I must see King Corn

Michael Ruhlman, noted author and Anthony Bourdain's arch on-screen enemy, has posted a brief note about a new documentary, King Corn. I've not paid much attention to corn in general, but I've tried to be more alert to high fructose corn syrup (which, it turns out, is in everything). From Ruhlman's description, though, the problem goes much deeper than that:

It’s an excellent and entertaining reminder of what Pollan describes in Omnivore’s Dilemma (Pollan’s work inspired the film and he’s interviewed as well): that we are walking, breathing corn.  The film makers (above) buy an acre in Iowa to get hands on experience of America’s most important crop.  And also its scariest.  We grow a single strain designed to thrive in close quarters (urban corn); it costs more money to grow than it’s worth and you can’t eat it.

It sounds like an excellent movie, taking a very small, very real look at two guys' efforts to grow corn and make corn syrup and using that approachable situation to shed light on a much larger picture. Ruhlman maintains the real tragedy is that people eating this food won't get to see the movie--and probably wouldn't go even if it came to their towns. I agree. But more tragic than that is people's inability to buy anything healthier.

I worked for a company that went bankrupt just before 9/11. After 9/11 the job market was incredibly soft. I bounced to a couple consulting gigs, but even those were few and far between. With one salary between us (bless her heart, my wife--to be, at the time--drove a two-hour commute every day to keep us fed), we had to hunt for bargains. I realized inexpensive food fell into one of three categories: easy to make, hours to make, or required specialized knowledge. The people who won't see King Corn probably don't have the time or money necessary to eat healthier, whether they know about it or not.

World Health Organization's guidelines for child nutrition

According to Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, the United States pressured the W.H.O. into recommending a child's daily caloric intake should be one-quarter sugar.

That's a lot of sugar.

Savory and Sweet Pumpkin Soup

October marks a transition. A transition to fall after September's equinox. A transition from lush green to spare orange. It's a harvest month. A time when autumn's vegetables supplant summer’s fruits and berries.

Ask people what they associate with October, and many will say Halloween and its requisite pumpkins. But pumpkins can be used for more than just jack-o-lanterns. You can use fresh pumpkins to make a delicious, savory/sweet soup that’s just the thing on October’s chilly evenings:

Pumpkin Soup

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 2-pound pumpkin peeled, seeded, chopped (about 6 cups—you can substitute two cans pure pumpkin for the fresh, just add the pumpkin during the puree process) approx. 4 cups chicken stock or low-salt chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• Several shakes of allspice (to taste)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Reserve:

• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons honey (brown sugar also works very well--you can alter the amount to suit your sweetness cravings)

Melt the butter in a large, heavy soup pot over medium-high heat. Toss in the carrots, celery and onion (this is called mirepoix, if you want to get fancy and Frech). Sauté about 8 minutes or until tender. Add the pumpkin, the chicken stock and spices. Cover and simmer about 25 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender (you should be able to pierce it with a knife with bare resistance).

Puree the soup in a blender using short pulses (Safety warning: take the top off the blender after every two or three pulses to allow the steam to vent out. I didn’t, and pumpkin splatter shot out the stop and all over my counter, floor and clothes). You can also use a food processor. Put the soup back in the pot and stir in the cream and honey. Add salt and pepper to meet your tastes (or you could always let your guests season the soup at the table). For a delicious additional touch, pan roast a small handful of walnuts for each bowl of soup. October is harvest month for walnuts and the only time you can get fresh ones.

This soup can be made well in advance and frozen. It also keeps well in the refrigerator--just heat and serve.

What to pair it with?
This soup calls for a wine that's going highlight the sweet and savory characteristics. A good white pairing would be a gewürztraminer, as the spice and floral characters would enliven the soup's flavors. If you wanted to go red, however, I think a petite syrah would do well, or you could always fall back on a solid California Zinfandel.

Ravenswood Vintners Blend
2005 California Zinfandel
Ravenswood wines traditionally offer great value. They are all new world in style, very drinkable and pair well with a broad range of foods.
Color: A marvelous cranberry red that fades to salmon at the edges
Nose: Fruit. Definite berry (strawberry) and other red and dark fruits. A hint of vegetation or moss and a touch of leather and spice.
Palate: Very bold. Berry flavors and some spice. Strong body with little complexity but is highly food friendly. Nice tannins and a good structure.
Finish: Clean. Lingering hints of the nose, particularly the leather. Leaves you eagerly anticipating a bite of food, or another gulp from the glass.

Eric Asimov provides 10 reds for under $10 a piece

New York Times columnist Eric Asimov gives us a list of 10 excellent wines priced at under $10 a piece. I try not to spend more than $10, ever. If pressed, I'll spend up to $15. But for the most part, I've been very happy with the wines I get for about $10 a piece.

Eric's list:

Casa Cadaval Portugal Ribatejano , $8.99, ***
Padre Pedro 2002

Domaine de l’Ameillaud France , $9, ** ½
Vin de Pays de Vaucluse 2005

Viña Gormaz Spain Ribera del Duero , $9, **
Tempranillo 2005

Georges Duboeuf France , $9, **
Beaujolais-Villages 2006

Altas Cumbres Argentina Mendoza , $9, **
Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Wyatt California Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 , $10, **

J. Vidal-Fleury France , $10, **
Côtes-du-Ventoux 2005

Domaine Monte de Luz , $7, **
Uruguay Tannat 2006

Ravenswood California Vintner’s Blend , $10, **
Merlot 2004

Paringa , $9, * ½
South Australia Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

I'll have to trust the man. I mean, he did get the Ravenswood, which are pretty consistently good values. I wish more people would seek out and try the some Rhone reds, especially the Domaine La Garrigue 2004 Cotes du Rhone Cuvee Romaine. They're all surprisingly complex and deliver an excellent value for under $12 a bottle.

Garlic Chicken paired with Espelt Sauló

I love to cook. There are few feelings better than plugging the iPod into my kitchen speaker rig, pulling out ingredients, and peeling that first garlic clove. Even better when I don’t have to worry about making up a recipe or following along in some book. Just the food, counter, pots and pans. And music.

This past Sunday was pretty hectic for me. There’s just a lot to do to get ready for the week. Luckily, I’ve got an excellent go-to recipe that’s easy to make, absolutely delicious, and doesn’t require a bit of thinking on my part. It’s a garlic chicken recipe from Tapas by Susanna Tee, a great little book I picked up on sale.

Note: the ingredients have been reduced from the original version to more aptly feed four, not eight

• 4 – 6 chicken thighs, skin on, boned and cut into bite-sized pieces (The thighs are easier to bone and cut if they’re fresh from the refrigerator)
• 5 or 6 (or more) cloves of garlic, sliced thin
• 1/3 cup of dry white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbl. finely chopped parsley
• Paprika
• Salt
• 1 table spoon of olive oil

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Toss in the garlic and let cook for about a minute, or until it just begins to brown. Remove with a slotted spoon to a cooling rack or paper towels. Place the chicken in the pan (skin-side down, for those pieces that have it) and let it cook for about six minutes on one side. Then turn the pieces and let them cook for another four to five minutes. You want to make sure you give it plenty of time to brown nicely on each side. Don’t go flipping them every minute! After the chicken has had time to brown, add the bay leaf and the wine. Bring it up to a boil and then reduce to simmer for another 10 minutes. After five minutes, dust with paprika and sprinkle with salt. When it’s finished, remove from the pan, plate, and place the sliced garlic cloves here and there around. Toss on the parsley and serve with some good, crusty bread.

What to pair it with?
The succulent nature of this dish and the somewhat heavy flavor of the chicken skin and garlic call for a well-structured wine with good tannins. Espelt Wineries’ 2005 Sauló (an organic wine made from garnacha and carinena varietasl) is a shining example of just such a wine.

Color: Deep, opaque red fading to violet at the edges.
Nose: Spice—definitely a Spanish wine. Heavy, with deep berry, vanilla and a hint of roasted coffee. A very nice complexity
Palate: Rich flavor and excellent structure. Strong tannins finish with a surprisingly supple mouth feel.
Finish: An absolute clean sweep that perfectly prepares your mouth for another mouthful.

Spiraly goodness from Korea

Immediate disclaimer: I have never eaten this snack and can make no claims about its deliciousness. But damn, it just looks delicious. From the blog, Super Local:

totally forgot i had this until i was reminded by the lovely shezz. what a crazily amazing way to present (& cook) a potato!

came dusted with a fine cheese powder, a bit like the stuff you find on Twisties. quite yum, like a one super long deep fried crisp!

have seen it in Hongdae & Myeongdong but am it’s in loads of other places.

more food theatrics, please! ^^

Some people might be a bit concerned with the healthiness of the snack (Cory Doctorow, of Boing Boing fame). But I'm heartened. It's a whole potato, spiral cut and fried. My guess would be that it's dusted in front of you, and if you picked salt and pepper, you wouldn't get the weird hydrogenated oils that are in cheesey sprinklings. Whole, fresh food simply prepared can't be beat. Sure, you might be better off with a carrot, but you'd be worse off with McDonald's fries. And I'd guess the tornado potato gives fries a solid run for their money in the taste department.

Simple tips for healthier food shopping

Allrecipes.com (via LifeHacker) provides a list of tips and tricks to buying healthier food in the grocery store. The most helpful?

7. Buy in season. Sure, it’s tempting to buy strawberries in December, and once in a while that’s fine. But fresh fruit and vegetables are best when purchased in season, meaning they’ve come from relatively close to home. They often cost less, are tastier, and have less risk of pathogens such as E. coli.

It takes care of tips number 1 and number 2 in one fell swoop (and prevents E. coli). Though the easiest is probably 2. Shop the perimeter of the store.

Link: Ten tips for your grocery list.

The perfect grilled cheese sandwich

Many people are troubled by grilled cheese. Such a simple sandwich, yet the complaints are myriad: my cheese didn't melt. The bread burned. It doesn't taste as good as mom used to make. The simplest fix for grilled cheese woes? Lower the temperature and use butter. Lots and lots of delicious butter.

• Set a pan over medium heat
• Give it plenty of time to heat up
  • Meanwhile, get two thick slices of bread and your favorite cheese--rye and cheddar works well as does whole wheat bread, a slice of tomato and meunster cheese. For this particular sandwich, I used pumpernickle and swiss on my wife's recommendation. She was born in Wisconsin and knows a thing or two about cheese.
  • Slice your cheese thin and make the sandwich
• Add a tablespoon of butter to the pan, and spread butter across the outside of one side of the sandwich
• Lay the sandwich butter-side down in the pan, and butter up the other side (It's ok, you won't get burned. A good technique is to soften the butter in the microwave--15 seconds ought to do it)
• After a couple minutes (your cheese won't yet be melted, but should just be turning translucent on the edges) flip the sandiwch and let it go for a few minutes more.
• Serve with a small salad or tomato soup

Simply French

Many people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Those people are right. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately, we're lucky if we have time to toss a handful of granola into a tub of vanilla yogurt during the week, and on weekends, no one wants to spend all morning in the kitchen. We have to do things, see people, or crawl back into bed.

French toast is a simple, delicious breakfast that can be decadent enough for weekend lounging but fast and easy enough for weekday mornings. Total prep and cooking time for recipe is about 15 minutes.

• 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, separated
• 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
• small pinch of kosher salt

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• Day old French bread baguette, cut on a diagonal to 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 handful of blueberries (any berries will do. I like blue berries because they don't need to be sliced)
• Syrup (corn, maple, or fruit), or honey

Set a pan on the stove over medium heat, and butter the pan with 1 tablespoon butter. You want just enough to coat the pan. While the pan is heating and the butter melting, mix the buttermilk, egg, salt and brown sugar in a shallow dish--a pie plate works perfectly. Pace the sliced the French bread into the buttermilk mixture and let it sit for 30 seconds on each side.

Buttermilk is important for this recipe. You could easily substitute whole or 2% milk, but the buttermilk provides a tangy contrast to the upcoming sweetness provided by the syrup.

Once you've soaked the pieces, they're ready to put in the pan. Gently set the bread pieces in your skillet and listen to the satisfying sizzle for 2 - 3 minutes. You want the custard mixture you've created to caramelize, but not burn. So check after 2 minutes. If it's not yet a golden brown, let it set a while longer, and then flip them, letting them sizzle away again for the same amount of time.

When they're done, pull the slices from the pan and set them in a flower pattern on a plate. Butter the pieces (you've got up to a tablespoon you can use, remember?), drizzle with syrup, and toss on a few of the berries.

What to pair it with?
Milk, fruit juice or coffee. (Whether or not the coffee has bourbon in it is entirely up to you)

Simple snacks for afternoon grazing

I love snacks. They're usually delicious and make for perfect grazing on a long, hot Sunday afternoon. One of my favorite snacks is chips and salsa. It's easy, can be wonderfully healthy, and is just the kind of refreshing snack to help stave off the crushing Florida heat. The other snack I decided try is fried shrimp (fried shrimp!). Not first on my list of snack foods, but surprisingly simple and definitely delicious.

Chips and Salsa
Something you should know going in: when I make chips and salsa I use store-bought corn chips and canned tomatoes. You can make your own corn chips if you want, but why bother? Next time you go to your local grocer's, check the corn chips. Chances are they'll have one of the shortest ingredient lists of any processed food: corn, salt, canola oil. Simple. And simple's always good, and even better when it's coupled with convenient.

As for the tomatoes, the only time to use fresh tomatoes is when they're in season. Canned tomatoes are perfectly good--and out of season are way better than what the stores pass off as fresh tomatoes. Do check the ingredients list, though. Some canners will add salt, and you'll need to be mindful of it for most recipes. Over salting a dish is one of those things that just can't be fixed.

Ingredients:

• 1 28oz. can of diced tomatoes, mostly drained
• 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium lime
• Approx. 1 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Salsa's maybe one of the easiest thing on earth to make. Just dump the tomatoes in a bowl, add the jalapeño and onions, oil and lime juice. Then start adding a little salt and a little pepper until you find the taste you enjoy.

But also consider this as a base. You could begin adding various ingredients to change the flavor profile, either subtly or radically. Think about using red onions instead of green. Or halving the amount of jalapeño pepper and adding green bell pepper. Or chipotles. You could a dash of white wine to coax more flavor from the tomatoes (they are flavor molecules in tomatoes that are only soluble in alcohol). Whatever you do, make sure you save some of the next day. Salsa is a dish that's definitely better after the flavors have had a chance to mingle and come together.

Fried shrimp
For some reason, I always considered shrimp one of those temperamental foods that's easy to destroy. I haven't really cooked with it at all except to make paella, and even then I usually just pick up some from the store already cooked and peeled, ready to eat (yes, sometimes I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to food). But a recent evening at Bonefish restaurant--and more notably their Bang Bang Shrimp appetizer--was enough to make a person reconsider. So reconsider I did.

• 12 medium or jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs (you could use normal breadcrumbs, but I love cooking with panko--wonderfully light and always fries up very crispy)
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder (or to your taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 - 3 vigorous grinds of the pepper mill
• 1/2" vegetable oil in your favorite pan

Heat the oil over medium-high to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While you're waiting, you can peel the shrimp and pat them dry with a paper towel or cloth. This step is crucial. They need to be dry for the buttermilk to coat them well, and the buttermilk needs to coat them well so the breadcrumbs will stick, and the breadcrumbs need to stick if you're going to achieve a wonderful, crispy, golden-brown...well, you get the idea.

Mix the panko and other dry ingredients: paprika, garlic powder, ginger, salt and pepper. Working in batches, dip the shrimp into the buttermilk and then dredge them through the panko mixture, getting a good coating on all sides (use the tail as a handle). Carefully lower the shrimp into the oil and cook for about 1 minute on each side. Remove and drain on paper towels or a cooling rack.

You're done! It really is that easy, and the fried shrimp will be crispy and delicious.

But if let's say you had your heart set on something spicier--something a little dangerous, and probably a little bad for you. These fried shrimp provide a perfect base for buffalo shrimp, a tangy, spicy bar stand-by that's the perfect thing to accompany a couple ice cold lagers. And it really is ridiculously easy.

Put about 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce in a large plastic bag, toss in the shrimp, capture some air and seal the thing. Shake vigorously to coat the shrimp and plate. Ta da! Bar food without the smoke, bad beer or obnoxious guy who can't stop talking about his feet!

What to pair it with?
Beer. Don't be silly.