Tofu is NOT gross

As people brag on facebook about all the bacon they eat, any post about a dish that contains tofu gets joking comments like “oh that’s not real food,” or  “I’ll keep my bacon, thank you.”  As my dad used to say, every joke has a basis. People for some reason are repulsed with food that doesn't lead to heart disease and other health issues. And no, you don't need to be a vegan to add this great food to your dishes.  My son, a major meat eater, loves it.

Carnivores hate the sound of this word:  tofu.  They imagine it as this gross squishy white thing.  No it is not, the horrid image is due to bad preparation (or lack of preparation).   A long time ago, someone told me they hated calamari, to which I responded, “you must have had badly prepared calamari.”  After this individual tried properly prepared calamari they became a convert and started eating calamari.

While I wrote this blog entry, there must be at least 10 posts up already about the greatness of bacon.  Greatness that keeps doctors their multiple luxury cars, mansion, boats and planes. Greatness that drives my health insurance premium up.  I'm not proposing that people stop eating bacon (I'm lucky, I don't really like it), but in order to stop the horrible health epidemic, people need to start to look at their diets and reevaluate the quantities of unhealthy foods they ingest.  And if not for themselves, at least expose their kids to some better alternatives.

Here are some key preparation tips:

Purchase the right tofu:

            For people who don’t have time to drain and press, I find that Wildwood Super Firm Tofu (pictured in my Holiday Guide) Part I blog entry: http://blogtothenextone.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-holiday-guide-part-i.html

 is  the easiest to deal with and it also has more protein.  I don’t need to press, squeeze, etc.  I’ve only found this at Whole Foods and Woodman’s around here.  It saves a lot of the playing around.  Other super firm tofu works too, but you have to drain and press (I haven’t tried any of the tofu presses on Amazon yet).

If you buy another tofu, makes sure it is ORGANIC (fermented, sprouted)-do not buy GMO (defeats the whole purpose of eating it for health).  As a side note, I only buy organic soy sauce as well.

Marinate – tofu takes on any flavor and marinating, seasoning makes a huge difference. If you don’t have time to marinate, season it.

Pan fry in a healthy oil – this makes a huge difference.  It goes fairly quick and gives the outside a nice crunch.  Sometimes I sprinkle some flour on top as I’m frying it.

Throw into any dish instead of meat and you will get a healthier version of your dinner.

Well prepared tofu is similar to paneer in Indian cuisine.

UPDATE:  3/4/14-instead of pan frying, I've been finding myself bake tofu more.  There are many ways to bake it.  First I marinate it (30 minutes), then I place it in a 400 degree oven for about thirty minutes.  I use the no stick foil to prevent sticking....while it's not as crispy as pan frying, it's still fairly crisp and firm.

http://blogtothenextone.blogspot.com/2011/03/dont-feel-like-cooking-convenient.html

If this sounds like too much work, make it ahead and freeze it. I usually make the entire block, and freeze it and throw into dishes as needed.

Tofu is high in calcium and protein.

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Distress Scramble

After sautéing add the eggs very slows and stir gently on medium heat,
 make sure the creamy consistency is retained

Sautee vegetables

It was one of those days.  Long work day, long commute, and various taxes due (increased ones).  Eating was not a high priority.  At 8 PM I had a choice of:

1. Carry out
2. Dine out
3. Not eat (was most tempted to do this)
4. Try to find something healthy eat home and prepare it (but not in the mood)

Options 1 and 2 were not appealing because I knew most quick outside solutions would be unhealthy, high in sodium and fat.  Sure I occasionally indulge in such items, but one can do this only so many times and get away with it. 

I really was tempted to skip a meal since I wasn’t even hungry.

I finally settled on option 4.  I had some organic eggs, baby portabella mushrooms and some other vegetables.  This is a very flexible dish.  You can use what you have, I wish I had spinach, but didn’t.  Also, , tomato is a common ingredient for this dish, but I didn’t have any.

Simple Recipe:

Gently beat 10 organic eggs and add a little paprika

Chop a small or half of a large onion

Chop 1-2 garlic

Boil some potatoes (but don’t overboil) and chop

Wash and slice mushrooms

Chop parsley (1tsp)

Salt

Paprika

Optional -Various spices that you like (e.g., cumin, turmeric…but in very small quantity)

And other vegetables as desired.

Pan fry vegetables in olive oil (not extra virgin as it has a lower smoking point).

Typically add the onions first, then mushrooms and towards the end potatoes and the chopped garlic.

When onions are translucent and vegetables look ready, slowly pour eggs in medium batches and stir.  Keep gently stirring until done.

This was tasty and there is nothing to feel bad about (not with the dish at least).

This is not a frittata, but it has a very creamy consistency.

The only problem, I don't want to waste the great flavor on doing taxes.

Note:  Organic eggs do have much better nutritional content than their non organic version (the chicken’s diet impacts the nutrients in the eggs).

Copyright:  BlogToTheNextOne

The Imhotep Resurrection

Home made chicken jambalaya (organic non hormoned/antibioticed chicken)

It's possible to eat out real food that's even fun

I haven’t blogged for a while.  Talking to other bloggers, this is apparently a common phase a blogger goes through.  Blog, stop and realize that it’s time to blog again since there is so much to blog about and then stagnate on that thought for a while.  We all know if we don’t

keep the blog fresh and new it will die for sure.  If it’s already dead, we need to resurrect.  So I’m entering the resurrection phase.

First, why the loss in continuity?  Time as usual is never enough and unlike the Rolling Stones claim, it’s not on my side (but it’s definitely on their side).  I have more than full time life/career and in my spare time, I am also running a hobby site (totally unrelated to this blog) that now too needs resurrecting also. Plus I have many other interests and responsibilities.

So as part of the resurrection process, it’s time to self analyze.  Why did I start this blog in the first place, and was I true to its original mission? 

                       

There are multiple reasons why I started this blog.  Mostly, I refused to accept that garbage processed food is the natural outcome of a busy life style.  Friends would ask me for recipes – oh how did you make this without some key unhealthy ingredient?

It is well known that I personally avoid dairy like the plague.  This passionate hatred for dairy was initially the outcome of my son’s G.I. issues; an up and coming form of food allergy called Eosinophilic Esophagitis – a strange allergy of the esophagus that can only be diagnosed via an endoscopy / biopsy.  A condition you don’t ‘grow out of.’  So after his diagnosis, we tried the elimination diet (off the top 8 allergens) and it worked.  His condition cleared up.  The next 7 years were spent trying to figure out which of those 8, if not all, are causing this reaction (food trialà endoscopyàconclusion).   Over the years he gained back soy, wheat, eggs, fish and now the biggest one of them, with respect to his lifestyle, DAIRY, the most common trigger for EoE (the odds were against us).

So, back to this blog. since it’s not a food allergy blog. Over the past 8 years, I learned a lot about processed foods, ingredients, and how to make food taste good without bad ingredients.  Eating this way I stopped getting sinus infections, etc. I wanted to share this knowledge.  Cooking and living this way led to the Hegelian dialectic and hence paradigm shift.  So I started blogging about how to shop, cook and live with real food ingredients while avoiding some culprits that have been shown to be carcinogens and causes of diabetes.  I started posting recipes and shopping tricks. Then I had no time.  Taking photos and uploading them was easy.  It’s the recipes that slowed down the process.  I don’t really follow recipes.  I create dishes on the fly.  For a new dish I always read multiple recipes that formed the foundation.  Then I create my own recipe in my head as I apply some foundations that too are in my head. 

 Plus the whole purpose of the blog wasn’t to be a pure recipe blog.  There are plenty of great recipe blogs out there.

So as with any resurrection, remember Imhotep, it’s time to get back to the basics.  The rest follows (“Imhotep, Imhotep” – famous follows quote from The Mummy).

So to apply the Imhotep resurrection model, the first entry is to remind (including myself) why I blog.  With that step completed, I’ve set a goal for myself on the frequency  of new blog entries, even if not a full blown recipe, something valuable the reaffirms.  So for now, this entry is just a reminder that one can live a busy life without ingesting garbage.  One doesn’t need a food allergy or EoE to do this. 

While unwinding from a long workday, I found  this new source, it too is a reminder.  “We have to cook our way out of this mess” – blogs and events like this are reminders not stray off the path.  It’s the anti unhealthy campaign that we are exposed to daily (fast food and processed foods):

A new movement: The Eatin?

Due to my son being able to eat dairy, we can now eat out more (no dread of dairy cross contamination-if the spatula touched cheese, nobody will get sick).  But dining out is a science too.  Some restaurants have better dishes than some others. I’ve found a few that are ‘less evil’ than some others. Serving real food is of course the first criteria to even visiting it.

Healthy food is NOT boring.  It’s the lack of know how and some social conditioning that leads to people thinking that it is.

 

Yes-no meat and it's tasty

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Return of the French Classics - Coq Au Vin

I haven’t blogged for a while, but now that grilling season is over, it’s time to make some saucy comfort food. It took Coq Au Vin prepared in a traditional dutch oven to get me to start blogging again.  I’ve been very busy, and working with new techniques and dishes is what inspires me to blog (even though I seem to have zero time these days).

While this dish is meat based, the technique would work for a robust vegetable dish also. 

A dutch oven is somewhat similar to a crock pot in concept but I’m finding that for certain dishes it renders a different, less soupy flavor.  I have wanted a dutch oven for a long time.  Le Creuset is great, but I’ve decided to buy the Food Network version due; the price was more reasonable and it seems very similar the Le Creuset brand. I almost purchased the 5.5 quart one, but ended up getting 7.5 quart version instead.  I’m glad I did.  The dishes I make max out this dutch oven.  When you spend so much time making such dishes, there are economies of scale, so you may as well make a large portion.

I’ve also been reading “As Always, Julia:  The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto” by Joan Beardon.  This book inspired me to finally get this dutch oven and return to some of the French cooking I trained myself on in my early cooking days.  I made the Classic Coq Au Vin dish when I was a sophomore in college.  I liked it, but wasn’t thrilled with it, so over time, I abandoned it.  This book inspired me to finally purchase a French style dutch oven and make French style dishes again.  I have a crockpot that allows me to saute and slow cook in the same pot, but I suspected that the dutch oven would produce different results. 

To get in the mood I watched a few old Julia Child videos on YouTube.  I also read several recipes on line for Coq Au Vin.  I ended up blending various recipes (which is what I typically do).  While I liked the Julia Child recipe, I didn’t like the fact that I have to break adding ingredients at certain intervals (e.g., mushrooms at end).  One of the benefits of such cooking is once you fry your ingredients, the slow cooking is fairly easy.

There are many Coq Au Vin recipes out there…and you can add your own variation (as I did).  I basically mixed the classic Julia Child recipe with a few other ones I’ve found (one of them was an Emeril Lagasse recipe).  I believe the Beurre Manie, which is a classic French sauce thickening technique (a different version of roux) thickens a stew/casseulet well.  It consists of mixing softened butter (substitute soy if avoiding dairy) with flour and add it to a simmering sauce.  It makes for a very  nice velvety sauce.

Also, classic Coq Au Vin recipes call for using bacon fat to sauté the chicken, I avoided that also.  I’m not against it, but I must be one of the few people on the planet that doesn’t have an intrinsic craving for bacon. 

I used one free range (no antibiotic/hormone) chicken quartered and about six drumsticks.  I also added carrots to the traditional recipe.  The pearl onions are a must.  They taste delicious.

Some tips:
Always saute the ingredients.  Sauteing ahead of time locks in the meat juices (this is true for crock pot cooking too)-if you don't saute, you get soup texture for your ingredients.

Make sure you scrape those seared pieces when you pour the wine in (can’t do this with a no stick pan).

When the dish is done, make sure you uncover the dutch oven to let steam escape

Do not refrigerate a dish that is not cooled off.

Basic technique (again, there is flexibility here):

Basic Sauteing

Use a robust red wine...and make sure you scrape the  pieces that are stuck on the side...this renders a perfect sauce

with some good wine

The beauty of the Dutch Oven...it goes straight into the oven and the seal is airtight 

Voila

Make sure you remove the lid so it doesn't get locked with the steam

Ingredients

•                1 4 pound free range chicken and 6 drumsticks – patted dry and salted

•                1/2 teaspoon salt

•                1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

•                1 onion, finely chopped (optional)

•                20 small pearl onions, peeled

•                1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled-they will be thrown in straight without choping

•                1 pound mushrooms..roughly quartered-note:  I find baby portabella to be more robust than the usual white mushroom for this

•                2 teaspoons tomato paste

•                3 cups – bottle of red wine, traditional full bodied wine.  I used Bull’s Blood because it is very robust and reasonably priced (don’t use cheap junk red wine…it will destroy the dish-but a there are many reasonable priced red wines)

•                1 1/2 cups chicken stock

•                6 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

•                1 bay leaf

•                2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

•                2-3 carrots peeled and sliced (or can even use baby carrots)

for traditional side dish

boil some diced potatoes, chop some parsley and sauté in a tiny amount of oil/butter/soy butter

Beurre Manie:

mix 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour & 1 tbsp. softened butter (soy or regular)

•                 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large, heavy Dutch oven add some oil and brown the chicken, do it in batches.  You cannot simply throw the chicken into the slow cooking process.  Sautéing first locks the juices in. Remove the chicken and in the same oil sauté carrots, pearl onions, onion for about 5 minutes.  Then add the mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and sauté for about one minute.

Slowly add the bottle of wine and make sure that you scrape the meat parts that stuck to the pan.  Add chicken broth, tomato paste and herbs/salt/pepper. Add the chicken back, bring to a boil, cover and transfer to a preheated oven.

Cook for about 1.5 hours in the 350 oven.

Carefully remove the lid and  transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish and cover loosely to keep warm. Return pot to medium-low heat (from oven to oven top). Skim any fat from the surface of the cooking liquid and increase the heat to medium-high. Make the Beurre Mannie (classic French thickening technique), stir into sauce as it simmers (whishing works best).  Let sauce thicken and add chicken back.  Reheat everything and serve with parsley potatoes.

This was supposed to last for two days, but most of it got eaten the first night.

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Grilling Season Basics

I’ve been trying to figure out why I haven’t blogged for a while. Yes, I’m busy, I always am - so that's not it.  But for various reasons the ‘busy state’ does not alleviate my constant need to cook (home cooked meals are healthier, cleaner, tastier and of course for us we have more choices). To ensure that my blog just doesn't die,  I thought I would look through my recent food photos to see what to blog about.  Then I realized why my last blog entry, “The Eclectic Duck,” was on April 24.  I’ve been doing a lot of grilling (outside) with my son.  I have never considered myself to be the ‘grill master.’  I prefer to cook and create special dishes and sauces and flavors.  But my son loves American style barbecued wings, chicken with barbecue sauce.  I don’t like barbecue sauce, but I do like a tasty Mediterranean shish kebob. I also love grilled vegetables. 

Since I know what I don’t know, I thought we would spend the month of May to improve our grilling skills.  Again, not really my forte, but if I’m going to do it, I have to do it right.  I know about indirect grilling and some of the tricks, but I still didn’t think I was even good (although others who consumed my grilled food said it was good).  So here are some tips that I find helpful in my grilling world:

• I don’t use a gas grill.  I have a gas grill, but it serves as an overflow stand.  It’s a very nice grill too, but it just doesn’t produce the right flavor.  So I grill on a simple Weber grill.  I did replace the grate with one that has a way to lift up the sides.  This feature comes in handy for adding charcoal during cooking.  It’s also handy for adding wood chips (e.g., hickory)

• I use charcoal not briquettes.  Yes, I’ve used the Kingsford briquettes because they are so easy to use and fast, but they do have some chemicals and if you grill it will add up somewhere in your system (if you grill frequently).  But then here and there the briquettes are fine (and are easier-charcoal can die out fast).

• I use the ‘chimney’ to get the charcoal ready.  Yes, again, a bit tedious compared to the lighting fluid, but this is what middle school boys are for; they help with the fire (supervised). Typically I use two of these (actually my son creates these with some supervision...he loves fire...this is a good outlet).

• Oil the grate (I think everyone knows this).  I recently saw this technique on Barbecue U – you saturate some papertowel (or cloth) in oil (regular olive oil)  and brush the grill with it (using tongs).

• Use woodchips for flavor (smoked flavor)…again, this is something my son can play with.  He has his tshirt called “Grillfather” (a spin on Godfather)-he needs to prove he is.

• I follow the well known technique of indirect heat for bone type meats and direct heat for boneless meats and vegetables.

• Marinate, marinate, marinate-for wings and drumsticks, we’ve marinated in Leinkenkugel’s Honey Weiss. For boneless meats, I like going with a Middle Eastern or Asian type marinade that I create. 

Asian marinated pork tenderloin-very easy to make

Honey Weisse marinated wings 

Marinade is almost done....soy, sesame oil, grated ginger, garlic, sherry, olive oil etc.

Honey Weisse marinade

• Baste with olive oil (but be careful not to get massive flares) that is seasoned with garlic and salt and any other flavor you are trying to infuse.

• Grind your own meat-I’m not a big beef eater, but with pink slime and e-coli, I’ve realized that the only way my son can enjoy a  medium rare burger is if I grind the meat at home.  I have a Kitchen Aid attachment and grind the beef for the occasional burgers with it.

• If you grill sausages-use the ones in natural casings and make incisions (this makes them more tasty)

• Corn-grill directly-this is the best barbecued corn I’ve had.  I saw the technique on Barbecue U and it works wonder.  The sugar of the corn caramelizes.

• Use a flat skewer instead of the round ones.  As I’ve said, I love Middle Eastern shish kebobs or Tandoori marinade for Chicken Tikka (non dairy version).  The chicken and vegetables tend to turn and it’s hard to get the right heat because of this.  I first saw these skewers on Barbecue U (such skewers are used in the Middle East and India).  I searched for flat skewers and only found some with wooden handles.  For me this is a bad idea because flare ups are unpredictable.  I found Steven Raichlen’s flat barbecue skewers on Amazon and used them tonight for the first time-they are phenomenal.

• Have fun, I know this sounds cliché, but grilling seems to inspire my son in the culinary department and he is very good at it.

• Do it in style-wear your retro Ray Bans.

And as always, look forward to some new challenges.  For me this will be making some non-meat grilled dishes.  The potatoes in foil (garlic seasoned) are great, but I would like to learn how to barbecue tofu.  I heard (I was in another room when the show was on) Steven Raichlen grill ginger infused tofu, this sounds really appetizing. I also plan on grilling more fish (but I know fish can tear).

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Eclectic Duck

I love duck and so does my son.  It’s very hard to find good duck.  Because it’s so fatty, if not prepared right, you end up chewing fat-not enjoyable. 

I also like duck prepared Asian style-as in Peking duck. 

So, the best method is to combine some Asian preparation method with the European roasting method.  This end up being a very crispy skinned and tasty duck.

Steps:

Clean and wash duck.

Cut off the extra fat (but save for later)

Poke tiny holes with a fork through the skin but NOT through the meat

Make sure you poke the tiny holes in the real fatty areas

In the meantime boil some water

Preheat oven to 425

For the marinade prepare (this is approximate)

¼ c rice vinegar

few tsp. soy sauce

½ cup virgin olive oil

Peel 3-4 garlic cloves and split

½ tsp. sugar

1-2 tsp. of marsala wine o sherry

a few dashes of sesame oil (sesame oil is not a cooking oil, it’s a seasoning oil).

Put the poked duck in a casserole and pour boiling water over duck

Turn the duck evenly around in the boiling water

Pour out the boiling water (put the duck on a plate), pour marinade into the casserole

Marinate duck for about 30-60 minutes (turn occasionally).

Set up a roasting pan with a rack (so duck doesn’t soak in its own fat)

Rub the duck with kosher salt / freshly ground pepper mixture

You can insert an onion into the cavity

Tie legs together with twine

Start roasting duck for 45 minutes

Turn duck over (so bottom faces up) for another 45 minutes

Turn duck so that the breast faces up again

For the last 45 minutes cover top with foil as necessary (but only when it looks crispy enough)-depending on the oven you may need to make this one hour….

(total roasting time for a 5 pound duck is about 2 hours (2 hours and 15 minutes is the typical time in my oven).

If the wings are roasting too fast put foil on the tip of the wings

Remove duck (make sure skin is nicely roasted)

Let sit (“rest”) for about 15 minutes before serving

Left side:  simmer fat    Right side:  pan fry duck liver  

While the duck is roasting:

Take the fat pieces and a little water and salt-simmer until the fat becomes crispy (will need to turn once in a while). 

For those who love rind…this will be a delicious crispy rind

The fat will be great for frying hash browns or mashed potatoes

Duck liver is also great pan fried (maybe 10 minutes)

Use a quality duck that is not antibioticed up-there is a difference in flavor

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