Even the Industry Thinks the FDA is Wrong!

I am glad to see that the poultry industry is figuring out that they have to do the right thing or consumers will bite back.  We have all thought the government would look out for food safety and standards but check out this article from WorldPoultry.net on the FDA’s proposal to hide Irradiated Food.   These guys have figured out that the market won’t put up with deception but of course in Europe, people spend more on their food and are more concerned about quality (per survey data not just my opinion).  Check out this article from the same edition on “How animal welfare affects shopping in Europe.”

The EU bans caged egg production in 2012 and is very far ahead of us in establishing humane standards for animal care.  Given the recent pet food crisis and lack of accountability within our own government, we need to ask more questions and be more engaged anyway!  Of course, you vote with your purse, and next election, have the opportunity to consider this issue as a voter! 

A Day for Comfort Food

Delicious meat laden spaghetti makes this rainy day tolerable! 

Yesterday, I made a huge pot of tomato based pasta sauce or ragu.  I have been trying these recipes for a while and think this is perfect for the rainy, chilly weather we are all cocooning from today in the Northeast US.  Since you won’t want to go out in the cold, I would suggest you look in your fridge and freezer taking a meat inventory; this sauce will benefit from your combinations.  Hopefully, you can turn up some tomato products from your pantry.  I think big meatballs are wonderful, but as suggested below, don’t care to fry them too long.

Meaty Pasta Sauce (Remember that quantities are flexible – the idea is to stay in the house and avoid a grocery store excursion!)

• 2 pounds any if these in total: Italian sausages, beef round or chuck, pork loin or stew, veal stew
• Meatballs (below)
• 1 1/2 cups onions
• 1/2 cup green peppers (optional too)
• optional:  1/2 cup each chopped celery and carrots
• 2 cloves garlic (no garlic?  try the powder – better than without!)
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 35 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 16 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups water or red wine
• olive oil
• 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning or combination of oregano and basil
• red pepper flakes to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

If using meats, season with salt and pepper.  Cut sausages into 1 inch lengths or remove from casings.  Heat oil in heavy bottomed kettle, and brown meats in batches removing to plate when no longer pink.  Add onions and other vegetables and stir until translucent.  Stir in garlic and remaining ingredients and simmer for 2 hours.   Taste and correct seasonings at end of cooking time.  Add meatballs and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or until heated through.  Serve over cooked pasta such as linquini, spaghetti or perciatelli with freshly grated parmesan available.

Meatballs

• 1 lbs ground beef (ideally grain fed, organic with no hormones or antibiotics)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning or combination of oregano and/or basil & parsley 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg (preferably cage free)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and form into meatballs (big ones or small – your choice.  Saute in nonstick skillet then bake at 350 degrees until done, about 15 minutes for smaller ones.  Cool meatballs in secure area where housemates cannot steal them before the meal (Good luck with that!).

Slow simmered sauce fills your house with delicious memories, and hungry people will begin sniffing in your kitchen hours before you want them there!   

America Eats Symposium

Come and learn about regional American food during the Depression and WWII at this all day event on April 21.   Organized by the Culinary Historians of NY it will focus on the WPA project that documented eating during the Depression.  It will be delicious with a luncheon of foods from the project including Deviled Eggs made by yours truly! 

 This will be wonderfully informative and you MUST be there as a foodie!

Eating with the Seasons

I recommend The River Cottage Year by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as a guide to seasonal cooking.  As suggested by the title, the author spends a year dining on the food he gathers and grows locally supplemented by purchases to create wonderful but simple dishes. Hugh is quite the fisherman and forager (hogweed shoots are good eating?), more than I am here in the New York suburbs, but the beauty of the photography and his joy in the foods of each season make this book a delight to read and an inspiration.  The book is British, and even though I bought it last year, I am only now enjoying it. The author’s website is quite newsy so have a look before you go out looking for this tome.

Celebrating with the freshest local foods connects us to the world around us and to our own traditions.  Foods are at the peak of flavor when just picked, and their nutritional value is highest as well.  Thanks to transportation and grocery storage, we can buy anything we want at anytime so long as we don’t mind reduced taste and high prices together with a bit of guilt over the environmental toll.  By tweaking our buying and eating just a bit, we can connect to our world in a cost efficient way and enjoy food more in the process.

Finally, my garden plants have gotten large enough to ensure that we will at least eat tomatoes seasonally this year.  Lots of them!

Celebrate Shrimp!

Shrimp are too often nondescript and tasteless when they can be absolutely delectable!  Barbecued shrimp are an especially flavorful way to enjoy shrimp at a relaxing family dinner or with good friends.  And as you can see above, they are beautiful.

Carolina Shrimp Barbecue

• 2 lbs frozen or fresh shrimp in shells, large or extra large
• 1/2 bunch celery, sliced thinly
• 3 garlic cloves, slivered
• Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire
• Tabasco sauce
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 4 Tbsp olive oil

Heat broiler on high and place rack 4-5 inches below upper heating element. If shrimp are frozen (which is fine), defrost under cold running water until thawed, about 10 minutes.  Place shrimp and celery in roasting pan (approximately 11″ by 15″) and toss with oil and seasonings using salt and pepper generously and Tabasco to taste.  Dot with small bits of butter and place under broiler for 10 minutes or until shrimp are pink.  Remove from oven and toss again then broil an additional 10 minutes or until shrimp appear uniformly pink.  Place all in a bowl with juices and serve.

Accompany with french bread or fresh yeast bread for dipping in the scrumptious sauce.  I used the Angel Biscuits from the earlier Easter menu and they were amazing.  Served only with arugula salad tossed with balsamic vinaigrette.  Yum!

Growing up in SC, we had succulent fresh shrimp that were simple to convert into an amazing meal.  Our favorite seafood store at Murrell’s Inlet had a great saying, “Our shrimp were swimming this morning.” 

Stuffed Eggs, Deviled Eggs & Dressed Eggs

Eggs are so plentiful and inexpensive now making it the perfect time for deviled and stuffed egg recipes.  Before industrialized production, half of all eggs were produced from March through June.  As an inexpensive and complete protein source, eggs were prized and often a low cost main dish for farm families during the Depression and war times.  Several wonderful recipes herald from that era when homemakers rushed to take advantage of the bonanza available to them either from their own flocks or from the market. 

One especially wonderful recipe is from Jacques Pepin and named for his mother, Oeufs Jannette.  My family adores this recipe which is fabulous for brunch or luncheon.  This is one of the few current day stuffed egg recipes where a second cooking occurs, but in medieval and renaissance recipes, frying after stuffing was the norm. 

Incidentally, the most important aspect of any stuffed egg is the hard cooked egg you begin with.  Use the tips on the Eggs & Chickens page for the perfect hard cooked egg and also see the Deviled Egg recipe there.  It is my family’s recipe from rural Alabama as much as a recipe has been developed.  It is the traditional cold preparation, perfect for picnics and buffets.  Add to it as you wish;  many of us feel that relish is horrific but there are fans!

Finally, deviled is a term which indicates the presence of pepper, mustard or vinegar from days of yore.  It first was applied to deviled eggs around 1891 while deviled bones, an earlier dish, is referenced far earlier in literature by Washington Irving and Boswell.  Dressed or stuffed eggs are terms used regionally in the US and in the UK. 

Happy Easter!

This little egg hunter did a great job finding eggs and eating cookies!  She is enjoying our snow flurries right now!  The sugar cookies were favorites for the little children as they each took a bunny, a chick and then possibly a duck.  These cookies talked to each other as well (with the help of the owner of course).  Great triggers of nostalgia for the grown ups, the cookies prompted several remembrances of grandmothers and tips such as “roll out the dough with sugar not flour and they are really crispy.”

Here is the recipe for the cookies as I made them at Easter and Christmas:

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

Combine flour and salt.  Cream butter with sugar then beat in egg and extracts.  Add flour only until combined.  On plastic sheets, form two rounds of dough and chill for 1 hour.  Heat oven to 350.  Roll out at least 1/4 inch thick on floured board, and use cookie cutters to cut shapes. If preferred, brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugars.  Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at least 8 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges.

When cool, frost with royal icing in decorative way if the sugars were not used.

Eating these cookies may not make you as cute as my little friend above!