The Food Desert Project: Ice Cream Cones, or Love and Burnt Fingers

Yes, this is a story of love, and also a story of the sometimes unpleasantly surprising elements of a recipe. Eventually, this is a story of redemption.

You see, at our Winter Farmer's Market, Sparky had discovered Sweet Collective's Ruth and Phil's ice cream - so, along with our popcorn and hardneck garlic, we came home with a pint of delectable blueberry cheesecake ice cream, which tasted just like it sounds. Mmm.

Once we were home reviewing our treasures, Sparky exclaimed, rather pointedly, "Ice cream this good deserves an ice cream cone!" Of course I didn't have any in the house and wasn't about to go get them.  Given this knowledge, the love of my life fixed me with his soft baby browns and purred, "Mom, can't we make ice cream cones?"

Well, what's a girl gonna do: I've tried to teach him the value of six impossible things before breakfast and here we were, well past lunch. Ice cream cones didn't seem like a lot to ask. I headed to the internets, found many a recipe, but settled on Joy of Baking's crepe- like cones, because I can make crepes, right? Little did I know what it would take to live up to the expectation in those oh-so-deep brown eyes...

Ice Cream Cones: 
ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
4 tbsp butter
2 - 3 tbsp milk
1/3 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Cooking spray

equipment:

Blender

Nonstick skillet

Clean work surface

Aluminum foil

Every spatula you own, and maybe a pair of tongs.  Acme Batter Repellent.  Zero gravity time on the Space Shuttle.  Heat-deflecting vision. (OK, maybe not the last two or three.)

Form your aluminum foil into a thick cone shape - this will be your mold.

Once I realized these were basically sugary crepes, I didn't follow any of the excellent directions at the Joy of Baking site: I just dumped all the ingredients except the cooking spray into the blender and blended them smooth. If the batter isn't thin enough to drizzle, add a bit more milk - I did fine with 2 tbsp.

Now, for the slightly more challenging part; sorry, even after going back to the original recipe for help, I realized that while the batter may make 8-10 cones, you need to be prepared to eat only 4-5. I wouldn't recommend doubling the recipe, either.

Lightly heat your nonstick skillet to the point where a drop of water will fizzle, and spray it with cooking spray. Over medium heat, pour about a 1/4 cup of batter in a thin stream into the middle of your pan, and then immediately begin slowly rotating the pan like a gyroscope so the batter floods out into a widening circle. When you've got a diameter of about 4" or so, set the pan on the heat and turn it down to low. Allow the crepe to cook until it's quite firm in the middle; it will bubble up if you're doing it right - the edges should look golden brown.

Now comes the tricky part - you now have a pancake the texture of a wet popped balloon, but at a searingly high temperature (sugar gets very, very hot.) Thinking only of cute brown eyes, slip whatever spatula works best (I had to try three or four different ones) under the pancake to make sure it's well loosened. Take a deep breath.

Get your spatula under that thing, and get ready to turn...I found that I had to hold the flopping sides open with my fingertips - which HURT. I tried tongs, but wasn't as successful as I was with third-degree-burnt fingers. Don't forget: these are lightly sticky as well (maybe use one of those giant pancake spatulas if you have one?) Flip that puppy over and straighten it out as best you can, repairing any nasty cracks with a light drizzle of batter. Blot tears or sweat so they don't get in your way. I ruined my first three or four; keep in mind there's a learning curve here, and don't give up. Think cute brown eyes, brown eyes. BROWN.

When the second side is done, a minute or so later, loosen again with the spatula. After ruining a few more on the way out of the pan, I finally figured out that the best way to deal with them was to just flip my whole pan upside-down onto my work surface with a good "whack" that shocked the dog out of a sound sleep. 

Quickly, burning your fingers even more in the process, wrap your scalding-hot crepe around the aluminum-foil cone, pinching it carefully at the bottom as you fold it over and roll it.  It will cool as you make the next one...if your resolve holds out to cook more, that is.  Give it about a minute, at least.

Get out the Aloe Vera: realize that it won't taste good with ice cream. Smother your curses. Repeat the whole process until you either run out of batter or decide that you've got sufficient cones to serve your need and give up (I opted for the latter.) Apparently these should be eaten the same day, as they will soften.  The recipe suggests you can heat, unroll, and re-crisp them but I wasn't about to go through that a second time without titanium fingers.

Watch boy happily eat ice cream, and scarf down the remaining empty/broken cones. Bury your smarting fingers inside your own cone and feel the cold ice cream soothe the stumps.

Consider it a win.

Sundays with Sparky: Popcorn on the Cob

Our hometown has one of the best Farmer's Markets around, and we're lucky that in recent years they've started a winter market for storage apples, hardneck garlic (my favorite!) cold-weather vegetables...and popcorn.  Straight from the farmer's hands, we scored an ear of the most beautiful popcorn I've seen in recent memory: golden hard little gems all lined up in a row! So this Sunday, Sparky and his friend, Dr. Lasergonapus (what can I say, they're tweens and I let them call themselves whatever they want) harnassed the explosive power of steam to make a delicious snack.

Just for you, since I don't know your kitchen equipment, we decided to make popcorn two ways: in the microwave and on the stove-top.  Since Dr. Lasergonapus likes his popcorn plain with butter, we buttered the microwave half, and we'll give you our popcorn "sprinkle" recipe as we describe the stovetop half.  Fortunately, popcorn cobs are hard, dry, and easy to break it in half.

Sparky buttered the top half of the popcorn cob just as you would an ear of sweet corn, and we set the buttered cob in the bottom of  a microwave-safe glass bowl with a microwave-safe lid.

If the seal on your bowl is airtight, you will need to vent it a bit; ours is slightly loose so we didn't need to do that.  You can also use a paper bag taped shut, but I never seem to have one handy, so we do this instead.

Dr. Lasergonapus put the bowl into the microwave and started it going on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds.  After about 30 seconds, the popcorn started exploding all over the place, to the delight of both boys who were mesmerized by the show, especially when the popcorn cob flipped back and forth as though possessed.  We added time in 30-second increments until most of the popcorn had come off the cob one way or another (I think we were at about 2:30 when we stopped.)

In general, I endorse immediate post-cook salting, so Dr. Lasergonapus ground sea salt over our delicious, lightly buttery popcorn that smelled better than any popcorn had a right to.  The boys declared it the best popcorn they'd ever had.  Truly, buying it right from the farmer makes a big difference in the quality.

But, wait - we still have another half an ear!  This one, we used a method I learned from Aarti Sequeira, waaay back from before she was a Food Network star (I highly recommend clicking the link and watching her tutorial; she does it much better than me.)

First, we shelled the remaining ear of corn into a bowl.  Then, we put my 3qt pot on the stove on high heat, and drizzled in enough oil to thoroughly coat the bottom (I'm guessing about 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons.) We dropped in three corn kernels and waited until they popped (they almost always pop like this: one....twothree!)

Once the kernels popped, we took the pan off the heat and waited 30 seconds.  (Sadly, the boys didn't jig to the charming ditty on Aarti's video; instead they shuffled to electro-dance-pop.  Still, it worked!)  Then we cranked up the heat and watched through the glass top as the corn kernels, once again, started exploding.  They are boys, what can I say - they love explosions!

We dressed this popcorn with my new favorite popcorn topping: place 2 tbsp nutritional (brewer's) yeast powder, 1 tsp granulated garlic, and 2 tsp kosher salt in a very dry blender, whiz at high speed until the salt is powdered.  Sprinkle on your warm corn!  Share with a friend and delight in the fluffy, crunchy goodness!  Think about hugging a farmer!

Policy Point Wednesday: Sticky Fingers in the USAid Pie

I've researched and written several articles here about USAid; recently, this article caught my attention, as it's a whole new twist on the lobbying efforts of industry vs charity. Oxfam America, part of Oxfam International, an "international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice," recently tweeted this article* on how various special interest groups are lobbying to preserve the current form of USAid in the Farm Bill. Unfortunately, those interests are at cross-purposes with USAid's intended mission to "promote broadly shared economic prosperity; strengthen democracy and good governance; improve global health, food security, environmental sustainability and education; help societies prevent and recover from conflicts; and provide humanitarian assistance in the wake of natural and man-made disasters."

Ben Grossman-Cohen of Oxfam America, writes that about $0.32 of every food dollar spent on USAid by American taxpayers goes to "waste." He points to shipping restrictions that require 75% of USAid to be shipped on preferred US ships, using money from set-asides in the Farm Bill (apparently via the Jones Act, although I am unable to find the actual language of this legislation.) US shipping often costs more than other transportation options because of heightened regulations. In addition, providing aid using commodities grown in the US and shipped abroad means precious time is lost to transportation, and unnecessarily increases the carbon footprint of aid.

The policy of the United Nations' World Food Programme is to "buy food as close to where it is needed as possible. By buying locally the agency can save money on transport costs and also help sustain local economies." This is made possible by the support of donors, both individuals and governments, who offer cash instead of in-kind donations. Some governments, notably Canada, have moved entirely from in-kind donations ("tied" aid) to direct aid: "Tied aid is not cost effective and is inefficient. It undermines the ability of developing nations to produce or buy goods for themselves and delays the assistance from reaching the people who so desperately need it." Oxfam is asking USAid to consider moving towards purchasing local and regional foods in the country of need, rather than transporting our own products around the globe.

In the recent Google + hangout, President Obama outlined the importance of foreign aid: “We only spend about 1 percent of our budget on foreign aid, but it pays off in a lot of ways, because if we are contributing to an improving economy in a country, if we're giving people opportunity, if we're preventing a famine that results in huge numbers of refugees, that potentially saves us from having to deal with some military crisis somewhere down the road that could be even more expensive....aside from it being the right thing to do, as a very wealthy country… it’s also important to make sure that people understand this is part of our overall security strategy.”

Considering the complex set of regulations limiting USAid to preferred US growers and preferred US transportation, can we say in good conscience that USAid is as effective as it could be? Research shows that these restrictions cost taxpayers approximately $213 million a year; shipping restrictions alone cost taxpayers approximately $140 million annually. In light of our current domestic economic climate, wouldn't it make sense to make sure that our foreign aid does the most it can do in the least expensive way possible?

*Note: to see lobbyists in action, make sure to read the comments below the linked Oxfam article.

Sundays with Sparky: Super-Easy Spinach Pasta

Someday, Sparky will go to college. Like it or not, there is a future ahead where he goes out there into the hard, cold world where he will have nobody following behind him making sure he eats his vegetables. Today's recipe is for harried Moms and college students of today, and for my bright Sparky-of-the-future.

When I first ventured out on my own, I was eager to get busy in the kitchen: I was fortunate to have friends to help me negotiate those first few years of single living. A college friend had terrified me with tales of Top Ramen and boxed macaroni and cheese, and I resolved to eat actual food I cooked myself. One rule I learned: if it's too complicated, you won't even try. When I saw this easy recipe on Kaboose.com, I made sure to add it to our rotation. It's quick, tasty, and has vegetables as its main feature.

1 6-oz bag of prewashed baby spinach
8oz pasta of your choice (usually half a box)
3 cloves of garlic
A good slosh of EVOO (Extra-virgin olive oil)
1 cup of ricotta cheese
(OR, if you have a blender, 1 cup cottage cheese + 1/2 tsp cornstarch)
Red pepper flakes, parmesan, salt and pepper to taste

The one unfortunate part of this recipe is that it does require a clean kitchen sink (don't make it during finals!) Open the bag of spinach, pour it into a colander, rinse it and leave the colander full of spinach in the sink (you can use any delicate bagged salad.) If using cottage cheese, blend it with the cornstarch to creaminess in your blender and set it aside. Peel and mince your garlic (don't skimp on the garlic in this recipe!)

Cook your pasta according to the package directions (don't forget - salt your pasta water first - salty like the sea!) When the pasta is cooked, pour it slowly over the spinach in the colander and leave it there for a moment. Put the garlic and olive oil in your now-empty pot and saute it over medium heat until it bubbles and is fragrant. Remove from heat, and add back the spinach and pasta, toss, and season to taste. Stir in the cheese and serve immediately. Top each serving with parmesan.

We doubled this recipe in these photos - don't do that, it makes a CRAZY amount of food and the spinach clumps together and is hard to distribute; use the proportions listed above, which should make about 4 servings. (We also had some leftover cooked chicken that we added to the pasta at the last minute to heat it up; you can do that if you want to add some meat.) Enjoy!

The Food Desert Project: Chocolate Orange Meringues

I know, I know - Valentine's Day was yesterday.  Still, it's nice to have a sweet and not-so-bad-for-you treat in the bag, so I thought I'd post this today - for all of you who might be a day late and a dollar short.

We love meringues in our family, Sparky in particular.  These meringues combine techniques from a couple of recipes, one of which allows you to flavor the meringue itself with fruit juice, and the other brings a hit of chocolate.  These are made with the Italian meringue technique, where a hot syrup is used to sweeten and lightly cook the egg whites, if raw eggs make you nervous.  Meringues don't like wet, humid weather - so you may want to wait for a dry day to try this recipe.

Ingredients

4 egg whites
1/4 cup 100% juice concentrate (we used orange, use what you like, frozen or canned)
3/4 cup sugar (I use vanilla sugar)

Bittersweet chocolate chips

First, put your egg whites into your mixer (It will be helpful to have your mixer near the stove.)  You will either need a hands-free mixer, or someone with a steady hand to help you with this recipe.  Whip them until they are airy, white and well mixed but don't hold peaks.

Pour the sugar and the juice into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and heat it until it starts to bubble and foam - if you have a candy thermometer, continue heating to 238 - 240 degrees Fahrenheit. (If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test your mixture by dropping a bit in cold water; it should form a soft ball when rolled between your fingers.)  Take your pan off the heat.  Preheat your oven to 200 degrees, or the lowest setting possible.

Turn on your mixer to medium speed, and as the egg whites whip, drizzle in about 2 tbsp of the hot syrup.  Continue adding the syrup in small, thin drizzles, simultaneously warming the egg whites and cooling the syrup, until all the syrup is incorporated and mix until your egg whites are firm and glossy.

Arrange your chocolate chips on two parchment-lined baking sheets (meringues don't expand, so you can arrange them as close as is comfortable for you; probably about 2" space between chocolate chips) and scoop your meringue into a piping bag.  (If you don't have a piping bag, a regular zip-top bag with the corner cut off works just as well.)


Pipe the meringue directly on top of the chocolate chips, covering them completely in blobs (or heart shapes, as I did, you can see in the first picture where I didn't cover one completely) about an inch in diameter and a half-inch or so tall.  Place the cookie sheets in the oven, and turn it off.  Bake the meringues for about 2 1/2 hours until crisp, rotating the cookie sheets and turning the oven back on to its lowest setting every half hour (turn it off once it comes up to temp.)  Open the oven door slightly and allow the meringues to cool thoroughly inside the oven (this may take an hour or more.)

Remove from the parchment and enjoy!  Eat fast, or store in a tightly sealed container, away from moisture (these get gooey quickly on a damp day.)

Sundays with Sparky - Swamp Monster (Broccoli-Cheddar) Soup

Vegetables don't have to be difficult: sometimes just adding a little whimsy to your food can make it magically, happily disappear. After preparing this recipe, Sparky and I devoured the whole thing, which meant we ate a half-pound of broccoli each!

I first saw this soup on Epicurious.com (a reprint from Matthew Mead's Monster Book of Halloween,) and wanted to try it, but felt that the soup was complicated for an everyday food.  I later discovered that broccoli-cheese soup can be made easily with frozen broccoli, stock, cheddar and nothing else: Sparky decided to get all fancy on me and add a clove of garlic, but you can easily do without.  He often asks for this soup in a thermos for lunch; I pack the garnish in a separate, chilled container (hot foods hot, cold foods cold, right?) and he assembles it and demolishes it at school.

This soup could not be simpler:

Ingredients
Frozen broccoli (since it gets blended, feel free to go cheap.)  We used a 16 oz bag.
Stock of your choice - we used about 15 oz.
About 1/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese per pound of broccoli
One peeled clove of garlic if you are heading into your teens and insist on getting all hoity-toity with your food

One hardboiled egg per serving of soup (this was about 3-4 servings, but we split it in half and called it dinner for 2)
Sliced black olives
Capers
Chopped parsley (if desired)

1. Cut open bag of broccoli.  Peel your garlic clove (if using.)









2. Dump broccoli in saucepan, add whole garlic clove, cover with stock (we happened to have homemade, but canned is fine.)  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until broccoli shows slight resistance to a fork, tender but still bright green.

3. Carefully blend with stick blender to desired consistency (Sparky likes it quite smooth.  You can also pour it into a conventional blender or food processor to blend.)


4. Add shredded cheese (we use sharp cheddar) and blend until combined.  Your soup is now done, and can be served as is.  (I don't add salt; the stock and cheese offer enough.  YMMV.)




For the garnish, carefully hard-cook your eggs.  Peel them and slice them carefully in half.   Top each egg yolk with an olive "iris" and a caper "pupil." (You could also use sliced pimento-stuffed green olives and omit the caper.)  Carefully float the two egg halves in each bowl of soup, and sprinkle parsley under them  to make it look like your monster is foaming at the mouth.

Sparky decided his Swamp Monster looked too happy, so he doctored up his bowl a bit before dismembering the "eyeballs" with his spoon:

Enjoy!

Policy Point Wednesday - In Defense of the Omnivore

One frequently reads, in the world of food politics, all-or-nothing responses to a kaleidoscope of concerns about food. Fresh. Local. Organic. Vegetarian. Vegan. Paleo. Sustainable. Gluten-free, Grain-free, Nut-free, Casein-free.

I have to admit, these discussions make me cringe. I have no problem with any of the above approaches to diet, or many other diets I've seen out there, and, indeed, an individual's health may depend on a particular diet. While I appreciate the perspective of people who take food seriously and are trying to eat thoughtfully, I'm concerned that the waters of the food world have become very, very muddy and confusing. I fear the negative trickle-down effect of publicizing restrictive and dogmatic eating is that people who don't have time, energy, education or money to follow suit make even poorer choices. Advocates need to leave room for options in the food world.

For example, I have no doubt anyone can eat healthily without consuming animal products, provided sufficient resources for a varied diet and some basic education. My experience is that many people don't have access to those resources. Certainly, Americans need to reduce animal products in our diet, but this does not automatically mean that a vegetarian or vegan diet is good for everyone. Animal products remain an efficient way of delivering calories and nutrients to consumers. Successful anti-starvation programs include animal-source food: in fact, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) has been lobbying to include animal-sourced foods in USAid, which currently provides grain-based CSB (a fortified corn-soy blend) to countries with vulnerable populations at risk for starvation. In the same way that it's possible to eat healthily without animal products, it's also possible to include them in a healthy diet - and it may well be simpler.

Unfortunately, the dual message of "eat well" and "eat less," is a tough sell. Add in complex arguments about sustainability, humane treatment of animals, carbon footprints, food sensitivities, BPA, GMO: I can't blame people for throwing up their hands and running for the nearest McDonald's. As an advocate for dietary health, I'd like to stay on-point with the simplest, most broadly applicable message possible: Make half your plate fruits and vegetables, eat less protein, and less refined grain.

The Food Desert Project - MmmBap, Giardiniera Kimbap

You know, I always leave my cooking until the last possible minute.  I have all kinds of recipes I've tagged and saved and they're all percolating up there in my head...until Tuesday night (or Saturday night, depending on which post I'm writing!)

I'd wanted to make "maki" for the Food Desert Project for a while, but was totally stymied by how to replace nori - to me an essential component of a sushi roll, along with fresh vegetables...and, well, fresh fish.  One day, at our local H-Mart, I had my first encounter with Kimbap, which reminded me of a dragged-through-the-garden Chicago Dog (they often have suspiciously-hotdog-like sausages in them) containing vegetables, pickles, and meat - basically, whatever you've got in the kitchen - wrapped in rice and nori.  Perfect for adapting to the food desert...but for the nori!

One day, I realized I'd forgotten the obvious, and googled "nori substitutes."  I found this terrific recipe for microwaved usuyaki tamago, or scrambled egg sheet, sometimes used as a replacement rice wrapper.  Success!

So, first I had a go at the egg sheet.  I got a bit ahead of myself and tried to make a sheet with corners by doubling the recipe and using a rectangular serving tray...let's just say - don't do that (I did make the dog very happy.)  Only slightly panicked at potential failure as my deadline loomed, I sprayed one of our dinner plates with cooking spray, took a breath, and proceeded:

Usuyaki Tamago, Egg sheets: Ingredients
1 egg
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Put all the ingredients in a blender jar and blend them briefly a couple of times, or conversely just whip with a whisk (you want them well-blended but without lots of air.)  Spray a microwaveable plate thoroughly with cooking spray, and pour on the egg.

Place the plate in the microwave, and microwave on 50% power for one minute.  Allow to rest for 15 seconds, and continue microwaving at 50% power in 30-second increments until the center of your egg sheet is cooked.  The edges will curl and bubble and it won't be terribly attractive, but cook it as slowly as possible and it should even out as it all sets.

Remove your egg sheet from the microwave and allow to cool as you gather your ingredients and supplies for the Kimbap (technically, Kim means nori and bap means rice, so we are playing fast and loose with language here.)  Fortunately for me, as it turns out, the entire recipe is actually fairly simple and comes together quickly.

Giardiniera Kimbap: Ingredients
1 Usuyaki Tamago
1/4 cup cooked short-grain rice, warm (I like this recipe, but use leftover rice if that's what you have)
About a tablespoon of giardiniera relish, drained
1 sardine

1 zip-top plastic bag
Sharp knife

First, lay your usuyaki tamago on the plastic bag and cover it with rice, leaving a rice-free section at the top. Get your hands wet and press the rice into the egg wrapper.




Spread a stripe of giardiniera along the diameter of your rice-covered egg wrapper.  Cut your sardine into strips and lay it alongside the giardiniera.




Using the plastic bag, fold the bottom edge of your egg wrapper over the fillings.  When the edge of the wrapper covers the fillings, using your fingers and the plastic bag, pull it towards you (I sometimes flip the bag back and forth so I can best use the zipper for leverage as needed.) and curve your fingers so the roll tightens.  


Continue using the bag to roll the egg wrapper around the rice until you have a tight tube.  Pull it very tight using the plastic bag.

Remove your tube from the plastic, and place it on the cutting board.  With a sharp knife, trim off the ends (those are spoils for the cook!) and then cut the roll into about six equal pieces (depending on the length of your tube.)

Serve and enjoy!