Colorful Cauliflower

     Related to other members of the cabbage family like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, romanesco has been called psychedelic broccoli. Lime green in color, its spiraled buds form a natural approximation of a fractal with each bud in the spiral  being composed of a series of smaller buds that seem to follow a logarithmic pattern.  It is believed that romanesco is a result of selective breeding by Italian farmers back in the 16th Century.

     It can be prepared raw, lightly cooked or cooked through.  Noted chef Mario Batali has this to say about its preparation:  "I like to saute it slowly with garlic and lemon zest and punctuate with red pepper flakes for zing."

     Like all members of the cauliflower family romanesco has a sweet, slightly assertive taste but with a nuttier and more earthy flavor.  And the green tint makes it more nutritious because it contains healthy cancer-fighting flavonoids.  Look for it now at local farmers' markets as it is in season from late summer to early fall.



Al Dente

     Most of us are familiar with the culinary term al dente, meaning "to the tooth."  It's the way many like to enjoy their pasta, with just a little firmness to the bite.  But that is also the preferred way to serve wild rice, tender but with a little chew.

     Wild rice should be cooked until the grains look puffed but not broken.  When prepared this way, according to Joanne Smart who writes in the October/November issue of Fine Cooking, "Cooked this way--a bit firm outside but tender inside--the rice pops a bit with each bite..."

     "The best way to test for doneness is not by looking but by tasting," she goes onto comment.  "Because cooking times can vary, begin tasting early, and take the rice off the heat when it's just shy of being cooked to your liking as a little carryover heat will continue to cook it.  It's OK if some of the grains have split.  Just don't let them get to the point of curling, or the rice will be unpleasantly mushy."



     Tender but not split, wild rice will look swollen but has not burst.  Some recipes say to cook wild rice until it splits.  This means the rice will be softer.  Burst and curled rice, however, is overcooked and will be mushy and disintegrate easily.

The Seasonal Rhythm of Life

     Once again we are nearing the change of seasons.  This week I began again to make soup as I do each year when Autumn approaches.  This time turkey and wild rice were the prime ingredients.  I purchased the dried rice when I was out in Minnesota just a few weeks ago.  It's the official State Grain out there, and for good reason.

     For thousands of years the first Americans dried and stored it to provide food and nourishment for the long, cold winters.  The Ojibwa nation called it Manoomin, meaning "good seed."  They, along with the Sioux and the Chippewa, would collect the rice kernels that grew on the edges of shallow lakes and slow moving streams as a part of the seasonal rhythm of their culture.  Ricing season began during the transition from Summer to Fall when their villages moved from the interior woodlands nearer to the open waterways.


     Wild rice isn't really rice at all but an annual watergrass seed with a chewy outer sheath that shields a tender inner nutty, earthy grain.  It is a member of the zizania family.  At harvest time members of the community would go out in their canoes and gently tap the flowering heads of the slender stalks as their boat passed by.  That tapping would cause the wild rice kernels to fall, most of it into the hull of the canoe.  But some would end up in the water, seeds for the next year's future harvest.

     In Minnesota it is still hand harvested at this time of year by that same time-honored method as a part of the seasonal rhythm of life.

Well Shiver Me Timbers!

     There seems to be no shortage of new diets to follow, many of them with no substantiated testing to support them.  They come and go more often than I change my socks.  But there's a new one just announced called The Popeye Diet that deserves a second look.



     Scientists at Lund University in Sweden discovered that a spinach extract contained in the green leaf members called thylakoids can boost weight loss by as much as 43%.  It is being touted as the latest weight loss aid, curbing cravings by nearly 95%.  The findings are based on analysis of 38 overweight women and was conducted over a period of 3 months.  Food cravings, also termed "hedonistic hunger," are the urges people have for unhealthy foods, particularly sweets and fast food (and for me usually occurs around midnight).

     Ingesting thylakoids reinforces the body's production of safety hormones and suppresses hedonistic hunger, which in turn leads to better appetite control, healthier eating habits and increased weight loss.  It's those thylakoids in the green leaf membranes that gradually slows down the digestion process giving the intestinal hormones sufficient time to be released and signal the brain that the body is satiated.

     One of the study leaders, Professor Erlanson-Albertson, has commented:

     "It is about making use of the time it takes to digest our food.  There's nothing wrong with our digestive system, but it doesn't work well with the modern 'pre-chewed" food.  The thylakoids extend digestion, producing a feeling of satiety.  This means that we are able to stick to the diet we are meant for without snacks and unnecessary foods like sweets, crisps and such."

So now I wonder if that's how Olive Oyl stayed so thin?                                   

Pop-ular Grain

     The familiar food pyramid includes whole grains as an important part of a healthy diet.  And there are many to choose from including wheat, rice, and corn.  But even as they are similar, they are also very different.  Consider for a moment 3 types of corn: sweet, field and a favorite of movie goers, popcorn.

     Ever wonder how it pops?  Each kernel contains a small amount of water inside a circle of soft starch.  When harvested, popcorn is dried so that it contains around 14% moisture, exactly the correct amount it needs to pop.  According to an article in the Fall issue of Henning's Real Food magazine:

     "The soft starch is surrounded by the kernel's hard outer surface, the hull, which has just the right thickness to allow it to burst open when enough pressure builds inside.  As the kernel heats up, the water expands, creates steam, and cooks the starch inside, turning it into a liquid mass.  Pressure builds inside and finally reaches a point that breaks the hull open.  The contents inflate and spill out, cooling immediately and forming the 'popcorn' shape we know." 



     That little bit of water inside is essential and without it the popcorn can't pop.  Because of that it is vital to store popcorn in an airtight container in a cool location to avoid moisture loss.

     In addition to being a healthy whole grain, popcorn is also gluten free and is low in calories.  The air popped variety contains only 31 calories per cup and when cooked in oil the number is only slightly higher at 55.  Popcorn provides complex carbohydrates and is a good source of fiber. 

      And you don't have to go to the movies to enjoy it!

Sakuraniku

     Ever go into a high class restaurant that serves a cuisine unfamiliar to you and scan the menu?  I must admit that some of the names are confusing and at times even intimidating.  I've learned over the years that escargot is just plain garden snails, calamari is only squid and red drum is actually a fish.

     But if you're ever in an Asian restaurant that is serving sakuraniku, don't run, gallop out of the establishment.  That's just a fancy word for horse sashimi, a kind of sushi.  Horse meat,  while being repulsive to many in the Western world, is a regular part of the diet of millions of people, particularly in Central Asia.  It is high in protein, Vitamin B12 and zinc and is low in cholesterol.  It is said to be very tender with a sweet taste and is also high in iron content.  And it appears to be catching on in other parts of the globe.  Residents of some sections of Europe and South America also include horse meat in their diet.  It can even be found in butcher shops in the UK, Australia, Ireland and English-speaking Canada.  In fact, the top 8 countries that sell horse meat consume 4.7 million horses a year.

     There are currently no US slaughterhouses that butcher horses for human consumption.  But it may be only a matter of time before you see Seabiscut Burgers on the menu in your favorite restaurant!
 



Made in America

     When you think of pears, what varieties come to mind?  Names like Bartlett, Anjou or Bosc probably come to mind first.  They are all European in origin and are imports.  But there is one, and only one, truly American pear variety that you should really get to know.  And that is the diminutive Seckel, sometimes called the sugar pear.  It is commonly believed that it originated as a wild seedling in the Philly 'burbs in the late 1790's and all present Seckel pear trees are descended from that first tree in Penn's Woods.  They are naturally resistant to the fire blight disease that can decimate other pear varieties.

  

     It is barely longer than it is wide but don't let its small appearance fool you.  In fact, it's their size and sweetness that makes them an ideal snack for back to school lunches.  Olive hued with a dark reddish blush they are bite sized and can be canned whole or used as a plate garnish, beautiful as they are tasty.  They are great served with cheese and are also good paired with salty, cured meats.



     Seckel pears do not change color as they ripen.  So feel around the stem and when it has a bit of a give to it, the pear is ready to eat.  Ripe pears can be kept at room temperature for about two days and can be kept refrigerated for up to ten days to prolong their life once ripe. They're too small and delicate for mass distribution, however, so if you see some now at the market, be sure to purchase them because they are now in season with the fall harvest that begins in September and runs through February.