Weekend Dinner Party: Vegan Menu

Cooking for those who consume neither meat nor dairy can be a challenge, but it's far from impossible to produce a gourmet menu under these restrictions. Vegan cuisine has the benefit of relying on flavorful produce and a number of culinary categories that tend to get neglected in traditional cooking. The following dinner party menu is designed with such a diet in mind and it's just as delicious and creative as a menu based around foods sourced from animals. Get your veggie teeth primed and dig in.

Amuse Bouche- Lime Chutney and Fried Tofu in Puffed Rice Carnations

Tofu gets a bad rap, but it's actually rather remarkable as a flavor-absorbing medium. Lightly fried cubes of soft tofu paired with the zesty kick of lime chutney makes for a stunning but bright opener served in an airy cup of puffed rice to act as fun finger food.

 

Salad- Chilled Snow Peas on a Bed of Lemongrass and Fresh Artichoke Heart with Sesame Dressing

There's nothing like the crunch of a good snow pea pod and it plays well with the subtle citrus flavor of cool lemongrass. The artichoke heart base provides a soft, buttery body to balance the relatively light bouquet as the sesame dressing sweetens the ensemble while tying everything together with an amiable smokiness.

 

Main- Roasted Red Peppers Stuffed with Bamboo Shoots, Chickpeas and Pine Nuts in Red Curry Sauce

Stuffed peppers are an excellent way to contain a bounty of fresh ingredients while simultaneously infusing the entire dish with one, prominent flavor. This dish's filling rests in more subtle notes with a heavier body to make it a filling main, while the red curry drizzle provides a spicy kick that keeps the mealy middle from turning the dish bland. This is a creation of incredible balance and pleasant weight.

 

Pairing- Cucumber Mint Cocktail

A simple mix of fresh spearmint and cucumber muddled in a pinch of sea salt, lightly stirred in a glass of chilled vodka. This cocktail is refreshing, easy to make and its flavors won't dominate the meal but they will work wonderfully with the fresh flavors featured throughout.

 

Dessert- Crushed Hazelnuts in Creme de Violette with Rose-Accented Vegan Custard

This floral dessert makes use of the wholly under-appreciated flavor of flowers. The gently crushed hazelnut base rests in a shallow pool of Creme de Violette, a violet liqueur that complements the natural sweetness of the nut. Serving as the foundation to the more rich topping, it creates a more powerful flavor for the subtle custard accented with tears of rose water. This is a pleasant, unexpected way to end a dinner of vegan delights.

The Disgruntled Food Critic: Frozen Pizza Roundup

 

Frozen pizza is the province of the world's lazy bachelors, exhausted parents and college kids. Economically, it makes more sense than just about anything else in the frozen food section of the grocery store. For less than the price of a proper meal, an individual can get enough sustenance for around two meals, three if supplemented with something like salad. Though most frozen pizza is as grease-soaked and salty as the delivery analog, there are still several food groups represented in the average Supreme slice. Some vegetable matter is better than none, and when a Supreme costs as much as a Pepperoni, why not go for the loaded pie? Naturally, not all frozen pizzas are alike in quality. Here's a quick run-down of the best, the worst and the crowded middle.

DiGiorno

Let's get the big player out of the way early. There was a time when DiGiorno was the best frozen pizza at the supermarket. That time was 1996 and it has long passed. DiGiorno pizzas are the very definition of middling, which is important for the isolated 20-somethings who eat them most regularly. There's no reason to buy one when it's not on sale, but on those not-so-rare occasions when a full-size DiGiorno is five bucks at the corporate grocery store, it's worth it.

I will say that DiGiorno's recent self-preservation panic has made for one notable improvement. I can't recommend the pricey pizzas packaged with chicken wings, cookies or other variety packs. Combining mediocre pizza with mediocre barbecue wings isn't a winning business plan. The garlic bread pizza, though, is a marked improvement on the original recipe. Crust has always been DiGiorno's weak spot, so adding some flavor to the mix is a real plus.

 

Freschetta

Aside from the fact that the brand name kinda makes me want to punch myself in the mouth, this new kid on the block is poised to be the best. It's not quite there yet, though. The sauce is less cloying, the cheese less plastic-like and the toppings mimic freshness a lot better than the vast majority of frozen brands. The crust needs a little work, though. It needs to be baked longer than the packaging suggests, unless you want gummy crust. Of course, that puts the toppings at risk of burning. It's a gamble, which isn't what I want out of a frozen pizza.

 

Red Baron

An oldie and never a goodie. These are usually a few dollars cheaper than the best and it shows. You're paying 60% of the price for 60% of the pizza. Sure, its surface area matches that of a better pie, but its overall density is laughable and the “toppings” too often amount to mere sprinklings of finely diced ingredients. This is sadness pizza. It's “I just lost my job” pizza. It's “daddy doesn't love you” pizza.

 

Totino's

“Party Pizza”? Really? Look, Totino's, there's only one thing you do well and it's pizza rolls. And no, you shouldn't be proud of that. Succeeding at pizza rolls but failing at pizza itself is a mind-bending kind of shameful. It makes a twisted sort of sense, though. People expect pizza rolls to be awful, greasy little pockets of heartburn. Show someone a slice of pizza, though, and they might expect it to be good.

 

*​Not listed: California Pizza Kitchen, because a dogged refusal to use tomato sauce disqualifies it as mere flavored flatbread.

Weekend Dinner Party: In The Raw

Raw foods can be a wonderful delicacy if prepared correctly. Especially in hot weather, the cool, simple flavors are refreshing and the unique textures make the eating experience delightfully unusual. As long as you use fresh ingredients and dutifully clean your work space, there's little health risk. To provide a wonderful dinner party with a raw theme, follow this menu.

 

Amuse-Bouche- Oysters on the Half-Shell with Cucumber Mince

Few delicacies are as old and enduring as the classic raw oyster. It's no mystery why. The combination of salty sea water and the rich flavor of the meat itself makes what oyster enthusiasts call the "liquor", a delicious, natural sauce that delivers the essence of the oyster without a lot of fiddling. This evokes the sea with every slurp and demonstrates how raw doesn't have to mean bland. Raw oysters are a lot of work and it is of the utmost importance that, like with all raw meat ingredients, you acquire the freshest, cleanest products possible. Serve these on ice with an optional salsa of minced cucumber and shallots. Though large, garden-variety cucumbers are popular, check out the potential in the Japanese cucumber. The flavor is much sharper in this small, firm variety, so it won't water down the subtle oyster flavor.

 

Salad- Beef Carpaccio and Arugula with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

This modern Italian dish is the epitome of the potential of raw beef. Made by cutting thin medallions of tenderloin and pounding them into papery slices, carpaccio is a real paradigm-shifter. As any steak aficionado can tell you, there's a hidden beauty to rare beef. The meat has plenty of unique flavors that disappear when denatured with heat. Being especially thin, carpaccio isn't overpowering and it rests lightly in the stomach. When paired with good arugula leaves, they contrast nicely with the slight bitterness. The simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil lets the beef speak for itself while the sea salt enlivens the flavors and bridges the gap between our amuse-bouche and our main.

 

Main- Red Snapper Ceviche on a Sweet Potato Base

Ceviche is a South American invention that uses citrus to denature fish rather than heat. This places the resulting meat somewhere between raw and cooked. Strictly speaking, the fish is still raw after marinating in the citrus, as the proteins change a bit differently and the acid won't kill off bacteria as effectively as heat will. As a result, only use sushi-grade fish for ceviche. A fresh catch will be perfectly safe to eat. The bite-sized pieces of fish will marinate evenly in a bath of bitter orange juice (fresh squeezed only) and the flaky snapper won't require marinating for longer than 20 minutes. The orange flavor will pair excellently with the firm platforms of lightly fried sweet potato.

 

Pairing- Gunderloch Jean-Baptiste Riesling

Riesling is among some of the most versatile styles of white wine and this label provides a complex palate that will bring a lively balance to the subtle flavors of the raw dinner. The Gunderloch is balanced and fruity with a hint of citrus that won't be too sharp combined with the ceviche. Be careful not to over-chill.

 

Dessert- Long Banana Slices with Creme Fraiche, Chocolate Ribbons and Crumbled Raw Hazelnut

Firm bananas sliced longways make excellent flavor delivery devices. With a careful layer of creme fraiche to hold thin ribbons of dark chocolate and rough-pounded hazelnuts, this dessert is rich but not too heavy. The hazelnuts are a fine choice because, even in a raw (shelled) state, they bring plenty of flavor to the mix.

Too Hot to Cook

A Refreshing Dinner Idea

My wife and I love to cook but sometimes in the summer it is just WAY too hot to turn on the oven, let alone the grill. On days as hot as this (today it is supposed to get up to 99 degrees!) I REALLY refuse to grill since I am the one who will have to stand out in the heat over smoking hot charcoal.

On days like this my wife makes this bread salad. It fills us up, but its not too heavy and a bonus--it takes about 10 minutes to make!

Tomato Bread Salad

1 loaf of day old baguette or italian bread, cut into cubes

2 Ripe, garden fresh tomatoes, diced

1 seedles cucumber, diced

2 T. Exra-Virgin Olive Oil

1 T. Red Wine Vinegar

2 Fresh Basil Leaves, torn

1/2 Tsp. Kosher salt

Pepper to taste

You can also add: Mozzarella cheese (we like to use REAL buffalo mozzarella, torn into bite size chunks) shredded rotisserie chicken (Go buy it from the supermarket--remember its too hot to cook!)

Directions:Combine bread, tomato, cucumber in a large bowl. Drizzle with Olive Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, and Basil. Stir to combine. Add salt and pepper and stir again. Add Chicken and Mozzarella cheese if desired.
 

This salad keeps only for about a day, but as the bread has more time to soak up all the olive oil, vinegar and juices it gets even better!

We have also made a Greek version of this salad by adding green pepper, feta cheese, oregano and Lemon Juice. Also great to add chicken to this too!

Guilty Pleasures: Gas Station Nachos

I think we can all agree that gas station nachos are disgusting. And yet! Sometimes you just gotta try them.
I usually get lured into buying gas station nachos when I'm driving home from visiting friends in Seattle late at night. You're on the road, it's late, you're exhausted, and starving. Maybe you have to stop and get gas. Maybe you pop inside to buy a Coke and use the bathroom. And there they are, the little cardboard tray, the mysteriously round chips, and the formidable pump dispenser.
Nothing says "delicious cuisine" like a pump dispenser!
When I went looking for anecdotes about gas station nachos, I discovered that most people who confessed to eating them were pregnant women. Pregnancy does some weird things to your appetite (so I have heard) and I guess "develop a craving for gas station nachos" is just one more thing to fear about pregnancy!
AM/PM and 7-11 are the best place to buy these nachos. You can often find them at other, off-brand gas stations. But I would be leery of them. At least AM/PM and 7-11 have corporate policies in place, you know? Who knows where that cheese really comes from, or how long those chips have been sitting out.
AM/PM sells a kit that includes a plastic tray with a domed plastic lid. This is helpful, because if you buy your chips in an open cardboard boat, you will invariably drop the entire thing on the way back to your car. Or worse, on your car's upholstery.
The key to proper gas station nachos is to apply two levels of cheese-flavored food product. Put a layer of chips in the dish, apply a few pumps of hot cheese topping, add more chips, and give it a final good dose of topping. Then sprinkle it liberally with those little canned jalapeno slices. I mean, come on - in for a penny, in for a pound, amirite?
If you're a little squeamish about eating non-pre-wrapped food from a gas station,  swing by a Taco Bell. Their nachos side dish (not the fancy Nachos Bell Grande or whatever, mind you) is identical, except that it uses a slightly better class of chip. And you get the cheese on the side in a little plastic cup, which helps ensure that your chips don't get soaked and soggy and disgusting.
To recreate gas station nachos at home, unless you're willing to buy a giant commercial-sized can of cheese sauce (only $35!) your best bet is to buy a jar of Tostitos "salsa con queso." This is sold in squat little jars at the grocery store on the chip aisle.
(Gasoline fumes not included!)

Perfect Party Food

The Cookbook that keeps on giving...

  Tis the season for summer barbecues and I dont' know about you, but    after July 4th I'm already tired of potato salad. So when we got invited to what seemed like our 75th outdoor party/barbecue/4th of July bash, my wife declared "That's it. I cannot make another pan of boring brownies or one more bowl of potato salad. I have to try something new." So she went digging thorough the millions of cookbooks and cooking magazines we have stored in every free space in our kitchen and found this amazing cookbook that my mom gave to her like 4 Christmases ago: "Perfect Party Food: All the Recipes and Tips You'll Ever Need for Stress-Free Entertaining" by Diane Phillips (a.k.a. The Diva of Do-Ahead...whatever that means).

So after drooling over all the recipies in the book (and there are over 500) from drinks to appetizers to desserts, we came across an AMAZING salad that was the HIT of the party--the Black Bean and Chicken Tostada Salad. I can describe it in 2 words: FREAKING AWESOME.

My wife was happy to bring something fresh, tasty and unique to the barbecue and all the guests were happy to have something new and everyone demanded to have the recipe. 

So for your next dinner party/barbecue/celebration take a look at Diane Phillips "Perfect Party Food" or just go buy it for your favorite cook now--and have them start with the Black Bean and Chicken Tostada Salad...or the Vanilla Citrus Pound Cake...either one.

Weekend Dinner Party: Making The Most of Pizza

At its best, cooking is interactive art. That means a proper meal is like a premiere gala at a gallery. Putting together the menu of a dinner party should take that concept into consideration. The art of the meal should be of a single, coherent tone but with enough variety to stay interesting. In the Weekend Dinner Party column, we'll be previewing a menu based around a centerpiece dish with appropriate but inventive pairings. Today, we'll be examining pizza, a culinary superstar that all too often gets treated like low-brow fare. We're here to give that famous Italian pie the full menu treatment it deserves.

Amuse-Bouche-  Spanakopita Triangles with Dill Yogurt Drizzle

The theme of our pizza dinner party menu is cheese. As much as dough, sauce and toppings get the attention in pizza, the truth is that cheese is the real worker of the recipe. It's the intermediary that keeps the toppings in place, provides the sauce with its own layer and allows the dough to carry everything without it sliding off or turning soupy. To whet your guests' appetites, we have a small triangle of Spanakopita, the Greek pastry of spinach, feta cheese and filo dough. The dish is light but distinct, the feta providing a tart but creamy introduction to a night of rich food. The drizzle of dill yogurt keeps the pastry from being too dry and it adds a nice, refreshing twist to the recipe.

 

Salad- Romaine Lettuce with Kalamata Olives, Grated Asiago Cheese and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Bridging the gap between the Greek flavor of Spanakopita and the Italian flavor of pizza, this simple but sharp salad brings the savory hues of the Kalamata olive to a crisp bed of greens where they mingle with the sharp Asiago and full-flavored dressing.

 

Main- Twin Red and White Pizzas

Red sauce may be king when it comes to pizza, but white sauce can bring a level of nuance a spicy red can't achieve. The red pizza is the classic of the two, delivering crumbles of hot Italian sausage and Crimini mushroom on a garlic crust with chunky marinara sauce and a mix of mozzarella and Fontina cheese. The white pizza is a vegetarian affair with herb crust, a smooth Alfredo sauce, roasted red pepper, asparagus and a white wine brie cheese with grated Parmesan.

 

Pairing- Zinfandel Blush, Napa Valley

Because the menu includes both a red and a white sauce, a blush wine is appropriate. This rose Zinfandel has a medium body with mildly spicy fruit tones. It's smooth and not overly complex, a perfect partner for the wide flavor profile of the twin pies.

 

Dessert- Mini Cannoli with Fresh Berry Garnish

Rounding out this Mediterranean meal, we have a pair of small pastry tubes filled with rich Ricotta cheese, accompanied by a dark chocolate drizzle and a selection of fresh berries. These classic Sicilian confections are sweet but not too heavy and they go excellently with coffee.

 

Pizza doesn't have to be a greasy indulgence relegated just to football Sunday or lazy carry-out nights. With the right companions and the proper ingredients, this most famous of Italian pies can be a gourmet delight.

Can Artificial Sweeteners Actually Increase the Likelihood of Weight Gain?

Diet drinks and weight gain.

 

I openly admit that I it was easier for me to quit smoking than it was for me to quit diet sodas. In the health-conscious area of the United States where I live, drinking a Diet Coke gets me almost as many nasty looks as smoking a cigarette once did. I wrote HERE about my own Diet Coke addiction and the dangers of artificial sweeteners and just read TODAY that drinking Diet Coke or anything containing artificial sweeteners can add pounds to your waistline.

 

Just what I need, right?

 

Like most people who drink diet sodas, I drink it to avoid drinking drinks with extra sugar—also a health risk—and to keep off the pounds.

A recent study followed the weight gain and took measurements of senior citizens—aged 65 to 74 years old—for ten years. Sadly, “the waists of those who drank diet soft drinks grew 70 percent more than those who avoided the artificially sweetened stuff.”

 

A 2005 study also had results which were unfavorable to artificial sweeteners; the results of the that study demonstrated that anyone who drank soda—artificial or otherwise—tended to gain more weight than those who didn’t.

 

While the results of the studies might sound unbelievable, there is a possible scientific basis that would account for the results of the study. Apparently, artificial sweeteners like aspartame trick the brain into thinking it is still hungry by spiking blood levels. In addition, another study found that drinking Diet Coke can change your metabolism and can “block your ability to burn fat.”

 

However, there might not be quite as much of a risk to drinking Diet Coke as other studies have indicated. According to the this article from the Mayo Clinic, drinking one or two Diet Cokes a day probably won’t adversely your health all that much. Also, drinking Diet Coke in small quantities isn’t thought to be a cancer risk at this particular point in time.

 

That said, another study has linked overconsumption of artificial sweeteners with an increased risk of strokes.

 

So, after weighing all the factors in, am I going to quit drinking Diet Coke?

 

Unfortunately, it’s not likely that I’m going to quit Diet Coke entirely. I’m just as subject to marketing as the next person—when I see the Diet Coke displays at the checkout counter, I’m likely to buy one, whether it’s a good idea for my long-term health or not. Only time will tell if the incentive of possibly keeping pounds off my waistline will convince me to stop drinking Diet Coke or not.

 

 

 

5 Ramen Observations

Ramen: the butt of so many culinary jokes. (And rightfully so.) Ramen is the canonical food of college students: it's cheap, high in calories, and easy to prepare.

1. Cultural Stigmas Re: Ramen and Poverty
For some reason, culturally we stigmatize college students as Ramen-eaters, and not the working poor. The working poor we stigmatize as being consumers of McDonalds and of candy bars. I don't think I've ever heard someone make a ramen joke about poor people. Doritos, Little Debbie, and McDonalds? Sure. But not so much ramen.

(You could probably speculate up some pretty interesting theories about America's class system out of that observance. I'm drawing a blank, personally. I merely observe, and move on.)

2. Ramen In A Global Context
In Asia, particularly in Japan, ramen is a completely different food stuff. They have whole entire restaurants devoted to ramen, the way we do to pizza or cheeseburgers. They put great stuff on it, and use real noodles.

Ramen in Asia is nothing like Ramen in the United States. Here, it is a degenerate food, fit only for the most hapless members of our society.

3. Ramen In A Cultural Vacuum
Ramen gets a bad rap, but I'll tell you what: it's pretty tasty. Try a packet and see if you don't secretly agree with me. (It's okay, I won't tell anyone!)

It's the cultural baggage that really handicaps ramen as a food.

4. Which Kind?
As a broad generalization, you have to choose between the kind that comes in its own foam cup or bowl, and the kind that you have to boil in a pan.

If you have access only to a microwave or an electric kettle (or the red tap on an office water cooler) then you are pretty much stuck with the in-its-own-cup (Cup 'O Noodles) kind. This is a pity, because this kind is inferior in almost every respect. The noodles aren't as toothsome, it includes flecks of dried vegetable which are somewhat unpleasant, and how the heck are you supposed to close that flap, anyway?

If you have the relative luxury of being able to boil water in a pan, the packet kind (epitomized by Top Ramen) is far superior. Less packaging waste, as well.

5. Nutritionally?
Oh, nutritionally speaking, it's terrible. One packet of Top Ramen contains 14 grams of fat, 52 grams carbohydrates, and 1,820 mg sodium (75% of your RDV).

It's darned tasty, though. Anything that bad for you would kinda have to be, don't you think?

Supporting local food initiatives is a necessary trend

Supporting local foods is a trend at which comedians often poke fun.  The series Portlandia created a hipster couple so interested in the chicken dinner’s upbringing they had to move onto the cultish farm to learn about the bird’s heritage. 

All joking aside, supporting local foods is a trendy thing to do, but is also increasingly important.  With the influence of mega-farms, corporatized food production and the obesity epidemic, buying local food gives consumers a degree of control over what they eat impossible with other options.  Threatened by all of the alternatives, local farmers and restaurateurs need all the support they can get.  But supporters of local foods benefit, too; they get to see what goes into their food, notice an improvement in their health and teach their children that the hot dog is not a type of farm animal. 

Here are some of the progressions of local food this year:

Community Supported Agriculture:  For this local produce, families or groups of people sign up to have a box full of local and seasonal produced, usually vegetables and fruit, delivered directly to them a few times each year.  A farmer offers a share to the public and then consumers buy a membership or subscription to receive the goods so many times per year.  Started over twenty years ago, today, more than 4,000 farms in the United States participate in the CSA program.

Pop-up restaurants:  These restaurants use temporary spaces—vacant restaurants, unused businesses, public parks—as short-time restaurants.  Proprietors usually buy local produce and create a small number of products or products to sell.  Once that product is sold out, they close up shop forever.  This style of restaurant also gives chefs without the means or the time to set up shop at a permanent restaurant a chance to showcase their skills.  For example, a group of Italian grandmothers on Staten Island make only one dish everyday at their pop-up Enoteca Maria restaurant and once it’s sold-out, that’s it until tomorrow.  Another example of a pop-up is What Happens When, a pop-up restaurant in Manhattan that will be open for nine-months and will cycle through four scene changes.  The first cycle included potato skins with wheat beer fondue and pickled sausage and the second was made up of venison tartar and celery root with truffles.

Farmers’ markets:  Farmers’ markets used to be more of expectance than the  luxury that they seem to be today, but hopefully some of that is changing with the implementation of food stamps at many farmers’ markets around the country.  Farmers’ markets are a worldwide staple—there are street markets in Asia and mercados in Peru—and they allow farmers to sell their crops directly to the public without a middleman.  Although you can’t really call such an ancient market a “trend,” a direct connection between producer and consumer gives the people at both ends much needed piece of mind.  One of the earliest farmers’ market, Los Angeles’ Farmers Market, is still going strong, nearly 80 years after its inception in 1934.  The farmers put their produce on the backs of their pickups in a dirt parking lot and consumers could buy the food directly from them.  Nothing much has changed since the 1930’s in this arena and we are all the better because of it.  

Pages