method: ROASTING PEPPERS

Recently, I was preparing a lot of ingredients, and was short on pans. I needed to quickly roast peppers. So, as necessity is the mother of invention, I created a pan out of aluminum foil, basically just rolling up the 4 sides, and put it under the broiler. Minutes later, the peppers skins were nice and black. Knowing aluminum does not hold heat very long, it was easy to transform my pan into a tent, by unrolling the sides. Voila! No muss, no fuss, as they say. Of course, be a good citizen and put the used foil into the recycling bin.

crop report/ TOMATOES ARE IN

Due to the cessation of stormy weather, the crops seem to be growing in my elevated mini-farm. Tomatoes are coming in daily, and pea pods, well, I am just eating them off the vine. So CRUNCHY. Have added a basil plant, so now ready to enjoy a classic Caprese. Life is good.

gifts / HONEY FOR THE EDUCATED PALATE

Start a tasting party with this beautiful set from Bee Raw. To create the fruit flavors of this honey, they have positiioned their bee hives in the center of densely populated blueberry, cranberry, raspberry and orange blossom groves. Tubes are sealed in bees wax, and make a lovely display with morning or afternoon tea. Or, if you are more inclined to partake in happy hour, take along this recipe.


RASPBERRY HONEY MOJITO
1 tablespoon fresh raspberries
10 mint leaves
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon Bee Raw Wild Raspberry Honey
1 shot white rum
2 shots cranberry juice
Ice
Muddle the first 4 ingredients well in a cocktail shaker. Add the rum, juice, and ice, shake well. Serve in a Collins glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a couple of whole raspberries.

HEALTHY DRINK: happy inTEApendence day!

Having been overdoing it the past few weeks, I decided to prepare a healthy alternative for my visitors this fourth of July. I made a pot of tea with White Lion’s Cranberry Hibiscus, added some agave, and about a third of orange juice. It made for a refreshing berry-ish treat. Am already feeling the cleanse.

BETTER SNACKS / Food Should Taste Good: madcap combos

Food Should Taste Good has just introduced two new flavors to its line of tortilla chips. Experience the surprise combinations of flavors baked right into the chip: Olive, Jalapeno, Chocolate, Sweet Potato, and the newest: Cinnamon and Potato Chive. These are definitely for children with a sophisticated palette. Take the sweeter combos and crumble them into ice cream, for the really deserving!

BETTER SNACKS / Cocio Chocoloate Milk: cocoa mojo

I was immediately seduced by the nostalgic look of this bottle, then completely fell in love with the taste. This popular drink in Denmark, uses only fresh milk from Danish cows that are free of antibiotics and added hormones, sugar and the best cocoa from the Ivory Coast in West Africa. To maintain the classic flavor, cocoa is strictly checked for color and flavor, pH-value, yeast and mold. Chug-a-lug one to recall younger days or reward your favorite youngster with a bottle of Cocio.

BETTER SNACKS / Noble Organic Juices

Choosing these juices is a no-brainer. Even the bottle is earth-friendly and can go right into your compost. Try the organic Orange Tangerine made with only juice from tree-ripened fruit, eliminating the need for added sugar or water. Get nostalgic with Old Fashioned Lemonade, which is sweetened with organic agave and cane juice. Their “gentle” pasteurization method lasts just long enough to kill organisms without affecting the taste that nature intended. Noble, indeed.

BETTER SNACKS / POP CHIPS pop art

Manhattanites, you have probably been seeing the ads for these chips all around town. Stop being curious and try a bag. Popchips has solved the problem of removing the fat and fake toppings of ordinary chips without sacrificing the rich taste kids love. Their “popping” method applies heat and pressure to bits of potatoes, turning them into a crunchy chip. The only additives are a delightful blend of natural seasonings. Satisfy your savory cravings with original, barbeque, or salt and pepper varieties.

BETTER SNACKS / Raw Revolution's raw evolution

What kid won’t be fooled by punk-rock packaging of this bar? It’s one of the best raw bars that I have tasted, by far, and comes in 10 flavors, including Raspberry & Chocolate, Spirulina & Cashew, and Coconut & Agave Nectar. Raw Revolution was developed by a mom, turned off by sugary, processed snacks, who applied her talents as a natural foods chef with a passion for raw foods. Once the kids in the neighborhood got a taste, the raw revolution had begun.

BETTER SNACKS / Mary's Gone Crackers twiggy treats

Sticks & Twigs—this wacky name totally defies its goodness. Mary Waldner used her problems with celiac disease as a catalyst to create these award-winning snacks. A special mix of whole grains—brown rice, quinoa, amaranth and millet—along with toasted flax, sesame and chia seeds, add up to a taste sensation, and definitely cancel all crunch cravings. Add hummus or peanut butter for a more substantial treat. Mary’s Gone Crackers also has a line of gluten-free crackers, and CRUMBS for gluten-free coatings and mixtures.

BETTER SNACKS / Salba Chips: energy up

Next time a kid comes along hankering for a snack, slip them a bag of these tortilla chips. They add a grain called Salba, which is derived from plants the ancient Aztecs used to maintain their energy on long journeys. Salba contributes more omega-3 than flax or salmon, more antioxidants than blueberries or pomegranates, more iron than spinach and more calcium than milk. Read more about this grain’s nutrition and clinical tests here. Salba can also be purchased in whole or ground form, and added to salads, cereals, and used in baking. Salba Smart has created a whole line of healthy and tasty chips, pretzels, and salsas. and they all taste great. I like the small bags, who’s chips are kid-sized and portion controlled.

PEA SPROUTS / hail to the crunch

I have been trying to incorporate different forms of protein into my diet. Since I grew up in a Eastern European household, a meal was really not considered a meal, unless it contained meat, therefore, legumes and beans have never held any attraction for me—that is until I came across the pea sprout at the greenmarket. You can just grab a handful and eat them as is. The crunchy texture is extremely satisfying, and it just has the slightest hint of pea taste. Since discovering this ingredient I have been looking for ways to introduce it into my repertoire. Here are some ideas I came up with:
—Naturally, it works great in salad, in this one I also put some baby fennel in. Good start.
—Next I delved into making some tuna salad. Chopped onions, olives, artichoke hearts, and added mayo, dijon mustard and THE PEA SPROUTS. Top a Wasa rye cracker, and you have lunch.
—Lastly, my ground lamb stir-fry test also got a bit of the crunchy goodness. See recipe to follow...
Let me know if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them...

Perfect cheese mates: awww, honey, honey

Zambezi Organic Forest Honey This intensely flavored honey needs just a drizzle to complement an aged parmesan or tangy goat cheese. The bees who make this honey have 11,000 square miles of Zambian forest to cruise around in, which is one of the last remaining biologically diverse forests in the world. Founders Jenny and Keith Gelber, who met in the Peace Corps, keep their honey-making process simple, retaining more enzymes, antioxidants, bioflavonoids, and bee pollen than most other honeys. Bonus. Photos show honey straws on top, great for traveling...

Perfect cheese mates: Rick's Picks Phat Beets

rick’s picks I once made pickles with Rick Field at an event at the Yale Club. It was a blast, and I really savored those pickles and string beans over the course of a few months. Rick's fond memories of eating those same dilly beans as a child in Vermont was what inspired him to turn it into a business. He’s put his magic pickling touch on all sorts of veggies, including asparagus, beans, and okra. Phat Beets makes for an unexpected twist to the typical cheese platter. These beets play in your mouth with accents of rosemary, ginger and lemon, and work beautifully with a soft goat cheese.

Cook Zen Pot / Fast Forward

I had a ball trying this gadget out and if you are into instant gratification, you will instantly be hooked. Machiko Chiba, who is well known in Japan, invented this pot that works in the microwave. This device allows you to use less oil, cook meat in its own juices and maintain vitamins that would normally be washed away with boiling. It’s companion cookbook, Cook Zen, features 80 Asian-style recipes that can be a springboard for creativity. There is a slight learning curve—I played with the amount of liquids and sweeteners, reducing the amounts in most cases, and had to adjust the timing to my microwave. Then I got creative. I cooked a mini-roast beef in 4 minutes, sliced it thinly, topped some garlic toasts, and added a a tiny dollop of a mixture of horseradish, dijon, and sour cream. Eggplant with miso sauce was a delightfully sweet side dish, the eggplant was cooked to perfection in merely three minutes. After soaking for one hour, I completed a batch of sushi rice in 18 minutes—no fanning. The possibilities are endless as to what you can roll up with the rice, and if you are fearful of serving raw fish, then do what I did—incorporate the recipe for ground chicken with wasabi soy sauce and lengths of cucumber. Here’s a super-healthy selection from the cookbook.
SORAMAME (Fava Beans)
1/4 lb fresh fava beans (in the pod)
Pinch of salt
Shell and lightly wash the beans, and place in the Cook Zen. Cover and heat on medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes with the steam holes closed. Transfer the beans to a sieve and run under cool water. Peel the outer skin of the beans (which will be practically falling off) and lightly salt.

RECIPE / leafy chicken bites

EXPERIMENT: This dish is healthy, pretty, and substantial at the same time, which is the combination I am always looking for when serving guests, as the alcohol is flowing and we all want to stay beautiful. It starts out with breaded chicken cutlets, which are then cut into bite-sized pieces and wrapped in fresh spinach leaves. Adding a tiny spoonful of chutney before wrapping adds a densely-sweet spark. (click on photo to enlarge)
First, I marinated the cutlets in: sour cream, lots of cumin, fresh squeezed garlic, lots of lemon juice, salt, pepper, cayenne and a little Piri Piri condiment from Vervacious. Normally, I would have used yogurt in the marinade, but I had the sour cream and did not feel like leaving the apartment. So, the sour cream went in for the test. If you have ever marinated chicken in yogurt, you know that it changes the texture--meaning, it sort of pulverizes it, making it very soft and blown up. I am sure Harold McGee has a perfect scientific explanation for this...
To make the bread crumbs, I used a frozen leftover baguette, and grated it using a box grater (which is a mini workout). To the crumbs I added: grated Locatelli romano cheese, freshly crushed coriander seeds (more arm exercise, remember to switch arms), lots of oregano, amd Simply Organic garlic pepper.
After about 3 hours of marinating time I dipped the chicken with its creamy coating right into the breadcrumbs, seeing if I really needed to add egg. (Next time I will add the egg, because some of the crumbs began to fall off while frying.) Fried them in olive oil, and set on a paper towel to blot and get firm.
When they cooled off a bit, I took the spinach leaves and made the rolls. It tasted pretty good just like that, but my taste buds were craving a little surprise, which is when I decided to add the chutney. I had Stonewall Kitchen's Old Farmhouse Chutney, but also recommend The Virginia Chutney Co, which I wrote up in my Organic Spa Magazine column's March/April '09 issue.
Oh, and I think the sour cream worked just as well as yogurt, as far as softening...

RECIPE / strawberry gazpacho with basil

Chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park created a buzz at the sub-zero showroom in May with this refreshing and delicious recipe for gazpacho:
STRAWBERRY GAZPACHO WITH BASIL
4 med strawberries
4 oz olive oil
2 oz country bread
Sprig of thyme
1 clove garlic
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 pounds of strawberries, plus 4 med strawberries
3 oz tomato juice
1 1/2 oz red wine vinegar
Hot sauce
crouton garnish:
1 slice country bread, diced in 1/4” cubes
1 TB olive oil
1 sprig of thyme
1 clove garlic
salt
to finish:
Extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper
4 basil leaves
1. Make ahead for garnish: cut 4 strawberries into quarters, place on parchment. Let dry in 195º oven for about 2 hours.
2. Toast the country bread in a pan with 1 oz of the olive oil, thyme, and garlic until golden brown.
3. Dice the rest of the ingredients, combine with tomato juice, vinegar and rest of olive oil. Marinate for 2 to 3 hours at room temperature.
4. Put everything in blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a china cup.
5. Season with a couple drops of hot sauce.
6. To make croutons for garnish: Toast bread with olive oil, thyme and crushed garlic in sauté pan. Season with salt.
7. To create dish: ladle the soup in a cold bowl. Garnish with croutons, 4 diced fresh strawberries and the dried strawberries. Finish with basil, drizzle with olive oil and crushed black pepper.

RECIPE / avocado chicken salad

Why not substitute avocado for mayo the next time you do a chicken salad? You’d be adding unsaturated fat, and a combination of 20 vitamins and minerals. Plus it tastes great. Chop up a baby yellow squash, some roasted yellow pepper and a grilled lemon chicken breast. Scoop out half of a really ripe avocado, mash it into the chopped mix, add a dash of cayenne pepper. If you don’t have the squash, a chopped up cucumber (remove seeds) would add a refreshing twist.

ISI Whipper / whip it good!

You will want to put swirls and florets on everything you see once you get your hands on the mini whipper from ISI. Make your own whipped cream instantly while avoiding preservatives and additives—unless what you want to add are some flavored liqueurs, natural syrups, honey, or alternative sugars. Pastry Chef Aimee Altizer of Talisker Club in Park City suggests mixing turbinado with the cream before whipping so it can dissolve. See RECIPES + EXPERTISE for her tips on other edible flowers.