Rob chopped and diced to my directions: onions, garlic, peppers, carrots and zucchini. Sauteed in olive oil with paella seasoning I found at the Italian store and dumped in canned tomatoes and chicken broth (no fish stock on hand, or clam nectar). Yes, I know paella has Spanish origins, but what the heck, there aren't any Spanish stores around, and I like this particular seasoning. Add some dried oregano, basil, powdered celery (I forgot to buy fresh) and crushed chili peppers and simmer until the vegetables are tender to taste.
Red snapper was on sale. Rob spent some while removing bones, although I don't usually bother. Cut into large chunks and throw into the soup. Voila, fish stew. Served with a tomato salad and bread brushed and toasted with seasoned butter (also leftover) and we were very happy. Low calory too, if you skip the buttered bread, but less omega 3 with the lean white fish. Lycopenes with the tomatoes.
The kids slurped up dinner and wondered why I didn't have fake crab in it. Depending on how generous my food budget is, the tomato base holds all kinds of fish/seafood: canned or frozen or fake crab, clams, salmon, halibut, shrimp, snapper, cod, or whatever I like. Usually the family or visitors like too.
Oh, the tomato base is generally composed of whatever I find on hand. The saffron is nice, but not necessary. I often add thyme from the garden, even when it is in very bad shape during the winter. If you don't like herbs, leave them out and add more onions.
Tastes good on a cold, wet day. The yellow saffron reminds me of sun.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Smelling the Seasoning, Ribs.
I had a work gang making apple crisp for me yesterday. As usual, the children were busy complaining at first, but dug into the task eventually.
We used Braeburn apples, which turned out to have a nice texture - the apples didn't cook to mush, but were very sour. I had tasted them earlier and adjusted the sugar, but I felt the finished crisp was improved by ice cream, which in fact, I failed to have with the dessert because I wasn't hungry. I got compliments on the 'crispiness' of the topping though.
As Rob attempted to peel the world's longest strip off a large apple, one kid chopped and sliced, and the other kid was supposed to cut the butter into some flour and sugar. Unfortunately, she did not understand that "cut the butter into the flour" comes from a time when we did not have pastry cutters - people used two knives to reduced the butter from a large block to small pebbles the size of peas.
We have a new fangled device. It looks a bit like a potato masher, with a very sturdy handle, and straight, ridged rows of metal, which can be pushed through the hardest, coldest butter. My clueless child was using this device to mash the butter into a paste as she tried to twist and push at the same time. The old semi-circular pastry cutters would often bend and buckle if the butter was too hard. No particular harm done, but I had to use a table knife to scrape the butter off the pastry cutter, and explain the principle of the task. We've made crisp many times. How could she have escaped this basic knowledge? You also need to make sure you add enough butter. Otherwise your crisp becomes more of a crumble, but no one minds the difference except for me.
I start by using an old Betty Crocker recipe to make my crisp topping. It evolves from there. I use different combinations of brown and white sugar, depending on how sweet the apples are. (I prefer the old fashioned rolled oats for apples, but will mix in quick oats for blueberries, sometimes, because the finished product is runnier.) For spices, I like cinnamon and nutmeg as a minimum. Lots of cinnamon, especially with a tart apple. From there, I added allspice, and cloves.
"But Mommy, how do you know how much to add?" I stuck the bowl under her nose and told her to sniff! Her eyes crossed, but didn't stick. She has a nice, orthophoric gaze, my child. "Mmmmmm!"
For some reason, people don't seem to really smell their seasonings when they are following a recipe. I always stick my nose in it. I make the children stick their noses in it too. When they were very small, I would take them to the spice cupboard, and we would spend a number of minutes smelling the seasonings. Smelling informs the taste buds. The aroma changes on heating, and it is the cook's experience which expedites the understanding of this transformation. The easiest way to learn is by baking. After a while, one can season many things just by thinking about it, and knowing the smell of the spice beforehand.
Note: The quality, age and quantity of a spice all affect its potency when used. Once the cook knows these factors, very little time is required to adjust the seasoning. Since I am often in a hurry, I usually don't need to pull out a spoon and actually taste the product (besides burning my tongue on things like spaghetti sauce). What fun to try new foods, and anticipate the taste from the delicious odours wafting out of the kitchen. Even more fun later, trying to replicate a new group of spices and smells when first introduced to a new cuisine.
Tonight, Rob made barbequed ribs. He put a spice rub on them and grilled them at low heat for 3 hours. Then he slathered on homemade sauce and wrapped them in foil to allow the sauce to steam onto the meat. Apparently this is not a purist method either. Well, I suppose I will never be a true gourmet, but I remain ready to appreciate food someone else cooks for me. The ribs were spicy and tangy and sweet. Add rice, frozen corn and leftover grilled zucchini. We ate it all up.
We used Braeburn apples, which turned out to have a nice texture - the apples didn't cook to mush, but were very sour. I had tasted them earlier and adjusted the sugar, but I felt the finished crisp was improved by ice cream, which in fact, I failed to have with the dessert because I wasn't hungry. I got compliments on the 'crispiness' of the topping though.
As Rob attempted to peel the world's longest strip off a large apple, one kid chopped and sliced, and the other kid was supposed to cut the butter into some flour and sugar. Unfortunately, she did not understand that "cut the butter into the flour" comes from a time when we did not have pastry cutters - people used two knives to reduced the butter from a large block to small pebbles the size of peas.
We have a new fangled device. It looks a bit like a potato masher, with a very sturdy handle, and straight, ridged rows of metal, which can be pushed through the hardest, coldest butter. My clueless child was using this device to mash the butter into a paste as she tried to twist and push at the same time. The old semi-circular pastry cutters would often bend and buckle if the butter was too hard. No particular harm done, but I had to use a table knife to scrape the butter off the pastry cutter, and explain the principle of the task. We've made crisp many times. How could she have escaped this basic knowledge? You also need to make sure you add enough butter. Otherwise your crisp becomes more of a crumble, but no one minds the difference except for me.
I start by using an old Betty Crocker recipe to make my crisp topping. It evolves from there. I use different combinations of brown and white sugar, depending on how sweet the apples are. (I prefer the old fashioned rolled oats for apples, but will mix in quick oats for blueberries, sometimes, because the finished product is runnier.) For spices, I like cinnamon and nutmeg as a minimum. Lots of cinnamon, especially with a tart apple. From there, I added allspice, and cloves.
"But Mommy, how do you know how much to add?" I stuck the bowl under her nose and told her to sniff! Her eyes crossed, but didn't stick. She has a nice, orthophoric gaze, my child. "Mmmmmm!"
For some reason, people don't seem to really smell their seasonings when they are following a recipe. I always stick my nose in it. I make the children stick their noses in it too. When they were very small, I would take them to the spice cupboard, and we would spend a number of minutes smelling the seasonings. Smelling informs the taste buds. The aroma changes on heating, and it is the cook's experience which expedites the understanding of this transformation. The easiest way to learn is by baking. After a while, one can season many things just by thinking about it, and knowing the smell of the spice beforehand.
Note: The quality, age and quantity of a spice all affect its potency when used. Once the cook knows these factors, very little time is required to adjust the seasoning. Since I am often in a hurry, I usually don't need to pull out a spoon and actually taste the product (besides burning my tongue on things like spaghetti sauce). What fun to try new foods, and anticipate the taste from the delicious odours wafting out of the kitchen. Even more fun later, trying to replicate a new group of spices and smells when first introduced to a new cuisine.
Tonight, Rob made barbequed ribs. He put a spice rub on them and grilled them at low heat for 3 hours. Then he slathered on homemade sauce and wrapped them in foil to allow the sauce to steam onto the meat. Apparently this is not a purist method either. Well, I suppose I will never be a true gourmet, but I remain ready to appreciate food someone else cooks for me. The ribs were spicy and tangy and sweet. Add rice, frozen corn and leftover grilled zucchini. We ate it all up.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Crusts and Lighter Cheesecakes
The children's eyes swayed with the knife as I made the cut, carefully down the centre, as evenly as possible. There was a plea for an equal starting time. Then spoons flashed as each half was carefully consumed to be sure all was fair. The bone of contention was a small bowl filled with leftover almond cheesecake. I was in a great hurry when I made it. Fortunately there was a leftover almond nut crust in my freezer waiting for these kinds of moments.
Sometimes in suprisingly diverse places, one can find amaretti biscuits made only with almonds. The majority of commercial amaretti biscuits contain some kind of wheat flour, which makes it off limits for those with gluten allergies. I found my wheat free stuff in the drugstore food aisle! The texture is slightly different if it contains wheat. Different. Not worse, or bad.
The amaretti biscuits are crushed in a food processor, and mixed with ground almonds. When I am feeling ambitious, I roast the almonds, cool them, and then grind them. Usually, I just grind them and throw them in because they are roasted when I bake the crust anyway. The ratio of biscuits to nuts is whatever convenient amounts add to the total for a recipe of graham cracker crumbs and I subtract some sugar. Okay, to tell the truth, I just eyeball everything.
It's important to put just enough melted butter to thinly coat the crumbs, because with too little, the crust is too crumbly. Too much, and the crust is too hard. The crumb proportions are not that important, but keep in mind what you want the final product to taste like! I am also looking for a specific textural quality. When mixed long enough, the crumbs sort of stick together, but fall apart easily, until you pack them into the bottom of the pan.
Adjust your ingredients according to how you plan the crust to contrast with the filling. There are a number of variables: the size of the crumbs, the type of nut, the sweetness you need, etc. These all change the feel of the crust when you push your fork through the cheesecake. You want that crust to crumble into the filling as you bite and chew so everything mixes together to delight the tongue. Remember that texture is as important as taste.
The other very important thing to remember is to cool the crust completely. Absolutely at room temperature or colder. Otherwise, it gets soggy. Many times, I have eaten a good cheesecake ruined by a soggy crust! A well cooled crust often withstands freezing even when the cheesecake has been cooked on top of it. If you plan to do that though, add a little extra butter for insurance. To me, a good crust makes the difference in whether a cheesecake is perceived as merely good, or amazing!
Onto the lighter cheesecake. I don't really believe in "low fat" recipes, per se. What I want is something that tastes natural, without the feeling that a substitution has been effected, just to lower the fat content. This means I NEVER use light cream cheese for baking. I use it for other things, but often you will see that a recipe tells you specifically not to use the stuff. This is because light cream cheese has a much higher water content, and again, this affects the texture of baking.
Well, I actually want to talk about a no-bake cheesecake today, so I will leave the rest of that discussion for another time. I still don't use light cream cheese though. Instead, I add less cream cheese, and fold it into a custard base and I do use gelatin to make sure it all comes to a firm enough texture to cut. Sacrilege! Some people do not believe in using gelatin to stiffen a mousse or cheesecake, but then, I never claimed to be a purist.
This is how I do it: I make a custard with 1% milk, sugar, eggs, flavouring and a little cornstarch to thicken it. Standard. I beat the cream cheese until it is fluffy, and mix it into the custard. I can either soften the gelatin and cook it into the custard, or mix it in with the cream cheese. If I have time, I will let it cool and watch it carefully, so it doesn't set too fast. Then I take whipping cream, whipped, and fold it all together and pour into the crust to properly set.
When I am in a rush, I simply whip the cream and fold into the warm cream cheese mixture. The result is a runny mess. Pour into the cooled crust (if newly baked, stick in freezer while doing the filling). Then get on with the rest of your day.
You get a slightly denser version, which still has a relatively light feel on the tongue. I actually like it this way. The extra filling went into a bowl, which the children ate after breakfast.
I served the cheesecake with raspberry sauce, but it also would have been good with chocolate sauce with amaretto liqueur.
Sometimes in suprisingly diverse places, one can find amaretti biscuits made only with almonds. The majority of commercial amaretti biscuits contain some kind of wheat flour, which makes it off limits for those with gluten allergies. I found my wheat free stuff in the drugstore food aisle! The texture is slightly different if it contains wheat. Different. Not worse, or bad.
The amaretti biscuits are crushed in a food processor, and mixed with ground almonds. When I am feeling ambitious, I roast the almonds, cool them, and then grind them. Usually, I just grind them and throw them in because they are roasted when I bake the crust anyway. The ratio of biscuits to nuts is whatever convenient amounts add to the total for a recipe of graham cracker crumbs and I subtract some sugar. Okay, to tell the truth, I just eyeball everything.
It's important to put just enough melted butter to thinly coat the crumbs, because with too little, the crust is too crumbly. Too much, and the crust is too hard. The crumb proportions are not that important, but keep in mind what you want the final product to taste like! I am also looking for a specific textural quality. When mixed long enough, the crumbs sort of stick together, but fall apart easily, until you pack them into the bottom of the pan.
Adjust your ingredients according to how you plan the crust to contrast with the filling. There are a number of variables: the size of the crumbs, the type of nut, the sweetness you need, etc. These all change the feel of the crust when you push your fork through the cheesecake. You want that crust to crumble into the filling as you bite and chew so everything mixes together to delight the tongue. Remember that texture is as important as taste.
The other very important thing to remember is to cool the crust completely. Absolutely at room temperature or colder. Otherwise, it gets soggy. Many times, I have eaten a good cheesecake ruined by a soggy crust! A well cooled crust often withstands freezing even when the cheesecake has been cooked on top of it. If you plan to do that though, add a little extra butter for insurance. To me, a good crust makes the difference in whether a cheesecake is perceived as merely good, or amazing!
Onto the lighter cheesecake. I don't really believe in "low fat" recipes, per se. What I want is something that tastes natural, without the feeling that a substitution has been effected, just to lower the fat content. This means I NEVER use light cream cheese for baking. I use it for other things, but often you will see that a recipe tells you specifically not to use the stuff. This is because light cream cheese has a much higher water content, and again, this affects the texture of baking.
Well, I actually want to talk about a no-bake cheesecake today, so I will leave the rest of that discussion for another time. I still don't use light cream cheese though. Instead, I add less cream cheese, and fold it into a custard base and I do use gelatin to make sure it all comes to a firm enough texture to cut. Sacrilege! Some people do not believe in using gelatin to stiffen a mousse or cheesecake, but then, I never claimed to be a purist.
This is how I do it: I make a custard with 1% milk, sugar, eggs, flavouring and a little cornstarch to thicken it. Standard. I beat the cream cheese until it is fluffy, and mix it into the custard. I can either soften the gelatin and cook it into the custard, or mix it in with the cream cheese. If I have time, I will let it cool and watch it carefully, so it doesn't set too fast. Then I take whipping cream, whipped, and fold it all together and pour into the crust to properly set.
When I am in a rush, I simply whip the cream and fold into the warm cream cheese mixture. The result is a runny mess. Pour into the cooled crust (if newly baked, stick in freezer while doing the filling). Then get on with the rest of your day.
You get a slightly denser version, which still has a relatively light feel on the tongue. I actually like it this way. The extra filling went into a bowl, which the children ate after breakfast.
I served the cheesecake with raspberry sauce, but it also would have been good with chocolate sauce with amaretto liqueur.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Lemon and Raspberries
"Oh, this is soooo hard!" moans my child. She is scraping raspberry seeds back and forth over a sieve, to push as much pulp as possible out the other side. "All the seeds still have some goo on them! It takes forever!"
I love the taste of raspberries, but I do not enjoy the seeds. At all. Rob had been the chief raspberry seed remover in the family, but the kids are growing older and acquiring more responsibilities, right?
I make raspberry sauce a lot, since we have a patch in our back yard which is reasonably prolific. Once the seeds are removed, it's a simple matter to throw in some lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch to make a lovely, bright tasting sauce. The lemon juice is key. The extra acid wakes up the flavour. As usual I eyeball the ingredient amounts, and often don't even bother to taste the product until serving. It somehow comes out right with very little adjustment. The cornstarch is important to the feel in the mouth. Sometimes, I want it thicker or thinner so I add accordingly.
Once the sauce is cooked to my desires, I pour it into jam jars and cap it hot. Then I let it cool to room temperature and put it in the fridge. Note, I am NOT preserving it this way. I just find the skin that forms on top is less evident if I cover it warm. The best way to prevent 'cornstarch skin' on a sauce or custard is to put plastic film directly on top while hot, but I can't be bothered for jars of sauce.
What to put it on? Tonight, it was a tangy lemon tart. I made a butter shortbread crust baked in the oven for 15 minutes and pushed down to cool, so it was good and firm. Then poured in the lemon filling (make it from scratch, it's worth it).
The trick when having lemon tart with raspberry sauce is to make sure it's not too sweet. This is really difficult when trying to balance sweet with sour. The best way to smooth out the conflict is to use a dab of whipping cream served with the two. Refrigerating the tart also helps, which I didn't do tonight, so it was a bit on the sweet side for me but the sour was perfect.
As an aside, when one must juice so many lemons, it's hard to see all that zest go to waste. There were the extra egg whites too, from the filling. Rob will tell you I hate to leave excess ingredients around. So somehow, this morphed into a lemon poppy seed snacking cake which had beaten egg whites, with a combination of all purpose and cake flours to lighten it further. I crossed a snack cake recipe with a chiffon cake, because I didn't have enough yolks for a balanced chiffon, and I didn't feel like making a sponge cake. We will see how it turns out when we get around to tasting it.
I love the taste of raspberries, but I do not enjoy the seeds. At all. Rob had been the chief raspberry seed remover in the family, but the kids are growing older and acquiring more responsibilities, right?
I make raspberry sauce a lot, since we have a patch in our back yard which is reasonably prolific. Once the seeds are removed, it's a simple matter to throw in some lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch to make a lovely, bright tasting sauce. The lemon juice is key. The extra acid wakes up the flavour. As usual I eyeball the ingredient amounts, and often don't even bother to taste the product until serving. It somehow comes out right with very little adjustment. The cornstarch is important to the feel in the mouth. Sometimes, I want it thicker or thinner so I add accordingly.
Once the sauce is cooked to my desires, I pour it into jam jars and cap it hot. Then I let it cool to room temperature and put it in the fridge. Note, I am NOT preserving it this way. I just find the skin that forms on top is less evident if I cover it warm. The best way to prevent 'cornstarch skin' on a sauce or custard is to put plastic film directly on top while hot, but I can't be bothered for jars of sauce.
What to put it on? Tonight, it was a tangy lemon tart. I made a butter shortbread crust baked in the oven for 15 minutes and pushed down to cool, so it was good and firm. Then poured in the lemon filling (make it from scratch, it's worth it).
The trick when having lemon tart with raspberry sauce is to make sure it's not too sweet. This is really difficult when trying to balance sweet with sour. The best way to smooth out the conflict is to use a dab of whipping cream served with the two. Refrigerating the tart also helps, which I didn't do tonight, so it was a bit on the sweet side for me but the sour was perfect.
As an aside, when one must juice so many lemons, it's hard to see all that zest go to waste. There were the extra egg whites too, from the filling. Rob will tell you I hate to leave excess ingredients around. So somehow, this morphed into a lemon poppy seed snacking cake which had beaten egg whites, with a combination of all purpose and cake flours to lighten it further. I crossed a snack cake recipe with a chiffon cake, because I didn't have enough yolks for a balanced chiffon, and I didn't feel like making a sponge cake. We will see how it turns out when we get around to tasting it.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Judgement and Terriyaki Salmon
I asked the kids to make me Greek salad, and they asked how many peppers and tomatoes should be cut up? I told them to figure it out! They've only eaten a million Greek salads. And so they did. They could see the proportions as they sliced up the vegetables and proudly told me it "looked right." We, the parents, explained that cooking requires a lot of judgement, which comes with practise. It's not like baking, which needs a far more rigorous understanding if you want to start substituting and changing amounts of ingredients. We will continue to practise judgement, not just in the kitchen!
The kids also wanted terriyaki salmon. This is really easy. I found a fresh side of salmon, and Rob poured terriyaki sauce (the thin kind) on the salmon and threw it on the grill at high heat. He carefully removes the fish from its skin and flips it over right on the skin, and finishes cooking it before putting it on a warm platter. Then he cooks the skin until it is crispy. For those who think, "Yuck! Salmon skin?" You've never tried Rob's.
Then there was the chicken sauce. At least, it's included with steamed chicken when you buy it from a Chinese deli. So simple. Almost equal amounts of green onions and ginger, very finely chopped (I use a food chopper) and just enough canola or peanut oil to coat everything - or more if you want to be authentic. Either salt, or soy sauce to taste. It's prettier with plain salt, but I think it tastes better with soy sauce. Use with the terriyaki salmon, and it's surprising how much you eat - sauce and fish on plain rice.
We had grilled peppers too. Such a great time of the year.
The kids also wanted terriyaki salmon. This is really easy. I found a fresh side of salmon, and Rob poured terriyaki sauce (the thin kind) on the salmon and threw it on the grill at high heat. He carefully removes the fish from its skin and flips it over right on the skin, and finishes cooking it before putting it on a warm platter. Then he cooks the skin until it is crispy. For those who think, "Yuck! Salmon skin?" You've never tried Rob's.
Then there was the chicken sauce. At least, it's included with steamed chicken when you buy it from a Chinese deli. So simple. Almost equal amounts of green onions and ginger, very finely chopped (I use a food chopper) and just enough canola or peanut oil to coat everything - or more if you want to be authentic. Either salt, or soy sauce to taste. It's prettier with plain salt, but I think it tastes better with soy sauce. Use with the terriyaki salmon, and it's surprising how much you eat - sauce and fish on plain rice.
We had grilled peppers too. Such a great time of the year.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Leftovers, Adjusting Banana Bread
Rob felt that we should eat up the remaining leftovers in the fridge. This family eats a lot of leftovers. There was the chicken pot pie and corn on the cob. To add something new, he sliced up some fresh, ripe field tomatoes (beefsteak variety) and tossed it with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic and some ground black pepper. We fought over the tomatoes and mopped up the juice with sliced ciabatta bread that had a firm, chewy texture.
One of the things I learned about roughly estimating high and low GI is to put a small amount of a food into your mouth and wait for 30 seconds. If it is mostly dissolved then it is likely to have a high GI, while foods that don't disintegrate would be lower. How easy is that? I am quite certain the bread we had tonight would have passed the test reasonably well.
For dessert, I ate the banana bread I didn't have time for at lunch. I was quite curious about how it would turn out, because I had scaled up quite a large recipe, and did not have enough bananas. Since bananas (and applesauce) are often used to substitute for fat, I went the other way and added a small amount of extra oil. I also upped the sugar content slightly (so much for GI) because it helps keep the product more moist - another property I was missing with less bananas.
Rant: Many people cut the sugar in a recipe, and then claim it tastes the same. This is mostly true, but they often don't realize that the lower sugar content makes their product dry out and go stale more quickly. For me, the quality of a product involves texture as much as taste. If one desires less sugar, it would be far better to use a recipe that contains less naturally, or to simply eat less. I've never agreed with the concept of eating more of a lower calorie food. I hate that idea. Better to enjoy every calorie I eat instead.
So did I like the banana bread? Yes, I did. I often bake after dinner, and leave the hot loaves out all night to cool. Sometimes I don't have time to wrap and put them away for almost 24 hours, which then gives the flavours a chance to mature before freezing. What would I do if my product went stale by then?
The crumb texture was respectable, considering I had to fool around with a mixture of buttermilk and soured milk, since I was also short of the former. Buttermilk produces a finer, slightly fluffy crumb. I needed to be careful because I was using half whole wheat flour as well as 1% dairy products, both of which create a more dense product. I happen to prefer slightly lighter goods in general.
Okay, maybe it's just a very forgiving recipe. But I really did think about all of these things while I was busy throwing it together with the children's help. Unfortunately, they failed to mix it really well, because it was in such a large bowl. I had to quickly stir some floury bits into the batter as I poured it into the pans. That lack of necessity for good mixing technique is truly where a recipe can be forgiving, or not. To me, the calculation of how the ingredients interact is the cook's art.
One of the things I learned about roughly estimating high and low GI is to put a small amount of a food into your mouth and wait for 30 seconds. If it is mostly dissolved then it is likely to have a high GI, while foods that don't disintegrate would be lower. How easy is that? I am quite certain the bread we had tonight would have passed the test reasonably well.
For dessert, I ate the banana bread I didn't have time for at lunch. I was quite curious about how it would turn out, because I had scaled up quite a large recipe, and did not have enough bananas. Since bananas (and applesauce) are often used to substitute for fat, I went the other way and added a small amount of extra oil. I also upped the sugar content slightly (so much for GI) because it helps keep the product more moist - another property I was missing with less bananas.
Rant: Many people cut the sugar in a recipe, and then claim it tastes the same. This is mostly true, but they often don't realize that the lower sugar content makes their product dry out and go stale more quickly. For me, the quality of a product involves texture as much as taste. If one desires less sugar, it would be far better to use a recipe that contains less naturally, or to simply eat less. I've never agreed with the concept of eating more of a lower calorie food. I hate that idea. Better to enjoy every calorie I eat instead.
So did I like the banana bread? Yes, I did. I often bake after dinner, and leave the hot loaves out all night to cool. Sometimes I don't have time to wrap and put them away for almost 24 hours, which then gives the flavours a chance to mature before freezing. What would I do if my product went stale by then?
The crumb texture was respectable, considering I had to fool around with a mixture of buttermilk and soured milk, since I was also short of the former. Buttermilk produces a finer, slightly fluffy crumb. I needed to be careful because I was using half whole wheat flour as well as 1% dairy products, both of which create a more dense product. I happen to prefer slightly lighter goods in general.
Okay, maybe it's just a very forgiving recipe. But I really did think about all of these things while I was busy throwing it together with the children's help. Unfortunately, they failed to mix it really well, because it was in such a large bowl. I had to quickly stir some floury bits into the batter as I poured it into the pans. That lack of necessity for good mixing technique is truly where a recipe can be forgiving, or not. To me, the calculation of how the ingredients interact is the cook's art.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Glycemic Index, Chocolate and Chicken Pot Pie
This morning I was up very early, so I spent some time reading about new thoughts regarding glycemic index and diabetic management issues. I really like the common sense approach, which is particularly helpful when you don't want to count every gram of carbs and match it against calories.
I had trouble this afternoon when a diabetic brought me a large box of Purdy's chocolates. He is a big, bluff man with a wild mop of greying hair and very bright blue eyes, which I believe have caused him many women troubles over the years. When he saw that no one had dug into the treat at the end of his appointment, he ripped the box open, rooted through it and found a maple cream, which he stuffed into his mouth. Apparently there were no cherries. When I tried to admonish him, he told me he also drank, and strode out of the office. We will see who has the last laugh when I tell his 92 year old mother, who will probably outlive him.
Rob asked me what he should use on top of chicken pot pie. He had been counting on some leftover pastry from some apple pies I made last week, but unfortunately, I had frozen the dough to keep it fresh, so it would not thaw in time. I suggested making biscuits. It worked well, except there was a little too much topping. The pot pie was flavoured with fresh herbs from the garden.
We also had left over fried chicken wings from a weekend dinner at my mother's, fresh corn on the cob and green salad. Maybe I will steal a peach for later, because I did have a lot of chocolate this afternoon. Adding acid to a meal slows down the overall glucose absorption, thereby softening out the spike in blood sugar, so fruit for dessert is good.
An acidic vinegrette over a salad is helpful, so adding lemon juice to ceasar dressing does not decrease the calories, but gets them absorbed more slowly and keeps you full longer.
Why am I so concerned about glycemic index? Because eating more low GI foods decreases the risk of diabetes. This is also an easy way to automatically maintain better dietary habits, which in turn makes long term weight gain less of a problem, especially in a family as keen on good food as we are.
I had trouble this afternoon when a diabetic brought me a large box of Purdy's chocolates. He is a big, bluff man with a wild mop of greying hair and very bright blue eyes, which I believe have caused him many women troubles over the years. When he saw that no one had dug into the treat at the end of his appointment, he ripped the box open, rooted through it and found a maple cream, which he stuffed into his mouth. Apparently there were no cherries. When I tried to admonish him, he told me he also drank, and strode out of the office. We will see who has the last laugh when I tell his 92 year old mother, who will probably outlive him.
Rob asked me what he should use on top of chicken pot pie. He had been counting on some leftover pastry from some apple pies I made last week, but unfortunately, I had frozen the dough to keep it fresh, so it would not thaw in time. I suggested making biscuits. It worked well, except there was a little too much topping. The pot pie was flavoured with fresh herbs from the garden.
We also had left over fried chicken wings from a weekend dinner at my mother's, fresh corn on the cob and green salad. Maybe I will steal a peach for later, because I did have a lot of chocolate this afternoon. Adding acid to a meal slows down the overall glucose absorption, thereby softening out the spike in blood sugar, so fruit for dessert is good.
An acidic vinegrette over a salad is helpful, so adding lemon juice to ceasar dressing does not decrease the calories, but gets them absorbed more slowly and keeps you full longer.
Why am I so concerned about glycemic index? Because eating more low GI foods decreases the risk of diabetes. This is also an easy way to automatically maintain better dietary habits, which in turn makes long term weight gain less of a problem, especially in a family as keen on good food as we are.
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