Wait...Don't Throw It Away

This could begin by discussing the problems with our throw-away society, or how much food waste goes to the landfill annually while one in five children struggle with hunger. But I like approaching the topic of food thrift on a positive tip, because positivity can be more mobilizing.

Stretching ingredients is no longer a remnant of the depression-era. Being careful with ingredients does not specifically represent poverty, or tough times, or war. In fact, keeping scraps from the trash is in line with today's haute cuisine trend, which some may find kind of ironic.

Watching chef Sean Brock on Mind Of A Chef (a worthwhile production, thanks PBS) fry chicken skins and glaze pig tail to serve to his guests at HUSK in Charleston, SC, I was reminded of this. Being savvy in the kitchen is once again represented by wasting little, thanks to some chefs, home cooks and cookbook authors who are promoting creative ways to serve up the underserved.

I personally remember how much my mom loved pan-fried liver and onions, and I would gag as she ate them, but now blend up a pate with some regularity. I adore chicken feet for a good broth, especially at $3 a bag at farmers market. And often a good loaf of market bread doesn't get eaten fast enough and quickly becomes hard as stone. These are opportunities. Because regardless of what political group we subscribe to, (or refuse to subscribe to), or where we grew up on whatever side of the tracks, or whether we are part of the majority or the 1%, the bottom line remains the same: our resources are not limitless. Waste is u.g.l.y.

Often I feature very pretty, quality food here on this blog, but this may be giving the wrong impression. Yes, our household spends a big piece of its financial pie on food, but this does not mean our pie is big. It's realistically more of a hand pie.

Food is a personal priority, but understandably not the priority of all. Regardless, our income is precious, and much of this is represented on the chopping block. I'll be damned if I have to throw any of it away.
In fact, as I type, eggs and cream are staging a serious Cinderella story on some leftover stale boule in the oven.

So here is the recipe for this post, if there ever was one (measurements are approximate):

*If you buy the best ingredients you are able without compromising other living essentials, don't throw away the scraps, put them in the next meal.
*Underdogs are hidden, affordable treasures.
*Fillet Mignon is overplayed.
*Dogmas are too.
*Carbs are beautiful, and so is butter.
*If you move your body and cook at home, you can relax a bit about a meal's glycemic load. And everything else.
*If you sit down grateful, your food will fully feed you.

Amen.

Postcard From The Kitchen

Does Your Broth Jiggle?

If it wobbles, jiggles bounces or shakes, your in good shape.

I've posted a fair amount on broth; how to make it, and why it's important, but haven't gone into too much detail on gelatin. If you make broth and chill it, and it cools to a aspic or jello consistency, this means you've gotten the gold.

Not only is gelatin good for the skin and joints, it soothes digestion and has been proven to help digest the proteins in wheat, oats, barley and dairy. By promoting gastric juices, gelatin is an overall digestive aid, perhaps why we crave it when we are sick. As the body is compromised fighting colds or other infections, gelatin is already broken down into easily absorbed amino acids, containing essential trace minerals while offering the digestive tract a break.

I prefer making broth with chicken or duck feet, which are very high in gelatin. But you can also get plenty of gelatin from bones.

Lately I have been slow cooking whole chickens or a couple pounds of chicken legs in a dry crock pot with a chopped onion, garlic, a lemon, sea salt and black pepper. The meat tenderizes beautifully over the course of a full day, and the liquid produced during the process is chock full of gelatin. I strain and chill it, then skim away most of the fat. The result is a concentrated jiggly bounty (pictured). It freezes well and serves as an excellent base for soups and sauces.

With cold season upon us, this stuff will keep you from running to the drugstore the next time you're laid-up on the couch. Make it now, throw it in the freezer, then warm it up and sip when you need a boost.

Fall Equinox

Braising some local beef, hanging garlands and collecting lucky buckeyes. 

Welcome Autumn!

Summer Flashbacks

Just after the Spring equinox, when everything was stirring, I bid farewell to my longtime friend Micah.   We had 14 years together.

He was better than perfect. I got lucky to find this guy.

Then summer happened:

Ready for the next round.

 Goodbye sweet summertime...

Asheville's Walking Food Tour

(Last week's piece for Asheville Grit:)

Eating Asheville Tours

BY: RACHEL BROWNLEE | Friday, September 12, 2014 - 10:18am

-Sunburst Trout crostini and sparkling white wine at the Downtown Book Exchange-

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The tour really isn’t something locals do, but then again I long ago made myself exempt from that list. After all, I’m a food writer who eats at a restaurant maybe once every six weeks? So here is the disclaimer on this post: I am not a food critic. Never have been and have no interest in being. I write about what producers are doing, and what I do in my kitchen, not how my steak was executed at the newest downtown hot spot. I have respect for the latter (if I dig deep), but no desire to do it. At the risk of sounding like a bleeding-heart bohemian, in a world where most eat only what they have access to, I have always been the type who is glad to consume just about anything if hungry enough. 

    It’s not about knowing the difference between brilliant food and the opposite, maybe it’s more a matter of my roots. I grew up in a loving, low-budget household of an avid hunter and have eaten some colorful offerings over the years. Piles of buckshot were regular on our dinner plates growing up. Sometimes my siblings and I even made a game out of who collected the most. Fortunately kids get hungry after playing all day, which is the best sauce for all things squirrel and whistle pig, although nary a sauce was needed for the usual servings of elk, goose, or venison. I am grateful I was fed, and still feel the same way. Though nowadays I don’t miss pulling shrapnel from my food (this was really only when we had squirrel or doves by the way). Anyhow, this is a clean story about a sweet food tour in a historical downtown, told by a girl who still loves to be fed, and especially likes to get full.

    My friend Lindsay invited me to be her guest for Eating Asheville’s Thursday Walking Food Tour, of which her husband Stuart is the guide. I knew Stu would be entertaining and a good person to follow into a restaurant as a seasoned foodie and professionally trained student of the culinary arts. He is also the handsome face among the talented staff at Table. A good person to have showing you around.

-Shrimp hushpuppies at Imperial-

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    The idea of the tour is to give participants a chance to sample an assortment of downtown cuisine within a fixed price and time period (about 2.5 hours at about $50) while offering educational dialogue on historic Asheville and background on local chefs making waves. For the restaurants/chefs involved, they gain the benefit of catering directly to their prime consumers (tourists) whom they rely on to talk to their friends and tell them how amazing the amuse bouche was at such-and-such while visiting Asheville, and to come back for more. A brilliant way to advertise. 

    The top of the list: Cucina 24. As our first stop after our initial meet-up with sparkling wine andSunburst Trout crostini at the Battery Park Book Exchange, (Cucina's) Chef Brian Canipelligave it to us right: seared octopus and market cherry tomatoes scattered with pancetta. It was a warm heap of everything you would want in a dish. The octopus was tender, the tomatoes held up to the heat but surrendered easily in a burst of heirloom, seedy juice. The whole dish had a good bit of spice but of the right caliber, tempered by swallows of fine red (I can’t remember what it was, but it was from a region of good wine makers probably somewhere in Europe who most likely also eat octopus regularly.) This was the highlight of the tour. Canipelli gave us an ample serving, he spoke about why he does what he does and made us feel welcome before going back to his kitchen to prepare for the evening rush.

-Plates awaiting octopus at Cucina 24-

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    Then we were off to the next stop, with octopus and red wine priming our bellies. Stuart kept us on schedule without feeling rushed and had us laughing with his charming wit as we strolled from place to place. We were in each space for about 15 minutes, sampling and sipping. 

    We had shrimp encased in a crunchy hush puppy with house-made slaw, micro greens and white wine at The Imperial Life; gelato and truffles at Chocolate Gems; orecchiette in a garlicky parmesan sauce with white wine at Strada Italiano; okra chips and authentically inspired nibbles with a honey-lime rum cocktail at MG Road; and ended the tour with a brisket-and-sweet-roll bang washed down with strawberry sangria at Zambra. 

-MG Road-

-Truffles at Chocolate Gems-

-Brisket at Zambra-

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    The tour included enough food and drink to feel full and adequately buzzed by the end. I enjoyed getting to know some of the places I would have otherwise glossed over, and took away a healthy desire to have Cucina 24 be the destination for my next evening out. 

    Here is something I didn’t anticipate walking away with----a surprising appreciation for tourists. Aside from the usual gripes this class of individuals attracts, tourists have a strong place in this story. There are clear rewards in the symbiotic relationship between visiting out-of-towner’s and talented chefs provided enough traffic to support their artistry. Visitors come here to eat, sip and view, dropping their hard earned cash here while doing so. And at least they are the types looking for an experience we can give them, something not all cities can offer, well beyond an assortment of drive-thrus. We are not getting the Disney World crowd, but people with a desire to know more about why we live here.

A few bites in, I think they got the idea. Sans buckshot.

-At Strada. There I am in the navy stripes.-

-Lindsay with her rum cocktail at MG Road-

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Photographs provided by Eating Asheville's Hank Fuseler (with the exception of the last one) http://hankfuseler.com/

To schedule a tour visit EatingAsheville.com

FULL

The weeks leading up to the Autumn equinox have been full. So in place of a recipe, a few visuals from this afternoon:

Seeded Boule-Braising Mix-and Parmesan Strata

Roots coated in coconut oil before the oven

Today's garden samplings

Continued....

The end.