Originally, I was going to simply write a one paragraph post helping people understand that they should not be afraid to use butter when necessary. Unfortunately, I realized how much emotional turmoil I have when it comes to this subject and others. A nice recipe for a Buttered Pea and Potato Salad had somehow turned into a major rant against fake butter and “light” olive oil. I apologize to any margarine lover and extra virgin olive oil hater I may offend in the process of reading this post!

I think (and hope) that our countries obsession with being and eating “fat free” is pretty much over. When the Atkins Diet was the biggest thing I started worrying that the earth was coming to a quick end and we’d all die skinny but sad and craving a steaming bowl of pasta. Why are some Americans so obsessed with supposedly eating “healthy” when they are actually eating completely unhealthy?

Substituting crap like margarine for butter is ridiculous. I think that this WikiAnswer explains why. In fact, this Serious Eats post helps put into perspective the vast number of fake butter “spreads” that exist around the world. How sickening that people want to buy a product that actually tells them it is NOT butter? Hello, people! They are telling us loud and clear that this is something created to taste like a real, natural product but isn’t! Then why not eat the real thing? I’m so confused.

And while we’re discussing Americans ability to be a sucker for lower fat items while being willing to compromise it for lower quality, lower flavor and lower nutritional value, it’s no surprise that the US could’ve easily fallen for this trick if it worked (and even though these guys were caught, I’m sure there are many make it here and are being purchased every day). I shudder to think that anyone would actually buy something labeled “light olive oil”. Why? WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYY (screaming)? Why would anyone take something that is pure, natural and good for you and hack away at it until it can be labeled light? Light olive oils are a marketing hook, people! They are not lighter in calories than regular olive oil but, instead, lighter in color, taste and nutritional value (hmmm, no crap – they are heavily modified through heating and filtering and not really olive oil!). Here’s a look at what those light olive oils are really about:

“Light” olive oil is a marketing concept and not a classification of olive oil grades. It is completely unregulated by any certification organizations and therefore has no real precedent to what its content should be. Sometimes, the olive oil is cut with other vegetable oils.

So in order for consumers to feel like they are actually eating “light”, they are willing to compromise flavor, health and deliciousness. According to a 1989 NY Times Article, ‘‘Light olive oil was invented by the Bertolli company in this office in Secaucus, N.J.,” said William C. Monroe, president of Bertolli USA. ”It’s an American invention.” Nothing screams fabulous, healthy product like the words, “created in an office in Secaucus, NJ”. Have you ever been to Secaucus? Enough said. (Why am I laughing at the thought of people taking vacations to trod through the “olive tree fields” in Seacaucus as a cheap alternative to a trip to Italy? Maybe those are the same people willing to buy into the whole light olive oil trick?)

If anyone is going to use this “light” olive oil stuff, please keep it’s use to high heat cooking (olive oil has a low smoke point) or baking. But, if that’s the case, why not just use other natural kind of oils?

I feel confident closing this rant by giving you a natural and delicious side dish recipe. Use real unsalted butter. Do not take shortcuts. Do not be worried about the fat. Did you know that 1 tablespoon of butter has less calories than 1 tablespoon of olive oil? Don’t be afraid! Just embrace it. Even our good friend, Caviar and Codfish used it in their Pea and Potato Salad!

What’s interesting is the rest of the list. Look at the jump in salary from Puck to Ramsay. And I’m absolutely sick and dumbfounded that Paula “I Heart Butter” Deen makes more money than Mario Batali. WTF!? And Bobby Flay better check his contract with The Food Network considering he hosts about 5 shows for them, owns a few restaurants all over the US and still only makes the same as Anthony Bourdain.

2. Wolfgang Puck – $16 million
3. Gordon Ramsay- $7.5 million
4. Nobuyuki Matsuhisa – $5 million
5. Alain Ducasse – $5 million
6. Paula Deen – $4.5 million
7. Mario Batali – $3 million
8. Tom Colicchio – $2 million
9. Bobby Flay – $1.5 million
10. Anthony Bourdain – $1.5 million

What do you guys think of this list? Anything shocking to you?

**For those WANF international readers (love you, btw… thanks for visiting!) if you have no idea who Rachael Ray is, you can read up on her here.

Usually if I’m trying to make an authentic dish, I always try to make it just that – authentic. That means that I want to use traditional ingredients and I attempt to research the many traditional ways to make that specific dish. I then decide how to combine the best bits from all those traditional recipes and create one recipe. Well, this traditional, old Castillian dish is always made with almonds – more specifically the beautiful Marcona almonds which are bigger and sweeter and more delicious (to me) than the almonds we know here in America. As Penelope Casas writes, “(Pollo en Pepitoria) combines all of the ingredients most often associated with Spanish cooking – garlic, saffron, sherry and almonds – into an unusually savory sauce.” DOH! As I began cooking, I could have sworn I had a fresh bag of almonds to work with only to find that it was a bag of fresh hazelnuts. Could I swap? Yeah… could I call it authentic on my blog… nope. What I can tell you is substituting hazelnuts in this dish for almonds does not actually change the flavor all that much. But the thing that I really decided to do to completely different from the traditional dish was to actually coat the pieces of chicken in hazelnuts and lightly saute them until crispy on the outside and finished them in the oven to keep it moist inside. You all like it moist, right? But, dear readers, you must know that traditionally you would just roll pieces of chicken with the bone in in some seasoned flour and saute them just like that in olive oil.

So, do I have a right to really call this dish Pollo en Pepitoria? Probably not. Do I hate when idiots like Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee completely remake an authentic classic an continue calling it by it’s authentic name but it doesn’t even resemble the original dish? YES. Am I being a bit of a hypocrite right now – uh-huh. Do I care? Not really. It’s only because I’ve been wanting to post this recipe for about 2 months now and it’s 75 degrees and sunny and I want to get outside. Creative juices ain’t a-flowing.

So here’s Pollo en Pepitoria “Kinda”. That’s as creative as it’s gonna get today, kids. Have a beautiful weekend!

If you’re interested, please check out one of our favorite blogs about Spain, all things Spanish and life in Spain – Notes from Spain – a few years ago they posted a recipe for Pollo en Pepitoria.

POLLO EN PEPITORIA “KINDA” – CHICKEN IN A SAFFRON, FINO AND HAZELNUT SAUCE (serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup flour (seasoned with a bit of salt)
• 2 eggs, beaten + tablespoon of water
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped hazelnuts (to coat chicken) + 1/4 cup of finely ground hazelnuts (to add to sauce)
• olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or sliced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/4 cup of dry sherry (fino)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
• pinch of saffron
• salt and pepper
• Optional: 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped, for garnish

What to do:

1. Heat your oven up to 425 degrees and season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
2. Make sure you slightly crush or run a sharp knife through your hazelnuts (the 1 1/2 to 2 cups called for to coat the chicken) in order to make sure they are able to stick to the chicken breasts. Have your ‘coating station’ ready by putting flour on the first plate, the beaten egg mixed with water on the second plate and the chopped hazelnuts spread out on the third plate.
3. Heat up about 1/4 inch of oil in an oven-safe pan or skillet on medium heat. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour (dust off any major excess), then the egg and finally roll around in the crushed hazelnuts. Add to your hot oil and cook on each side for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. You want the hazelnuts to seal on to the chicken, but not to burn. Check after a minute and then, if necessary, continue to saute for another 30 seconds or so. If there’s not enough room in your pan to cook all the chicken breasts at once (don’t overcrowd!!), do it in batches and just reserve the chicken on the side until all are sauteed.
4. When the chicken has been cooked on both sides and the hazelnuts have adhered, put in your 425 degree oven and allow to cook for another 10-13 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken. If the chicken is done before you sauce, just remove from oven and allow to chill out on the side for a bit. It’s ok if it gets cool.



5. Make your sauce by adding the chopped onion, garlic and carrot to some olive oil in a pan and allow to saute on medium to medium-low for about 4 or 5 minutes till they get a bit soft.
6. After they cook till they are a bit softer, add your fino and scrape up some of the bits on the bottom of the pan. After about a minute, add your chicken broth, nutmeg, saffron, bay leaf and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes.



7. While the vegetables are busy getting soft, in a blender or food processor (or with a good old mallet), blitz the 1/4 cup of hazelnuts till finely ground… I mean finely kids! Remove to a bowl until they are needed.
8. Optional: Boil two eggs for 8 minutes to hard-boil. When done, remove and place in cold water, allowing them to cool. De-shell and chop up for the garnish.
9. When 10 minutes or so has passed and you’ve tested the carrots for softness, REMOVE THE BAY LEAF and add everything from the pan to a blender or food processor. Blitz this mixture until smooth. Add the blitzed sauce back to the pan and keep warm on low-medium heat. Add the finely ground hazelnuts to the sauce and stir in – this will act as a thickener.

+

10. Add your hazelnut-coasted chicken breast to the sauce and place back in your oven for 4 minutes to allow the chicken to come back to temperature if necessary. When it’s out of the oven, sprinkle the top with the chopped hard-boiled egg and enjoy!

Check out these other posts you may enjoy:

• WATERCRESS & RICOTTA RAVIOLI WITH A RADICCHIO BUTTER SAUCE
• GNOCCHI DI PATATE WITH A BROWN BUTTER, SAGE, BREADCRUMB SAUCE
• ITALIAN-STYLE SLOW ROASTED PORK SHOULDER WITH SALSA VERDE
• Truffled Butter: A Prince Among Ideas
• Pork Roll and Scrapple – The Dirty Culinary Pride of South Jersey/Philly
• Diversity Finally Comes to The Food Network

With over 61,000 pizzerias in America, how many do you think have really got it right? My guess is about 100. I’ve had some really, really, really shitty pizza in this country (Colorado!? San Francisco!!?) I’ve had some really, really shitty in my own neighborhood of New York City! I still have yet to find a place that really rivals the pizza I’ve eaten in Italy, until now when I realized I can make it myself in the comforts of my own home.

There’s place called Franny’s here in Brooklyn that is one of those annoying, overpriced and over-trendy but packed every night. When we finally decided it was time to see if it lived up to the hype, we were totally disappointed. When I eat something as simple as pizza, I don’t feel like dealing with a pretentious, trendy, annoying hipster attitude or staff. I don’t feel like being charged $16 for a pizza the size of a medium-sized plate and leave hungry. We ate reasonably-priced pizza at Isabella’s Oven, but the crust just didn’t quite do it for us. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We will never eat thin-crust pizza around New York City again. There’s no reason. For $20 worth of ingredients, a $15 pizza stone (genius, will never live without it – GO BUY ONE NOW), a $9 bottle of Chianti and my ipod, I can have a better, less expenisive, tastier and more relaxing culinary experience in my small Brooklyn kitchen then going to any of those shit-house, wannabe, up-their-own-asses Italian-style pizza places up the street (sorry, I think you’re finding out my true feelings on Frannys). Remember folks, there’s a difference between the type of pizza we’re going to show you how to make here and the many delicious New York City Pizzeria’s I love and adore (Lombardi’s, Arturos, John’s, Pino La Forcetta, Grimaldi’s, Di Fara, Totonnos, etc. etc.).

In fact, if you don’t feel like making pizza dough from scratch, go ask your local pizzeria for some fresh dough. More than likely, they’ll sell it to you. Just make sure it’s simple – nothing more than flour, yeast and water. No crazy bits of roasted garlic, no honey, no nothin’. The other thing that you must, must have, as I mentioned earlier is a pizza stone. This is KEY to making the best pizza at home. Third thing you must have is a really, really simple sauce recipe. Naturally, I recommend using my sauce recipe - it’s simple and delicious – just make sure you simmer it much longer than what is called for. The sauce should not be very wet, but more concentrated. Fourth is space to roll your dough out and a bit of muscle. I can’t toss friggin’ pizza dough in the air for the life of me so I spend my time rolling and rolling and rolling this pizza dough till it FINALLY does what I need it to do – roll out thin. Finally, you need a hot oven. If your oven has a hard time making it past 425 degrees, this may not work as well for you. You need to whack it up as high as it goes (550F+) and allow the pizza stone 20 minutes to heat up before you heat up the dough. Follow these simple instructions and you’ll have perfect pizza every time.

Here’s pictorial of all the pizza’s we’ve made recently to give you some ideas of toppings, most recreated from ones we ate while in Italy. Immediately following the picture you will find a really great recipe for pizza dough from Jeffrey Steingarten’s book It Must’ve Been Something I Ate. Buon Appetito!

Pizza with Cipollini Onions and Tonno

Pizza Romana (Pizza w/ Capers and Anchovies)

White Pizza with Mushrooms, Leeks and White Truffle Oil

Pizza with Anchovies and Cabrales (or Gorgonzola)

Bresaola, Arugula and Parmigiano Pizza

Pizza Romana (Capers and Anchovy) with Cracked Egg on Top

So, hope your mouth is watering and now YOU will think about a new pizza with toppings you love! Check out how to make pizza dough below.

PIZZA DOUGH ALA JEFFREY STEINGARTEN (an adaptation)

Ingredients:

• 6 to 6 1/2 cups of flour

• 1 1/2 tsp instant or active dry yeast

• 1 tbsp. plus 1 teaspoon salt

• 3 1/4 cups cold water

• 1/2 cup cornmeal or semolina flour

What to do:

1. In the mixer bowl of your food processor, stir the flours, yeast and salt together. Pour in the water and stir vigourously with a wooden spoon until everything comes together into a “shaggy dough”.

2. Put the bowl on the mixer and attach the beater – not the dough hook. This dough is too wet for regular kneading. Mix on low speed for a minute then beat on high speed for 3 1/2 minutes, scraping down the beater and bowl halfway through.

3. ***Steingarten explains the way to knw when your dough is perfect: With well-floured fingers, pull off a piece of dough about the size of a walnut and roll it in flour. You should be able to stretch it with the fingers of both hands without breaking for at least 3 inches across.

4. Scrape the dough out onto a heavily floured work surface. Fold one side over the other and allow to rest for 10 mintues. After 10 minutes, cut dough into 4 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball and place each in a well-oiled bowl to rise until double in size – about 3 hours. ***NOTE: Steingarten likes to then put his dough balls in the fridge for an hour… if you have the time, do so, otherwise, I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary.

   

5. Preheat your oven to as high as it can go (at least 500 degrees!) and allow the pizza stone to heat up for a half hour to one hour.

6. On a well-floured surface, pat each dough ball into as flat of a circle as possible. Stretch it by draping the dough over your fists, knuckels up, passing it from hand to hand until it reaches about 12 inches. ***NOTE: This is the thing, do not despair at this point if it’s not going as perfectly as you want. This is not as easy as Steingarten says. With practice, it’ll be easier. But, we give the fist to fist way a try for a bit, then bust out a well-floured rolling pin and litterally attack the dough with our pin until it gets as thin as we need it to be. We like it to be about 1/2 a centimeter thick when we first cook it on the pizza stone.

   

7. ***This is where I do things a bit differently than Steingarten. Using oven mits, take your pizza stone out of the hot, HOT oven. Scrape your pizza dough off your floured surface and place on the hot stone (it will begin to cook immediately) and place back in the oven for two minutes or until there is a tiny bit of color on the surface and edges of the dough. Remove from oven and place back on your work surface. It will be ‘stiff’ but not fully cooked.

8. Depending on what type of pie you are making (red pie, white pie, olive oil and herbs-brushed pie), put down your ‘wet’ ingredients first (ie: tomato sauce). Don’t put too much on, just a thin layer for taste.

   

   

9. Add your toppings (go light like the italians! you don’t need to have 2 inches-worth of toppings to make this pizza taste good) and then your cheese (get low-moisture mozzerella and fresh buffala mozzerella that’s as low-moisture as possible – the moisture in the cheese could moisten your crust and cause it to be too wet and heavy).

10. Add the topped pizza back to your pizza stone and put back in the hot oven for 4 to 7 minutes, making sure all the cheese is melted and bubbley and the crust has some color to it. Remove from oven and allow to rest for a moment before biting in.

    

***If you’re interested in learning how we made any of the pizzas you see pictured above, let us know. We don’t mind posting the recipes. For the most part, you can kind of get a feel for the recipe by looking at the picture and the title of the pizza. But, we’re here to help. You’ve gotta give these thin-crust pizza’s a try!

Well, not exactly. Here’s what (A certain national celebrity mag) magazine’s daily news clips e-mail The Dirt reported today:

“Insiders say Rachel Ray’s daytime show will be taken off the air at the end of her contract in 2010. Apparently, her ratings are sliding.”

We are at pains to remind our readers that while we are certainly not Ms. Ray’s biggest fans, we do not wish her ill. That said, the fewer opportunities we have to stumble across her wild and excessive gesticulations, jock-voice and tucked-in styles while idly flipping channels, the better.

Is this just another case of a network trying desperately to cash-in on a TV personality’s popularity by making them ubiquitous and endlessly shoving them down the public’s throats until people get sick of it? Or, is it that she wasn’t that popular outside of ’90s throwback Mid-Westerners anyway, and the network has finally caught on? What do you think?

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER RACHEL COMMENTARY:

• RACHEL RAY: MAYBE HATE IS A STRONG WORD
• HIT Me Rachel One More Time!
  

I know, guys… yet again, another Ray-Ray complaint. I just can NOT stop. I try, kids… I REALLY freaking try. I put her show on and within 30 seconds, I put her on mute. Within a minute, the channel is changed. I can’t do it. I try over and over again, and over and over again the result is the same – shivers, throwing things at the TV, tearing bits of my hair out. After seeing this mild bastardization of the delicious, and AUTHENTICALLY SPANISH dish of Cocido, I could not stay silent again.

In Ray-Ray’s defense, I immediately thought her recipe looked wrong and jumped at the chance to rip her apart. I thought to myself, minced meat?? Chicken “tenders”!? Adding nutmeg and cinnamon??!! Blasphemy! But, after much research, I have found that sometimes cocido can contain meatballs made of minced beef. The chicken tenders are pointless because you want the flavor of the chicken skins and bones. Nutmeg and cinnamon? Ya got me there, Rach. Maybe my trusty Spaniard friend, Nuria could weigh in on this? Regardless, I’m here to spread some knowledge on one of my favorite things to eat while in Madrid.

Cocido is one of the national dishes of Spain, has many regional variations (cocido madrileno from Madrid, cocido montanes from Cantabria and cocido maragato from Castile-Leon) and is often eaten midday. It should take a long time to cook (simmering away all night or all day) and, most importantly, contains various types of cured and smoked pork products and meat, bones, trotters, etc. On holy days or when meat should not be eaten, cocido can be made with bacalao (salted cod) or congrio (salted congereel). Long and slow cooking of the cocido along with it’s other elements; chickpeas, carrots, potatoes and cabbage (among other veggies), creates an amazingly flavorful and rich caldo (broth/stock). It is believed that cocido was introduced to Spain by the Sephardic Jews (Jews that chose to convert to Catholicism) who added pork and sausage to the stew creating the dish we know today. Work is not allowed on the Sabbath so, before it began, they would throw all the ingredients in a pot in order to cook slowly all day, only to be eaten at sundown.

Cocido will usually, and traditionally, be served in at least two courses, often three. The first course is always the strained caldo – pure, golden and rich, maybe with some rice or noodles. The second course could be all the vegetables alone or the veggies plus the meat (as we had it in Madrid – see pics). This would include morcilla (Spanish black sausage), chorizo, pieces of the meats (pork, chicken, pork belly etc.), potatoes, chickpeas, cabbage, carrots, leeks, etc. It is a very filling meal, but extremely tasty and satisfying. It took us about 2 hours to eat ours while we were in Madrid, and we rolled out of the restaurant with the top button of our pants undone and a big smile on our faces.

I also want to clarify something – there is traditional Spanish cocido and a Mexican version. The Mexican cocido may include corn, chayote green beans, zucchini and cilantro. They garnish with lime, salsa and/or jalapenos and Mexican rice and it can be served with tortillas. There is a HUGE difference in these dishes.

In conclusion, this is the best recipe I found for cocido on the web, although I would probably add some more cooking time to the recipe. Although my husband was inspired to make this soup after his first cocido experience during a trip to Northern Spain in 2003, it’s just not the real deal. I hope to order my morcilla and fresh chorizo from La Tienda, talk to my butcher about some pork belly and make this traditional version one day soon.

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY: 

• HORNAZO (Spanish Sausage-Stuffed Easter Bread)
• Fabada: A Mortal and Corporal Sin – But Worth It!
• Jamon, Jamon
• LEBANESE-SPICED LAMB OVER CRISPY PITA WITH CHICKPEAS, PINENUTS, POMEGRANATE SEEDS SMOTHERED IN GARLIC YOGURT SAUCE
• WINE-BRAISED LAMB SHANKS WITH ROSEMARY AND THYME IN PRESSURE
• Pictures of Madrid
• Unusual Tapas We Ate in Madrid
• CLAMS WITH WHITE WINE AND CHORIZO
• SQUID WITH GOLDEN POTATOES

Not to be stingy (I’ll take what I can get) but wouldn’t it be great to have a Thai or Indian chef on there, too? Maybe a Mexican chef doing regional cuisine ala Rick Bayless? Why not give Morimoto his own show? Oh, that’s right, maybe it’s because he’s too Asian? TFN completely degrades him every time he’s on Iron Chef by dubbing some dudes voice over his own. HE IS SPEAKING ENGLISH WHEN YOU DUB OVER HIM WITH ENGLISH!!!! I understand he has a strong accent, but at least let us hear the master speak. For fuck’s sake, degrade him a bit less by using subtitles. I wonder if this pisses him off?

Speaking of black cooks/chefs, I have been wanting to write a post on someone I am in love with – G. Garvin. Has anyone watched him on TV One? I’m so happy he is on TV – he’s intelligent, funny and is a fresh face/voice in the culinary TV world. He actually enlightens us with his knowledge of different foods and the recipe, doing it all with humor and not loosing sense of his real personality. The Food Network should have swooped him up before TV One did. I love him… he looks like LL Cool J and has a personality to match his looks. His catchphrase is “holla at ya boy” and he makes a sound when he’s grinding pepper (nothing like the loud, obnoxious BAM!). Here’s a few quotes I wrote down from G. while watching his show a few weeks ago:

“If you ain’t got no wooden spoon, you probably ain’t got no TV!” – G. Garvin

“If you ain’t got an oven, go holla at ya neighbor! Tell ‘em ya got dropped biscuits for your b-baby-baby!” - G. Garvin during a segment making ‘Dropped Biscuits’

I hope the new show on TFN is a good one. I really hope the Neely’s survive on the network because it will prove to me that the audience as well as the execs are not afraid of a bit of diversity! Good luck, Neely’s! I’m sure I’ll be giving my opinion on this here blog as soon as I see it! I’d love to hear your opinion too.

Check out a another WANF reader’s posts on the Neely’s and this subject:

Food Network Missing Key Ingredient?

CHECK OUT SOME RELATED POSTS:

• Rachel Ray – Maybe Hate is a Strong Word?
• NOOOOO! Could it Be? (Mario Gets Fired?)
• Bon Appetit Magazine’s ‘Makeover’- Love It or Leave It?
• Sara Moulton Leaving Food Network for PBS
• Good Eats – Man TV?

Yesterday, leading companies in the EU (read: major corporate conglomerates) said that by the end of 2008, they would change their policy on advertising junk food and drink during TV shows that are geared towards children under 12. And they did this voluntarily! Well, maybe not completely voluntarily. They may have been trying to avoid a financial penalty if they didn’t comply. So, no more food and drink advertising on TV, in print media or on the web in the EU where there is a chance that kids under 12 could be a target audience. Pretty interesting, huh?

Even more interesting is the list of companies voluntarilydoing this: Coca-Cola, Groupe Danone, Burger King, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Ferrero and Unilever. Do these companies sound familiar to you? Yes, they are the same companies that run the processed and crappy food/beverage world here in the good ‘ole US of A. Are they making this same promise to us? Isn’t one of the reasons we have a major obesity problem in the USA is because of the way these companies have so touchingly created this image of how a happy and fun family and kid is supposed to be when they eat or drink one of their magical, processed and high-calorie/fat drink or meal? How happy and fun did it look when those kids on the commercials walked into Mickey-D’s or Burger King? Did you LONG for a “happy” meal (yes, it’s called a happy meal b/c it will make you HAPPY – get it!?) when you saw those ecstatic children playing with their Happy Meal toys? I want a plastic Elliot and ET riding on a bike together!! Advertising, to me, is the lowest and cheesiest form of dumbing us down. And we buy it. We give in to it. So, if people aren’t going to change, can’t these stupid corporate companies just do something to help this major issue we are facing in America? I understand that they probably aren’t going to stop producing this shit, but can’t they just stop advertising it to us?

Again, I feel very passionate about this issue because I work with alot of the kids they specifically are geared towards – the ones without alot of disposable income. The kids whose parents have to work 4 jobs just to make ends meet and barely have enough time to cook dinner for their children. The kids whose parents aren’t even home at dinner time, leaving only a few bucks or some quarters for their kids to buy lunch or dinner that day. What other choice are these kids going to have when it’s too easy and cheap to go down the street to a fast food place or pop one of the processed meals in the microwave?

The obesity rate in parts of the EU is rising, especially with kids. As of 2003, nearly 1/3 of all Europeans were obese. THEY seem to want to take control of this issue. We all know the last thing the French would want to do is become like the Americans. And I don’t blame them one bit at all. In 2006, the Council of Better Business Bureaus and the National Advertising Review Council established the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. Similar corporate conglomerates joined this ‘initiative’ to limit the number of ads as well as ‘shift the focus of advertising messages and encourage healthier choices and a healthier lifestyle.” Do you notice a difference in the language used to describe these two different ideas – one is a ‘policy and ban’ (EU) and the other is an ‘initiative to change’ (USA). Makes me scratch my head in wonder and disbelief.

I’m not saying that people do not have free will to make their own choices and decisions. They do. But I once worked in the marketing and advertising field and I understand how it works. And, yes, it does work. How many times did you go out and buy something after you saw an ad for it on TV? I just think we need to end the ridiculous amount of advertising of these high calorie/high fat foods and drink towards impressionable people. That’s it. Any thoughts?

Since I’m asking questions, have you ever been hungover (or just REALLY hungry) and wanting that food you ordered to come so badly you stare at the minutes ticking away on your clock?  Well this is what happened to me – catch me hungover and, worse yet, hungry, well, let’s just say beware.  But when you promise me my food within forty five minutes and you take over an hour to arrive with it (cold, mind you), well then you’re blackballed off my restaurant list for life!

Months later I realized how badly I was craving Thai but I REFUSED to go back to Mango to fulfill my craving.  I decided to create my own dish and here’s what I came out with. It’s my own recipe and it really turned out great.  The rice side is an adaption of a Delia Smith recipe.  This dish that takes a bit of prep time, but once you get it into the pressure cooker/slow cooker, you can just sit back and relax.  Make some extra for leftovers the next day – it really improves the next day. 

LEMONGRASS BEEF SHORTRIBS WITH THAI-INSPIRED COCONUT RICE 

For Shortribs:

• 2 lb beef shortribs
• 1 stalk lemongrass, outer leaves removed, chopped into 1-inch pieces and bruised with back of knife – reserve bottom 2 inches of the lemongrass (slice this in half)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 6 cilantro stalks/leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 5 cloves
• 1/2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
• 1 2-inch knob of fresh ginger, skin trimmed off
• 1 lime
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 hot chile pepper (whatever you like)
• 2-3 cups of beef or chicken stock
• cheesecloth
• 6 mushrooms, thickly sliced (Optional)

What to do:

1. Season short ribs with some salt and pepper.
2. In cheesecloth, add top part of lemongrass (remember to cut into small pieces and bruise), cloves, cinnamon stick and black peppercorns.  Tie to secure with kitchen twine.
3. Heat up your pressure cooker on medium. Saute your chopped onion.
4. In a food processor, chop your garlic, ginger, cilantro (stems and all), reserved bottom 2 inches of lemongrass and hot pepper.  Add a bit of olive oil to help chop it more.
5. Add the garlic/ginger/cilantro/pepper mixture to the pressure cooker.  Saute for another few minutes. Remove onions and garlic mixture and reserve on side.
6. Add a bit of olive oil back to the pressure cooker.  Add the meat and brown on all sides.
7. When meat has browned, add a small bit of hot stock and pick up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  When this is done, add back your onion and garlic/ginger/cilantro/pepper mixture and add enough stock to almost cover all your meat.  Give this all a bit of a stir to get the veggies well distributed in the stock.
8. Add the optional chopped mushroom and throw the spices in the cheesecloth in (make sure it’s somewhat submerged in the liquid).  Put lid on pressure cooker and cook as usual – 30-35 minutes.
9. When finished, remove meat on side and add the creamy coconut milk that rises to the top of a newly opened can (it’s much thicker than the watery-coconut milk below).  All the sauce to reduce on medium for 10 minutes.

For the rice:

• 1 cup of basmati rice
• 1 can of coconut milk + some boiling H2O
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 inch knob of fresh ginger
• 1 hot chile pepper
• 4 stalks of cilantro
• 1 shallot, minced finely
• 1 stalk lemongrass, outer leaves removed, chopped into 1-inch pieces and bruised with back of knife – reserve bottom 2 inches of the lemongrass (slice this in half)
• 5 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• zest from one lime
• cheesecloth
• 2 teaspoon salt
• Sliced scallions for garnish

What to do:

1. In a food processor, finely chop (together) garlic, ginger, cilantro stalks and pepper.  Reserve.
2. In a piece of cheesecloth, put the cloves, cinnamon stick, some lemongrass pieces, black peppercorns and 1/2 of lime.  Secure with kitchen string.
3. Saute the shallot in some olive oil.
4. After about 1 minute, add the garlic mixture and saute for a minute.
5. Add basmati rice and toast for 30 seconds. Stir.
6. Add one can of coconut milk and the salt to the rice.  Add enough hot water so the line of liquid comes up to the width of 2 fingers above the line of rice (NOTE: Make the peace sign, then put those two fingers together. The width of the pointer and middle finger together should be used as your ‘ruler’ when pouring the liquid into your rice.  This method will always make the most perfect rice – thank you Daisy Martinez!!). Stir the rice, put the lid on, bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer (still with lid on – you can peek to see if it’s boiling/simmering) for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn heat to low and allow to cook for an additional 10 minutes – do not take lid off. After this, turn the heat off – do not lift the lid – and allow to sit for another 10 minutes to steam.
7. When it’s finished steaming, take off lid, fluff rice with a fork. Add the lime zest, the squeeze of half a lime and check for any additional seasoning.  Top with some scallions and enjoy!

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER GREAT PRESSURE-COOKER RECIPES ON OUR BLOG:

• Wine Braised Lamb Shanks
• Korean Style Pork Ribs
• Lebanese Fatteh Blahmeh

You go, Sara! Can’t wait to watch you again. We know you’ll be better off with this move.

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