Have a food filled and fun filled Fourth. Enjoy those burgers and dogs, along with the best of America's regional treats. Remember that immigrants brought us their best dishes.
Enjoy lobster cooked on a Maine beach, corn at an Iowa State Fair, Boardwalk goodies at our New Jersey beaches. Share with others who are new to our country.
Enjoy everything the USA has to give We are lucky that we have an abundance of food - and a wide variety too.
America is amazing place - let's keep it that way,
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Burger Seasoning For Burger Season
Make no mistake . This is burger season. Hi Mountain Seasonings knows this and has come out with a new burger seasoning -chipotle.
It's a spicy, sweet seasoning that I decided to try with Gardein (my favorite) black bean burgers. It was a liberal dusting on the patties.
Of course I used my beloved grill seen here, with vegan butter for frying.
And the burgers which unfortunately were so frozen they were stuck together
This is the finished product served with my Mom's green bean salad. (Another easy recipe that's soo delicious).
I liked the sesaoning.It did add more spike to the burgers .I plan on using it in my chili sauce too for extra heat. This is the perfect addition to zing up meat loaf along with homemade hamburgers. For both the meat loaf and burgers I would add a heaping teaspoon so that the flavor comes out. I would also recommend adding this to chicken and ground beef for tacos.
This season zest up your hamburgers with Hi Mountain chipotle burger seasonings. It's a fun and fiery way to amp up the burgers. They 'll be the highlight of any barbecue.
Monday, July 2, 2018
Leftovers Your Hot Weather Friends
Heat waves are unbearable. Eating is a chore. Cooking more so. What do you do when it's hot as Hades out there and you're hungry. Go the leftover route. It's easy to forage together something that can be easily microwaved.
The other day I made spaghetti con salsa crudo (see Saturday's pictorial) .It was an easy cook. Chop tomatoes, half an onion and some garlic cloves, mix with olive oil and spices - and voila - easy sauce. Boil some spaghetti , pour the sauce over it and it's dinner. There was another reason I wanted to make it - leftovers that can be repurposed into entirely new dishes. The salsa crudo, became bruschetta when it was spooned onto rounds of Italian bread. It proved to be a great Sunday supper , easy and delicious especially on a blazing day. There was a lot of leftover plain pasta.It was repurposed into a microwave pasta con burro. All it took was just a few knobs of vegan butter, pressed garlic and a generous sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. One dish led to two easy to make meals.Make it with rotelli, or corkscrew pasta, then turn the leftover pasta into a salad, with the addition of a vinaigrette, chopped peppers, celery and grape tomatoes. As for the salsa crudo, it would go well over a grilled steak or chilled shrimp .
Other leftovers can be reused into new tasty and simple dishes. Grilled steaks can be cut up and added to a green salad for filling meal.They can also top a pizza or be added to a sauce.The same is true for barbecued chicken. Shred and add to any kind of salad. Cold bean and pasta salads are always easy to whip up.Create a more nutritious leftover by adding a can of salmon or tuna. This a great lunch or dinner, - flavorful and cold - perfect for a sweltering day. Serve with grissini, the ultra thin Piedmontese bread sticks. Those leftover hot dog and hamburger buns can be stuffed with a variety of different fillings. Hard boil some eggs and mix with mayo and chopped celery to create a summery version of the classic Stuff the rolls with these and serve with potato chips for an super easy dinner. Create a variation of a lobster roll with precooked crab meat from your grocery store.Mix it with mayo and scallions for a twist and serve on a toasted hot dog bun. You could also use hot dog and hamburger rolls for breakfast sandwiches, Layer, cheese easy to make scrambled eggs and microwavable sausage links and patties for an easy first meal.
Take it easy during a heat wave. Create simple meals that can be turned into easier lunches and dinners. Don't sweat - literally - over what to make.
The other day I made spaghetti con salsa crudo (see Saturday's pictorial) .It was an easy cook. Chop tomatoes, half an onion and some garlic cloves, mix with olive oil and spices - and voila - easy sauce. Boil some spaghetti , pour the sauce over it and it's dinner. There was another reason I wanted to make it - leftovers that can be repurposed into entirely new dishes. The salsa crudo, became bruschetta when it was spooned onto rounds of Italian bread. It proved to be a great Sunday supper , easy and delicious especially on a blazing day. There was a lot of leftover plain pasta.It was repurposed into a microwave pasta con burro. All it took was just a few knobs of vegan butter, pressed garlic and a generous sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. One dish led to two easy to make meals.Make it with rotelli, or corkscrew pasta, then turn the leftover pasta into a salad, with the addition of a vinaigrette, chopped peppers, celery and grape tomatoes. As for the salsa crudo, it would go well over a grilled steak or chilled shrimp .
Other leftovers can be reused into new tasty and simple dishes. Grilled steaks can be cut up and added to a green salad for filling meal.They can also top a pizza or be added to a sauce.The same is true for barbecued chicken. Shred and add to any kind of salad. Cold bean and pasta salads are always easy to whip up.Create a more nutritious leftover by adding a can of salmon or tuna. This a great lunch or dinner, - flavorful and cold - perfect for a sweltering day. Serve with grissini, the ultra thin Piedmontese bread sticks. Those leftover hot dog and hamburger buns can be stuffed with a variety of different fillings. Hard boil some eggs and mix with mayo and chopped celery to create a summery version of the classic Stuff the rolls with these and serve with potato chips for an super easy dinner. Create a variation of a lobster roll with precooked crab meat from your grocery store.Mix it with mayo and scallions for a twist and serve on a toasted hot dog bun. You could also use hot dog and hamburger rolls for breakfast sandwiches, Layer, cheese easy to make scrambled eggs and microwavable sausage links and patties for an easy first meal.
Take it easy during a heat wave. Create simple meals that can be turned into easier lunches and dinners. Don't sweat - literally - over what to make.
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Pasta Crudo For A Hot Day
It's a heat wave here in New Jersey and that means one thing : spaghetti con salsa crudo. This is an easy and delicious pasta dish that takes advantage of a summer harvest. It's a raw tomato sauce cooked when it's mixed with hot pasta.
First , get four tomatoes
First , get four tomatoes
Cut into quarters
Then mince into smaller pieces. The recipe I followed on line calls for a small red onion. I used half of a yellow one I had in the fridge.
Again it was minced into fine pieces.
Add a quarter cup of good olive oil
Many salsa crudo recipes don't call for garlic but I like it, especially in any tomato sauce. I tossed in two minced cloves.
Basil usually is added but I didn;t have any so I subbed in a good sprinkling of oregano.
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper were liberally sprinkled in too.
As for the pasta, Barella's thick spaghetti is perfect for it.
This was the hardest and hottest step, waiting for the water to boil and then for the pasta to cook.
When the pasta is done, place in a bowl and ladle the salsa crudo over it.
It was delicious,along with being the easiest to make during this blasted heat wave.
Store the pasta and salsa crudo separately. You can use the leftover sauce for bruschetta the next day.(which is my plan)
This is heat wave cooking. Simple, Easy, Delicious. Best of all it's a no sweat recipe.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Eating Raw
Nothing is worse than a hot kitchen during a heat wave. No one wants to cook, broil bake, or even microwave .Yet what do we eat? Eat raw. There's nothing wrong with sticking to fresh veggies or fruit to survive these scorching days.
Forget the cooked breakfasts. Save those for the cooler days or eating out. Cold cereal with fruit is the way to go. Eat healthy raw however. Think puffed rice or puffed wheat with chilled low fat milk. For a more healthier spin use almond, coconut, or soy milk. Add the harvest of the season for more color and nutrition. Think of tossing in a few berries or sliced peaches. Another cool breakfast idea is a granola parfait.Layer vanilla flavored Greek yogurt with layers of granola and different fruits. You can also sub in cottage cheese for the yogurt It's a filling, protein packed way to start the day. Granola is another tasty and healthy way to begin a hot summer's day. It's the star of many a farmer's market, with many homemade varieties for sale..It also makes a good snack through the day too. If it's too sweet, then think a fruit cup for breakfast. Combine different types of melon with chopped peaches, plums and strawberries. Most of us can't function without a cup of coffee or tea. Luckily there are already cold brewed coffees from Starbucks along with packets of teabags that can be brewed in cold water.
Most people turn to sandwiches for both lunch and dinner. The problem is that they get old fast. Look to the south of France for inspiration. One of the best recipes to create during these steamy days is the pan bagnat. It's slicing a French boule or rounded bread (a baguette also works here) Take out the middle - which you can eat as a snack with peppered olive oil, . Brush the insides and lid with olive oil You can then have the first layer of peppers, then sliced onions followed by basil leaves. Finish with tomato and ham slices. Some pan bagnat recipes allow for tuna fish instead of the meat You can make it as hearty or as light as you want. Add some flourishes such as sliced black olives or capers. A similar make is the Scandinavian loaf bread. This is taking another round bread (which you can easily purchase at Panera) , slicing it in half and filling it with a hard boiled egg and a mix of cream cheese, cornichons , dill and red onions. It's then adding salmon and sliced beets.Omit the egg if you don't feel like using the stove top.If you're not into sandwiches, then try salsa crudo. This is like bruschetta but poured on freshly cooked pasta.Take four cups of chopped tomatoes and mix with one fourth cup of minced basil.balsamic vinegar garlic and olive oil. Mix and let stand thirty minutes before pouring on any cooked pasta.
This is the time to keep the kitchen as cool as possible. Eat raw.It's an easy and healthy way of dealing with these ultra sultry days of summer.
Forget the cooked breakfasts. Save those for the cooler days or eating out. Cold cereal with fruit is the way to go. Eat healthy raw however. Think puffed rice or puffed wheat with chilled low fat milk. For a more healthier spin use almond, coconut, or soy milk. Add the harvest of the season for more color and nutrition. Think of tossing in a few berries or sliced peaches. Another cool breakfast idea is a granola parfait.Layer vanilla flavored Greek yogurt with layers of granola and different fruits. You can also sub in cottage cheese for the yogurt It's a filling, protein packed way to start the day. Granola is another tasty and healthy way to begin a hot summer's day. It's the star of many a farmer's market, with many homemade varieties for sale..It also makes a good snack through the day too. If it's too sweet, then think a fruit cup for breakfast. Combine different types of melon with chopped peaches, plums and strawberries. Most of us can't function without a cup of coffee or tea. Luckily there are already cold brewed coffees from Starbucks along with packets of teabags that can be brewed in cold water.
Most people turn to sandwiches for both lunch and dinner. The problem is that they get old fast. Look to the south of France for inspiration. One of the best recipes to create during these steamy days is the pan bagnat. It's slicing a French boule or rounded bread (a baguette also works here) Take out the middle - which you can eat as a snack with peppered olive oil, . Brush the insides and lid with olive oil You can then have the first layer of peppers, then sliced onions followed by basil leaves. Finish with tomato and ham slices. Some pan bagnat recipes allow for tuna fish instead of the meat You can make it as hearty or as light as you want. Add some flourishes such as sliced black olives or capers. A similar make is the Scandinavian loaf bread. This is taking another round bread (which you can easily purchase at Panera) , slicing it in half and filling it with a hard boiled egg and a mix of cream cheese, cornichons , dill and red onions. It's then adding salmon and sliced beets.Omit the egg if you don't feel like using the stove top.If you're not into sandwiches, then try salsa crudo. This is like bruschetta but poured on freshly cooked pasta.Take four cups of chopped tomatoes and mix with one fourth cup of minced basil.balsamic vinegar garlic and olive oil. Mix and let stand thirty minutes before pouring on any cooked pasta.
This is the time to keep the kitchen as cool as possible. Eat raw.It's an easy and healthy way of dealing with these ultra sultry days of summer.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
The Most Perfect Pop
What's movie night without popcorn, especially popcorn that's been made on a stove top?There's nothing like it, with the fluffy kernels buttered and salted to perfection.Now it can be made even better - if that's at all possible.
Melissa Clark tackled this in her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section, She had been making stove top corn the way everyone has for decades, cook them in oil and then coat them in melted butter and salt. That changed when she had Jessica Koslow's recipe.Ms. Koslow is the owner and chef of the trendy Los Angeles eatery, Sqirl, She has a knack for taking the familiar and turning it into the extraordinary. Her toast is what put her on the map. Slices of brioche are toasted until burnt then slathered with creamy ricotta and served in a puddle of homemade jam. Her tweaks are not for the faint of heart home chef - or family popcorn popper .She uses two to three times the amount of oil for cooking the kernels. Think half a cup of oil for one third of a cup of popcorn kernels.That much oil gives the corn a richness and the fluffy whites a sturdy extra crunchiness, what Chef Koslow calls "potato chip sturdiness"/Her way of seasoning is also different. Toss the kernels in dry ones before cooking. That way the fluffy whites aren't sogged down by the seasonings .
What kind of popcorn and what kind of oil should be used? Ms. Clark doesn't give suggestions on the first. Some food blogs recommend Amish Country which you can buy on Amazon. An easier buy is Orville Redenbacher .from your local grocery store. As for the oil, Chef Koslow recommends grapeseed for its' high smoke point and clean flavor, but you can use another other oil such as sunflower, safflower, canola and corn. Ghee can also be used.Ms. Clark pops hers in a mixture of oil and butter for a buttery taste without the sogginess. She has also combined oils with low smoke point fats such as duck(!) and bacon (!).If you want flavored corn, then stick with dried seasonings such as ground spices, seeds, chiles, nutritional yeast,seasoned salts and dehydrated herbs. Stay away from anything with a high moisture content such as Parmesan cheese lemon zest and fresh herbs.They'll turn the popped kernels into mush. The recipes included are a spicy Pimenton or smoked paprika, a vegan cheesy one that has nutritional yeast filling in for the real thing, and one that's combines cane sugar with turmeric for a unique take on kettle corn. Any of the three is the perfect snack for movie night or or even as an appetizer at a barbecue.
A good movie deserves good popcorn. Pop them this new way with more oil for the ultimate snack experience. Just remember to make a lot. This flavorful new corn will be more of a hit than the movie.
Melissa Clark tackled this in her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section, She had been making stove top corn the way everyone has for decades, cook them in oil and then coat them in melted butter and salt. That changed when she had Jessica Koslow's recipe.Ms. Koslow is the owner and chef of the trendy Los Angeles eatery, Sqirl, She has a knack for taking the familiar and turning it into the extraordinary. Her toast is what put her on the map. Slices of brioche are toasted until burnt then slathered with creamy ricotta and served in a puddle of homemade jam. Her tweaks are not for the faint of heart home chef - or family popcorn popper .She uses two to three times the amount of oil for cooking the kernels. Think half a cup of oil for one third of a cup of popcorn kernels.That much oil gives the corn a richness and the fluffy whites a sturdy extra crunchiness, what Chef Koslow calls "potato chip sturdiness"/Her way of seasoning is also different. Toss the kernels in dry ones before cooking. That way the fluffy whites aren't sogged down by the seasonings .
What kind of popcorn and what kind of oil should be used? Ms. Clark doesn't give suggestions on the first. Some food blogs recommend Amish Country which you can buy on Amazon. An easier buy is Orville Redenbacher .from your local grocery store. As for the oil, Chef Koslow recommends grapeseed for its' high smoke point and clean flavor, but you can use another other oil such as sunflower, safflower, canola and corn. Ghee can also be used.Ms. Clark pops hers in a mixture of oil and butter for a buttery taste without the sogginess. She has also combined oils with low smoke point fats such as duck(!) and bacon (!).If you want flavored corn, then stick with dried seasonings such as ground spices, seeds, chiles, nutritional yeast,seasoned salts and dehydrated herbs. Stay away from anything with a high moisture content such as Parmesan cheese lemon zest and fresh herbs.They'll turn the popped kernels into mush. The recipes included are a spicy Pimenton or smoked paprika, a vegan cheesy one that has nutritional yeast filling in for the real thing, and one that's combines cane sugar with turmeric for a unique take on kettle corn. Any of the three is the perfect snack for movie night or or even as an appetizer at a barbecue.
A good movie deserves good popcorn. Pop them this new way with more oil for the ultimate snack experience. Just remember to make a lot. This flavorful new corn will be more of a hit than the movie.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Cottage Cheese Rethought
Cottage cheese has always been considered just a diet food, gracing plates with a minimum of veggies or fruit on the side. That's all changing thanks to a new generation seeing it in a different light. They're discovering the rich curds cloaked in creaminess as well as appreciating its' protein richness.It's not just for dieters anymore.
Kim Severson wrote about it in today's New York Times Food section. Cottage cheese has been around since our Colonial days, when housewives had to find a use for leftover milk from after skimming off the cream. Unfortunately modern Americans go crazy over its'cousin, yogurt ,despite the fact that this milk byproduct has double the amount of protein which makes it the ideal lunch or even quick dinner.(although it does have double the sodium). Most pair the food with the the drudgery of dieting.It's not yogurt with its' variety of cute and fancy packaging nor does it come with yummy add ins. This was not always the case. It stood in for meat during the two world wars along with filling in for ricotta and was the highlight of many a diet plate. It gave gravity to salad bars and was even on President Nixon's daily lunch plate, served with a side of fruit. The 1970's was the heyday of cottage cheese with producers pumping out more than a billion pounds per year. Yogurt was still considered strange, belonging to the diets of Europeans and health fanatics. The Eighties changed all that. Yogurt became sweetened and frozen. In the 2000's Greek yogurt came and knocked cottage cheese off the table.
Serious cheese makers are trying to get it back on the country's plates again. Another reason it fell out of favor was the taste.It became flt tasting thanks to it being massed produced along with being filled with preservative gums and starches. The problem is that cottage cheese cannot be mass produced.It has to be made in small batches. Cheese makers, Sue Conley and Peggy Smith, the founders of Cowgirl Creamery, in Marin County, California have created an artisanal cottage cheese, using fresh skim milk from a local dairy. Next comes a simple starter culture (home chefs can use vinegar when making it at home) that feeds on milk sugar to create lactic acid.Curds form overnight.In the morning cheese makers cut them into pea size bites. The curds are them cooked for about an hour and a half to release their acidity. The whey is then drained from it and the curds are washed three times.The last step is the dressing, responsible for that creamy mouth feel.This determines both the fat content and flavor. The Cowgirl Creamery uses creme fraiche, ideal for the curds. This new breed of cottage cheese is even winning awards.At a 2017 competition, cottage cheeses from Spain and Luxembourg took home silver awards while two others from Spain and Austria took home the bronze.
Cottage cheese is not just for dieters anymore. It's becoming trendy again thanks to artesanal creameries creating it. It may even knock yogurt off the table
Kim Severson wrote about it in today's New York Times Food section. Cottage cheese has been around since our Colonial days, when housewives had to find a use for leftover milk from after skimming off the cream. Unfortunately modern Americans go crazy over its'cousin, yogurt ,despite the fact that this milk byproduct has double the amount of protein which makes it the ideal lunch or even quick dinner.(although it does have double the sodium). Most pair the food with the the drudgery of dieting.It's not yogurt with its' variety of cute and fancy packaging nor does it come with yummy add ins. This was not always the case. It stood in for meat during the two world wars along with filling in for ricotta and was the highlight of many a diet plate. It gave gravity to salad bars and was even on President Nixon's daily lunch plate, served with a side of fruit. The 1970's was the heyday of cottage cheese with producers pumping out more than a billion pounds per year. Yogurt was still considered strange, belonging to the diets of Europeans and health fanatics. The Eighties changed all that. Yogurt became sweetened and frozen. In the 2000's Greek yogurt came and knocked cottage cheese off the table.
Serious cheese makers are trying to get it back on the country's plates again. Another reason it fell out of favor was the taste.It became flt tasting thanks to it being massed produced along with being filled with preservative gums and starches. The problem is that cottage cheese cannot be mass produced.It has to be made in small batches. Cheese makers, Sue Conley and Peggy Smith, the founders of Cowgirl Creamery, in Marin County, California have created an artisanal cottage cheese, using fresh skim milk from a local dairy. Next comes a simple starter culture (home chefs can use vinegar when making it at home) that feeds on milk sugar to create lactic acid.Curds form overnight.In the morning cheese makers cut them into pea size bites. The curds are them cooked for about an hour and a half to release their acidity. The whey is then drained from it and the curds are washed three times.The last step is the dressing, responsible for that creamy mouth feel.This determines both the fat content and flavor. The Cowgirl Creamery uses creme fraiche, ideal for the curds. This new breed of cottage cheese is even winning awards.At a 2017 competition, cottage cheeses from Spain and Luxembourg took home silver awards while two others from Spain and Austria took home the bronze.
Cottage cheese is not just for dieters anymore. It's becoming trendy again thanks to artesanal creameries creating it. It may even knock yogurt off the table
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