New experiences

Eating can be quite an adventure.  My friend has been dabbling in better food.  She's strung out on okra and since I took her daughter to Elevation, she's been more conscientious about beef.  Every time she takes a trip to Whole Foods, she calls me with the excitement of a kid in a candy store. 

On the other hand, my grandmother is desperately seeking fruit.  She has taken to eating canned fruit because "fresh" fruit is tasteless.  She keeps wondering what happened to food...why is it different than when she was growing up...I told her she needs to visit Whole Foods...the rutabagas aren't waxed and huge, and the produce is quite good...certainly worth the few cents extra per pound.  Part of the problem is that she relies on inner city produce and everyone knows that's second rate.  I feel kind of bad...we've enjoyed a range of fresh produce and it never occurred to me to pick something up for her...I thought she only ate bananas and cantaloupe...now I know that's because she doesn't bother with the rest of the crap.  I'm going to have to take her on an excursion. 

Tonight we had whiting, okra, and grits.  I used to do home fries and stewed tomatoes but this is much easier.  As a homage to stewed tomatoes, I cooked the okra in tomato paste base.  A friend stopped over, and wanted a piece of fish.  The house rules are you have to at least have a sample of every item so I told her she had to take 1 piece of okra and a teaspoon of grits. 

I explained some of the health benefits associated with okra - the "slime" has valuable fiber that helps regulate blood sugar, aids in digestion, and helps with weight loss.  Okra is also loaded with vitamins and helps with cholesterol.  Unfortunately okra has a reputation for being slimy so many people miss out on all this powerhouse veggie has to offer. 

Cantastic

Nowadays there are all kinds of preservatives in food.  BHT, BHA, sodium nitrate, and a host of other unpronounceable chemical compounds.  What happened to the days of salting and canning?  Today I went all out with preserved fish...first salt fish then sardines.  Yes, sardines, the miniature fish that are packaged in the rectangular pop-top can. 

I warmed the rice and peas; made some very tasty cabbage: caramelized onions, cole slaw mix ($1 on sale at Acme), a smidgen of tomato paste (my latest flavor enhancer), and seasoning; drained the olive oil from the sardines into a skillet, mixed in some garlic ginger paste, then quickly sauteed. 

A balanced meal in less than 30 minutes for under 10 bucks...look out Rachel Ray!

Breaking the fast

Once again I am enmeshed in Girl Scout cookies...I think we've been surviving off of fruit and sandwiches.  Yesterday I decided to end this foolishness and made a pot of rice and peas.  I attempted to pass it off as dinner, but no one took the bait...they wanted at least a vegetable accompaniment...sorry.

The other day I stopped in Shop Rite for a can of coconut milk and picked up a can of callaloo...the closest North American equivalent to this Caribbean plant might be savoy spinach.  Now that I had callaloo, I needed bacalao (salted cod fish).  Surprise, surprise - salt fish is much cheaper in the hood - Genaurdi's has the nerve to sell it for $12.99/lb as if it's the catch of the day. 

This morning I was in the mood for a hearty breakfast so I made salt fish and callaloo (I added a little fresh baby spinach to stretch it (frozen chopped (broadleaf) would've been a better choice).  It was easy, sauteed onions, scallions, thyme, with a little tomato paste; added the fish, then the veggies, and voila.  I had some Irish (boiled potatoes) on the side, along with some cornbread (in lieu of dumplings).  Very satisfying...there's nothing like a snow day to getcha going again. 

Pseudo food

It is becoming increasingly difficult to eat local, seasonal food.  This is largely due to habits and preferences.  Saturday I spent $50 at Whole Foods, which was supposed to cover meals through Wednesday, it did, including the most delicious navel oranges I've had in ages.  My plan was to make qulwah, timtimo, and alicha but somehow we had enough qulwah (1.5 pounds of meat) to last for several days. 

I have only heard of alicha, have never seen or tasted it.  My friend keeps insisting that the main ingredient is either turmeric or curry...but it's becoming glaringly obvious that she's lacking culinary sensitivity, so I'm certain that there's another spice.  I sauted onions, garlic, and ginger...added a bit of tomato paste, karkum, and seasoned chicken.  Pressure cooked that for 10 minutes, then added carrots, celery, and potatoes.  I considered adding zatar and/or cardomon but decided to keep it simple.  It was quite good. 

Today I realized we were running on low on everyday foodstuffs - nothing for the lunch boxes and no healthy in between meal snack options.  Since I'm teaching in Cherry Hill this semester, I was able to stop at Wegman's, where I spent $75 on jet-lagged food.  I bought an assortment of fruits and vegetables (mostly grown in California), and some other staples.  As I walked through the produce section, I kept thinking that something was terribly wrong - the Garden State has essentially become a bedroom suburb...and our tastes and preferences justify transporting food vast distances and then displaying produce as if it was picked at the farm down the road.  There has to be a better way. 

Unbelievable udon

Our introduction to udon noodles was via the $1.99 Annie Chun's bowls we get from TJs - quick, easy, mild flavor.  It never occurred to me to make these fat noodles on my own until I saw a pack in the noodle aisle at H-Mart this week.  There were many from which to choose so I went with the ones in the easiest to read packaging. 

Since today is a snow day, udon noodle soup seemed like a good meal choice (and it would use up the last of my $19 ingredients).  I had to remind myself to keep it simple because to my knowledge udon is not an elaborate dish.  I sauteed garlic, ginger, and scallions, and for the first time seared the seitan in strips like chicken to give it some color.  I boiled the noodles, blanched the carrots, peas, and cabbage; then poured boiling broth (seasoned with tamari, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, and red pepper flakes) over the mixture.  The noodles weren't as fat as Chun's but the flavor was pleasant.  My daughter slurped bowl after bowl. 

Indonesian Inspiration

I've been thinking about the mussels my friend made since Ramadan.  I never tasted them but they were very aromatic.  Yesterday I went to H-Mart and spent $19 on items for 3 meals - pancit, mussels, and udon.  Last night I made pancit with seitan and tonight it was the mussels. 

I called my friend to ask her how to prepare the mussels - she said she's a simple cook and only used garlic,ginger, salt, and white pepper.  Of course I couldn't be bound by such simplicity, so I imagined what Indonesian cooking might taste like and went with garlic, ginger, scallions, celery, a little cilantro, salt, and crushed red pepper.  I made garlic-ginger eggplant on the side and jasmine rice. 

My husband acted like they were the best mussels he'd ever tasted, such that he ate the majority of the bowl (he generally only eats a few).  He drank the broth.

Chick peas

Sometimes you have to be a little creative to get what you need.  We love shiro, but shiro powder has become virtually extinct.  I told my friend that it should be relatively easiy to make the powder - ground chick peas and bebere. She didn't believe me, until I called her this afternoon to tell her about it.  She asked me did I grind my own chick peas - absolutely not, I've been playing with Girl Scout cookies all morning.  I mixed equal parts besan and bereber and voila!  As a diabetic, she was concerned about carbs.  However, while 61% of its calories come from carbs, it's gluten free and loaded with protein, fiber, and loaded with vitamins and minerals - no wonder it's a staple food in so many cultures. 

I think I want to experiement with besan a little more. 

Convert

Lately I've had a rather mundane mealplan...that's largely because there's been a lot going on.  On the other hand, I have had some interesting conversations about food. 

I am weaning myself from the TJs cult. I was beginning to question their pricing strategy, particularly because food sourcing information is not as readily available as it is at Whole Foods.  In many ways, TJs functions as an off-brand pseudo neighborhood store, but the reality is that it is probably more akin to Walmart (the parent company is the same German family that owns Aldis). Yes, I said it.  I suppose those who have chosen an alternative sustainable lifestyle might have my head for blasphemy.  However after a recent conversation with someone who shared similar sentiments, I did a little digging and came across a CNN Money article from August...I haven't been to TJs since. I'm sure I'll return once I get over the sense of betrayal and look at the dollars and cents of it all. 

I also had an eye-opening conversation about rice and meat.  I learned that while most people consider basmati rice to be a healthy staple of Indian diets, it's actually more of a special occasion rice; for daily meals they choose to eat sona masoori, a shorter grain rice because of the lower carb content.  And those 4-12oz cuts of meat we devour at meal time (steaks, chops, roasts) are something that has never passed the lips of most.  Meat is really more of a condiment. 

I have been craving Eritrean food but haven't had time to catch my breath.  I chose not to get takeout from Abyssinia because I was apprehensive about the quality of the meat, so I had no choice but to make my own.  The only thing I had time for was shiro or qulwah...I was determined to make it stir-fry style as instructed.

I picked up a 1lb piece of skirt-steak on sale at Whole Foods ($6.99/lb)- the fat content made it seem like a good choice for fast cooking.  I came home, diced it small, marinated with a little berbere and diced tomatoes while I sauteed the onions (I couldn't resist).  I mixed in tomatoes and berebere, sauteed for a minute, then added the meat.  I stirred and then put the top on while I sauteed some eggplant.  Quick, easy, and very good...no wonder my friend runs this in the ground.