Peter!

Those of you who have been reading THIH for a while know that Peter has been experimenting with sous-vide cooking for several months. Sous-vide involves cooking food that has been vacuum-sealed in plastic in a tightly-controlled low-temperature water bath. The resulting food (carefully handled and cooked for food safety purposes, of course) is tender in texture and rich in flavor.

As sous-vide devices are quite expensive, Peter set out to make his own. His first attempt yielded a device that could control the tempy of the water bath to 1°F accuracy. Not bad! So far, he’s made salmon, lamb chops, and, of course, his “perfect” egg.

Of course, typical Peter doesn’t want just 1°F accuracy – he wants 0.1°F accuracy. Go figure. So, a few weeks ago, he set out to make the perfect sous-vide device, following directions on this website and adding his own improvements (such as separating the heating device and thermometer from the control box). Here is the result:

This box is the temperature control for the water bath in the bathtub. It does seem a bit overkill to use the huge basin to cook two eggs, but Peter wanted to test the temperature control in a large vat of water.

And here is our perfect egg!

What? Bonnie, you want some of dat?

One of my favorite ways to eat soft-boiled eggs is to break them over a big bowl of veggies and enjoy it like dressing.

With all the wonderful stuff in eggs, this dressing is one of which you can be proud (if you eat eggs, of course ). Stay tuned to see more of Peter sous-vide creations!

*Griiiiiiind*

Hear that? That’s me shifting gears.

… My lovely German friend Sandi sent me this question recently:

I’ve been meaning to ask you if you have any advice for people who live vegan? I’ve been vegetarian for 15 years but I’ve always liked dairy products. But for a while now I’ve been getting sick after eating dairy, even milk chocolate bars and ice cream I’ve been to the doctor to check it and he agrees that I might be lactose intolerant. So is there any advice you could give me for my diet? Are there even vegan sources for all nutrients, for example vitamin D?

Great questions, Sandi! I’m glad that you check with your doctor, as he can help you determine the degree to which you may be lactose intolerant (and check for other reasons why you may be getting sick). In general, lactose intolerance is common, especially in adulthood, with some ethnic groups more affected than others (African American, Asian, American Indian, for example). People vary tremendously on just how lactose-intolerant they are, with some people able to handle a cup of milk 2x a day, while others cannot handle low-lactose cheese. Your doctor and/or registered dietitian can help you determine what you can handle.

Some foods tend to contain more lactose than others: for example, hard cheese and yogurt tend to have less lactose per serving than milk. Also, full fat milk tends to have less lactose per serving than low fat and nonfat milk (although I would not condone regular consumption of full fat dairy due to the high amount of saturated fat!). With your doctor’s supervision, you can experiment to see just how much dairy you can handle.

Bonnie ponders whether or not to taste my hand.

Why am I pushing dairy so much? Some people choose not to include dairy in their diet, which is A-OK. However, for someone who DOES wish to include dairy in their diet, dairy is the easiest source of calcium. Of course, if any dairy makes you feel sick or you choose not to include dairy in your diet, there are some great vegan sources of calcium. The best is spinach and other leafy green vegetables, followed by beans, peas, nuts, and orange juice and cereal that’s been fortified with calcium (I’m not sure if Germany has these!). Try to eat several servings of these calcium-rich foods per day, and maybe consider a calcium supplement.

As for vitamin D, the best way to get vitamin D is to expose your skin to the sun – ALERT!! – but I don’t advise too much sun, because that can damage your skin! In the U.S., the best (and easiest!) food source for vitamin D is fortified milk, which I’m not sure you have in Germany. Some foods, like liver, sardines, and eggs, have a little bit of vitamin D, but it’s hard to get enough from just those foods (especially if you choose not to include them in your diet). I actually take vitamin D pills (they’re the only supplement I take, besides the occasional omega fatty acid supplement), because research is showing that vitamin D is very important, and even with milk I’m not getting enough in my diet. The literature on vitamin D is too rich to get into at this point – maybe I’ll devote a post to it later.

Lastly, sometimes vegetarians and vegans have trouble getting enough vitamin B12 in their diets because the best sources are meat, eggs, and dairy.  I know you said you don’t like eggs, Sandi, so those are out.  There aren’t really any plant sources of B12, unless you eat cereals or other foods that have been fortified with vitamin B12. B12 is really important, so if you’re not eating any dairy or eggs, it might be good to take a multivitamin, if you can. Nutritional yeast is another possible source of vitamin B12, but you MUST be sure that the label says the yeast has been fortified with B12 – not all of them have it!

A few good resources for a vegetarian or vegan diet are here and here.

(… You may be wondering why I interspersed my discussion of nutrients with pictures of Bonnie. Well, I thought about finding some generic pictures of milk or yogurt to break up the text, but I figured that was boring. This way, I can show off our adorable doggies. Goodness know I never exploit their cuteness. Case in point:

That would be my vampiric little Maddles, with Gussie in the background. What, you don’t believe me about the vampire thing? Look at this closeup, my friends:

Q.E.D. )

Q: What should Peter cook next in his sous-vide device? If I like your suggestion, we may try it!

This past weekend, we stopped by Lyman Orchards to fill our peach coffers. The weather was HOT, but there’s nothing like standing in the shade of a cool peach tree to relieve the heat (well, air-conditioning also works, but you work with what ya got).

Reeeeeeach!

What do you think? A peachy complexion?

We picked pounds and pounds of peaches with the intention of making peach preserves before I start school, but … yeah. Not yet. Maybe next week.

Speaking of school – tomorrow, I begin my final year of school. Again. A year from now, I’ll be able to add “RD” after my name Which brings me to my next bit: with the start of school, plus work, I will be slowing down my posts. Regular readers can already tell I’ve been posting less frequently in recent months, and this change will only continue with the start of a new school year. I love writing posts, but I have several personal projects cooking and I don’t want to shortchange them.

So, for now, I’ll be posting less frequently – maybe once a week? We’ll see. No pressure on my end – I’ll post when I can … and when I want to.

Thanks for understanding everyone! I appreciate each and every one of you who read THIH I hope my absences will not be too long.

Q: Do you like peaches? How do you like to enjoy peaches? Grilled? Cobbler-ed? Or fresh?

Even though my father lives 2000 miles away from me, he has an enormous influence on my life. How could he not? When he suddenly found himself raising three girls on his own many years ago, two of whom were under the age of 12, he didn’t buckle. He not only acted as our chauffeur and cooked us a meal every single night as we were growing up, he taught us to be thoughtful and brave when we encountered life’s challenges.

This year, I decided to time my summer visit with his birthday. Just because. For his birthday dinner, my wonderful Aunt Joyce shared with me two recipes my father loved when he was growing up: peas ‘n’ noodles and peach cobbler. I’m not going to share the recipes with you because I prefer they remain a family secret (selfish, I know ). However, I CAN show you pictures!

Peas and noodles:

Served with crispy seared garlic shrimp, courtesy of Peter:

Peach cobbler, made with fresh Colorado peaches:

Aunt Joyce, you probably shouldn’t look at the next picture – the cobbler overflowed! Blasphemy!

Served with ice cream AND whipped cream. We live large in our household.

Happy Birthday to my father

No, not that kind of roast! This kind of roast:

Ever since I saw Chef Dennis‘ Ratatouille Confite, I knew I had to make it. Yes, I know I’ve been on a roasted veggie kick lately, but with the wonderful variety of fresh vegetables available during the summer, how can I resist?

For my roasted veggie mix, I used heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, onion, and garlic. I drizzled this delicious chaos with extra virgin olive oil and fresh thyme and popped it into the oven until the aroma of roasted vegel practically wafted from the oven. I roasted so many vegetables that the eggplant needed its own pan:

You guys know how much I love sausage, so the addition of chicken sausage will not surprise you.

Great recipe, Chef Dennis!

After such a rich meal, a little dessert was called for:

Dessert was a sliced Paula Red apple with dabs of white chocolate peanut butter and dark chocolate peanut butter. The white chocolate peanut butter is courtesy of my food processor. The dark chocolate peanut butter is courtesy of this little gem:

Unsurprisingly, my milk chocolate-loving husb doesn’t like this peanut butter.

Let’s get a REALLY close look at this fab peanut butter:

Smear that on anything, and you’ve got a treat.

Remember the goji plant we bought back in April? Under Peter’s tender nurturing, the goji plant has borne fruit! And when I say fruit, I mean “fruit” in the singular.

Yes, that ONE goji berry is our harvest.

I tried to split the ONE goji berry with Peter – I think we ate 2 molecules each. I’ve eaten both dried and frozen goji berries before, but the fresh berry seemed milder in flavor (?) It’s hard to tell, since I think my bite of goji berry didn’t even make it past the tip of my tongue. I hope next year’s harvest is more … fruitful.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Q: Do you have a garden and/or indoor plants? What are you growing?

No.  Way.

I knew we simply had to cook this meal again, soon.  With a fridge full of veggies, we decided tonight was the night.

Polenta Gratin with Mushroom “Bolognese”
Adapted from Think Like A Chef

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 small yellow squash, chopped
3 garlic gloves, minced
3 cups mushrooms, any kind, chopped (We used white button and cremini)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh thyme
1 cup veggie stock
Salt and pepper

Polenta:
1 cup cornmeal (polenta)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt

1/2 cup fresh-grated Parmesan

Heat peanut oil over medium heat in large skillet.  Add onion, carrot, zucchini, and yellow squash and saute for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Toss in mushrooms and thyme and cook for three minutes, until mushrooms are soft.  Add tomatoes and veggie stock and simmer the Bolognese until the sauce thickens, about 30 minutes.  Set aside.

For the polenta, bring 4 cups water to a boil in a saucepan.  Add a pinch of salt, then add polenta VERY slowly – a spoonful at a time, stirring well after each addition.  Stir constantly while bringing the polenta to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook the polenta (stir occasionally) for about 30 minutes, until smooth.  Stir olive oil into the polenta.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spread half the polenta in the bottom of a 9″ x 9″ baking dish.  Spoon 1/2 – 2/3 of bolognese onto polenta, then top with the rest of the polenta.  Reserve the rest of the bolognese.  Top the whole gratin with Parmesan and bake for 40 minutes.  Turn the oven up to broil and brown the cheese for 3 – 4 minutes.  Warm the reserved sauce and serve with the gratin.

Inhale!

I can see why Peter loves this dish – yum!  The warm polenta is so filling, but not at all heavy.  And stuffing the gratin full of veggies is a great way to enjoy them in a nontraditional way.  Veggies can be filling!

While we were grocery shopping this weekend, I spied a new fruit that I’ve never seen in the flesh: mangosteen.  I’ve seen the juice in fancy antioxidant blends, yet I was unprepared to see this unremarkable little purple fruit.

Mangosteens are about the size of a small apple and apparently are wicked hard to grow due to the temperamental mangosteen plant. Food companies have generated a lot of hoopla about the supposedly high antioxidant content of mangosteen. The fruit appears to have some antioxidant effects, although it’s not any more of a “miracle fruit” than any other delicious (and more easily-accessible) fruit.

Mangosteens have thick, extremely bitter hulls (trust me, I tried it and it tasted … whew ). The edible fruit is creamy white and segmented like an orange:

How did it taste? Like no other fruit I’ve ever tasted. It wasn’t as sweet as, say, an orange, but the flavor was a rich combination of lychees, strawberries, and plums. The flesh was super creamy … and gone in three bites!

Gussie says: give it a try!

Q: Have you ever tasted mangosteen? What’s the most unusual fruit you’ve ever tried?