This past weekend Dive! Living Off America’s Trash was featured at the Boulder International Film Festival. Jeremy Seifert is my new Michael Pollan, Morgan Spurlock and Chef Ann Cooper in that he brings to our attention - for lack of a better term, an inconvenient truth: We waste too much food in this country, not just in our homes, but at the grocery store. It’s the food we don’t purchase that gets wasted.
My cousin introduced me to the concept of dumpster diving years ago. I was aghast but have come to find that he has never been sickened by the food that he has retrieved from grocery store dumpsters. Certainly if you google dumpster diving, there is an abundance of advice and information on Wikihow, Wikipedia, and Youtube. Olivia Zaleski wrote a great piece about dumpster diving on the Huffington Post. But Seifert didn’t just set out alarm folks. He really was wondering if perhaps there is a better way to distribute food that is no logner deemed safe to sell.
In San Francisco, Mary Risley, founder of the Tante Marie Cooking School felt the same way. Many years ago she founded Food Runners. She knew that you can’t put the onus on food banks to not only distribute but also pick up food from all over a bustling city. Food Runners’ mission is simple: "To help alleviate hunger in San Francisco, to help prevent waste and to help create community." With a band of volunteers, unwanted food is just a phone call away from being picked up and delivered to an organization that can distribute it to those in need. While the mission is simple, the logistics are not.
Do you have an organization like this in your community? Tell us about it. If you want to see Seifert’s movie, his website has viewing times. The video below is the trailer for Dive!
A few weeks back, I had an overflowing bowl of very brown bananas and decided some baking was in order. This banana muffin has been my "go to" banana muffin for over a decade, they are simply that good.
Over the years, I have shaken things up with whole grain flours, toasted nuts and even mini chocolate chips, but ultimately, I always go back to the basic, unadulterated recipe, just the right size, tender yet dense and so much banana flavor. Yum!
These muffins are also Lollie’s self proclaimed "favorite" as in "these are really good Mom?!" Lollie and I often battle it out in the kitchen because she tends to reside in the land of picky eaters (with King Marco at the helm) rather than in my world of "Just try it, you might like it!"
In Lollie’s defense, she has an exceptional palate and many boldly flavored foods are off-putting to her. Give the girl a flaky croissant or a giant noodle bowl (minus the hot sauce) and she is on the moon. With regard to these muffins however, we have total agreement. If only bedtime could be so easy…
When bananas are too brown to enjoy out of hand, freeze them for smoothies or for baked goods.
cooking spray
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. pearl sugar or turbinado sugar (optional)
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, brown sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla until smooth. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix until just blended and evenly moistened. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. If desired, sprinkle each muffin with 1/2 tsp. sugar. Bake until the tops are golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 20 - 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing muffins from the tin.
Our book club recently finished "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. The hosts of the evening decided to pay homage to the southern spirit of the book and serve us the food that the white women of Jackson, Mississippi made on the days when they didn’t have "the help" to cook for them. Thank goodness there was good chablis to wash it down.
We started off with Salmon Loaf from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook circa 1958. The recipe is not on their website but the salmon was from a can and had loads of pepper. Cheese squares with canned olives and pretzels were artfully presented along with canned crab on cream cheese with chili sauce pour over the top. Of course there was a can of Cheese Whiz and Ritz Crackers and Saltines.
For starters there was canned fruit cocktail replete with the cherries! Being overly exposed to canned fruit cocktail as a child has scarred me for life, I still can not eat fruit salad of any kind, fresh or otherwise.
For the main course we were treated to ham studded with canned pineapple and cherries, canned butter beans (creamy white beans that were perty darn tasty), canned black eyed peas and scalloped potatoes from a box! O.K., O.K., I was indeed surprised at the texture of the potatoes. They were firm and actually tasted like potatoes. Ahhhh, food technology at its finest. Meatballs in canned tomato sauce and Russian Salad rounded out the meal. Green bean casserole was missed.
For dessert we enjoyed Mock Apple Pie (a true marvel from the 1930’s made almost entirely out of Ritz crackers) and a green giggly molded Jello (the kind that scared me as a kid with canned mandarins trapped inside) also from the vintage BHG cookbook. The piece de la resistance was Classic Banana Pudding with Nilla Wafers and Cool Whip.
In real life our hostesses are wonderful cooks who adore food and entertaining. They both commented that they had never opened so many cans to cook in their life but also said this was one of the cheaper meals they had ever made.
This meal made me thank Julie Child, Madeleine Kamman, Jacques Pepin and Alice Waters (just to name a few foodie pioneers) for introducing Americans to the delicious (uncanned) food revolution!
We have found a new favorite "anytime" cake chez Shafroth. I still love the Aspen Apple Cake but this recipe takes apple cake to another level. I found the recipe on Cook’s Country. They called it "Blue Ribbon Apple Cake" but I think upside down is a better descriptor.
Not all the recipes on Cook’s Country are stellar but this one caught my eye and has now won my heart. The sliced apples on top are reminiscent of homemade applesauce and the light batter below is the perfect compliment.
Apple Preparation
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
(an apple peeler is perfect for this)
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
Heat a heavy pan (not cast iron) and add the butter. Once the butter stops foaming, add the brown sugar and cook until it turns a dark color, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the apples and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes or until the apples are soft.
Meanwhile, prepare a 9-inch cake pan by buttering the sides and the bottom. I think a springform pan works best. Once the apple are cooked, spread into the bottom of the cake pan and allow to cool.
Cake Batter
1/2 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche), divided
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick of butter, at room temerature and cut into small chunks
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together 1/4 cup of sour cream, egg and egg yolk and vanilla. Set aside. Place dry ingredients into a large bowl and blend well on low speed with an electric mixer, adding the remaining 1/4 cup of sour cream and softened butter.
Once that is well incorporated and the dry ingredients are moistened, increase the speed to medium and add the egg/sour cream mixture. Mix for about 1 minute. Pour over the apples and spread evenly.
Bake for 40 minutes. Test for doness with a toothpick. It should come out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and gently release the springform. Invert the cake onto a plate.
Allow the cake to rest inverted on the plate for about a minute. Give it a gentle tap and carefully remove the pan bottom. If some of the apple comes off, it is easily replaced. This cake is best served slightly warm, but I also loved it the next day for breakfast.
"This tastes like restaurant soup!" announced Marco with enthusiasm and I knew I had a hit on my hands. While we often eat vegetarian meals, participating in Meatless Mondays has required that I get more organized about it. We’ve got a few dandies coming up the pike so be sure to check back each Monday, if not more often
Despite the fact that it feels like spring around these parts (Maverick spent Saturday morning at the shore), I am still craving winter favorites like rich soups to warm the evenings when sunset is still coming too quickly.
Prior to this recipe, I had never blended tofu into a soup but I wanted to up the nutritional ante of this vegan soup. I did not want to use beans because it would have masked the sweet potato flavor with beany notes.
I am happy to report that it worked famously and tasted so yummy that Marco will never know about the tofu (wink, wink). FYI - Sneaking tofu into Marco’s soup or calling anything vegan falls under "what he doesn’t know will make him healthier" category.
Now onto the soup, thick and aromatic, bright with sweet potatoes and accented with Indian flavors like ground corriander, fresh ginger and coconut milk, this bowl of orange-yellow goodness is a winner.
Curried Sweet Potato Soup
Serves 6
To speed up the process, prep the sweet potatoes ahead of time and refrigerate them until needed for making the soup. This soup doubles easily and freezes well.
2 lbs. sweet potatoes
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. grated ginger
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1/8 tsp. ground cayenne, more to taste
1 Tbsp. light brown sugar
3 Tbsp. lemon juice or 2 Tbsp. lime juice
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 (1-lb) pkg. silken tofu
1 (15 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk (light or regular)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Cook the sweet potatoes (boil, microwave, bake – your choice). To bake: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and cook until tender enough to easily pierce with a fork, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven. Cool for a few minutes. Remove and discard skin.
Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, salt and ginger. Cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cumin, curry powder, ground coriander and cayenne. Cook and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant. Stir in the brown sugar and lemon juice. Add the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Cut the cooked sweet potatoes into bite size chunks. Add the sweet potatoes, tofu and coconut milk. Stir well. Cook for 10 -15 minutes to heat through and so that the flavors mingle. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. Alternatively, puree the soup in batches in either a food processor or a blender.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with a scant Tbsp. cilantro.
Some food in China is mostly about texture. This cake, referred to as Nian Gao, is made during the Lunar New Year celebrations and it is a textural marvel. I searched the web to find something to make for our New Year’s celebration and ended up combining a few techniques and ingredients from recipes I found on Chow.
I really enjoyed the texture: chewy, gummy, silky and soft, all at once. There are many variations and traditionally it is steamed. This baked version is very easy to make. Here is a picture of Nian Gao steamed in banana leaves
Nian Gao is made with glutinous or "sticky"rice flour. What separates this type of rice is that it was specifically developed by Asian farmers over the centuries for its higher content of amylose and amylopectin, two components of starch.
There is no dietary gluten in glutinous rice and it is used throughout Asia in numerous ways. It is more widely available here for gluten free diets. It is the primary ingredient in this dessert so do not substitute white rice flour. It will not work.
4 eggs at room temperature
2 cans light coconut milk
3 cups sweet rice flour
2 1/2 cups sugar (you can use a combination of brown and unrefined sugar)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. toasted, shredded coconut (to use as garnish at the end)
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x13-inch pan with butter or non-stick spray coating and line with parchment paper.
Beat the eggs. Add the sugar and beat well for a few minutes. Now alternate adding wet and dry ingredients into the egg/sugar mixture (do not add the shredded coconut). This batter is very runny. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the coconut over the top and rotate the pan. Continue baking for another 25 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. Using the parchment paper as handles, lift the nian gao out of the pan and place on a cutting board. Cut into your desired shapes. You can chill it to serve or serve at room temperature.
For more info on Chinese New Year Celebrations, check out the video below:
