The Yum Diary

Getting Twiggy with It: A Toasty Love Affair

2009-11-08T13:56:00.014-05:00

Turns out my cat is just as bonkers for twig tea as I am.

As of last week, I am making (and drinking) a pitcher of twig tea each day for a 45-day detox (see below).

It's actually completely delicious! (For reals.)

I drink it unsweetened, hot or cold. It has a toasty, earthy, nutty flavor. YUM.

So, about my cat and the twig tea.

She loves drinking water out of human glasses. You really can't leave a water glass where she can get to it, or you'll have not only cat tongue but cat paw in your water. (Seriously, sometimes she drinks by dipping her paw and then licking it. Never fails to make me laugh.)

The other day, she starts sniffing at my glass of chilled twig tea and then, indicating true interest, almost pops her paw in there!

So I poured her a little monkey dish of twig tea to keep her grubby mitts out of my beverage.

Japanese kukicha twigs are the roasted stems of the green tea plant, camellia senensis. The caffeine is super low, 7mg or so compared to 150-200mg for coffee.

It's full of antioxidants and is a great cleansing agent and digestive aid.

Sure enough, after a good tea sniffing, in went the paw.

Twig tea is easy to make. I used to make it in college but basically forgot about it til now. You ever do that? Just forget about good things?

Skip the tea bags and buy the kukicha twigs in bulk, because the twigs should be simmered (not boiled!) in a pot of water for 20 min, not merely steeped. 2 TBSP for 8 cups of water does the trick.

I love it when she does this. Hilarious.

The twig tea is a small part of this 45-day total body detox I've been tweeting about (which is part of a 120-day reprogramming), led by my new medical nutrition coach, Cancer Cookbook author Roxanne Koteles-Smith of Asheville.

And she reaches in for more.

So yeah, um, as of last week, I've gone macrobiotic, gluten-free (wheat-free), meat-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free. Oh, and booze free, too. Yikes!

But strangely, it's actually not so bad, since there are so many great newfangled health food alternatives out there and Roxanne, a former Ritz Carlton SF chef, has set me up with all of these excellent menus and recipes*, customized for my health issues.

Basically, I'm eating a lot of veggies and whole grains and health food elixirs like umeboshi plum vinegar and flaxseed oil -- typical healthy stuff that I've been wanting to get into for years.

I'll let you know how it's going here and there, mainly when I come across something particularly "foodie delicious" beyond the oft compromise-ridden scope of "health food delicious."

Well, a few paws' worth was all she was in for before she looked up at me like, "Hey, um, this is okay, but where are the cat treats, yo?"

So I gave her some cat treats and poured out the dish of cat paw tea.

Me? I had some more twig tea and a piece of shockingly good, soy-buttered millet-flax toast and went about my business.

Dang, that toast is good. Sami's Bakery makes it; you can order it online but I get it in the fridge at Rosewood Market. I'll bet Rainbow in SF has it, or something like it. Organic millet flour and brown rice flour are two great tastes that go great together!

Surprisingly low calorie at 76 cals per slice, compared to 110-150 for normal bread, and the difference is indistinguishable! Booya.

I have this feeling that after a couple months on this crazypants diet, I'm going to look and feel as healthy as a freakin' yoga teacher.

I guess I should probably get off the computer and do some yoga, in that case.
xo
tb

*Roxanne's coming to Columbia this Thursday, Nov 12 to give a free seminar w/free samples of her yummy, chef-prepared, vegan food (Pasta with Greens; Tempeh Stew; Pressed Salad with Bok Choy, Wakame and Dried Cranberries, and Peanut Butter Mousse). She'll discuss her cooking classes, custom nutrition consultations for people with cancer, lupus, allergies, chronic pain, etc., and fresh prepared foods she makes for NC, SC and AL health food stores.

It's 6:30-8pm out at Sandhill Shopping Center, 487 Town Center, Apt. 208 in Northeast...I'll be there for sure! If you want to come, drop Roxanne a line and RSVP by Monday evening to 828-367-0671 or Roxanne [[at]] RoxannesRemedies.com
****
photos: TB

Vegan Sushi w/Green Tomatoes, Yams + Mexican Hot Sauce; My Last Burger(?!?!); and a Macrobiotic Chef to Know

2009-10-30T14:13:00.016-04:00

Seaweed is ridiculously good for you. Used with soy, it's proven to kill cancer cells, for one thing (and sugar grows them! who knew?), it's mineral rich, and it's the most nutritious vegetable on earth.

"Good Health" = An Excuse to Eat More Sushi
When I decide to eat more seaweed for general good health, I'm thinking homemade vegan* sushi.

'Cause sushi is ridiculously delicious, and I'm in the mood to make up some crazy things.

This photo, btw, is of the amazing disappearing asparagus-avocado-green tomato-pickled jalapeno hand roll.

****

(*I'm so not vegan. I ate a giant hamburger last week. See? [Scroll 3/4 down page.] The best part is that I ate the giant (cheese, actually)burger after attending a vegan cooking lecture. Ha!

The lecture was a presentation by vegan macrobiotic nutrition consultant Roxanne Koteles-Smith, who cooked at the Ritz Carlton SF under celeb chef Sylvain Portay and trained at both the New England Culinary Institute [NECI] and the Kushi Institute. Woman has chops.

I know her how? Using a custom dietary regimen and supplements, she recently shepherded my elder cousin into complete breast cancer remission with no pain during chemo [an astounding achievement according to all of my cousin's doctors and nurses].

Seeing my very Southern cousin convert so gracefully to an all-organic/local, gluten-free, sugar-free, and cow/dairy-free diet was mega inspiring. [She turned me on to amazing treats like melty, tasty goat brie, too. YUM.]

Sooooooo, after hemming and hawing about changing in my fabulously eclectic diet for a more healthful one, I am going to start seeing her for consultations and I'm going to get healthy as cr*p. I figured I'd better squeeze in one last slab of cow!)

****

That said...

Vegan Homemade Sushi Is Tight!
Because you don't have to mess around with raw fish, and it's way cheaper.

(After the initial investment, of course, in good wasabia japonica powder, nori seaweed sheets, brown rice vinegar, brown rice syrup [a smart substitute for sugar], mirin [rice wine], bamboo sushi rolling mats, good organic white short grain sushi rice [Lundberg!], good tamari [fancy wheat-free soy sauce], chopsticks, blah blah blah, pickled ginger [overkill if you ask me].)

Basically, if you go bonkers with the avocado and the spicy things, your rolls are going to rock, kindof no matter what.

Getting creative with veggies and condiments is the fun part. See that little monkey dish of yellow business up in the left corner of the photo above? Shaved Meyer lemon! Rind and all. Floral, sweet, lemony snicket.

Fun Times with Goofy Vegetables
We threw some green tomatoes in the Benriner mandoline slicer and marinated them in umeboshi plum vinegar. Oh, SNAP.

I baked a Mahon yam and sliced it into strips. Creamy.

Hit the cucumbers and the carrots with the Benriner too; my sweetie made us some swanky matchsticks!

Pickle Me This, Batman.
Sliced up some garlicky pickled jalapeno that I pickled myself! I used Karen Solomon's new book, Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It, as my guide.

(See those peppers? My stepmom and stepsister grew them thangs organically out of holes dug in haystacks, and fertilized 'em with cricket poop tea. Affectionately branded "Kricket Krap." Ahem. They are goooood!)

Anyway, Karen's pickle recipe is awesome! I highly recommend the book, reviewed this summer on Eat Me Daily.

And look, it is so attractive. Christmas gifting, yo! Check it out here.

Gather Ye Sesame Oils While Ye May
Even though our sesame oil's been in the fridge, it hasn't been touched in a year. It ain't rancid, but it's completely lost its yum, so the "sesame oil steamed spinach" trick I had planned wasn't really a hit, even with delicious homemade gomasio (pulverized roasted sesame seeds and salt -- also kept in fridge). Dang!

I was pretty pumped to make a spicy asparagus roll, all the same.

This one includes avocado, asparagus, slivered Meyer lemon, and carrots, with gomasio and a generous swath of specialness**.

Mexican Hot Sauce = Sushi Coup de Grace
We don't have any Sriracha or other Asian hot sauce in the frigo (yet), but I was kindof stoked to try my fave creamy-consistency Mexican hot sauces that I brought back with me from California.

**Salsa Huichol, you are my friend. Smooth, creamy, super warm spiciness from Tepic, Nayarit, MX. I heart you.

Oh, hi there, dark, rich, creamy, spicy Valentina Tamazula, made in Guadalajara, MX! You're my favorite. Don't tell Huichol.

Warm, Sweet, Vinegared Rice. Yum.
My friend Anne, a.k.a. The Shop Tart (if you haven't visited her on the world wide internet web, treat yourself) loaned me some mirin (rice wine) and her sushi cookbook, Sushi Made Easy, mainly for the rice recipe, but also for the rolling techniques, how-to photos, etc.

I like borrowing things from good friends; it creates an excuse to casually hang out when you give back whatever random thing you borrowed.

Oh and that rice recipe ROCKS! I will tell it to you if you ask, but the main bits are thus:
Rinse and drain your rice, like, 20 times til the water runs clear (ha!), drain it for an hour, bring to a boil w/2 1/2 cups water pound of rice, cover, simmer 5 min, simmer on super low for another 15 min, then let it sit steaming off heat, in pot, pot lid replaced by a tea towel for another 15 min. IS GOOD.

Ah, the finished product. Creamy, crunchy, spicy, savory. Dang!!

A sushi roll with steamed spinach, baked sweet yam, avocado, gomasio, hot sauce and carrot really does not hurt my feelings at all.

And for the record, there really is a difference between commercial wasabi powder (tinted horseradish + mustard powder) and the real stuff, made of harder-to-grow wasabia japonica.

It is subtle, vegetal, and sublime!

All I have to say is thank f-ing g-d for hand rolls. YUM.

Who even needs dessert with a hot little cone like that?

****
photos: TB

Kimpton Hotels: LGBT Discount, Dining & Spa Credits

2009-10-23T18:13:00.001-04:00

I like it when my Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) peeps get shown love.

From Kimpton Hotels, a national boutique hotel chain w/outposts in NYC, SF, LA, Washington DC, Atlanta GA, Miami FL, AZ, CO, Chicago IL, MD, MA, Portland OR, Penn PA, Dallas TX, UT, VA, WA:

Enjoy 15% off your room rate, $20 daily dining credit and 30% off any in-room spa service on weekend.

Kimpton Says Relax! It seems that everyone is a little more stressed out these days, which makes your weekends even more valuable and important. So grab your sweetie, a friend or sneak away by yourself, and head to your favorite Kimpton hotel for a weekend to unwind. Simply use Rate Code LGBT and receive 15% off our best available rate (Thurs - Sun), a $20 daily dining credit that can be used for a fabulous dinner or breakfast in bed. And if you like -relax and rejuvenate with 30% off any-in room spa service during your stay.

Offer Details:

Book a weekend night and enjoy 15% off Best available Rate

Enjoy a $20 daily dining credit to be used at a Kimpton Restaurant

Plus relax with 30% off any in-room spa service during your stay

Ask for rate code: LGBT

For stay dates September 17, 2009 through March 28, 2010

Valid only for stays Thursday through Sunday nights

Daily rates vary by hotel and availability. Book online or call 1-800-KIMPTON and use the Rate Code LGBT

****

New "Super Green" Seafood List from the Monterey Bay Aquarium

2009-10-22T18:09:00.003-04:00

What to pick when you're buying seafood, from the nation's arbiter of sustainable seafood style, The Monterey Bay Aquarium:

Download your pocket/wallet-sized regional Seafood Watch List here: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx

The "Super Green List," republished from the Aquarium's website:

The Super Green List:
Connecting Human and Ocean Health

Seafood plays an important role in a balanced diet. It's often rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which help boost immunity and reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and other ailments. Omega-3s are especially important for pregnant and nursing women, and young children. Unfortunately, some fish carry toxins that can become harmful when eaten frequently.

Good for You, Good for the Oceans
Combining the work of conservation and public health organizations, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has identified seafood that is "Super Green," meaning that it is good for human health and does not harm the oceans. The Super Green list highlights products that are currently on the Seafood Watch "Best Choices" (green) list, are low in environmental contaminants and are good sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

This effort draws from experts in human health, notably scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The Monterey Bay Aquarium will continue to work with these organizations to balance the health and environmental attributes of seafood.

The Super Green list includes seafood that meets the following three criteria:

Low levels of contaminants (below 216 parts per billion [ppb] mercury and 11 ppb PCBs)

The daily minimum of omega-3s (at least 250 milligrams per day [mg/d])**

Classified as a Seafood Watch "Best Choice" (green)

*The Best of the Best: October 2009

Albacore Tuna (troll- or pole-caught, from the U.S. or British Columbia)

Mussels (farmed)

Oysters (farmed)

Pacific Sardines (wild-caught)

Pink Shrimp (wild-caught, from Oregon)

Rainbow Trout (farmed)

Salmon (wild-caught, from Alaska)

Spot Prawns (wild-caught, from British Columbia)

*Other Healthy "Best Choices"

Arctic Char (farmed)

Bay Scallops (farmed)

Crayfish (farmed, from the U.S.)

Dungeness Crab (wild-caught, from California, Oregon or Washington)

Longfin Squid (wild-caught, from the U.S. Atlantic)

Pacific Cod (longline-caught, from Alaska)

*The "Super Green" list is based on dietary requirements for an average woman of childbearing age (18- 45, 154 pounds) eating 8 ounces of fish per week. The list also applies to men and children; children should eat age-appropriate portions to maximize their health benefits while minimizing risk.

Other Healthy "Best Choices" are low in contaminants and provide a smaller amount of omega-3s (between 100 and 250 mg/d, assuming 8 ounces of fish per week)

Contaminant data are from EDF, drawn from more than 250 government databases and peer-reviewed scientific studies on seafood contaminants.

Omega-3 data are primarily from the USDA Nutrient Database.

**Assumes 8 ounces of fish per week; 250 mg refers to the combined level of two omega-3s of primary importance to human health: eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA).

****
Note: My old buddy Cory McNair, who's a chef in Pawley's Island, SC, had a comment worth sharing:

"I would take this list with a grain of salt. It seems to sponsor a lot of west coast and Alaskan industries without regard to the efforts made in the southeast (on the SE sheet). US crayfish farming is nearly non-existent, they list Pacific Halibut as a fish to go for despite that its numbers are being depleted at a horrifying rate (to the point ... Read Morethat fishing moratorium talk keeps coming up). Though some fish do well in farmed environments (much rather have farmed tilapia than wild) I still am suspicious of the long term effects of farming many of the species they recommend (cobia? have you seen one? They are monsters, and need lots of swimming area.). I thought that it was interesting that wreckfish is the only Southeastern fish on the southeastern list that is recommended withouth concessions.

To be fair, I am looking at this as the SC legislature has been mulling over the idea of banning all commercial fishing of the Snapper/Grouper complex, including fishing charters. As an environmentalist, I hope they do it, as someone whose livelihood depends on these fish, I am worried.
In all, a good basic pocket guide for a consumer, but I hope that those that use this will care enough to look further into the various issues and problems in the industry, especially those that affect your immediate area."

Thanks Cory!

My Top 5 Faves from the SC State Fair Parking Lot

2009-10-20T15:06:00.002-04:00

All it takes is one stroll across the SC State Fair parking lot with an eye for vehicle adornment, and you can pick up some hot little socio-cultural gems. Here are my top five!

Dixie Girls. Perhaps they weep for racial injustice on the inside?

This pink Carolina Girl thing has really blown up lately.

I want to like it but I can't stop throwing up in my mouth.

I wonder if this person has a desk job for which they must behave in a modest, meek fashion, but come quittin' time, things really go flip!

It's like their church is the sun, rising and shining through a glittering stained glass portal to heaven.

Every time this person gets gas, I hope they bend down and flash themselves a huge, sh*t-eating grin in the side mirror while they pump the unleaded.

They would be completely justified in doing so, don't you think?

****
photos: TB

Red Velvet Cake, Beavers, and a 166-lb Watermelon

2009-10-18T15:26:00.004-04:00

I possess an unreasonable amount of nostalgia for the South Carolina State Fair.

It could have something to do with the incredible Fiske french fries. (My Dad's favorite.)

Fried fried with a side of Jesus, please! (Thank you.)

I get extremely pumped to go look at bunnies.

But, as is the case at most fairs I attend: the bunnies, like the birdies, are caged and unpettable.

Ran into my friend John in the Congaree Swamp exhibit, which is a weird replica of our local National Park, "the largest expanse of old-growth flood plain forest in America."

He was taking human interest shots of fairgoers for The State newspaper. I asked if he would please play "nature photographer" for me.

John is a good sport.

BTW, have you seen the half-hour IMAX movie about beavers? It's called BEAVERS and is completely mindblowing. It's on Netflix "Instant Watching" so treat yourself asap!

Beavers are industrious little machines. I've visited a bunch of SC lakes and ponds where the beavs have gnawed and toppled dozens of trees, leaving that cartoonish cone of chawed stump behind.

Our buddy Steven found a beaver skull in Lake Wateree recently; you should see the choppers on that thing!

Beavers are brilliant. I would like a beaver to build me a house someday.

2pm on a weekday: time to go look at the jams and jellies and crafts and stuff, while the crowds are still fairly thin.

(They had to outlaw beer at the State Fair because things were getting so rowdy during peak hours.)

Just the other day, my sweetie told me that loofah sponges are the insides of big, long squash-type vegetables, and that they grow here in SC.

Prize-winning peanut. (No more rhymes and I mean it.)

Peanuts are a big SC crop. These ones are quite large!

Not as big as this first place watermelon.

You heard of the craft known as Eggery? Now we know. EGGERY!! The word is printed on each of the little tags there:

Eggery.

There are some fiendish bits of bad in the home crafts show.

Seriously? A cross-stitch of a hobo clown? Please tell me his name is Patches.

And, um, WTF? Love the blue theme here.

On opposite day.

The decorated cakes are something else though. These ladies were super into the Best in Show winner...

..which was a pair of pointed toe high heels made of sugar and cake, with their own fancy box. Way to hit the judges in two soft spots: cake and shoes!

I find myself both grossed-out and totally drawn to this cake ensemble, fashioned to look like a burger and fry combo.

Truly impressed, on the other hand, with this cockroach cake. I don't understand why it didn't win top honors; it's AMAZING.

It's not a South Carolina cake contest if there's no red velvet cake.

An entire wall of fridges just for the refrigerated cake entries, yo.

(As well as a section for savory dishes all made with Spam. A Spam-sponsored mini-contest, of course.)

Yet more glass cabinets for the non-fridge cakes, cookies, cupcakes, breads, candies, rolls, and basically every humble variety of homemade dough in the state.

True fact: South Carolina is FIERCE about its cheese straws. This is just one shelf of entries.

Pickling is super hip these days in foodie circles, you might have noticed. I've been pickling from my colleague Karen Solomon's new book, Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It, and I'll report once the pickling has reached its zenith. Lots of key recipes in there, like ketchup, marshmallows, and homemade crackers. Nice.

You think SC takes pickling lightly? No ma'am. No sir.

Preserved, pickled, jarred, jammed, jellied, you name it.

We will find a way to make it keep forever.

This is made entirely of unleavened bread. A professor from the culinary institute in Charleston made it. Bucolic!

Time to go home and spend an indeterminate amount of time considering regrets over having gotten a corn dog from the wrong corn dog vendor. First, must appreciate the design elements of this commercial exhibit.

I didn't ride this elephant, because I feel bad about that whole exploited animal thing.

But what a sweet heffalump, no?

Going to go back to the fair next week and gonna get a corn dog from the right corn dog vendor (the "pronto pups" guy?) and take a look at the fine art and student art. I took a peek and there were lots of puppies and beach scenes.

Classic!

****
photos: TB

Nominate a Green Genius for $10,000 NRDC Award

2009-10-15T12:00:00.002-04:00

I like the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC). This environmental action group gits 'er done!

The NRDC's Growing Green Awards are back!

from Jonathan Kaplan's NRDC blog:

"If you have a favorite farmer or sustainable food leader, nominate them for the 2010 Growing Green Awards. Applications are due December 4, 2009, and a $10,000 prize will go to the winning green Food Producer.
"When we announced the first annual Growing Green Awards last year, there might have been a hint of trepidation in the office here. What if it didn't work? What if no one applied? What if the applicants weren't green enough?
Well, 150 nominations later, I can tell you that those worries are over. We were blown away by all the amazing things farmers are doing on their land to grow our food while taking care of mother nature at the same time; business leaders who are pouring on the innovation and using their supply chains to effect change; and thought leaders who are teaching all of us about more sustainable food from farm to fork."

Nominate here: http://www.nrdc.org/health/growinggreen.asp

****

Green Dispatch from a Red State

2009-10-14T17:10:00.006-04:00

Personally, I'm pretty excited about the spanking new sustainable urban farm and tilapia fish hatchery being built on repurposed industrial land in my hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. The big S.C. newspaper, The State, just ran a profile on the project, helmed by retired green architect Robbie McClam and his family. (I grew up around the corner from the McClams! Hoot hoot!).

Read about it here! http://www.thestate.com/local/story/981662.html

"Tucked away in a three-acre former vacant lot in Rosewood between an empty warehouse and an industrial laundry is an odd sight: an organic farm and fish hatchery.
"This is no backyard garden. It is a completely sustainable farm - within the city limits.
"From worm dirt up, architect Robbie McClam is creating a closed-loop system to grow micro-greens, vegetables and, eventually, two-pound tilapia fish. And it's all at 1005 Airport Blvd., within a stone's throw from...(more)"

This in the same week that our local CBS affiliate, WLTX, ran a video about our local Slow Food movement! http://slowfoodcolumbia.blogspot.com/2009/10/slow-food-columbia-featured-on-wltx.html

BTW, About This Whole South Carolina Thing
Moving my base of operations from San Francisco to my hometown of Columbia, S.C. in the past year, I have been very, very impressed with and inspired by the efforts put forth by area farm-to-table and shop-local movements, the contemporary art scene, and other progressive-minded, organized groups here in the state's capitol. (The alt. music scene has always been secretly terrific, Hootie notwithstanding.)

Despite those Limbaugh Fans
Republican lugnuts like Sen. Joe Wilson ("You lie!") and Gov. Mark Sanford (the Argentine affair) give South Carolina a bad name. Yes, there's a preponderance of conservative, narrow-minded nimrods in ballcaps and khakis and camo flak jackets here, and there's still a freaking rebel flag on the statehouse grounds (at least they took it down from the roof dome, but still -- ugh.)

BUT: what's great is that Columbia is a small pond -- and it's a university town. When a progressive wants to make a difference, the splash is fairly big! It's very easy for progressives in S.C. to knit together and get things done; everyone knows each other (and if they don't, they're one oyster roast or art opening away from meeting), and because the pace of daily life is a little slower and more relaxed here, people have considerable time to volunteer and donate their time to rad causes.

Socio-Cultural ROI
Plus, the Bay Area's "preaching to the converted" phenomenon is less of an issue; there are a lot more socio-cultural "swing voters" here, so the ROI on social and cultural activism is significant!

It's actually really, really cool.

In recent months, my goal has been to keep The Yum Diary's food coverage fairly general in scope (recipes, key ingredients, national interest pieces) instead of focusing on one geographical area, which was the initial idea when I started this thing in the S.F. Bay Area in July 2008.

Still, once in a while I like to share what my fellow Southerners are up to. Especially when it's RAWESOME!!!

xoxo
tb
****
photo: TIM DOMINICK/tdominick@thestate.com

Deep Discount on Slow Food USA Memberships (Thru Oct 15!)

2009-10-12T17:25:00.001-04:00

Normally $60 and up, Slow Food USA* memberships are sliding scale through Oct. 15, 2009.

Any size gift will make you a member of your local chapter. Sweet!

Join here.

Your gift is doubled through Oct. 15 as well!

*What is Slow Food USA?

Our Mission: Slow Food USA seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system. We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.

xoxo
TB

****

This Vegan Yeast Gravy Will Rock Your Meat-Eating Socks

2009-09-24T10:37:00.007-04:00

I woke up craving vegan yeast gravy.

(I know, that sounds just the tiniest bit dirty.)

Vegan yeast gravy, made with nutritional yeast flakes (available in bulk at your health food store, also ideal on popcorn), is one of the most delicious things I have ever put in my mouth.

My friend Laurel's mom (a silver fox!) always made it for their healthy brown-rice-and-vegetable dinners when she was in grade school (and still does), transforming a fairly bland, ordinary meal into a luxe, creamy, salty-good delight.

I recently visited Laurel and her own little nuclear family. After hitting a local farm for incredible Jersey tomatoes, the absolute freshest, greenest, loveliest okra I have ever met, creamy farm cheeses, and honeycrisp apples, we cobbled together a delicious late summer dinner.

(First we ate a bunch of apple cider doughnuts at the farm. Let's call that the appetizer course.)

Laurel and her husband (who holds the distinction of pulling off one of the finest senior year pranks our high school ever did see) are primarily vegetarian, so while it wasn't surprising, it was VERY EXCITING TO ME that the leftovers rattling around the fridge included a half-pot of -- that's right -- the magical yeast gravy of yore! (It reheats beautifully over low heat with rewhisking.)

So here I am, craving vegan yeast gravy and it's 8am. So I go for it.

You want to go for it? Here's how.

Pat's Vegan Yeast Gravy

1. First, toast 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup nutritional yeast in a skillet/frying pan. NOT BREWER'S YEAST! Even though it says so in the photo. I was not raised on health foods! So sometimes I get confused. Laurel assures me that brewer's yeast is thoroughly nasty tasting. I prefer not to find out for myself!

Then transfer to a smaller, higher-sided saucepan. (You don't have to, but it's better -- if you're willing to wash another dish.)

2. Add 1/3 cup oil (safflower or other veg oil)

3. Start whisking! Add, slowly, 2 to 2 1/2 cups liquid, either veggie stock or water (preferably heated). Whisk fast!

4. Sprinkle some cayenne, garlic powder, and paprika to taste.

5. Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup good tamari to taste. Whisk whisk!

By now your gravy should be glossy and velvety thick, easily coating and clinging to a spoon. YUM!!

Serve over anything resembling rice and vegetables. Me, I made some brown rice and sauteed some yellow squash and green tomato slices in my cast iron.

Garnish with something acidic like fresh garden heirloom tomatoes (these are some Black from Tula and Jaune Flammes!)

Sprinkle with gomasio and you're good to go!

What is gomasio? Roasted sesame seeds and sea salt, pulverized in a food processor or blender until coarse. SO GOOD. Not sure of the ratio so you'll want to Google it. We keep ours in the fridge for long life and happiness.

One caveat: This gravy ends up tasting remarkably like fried chicken, despite being completely vegan/vegetarian.

Now, I LOVE fried chicken, so I'm super into it. But my sweetie, he eschews meat as well as anything that tastes meaty, so I have a feeling it's not going to float his boat*. But we'll see at dinner! Cause I'm going to eat this again. Tonight.

xoxo
tb
*The gravy passed muster with gusto. I've made it 4 times in the last 2 weeks and the sweetie loves it so much he actually sneaks and sips it like soup from his spoon after "accidentally" ladling "too much" onto his plate.
Hooray!

****
photos: TB

bigBANG studio's Roasted Ginger Carrots: YUM!

2009-09-22T13:55:00.004-04:00

This NYC/Joshua Tree artist's blog is great; just learned of it today. Can't wait to make these ginger roasted carrots!

http://bigbangstudio.blogspot.com/2009/09/earth-candy.html

Photo from bigBANG studio's post (with the *painfully* easy recipe), here.

****

Learning to Love the Biggest Nut in the Barrel

2009-09-09T12:34:00.006-04:00

What to do with a big bag of Brazil nuts that no one wants to eat? Make pesto!

I had bought 2-3 cups of shelled Brazil nuts in bulk for my sweetie as a special treat, as he had mentioned that he and his brothers used to fight over the Brazil nuts whenever they were lucky enough to encounter nut mix as kids.

When I presented this big bag of specially acquired nuts to him (kept in the freezer to ward off rancidity), he did not seem thrilled. In fact, he revealed that he doesn't really even like Brazil nuts. The light bulb went off; I had misunderstood his childhood tale.

Just because a young boy fights over the biggest nut in the barrel doesn't mean he goes ape for them as an adult. And I think we can all agree that Brazil nuts just haven't ever really been that tantalizing.

UNTIL NOW!

First, roast them at 350 or so for a good 20-30 minutes, monitoring closely so they don't burn. They really take a good long while to roast thoroughly!

(While Brazil nuts are the richest dietary source of selenium and are only wild-collected for international trade [a good thing for the forests], they also contain the most saturated fat of any nut, more than macadamias, even! Don't tell your trainer.)

Then rub the skins off, preferably in a hand-printed tea towel by my friend Gina Pericini, whose super affordable Flock Home Linens are featured in the September issue of InStyle Magazine. (Woot woot!)

Next, get a mess of fresh basil.

(Very) loosely following the pesto recipe from the Silver Spoon cookbook (gifted to me, so graciously, by my friend Wendy), but subbing in brazil nuts for pine nuts of course, throw the following in a food processor:

(I tripled the recipe, roughly)

- 75 basil leaves

- 1 cup so or Brazil nuts

- 1/2 cup+ olive oil

- generous salt

- 1 cup or so shredded or grated parmesan cheese

That's right, friends. No garlic! Doesn't even need it. (Note the sweet spatula I got as swag at a food writers' event at the new International Culinary School in San Francisco -- a sweet facility at the Art Institute of California that deserves some PR!)

And there you have it: a voluptuous Brazil nut pesto that tastes very much like regular pine nut pesto, but with a tad more oomph.

I tossed a half cup of this stuff with a half package of hot, freshly boiled spaghetti noodles and handed it to my sweetie.

It was devoured in moments!

Turns out he likes Brazil nuts just fine.

xoxo
TB

p.s. Notice that awesome vintage glass storage dish in the photo above? I had been looking for some of these forever, ever since loving/coveting the ones my friend Tali uses, and then my awesome stepmom called me up recently (not knowing a thing about my ongoing search) and told me she'd found some groovy vintage glass storage containers at a garage sale that she thought I might like.

Um, how awesome is that?

****
photos: TB

Creaming One's Jeans for: Creamed Spinach

2009-08-30T23:41:00.179-04:00

Creamed spinach is my most recent Mashed Potato Mountain.

You know, the thing you obsess over, making it again and again (per Close Encounters...), until you replicate that dancing sugarplum, Devil's Tower, or in my case, that souffle dish of piping hot, meltingly savory chopped spinach touched with just enough butter, onion, cream, and cheese, all browned against the edges of the baking dish and so ridiculously good that one side order is never, never enough?

But how to make this thing I hadn't had since sneaking into a Ruth's Chris steakhouse a few years ago with my brother to celebrate a special occasion?

( I try to eschew chains but sometimes I slip. And that Ruth's Chris creamed spinach, despite not technically being gratineed, is righteous, left.)

The Hunt for Green October
I looked through my mother's fairly amazing collection of local, spiral-bound Southern church cookbooks from the 50s to the 80s, but all I could find were weird spinach casseroles in which cream cheese figured prominently. (I'm sure they're divine, darlin, but not now, thank you.)

Then I snooped into my own contemporary cookbook collection. Not surprisingly, neither the Zuni Cafe cookbook nor Richard Olney's Simple French Food were packing.

Diana Kennedy's Cuisines of Mexico? Yes for ID'ing the chiles de chilaca growing in my garden that were supposed to be serranos and *so* aren't (but when I dry them they will be pasillas!), No for nailing down classic American steakhouse dishes.

So I hit the World Wide Internet Web. Peter Luger's? No recipe. Embarrasingly, Ruth's Chris had a recipe on their corporate website. I hit cut and paste. Epicurious had a few recipes from back issues of Gourmet and Bon Appetit. Cut, paste. The Food Network had an Emeril version which looked decent. OK. Getting somewhere. Common threads: onion, butter, cream, spinach. Still no cigar.

What about the blogs? Big Oven had a really good looking recipe, with all the bells and whistles: nutmeg, cayenne, parmesan, whoosh! But I was still missing the "baked" element -- all of these were in-the-pan or bowl preps. I wanted a gratin feeling with my classic creamed spinach.

Greensleeves
Then I found The Good Home Cookbook, which really seemed to nail it down. My take on their recipe: follow the proportions only loosely, omit the garlic, add a touch of fresh nutmeg and cayenne, throw in some cream, and ultimately only use half the bechamel you've created so you have a critical mass of spinach (but still a totally decadent amount of creamed), and: fold in a few tablespoons of diced, aged white cheddar.

(Which leaves you a whole thinger of bechamel for the freezer! Booya!) I used a medium-sized bag of baby spinach (I know, weak) and a box of frozen spinach (weaker!!), but I'm too American to wash my own spinach, apparently.

Half an hour at 350-400 degrees and it's magic time.

I Cream, You Cream, We All Cream for...
JFYI, I had creamed spinach four times last week. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

Thank you to my terrific stepmom Janice, who let me have her four terrific, individual serving size, boat-shaped, pleasantly olive green baking dishes at a recent garage sale for zero dollars and zero cents. I use those dishes all the time now!

[We'll have to use them for Mashed Potato Mountaining that Swiss chard gratin from the Gervais & Vine 3-course last month, no?]

xoxo
tb

****
bottom photo: TB

These Green Tomatoes Will Kill Your Cholesterol

2009-08-28T23:24:00.010-04:00

Um, here's a real, real good reason to eat more green tomatoes. (Aside from the fact that fried -- or, more healthily, grilled [see recipe below] -- they are DELICIOUS.)

I noticed a piquant headline by my fave food science author, the legendary Harold McGee, whose New York Times column, The Curious Cook, continues to up the worth of the paper.

He's written a great piece on cooking with "poisonous" tomato leaves.

(Tweets are thus flying re: usage by the likes of chefs Grant Achatz and Heston Blumenthal, while bloggers seem befuddled and comment-leavers manage to bear an insight or two.)

Since green tomatoes are an epicurean staple in South Carolina (and readily available at the store) my southern friends -- like The Shop Tart*, who is as much a sl*t for my grilled green tomatoes as I am for her pan-fried crabcakes -- will appreciate this healthy tidbit.

From The Curious Cook by Harold McGee, The New York Times, July 28, 2009:

"There are significant quantities of tomatine in green tomato fruits, which people have long eaten fried and pickled. And tomatine appears to be a relatively benign alkaloid.

In 2000, Dr. Friedman and colleagues reported that when lab animals ingest tomatine, essentially all of it passes through the animal unabsorbed. The alkaloid apparently binds to cholesterol in the digestive system, and the combination is excreted — ridding the body of both alkaloid and cholesterol. The researchers found that both tomatine-rich green tomatoes and purified tomatine lowered the levels of undesirable LDL cholesterol in animals."

Seriously, though. That is AWESOME. I have five green tomatoes in my fridge that I bought at the farmer's market the other day. I am so grilling their taut little green a*ses tomorrow.

RECIPE MAGIC!
Grilled Green Tomatoes
serves: your face
prep time: um, like, two seconds

2-4 green tomatoes (it's ok if they're turning a touch orange)
s & p
high temp oil
a grill that starts out crazy hot

(1.) Slice green tomatoes parallel to their equators (you know, as if their tops and bottoms were North and South Poles), making slices 3/4 inch thick. Don't lose the jelly and seeds!! 'Tis the tastiest part. (2.) Liberally dress, brush, or spray the slices with a high-temp oil like peanut (best flavor), canola, grapeseed, vegetable, et al. (3.) Scatter each side with good salt and freshly ground pepper. Maybe even a little sugar if you're feeling naughty. (4.) Grill on an insanely hot grill long enough to hash down some fancy grill marks, then bump the grill down to medium for a couple of minutes on each side til they soften and get all caramelized-y. Or whatever. You are a good cook. Grilling is not hard.

Eat em up! I like mine sprinkled with homemade gomasio (roasted sesame seeds + salt, ground up coarsely), but of course it's going to taste even better if you spoon some good pimiento cheese on it. (Duh.)

xoxo
tb
p.s. McGee's article continues to describe the use of tomato leaves in recipes, the best known being Paul Bertolli's from Cooking by Hand, 2003, although McGee trips down some delicious-sounding avenues involving dried tomato leaves, fish sauce and halibut. I want to eat that.

*You should bug The Shop Tart for her vidalia onion/squash/blue cheese quiche recipe, btw. Oh brother, that lil fashion plate can cooooooooooook.

****
photo: TB, from my favorite indoor farmstand, the Cayce Farmer's Market, where they actually sell sidemeat. For real.

Mindblowing (Avocado-Shaped!) Summer Crab Salad

2009-08-10T20:44:00.001-04:00

Um, this avocado-shaped crab/avo salad makes my head explode.

Here's the recipe (called Imitation of Nature) for this awesome sculptural crab and avocado salad (with a photo how-to!) from the obviously awesome blog LUXIRARE.

Thanks to my rad interior designer friend Fresh Pink for showing me this!
****
photo: LUXIRARE

Olde Tyme Techniques: How to Put Up Heirloom Field Peas for Winter

2009-07-27T12:41:00.000-04:00

Got me some olde tyme country knowledge recently at my sassy elder cousin's house.

(Not just the lesson that you've got to have a separate beer fridge and coozie basket on your screened porch if you're really going to take summertime seriously -- which they do.)

This time around, I learned our family's generations-old method of "putting up" fresh summer field peas for the winter (that means freezing them), passed to my cousin by her mother, my heroic, super-rad great aunt Sue, who learned it from her mother growing up out in rural Kershaw County, SC, and so on.

I got these Dixie Lee field peas (3 lbs. worth) at our fancy little once-weekly, all-local farmers' market the other day.

Decided to put 'em up using the old ways.

(After saving out a few cups for my sassy summer succotash recipe, of course.)

If you've had fresh field peas*, which for some reason are completely unavailable in many parts of the country (the San Francisco area, for example, where I looked high and low to no avail), then you know that they are tasty, waxy little spring green morsels of low-calorie vegetable delight. There are a number of heirloom varieties: White Acre peas, Dixie Lees, Pink Eyes, Zipper peas, etc, most of which look like black eyed peas but are far less starchy with a lighter, grassier flavor.

Unless you've frozen your own, or know a local grocer who carries them frozen (big chains usually don't have the heirloom varieties), you can't get them in the winter. In summer, we usually get them at the big statewide farmers' market for about $4/lb., $15 for 4 lbs, and $28 for a bushel (8 lbs.), already shelled.

You have to do five things, really, to put up field peas for the winter (all while sipping an ice cold, cheap, light American beer, ideally):

1. Pick out the bad ones. Look especially for tiny little erums** that might be wriggling out of the peas they've colonized. (Happily, I haven't run into any yet, in three batches of field peas.)

2. Wash them twice in a basin of water, not just through a colander.

3. Blanch them; bring a big pot of water to a boil, then throw in your peas.

Leave them in there until the water starts boiling again.

4. Transfer the peas to an ice bath (half water, half ice) to stop the cooking, then drain.

5. Then bag and freeze them! Use freezer-safe bags, and not the slide lock kind. They don't seal as well.

My family uses quart bags, but I am trying out another method: flattening the peas (without mushing them) into a thin layer in a gallon bag.

I'll just break off however much I need when the time comes, then rebag the rest, like an old friend of mine does with chicken stock.

(Why? Cause I'm out of quart freezer bags and I forgot to get more at the store.)

Once you've popped those bad boys in the freezer, you're golden.

Or spring green, anyway.

Don't forget to reserve a cup or two for cooking this week! They'll keep about a week in the fridge.

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THEM FIELD PEAS, GURL?

Cook peas all the way by boiling them further til tender, 10-25 more minutes depending on the type of pea. Feel it out.

Ideas:
- summer vegetable succotash with sweet corn, fresh tomatoes, mild onions, fresh basil
- vegetable pot pie
- summer vegetable pancakes (bisquick pancake batter, corn, shredded zucchini + squash, diced jalapeno, shredded sharp white cheddar, field peas -- all veggies pre-cooked except for jalapeno and corn)

Um, I'm getting hungry. I will chat with you later. Please let me know if you have any other field pea recipes!
xoxo
tb

*I posted last year on butter beans, but I am a doof and didn't remember that down South, there is a difference between butter beans and field peas. Butter beans = lima beans and that sort of thing. Field peas are their own thing. There are lots of good pictures in that post, though! And some good info, even if my naming was a bit off. Whatever, I was tuckered from shelling my own crowder peas, dawg!

**Great Aunt Sue extolled the virtues of first examining an entire bushel of shelled peas closely, in small batches, looking closely for rotten bits and worms.

She disliked worms so much that she referred to them as "erums" so as to not gross herself out. Her husband Wilba noted recently, laughing, that putting up field peas with Sue was a real task, as she insisted on scrutinizing each pea individually.

"Each pea, girl. EACH PEA."

A-holes in NC Diss Hardee's B-Holes Commerical

2009-07-24T12:09:00.000-04:00

Apparently, this Hardee's ad for their new fast food biscuit holes got pulled from NC broadcasts (or slotted in after 9pm) because it's a little too dirty. Sweet.

A Food Nerd's Lifelong Dream Come True

2009-07-23T15:30:00.000-04:00

If I wasn't a giant nerd before (and I was): I have, today, achieved a minor/enormous life goal.

I put all of my bulk spices into little glass bottles. ALL of them.

(Except the epazote. Sorry, epazote. I only use you, like, once a year when I make black beans.)

I have had my eye out for some rad spice containers for years. I knew I wanted them to be:

- multitudinous
- possessing of character
- basically free

And I was not going to puss out and buy them from Williams-Sonoma or some such. No way.

So last week, while my buddy Blalock was visiting from SF, we dropped into the sketchtastic His House thrift store out on Augusta Highway, on our way to get a late BBQ lunch out in BFE.

Sitting there in the kitchen bric-a-brac section was a Keds shoebox full of these sweet, 1930's-1940's vintage glass spice jars by "Crystal Food Products, Watseka, Ill. 60970" (note the old state abbreviation).

I gathered them up and went up to the surly gentleman running the cash register for a price check.

In my most hushed inner nerd voice, I thought, "Please be five dollars for all of them. Please don't charge me a buck a piece. Please please please pleasepleaselaselappleasepleee..."

"That box there? That'll be three dollars."

3 bucks! Not $3 each. $3 for all 24 of them! Sweet.

Ran them through the Fisher-Paykel (eco-cycle, duh), dried them well and rubbed the funk off of the copper-plated screwtops. Then spent the morning funneling in all of my dried herbs from Mom's garden (after pulverizing them in my mini food processor) as well as the bulk herbs and spices I'd stockpiled recently from Rainbow Grocery in SF.

It took FOREVER.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity to swan dive straight into the nerd zone, I made sticky labels to put on the jars for which I had no correlating spices. I don't stock caraway seed, so now it's a ground clove bottle, and so on.

(Yes, I made the label text a dark olive green in a pretentious font [Gungsuh -- ??] and cut out each and every one from a sheet of Avery 2"x4"s.)

I'll admit, I already had 10 generic glass spice bottles that I pilfered from my Mom's house months ago for my heavy-hitters like fennel seed, coriander, chile flakes and white pepper.

Today I graced these with nerdy, printed labels as well, so that each time I regard them on the shelf or use them in dish, I can praise myself for being so terribly organized.

Total spice organization: it's a long-term dream come true. Like, for the last 12-16 years or so. Now that I've made it happen, I can only imagine the food nerdish shenanigans into which I might descend next.

Til then,
xoxo
tb
P.S. Today I looked up my vintage spice bottles on eBay just to be self-congratulatory, and they go for $21 to $69 for a set of 24. My friends, believe this: I am full to the brim with flea marketer self-satisfaction.

Tomato Tarte Tatin: This tomato pie kills it!

2009-07-19T13:21:00.000-04:00

Tomato season means tomato pie. In this case, a repeat of a visually stunning NYT recipe with which I fell in love last year.

I made this yesterday for a family dinner party, and it was wholly devoured by vegetarians and carnivores alike! (After dinner, JJH, my cousin Emily, and I scavenged scraps from the near-empty serving plate like ravenous tomato vultures.)

Presenting yet again:

Caramelized Tomato Tarte Tatin!

Click here to see my original post, with recipe and cooking notes, from a September 2008 edition of The Yum Diary!

It's a fairly easy recipe, 90 minutes front to back, piled with:
-summersweet cherry tomatoes
-salty kalamata olives
-fresh thyme
-and caramelized vidalia onions
-on a buttery, puff pastry upside-down crust.

Frozen, prepackaged puff pastry is the key!

****
photo: TB

The Most Beautiful Ruins in America

2009-07-12T19:03:00.000-04:00

Stopped to see the famous ruins of Old Sheldon Church on a recent trip to Beaufort, SC.

If it looks familiar, you might have seen it in The Big Chill. (Or in person, if you're lucky.)

It's one of the absolute oldest.

Some of the vaults *are* actually among the oldest in the state.

Others are still tended, in full-blown (creepy) Confederate fashion.

Plenty of mouse tunnels in the foundation...

...But it's no challenge to get inside.

JJH, a seasoned stonemason, pointed out that the mortar between each brick was rife with tabby, a lowcountry building material made from crushed up oyster shells.

Nice place for a sunset.

(Although the once-yearly public service, held the second Sunday after Easter, is supposed to be quite something.)

Such a spiritual afternoon pairs well with a trip to downtown Beaufort, a sweet little port city featured in the tepid Barbra Streisand film The Prince of Tides.

Specifically, it calls for a trip to Hemingway's...

One heck of a great dive.

What's better than a happy hour game of dominoes?

Especially when the terrace you're enjoying is topped by this.

A stint on a waterfront porch swing doesn't hurt.

Time to go home. On the way, a different kind of ruin. This one, an old gas station at one of the Bowman exits off of I-26.

Even the nastiest leavings look lovely on a stormy summer day.

****
photos: TB

All the Blueberries You Can Eat -- for $9

2009-06-28T23:34:00.000-04:00

A gallon of fresh blueberries for $9!

The only catch? Got to pick them yourself.

With pleasure.

The proprietors, who own Cottle Strawberry Farms (also pick-your-own, off of Bluff Rd, Columbia, SC) say that Friday, they had 500 people out there picking blueberries.

Wonder how many on Saturday when we went out there (in the 100-degree heat)?

This guy keeps track of it all.

(In a college-ruled notebook.)

xoxo
tb

p.s. I gave half of my gallon to my elder cousins for their blueberry pancakes (I was over there anyway to learn how to "put up" -- that is, blanch and freeze -- summer field peas for the winter), and then I froze the rest of my berries for blueberry, banana and almond milk smoothies. Yum!
****
photos: TB

Shrimp Cakes (and a Vegetable Encyclopedia) to Die For

2009-06-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

Made my first-ever shrimp burger today for a light lunch. Yum! Came up with the recipe myself, with a little help from a groovy 1960's cookbook.

Here's the finished product, with a little baby arugula and the first few cherry tomatoes of the season from the backyard garden. Um, totally delicious. Tooting my horn. Tooooot toooooot!

(To be honest, these are more like shrimp cakes. I don't feel a need to go heavy on the binding ingredients, nor am I into pulverizing my seafood, but they can be used as burgers if you're not picky about bit of shrimp falling hither and thither.)

Instead of food processing the shrimp to a pulp, I wanted the loosely bound, sauteed-'til-golden, hand-diced shrimp to fall succulently into my waiting fork, much like Daryl Hannah falls succulently into the waiting arms of Charlie Sheen in Oliver Stone's Wall Street, which (watched it last night -- WOW), if you haven't seen it since it came out 22 years ago, rent that sucker -- you're in for a glossy 80's TREAT.

Key moments in Wall Street to enjoy:

1. The big home decorating montage once Bud Fox gets rich, with so much teal, exposed brick, faux finish, gold leaf, and bad art that you will cry.
2. Charlie Sheen (as Bud Fox) making nigiri sushi rice ovals with a ridiculous hand-cranked rice ball machine while the stereo cranks "This Must Be the Place" by the Talking Heads; meanwhile Daryl Hannah stumbles around with a goblet of white wine, rinsing shrimp, assessing raw oysters on the half shell, and pulling fresh noodles from a pasta machine.
3. And of course, Gordon Gekko's "Greed is Good" speech, which skewers a boardroom full of corporate VPs for their bloated salaries. Ahem.

Anyway, there's your "dinner and a movie" recommendation, for no real reason in particular except that it's on my mind, and now to the recipe!

Yum Diary Shrimp Cakes
Serves 4 as an entree, 6-8 as a starter
prep time: 30 min
cook time: 5 min

-1 lb. Peeled and deveined (wild-caught) jumbo shrimp, rinsed, patted completely dry, then diced into 1/2-inch pieces

Sprinkle liberally the following on your shrimp:
-1 tsp. Fresh ground black pepper
-1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
-1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
-1/2 tsp. "Adobo" powdered seasoning

Then combine the following in a bowl to make your binding mixture:
-1-2 scallions, finely diced
-1 egg, beaten
-1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
-1 tsp. Tamari or soy sauce
-1 tsp. Dijon mustard
-1 tbsp. Mayonnaise
-3 full sprigs of fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, minced
-1/4 tsp. red chile flakes
-1/4 cup breadcrumbs
-1 tbsp. Shrimp stock (if you've got it -- I just simmer my shrimp shells in a cup of water with a bay leaf for a half hour)

Fold in the diced, seasoned shrimp (which you can prep a day ahead and store in the fridge well-wrapped against oxygen permeation and covered with an ice pack). Mix well. Strain excess liquid (this will be necessary).

Then heat a skillet to medium and add the following for each burger-sized cake (less for appetizer-sized cakes):
-1 tsp. Peanut or other high temperature oil
-1/2 tbsp. Butter

When oil/butter mixture is hot, spoon a burger-sized amount of shrimp mix onto the skillet and pat it flat so that each cake is only about 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick. Fry on both sides til golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes total, give or take a minute or two.

Squeeze the juice of a quarter lemon per burger-sized cake and serve with mild, lightly dressed greens. (Watch out -- I found arugula to be too overpowering, actually!)

Inspiration was taken from The Shrimp Cookbook by Alex D. Hawkes, found on ABE Books online while hunting for more cookbooks by the author.

While this 1966 volume is a little cheesy and cocktail party-ish, I had good reason to go hunting for Hawkes online.

Last year I found his gorgeous, incredibly informative volume, A World of Vegetable Cookery (Simon and Schuster, 1968) for $1.00 at a tiny thrift shop in Mill Valley, CA.

I had hit a cookbook jackpot.

The book is sparsely and beautifully illustrated, covering encyclopedically the world of vegetables normal and strange, with info on provenance, usage, history, and even a few recipes.

It's like a cross between the Food Lovers' Companion and On Food and Cooking, but devoted exclusively to vegetables -- from akee and annatto to nasturtium and okra, and on to talinum, taro, tomato, topi-tambo, and turnip, to finish with zucchini, an old friend.

If you come across this book, snag it! It's been invaluable.

Now I just have to figure out how to dig up a kudzu tuber. The book is full of info on the use of the root of this ubiquitous, 50-ft vine in Asian cooking. However, there's no mention of the wide, fat leaves, which I've heard you can cook.

Anyone know anything about frying kudzu leaves?

xoxo,

****

photos: TB

Naked Beach Forest Find

2009-05-31T15:01:00.000-04:00

Went hunting recently. (For pretty views.)

Right on the beach at faraway Hunting Island State Park, SC, we found a beautiful 1873 lighthouse.

First, an easy photo op.

A spiral ascent...

A view from the top.

Then an orange Push-Up pop.

Trailed through the woods for no reason in particular...

...then came upon something absurdly spectacular.

The island's geography kicks it out into currents streaming northward up the coast...

...so the coastal forest erodes and
erodes, leaving live oaks and palmettos to fend for themselves.

It's mesmerizing.

So easy to spend all day peering and snooping.

Just don't get snagged.

****
photos: TB

How to Tell Wild Shrimp from Farmed: Red Leggings

2009-05-22T15:45:00.000-04:00

How to Tell if a Shrimp is Wild

If your shrimp is clutching a bottle of Malibu rum and running into the street, drunk dialing ex-boyfriends and screeching, "Woooo Hooooooooooooooo!!" at the top of its lungs, then yes, it's pretty wild.

Otherwise, sustainable, wild-caught shrimp (these from the waters of Port Royal, right near Beaufort, SC) are easy to distinguish from icky, farm-raised shrimp: wild shrimp have pinkish-red legs.

(Thank you, Friendly Safeway Fishmonger Man, for sharing that helpful bit of information with me last year!)

Found myself in Frogmore, SC with a one-item shopping list: SHRIMP.

Best to get it from the source, so we headed to the marsh-front mainstay, Gay Fish Co.

This place is perfect.

They know their audience and they keep it simple.

Frogmore stew is as simple as it gets: boil up some potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp with a bunch of Old Bay seasoning powder. Done.

(Some people add onion.)

The dock behind Gay Fish Co. is a nice place for a breather.

Just don't inhale too deeply cause it's a marsh, and marshes always smell like a raccoon's been dragging dead fiddler crabs up and down the pluff mud.

(Which they have been, actually.)

Dock lockers.

Someone's been busy arranging detritus out back.

Thoroughfare.

Outside and Obsolete.

Next stop: over the dunes and off to the beach. Where the beauty gets so huge it's shocking -- more on that next time!

****

photos: TB

Yucky Crab Burgers, Yummy Shrimp Burgers in Frogmore, SC

2009-05-17T12:11:00.000-04:00

A crab cake sandwich at a marshy dive called The Shrimp Shack in Frogmore, SC: this was to be the reward for a long-ish drive down into the Beaufort, SC lowcountry.

(There were different, and more stunning, rewards later in the trip -- to be described in an upcoming post.)

Off to Hunting Island, a gloriously lush coastal forest complete with excellent beach and lighthouse (post on that one later this week, too!)

The lowcountry is riddled with waterways and little sea islands.

The Shrimp Shack!!!!

The tale was told of chomping into delicious crab cake sandwiches on family trips to the beach back in the day.

Would memory serve?

You know the place is down home with a menu like this.

And decor like this.

The shrimp burger was delicious! Very simple, but fresh and not even close to overcooked.

The crab cake sandwich, unfortunately, was disgusting. Yellowed, desiccated crab meat, chicken fatty flavor. Ew.

The only recourse? Head across the highway to Gay Fish Co. in hopes of procuring the freshest of shrimp for dinner!

What goes down at Gay Fish?

More in the next post from The Yum Diary!

****

photos: TB