Cold Comfort

 This weeks heat wave may be a sign of summer weather to come.o one feels like cooking or eating thanks to the high temps. The best way to entice a flagging appetite is by introducing cool foods and ingredients onto the menu. They'll pique the palate.

Learn from Middle Eastern cuisine and introduce mint into your dishes. Mint is not only a refreshing flavor but also very cooling.It's easy to grow in the back yard and once grown, it will leaf in abundance.One of the tastiest and easiest dishes to create is tabbouleh, a staple in both Lebanese and Syrian cuisine.It also has vibrantly colored chopped parsley tomatoes and bulgur( these are dried and cracked wheat berries that have been parboiled and dried).It's dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. It's perfect with grilled meats but also refreshing on its' own as a light lunch or supper.Another salad is fattoush slald, with grilled veggies and drizzled with a mint or mint based sumac dressing. Kibbeh, ground beef or lamb patties or balls also have mint for a clean flavor too.You wouldn't think chicken could be cooked with mint but it can. make a mint and lemon marinade for chicken breasts and then grill.Of course you can add freshly picked mint leaves to any home made iced tea. This is refreshing and cooling, even as a late night refresher when you can't sleep.

One hot weather recipe that everyone loves is the chopped salad. This can have refreshing mint or even spearmint in it. it's just chopping vegetables including lettuce up into bite sized pieces and serving  with a tasty dressing.How to make it successful? Chop all the veggies and add ins in uniformly small pieces (think cubing).This applies to larger lettuce leaves too. as for extras, many put into Italian cold cuts such as salami, pepperoni and spiced ham. Cubed peppers and mozzarella give it texture and creaminess. Mix in a good Italian dressing that's a blend of olive oil, red  or white wine vinegar , oregano and thyme. Serve it with refrigerated cold cuts and Italian bread. Keep in mind leftover meats also work perfectly. Yesterday's rotisserie chicken is perfect shredded and cut into a chopped salad. Grilled steak cubed and defatted also is a tasty add in to any chopped salad. also bottled dressing works just as well as homemade. Use Thousand Island or Blue cheese if you;re craving it.

It's hot as anything out. Cooking foods help lower the temps around you. Create  tabbouleh or kibbeh. whip up an icy chopped salad.These are tasty ways to chill down.

Foods Of Peace And Palestine

Palestine is  and always has been an area fraught with tension and hate. The one thing that relieves the  constant fighting and afterwards fragile truces. is the food. It is a cuisine full of fire and sweetness, full of ancient recipes and flavors. Now there's a new cookbook celebrating it.

Regular contributor , Mayukh Sen, wrote about Yasmin Khan' latest book,Zaitoun :Recipes From The Palestinian Kitchen (W.W. Norton and Company Publishers 2019) in today's New York Times  Food section. The book almost never happened. Ms. Khan developed a block. Images of the Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza kept haunting her. Thankfully Anthony Bourdain's daring attitude towards food inspired and impelled her to soldier through. She gave herself pep talks too, self advising to not make it pretty or sanitize. See the area for what it is. It helped her and reinforced her love for this strife riddled land. Ms. Khan fell in love with the food when she found herself there a decade ago, working on human rights with the group, War On Wants, a British charity focused on an anti poverty initiative. The days there were distressing, due to the constant presence of armed military . Food soothed the anxiety. Fresh made hummus and baklava   eaten in little cafes at sunset helped to alleviate those frenzied feelings. The work burned her out and three years ago turned to food . Her first cookbook, The Saffron Tales, featuring recipes from her mother's Iranian background was published.

The new book reflects all the different aspects of Palestinian cooking. It's divided into three different categories.There is the bread and meat based cooking of the West Bank which includes East Jerusalem and extends to the River Jordan. There is also the food of Galilee and Nazareth that resembles Levantine cuisine with its' tabbouleh salad and  spiced ground kibbeh. Then there is the cooking of the Gaza Strip, a dense patch bordering Egypt.It is largely fish based and fiery. One of that area's most treasured dishes is zibdiyit gambari , a tomato stew rife with jalapenos and shrimp , cooked in a clay pot. That recipe and others are included in  the article. Cauliflower is popular  there, so there is a roasted cauliflower soup, spiked with cumin and cauliflower along with turmeric.Chicken is also big in Palestinian cooking and there is a recipe for it ,mussakhan, cooked with sumac and onions, Again, spices figure prominently in it as well,namely cumin caraway and the surprising allspice.

Palestinian food is comfort food to many. It was to Yasmin Khan  who created a cookbook to celebrate her love for it. It is a lovely tribute to a land where food means everything amidst the strife.

The Super Bowl Healthy Challenge

This Sunday will be a salute to all things greasy, salty and fatty. Super Bowl parties are usually full of bowls of anything bacon-y and cheesy followed by creamy and sugary sweet.  Here's a challenge - can a Super Bowl Party be full of low calories treats with out any threat of artery blockage?

The answer is yes. You can throw a healthy and fun Super Bowl party, with a variety of flavors and textures. Sliders are usually any game day must. Think oven baked or grilled instead of fried. This takes away  frying them in grease. Another healthier choice is veggie burgers,  Gardein has the best with only 130 calories  seventy less than a regular beef one. One must is the hamburger bun  yet it's usually loaded with carbs and calories. Try Sara Lee's eighty calorie whole wheat ones instead of Hawaiian's 220 (!!!) calorie ones. Add soy cheese or feta which comes in at only seventy calories. For variety use hot sauce or sprinkle hot pepper to change it up. Hot dogs are another game day must.  Yet one Oscar Meyer hot dog has 140 calories, twice that of a Morningstar Farms veggie dog, Serve these with chili sauce or vegan cheese for a tasty and healthier alternative, You can even make bacon dogs thanks to the company's fake soy bacon strips. These taste like the real thing so guests won't be missing out on it. Chicken tenders and wings are a Super Bowl tradition however go vegan with the lower calorie vegan versions from Gardein and Morningstar Farms. As for dips for these and baked potato chips use the super healthy unflavored Greek yogurt as the base.

Can you serve salad at a Super Bowl party? Yes! The key is to make it interesting. One of the most flavorful is tabbouleh, the Middle Eastern salad that has bulgur wheat as its' base. Add chopped tomatoes ,cucumbers and spring onions. Garlic, mint and parsley give it its' intense flavor.It's moistened with fresh lemon juice and virgin olive oil. Tabbouleh is a refreshing palate cleanser after steaks and chicken. If you want to try a  spin on Mexican food, then go for a taco salad.Make  it with ground turkey and beans, corns and cubed avocado. Scatter shredded low calorie cheedar on it and serve with a salsa vinaigrette. The last is just adding a generous cup of salsa to a simple olive oil and cider vinegar . Smoked paprika gives it some zing.  Seafood is not really part of the Super Bowl tradition however shrimp salad is not only different but a welcome change. Make one that's richer in taste than calories by combining cooked shrimp with avocados, onions and tomatoes. The salad is splashed with just lime juice and dashed with pepper flakes.Of course make sure there are bowls of veggies and low calorie dips scattered around the viewing area.

Try the Super Bowl healthy challenge. You might be surprised at how much you and your fellow fans will love the change. A healthy change.

It's Garlic Season Too

Normally Spring is reserved for the first strawberries and peas of the season. Rhubarb also makes its' debut around now too. Yet, there's another bloom sprouting and blossoming too right now, It's garlic- coming back in all its' aromatic glory.

Melissa Clark wrote about it in her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Food section. The shoots are available from April until June and look like scallions with floppy, leafy tops and slender , white stalks. Every part of the garlic plant is edible, including any bulbs growing from the root ends.Those eventually form the familiar garlic heads comprised of  cloves , a staple in both home and professional kitchens.The bulbs are tender, juicy and sweet.They also have an herbal tang that the  older cloves just don't have. Ms. Clark recommends using them in recipes that call for scallions. Try them in salads, compound butters or pesto like sauces. They can be treated like the mature version and puree them into aioli or pesto.They can even be subbed in scallion pancakes,giving the dish a fresher, "greener'  flavor.  New garlic, like any allium, has health benefits, namely in promoting heart health and lowering high blood pressure.Most garlic sprouts can be had at markets such as Whole Foods  however they can be grown at home. Fill a jar with dirt and place one garlic clove in it.he jar should be placed in a sunny window and the dirt should be watered daily. Shoots should appear within two weeks and can be harvested right away.

As for recipes, Ms Clark suggests making that Middle Eastern staple tabbouleh. She treats the green stems like herbs. She minces it in the parsley and mint which are the spine of the salad.Play with the ratios.If the new garlic is too strong then add more of the other two to temper it,The main idea is having a salad that's more green than beige with bulgar. Cucumbers and tomatoes are also added, rounding out the freshness.There is also  cumin,allspice and lemon juice added too for color and tartness. home chefs could add tomato paste for a more authentic flavor along with subbing in cayenne pepper for the cumin and allspice. Tabbouleh can be served with grilled or roasted meats or fish (it would work well with kebobs this Memorial Day)along with the traditional falafel. It could be served with just a simple chunk of feta cheese and toasted pita bread for a light lunch or supper. The greens can also be chopped up scallion style and added to a simple cucumber salad.with a lemon or lime vinaigrette.

This is the time to take advantage of new garlic greens. They add to a bright tangy herbal flavor to any dish. Try them in tabbouleh  for a new spin on a traditional dish.