NYT article: what about prevention???

this article, which was also covered on NPR today,describes the current debate over the long-term prescription of statins in children as young as eight years old. i guess its the public health professional in me, but yikes! what about prevention? the article does cover what appears to be a lively debate, with many pediatrician's coming out against this course of action based on sound medical reasoning. for me, though, the main issue is how we have gotten so far from knowing what and how to eat that we are willing to commit children to a life long course of medication rather than questioning our food system and culture. it really frightens me...

CSA week five - its July already!

Well, another week and another share box. This week also brought the beginning of fruit shares that inspired envy in many who did not sign up for this extra treat. The raspberries and blueberries are so amazing on their own, I'm not sure I am going to do anything more with them than just snack on them or put them in my yogurt.

An interesting thing I started paying attention to this week is the swap box. I'm not sure if all CSA's do this, but we open up a complete share box for folks to swap out or just leave unwanted veg. I think by far this week beets and lettuce (of all things!) were the most rejected veggies, and the box literally overflowed with them. The lettuce really surprised me since I cannot get enough salad right now, but I was also surprised at the love/hate relationship folks seemed to have with the beets. I think I mentioned before that I am co-site coordinator, and this week I sat by the box for the entire pick up time, just because it was a convenient place to sit and ask folks to sign up for volunteer shifts. I happened to start noticing what people were getting rid of and looking for to trade. Carrots seemed to be the most sought after, which makes sense since Golden Earthworm has a reputation for some amazingly sweet and delicious carrots. It was just interesting to notice, though, how people interacted with the beets - some people (a small handful, really) were super excited and traded anything for an extra bunch of these versatile veggies, but in the end there was still an awful lot of them left abandoned to the box. Most folks seemed to just not like them...for whatever reason, and others just didn't know what to do with them, which is understandable, but I'm pretty sure there is an ocean of recipes available out on the web to help one figure this out.

Well, in the spirit of experimenting with the beet (that I neither love, nor hate, but am growing increasingly fond of) I made these beet latkes.
These are really simple to make and you can basically follow a standard potato latke recipe, substituting the beets.

Beet Latkes:
1 bunch of beets, tops removed (save them for later), peeled and grated
5T a-p flour
1/2 t baking powder
1t salt
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
oil for frying

Dry the grated beets a little with a paper towel (if you use regular ol' white paper towels you can put them in the compost!). In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients.
You can also add any other spices of your choice (I used cumin in these) at this time.
Mix in the beets and then the eggs.
Heat enough oil to generously cover the pan at medium heat.
When oil is hot, but not smoking, place 1/4 cup scoops of the mixture into the pan and gently flatten out a little.
Fry for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side.
Let drain on a paper towel and season with salt if desired.
I served these with a little plain yogurt (from the farmer's market).

NYT Article: good enough to eat; so go on and eat it already...

This article discusses some of the healthiest foods that folks aren't eating. It caught my eye because number one on the list are beets, a veggie I struggle with myself, but am gladly taking the challenge. However, this was one of the main veggies left behind (along with lettuce?!)in the swap box yesterday at the CSA pickup. So for all of you that fear the mysteries of the beet - be adventurous! It'll pay off in both health and the expansion of your culinary palette :)

CSA week four - wrapping up the first month

Its hard to believe that we're a month into the CSA season already! The food has been wonderful and we have recently had the opportunity to really begin connecting with the community and discovering the different ways we are connected. Last week I took a yoga class at the Yoga Room
in LIC, and discovered the teacher I just had class with lives in my neighborhood and also belongs to a nearby CSA that is supplied by the same farm as ours - neat! Golden Earthworm is a great farm that has such amazing variety and I feel so lucky to be receiving my food from those hard working folks out there on Long Island.

My husband and I had dinner on Friday with our neighbors whom we also met through the CSA. They are actually two of the founding core-group members of
the Sunnyside CSA, and they happen to live in the same building as we do (its funny and comforting how the anonymity of urban living can be transcended by food). Dinner was amazing, but I sadly forgot to tote along my camera so there are no photos to share of the wonderful ratatouille Diane made for us. She is an amazing cook though and also a holistic health counselor with a wonderful approach to preparing food. We look forward to many more meals with them (hint, hint...).

On Sunday we had a CSA potluck with friends who belong to the Astoria CSA which is also supplied by Golden Earthworm, and it was so much fun to see the different things we made from the same share ingredients!

I made a lasagna with a red sauce that I prepared with lamb sausage and green garlic from the farmer's market. I layered the lasagna with a ricotta mixture to which I added minced garlic scape (from the green garlic tops) and a bit of S&P, and a layer of steamed beet greens seasoned with a bit of crushed red pepper. I topped it all with slices of fresh mozzarella and baked it for about 40 minutes until the cheese started to brown and it was all bubbly and oozing inside. When it was done I finished it with a chiffinade of fresh basil for garnish (and the wonderful smell it provides). It was so delicious (thank goodness...I was a bit nervous about it since it was totally improvised and I couldn't really taste it before serving it to friends). I have to say the dish came together pretty quickly and is a nice thing to serve to a small group.


It also left me a good bit of time to prepare a "red" salad (made with the red oak leaf lettuce and shredded beets, also from this week's share) to go along with it.


Our friend M. brought along an amazing salad of kohlrabi and fennel (using up some of last weeks share combined with this weeks fennel) with a bright and yummy lemon caper dressing, that complemented the spicy and savory flavors of the lasagna very nicely. Its also nice to see what other folks are making to help give you ideas.

Dessert was made by T., and she made an amazing strawberry-rhubarb cobbler that really hit the spot. It was a nice change for me since I always seem to make crumbles (like the one last week) and had actually just made a blueberry-pecan crumble that I brought to by neighbor's dinner on Friday (that was complimented by Diane's amazing pear sorbet).

All in all, the food this month has been amazing. It has been a wonderful challenge to try to keep up with the shares and I feel like overall we have done a great job of being creative and keeping the food both simple and interesting. For me though, what I am noticing I appreciate the most is the food connecting us with people, whether old friends or new. It has been great to share so many of these meals with others at the table recently and something that I am truly grateful for.

CSA week 3...oh the bounty!

Well, another week has gone by and I find myself once again like a kid a x-mas, eager to dig in and see what is in this week's share box. I was so excited to see that it was even bigger than the first two weeks! Matt, our CSA farmer at Golden Earthworm, reported that this will be the usual size of the share from here on in - oh the bounty of the season...but what will we do with all this food? Dinner parties it is :) Nothing inspires me to cook for friends more than this overflow of fresh, local, beautiful food and that's just what we found we've been doing.

Really, what better way to use this bounty than to share it with people you love? We have a tiny kitchen, and a pretty small city apartment for that matter, but we manage to have a couple people over at a time, which has been such fun this past week. After all, the "c" in csa does stand for community, so go ahead, invite some people in and cook for them, or better yet - cook together.

And what a great weekly share to entertain with this mix of sweet and savory!


The garlic scapes were a big favorite this week. I made a quick pesto with them by adding a bit of sea salt, olive oil and raw almonds to the roughly chopped scapes. I just put everything into the food processor and adjusted for taste and texture as I went along. I tossed the pesto with chick peas and pasta with a little bit crushed red pepper, and served it along with a salad made from the beautiful head of crisp-green lettuce, for a tasty and filling vegetarian meal that left the two athletes I was feeding completely sated.

For dessert I just had to do something with the strawberries and rhubarb...

This strawberry rhubarb crumble is one of my favorite recipes. I have it written in an old notebook, so I'm not quite sure where the recipe originated, but it is a simple and delicious way to prepare this natural combination of summer fruit (although rhubarb is actually a veggie).

For the topping:
1/2 c oats
1/2 c unbleached flour
1/2 c of raw sugar
1/3 c of sliced almonds
1/4 t of nutmeg
pinch of salt
6T butter (cut into small cubes)

For the filling:
5 c rhubarb (sliced into 1/2 inch pieces)
2 c strawberries (hulled and halved)
3/4 c raw sugar
1/3 c lemon juice
2 T flour
zest of one lemon
1/2 t cardamom
1/4 t nutmeg

Heat oven to 375F, and butter a pie plate or 8x8 baking dish.
For the topping, mix together all of the dry ingredients and then rub in the butter with your fingers until it is evenly dispersed.
For the filling, combine all ingredients and let stand about 15 minutes to let the flavors develop and the juices to run. Put filling in the baking dish and sprinkle the topping on evenly. Bake until bubbly (about 25 minutes).
This is great served warm with a scoop of ice cream. Enjoy!

CSA- week two

I just realized that in my haste to dive into my share last week that I forgot to mention that the CSA that I am a member of is the Sunnyside CSA, located in Sunnyside, Queens. It is in its second year, and that fact that we have doubled our membership is really exciting and speaks to the growing awareness of food related issues and the demand for local and sustainably raised foods in our (very diverse) community. Our food is supplied by the Golden Earthworm Organic Farm
located on the north-fork of Long Island, and they supply several CSAs in the area. I will hopefully remember to discuss more about both the CSA and the farm in the coming weeks.

Well, the second week's share does not disappoint with another large bounty so early in the season - it really is so exciting! I was hoping for some rhubarb this week, but Matt (the farmer, who was at the delivery this week) mentioned that there just wasn't enough, but we will be getting it next week (we better...).

This week we received: a head of romain, a small bunch of broccoli, a head of boston lettuce, toscano kale, a bunch of (very beautiful) rainbow chard, and a basket of (scrumptious) strawberries. I still haven't quite made it through last week's share, but will be making some pesto with my lingering arugula. In order to alleviate a little anxiety about using all of these greens I have decided to start thinking about putting some food by for the winter. This was a real treat last winter with the roasted tomatoes, and a great way to make sure you don't waste any of the yummy food in your share.

Today I decided to save the kale for the winter. This is great when I am getting to that point (which is hard to imagine this time of year) when I am really craving greens and kind of sick of root veggies. Fortunately kale freezes really well and it actually makes it even more tender when you are ready to prepare it. To prepare the kale I carefully clean each leaf with a little water (I did find a critter I was happy to be rid of) and shake off the excess, but I don't dry it. I give the kale a rough chop and put it in a zip top freezer bag trying to squeeze out as much air as possible. Then its ready for the freezer and hardly takes up any room at all. ...I'll be glad in February :)

CSA Season has begun!

The CSA season has finally begun and it was so exciting to be at the first pick-up yesterday. I kept hearing folks say things like "I've been waiting for this day for months!" and "its like Christmas, only tastier!" The energy was great, and it was wonderful to meet the farmer at the drop off (now that I'm co-coordinating pick up days) and see the whole day unfold.
I was so excited when I got home that I forgot to take a picture of my share and dove right in to make this salad!
This week's share includes: baby arugula, bunched arugula, spinach, red boston lettuce and radishes - yum!
This salad was a natural start, especially after a long day of teaching and then hanging out at the CSA pick-up all evening. From the share I used some baby arugula, lettuce and radishes. I made sure to soak the greens in cool water to get all of the grit and dirt out, and then they went through the salad spinner. I also added, along with the sliced radishes, some sliced carrots and red onion and one chive blossom form the garden. It was so fresh and delicious!
Stay tuned as I post other recipes from this and the coming weeks shares :)

NYT article: What a waste...

A very interesting article on food waste in the US appeared recently in the New York Times. It outlines the nature of the problem in this country, and the scale of the amount of wasted food is truly troubling for many reasons. The food wasted goes to landfills rather than compost bins, so it winds up taking up more space and producing methane (a green house gas) instead of feeding people, or even live stock. It seems that with all of the concern over local sustainability the best place to start looking for ways to help would be one's own kitchen.

This has really motivated me to start looking for ways to keep food out of landfills, and while I do compost, it would be fun and interesting to explore other ways to do this. I hope to start a regular posting focusing on tips that provide options for preventing food waste and using up leftovers.
My first and one of my longstanding favorites is to save veggie scraps in a zip top freezer bag. Once the bag is full I turn it into stock by putting the frozen scraps into a large stock pot and adding about 4 quarts of water, a pinch of kosher salt and any fresh herbs I have on hand. Simmer for about 10-20 minutes and drain when cooled. I freeze the stock in quart containers until I'm ready to use them, and the remaining scraps are ready to go into the compost bin!

Yum...fennel pollen sausage pizza!

This is the perfect time of year for us to make pizza at home. Its not quite hot out, so it feels OK to crank the oven up to 550 degrees, which is what we do to bake our pies. The other exciting part is going to the Union Square Green Market to find fresh, delicious local ingredients to put on it. We recently had a little pizza party here, and our friend brought over my favorite sausage from Violet Hill Farms (see "local food resources NYC", in the side bar). This farm is located in Sullivan County and all of the meat is humanely and sustainably raised; just ask the farmer, Paul, he'll tell you all about it.

The sausage for this pizza is a pork sausage delicately seasoned with fennel pollen (admittedly and in seasoning at the moment), one of the most expensive spices in the world; and its worth it. This pizza was simple dressed with a little home made sauce and fresh mozzarella. On a well preheated stone in a hot oven, it bakes in less than 10 minutes. Its a really fun way to have a dinner party because it can be participatory (or not) and gets onto the table quickly.

The Iron Man and the Cheeseburger

OK; yes I went to see Ironman...what can I say? I've always liked Robert Downey Jr. And all in all, he was pretty good in the movie... Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to particularly reflect on the only food centered moment in the film. It really struck me for what it represented and I was pretty surprised at even being surprised. Well, here goes:

It seems natural enough that a life threatening trauma would make one pretty hungry. After being abducted in a foreign land, imprisoned and forced to recreate the very weapons that got you into this mess in the first place...and of course then battling a whole slew of terrorists, and wandering through the desert, one would work up quite an appetite.

So what might be the first meal of the rest of your life? I'm still pondering that myself; there are just so many choices...but for Ironman/industrialist Tony Stark, the choice is clear. It is the quintessential American meal; the cheeseburger. After being delivered back to the bosom of his beloved LA, Stark, a boy genius and playboy weapons manufacturer, wants only two things; a press conference (to reveal to the world the profound humanitarian transformation that has occurred within him after seeing his weapons kill the very people he naively thought they would protect)...and a cheeseburger, which gets delivered to him immediately (almost magically) in a simple brown paper Burger King bag.

Ah, regular food for regular people...and how convenient that one can easily multi-task with this handy dandy finger food. Stark literally pauses a moment to take a satisfying bite out of this (most beautiful example of a fast food) burger as he shares his life altering journey, escaping from the evil other. This bite appears to be enough to provide the relief he so desperately sought after months of being confined to a cave in the mountains of Afghanistan, since it fades from the foreground into being a simple prop through the rest of the scene where he is causing an uproar with his major business announcement.

So why does any of this matter? This excellent, and painfully obvious example of product placement is more than just the pedaling of crap food for BK, it is an exemplar of American cuisine. Comforting yet convenient, fast and fun; the cheeseburger is everything a good (meat-eating) American needs. What better representation of of the American way of life and culture (or some would say, lack there of) of food than a product that was sourced from any number of environmentally degradating sources, assembled by poorly paid, unskilled labor, and can be eaten by the consumer with one hand while, say for example; driving a car, or working, or better yet, shopping. What can be more American than that?

Don't get me wrong, even I enjoy a really good cheeseburger from time to time (my graduate supervisor can now attest to that), but this bit of gratuitous marketing is upsetting on so many levels. Cinematically, it seems clumsily shoved in (I guess they couldn't have put it in the scene where he is saving the damsel in distress) just to connect the cross marketing, and is almost distracting from the main action of the scene. But I also am concerned with what this kind of food represents and the message it sends people, especially the millions of kids that will go see this movie and then by the evil, saturated fat laden children's meals that contain the little gimmicky toys that in turn advertise the film. I also think its a sad statement that the epitome of comfort has been represented by a poor quality, low nutrition fast food burger; and not just for the marketing aspect, but because I think in many ways it does accurately symbolize those things to the dominant culture. We, as a culture, are so detached from where our food comes from, and really taking the time to enjoy a meal, that we don't even know what good food tastes like and can't discern the difference between quality or crap when we eat it.