AGree co-chairs comment on Farm Bill

Dan Glickman, Gary Hirshberg, Jim Moseley, and Emmy Simmons are the four co-chairs of the highly bi-partisan and cross-sectoral AGree initiative. Their joint op-ed in Roll Call today recognizes several good features of the Farm Bill, but ...

But the legislative effort should have yielded so much more. Food and agriculture systems in the United States and around the world face fundamental long-term challenges posed by resource scarcity, population growth, climate change, invasive pests, pathogens and diseases, rising consumer incomes in low- and middle-income countries, and shifts in relative economic power. These challenges demand forward-looking leadership. The 2014 farm bill did not provide it.

[I serve on AGree's scientific advisory group.]

Cheese from the Winter Fancy Food Show 2014

There is a lot of cheese at the Fancy Food Show! I wait until the last day to indulge and I try to focus on the cheeses that are new or new to me. Here are some of note: 

I always make a point of checking out the cheeses at Fresca Italia. The standout this year was Fiore de Bufala from Bergamo. It is the lightest fluffiest cheese I’ve ever tasted and yet unbelievably rich at the same time. Despite my ability to read Italian, the information on the website doesn’t tell me much about the cheese except that it’s new and made from 100% buffalo milk 

Miette from Baetje Farms in Missouri is a bloomy rind sheep and goat’s milk cheese that melts in your mouth. It’s mild and sweet and very creamy and a little bit oozy near the rind. A really luscious cheese. All Baetje cheese is Certified Humane. 

Milton Creamery makes outstanding clothbound cheeses. The Flory’s Truckle is made in Iowa from milk that comes from Missouri, and is an old fashioned style cheddar. It’s aged over a year so the flavors really develop yet the texture stays creamy. It has hints of caramel and a grassy finish. 

Red Barn Heritage Weis Reserve is a three year old cheddar that manages to retain all a creamy texture while deepening in flavor. It’s another cloth wrapped cheddar from an award-winning family farm. They also make an excellent New Zealand style cheddar called Edun. 

LaClare Farm is known for their award winning goat’s milk cheeses. Cheesemaker Katie Hedrich Fuhrmann is now making a cow and goat’s milk cheese called Martone, in honor of her great grandfather. It’s covered in ash and very fresh, aged just a week. The result is a fresh and creamy buttery cheese with a slight lemony tang, milder than most chevre. 

I’m sure you know that feta the comes from different places. What I learned from Mani Imports was that there are different regions within Greece for Greek feta. In fact in Greece there are seven different DOP or protected designations of origin for regions of feta--the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the mainland of Greece and Lesbos.  I tasted Dodonis and Hotos feta side by side and was amazed at how different they were. One was drier, the other creamier, one seemed saltier the other sweeter. I am not going to say I liked one better, but rather just share that there is a whole lot more to learn about feta than just which country it comes from. 

Chocolate from the Winter 2014 Fancy Food Show

The Fancy Food Show can be overwhelming since there are more products than it's physically possible to try in three days. Attendees have to decide what they will focus on tasting. I'm always curious to see what's happening in the world of chocolate. Here are some of the most tasty and interesting things I discovered this time around. 

I’ve always been impressed by Vosges for their willingness to take a risk. Sometimes it pays off, other times it doesn’t. I didn’t try all of the new Super Dark bars, but I loved the Coconut Ash & Banana Super Dark Chocolate Bar. It’s made with ash from coconut shells burnt into charcoal. The flavors were deep and true, not artificial. It contains Sri Lankan coconut and charcoal coconut ash, Hawaiian banana and 72% cacao. 

The other coconut chocolate I liked was the Coco Besas Coconut Kisses bar from Taza. I generally like Taza's hot chocolate but usually find the texture of their bars too unrefined and rough, but in this case I really liked the texture. I was told that this  70% cacao organic bar was supposed to be a Valentine's Day special (note the hearts in the coconuts?) but was so popular it's now available year round.

There were some interesting Peruvian chocolates this year. One was from Orquidea. The company is working with farmers in the San Martin region and helping them to use cacao as a sustainable crop in place of coca. 

Another Peruvian chocolate I tried from Willie’s Cacao, the Peruvian Gold was made from criollo beans and had rich fruity notes of raisins and plums. It was my favorite bar from this British bean to bar producer that uses no soy lecithin. 

Ki Xocolatl a Mexican purveyor who had a bar with oregano! In the right hands there is almost no flavor that doesn't pair well with chocolate. I won't be rushing out to find this one, but I can't deny that the flavors were surprisingly harmonious. 

An interesting trend is mainstream chocolate brands introducing premium and small batch chocolate. One is Jcoco from Seattle Chocolates. They make chic looking bars in flavors like Black Fig Pistachio, Vanatua Coconut Pecan and Agave Quinoa Sesame. They do use soy lecithin, but I couldn't actually detect it. I definitely preferred their darker bars over the lighter ones 

An award winner from the Good Food Awards, Blue Bandana brand from Lake Champlain Chocolates. The 70% Madagascar bar which is organic and made in only 100 pound batches was outstanding. 

At Lake Champlain was another winner as far as I’m concerned, the Apple Cider Caramels, wrapped in. milk. chocolate. Made in Vermont with Citizen cider and Happy Valley Orchard apples. The long lasting apple tang was what made this confection so memorable. 

Two crunchy chocolate products really made a strong impression on me. One was Dufflet Nutt-e, a ridiculously good crunchy treat, thinner than bark (formerly known as chocolate crackle). It should really just be called “chocolate crack.” Wafer thin this magical product with nuts, caramel and chocolate comes in a variety of nut flavors (toasted almond and maple cashew were the ones I tried). This product makes me want to get on the next plane to Toronto to discover what else this fabulous confectioner can do. Also because I’m kind of freaking out that I can’t find this product online. 

Bark Thins were another very thin crispy chocolate treat with nuts. It also comes in a variety of flavors like dark chocolate and pumpkin seeds or dark chocolate almond. I like this trend toward "snacking chocolate" that's light and crispy, like a grown up Nestle Crunch bar. The products I tried were so good that I know I'd find them hard to stop eating! Danger ahead...

I usually avoid white chocolate, but trust Valrhona to make me change my mind. Their Dulcey bar “blond chocolate” is creamy and toasty, not too sweet thanks to a pinch of salt. It's a pretty caramel color too, not pure white. It really lends itself to confections, not surprisingly (thanks Chef Derek Poirier!). 

Another fun twist on white chocolate came from Sulpice, who makes a  Cake Batter white chocolate bar! It’s nicely done, and also avoids becoming too sweet. It's so new, it’s not even on their website yet. 

Dessert teas are a big and growing category. A trend perhaps? Numi introduced Indulgent Teas at the show which are all chocolate teas and frankly don’t live up to the name “indulgent.” I’m a big fan of Numi’s Chocolate Puerh, but these teas seemed unbalanced to me, some were too bland others too spicy. They weren’t very indulgent and needed sugar and milk to make them palatable. I love the idea, and still drink the Chocolate Puerh, but I think the Indulgent Teas need more work. They are slated to launch in April. 

Farm Bill conference proposes cutting $800 million per year in SNAP benefits

The Farm Bill conference committee report, released today, includes $800 million per year in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation's largest anti-hunger program.

The conference report likely puts to rest several years of debate between the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which sought much steeper cuts, and the Democratic-controlled Senate, which sought less severe cuts. Both houses of Congress are likely to pass the compromise in the conference committee report this week.

The compromise is a disappointment to anti-hunger advocates. Program participants already in November faced the end of a temporary boost to program benefits. These new cuts are in addition to that change in November.

Yet, in a sense, the cuts proposed today were inevitable, and about as mild as program supporters could expect.

The actual mechanism for most of the cuts is a change to how utility costs are counted when benefits are calculated. Certain utility costs count as "excess shelter expenses," which are deducted from gross income during the computation of net income. SNAP benefits are based on net income (those with higher net income get smaller benefits), so eliminating a certain type of utility cost deduction amounts in practice to the same thing as a benefit cut.

Bob Greenstein at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a leading public interest voice on nutrition assistance policy, this evening explained why this change to the utility cost computation was difficult to oppose:

The SNAP cut ... is a provision to tighten an element of the SNAP benefit calculation that some states have converted into what most people would view as a loophole. Specifically, some states are stretching the benefit formula in a way that enables them not only to simplify paperwork for many SNAP households, but also to boost SNAP benefits for some SNAP households by assuming those households pay several hundred dollars a month in utility costs that they do not actually incur. Congress did not intend for states to stretch the benefit rules this way, and longstanding SNAP supporters like myself find it difficult to defend. Moreover, a future Administration could close off this use of the rules administratively, without any congressional action.

If I were king, the social safety net would be more generous. Our society would be a better society if we treated the poor and hungry as brothers and sisters. Who among us, in speaking of a poor or hungry brother or sister, would hesitate to provide resources before offering unsolicited advice? In several ways, I would make the social safety net more respectful of the dignity of its participants.

But I am not king. I am proud instead to live in our semi-functioning democracy. This Farm Bill compromise on nutrition assistance is about as good as I expected from the current Congress. The burden lies with program supporters first to persuade more voters of the value of these programs and then second to press for more generous program benefits.

Top Trends from the Winter 2014 Fancy Food Show

One of the reasons I attend the Fancy Food Show is to see what’s trending. Some flavors and categories just seem to be everywhere. This year was no exception. The top trends I spotted were vinegar-based drinks, coconut in everything, popped corn and peanut butters. 

One of the most exciting trends I saw this year was vinegar-based drinks. Years ago we saw more sophisticated “dry” sodas being introduced, and I think this is a continuation of that, as they are less sweet but generally still fruity and fizzy.  The last couple of years making your own shrubs has been covered in publications like Imbibe: Homemade Drinking Vinegars, Serious Eats: How to Make Shrub Syrups and The Kitchn: The Tale of the Shrub. Here are the ones I saw at the show: 

Silk Road Soda is based near Sacramento. They make three varieties based on a Middle Eastern recipe, cucumber and mint, pomegranate mint and original mint, which also has pear. They are each refreshing and light. 

Pok Pok restaurant in Portland has been serving drinking vinegar since 2005. Their line of drinking vinegars Som drinking vinegars was a big hit with many different flavors including Thai basil, ginger and tamarind. 

The Japanese pavilion had a booth serving Mikkabi Tangerine Vinegar drink. It was mildly sour but had a very true flavor of tangerine. 

Napa Valley Vinegar Co is introducing fruit and wine flavors like raspberry or chardonnay peach that can be used for a variety of purposes, including alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.  

Meanwhile Sonoma Spirits Cocktail & Shrub mixer was a new product that came in cocktail flavors like pomegranate cosmo and peach bellini. These came from Sonoma Harvest Foods. 

Kombucha Wonder Drink is not vinegar based, but it is raw fermented tea so I’d put it in the broader "fermented drink" category too. 

Last year there was lots of coconut water at the show, this year coconut was in EVERYTHING from tea to ketchup to chocolate. I counted 13 different products with coconut, but I’m sure there were tons more. 

There were at least 5 different companies selling coconut chips, Dang, Creative Snacks Co. CocoFresh, Go Raw and Blue Monkey. Some had flavored chips like lime, salt and vinegar or chocolate covered. 

Some favorite coconut products I tried included Thai Coconut Pumpkin ketchup from Skillet which is rich, sweet and spicy, from Bali, Big Tree Farms Coconut nectar which like coconut sugar is made from coconut blossoms (I much prefer it to agave), Indonesian style Hey Boo coconut jams, and coconut teas from Harney & Sons and Tea Forte. There was also a lot of coconut flavored popcorn, speaking of which...

Popcorn is back! Not that it ever went away, but there just seemed to be more of it than ever. Plus there were popped treats made from corn that were not actually popped corn—like popped kernels and snacks from puffed corn meal. I counted 14 popped corn booths this year. Wild flavors included sriracha, dill pickle, lots of Indian spices and artisanal cheeses like farmhouse cheddar and blue. 

Some of my favorite popcorn for their seasonings were Pop! Rogue Blue Cheese popcorn, Pop Art  popcorn in Rosemary Truffle (and White Cheddar Jalapeño) 479° Farmer's Market Herbs and Cobra Corn Bombay Seasoning which was bold and spicy as well as Boomchicka pop which make a version off Chicago mix, caramel and cheddar. 

For texture I was crazy about the very crunchy Pop’d Kerns and Half Pops in Aged White Cheddar as well as the unbelievably fluffy baked Cosmos Creations popped corn which miraculously has no kernels or hulls. 

Also notable was Quinn popcorn, which make microwaveable popcorn with no PFOA’s, diacetyl or hydrogenated oil. Like some of the packaged popcorn, Quinn is GMO-free.

Another trending product seemed to be peanut butter and similar seed and nut butters. Maybe I was just noticing them more this year? Different peanut butters are made with different types of peanuts and the flavor and texture can vary greatly. I’m not a fan of some of the very flavored and sticky peanut butters with added oil and sugar like PB Crave which I tried earlier this year. Stand out products for me were Sweet Ella’s natural (not the organic) peanut butter, Pacific Beach peanut butter (made from Valencia peanuts), and Super Butter, hand's down the best sunflower and sesame based spread that had great texture and toasty flavor. 

Another trend I didn’t really focus on was artisanal jerky. I tried and liked Ruby Bay Orange ginger king salmon jerky and Vermont Smoke & Cure real sticks, but there were many more I didn’t get a chance to try. 

The last big trend I saw was dessert tea. I’m going to talk more about that in my next post, all about chocolate….

Paiche Recipe and Giveaway

It’s not everyday that you get the chance to try a fish you’ve never even heard of before. Last week I cooked paiche (pie-chay) a fish from the Amazon, also known as arapaima or pirarucu. Freshwater paiche are huge, growing be up to near 500 pounds, and breathe through lungs rather than gills. Considered a prehistoric fish, the flesh is very firm, but also rich and high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Endangered in the wild from overfishing, paiche is now raised commercially in ponds so wild fish remain protected, and free of any antibiotics or mercury. It’s one of the top fish farmed in Peru, and you may find it on restaurant menus or at Whole Foods, the only retailer currently selling it in the US.  It’s easy to cook paiche for a couple of reasons, because it’s dense and firm it won’t easily fall apart and because it’s rich it doesn’t get dry, even if you overcook it. It has a very clean, buttery slightly sweet flavor and is somewhat similar to sea bass or cod in texture.  I prepared the dish simply with a tangy sauce that held up well to the flavor of the fish, and served it with a winter salad of fennel, radishes and lemons with fresh mint.

If you'd like to try paiche, leave a comment telling me how you'd choose to prepare it. I will pick one winner at random who will receive a $50 Whole Foods gift certificate. One entry per person, and you must leave a valid email address (don't worry, only I will see it) and have a US mailing address. I will pick the winner on January 27th, 2014. Whole Foods offers a few recipes to consider such as Lime-Roasted Paiche with Sweet Potatoes and Pan-Seared Paiche with Spicy Avocado Sauce. I think it would be fantastic in this ceviche.

Note: The salad can also be served separately. A tiny pinch of sugar brings out the sweetness in the fennels and lemon. I used California Olive Ranch Limited Reserve olive oil, which is seasonally available only after the harvest. Like the Italian "olio nuovo" it's very fresh and best used while before it mellows. 

Paiche with Miso Butter and Fennel Radish Salad

Serves 4 

Ingredients

4 paiche fillets, about 6 ounces each about 3/4 inch thick 

2 teaspoons oil

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons white miso 

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon sugar

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into about 5 pieces 

1/2 fennel bulb

5 radishes

1/2 lemon

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (olio nuovo recommended)

1/4 teaspoon sugar

20 mint leaves, thinly sliced

Instructions

Using a mandolin if you have one, or a very sharp knife, thinly slice the fennel, radishes and half a lemon, removing any seeds.  Toss the slices with olive oil, salt and mint. 

In a small saucepan combine the lemon juice, miso, mustard and sugar with a whisk. Heat very gently over low heat and whisk in the butter, allowing it to melt and emulsify the sauce. 

Sear the fish in a hot non-stick pan coated with a little oil, and cook about 4 minutes on each side. The fish should be cooked through and white, not pink. 

One each plate serve a fillet of fish, topped with a tablespoon of the sauce and with some salad. 

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Whole Foods for supply a gift card so I could try the fish and also for one lucky reader. 

New Cookbooks for the New Year

The beginning of the year represents a time for new things and that includes cooking. These cookbooks have the power to inspire you in the kitchen and get you cooking, baking and even fermenting. 

Mary Karlin has written books about wood fired ovens and making cheese and now takes on the broader subject of fermented food in Mastering Fermentation. The book has both recipes for making and using fermented foods—everything from from cheeses, to breads and grains, vegetables and meats as well as beverages. The recipes include some ingredients you’ll have to go out of your way to find, but the instructions are clear as day. Karlin, who is also a cooking instructor, writes clearly and inspires confidence. 

While much of the food faddists are shunning grain, Whole-Grain Mornings embraces it. Beyond just simple bowls of oatmeal or buttermilk pancakes, first time author Megan Gordon tempts readers with Nutty Millet Breakfast Cookies, Triple Coconut Quinoa Porridge, Zucchini Farro Cakes and loads more very original recipes. The book also shares Gordon’s story of finding love, moving to Seattle, her granola company and her beautiful photography. 

I’ve heard it said that if you find one recipe you love in a cookbook, it’s worth the price you paid for it. In my house, “make Japanese food” is a frequent request. I have several excellent Japanese cookbooks, and this year added another to the collection. Japanese Soul Cooking includes recipes for several dishes that are favorites from special restaurants and the streets of Tokyo and beyond. The recipe that won me over here was for Okonomiyaki, but the Mentaiko Spaghetti is a keeper too. There’s background on the dishes, tips on the techniques and ingredients. If you love Japanese food, you will want this book. 

Pok Pok is a game changing Thai restaurant in Portland, that now has an outpost in NYC. Andy Ricker a Thai food fanatic has made it his mission to recreate as authentically as possible the flavors of Thailand. I know, people hate the word authenticity, but Ricker takes it seriously. His respect and knowledge of Thai food is truly something. He even speaks Thai (with a Northern accent or so I’ve been told). If you want to really know what Thai food is all about, short of going to Thailand (or Portland) his book also titled Pok Pok is the next best thing. The recipes are detailed but not “cheffy” they are however the real deal. 

No doubt you’ve heard the news, the Jewish deli is disappearing. If you’ve ever eaten in a real Jewish deli you know what a shame this is. With a mammoth menu and soul food for those of Eastern European descent, the deli is an American original. Given the difficulty of finding good deli food, making your own might be your best bet. The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home has modernized recipes for Bagels, Bialys, Smoked Whitefish Salad, Kreplach, Latkes and more using the best quality ingredients. With this book you can personally save the deli all the while savoring the food and reading profiles of some “artisan” delis as well as interviews with noted Jewish food experts. 

Our lady of chocolate, Alice Medrich has done it again. Her latest book Seriously Bitter Sweet revisits her classic recipes found in Bittersweet in light of the fact that chocolate ain’t what it it used to be. We now have more choices than ever and that’s a good thing. But Medrich has retested many recipes to help you get the most out of them using the best chocolate available. You’ll fall in love all over again with the Queen of Sheba cake, Nibby Espresso Cookies and Chocolate Olive Oil Crostini.




Disclaimer: These books were provided as review copies and this post includes affiliate links. 

The madness of click-friendly headlines: How --- can save the planet!

I have this strange vision of a hundred planets lining up in the aisle of a church for the televangelist to push their foreheads and pronounce them "saved."

• Grazing cows can save the planet (according to Mercola recently, which provoked this blog post).
• Vegetarianism can save the planet.
• Fruits can save the planet.
• Hemp can save the planet.
• Bamboo can save the planet.
• Worm farming can save the planet.
• Bicycles can save the planet.
• Wall Street can save the planet.
• Capitalism can save the planet.
• Economic growth can save the planet.
• Telecommuting can save the planet.
• Only a challenge to corporate power can save the planet.
• Women can save the planet.
• Sensitive men can save the planet.
• Slums can save the planet.

Personally, I am not certain the planet will be saved in any case. My wife and I seek to raise our children to be robust and even happy in the face of hardship, just in case their adulthoods are less prosperous than their childhoods. 

Yet, I am not hopeless either. If the planet is saved, in the sense of successfully avoiding a demographic and environmental crisis in the next hundred years, the leading ingredients will be:

• Adaptation in rich countries to lower resource use (not lower well-being, just lower resource use).
• Continued economic growth and social transformation in poor countries (allowing much higher well-being with moderately higher resource use). 
• New technologies that grow more food and produce more energy with less land and less environmental impact (but technology is not magic and will not suffice on its own).

These three things may happen.

Let's break up the GMO/non-GMO monopoly on our environmental debate

Some environmentalists are rethinking their opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). That's terrific. The line between GMOs and non-GMOs always was the wrong way to describe the problem our food system faces.

The best road forward for environmentalists and sustainable food thinkers is to end the monopoly that the GMO/anti-GMO fight has had on our food system debate. Like breaking up a big corporation so that smaller businesses can thrive, let us break up the GMO debate into its smaller pieces.

The highest-profile recent example of an environmentalist writer rethinking GMOs is Nathanael Johnson's six-month series at Grist. Johnson points out that GMOs are just one contributor to the many ills that have been attributed to GMOs. Hence, a world that had no GMOs would be surprisingly similar to our current world.

GMOs were neither the first, nor have they been the last, agricultural innovation, and each of these technologies comes with its own potential hazards.

This view infuriates some of the most respected people in the sustainable food movement. This week at Civil Eats, Anna Lappé describes Johnson as "meandering about in the woods for the past six months" leading to nothing more than an "attempt at a clever journalistic gesture." I read Johnson's series more favorably, and I'm not the only one. Dan Charles has a nice overview at NPR's Salt. Well, nobody said every post at Civil Eats had to be civil!

After the strong criticism, Lappé then turns to an excellent list of seven real issues at stake.

What’s become abundantly clear is that there are at least seven things we need to get right in agriculture, right now. We need to:

• Reduce reliance on fossil fuels in agriculture;
• Conserve water in agriculture systems;
• Free ourselves from dependence on chemicals, especially those most toxic to humans and wildlife;
• Promote on-farm resilience to climate change;
• Protect biodiversity and the food security it engenders;
• Limit the expansion of confinement livestock operations; and
• Support farmers to learn practices for productivity that don’t come at the high, and rising, cost of inputs such as chemicals, seeds, or technology fees to chemical companies, especially Monsanto.

This is a fine list of seven enterprises that are left behind after we break up the GMO/anti-GMO monopoly on our public debate. In a way, by focusing on seven multi-faceted challenges, rather than on the technical line between GMO and non-GMO foods, Lappé seems to me closer to Johnson than it might appear at first.

What attitude should anti-GMO environmentalists and GMO-tolerant environmentalists adopt toward each other, when they agree on these seven global challenges? I think they each should say, "Hi, friend, let's get to work!"

Endive Salad with Prosciutto Recipe

Growing up I ate a green salad pretty much every night with dinner. In Italy, we did the same, though it was served at the end of the meal. These days, I find it hard to convince my other half to eat salad. My solution is to make main dish salads. This one uses Belgian endive and is easy to make for one or a group. It has many delicious things added to a base of endive and fennel, namely candied walnuts, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto.

Endive and fennel just seem to have a natural affinity for one another. Both are crisp, but fennel has a chewier  texture and a sweetness, while endive is lighter and juicier and has a slightly bitter edge. You could use them to make a simple side salad but this one has lots of goodies to make it a main dish. Use a Champagne vinaigrette or a Dijon mustard vinaigrette to dress it. Or even just lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.

One of the tricks to this salad is that one thin slice of prosciutto pulled into shreds adds loads of flavor. If you have jamon de Bellota, by all means use it. That's what I originally used in this salad. Just be sure to add it at the very last minute. Make extra candied walnuts, they are terrific for snacking.

Endive Salad with Prosciutto
One serving

1 Belgian endive, sliced
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh fennel
1/4 cup diced fresh mozzarella
1 slice prosciutto, shredded into about 5 thin strips
2 Tablespoons walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Pinch salt
Vinaigrette

Make the candied walnuts by very gently heating the walnuts, sugar and salt in a non-stick skillet until the sugar melts and the walnuts toast. Swirl the pan so the sugar sticks to the nuts. Set aside and let cool while assembling the salad.

In a salad bowl toss the endive and fennel with a couple tablespoons of dressing. Place the salad on a plate and top with the mozzarella, walnuts and the prosciutto.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: My thanks to California Endive Farms for providing me with a generous sample of endive to use. I also wrote about endive on Recipe.com. 

Washington Monthly covers "government speech" and Big Beef

At the Washington Monthly, Siddhartha Mahanta describes the unusual coalition of animal welfare and conservative groups opposed to the federal government's semi-public beef checkoff program:

With liberals and conservatives for once in agreement, it’s time to have a barbeque. Big Beef subsidies. It’s what’s for dinner. 

This blog's previous coverage of checkoff controversies includes the Humane Society's earlier work on the sale of the pork checkoff's "Other White Meat" brand, and the results of my 2006 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that triggered the Humane Society's interest in this topic.

Healthier Snacks & Treats

Snacks are part of the American way of life. We are a nation of snackers. Because I work from home, I have no "break room" stocked with drinks and snacks, but that doesn't mean I don't help myself to a nibble now and then. I most frequently indulge in snacks when I'm traveling because it's not always easy to find a satisfying meal in between departure and arrival. In general I prefer healthier snacks, they just taste better to me. Stock up on these for the home, office or on to take the road.

G.H. Cretors

When I pass through Chicago O'Hare, I sometimes buy some "Chicago mix" that wacky sounding but utterly delicious combination of caramel corn and cheese corn. Each bite is salty sweet and so crisp and buttery. I've never found anything as good as what they sell in Chicago, until I got a sample of G.H.Cretors. They offer cheese popcorn and caramel corn separately but trust me, you want to try them combined. So truth be told, these are not the healthiest, but healthier than potato chips, so that's something.

Sahale Snacks

I've been crazy about these creative fruit and nut mixes since I tried them at the Fancy Food Show a few years ago. Not your typical trail mix, they come in amazing flavor combinations like Pomegranate, Pistachios with Almonds, Cherries and Black Pepper or Sing Buri Cashews with pineapple, peanuts, Lemongrass and Mild Chinese Chili. The "Crunchers" come in both sweet and savory formulations like Cranberries, Sesame Seeds or Honey Almond Snack with Parmesan Cheese and Herbs. Depending on the flavor, they are recommended for use on salads, yogurt and oatmeal, rice and pasta. I think they would be  great on stir fried vegetables as well. 

Oren's Kitchen

When putting together a gift for a friend, I remembered how good these nut mixes are and added a pack. They come in flavors like Smoked Paprika Pecans and Coconut Chili Macadamias, but my favorite are the Wild Rosemary Almonds, which are perfectly slow roasted. Good as a snack but they could also be chopped and added to salads or served with a cheese plate.

Snapea Crisps

Perhaps you've come across these cute little snacks that look like snap peas, but are made from legumes like dried red lentils, beans and green peas. They taste like junk food, but they are much healthier than potato chips with almost half as much fat and sodium. They come in different flavors like Tomato Basil, Onion Thyme and Wasabi Ranch. I've enjoyed each of them that I've tried, but I warn you, an open bag is moments away from being an empty bag…

Ocean's Halo
It's hard to describe the flavor of seaweed. It's kind of earthy and briny but herbal too. You probably either love it or hate it. I love it. I like those crisp little seaweed snacks that you find all over these days. But now there's a chip made from seaweed that has a much crunchier thicker texture, but the same intense flavor of the sea. I really like the sea salt flavor and look forward to trying the chile lime and Korean BBQ versions too. Halo snacks are available at select Whole Foods markets. As an added plus, the bag they come in is 100% compostable, though not edible! That would be pretty cool though. 

Crunchies

Recently I got a sample of Crunchies latest flavors Sweet Buttered Corn and BBQ Roasted Vegetables. I like the corn because it's light and sweet. Like the dehydrated fruits and vegetables that I reviewed from Sensible Foods I think you could use it on salads or as a topping on soup. The BBQ version which includes a variety of dehydrated vegetables does not taste much like BBQ at all. And I don't really like the peas which are a bit starchy tasting, but the tomatoes and red peppers are very good. If you're interested in trying this, I'd recommend sticking with the corn.

Disclaimer: I received some (but not all) of these products as review samples, however I was not paid to write this or any other post on Cooking with Amy.

Dietary guidelines and health

[An excerpt from Chapter 8 in Food Policy in the United States: An Introduction (Routledge/Earthscan, 2013).]

It is sometimes said that there is no need for a government role in dietary guidance, because people know how to eat well and simply lack the willpower to do so. Is it true that people in the United States already know how to eat healthfully? While many nutrition and health experts say that something is wrong with U.S. eating patterns, they disagree about what is unhealthy.

Consider four perspectives, which each have a large public following:

• A long tradition, including the physician Robert Atkins and the science writer Gary Taubes, blames carbohydrates for weight problems and recommends a diet that may be high in meat and saturated fat (Taubes, 2007).
• An equally well-developed tradition encourages a low-fat plant-based diet and blames meat consumption for health problems (Campbell and Campbell, 2007).
• The respected epidemiologist Walter Willett and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health advise a mostly plant-based diet that is not necessarily low in fat, allowing plenty of vegetable oils (Willett et al., 2005).
• Others, including former FDA Commissioner David Kessler and journalist Michael Pollan, are most concerned about the highly palatable artificial creations of an industrial food system (Kessler, 2009). 

These views about diet and health are partly overlapping and partly contradictory. Yet at least some scientific research in peer-reviewed journals can be found to support each one. To make sound judgments, a layperson needs a skeptical attitude towards dietary fads and a trustworthy summary of the balance of the scientific evidence.

One influential summary of the scientific evidence is the federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans (U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). The federal government issued the first Dietary Guidelines in 1980 and has revised the document every five years since then. Regardless of a reader’s own views on diet and health, it is useful to understand the mainstream position of the Dietary Guidelines on controversial questions in nutrition science.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is used as a source of evidence for claims about diet and health on food labels (see Chapter 9). It provides key inputs for USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan and other model diets for people at different income levels (see Chapter 10). It informs policies and regulations for nutrition assistance programs, including school lunch and school breakfast (see Chapter 11).

This chapter covers how the federal government develops and uses dietary guidance. The chapter:

• reviews historical trends in chronic disease and nutrition, so that we can pay the most attention to the most important health concerns (Section 8.2); 
• considers several market failures that have been cited as motivation for a government role in dietary guidance (Section 8.3);
• explains the process of creating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and related consumer-oriented graphics (Section 8.4);
• compares current U.S. consumption patterns to the Dietary Guidelines (Section 8.5); and
• explores several policy instruments that have been proposed to guide Americans toward healthier food choices (Section 8.6).

Food policy advocates and "personal responsibility"

In an interview with Jayson Lusk, author of the Food Police, the Casual Kitchen blog today asks: 'Why is it that many food policy advocates strongly dislike the phrase "personal responsibility"?'

Jayson's answer, expressing a balanced sense of personal responsibility combined with awareness of environmental influences, is fine.  It is worth adding that many food policy advocates talk about "personal responsibility" all the time.  Just do a search for "Michelle Obama" and "personal responsibility."  You will find the topic thoroughly covered by the Cato Institute (an institution rarely accused of being part of the "Food Police"!).  You will find a lively discussion of how much the Obamas emphasize "personal responsibility" in tough non-pandering commencement speeches.  The Obamas' views, with a mix of personal responsibility and public purpose, sound a lot like Jayson's.

The Casual Kitchen, and Jayson too, can win arguments any time they like against the almost satirically narrow-minded caricature of the "Food Police" that they have set up.  But, perhaps it will become boring after a time to knock down row upon row of carnival dolls sitting on a shelf.  If so, they will want to engage in greater detail the issues that Michelle Obama raises in her speeches for the "Let's Move" campaign.  Here is a good speech to begin with.

Warm Cauliflower Dip Recipe

Tahini is a very rich sesame seed paste used in hummus. But that's not the only thing you can do with tahini. It adds richness and creaminess to a variety of dishes including salads, fish, grilled meats and vegetables. To make an amazing tahini sauce, all you have to do is combine tahini, mashed garlic, water and lemon juice. You can make it to be thick and creamy or thin and saucy. Either way it is delicious.

Recently I needed to make some appetizers that were lactose free. I looked in my fridge and found a head of cauliflower and some tahini (which is a staple ingredient at my house) and those formed the basis of this luscious warm cauliflower dip. No butter, no cheese. No problem! 

Warm cauliflower dip is vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and lactose free. So pretty much anyone should be able to enjoy it. It's surprisingly rich and creamy, considering it doesn't have any cream. I made it the first time in my Vitamix, but I tested it in the food processor and it came out just great that way too. You could add hot sauce or a splash of lemon juice if you want to customize it. You could also use it as a spread for sandwiches or wraps. It's good at room temperature or warm. 

Warm Cauliflower Dip

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower
Head of garlic
Olive oil
2 Tablespoons tahini
2-3 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Black sesame seeds, optional

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice about 1/4 inch off the top of the garlic clove, just enough to expose the cloves. Cut away the core of the cauliflower and break it into small pieces. Place the cauliflower and whole head of garlic on a rimmed baking sheet (I line mine with parchment paper or foil for easy clean up). Drizzle the vegetables with a little oil, about a tablespoon or so. Roast for 45 minutes or until tender and beginning to brown in spots.

Transfer the cauliflower to the food processor. When the garlic is cooled enough to handle, squeeze it from the skins and add as much of it as you'd like into the food processor. I use about 5 cloves (save the rest to add to mashed potatoes). Add the tahini, salt and cumin. Puree, adding as much water as you need to form a  very thick and creamy dip. Taste for seasonings. You may need to add more salt or tahini, it really depends on the size and flavor of the cauliflower. Garnish with black sesame seeds. Serve with crudités, endive leaves or chips. You can keep this in the refrigerator for several days and gently reheat in the microwave (or serve at room temperature). 

Enjoy! 

Nightstand Cookbooks & Giveaway

For a while the memoir with recipes was a very popular genre. These days there are quite a few memoir cookbooks that offer much more than just a recipe per chapter. They are books you may or may not actually cook from, but you will read them and savor every page because their authors are compelling characters with fascinating journeys and stories to tell. 

Top of the list for me is Coi. If Daniel Patterson is equal parts culinary genius and awkward social misfit, this book gets to the root of it, in a very soul baring way. He also just happens to be a fantastic writer. The format of the book is completely unique. Long essays on each page are paired with stunning photos and recipes written “longhand” I’d say, with the pesky details like measurements relegated to the index. Sure, it’s tweezer food that you might never cook, but that's beside the point. Each dish comes with so much background and story, it’s a fascinating ride. I really adore this book. Take a look at this preview of the book from Eater to get a better feel for it. 

Nigel Slater’s Notes from the Larder is described as a kitchen diary. It’s organized chronologically, almost day by day. Each day gets a journal like entry and a recipe. It’s nearly impossible to use in a conventional manner, unless you resort to the index. But it’s well worth reading nonetheless. Perfect bed time reading really, because you can take in little bits at a time and be inspired and entertained by the wit, wisdom and insight of Slater, along with the heavenly photos and mostly easy peasy recipes for things like Lamb and Mushroom Flatbread, Five Spice Chicken and Pea Shoot Salad, Apricot Couscous, and Blackberry and Hazelnut Cakes (only 7 ingredients!). That should make for sweet dreams. 

I met Ivan Orkin, the author of Ivan Ramen and was lucky enough to try his food at the CIA Worlds of Flavor conference in Napa a few years ago. His ramen shops are a sensation in Tokyo, and now he is opening a shop in NYC. But if his ramen is a revelation, so is his story with lots of drama and twists and turns. I don’t want to give away even the tiniest bit of his saga. Just read this book! You can also make his recipes, but honestly, even if you don’t, you won’t be able to put this book down. Enough said. 

Another fascinating character I met at a CIA Worlds of Flavor conference was Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ and Korean taco fame. A classically trained chef, it was when he reconnected with his roots that he went from struggling corporate chef to finding his true calling. His story told in L.A Son: My Life, My City, My Food is about growing up as an immigrant in LA, flirting with drugs and gambling and the roller coaster ride of food trucks and restaurants. The recipes fall into the categories of Mexican, Korean and guilty pleasure. Carne Asada, Korean Carpaccio, Ghetto Pillsbury Fried Donuts, Korean-Style Braised Short-Rib Stew, Perfect Instant Ramen, Coconut Clam Chowder. Really the whole book is a guilty pleasure. 

While Orkin and Choi are very much on trend and of the moment, Anne Willan is old school. The founder of the famed La Varenne cooking school in France, she is an accomplished cooking teacher, food writer and cookbook author. Her latest book, One Souffle at a Time, is a memoir with recipes, fifty of them in all. It’s a book for Francophiles and those who enjoy anecdotes about Julia Child, James Beard, Craig Claiborne, and other American, French and British food writers and luminaries primarily from the 70’s and 80’s. It turns out Willan is not just a great cooking teacher, but a great story teller as well. 

Last but not least is a “not cookbook” 50 Foods, The Essentials of Good Taste by Edward Behr, one of the best food writers around. But don't take my word for it, read an excerpt. Equally authoritative and opinionated, you can’t help but learn something when reading what Behr has to say. In this encyclopedic style reference book he shares his picks for favored ingredients along with how to buy, what complements the ingredient and “notes on wine.” His picks? Things like Asparagus, Cabbage, Chestnuts, Goose, Honey, Lemons, Pears, Potatoes, Strawberries and Sweetbreads. No recipes, but lots of useful information that will make you a better cook. The illustrations are really appealing in this book.

Giveaway! 

I am giving away one copy of 50 Foods, The Essentials of Good Taste by Edward Behr, courtesy of the publisher, Penguin Press. Leave me a comment telling me your favorite nightstand cookbook or culinary memoir. One entry per person and mailing address must be in the US. Winner will be chosen at random on January 10, 2014 noon PST. 

Disclaimer: Some of these books were provided as review copies. This post contains affiliate links.