Archive for October 2010
Ethiopian Teff & Asian Eggplant and Tomato Stew
It’s been a couple of years since I first noticed that my local food coop, the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany, N.Y., www.hwfc.com, was stocking in the bulk foods department an unusual grain, native to Ethiopia where it is a staple food crop, called teff. As an alternative to using rice or couscous, I decided to cook up a main dish using this exotic grain, which I learned grows well in poor soil conditions.
I was able to obtain information on this unique grain from the website, www.recipetips.com, which noted that “Teff is difficult to find in great quantities anywhere else in the world” other than Ethiopia. The word “teff” which means “lost” in the Amharic language, “refers to the fact that because the seeds are so tiny, they are lost if dropped.” 150 of the tiny seeds are equivalent to the size of one grain of wheat! Because the grain is so small, there is no way to remove the husk, bran and germ from teff seed which means that none of the nutrients are lost as is the case with larger grains that too often have the bran and germ removed during processing. The nutritional label on the bin in the bulk foods department at the Honest Weight Food Coop noted that teff is nutrient dense, with many times the amount of calcium, potassium and other essential minerals found in an equal amount of other grains. It is also rich in fiber and iron and has lysine levels higher than wheat or barley. Although teff seeds may range in color from white to red to brown, with the white seeds “mild” in flavor according to www.recipetips.com, the teff I purchased from the Honest Weight (at a reasonable $2.99 per pound) was a deep brown and when cooked up had a pleasant nutty flavor.
The teff grain was a perfect accompaniment to the long-necked, Asian eggplant called Orient Charm, which was available in the produce department of the Honest Weight. Grown by Hepworth Farm, an organic farm in Milton (Saratoga County), New York, this special eggplant was priced reasonably, coincidentally at the same $2.99 per pound as the teff grain. With garlic and onions from my home garden, plus vine ripen tomatoes from Slack Hollow Farm (an organic farm in Argyle (Washington County), New York [www.slackhollowfarm.com/] available at the Honest Weight at $3.99 per pound, I had inexpensive but very fine ingredients for a wonderful vegetarian meal. (I recommend preparing the eggplant and tomato stew before preparing the teff polenta.)
Teff polenta
1 cup teff grains
4 cups water
2 Tbsps olive oil
Bring 4 cups water, with 2 Tbsps olive oil, to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat and add 1 cup teff grains. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes while stirring occasionally. As it cooks, the teff grain thickens up until it becomes thick like a porridge or polenta.
Orient Charm Asian Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Onions and Garlic
2 medium sized, long neck Asian eggplants
4 medium sized tomatoes
1 large onion
1 garlic bulb
3 Tbsps olive oil
Couple of shakes of crushed red pepper
Saute onions and the peeled & diced garlic in olive oil for 5-10 minutes over low heat. (I use Napa Valley Naturals organic olive oil, www.napavalleytrading.com. According to the bottle, this extra virgin and organic, first cold pressing, olive oil was “from California’s Sacramento Valley and Argentina’s Cordoba Valley.” [I had purchased the olive oil on sale at the local food co-op for $9.99. The 25.4 ounce bottle, which is regularly priced at $15.99 at the co-op, was a nice bargain at the sale price.] ) Add sliced fresh tomatoes, with a couple of shakes of crushed red pepper and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. A couple of shakes of Simply Organic crushed red pepper, www.simplyorganicfoods.com, adds a little spicy heat. [I like to keep a bottle of crushed red pepper in the cupboard and wait until it goes on sale at the food coop- regularly priced at $4.09, it was a bargain on sale at $2.49.] Add sliced eggplant and simmer for an additional 15 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Serve the eggplant and tomato stew on the teff polenta, and top with a creamy goat cheese chevre, diced up into small pieces. I use a local, farmstead goat’s milk chevre (which is rich and creamy and contrasts nicely with the grainy teff) from the Painted Goat Farm in Garrattsville (Otsego County), New York [www.paintedgoat.com] also available at the Honest Weight (FWB 10/26/10).
Food Industry Marketing Challenged By Initial Report of the Institute of Medicine
Information on the fronts of food packaging would be most useful to shoppers if they highlighted four nutrients of greatest concern – calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium – says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. These food components are routinely overconsumed and associated most strongly with diet-related health problems affecting many Americans, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Of course, if Americans chose to eat primarily unaltered foods, raised organically by local growers and producers, and prepared without added sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, as encouraged by this website, diet-related health problems, with little doubt, would rapidly decrease in America. Nonetheless, the reality is that processed, packaged food finds its way into nearly all American diets, and the avoidance of confusion from claims by marketers of the “healthfulness” of their products, the intention behind this new report from the prestigious Institute of Medicine, is a praiseworthy goal.
Given the limited space on package fronts and the information already available in the Nutrition Facts panel on the backs of all products, it would not be crucial, according to the Institute of Medicine’s report, for the fronts of food packaging to focus on other components, such as cholesterol, fiber, added sugars, or vitamins. Some organizations and nutrition experts have called for nutrition rating systems to also focus on the sugars added to some products during manufacturing. The committee concurred that both added and naturally occurring sugars contribute to the caloric content of foods and beverages and overconsumption of high-calorie products can lead to obesity, but that highlighting calories per serving in the Nutrition Facts panel would address this concern.
According to the Institute’s report, a multitude of nutrition rating, or guidance, systems have been developed by food manufacturers, government agencies, nutrition groups, and others in recent years with the intent of helping consumers compare products’ nutritional attributes and make healthier choices. Ratings are typically communicated to shoppers through symbols placed prominently on food packaging, usually on the front, or on retail shelf tags. Unlike the Nutrition Facts panel, these rating systems and symbols are unregulated, and different systems focus on different nutrients. The variation may confuse consumers, and questions have been raised about the systems’ underlying nutritional criteria.
Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University and vice chairwoman of the committee of the Institute of Medicine that prepared the report, summed up the committee’s intentions in a report in the New York Times (“Group Seeks Food Labels Spelling Out A Downside,” William Neuman, October 14, 2010) as follows: “What we’re suggesting is that food products be labeled in a consistent way with information that will help the general public decrease their risk for chronic diseases and this is the type of information that is unlikely to currently appear on the front of the package.”
The committee will next review research on how consumers understand and use different types of nutritional information. It will issue a second report recommending ways to optimize the usefulness of front-of-package nutrition rating systems and symbols and will also include an assessment of the pros and cons of having “a single, standardized front-label food guidance system” that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The report was sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies (FWB 10/23/10).
Restaurant Nora in Washington, DC
Three weeks before a recent visit to Washington, D.C., I decided some planning was in order for a special, celebratory meal. As the proud father of a son, soon due to complete his studies at the University of Maryland for a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences with the presentation of his thesis on the interaction of wind energy with climate and weather, I wanted to celebrate the occasion with a memorable meal. My son suggested dinner at perhaps the most popular, and high-end farm-to-table restaurant in the region, if not the East Coast, Volt in historic Frederick, Maryland [knowwhereyourfoodcomesfrom.com/farm-to-table-dining/dining/northeast/maryland/]. However, I soon learned that it required more than three weeks to reserve a table on a Saturday evening at this destination restaurant, and with only a spot on the waiting list available, I decided to make a reservation at one of Washington, D.C.’s most popular restaurants and “America’s FIRST CERTIFIED ORGANIC Restaurant,” as is proclaimed at the top of Restaurant Nora’s menu.
Not only does Restaurant Nora, near Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle, serve organic food, it also celebrates the local food grown and produced by Chesapeake Bay farmers as well as the food of nearby regional producers of organic food, especially from the Amish country of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The back of Restaurant Nora’s menu sets forth a powerful and lengthy statement by Nora Pouillon, Executive Chef and Owner, of “Why NORA Believes in Organic and Biodynamic.” With precision, Chef Pouillon (after first noting that the restaurant has designed a special filtering system so that the water used in its restaurant is “free of chlorine, bacteria and all metals”) details the sourcing of her (i) herbs and produce, (ii) dairy products, bread and pasta, (iii) poultry & eggs, (iv) meat, (v) fish & seafood, (vi) wine, and (vii) coffee. As a final note, the back of the menu states that “This dinner was made possible by renewable resource energy- supported by Restaurant Nora.”
President Obama and the First Lady, with family and friends, had recently celebrated Michelle Obama’s 47th birthday at Restaurant Nora with a leisurely four hour meal [www.dailyworldbuzz.com/michelle-obamas-birthday-at-nora-restaurant/13834/], so I was pleasantly surprised that I could still obtain a reservation (three weeks beforehand) for dinner, at least at the early hour of 5:30PM when the restaurant opened for the night’s parade of dignitaries and the powerful or, at least, diners with a deep pocket. My expectations for a memorable, albeit pricy meal, were set very high.
Restaurant Nora is in a quaint, red brick 19th century building in northwest Washington. We were greeted warmly and seated in the main dining room, which is decorated with antique Amish and Mennonite crib quilts, with their beautiful geometric shapes and vivid colors. With its high ceiling and skylight, the main dining room is an airy and pleasant environment. A large, model helicopter, hanging from the tall ceiling near the skylight, adds an unexpected playful touch.
Restaurant Nora offers a tasting menu at a prix fixe cost of $75.00, with a slightly reduced price of $70.00 for a vegetarian tasting menu. This four course meal, which changes on a regular, if not daily, basis, seemed the perfect option for three eager diners. My son, who still remembers the celebratory meals of filet mignon prepared by his grandmother, chose the option which featured as a main course pan seared grass-fed filet mignon (from Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, Virginia “where they specialize in raising rare and endangered breeds including Scottish Highland and Ancient White Park cattle”), with roasted eggplant puree, romano beans, oven-dried tomato, and red wine jus. His fiancée, a vegetarian for many years, who has influenced my dining habits, and I chose the vegetarian tasting menu which featured as an entrée, champagne risotto with leeks, wild mushrooms, squash, fennel, tomatoes, herb emulsion, topped with a parmesan tuile.
As a first course, I enjoyed a bowl of a perfect soup for an early autumn evening- roasted heirloom fall squash soup with crème fraiche and sage brown butter crumb. Equally savored was the other first course on the tasting menu: a Hawaiian hearts of palm salad with Thai basil, compressed watermelon, tomato water, and micro greens. On the vegetarian tasting menu, the second course was a flavorful baba ghanoush tart with herbed feta cheese, roasted red pepper, crispy leeks, and a black olive emulsion. The second course on the non-vegetarian tasting menu was a savory Maine peekytoe crab and avocado salad with red onion, cilantro, anchovy chili vinaigrette, served with crispy tortillas.
The main courses were equally satisfying. The filet mignon, cooked to the requested medium, not rare, was tender and well-seasoned and the eggplant puree, oven-dried tomato, and romano beans were perfect accompaniments. The creamy champagne risotto with leeks was served with a generous helping of wild mushrooms and delicious squash perfectly prepared al dente. We ended our celebratory and memorable meal with wonderful individual desserts: molten bittersweet chocolate cake with cappuccino ice cream, honey lavender crème brulee with cherry compote, and a local honeycrisp apple pie with buttermilk ice cream, which complimented the sweet apple pie with its tanginess. We dined for approximately $100 per person, which included tax, gratuity and a glass of wine for one of the three diners (FWB 10/12/10). [Restaurant Nora, 2132 Florida Avenue at R Street NW, 202.462.5143, Dinner: Mon-Thurs 5:30PM-10:00PM, Fri-Sat 5:30PM-10:30PM www.noras.com ]
New York City's Angelica Kitchen
This past spring, Jonathan Horowitz’s “Go Vegan!” exhibit, first mounted in 2002, was restaged by Gavin Brown’s art gallery in lower Manhattan at the former LaFrieda butchery adjacent to the art gallery at 601 Washington Street. The exhibit which occupied the former white tiled butchery, included photographs of more than 200 celebrity vegetarians (including Albert Einstein), a gallery of animal portraits, and in the now mothballed freezer locker, with its heavy metal doors wide open, a gruesome and hard to watch video of commercial animal slaughter. That was probably the perfect day to dine at Angelica’s Kitchen, an organic and vegan restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village, that has been serving wonderful vegan cuisine since 1976. Instead, I decided to forego a meal in any Manhattan restaurant and hiked across the Brooklyn Bridge and exchanged, at least momentarily, the images of animal cruelty for the awesome sights of lower Manhattan and New York harbor from the walkway of this glorious human creation (designed and engineered by Washington Roebling, Class of 1857 of RPI in Troy, NY, across the river from my hometown of Albany). A couple slices of Brooklyn pizza would satisfy my hunger before the return 3-hour train trip up the river to home.
But now, on an early fall daytrip to Manhattan to enjoy a special Matisse exhibit called “Radical Invention, 1913-1917” at the Museum of Modern Art and a Roy Lichtenstein show of black and white drawings of his pop art at the Morgan Library, I decided it was time to enjoy a vegan meal at Angelica Kitchen. Some good friends from Brooklyn, came into Manhattan to meet me for a special and satisfying meal, served by people, who believe strongly in the food they offer. Established 36 years ago, Angelica Kitchen is a restaurant worthy of a special trip, and even a bit of homage. Its owner, Leslie McEachern sources the restaurant’s food from 24 different farms, mostly in upstate New York including Orange County’s Blooming Hill Organic Farm in Blooming Grove, NY and Delaware County’s Mountain Dell Farm in Hancock, NY. Both of these upstate New York farms offer CSA [community supported agriculture] shares and are included in the CSA directory on this website [knowwhereyourfoodcomesfrom.com/community-supported-agriculture-csa-farms/northeast-region/new-york/].
We were seated almost immediately at a comfortable table in the corner of a dining area, which looks directly into the open kitchen. One of my dining companions remarked at how the dining areas were fresh and airy, with the restaurant’s white washed ceiling and walls, accented by richly painted lower walls of metallic browns and tans, resembling Austrian expressionism style painting of the 1930’s.
For a starter, we shared a Picnic Plate of 5 menu items including a delicious walnut-lentil pate and hummus served with rice crackers, crisp yet juicy daikon radishes, roasted sweet potatoes, and assorted seasonal pickled vegetable. A dining companion also enjoyed a bowl of the soup of the day, green split pea-vegetable with crostini, that was rich and hearty and perfect on a damp, gray day. We toasted the happy news of the recent engagement of my dining companions’ beautiful daughter with a French Cotes du Roussillon Villages, which was a BYOB of fine red wine. Although alcohol is not on Angelica Kitchen’s menu, our waitress graciously served the wine. No corkage charge was imposed, a nice contrast to the policies of other restaurants in the big city.
Angelica Kitchen offers four or five specials, which change daily and reflect the season of the year. I’m partial to ordering crepes in restaurants since it’s a dish I have trouble preparing even with a special crepe pan that was passed along to me by my mother, unfortunately without clear instructions for its use. The crepe included in the daily specials, humorously named “Chickpea and My Gal,” was a satisfying choice. A savory chickpea-sage crepe was folded over a roasted vegetable mix, including turnips, carrots, fennel & chickpeas, sautéed spinach & onions. The entire crepe was served atop a creamy butternut squash sauce accented with nutmeg and drizzled with parsley-lemon pistou. This wonderful main dish was accompanied by lightly cooked green and yellow wax beans and marinated beets. I’ll admit that I have never knowingly eaten beets before, and these were an eye opener and just might prompt me to plant some in my home garden next spring. It would make sense for me to obtain a copy of one of Ms. McEachern’s cookbooks in the likely event that she has shared a recipe for preparing beets like those served with my crepe in her restaurant [www.goodreads.com/author/show/192395.Leslie_McEachern].
My dining companions ordered entrees off the regular menu. The happy mother of the bride-to-be enjoyed her delicious dashi and noodles, a bowl of traditional Japanese broth made with shiitake mushrooms, kombu [an edible kelp also called dashima], fresh ginger and shoyu [soy sauce], which was served warm over soba (buckwheat) noodles, and adorned with daikon radishes and carrots. My other dining companion, unexpectedly pleased by the evening meal in a vegan restaurant, enjoyed a three bean chili made with lentils, pinto and kidney beans simmered with sun-dried tomatoes and a blend of chiles and topped with lime-jalapeno tofu sour cream. A cucumber-red onion salsa served with the chili added the perfect amount of spicy heat. A generous serving of whole grain corn bread, which was light and fluffy, came with the chili and was enough to share with the rest of the table of diners.
Angelica Kitchen does not offer coffee or espresso, so instead we enjoyed hot green tea with our shared dessert of delicious homemade cookies including a rich tasting fig newton as well as a serving of “Angelica Kitchen organic brittle,” a wonderful blending of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pecans, rice syrup, maple syrup, vanilla, and sea salt, which is unexpectedly light and airy. My only regret is that I didn’t buy a large package of the brittle to take home with me. We dined for less than $30.00 per person, which included a gratuity, but it should be noted that Angelica Kitchen does not accept credit cards- cash only (FWB 10/2/10]. [Angelica Kitchen, 300 East 12th Street at 2nd Ave, 212.228.2909, Lunch & Dinner: Mon-Sun 11:30AM-10:30PM (cash only) www.angelicakitchen.com]
