.:Sustenance:.

.:In Season:. Apples

2011-10-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

How I have longed for the last few months, for apples that aren't last years freezer mush. I happen to live in the best state for apples, but like all good things there is a time and a season. Now that they are in, I just can't get enough! The limited life Honeycrisp is like tangy candy; Fujis make the best caramelled apples on a sunny, golden Autumn afternoon watching Breakfast at Tiffany's with my favorite little blonds.
Recently, my best girlfriend and I made a trip to the alpine Bavarian village of Leavenworth for Oktoberfest, and I found bushels of freshly picked Jonathon apples. My favorite apple for baking, and has nearly a year long lasting capacity! Time to cook!

Fennel Loin of Pork with Cinnamon Apple Compote and Roasted Potatoes

2011-10-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

Two ways, with a dijon, garlic and thyme coat on,
and just olive oil, salt and pepper.

Pork Loin with Fennel with Apple Compote
and Roasted New Potatoes

Good organic olive oil (I prefer a nice Sonoma Valley, Ca over any, anymore)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cups sliced yellow onions (2 onions)
2 cups sliced fennel (1 large bulb)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 large cloves)
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon white wine
1/2-1 cups fresh bread crumbs (can be omitted)
1 (3 1/2-pound) loin of pork, butterflied (just ask your butcher at the grocery store)

7-8 New Potatoes, tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

For the stuffing, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan. Add the onions and fennel with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook over low to medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions and fennel are tender and lightly browned. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook for another minute, deglazing the pan. Cool slightly.

Add the bread crumbs and 1 teaspoon of salt to the stuffing mixture. Lay the pork on a board fat side down, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the stuffing evenly on the pork and roll up lengthwise, ending with the fat on the top of the roll. Tie with kitchen string, rub with olive oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Place the rolled pork loin on a baking rack on a sheet pan and roast for 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees F and roast for another 30-50 minutes, until the interior of the pork is 137 degrees F. (If the thermometer hits stuffing rather than pork, it will register a higher temperature, so test the meat in several places.) Remove from the oven and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Put new potatoes back in the oven and allow to cook for the another 15-30 minutes Remove the strings, slice thickly, and serve.

About butterflying a Pork Loin: Its really quite simple. Lay the pork loin, I suggest a decent size one, on a cutting board and slice lengthwise along the top third. Do NOT cut all the way through but leaving an uncut portion like a spine the same thickness as your 1/3 cut. Flip loin over and cut another 1/3 of the way down ensuring that you do not cut all the way through and the loin will open flat! Its so wonderful for all sorts of stuffing, rolls, and your friends and family will love the look!

Cinnamon Apple Compote

2-3 medium tart apples, peeled, and sliced or cubed (Jonathan's if possible)

4 tsp butter (divided, 2tsp and 1 tsp and 1 tsp)

3 teaspoon lemon juice and zest
Pinch of salt

1/4 cup brown sugar (optional)
3/4-1 cup water/ apple cider

1 tsp apple Brandy (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon corn starch

As soon as 2 tsp of butter melts, place apples lemon zest and juice in a skillet and stir 2 minutes over medium heat.
In a medium saucepan, add 1 tsp butter and other ingredients and stir over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. About 3 minutes. Add a bit of mixture to a small bowl and add cornstarch, mix and return to pan, boiling on medium for two more minutes.

Lower heat, and simmer all ingredients until the mixture becomes thick and the apples are soft. Transfer to bowl and serve warm! (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Stir over medium heat until heated through.) Add the last pat of butter to any sauce to make a glossy luster.

Additional uses: Add to steel cut oats, German Pancakes, ice cream, waffles, pancakes, and many other ways!

Peach compote: Same as apple compote, but use peaches instead of apples and a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of allspice, instead of cinnamon.

By Definition- Why Sustainable, Local, Seasonal Foods?

2011-10-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

By Definition-“Sustainability” is a term often used by the foodies and the environmental movement, but is not a word that strikes a personal or understandable cord for the rest of us. First and foremost, one questions where to begin, and what the heck it is really? Sustainability's answer falls in growing and purchasing local family farm raised foods and eating seasonally within our own corners of the world. It can easily solve many of the persisting issues such as hybrid seeds, atmospheric damage, contaminants to the earth’s system and our bodies are global. The good news is we can effectively manage many of these concerns on a local front without putting ourselves out, but in fact eating better than ever! I'll summarize a few of those issues and why this is such an easy solution as I drink my bean.

Seasonal refers to food that is grown and picked at its peak and ripened naturally during its natural harvest periods. It is not forced to grow out of season... straining the earth even more by forcing it to produce year round. It can refer to fruits and vegetables, but also seafood, game, and meats.

Local foods are a bit harder to define and can be exchangeable to one’s personal standard, but often considered to be grown, harvested and processed within your local community, state, region or a 100-400 mile radius; the idea being the consumption and purchase of foods with fewest transportation miles as possible.

Toxic Crop -When crops require a heavy use of chemical fertilizers and imported water to produce sufficiently, because the soil has been completely stripped of any natural nutrients (thank you CORN!), it is no longer sustainable. The environmental and physical dilemmas around excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers are numerous, but whenever a crop is growing under forced conditions using synthetic and chemical fertilizers or pesticides that are meant to kill or replace the natural balance of soil they will always percolate out of the soil, now contaminating local water sources and oceans. This has many scientists concerned that it is very likely the reason for the rising rate of extinction of many species of frogs, honey bees, and many birds. The fertilizers being pumped into our ocean are the main source of “red tide” and highly productive algae that suffocates anything in its path. (Note: Locally the use of pesticides have greatly reduced oxygen levels in our own Puget Sound causing dramatic affects.) Red tide kills the seafood and decimates the food stock for other larger species such as whales and dolphins as this algae uses all stocks of oxygen in the waters; greatly reducing seafood quantities, clams oysters and other shellfish, ocean mammals, damaging coral reefs and overwhelming the oceans natural purification processes. The loss of rockfish, salmon and shellfish not only raises the prices on seafood, but is a staple of many diets throughout the world. Of course, fertilizer and contaminants also reach our drinking water and riparian waters. Often these components are not/cannot be removed and end up stored in our liver and body fats.

Easy Environmentalist- Without the Tree Hugging-The requirements to ship products grown and raised abroad or even out of your immediate locality also have substantial affects to the environment. Fossil fuels rising costs and emissions from cargo ships, rail and trucking products internationally and cross country are an obvious contributor to some of the environmental issues as they release carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and other pollutants that contribute to global climate change, acid rain, smog and air and sea pollution. The refrigeration required to keep our fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meats from spoiling during their long journeys burn up even more fossil fuel. Small-scale, organic farming operations have been shown to use 60% less fossil fuel per unit of food than conventional industrial farms.(Norberg, et al) From field to sale average about 45 miles of transportation, a significant difference the average commercially raised product ships 1500+ miles. (Pirog,2) Many products are plastic wrapped and require a significant amount of special packaging to maintain their freshness, and keep them from being damaged in thousands of miles of shipping. This alone creates mountains of unnecessary waste in our landfills. It is doubtful we would be capable of eliminating all waste from our lives but it’s certainly feasible to find options to reduce the unnecessary product from transporting foods by using local resources.

The Seed We Need-A benefit of locally and seasonally grown food is the increased and returning successful use of native seeds. They often use native plants which saves a valuable resource that is becoming eliminated by hybrid, high producing, and corporate farming practices. Native or heirloom seeds have virtually been eliminated due to the current buyout of the family farm by large commercial grocers. They are resistant to fungus, disease and many other conditions such as drought. Hybrid seeds do of course have a huge benefit to world food stocking by mass producing wheat, corn, and rice at a high rate of production and growth. As significant the benefits are of the larger crops are, the negatives of the farming processes just at profound. Hybrid seeds leach the earth of its natural minerals leaving the soil parched and useless. Hybrid seeds rape the soil, overuse the water supply, and have no resistance to disease or drought. As hybrid seeds require a massive amount of water, many regions that produce them have water imported. A native seed grows in your area because it can be supported naturally by your environment; making them highly resistant to environmental issues and the natural cycles of drought without excess water usage. Native seeds have been sorted by time and trial. The strongest surviving is more than true in this case; drought resistant, disease resistant, plague sturdy. Genetically engineered seeds do not have this in any form; so in the event of any form of disaster, you would at the least need a stock of these seeds to back up the overwhelming loss of crops that are no longer able to grow. If the seeds disappear, never grown or saved, you have a worldwide epidemic. Producing hybrid massive amounts of fast growing grains is not necessary to provide for the earth. We take the production of food at face value, mostly because we have very little personal involvement, never realizing the downfalls of the over producing, resource draining, extremely fragile existence of hybrid seeds.

The Cost of Saving Money-The era of inexpensive foods in America and abroad is coming to an end, incomes will never keep up with expenses, and while locally grown foods may not be cheaper, their dependence on fossil fuels will be significantly less, their carbon footprint for transport will be smaller, and as fuel prices advance beyond $4.00 per gallon, ultimately local and regionally grown foods will become less expensive now and to continuously beneficial to our future. Already fossil fuel dependent foods are going up in price and the lower income families of the United States are less able to buy “fresh” imported foods which force them to buy the cheaper, processed, corporate foods which are high in salt, sugar, trans-fat and high fructose corn syrup and contribute mightily to the current epidemics of obesity, and diabetes. Why do you think farmers are subsidized by our government not to farm? Would it not be better to grow what the earth can provide without harm? To enable nations in need with resources to help small family farms produce what they need?

Economically, local family farms producing and selling regionally is an excellent way to support a community. The Leopold Institute writes, “Annually, Americans consume more than $600 billion in food. In most communities today food is purchased entirely at a grocery store or market, with only about 7% of local food dollars staying in the community. The other 93% of the modern food dollar travels to pay processors, packagers, distributors, wholesalers, truckers and the rest of the infrastructure that a global food system demands, a stark comparison to 40% in 1910 by contrast, 40% of food dollars spend remained in the local economy. When more food dollars stay in the community, through buying local, they are transformed into thriving main streets and local jobs.”(Pirog/Andrew) The local investment will return within a local community and profits returned to the businesses benefitting the entire community as well as the farmers, and diversified regional economies are less susceptible to outside events (e.g. energy costs). Major farms are often owned by grocery conglomerates and subsidized to NOT grow, by you and your tax dollars. Support your local growers that grow quality products, and maintain small family farms. You can see how they grow their produce, be assured of the passion that lives in a small family farm. A small family farm bases their existence on their foods and care about what they produce. They have dedicated a fairly non profitable life to doing what they love. Local farms and food producers are crucial to a healthy and diversified economy. While dollars spent with large corporations almost immediately leave the community, dollars spent on local food products circulate within the community eight to fifteen times, drastically improving the value of your purchase.

FDA? Nay.-Local foods eliminate the need to import foreign fruits and veggies that have been grown in questionable conditions and with liberal pesticide regulations and can increase the use of organic foods. Would you eat from a fruit stand in Mexico? Not likely, unless you were acclimated to their abundance of bacteria! Imported fruit is not much different. The FDA is under resourced and underfunded and tends to have looser regulations than other concerned regions such as Europe. In fact, Europe bans milk and meat products from the United States due to our use of hormones and regulation standards. The ability to and willingness of the FDA to check even half of the imported foods are not as assuring as one would hope. There are many health reasons why organic food is a smart choice, foremost your body is not being pumped full of unnatural disease causing chemicals. With local sources many foods grown locally can be grown with native seeds and without the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers; cows and dairy without excessive hormones. Milk could be sold raw, without the use of homogenization which prevents the human body from properly digesting the milk, leaving behind the many vitamins, minerals and short chain fatty acids that are naturally found in milk. There would be very little need for pasteurization and transportation and storage measures. Even if it is not important to your dietary interests consider the effects of all the hormones on small children seriously. There are studies that hormones in milk can produce adult acne, hormone dependent cancers such as testes, prostate and breast, and excessive amounts of antibiotics due to the high puss rate around the utters and in the milk caused by the hormones given to make the cows lactate unnaturally.(Ireland) What do you think the steroids and hormones that are convincing a cow she is permanently with child do to your body? Cancer is caused by the mutation of cells. The chief activity of synthetic hormones and steroids is cell mutation.

Sustainability has many benefits such as economic growth, personal health, environmental stability and the self-reliance of a region to sustain itself. Most importantly many of the downfalls of the current system can be resolved and locally! Finally, there is a personal reason that I believe in the local, seasonal food movement, it doesn't have to be picked early and artificially ripened, so it just tastes better!

Gerardo, Alberto. "The Import Share of U.S. Consumed Food Continues to Rise." USDA Economic Research Service. July, 2002. (Accessed online on 05/15/2011).

4. Meter, Ken. "U.S. Food and Market Highlights." Crossroads Resource Center. September, 2006. p1 (Accessed online on 05/15/2011). Norberg-Hodge, Helena , Todd Merrifield, and Steven Gorelick. Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness. Bloomfield , CT : Kumarian Press. 2002. p.45

6. Pirog, Rich, and Andrew Benjamin. "Checking the Food Odometer: Comparing Food Miles for Local Versus Conventional Produce Sales in Iowa Institutions." Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. July, 2003. (Accessed online on 05/15/2011)

Ginger Maple Glazed Plank Salmon

2011-10-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

3/4-1 cup pure maple syrup

2-3 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced (I use the pre-cut from the produce section in a hurry!)

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (always fresh if you can)

6 garlic cloves, minced (freshly pressed or minced is so much better!)

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4/1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)

2 lb. center cut salmon filet, with skin (Tail piece for less bones)

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Soak plank for at least 1 hr. or overnight if possible. In a small saucepan, combine maple syrup, ginger, pepper flakes, lemon, garlic, and soy sauce. Simmer and reduce to about 1 cup (about 30 minutes). Let cool. Preheat oven or BBQ to 400°F.

Place the salmon, skin side down, skin will stay on the plank when done. Season the fish with sea salt and black pepper. Using a large brush baste the salmon. Roast for approximately 25 to 30 minutes until the fish is cooked through. During the cooking process baste every ten minutes, and baste again just before serving.

Serve on the plank.

(This dish can be made successfully in a tin foil tent, opening to the crisp for the the last ten minutes)

Disclaimer: Please use food grade salmon planks only! Planks bought at your local hardware store have been treated if not food grade.

The Life of Food-

2011-10-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

I believe it is generous to say, I am a woman of many convictions in the world of food (and beyond). Primarily that our life, pleasure, and disease are all derived from what we stick in our intestinal system. i.e. cancers, diabetes, liver disease, pathologies and more important a long, healthy life are all derived from how our body is attacked or nourished by our foods.
Do we feed it or starve it while getting heavier and heavier? It's my work to bring local, seasonal food to the Pacific Northwest table, and beyond. Sustainable Foods. Foods of Sustenance. Low Glycemic whenever possible. Flavorful, amazing food!