Dancing Spoon

Edible Communities

Local Eat

by J. Michael Wheeler 
From the New York Times 8.29.07

Eating local is one thing; finding out about eating local is another. The New York Times reports on a group of magazines whose goal “…is to help create the kind of community where local is, if not king, at least an heir to the throne. It’s a place where small farmers can make a living practicing sustainable agriculture; where the environment is everyone’s concern and locally grown and locally made food is readily available.”

Edible Communities (www.ediblecommunities.com) began five years ago as one publication that tried to tell the citizens of Ojai, Calif., everything they ever wanted to know about the food and wine in their community has turned into a network of 33 Edible magazines across the country. Each of them offers readers culinary news tailored to where they live.

Recipe: Lime Ginger Marinade

Grilling Cedar Plank

by Gloria Bakst

Cooking with Gloria
Grilling on cedar planks adds great flavor and moisture to your chicken or fish. Here's a terrific marinade to use with either chicken or fish. Use this marinate with or without cedar planks.

Lime Ginger Marinade
2 pounds boneless breast chicken
1/2 lime juiced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon shredded ginger
1/4 cup low sodium tamari
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon Agave Nectar or 2 teaspoons brown rice syrup

Wash chicken breast and put in sealable plastic bag. Mix marinade together and pour into bag with chicken. Allow to marinate for at least 2 hours or longer.

Herbamare

Ingredients Chef's

Herbamare is sea salt that has been seeped for 1 year with 12 different organic herbs and ground to a powder. It gives food a lift without any outstanding flavor. Can be used instead of sea salt in any recipe.

Culinary Use
The herbs are infused into  sea salt, so unlike other seasoning salts this is not a blend of dry herbs - the flavor is inside the sea salt crystals! A little goes a long way, so you'll need to use less than you would for table salt on your foods.

Buy Herbamare here.

Brown Rice Syrup

Ingredients Chef's

Brown rice syrup is a sweetener derived by culturing cooked rice with enzymes (usually from dried barley sprouts) to break down the starches, then straining off the liquid and cooking it until the desired consistency is reached. (Wikipedia)

Culinary Use
Substitute rice syrup in place of sugar, honey, corn syrup, maple syrup or molasses. To substitute sugar, use 1¼ cup rice syrup for one cup sugar, using ¼ cup less of another liquid in the recipe.

Buy Brown Rice Syrup here.

Agave Nectar

Ingredients Chef's

Agave nectar is a sweetener from the cactus plant it is grown in Jalisco, Tequila, Guadalajara, and Cuquio, Mexico. It is available at health food stores.  As a sweetener, Agave nectar, also known as Agave syrup, is notable in that it has a low glycemic index and low glycemic load. Apparently lower than most if not all other natural sweeteners on the market. It is thinner in texture and sweeter than honey.

Culinary Use
Agave syrup may be substituted for sugar in recipes.

• Use 1/3 cup of agave syrup for every 1 cup of sugar in the original recipe.

• The quantity of liquids in the original recipe must be reduced due to the moisture included in the syrup.

• Some chefs also reduce the oven temperature by 25°F in recipes requiring baking.

Reference Source: Wikipedia

Buy Agave Nectar here.

Ducking a Foie Gras Ban

Cooks The Media

by J. Michael Wheeler
Chicago Restaurants Duck a Foie Gras Ban
From All Things Considered, National Public Radio

NPR (8.22.07) reports that “ Chicago's foie gras ban is one year old, but in spite of the law, restaurants are still serving it.”

Some get around the ban by "giving it away for free" (with an $18 salad). Other restaurants don't have it on the menu, but will serve it if you ask (a local French chef calls them "duck-easies" — like speak-easies).

It's among a series of laws in Chicago that seek to change behavior but are rarely enforced.

Adriene Hill of Chicago Public Radio reports. Click here to listen to the story on NPR.org 

Down on the Fish Farm No. One

Green Becoming

by J. Michael Wheeler
Part of an on-going series on Sustainable Agriculture

Friends don’t let friends eat farmed fish – Seattle bumper sticker
Just as land-based farmers are working out the kinks in developing sustainable agriculture, so too are ocean-based fish farmers. Seemingly, farm fishing has all the elements of a perfect symbiotic relationship with nature: the fish are raised in their natural habitat, the dwindling wild stocks are preserved, and there is minimal disruption to the environment. The reality, until now, has been somewhat different.

Recipe: Plank-Grilled Red Snapper

Grilling Cedar Plank

by Gloria Bakst

Cooking with Gloria
Here's a great recipe for fish or chicken. Cedar planks add unique and intriguing flavors to your foods as they grill. Soak your planks in water for one hour or longer before grilling. (See Using Cedar Planks for Grilling) When the grill is hot put the plank on the grill, smooth side down and char, turn the wood over and then place fish or chicken on top to cook. The planks maybe reused.

Cedar Planks for Grilling

Tips Grilling

Using wooden planks for grilling adds moisture and flavor to your grilled food. Grill with the lid closed: it’s the best of both worlds, steaming and grilling combined. Turn thick pieces of fish and chicken. Thinner cuts like baby red snapper don’t need to be turned during grilling. Using a cedar plank will take a little longer than regular grilling.

You can purchase cedar planks that are sold for specifically for grilling, (like the Camerons Products Cedar Planks pictured here) or you can go to your local lumberyard and buy untreated cedar planks. You can buy them as 1 x 4 inch planks in varying lengths. Ask to have them cut it into 12” lengths, which would handle two-three pounds of fish or chicken.

Soak the planks in water for one hour or longer before grilling. When the grill is hot, put the plank on the grill, smooth side down and char. Turn the wood over and then place fish or chicken on top to cook. The planks maybe reused.

Buy cedar planks for grilling. Click here.

Nuke Your Corn

Tricks Tips and

by J. Michael Wheeler
 

Corn on the cob: simple food, easy to prepare. Here in New England it’s at its peak this time of year. Sweet, abundant, and with autumn just around the corner, one of those summer things one wants to enjoy to overabundance.

But sometimes I’ll want to quickly cook up and eat just one or two ears. Being a lazy summer kind of guy, I don’t always want to boil a big pot of water, cook the corn, and then clean the big pot. So I thought: how about the microwave oven?

Turns out that corn on the cob has a built in steamer: the husk. And the nature of the microwave creates a hot steamy heat within those husks.

So here is a lazy days of summer cooking tip:

Nuked Corn on the Cob

1. Get fresh sweet corn on the cob.

2. Leave husks on. Pop one or two ears of corn into your microwave.

3. Cook on high for one or two or three minutes per ear. The time will depend on the power of you microwave and the size of the ears of corn.

4. After a couple of minutes remove the corn from the microwave. The outside of the husks should feel slightly warm, but not hot.

5. WATCH OUT! Inside the husks WILL BE STEAMY and VERY HOT!
Protect your hands with oven mitts or paper towels as you remove the husks from the corn. (After peeling the husks down, I’ve found that cutting the stock of the cob is the easiest way to remove the husks: the stock softens and may be too pliable to snap off.)

6. Add butter, salt and pepper, or nothing. This time of year the corn is so sweet, it really stands on its own.