Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Underwater Video


Here's some underwater video footage that we were able to capture while we were snorkeling at Hunauma Bay. Thanks to Caleb and John for the use of their camera, and Danielle for editing it for us. Love the music you used, Danielle! Good job!!!


J & G Steakhouse Reviewed





Here in D.C., we have the newest creation from Jean-Georges. Located in the newly renovated Hotel Washington now a W Hotel, J-G bills J&G as a collection of his favorite dishes from his New York restaurants, as well as an inspired steakhouse menu with composed and simply grilled items. Premium meats and a global selection of fresh fish will be the backbone of the menu, including the highest quality raw items from East and West Coasts, uniquely creative appetizers, as well as prime cuts of meat char grilled to perfection with side dishes, including vegetables and potatoes.


With all of that, I fell into risotto and snapper, but more about that later. The hotel and lobby do make an attempt at modern hotel chic. However, the bones of the old Hotel Washington are neo-classical with columns, marble and soaring ceilings. So, I'm not sure if the décor works in the space.

Neither do I think the suffocating service works. They are certainly trying hard. Wait staff is constantly checking on the status of the meal and diners, as are additional floor managers and assorted persons. However, I think really good service isn't asking me if I need more water or diet coke (at lunch), but anticipating my need and fulfilling it without question. Similarly, I found the multiple intrusions during a business lunch distracting. This is Washington - we are either talking policy/politics, checking our Blackberry's or engrossed in our friends. We don't want to talk to the staff. That said, they were all nice people. Maybe they will just tone it down a little.

As for the meal, I chose the lunch-time tasting menu, which in this recession I suppose can be called a value meal although it checks in at $28. I started with the mushroom risotto. It was different than a traditional risotto, lighter and color and less in saltines, no parmeggiano I imagine. The forest mushrooms on top were fine. More inspired was the snapper. I don't even remember what it was over, but I remember the sauce had some heat to it, which I found interesting and fun. Maybe my mind remains transfixed on the desert. I chose the chocolate cake with melted chocolate in the center and a small dollop of ice cream. Modestly portioned (a good thing) and extremely tastey. All in all, a good lunch which I would recommend.

Butternut Squash Sauce...B12 & Weight Loss...Dental Health and Halloween...National Peanut Board

Happy Hump Day! I can't decide what I want to blog about today, so I am blogging about 4 completely unrelated things: Butternut Squash Sauce, B12 and weight loss, the best Halloween candy to consume to preserve your dental health, and blog post recognition from the National Peanut Board. And of course, my diabetic diet from yesterday (2 days to go!). So, here we go...


Last night I decided to make a modified version of a Butternut Squash Sauce recipe I ran across while perusing the Weight Watchers recipe board.




First I peeled and seeded one large butternut squash. I cubed the squash and simmered it for about 30 minutes in 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock with 6 cloves of crushed garlic, fresh ground pepper, and 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar. I added about 2/3 cup fresh chopped basil leaves about 20 minutes into the cooking process.





 
While my squash was simmering, I enjoyed a DELICIOUS (best beer ever??) Southampton Pumpkin Ale. YUMMMYYY!!!



 
Once my squash was nice and tender, I blended it into a thick paste.



I added the Butternut Squash Sauce to some whole wheat tube noodles. I topped the dish off with goat cheese crumbles and pine nuts (not pictured).


Question: Does this sound or look appetizing to you? My dear, dear husband ate this creation, Lord love him. The taste and flavors were WONDERFUL, but the consistency was that of baby food. What should I do differently next time?


In other news...B12 injections and weight loss. I feel the need to address this because I see SO many patients who hear that B12 injections will induce weight loss. This is COMPLETELY FALSE. Here's what Mayo Clinic has to say about B12 and weight loss...

Question: Vitamin B-12 injections for weight loss: Do they work?

Answer from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

There's no evidence that vitamin B-12 in any form — including vitamin B-12 injections — enhances weight loss. One study published in 2005 suggested that people who took a number of different supplements, including vitamin B-12, gained weight more slowly over a 10-year period than did those who took no supplements. However, many factors must be considered when interpreting the study results, including the fact that people who take dietary supplements tend to be more health conscious — which may contribute to better weight management. 

If you're hoping to lose weight, resist the lure of quick and easy solutions. What counts is a healthy lifestyle. Enjoy healthier foods and include physical activity in your daily routine.

Verdict from this RD: "If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is!"

And...dental health for Halloween candy?

As an avid Julie Deardorff reader, I was happy to see this article in the Chicago Tribune today featuring the best and worst candy for your TEETH! New research is showing that the first line of defense in preventing cavities is xylitol-containing candies and gums. So, the low down on candy....

BAD ENOUGH
(Examples: Pixy Stix, Sweet Tarts)
Trick: Yes, Pixy Stix are a sack of sugar. But if poured directly on the tongue, it won’t touch teeth, leaving nothing for cavity-causing bacteria to feed on. Powdery candy also dissolves quickly, before bacteria can cause damage.

Why this scares dentists: There is no such thing as “best” candy for teeth.

BAD BAD
(Examples: Hershey’s Kisses, M&M’s)
Trick: Chocolate, which won’t stick to teeth for long periods of time, contains calcium, which could help protect tooth enamel. Research shows dark chocolate with at least 65 percent cocoa content is a potent antioxidant. Still, moderation and timing are important. “It’s better to eat four chocolates at one time rather than having one chocolate every three to four hours,” said Dr. Girish Herekar, a dental expert for justanswer.com.

Why this scares dentists: At room temperature, chocolate clings to tooth enamel. When it melts, it sinks into the crevices of teeth. Try freezing it to make it better for your teeth.

AHHH! BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD!
(Examples: Snickers, Almond Joy, Twix)
Trick: Caramel, nougat and other fillings add sugar, which may erase chocolate’s benefits.

Why this scares dentists:  Candy with fruit or nuts is “sticky and can get caught in the pits and grooves of teeth, causing decay,” said Dr. Julie Barna, a spokeswoman for the Academy of General Dentistry.

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Examples: jelly beans, candy corn, Dots, Tootsie Roll, Skittles)
Trick: It takes longer to eat, so you may eat less. But the higher the melting temperature something has, the worse it is for teeth.

Why this scares dentists: “If a 5-year-old ate an orange jelly bean and didn’t brush, I could look three hours later and still see orange in the grooves of his teeth,” Weinstein said. “Sticky, chewy candies linger there for hours and can create a higher acid content, which allows the bacteria to feast.”

 Question: What's YOUR favorite Halloween candy? I'm a Twix and Butterfinger fan. Almond Joy, too. Oops! Ironic - I scheduled my dentist appointment TODAY.


And lastly, I received an AWESOME email from the National Peanut Board today! The email read:


Dear Nicole,

I want to thank you for posting the Q&A on peanut butter. It’s always great to hear a dietitian’s point of view on the healthful benefits of peanuts and peanut butter. The charts you provided were also wonderful. I will keep them on hand for future reference. I enjoyed your post so much I posted the link on my company’s, the National Peanut Board, Facebook fan page. You can check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Peanut-Board/63476447613#/pages/National-Peanut-Board/63476447613

I would like to send you some nutritional information on peanuts and peanut butter and some peanut flour. Peanut flour is an emerging product from the peanut industry and is different from peanuts and peanut butter. In order to make the flour, fat must be removed during the process, making it a lower fat product that still contains all the protein and nutrients peanuts have. It can be used in many cooking applications from baking to soups, sauces, desserts and beverages. If you would like to try some please send me your address and I will ship it out to you.

Thank you again for the post!

All the best,
Lindsay Spencer  

Lindsay Spencer
Communications Coordinator | National Peanut Board

Tel | (678) 424-5753
Fax | (678) 424-5751
­­­­_______________________________________________

I, of course, happily responded with my address. What a cool email to receive, huh? I've also asked Jenny of PB & Jenny to write a guest post on peanut butter. We'll see what she comes up with for us! Check out her blog, it's fun!

As for my diabetic diet yesterday, it went something like this...


Breakfast:

1 serving mini shredded wheat (3 carbs)
1 cup skim milk (1 carb) 
     Total: 4 carbs


Lunch:
2 cups chicken noodle soup (1 carb)
6 ounces fat-free Greek yogurt (1 1/2 carbs)
1 small apple (1 carb)
     Total: 3 1/2 carbs

Dinner (it was totally a random meal...)

1 chicken enchilada with black beans, chicken, 2% shredded cheese, and enchilada sauce (2 carbs)
1/3 cup whole wheat pasta (1 carb)
3 Tbsp Butternut Squash Sauce (<1 carb)
     Total: 3.25 carbs


Snack: 
1 graham cracker (1 carb)
1 Tbsp peanut butter (0 carbs)


Side note: Today was taste test #6 or 7 at work -- Buffalo Chicken Lasagna and it was a HUGE hit! I had the most participants to date -- 15!!! :)


Long...post...sorry...!!!





Spaghetti with cuttlefish ink

There is a first dish made of seafood, which is really curious for taste and for its very particular aesthetic. The spaghetti with cuttlefish ink, a dish from the color black, not always attractive, for someone it is too strange, for others is mysterious and charming, but above all taste amazing and really good.






Ingredients for 4 people:
500 g spaghetti, 250 g of cuttlefish, 3 cloves of garlic, 500 g of peeled tomatoes, half a glass of white wine, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, red pepper, salt.


Preparation:
Clean and chop the cuttlefish , be careful to pick the bag with black and put it in a dish apart.
In a saucepan sauté the chopped garlic in the extra virgin olive oil, add the chopped cuttlefish. Later pour the wine. Add the tomatoes peeled and chopped, add salt and cook for about 20 minutes.

Add a pinch of red pepper, chopped parsley and finally add the squid ink contained in the bag. Cook the spaghetti "al dente", and mix into the pan with the sauce.
Garnish with chopped parsley.

A MUFFULETTA



The month of November begins with a very important feast, "All Saints", but the day more celebrated is the next November 2nd, the celebration of the dead, here called "the feast of the dead."

During this day, in Palermo, in the past, but the majority of people, still now, went to the cemetery to visit their relatives passed away.



They organized for the occasion a sort of picnic, carrying with them food to be consumed quickly outdoors.



Tradition has it that now, regardless of whether you go to the cemetery, in Palermo in the morning of this day, people eat " a muffuletta", round loaves with sesame seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, sardines (or anchovies), extra virgin olive oil , salt, pepper, oregano and vinegar.



"A muffulette" can be seasoned "cold", or you can first heat the oil in a pan with the sardines, to further flavor the whole.
Another version of the muffuletta is with oil, salt, pepper, oregano, anchovies in olive oil and fresh ricotta.

Five hour steak

The perfectly cooked steak is the holy grail of many chefs and home cooks.



For me a steak is a treat, a rare (no pun intended) but glorious treat. As a result if I cut into one that is overdone the disappointment can easily ruin the entire meal and the next thirty minutes will be spent in a deep sulk that only time and some well-cooked chips can offset.

The happy inverse of that is slicing through a piece of beef that is cooked to the ideal doneness – a quivering pink throughout with a crisp, charred and heavily seasoned exterior. Oh, the sheer delight.

I can think of few other gustatory pleasures that can measure up to a perfectly cooked steak.



Fillet, for so long the posterboy of the steak world, doesn’t quite measure up for me.

It may be tender but its leanness is also its Achilles’ heel. For the fat is where the flavour is and a muscle that has done no work (its position in the anatomy of the cow ensures this is the case) hasn’t enough depth for the truly discerning steak lover.

Instead I prefer a muscle that has worked, one that has led a life of hardship and built up a rich marbling and intense flavour as a result. Give me an onglet or bavette to work my teeth into over a chateaubriand any day of the week.

The problem with these cuts is they can be a little too tough. Served beyond rare they turn into slabs of meat that could resole a rudeboy’s Doc Martens. Even cooked momentarily, with a brief kiss of a searingly hot frying pan, the presence of connective tissue and sinew can offer a mandible workout of intense proportions.

Enter the water bath – a way of cooking meat to perfection. Every. Single. Time.

High end restaurants have long known about the benefits of cooking sous vide. Four or five years ago I ate a piece of lamb at Midsummer House, a two-star restaurant in Cambridge. It was delightfully tender and so flavourful I can still recall it now. I couldn’t quite believe it when I was told it had cooked for six hours. How was it still so pink inside? And uniformly so?

Thomas Keller is such a convert that he has written an entire book about the method. More top shelf gastro porn from the author of The French Laundry Cookbook and Bouchon.

I’d looked into buying the kit (called immersion circulators) to achieve the results at home but they were bulky and astronomically expensive – designed for commercial kitchens rather than the shoebox I have at home.

But then a couple of weeks ago I was sent one aimed at home cooks from these guys. It’s small, easy to use and delivers results you would expect in top restaurants.

And as someone who delights in the science of cooking and the potential of gastronomic experimentation, it is fast becoming my new favourite toy.

For beef junkies, skirt steak is the ideal cut. It’s incredibly tasty and bargain basement cheap. Cooked right it’s a joy to eat but its window of deliciousness is small. In other words, the perfect guinea pig for my first forays into sous vide.



Each piece was well seasoned with black pepper and sea salt then placed into a plastic zip-lock bag. Apparently sous-vide means ‘under vacuum’ so enter the vacuum cleaner. I sucked out as much air as I could then quickly sealed the top before dropping the whole lot into a stockpot full of water at 52 degrees.

Why 52? 50-60 degrees is the temperature window at which the meat proteins co-agulate, or cook. Pick a point between these two magic numbers and your steak will be between rare and medium rare and gloriously juicy.

And there it remained for five hours, bobbing up and down and gradually turning an unappetising shade of grey-brown before being removed and shocked in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

A frying pan was heated to ‘scorching’ and a small drizzle of cooking oil – enough to cover the bottom – was poured in. Whilst it was coming up to temperature, the steak was seasoned again then cooked on either side for about a minute until a generously dark colour covered each side.



After a five minute rest on a warmed plate it was time to cut and see if experiment one had worked:



What surprised me most was the uniformity of the cooking. The meat was at the rarer end of medium rare all the way through. There was no gradation towards a pinker centre but the same colour throughout, aside from the dark brown crunch of the exterior.

The flavour was assuredly beefy, intense and unmistakably steak like. The outside crisp, rich and earthy and the interior almost sweetly bovine and wonderfully soft. Whilst the meat could have been slightly tenderer – which could be achieved over a longer cooking period – it offered enough resistance to be satisfyingly chewy.

It was, easily, one of the best pieces of meat I’ve ever tasted. From now on, for me, there is only one way to cook steak. Now, I wonder if pork belly will work…?

"Pasta c'anciova". Pasta with anchovy and tomato extract



There is a first dish among the most important in the cuisine of Palermo, one of the most typical for its special taste that blends the sweet and salty.This dish was born, perhaps, as an alternative to the most famous pasta with sardines, whose preparation was, however, limited to the period when it could easily find fresh sardines and fennel of mountain, the beginning of spring.

Of course now we can cook this pasta in all seasons, thanks to the freezers that allow to freeze and thaw the necessary ingredients all year, although the flavor of fennel freshly picked remains unsurpassed.
But until some years ago there were no freezers, and so making pasta with sardines, in its original form, was limited to the spring season.
Another factor not to underestimate was the cost quite high of the saffron, that not everyone could afford, and it is perhaps for these reasons that people of Palermo invented a new dish that looked very tasty like the more famous original, reinventing a similar taste, sweet and salty, with the presence of fish and where the yellow saffron was replaced by the tomato extract.So is a sort of sister of the pasta with sardines, but with ingredients still poorer and always available, because are "not fresh", but "products of conservation" and therefore always present and especially also easily transportable.

Some sources say that "pasta c'anciova", was invented by the emigrants, that brought with them a big number of products from their homeland which then transported in the cold North not to forget the taste of Sicily. Some people infact give to this dish the name "milanisa pasta", a pasta completely Sicilian, but invented in Milan.

Another hypothesis is that this pasta was invented by the laborers, who could easily prepare this pasta during breaks of their hard work, because the ingredients could be easily transported and the preparation was quite rapid.

The "pasta c'anciova" is very good, in Palermo to cook this dish is used exclusively the format "margherita" that collects the sauce deliciously.



The basic ingredients are tomato extract, which in summer is prepared in all the houses in the countryside by putting under the sun the tomato pulp to dry for several days, obtaining a concentrate tomato very tasty.



I remember the characteristic odor emanated from the tomato under the sun, a bit sour, pungent, very intense, a smell so to say "family", "ancestral", one of those smells that breaths during childhood and never more you can forget it, because it becomes part of you, as a sort of genetic background of olfactory memories.
Another ingredient, the anchovy under oil or under salt, then raisins, garlic or onion, and pine nuts (for their antibacterial function) and the "muddica atturrata" (toasted bread crumbs) .

The combination is truly unbeatable!

Ingredients: 400 gr pasta margherita, half onion, a clove of garlic, some anchovies in oil, 200 grams of tomato extract (you can also use the concentrate in cans), 100 grams of bread crumbs, a handful of raisins and pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.


Preparation: Chop finely the onion and sautè with oil. As soon as is ready join a garlic clove and the anchovy fillets (thornless and rinsed) and continue to sauté. Add the tomato extract and a bit of hot water (one or two cups), add the raisins and pine nuts. Cook for about fifteen minutes until the sauce is fairly thick.

Apart prepare the “muddica atturrata”: put in a small frying pan a little oil (someone adds anchovies, but it would be an exaggeration), breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, until it reaches an amber color.

When everything is ready, it's already time to cook the pasta in water with salt, drain, put again in the pan with the sauce, divide the plates, sprinkle each plate of pasta with plenty of bread crumbs and finally re-add the sauce.
A small note, someone prepares this sauce without onion, only with the garlic, others only with onion. I prefer to use them both the ingredients and the result is excellent. Some people use anchovy paste, but is good only in times of emergency. For those who did not have extract of tomatos "homemade", can substitute it with tomato paste available in all supermarkets, taste is slightly different, less intense, but still pleasant.

"I pulpetti of Sardines cu Sucu" (balls of sardines in tomato sauce).



This is a typical recipe of the “Sicilian poor cuisine”, of which the sardines are often the main ingredient, given their cheap cost. The typical sweet and sour flavor is given by the combination of fish with raisins and mint. The pine nuts were used in the past mainly because of their antibacterial function, since it was sometimes cooked "pisci fitusu" (not really fresh fish).

Ingredients:
500gr of sardines, 1 egg, 100gr of grated cheese, mint leaves, a handful of pine nuts and raisins, 500 gr of tomato sauce,onion, extra virgin olive oil.

Procedure:
Clean and flake the sardines, remove the head, get the fillets and chop. Bringing them together with cheese, egg, raisins and pine nuts and chopped mint. Mix everything together and get some balls. Fry in oil and put them in a dish.
Meanwhile prepare the tomato sauce, flavored with a sauteed chopped onions and some mint leaves. Put the balls in the sauce and cook them for about fifteen minutes. Whoever wants to can dress with this sauce a good plate of pasta.