles, he’s still fine for cooking and that should probably happen tonight before he gets soft and has sprouts.


There are many sorts of potatoes (4000 different varieties according to Wiki) and although your local supermarket won’t give you thousands of varieties to choose from, you will probably be able to choose from russets, whites, yellows (Yukon), purples or reds, like this one. Larousse Gastronomique devotes a full 9 1/2 pages to this versatile tuber. So hang on to your hat (as Queen Marie Antoinette must have done when she wore a headdress of potato flowers at a fancy dress ball... now there's a fashion idea you might want to consider!), and I’ll write again soon with some cooking ideas.

What’s wrong with this picture? Or: Why is corn so bad?

It’s not. Corn in itself is a good thing. In fact, corn is an ancient thing. Maize (another word for corn) or Zea mays, as biologists call it, was domesticated in Mexico over 7,000 years ago. The problem with corn as we mostly know it, is that we consume way too much if it in processed form. Processed food is just that, processed. Which means our bodies don’t have to do the work of breaking down complex structures and that we don’t reap the benefit of experiencing the intricate nature of food as it was intended. Processed anything is not good for you, and corn is no exception. Here’s a recipe for straight up corn.

Have guests? Factor at least one ear of corn per person.

Place large pot of water on the stove with about 2 inches of water and a teaspoon of salt. Start heating the water, you want to get it to a boil.

Remove husk and corn silk from your ears of corn (that's the leaves and thread-like stuff next to the kernels).

Place corn in pot and put on the lid. It doesn’t matter if the corn is covered, it won’t be. You are steaming it.

Cook for about 10 minutes, even less if your corn is deluxe (as in very fresh).

Ready! That’s it, corn as nature intended it. These ears of corn were so sweet, that neither butter, salt nor anything else was required.

Did you figure out the first part of today's title? It’s JANUARY! Why am I telling you about corn?! I purchased these amazing ears at Whole Foods to illustrate yesterday’s blog. Normally I wouldn’t purchase corn out of season, but it would have been criminal to waste such bounty. Come July or August, we’ll do this again with some of the local stuff. It’s possible that these ears traveled all the way from Florida to Brooklyn to make an appearance.

Corn Invasion

Spending time in waiting rooms is disheartening to say the least, which has been my lot the last couple of days. The flip side of this tedium is the 'there-is-nothing-you-can-do-except-a crossword-or-read' time. Waiting for just this sort of moment (or moments- these things never take just a moment) was my languishing copy of Michael Pollan’s book, ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’. Languish no longer! It’s time, once again, to summon up your inner food geek. On pages 18-19 Pollan lists the many names for corn. Why should this interest you? Next time you go shopping, read the labels. Ready? Here we go…..

Modified or unmodified starch, glucose syrup, maltodextrin, crystalline fructose, ascorbic acid, lecithin, dextrose, lactic acid, lysine, maltose, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), MSG (monosodium glutamate), polyols, caramel color, and xanthan gum. And it gets worse, corn is in coffee whitener, Cheez Whiz, frozen yogurt, TV dinners, canned fruit, ketchup, candy, soups, snacks, cake mixes, frosting, gravy, frozen waffles, syrups, hot sauces, mayonnaise, mustard, hot dogs, bologna, margarine, shortening, salad dressings, relishes and vitamins.

Mr. Pollan continues on page 20 to say, “You are what you eat, it’s often said, and if this is true, then what we mostly are is corn-or, more precisely, processed corn.”

Corny-ness can be rather charming in it’s place. This sort of corny seems, well, invasive.

Basic Tomato Sauce or ‘Oh, It’s Nothing…’

Although this is the first recipe that I put together for New Kitchen Primer, this is the maiden blog voyage of Basic Tomato Sauce. This recipe will rescue you from take out (you can save up for Mother's Day), impress a last minute dinner guest (oh.. it’s nothing, I’ll whip something up), or be there for you when you just don’t know what you want and it’s been a long day (almost forgot! I have sauce in the freezer!).

Cooking tomato sauce will grace your home with the scent of garlic and good meals to come. Extra sauce will be gold in the freezer. Pasta dishes and pizza (remember the flat bread recipe?) can be put together in a flash if you have sauce on hand.

Follow the above link for a recipe download. Today’s illustration shows you the necessary ingredients. These boxed Italian tomatoes are easy to use and comprised of a single ingredient, ‘tomatoes’, get the Food Police stamp of approval. I bought a box of strained tomatoes for today. Smooth in consistency, they will not need anything other than garlic and oil to transform into sauce. Pomi, the brand I prefer, also sells ‘chopped tomatoes’. If you want more texture, try the chunky version.

What time is dinner?

Put Your Cards on the Table

Now that the holidays are played out and it’s resolution time, here’s the deal.

It’s no secret that as a culture we have been experiencing ‘portion creep’ (serving sizes are getting larger and larger). All one has to do is visit a Starbucks to witness what a muffin on steroids looks like.

But seriously, if you would like to have some sense of what a single (and suggested) serving of meat or cheese looks like, imagine that you are in Las Vegas (or Monte Carlo should you be feeling continental).

One deck of cards is roughly equivalent, volume wise, to a 3 oz portion of meat, fish or poultry.

Four dice are roughly equivalent in volume to a serving of cheese.

Web MD also has these tips for keeping your consumption under control:

1. Use smaller dishes (don’t discount a psychological advantage!)
2. Don’t go back for seconds (unless we’re talking naked vegetables)
3. Store left overs in small, single portion containers

Happy New Year!