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Lemon Water

lemons

One of the things I’ve been doing while straightening out my eating practices is to drink lemon water in the mornings.   I first became aware of the benefits of lemon water via Joy McCarthy’s twitter feed.  She’s a big proponent of lemon water and encourages pretty much everyone to drink it.

So, why is it a good idea?  Well, lemon juice mixed with water creates a beverage that, when imbibed, helps to raise the body’s pH level.  Lemon juice, when metabolized, is very alkalizing and therefore can help balance out an acidic body.  Being acidic is not a good condition to be in – if this is the case, one is more susceptible to falling ill, feeling fatigued, etc.

Lemon water helps to stimulate digestion as well, and ameliorate heartburn and bloating.  Some people believe lemon water is helpful for weight loss, too, but I’m not absolutely sure about that.

It’s very simple to prepare – just cut a lemon in half and squeeze it into a glass, then add 8-12 oz of water.  That’s it!  I drink it first thing in the morning, but some people also drink it mid-day and in the evenings as well.  In the mornings, the key is to drink it first thing before you eat anything.

After you drink it, though, it’s best to rinse out your mouth with water to get rid of as much of the residual acid as possible – while lemon juice is alkaline when metabolized, it is acidic in the mouth and can affect tooth enamel and such.  Wait about a half- hour to brush your teeth.  Brushing too soon after drinking/eating things acidic can do more harm than good, as the tooth enamel will still be too soft – you’ll most likely be removing a microscopic layer that could have been repaired by the minerals in your saliva.   So, be careful in this respect.

For me, I find that I feel sort of “cleansed” after drinking lemon water.  Some years back a massage therapist friend of mine told me that drinking lemon water after body work or rigorous exercise has a detoxifying effect, too.  I like drinking it after I run.  I also find that when I drink lemon water regularly, I have less sugar cravings and my digestion is calmer.  All good things.

Definitely try it out and let me know what you think!

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Perfect Crispy Bacon

Bacon

I love bacon.  I really do.  However, over the years I haven’t had the best luck cooking it, even though it seems so simple in theory.  When cooking it on the stove top – the only way I’d been taught – I’d always get grease spatter on my hands (ouch) and the bacon would cook unevenly.  I kind of gave up on preparing bacon, to be honest.

However, I’d recently heard about cooking bacon in the oven, and since I wanted to make a cobb salad on Friday, I thought I’d give this technique a chance.  Well, I am a total convert now!  This method works beautifully and turns out amazing crispy bacon, with no grease spattered hands or burnt bacon.

I took my inspiration from a method described on about.com, which is as follows:

Line a baking sheet with foil. This will make cleanup easier later.
Arrange bacon slices on the foil and place the baking sheet on the center rack of a cold oven. Close oven door. Turn oven on to 400°F. Walk away.

Come back 17 to 20 minutes later. As soon as the bacon is golden brown, but not excessively crisp, it’s done. The exact time will depend on the thickness of the bacon slices, and also on how quickly your oven reaches the target temperature.

Remove the pan from the oven. Transfer the bacon to another sheet pan lined with paper towels to absorb the fat. You can pour the liquid fat into a heat-resistant container to save for other uses. I like to pour it through a strainer lined with cheesecloth to filter out any crunchy bits.

My observations:

  • The foil was a really good call.  I wouldn’t want to do it without foil because it really does make cleanup easy.
  • At about 15 minutes, I turned over the bacon slices, using tongs to grab them. I think that gave the bacon a chance to cook more evenly than just cooking it on one side.
  • One way to drain the bacon is to set the slices on a baking rack which sits over a paper towel.  That way, the bacon won’t be sitting in its own fat and will have a better chance to more thoroughly drain off the fat.

My household was really impressed by this bacon. It was perfectly crispy without being burned or overcooked. In fact, you could hold the bacon horizontally and there was no bending. It snapped off and almost melted in your mouth. It was perfect in our cobb salad (which was delicious), and for breakfast this weekend.

I will forever cook my bacon this way.

Photo credit: (cc) Porge, via a Creative Commons License.

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Radish, Orange, and Mint Salad

radishes

Usually, I am not a big fan of radishes – they are bitter-spicy and taste a little like dirt.  I’ve always wanted to enjoy them, mostly because my grandma loves them and I love my grandma; she will eat them raw, out of hand, like tiny apples.

So, I’m happy to say that I’ve found a way to enjoy these round red radishes – finally!

orange

These radishes star in a salad I first tasted at an underground supper club called The Sunday Night Dinner, run by my friend Tamara.  The whole meal was fabulous, but this salad stuck out in my memory as spectacular.  It presented an amazing combination of flavors – earthy, sweet, bright, perfumed.  It was made with minimal ingredients: oranges, radishes, mint, and orange flower water.  The combination is simply amazing.  And addictive.  I had three servings that night.

orange blossom water

As I was planning out my meals for the week, this salad came to mind, and I knew I had to make it.  I searched the internet for it and came across a recipe from Saveur that resulted in this same salad I loved from that original dinner.  The orange juice really ameliorates the spicy nature of the radishes without breaking their spirit, and the mint is another refreshing touch.  The orange flower water perfumes it all beautifully.

This will be the primary way I eat radishes from now on, I expect.

radish, orange, mint

Radish, Orange, and Mint Salad
adapted from a recipe by Saveur

1 to 2 bunches red radishes, about 1/2 lb., washed and trimmed
1 1/2 tbsp. unrefined sugar – rapadura or sucanat work well
1 tsp. orange flower water
1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh orange juice
salt
1 seedless orange
4 sprigs fresh mint, chopped

Shred radishes or slice thinly and julienne. Place in a small bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Stir and set aside to macerate for 15 minutes. Drain off excess liquid, if any. Cover and refrigerate, about 20 minutes, until well chilled.

Whisk together orange flower water, lemon juice, and orange juice in a small bowl, and season to taste with salt. Pour dressing over radishes and lightly toss.

Peel and section orange. Add to radishes.

Chop the mint and add it, mixing everything together.

Serves 2-4.

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Melted Leeks, Quinoa, and Poached Egg

poached on top

I can’t remember exactly what originally brought me to Married …with dinner, but it was probably through a tweet or a blog post by Shauna.  Oh wait, I remember! I was led to the site because of this post.  It is part of the discussion about the importance of cooking meals at home, something that I do believe is important.

However, as someone who works a full time job, has a lively social life, and is active in the community, I know how challenging it can be to put together dinner at the end of the day when you have competing interests vying for your time and attention.  There are evenings when I get home, when I can’t think straight, and just want to order-in something, or eat a bowl of cereal, or even forgo dinner altogether (not a good idea).  It can be really hard to figure it all out when you’re beat from the workday.

As it turns out, my solution to this is planning out my meals for the week.  Granted, I’ve only been at this practice for a couple of weeks, but I’ve noticed a difference.  It helps to have the evening’s menu all written out, and I definitely eat more consistently well these days.

quinoa

Last week, MWD posted this intriguing recipe that includes a number of my favorite ingredients – leeks, quinoa, broth, and egg.  It could be considered a soup, but it’s much more than that.  It’s surprisingly filling for its size, too.  The nutrition will also increase if you use a nourishing homemade broth (I had broth from my stewing hen, which was delicious).

I can see myself making this again and again because it’s just that awesome.  It was easy to prepare, too – and it can be made piecemeal over a few days, combining everything on the day you want to eat it, or you can make everything on the same day, which is what I did.  It took me about 45 minutes to put everything together.

leeks

These “melted leeks” – which are basically soft, caramelized, salty leeks – are a wonderful condiment all by themselves and would be good on other things, too, like pasta, roasted tomatoes, or even toast with cream cheese.  They would be excellent on top of salsa verde chicken, too.

Melted Leeks and Quinoa with a Poached Farm Egg and Parmesan Broth
Mildly adapted from Married …with dinner, who was inspired by a first course at Range.

For each serving — multiply as needed:
1/3 cup melted leeks (recipe below)
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (I prefer red)
1/2 cup simmering chicken stock
a handful of Parmesan or other hard cheese, grated as finely as possible (about 1/2 oz by weight)
1 large egg, preferably pastured
minced chives, for garnish
salt, as needed

NOTE: Soak the quinoa in water and an acid (I use raw apple cider vinegar, but lemon juice works well, too) for 8-12 hours before you start preparing this dish.  I find it convenient to put this together in the morning before I go to work.

Cook the quinoa: rinse the soaked grain and add it to a pan with water (1:1 – I used 1/2 cup quinoa to a 1/2 cup water).  Cook for 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed by the grain.  Makes a 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups of quinoa.

Make the melted leeks:  cut off and discard the root and the woody tops, slice the leeks in half lengthwise, then slice the white and light-green parts into half-rings about 1/4- to 1/8-inch thick. You should have about 2 cups.  Rinse leek slices well in a bowl of running water. Melt 4 tbs butter in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add leeks and a couple of tablespoons of water. Simmer slowly until leeks are tender and almost all water evaporates, adding more water if needed to further soften the leeks. Season well with salt. If using immediately, remove pan from the heat and set aside.

Mince the chives.

Bring the chicken broth to a lively simmer and whisk in the Parmesan.

Just before you’re ready to serve, soft-poach the eggs.

While the eggs are cooking, divide the melted leeks among individual bowls, spreading to cover about 2/3 of the bottom of the bowl. Scoop the quinoa over the leeks, and top each serving with a soft-poached egg. Sprinkle with chives, and pour the Parmesan broth around the edges of the bowl.

Enjoy.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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Omelet – a Quick and Delicious Dinner

omelette

I don’t remember how I came up with this dish, but it was probably inspired by having a bunch of leftovers combined with my love of eggs. Basically, “omelet”, as I call it, is vegetables and meat sauteed in a pan, topped with uncooked scrambled eggs and cheese, and steamed until the eggs are cooked through. It doesn’t sound exotic or fancy, and isn’t the prettiest thing around, but it is tasty, nourishing, and easy to prepare. It’s an excellent dish to cook when you have little time or are just plain tired and want something to eat fairly fast. It’s also a great canvas for improvisation.

I mentioned leftovers above – it’s a great dish for leftovers – greens work especially well, as do onions, potatoes, carrots, summer squash, and tomatoes. You can mix in some pesto with the eggs, add diced or ground meat, sausage, or cured meats. You can also make it very simple with just onions, potato, egg, and cheese. You can even add a sauce you like at the end. This dish is incredibly flexible, which is one of the things I like about it.

Last night, I used half a white onion, leftover garlic lemon greens, chopped cooked chicken, pesto ricotta, eggs, and grated Locatelli (a salty hard cheese). In this case, everything but the eggs and cheese were leftovers from last week. It was a very tasty combination.

So, what I did was:

  • Diced up the onions and sautéed them in olive oil (about 1 T) until they became translucent.
  • Added the chicken and cooked that a little bit.
  • Then came the greens, and I cooked everything together until it was heated through.
  • I also made sure that the pan was completely covered with this mixture, so that eggs would not leak through to the pan surface; it’s best if they sit atop the vegetables.
  • Scrambled the eggs and poured them on top (I used 5 eggs this time, which was perfect)
  • I then put small dollops of pesto ricotta across the top of the mixture, and sprinkled on the grated cheese.
  • I put a lid on it, turned the heat down to low and let it steam. I’d check on it from time to time to make sure the eggs were cooked through. It took about 10-15 minutes for the eggs to cook and the dish to come together.
  • I only salted the onions a little bit, as the leftovers had all be seasoned when I cooked them originally, so extra salt was not needed.

If I were skipping the pesto ricotta, I’d probably use a sharp cheddar in place of the Locatelli and eat it with hot sauce!

So, in general, the order of ingredients would go as follows:

  • aromatics (e.g. onion, garlic, bacon)
  • ground/chopped meat (if using)
  • hard veggies (e.g. carrots, potatoes)
  • soft veggies (e.g. greens, summer squash, tomatoes, sauce)
  • herbs
  • eggs (solo, or combined with sauce like pesto, tomato, or salsa)
  • cheese
  • The order of things can even be re-arranged if it works better for you.

Like I said, there is room for improvisation and the dish is extremely customizable.

It’s been a quick and delicious dinner staple in my household and has provided us with delicious and nutritious meals numerous times. I hope you find it a useful and enjoyable dish as well.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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Asado de Bodas

final dish

Last week I was in a bookstore, and found my way to the cooking section (no big surprise there).  I was there with the intent to buy some food writing or a memoir.  I saw a number of books that were perfectly respectable candidates, but nothing spoke to me at that time.  Then I spied Diana Kennedy’s The Art of Mexican Cooking, and had to check it out.  For a while now, I’ve been debating whether to get a basic Mexican cookbook by Rick Bayless or Diana Kennedy, not sure which I’d prefer.   After perusing this book, I knew I had to have it.  And I’m glad I did.

There are so many delicious sounding recipes in here!  I knew I had some pork kebab meat in the freezer that I wanted to use, so I checked out the pork section.  I came across this recipe for Asado de Bodas – a northern wedding dish from Durango and Coahuila – and it looked perfect.  The flavors sounded wonderful – chiles, chocolate, tomatillos – and the method looked pretty simple (boiling, sauteeing).

I prepared it after work last night.  It took a little longer to make than I anticipated, but none of the steps were difficult.  It was worth the time and waiting – this pork is good.  It’s warm and tangy, which just the tiniest hint of bitterness in the background, not at all disturbing (I’m not normally fond of bitter things).   The tartness of the tomatillos takes care of the harsh bitterness you often find in chile soaking liquid.  As the sauce thickens, it tastes more intense, as would be expected.  I just loved it.

ingredient collage

I got to use some special ingredients, too.  I had a few stale tortillas from Tortilleria Nixtamal; the chocolate I used was made by Taza, so it is organic and stone ground, with a hint of cinnamon in it; and the pastured pork I used was sourced from the wonderful Lewis-Waite farm via my CSA.

While I’ve included the recipe as-is, I did make a few adjustments.  First, I halved the recipe, simply because I had one pound of pork on hand instead of two.  I used extra virgin olive oil, because I haven’t rendered my lard yet. I used ground cumin instead of cumin seed, because that’s what I had.   I also chose to cut the pork into slightly smaller sizes because I like it that way.

sauce collage

And I used a regular old Queens bay leaf instead of a Mexican bay leaf.  Interesting story – as T and I were walking around Corona one day, we noticed a house with a big greenhouse attached to it.  The older man who lived there came out and said hello, and we remarked how amazing his house looked with that green house attached.  He invited us in and showed us around – he’s growing citrus trees in there!  Also a bay laurel tree, and so he snipped off a handful of leaves for us.  Such a kind and neighborly thing to do – I’ve loved using these bay leaves in my cooking.

I ate this over millet cooked with chicken broth, but tortillas would be wonderful.  I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do.

Asado de Bodas
From The Art of Mexican Cooking

The Meat
2 pounds (900 g) pork with some fat, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes
1/4 medium onion, roughly sliced
2 garlic cloves peeled
sea salt to taste

The Sauce
6 tbs lard
4 chiles anchos, slit open, veins and seeds removed
the pork broth
About 8 tomatillos
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 small slice dried French bread
1/2 dried corn tortilla
1/8 teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed
1 oz Mexican drinking chocolate, broken into small pieces
1 Mexican bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
Thinly pared zest of 1 orange
sea salt to taste

Put the pork into a saucepan; add the onion, garlic, and salt to taste. Cover the meat with water, cover the pan, and bring to a simmer; cook slowly for about 25 minutes. Remove 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of the broth and keep warm in a bowl. Continue cooking the meat, uncovered, until it is just tender but not soft and the water has been absorbed – about 15 minutes (cooking time will vary with the quality and cut of the meat).

Melt 3 tbs of the lard in a frying pan and fry the dried chiles very briefly on each side until they are an opaque tobacco brown inside – about 3 seconds. Remove from pan an add to the broth.  Fry the tomatillos and garlic until golden and transfer them to the broth. Last, fry the bread and tortilla over very low heat until crisp and brown. Add to the broth. Set the contents of the bowl aside to soak for about 15 minutes or until the chile skins are soft.

Transfer the mixture to a blender jar, add the cumin seeds and chocolate, and blend until smooth.

Melt the rest of the lard in a heavy pan and fry the pork pieces until golden, about 10 minutes. Add the blended ingredients, bay leaves, oregano, orange, zest, and salt to taste and cook over low heat, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan until the sauce is fairly thick and the lard makes a shiny surface on the sauce – about 20 minutes. Serve with corn tortillas

Serve 6-8.

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Greens and Meal Planning Observations

dinner

As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ve planned out my meals for the week.  So far so good, though I had to replace soaked oatmeal for breakfast yesterday with a fried egg and sourdough toast with jam.  I spaced the night before and thought I didn’t have any milk or yogurt, but I did.  Oh well, the egg and toast were tasty!

One problem I’ve had lately has been incorporating enough vegetables into my diet, so I included them in the meal plan.  Since it’s spring, asparagus is in season, so I’ve had that a couple times already – once with quinoa and once simply roasted with olive oil and salt.  So good, especially this time of year (I rarely eat it out of season).

I also cooked up a couple bunches of organic swiss chard – when I am running, as I’ve started doing again, I often crave dark leafy greens.  Not sure why, but I do.  I just love them.  I’ll have them for lunch and dinner throughout the week.

I am convinced that if I hadn’t planned it all out, I would not have eaten those vegetables, and they would slowly rot in my fridge.  Not good.

I love to cook and explore new recipes, but I have to be careful about not tiring out in the evenings after work, especially now that I’m running and exerting a lot more.  So, a lot of the time I tend to fall back on just cooking, not following a recipe (however, I have reserved one evening this week to devote to something more elaborate).  I put together things that taste good together, using cooking techniques I’m comfortable with (sauteeing, boiling, roasting, etc.). This week that manifested itself into the following meals:

Meal 1
red quinoa with white onions, asparagus, and walnuts
sauteed chard with garlic and lemon
cubed cheddar cheese

Meal 2
roasted asparagus
cheese omelette

green collage

Both meals are easy to make and allow for some improvisation.  They contain, real, whole foods in season, with plenty of green veggies to counteract my recent habit of not eating many.  I also cooked the quinoa with the chicken broth I made on Sunday, making the dish even more nourishing.

Although both meals contain pretty straightforward dishes (you can pretty much figure out how to make them from their description), one tip I’ll pass on has to do with the garlic lemon chard – get rid of the excess liquid created by the chard after it wilts.  All that liquid dilutes the yummy garlic and lemon flavors.  Here’s the full recipe:

Garlic Lemon Greens

1 bunch greens (spinach is best, but chard and kale work, too)
1-2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
1 lemon and its zest
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cut off the stems and wash the greens to get rid of any dirt. Check over the washed greens for any discolored leaves and remove them. Chop into big pieces.

Add olive oil to a hot skillet. Add garlic then a little salt, and saute for about 30 seconds.

Add the chopped greens and immediately rotate them. Add a little salt. When they have started to wilt, add lemon zest and red pepper flakes. Continue to rotate the greens until they are quite wilted.

Dump entire contents of the pan into a sieve. Press the greens down to dispose of as much extra liquid as possible. Return greens to the pan.

Add juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon (depending on how lemony you like your greens) and mix with the greens. Drizzle another tsp of olive oil over the greens. Serve immediately.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.