America Needs a Food Revolution

How far gone are we, when the idea of cooking fresh food is revolutionary??

I recently started watching the incredible ABC show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  The show focuses on Jamie Oliver's quest to enlighten people about food.  He does this by attempting to change school lunches in a small town in West Virginia (that happens to be the most obese and unhealthy town in America).  What is both fascinating and disturbing about this show is how ignorant we are about food, and our resistance for change.

The point that Jamie is trying to make is one that I whole heartedly agree with: No more Fast Food!  No more Processed Food!  We need to cook our own food.  Otherwise, you have no control as to what goes in your food (and the food you are feeding your family!)--and please believe, it's a lot of CRAP.  Just read the ingredients label.  The food industry has bamboozled us into thinking that we should buy, and not make ourselves, simple things like a loaf of bread.  Let's start using our pots, skillets, stoves and ovens.  It truly only takes about 10 minutes to cook a healthy meal--grill some fish, lightly sautee some vegetables in olive oil, and serve some brown rice.

Jamie is preaching the same thing that I have realized since I started this blog and really committed myself to cooking the food that I eat.  My entries in this blog are not representative of what I eat.  I'm not eating crepes everyday for breakfast, and cupcakes for lunch.  I drink a fresh fruit smoothie for breakfast, along with steel cut oatmeal w/ maple syrup and walnuts.  For lunch, I'll have a sandwich with some fresh vegetables and hummus--or maybe lentils or soup.  For dinner, I'll often have some brown rice, more vegetables (I'm currently on a mushroom, spinach, green bean rotation), maybe chicken or fish, and fruit for dessert.  And if I recently made cupcakes, yes I will have one of those as well.

But back to this fascinating show...

Jamie starts by going to an elementary school that serves a rotation of pizza and chicken nuggets (with chocolate milk) for pretty much every single breakfast and lunch.  He goes to a high school where the students are pretty much only eating french fries every day for lunch.  That is a lot of french fries.  And a lot of grease. And pretty much zero nutrition.  What's worse, is that the school meal bureaucrats consider french fries to be a vegetable.

I'm not opposed to pizza, chicken, and french fries. We are all entitled to splurges where we eat delicious, lovingly prepared food.  These kids are having reheated over-processed non-food.  Furthermore, the lack of diversity in what these children are eating will undoubtedly lead to unhealthy eating behavior in adulthood.  Which will lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

This show airs on Friday nights on ABC.  Please, please, please watch it!  You will be shocked, and you will probably learn something ( I certainly did--chocolate milk has more sugar than soda, and many school children don't know what a potato looks like).  If you want to catch up on the 3 episodes that you missed, go to Hulu.com where you can stream the full episodes.

Crêpes

I have very fond memories of walking the cold, damp streets of Paris with a warm crepe enveloped in my hands.

I explored with all types of fancy toppings until I settled on my personal favorite--"beurre et sucre" (butter and sugar).  A "crepe Suzette" (butter, sugar and lemon juice) is a close second.  And I can't leave out nutella!  My favorite crepe stand in Paris was across the street from the Centre Pompidou Museum and Library.  The guy making the crepe would paint my nutella on, as if it were a work of art..    

There is a restaurant in Los Angeles that makes wonderfully authentic crepes--Creme de la Crepe.  My favorite location is their Hermosa Beach one.  The owner is a young French guy who has been so successful because the food is so good and the service is so French.  I often go to brush up on my French, as all of the waiters are native French speakers.  My favorite is the "crepe splendide"--a crepe with strawberries, honey, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream.

All of this leads me to my recent endeavor--to make crepes at home. I found a wonderfully simple recipe, and the crepes came out rather good.  

Recipe: Crepes

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk, room temp.

3 large eggs, room temp.

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl.  Whisk together milk and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture, whisking to combine.  Whisk in butter.  Strain mixture into a medium bowl, and refrigerate for at least two hours (or up to one day).

2. Heat an 8" or 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Brush with butter.  Ladle 3 tablespoons batter (for smaller crepes)  or 1/3 cup batter (for large crepes) onto the skillet, turning and tilting the skillet to coat the bottom evenly with the batter.  Cook until the tops of the crepes appear set, about 1 minute.

3. Run a spatula along the edge of the crepe to loosen.  Slip the spatula under the crepe and gently flip in one swift gesture.  Cook until the bottom is firm, about 45 seconds.  Transfer to a plate.  Repeat with remaining batter. Serve immediately.

Wine + Art

On a recent trip to Baton Rouge, I went to Corks-N-Canvas, an art studio that mixes learning to paint with drinking wine.  I was instantly intrigued--we all think of pairing wine with cheese, but why not art?

The studio focuses on the concept of art as entertainment.  With a little instruction, anyone can paint.  My mother had already been to the New Orleans Magazine Street location where she painted a crooked house. My mother happens to be extremely artistic, so her pieces looked very good.

That was an interesting thing about the class.  Yes, we were all painting the same object, but, everyones looked different. Very different. There was a bonafide artist sitting next to me, and her painting was downright inspiring.  The class was three hours long--though I was so into it, I could have used an extra hour or two.   Music even played lightly in the background (I was impressed by the playlist, which included India Arie).  It was therapeutic.  I was able to focus all of my energy in one place--the tip of my paint brush and the strokes that followed.

I have no doubt that this concept will be popping up all over the country.  Those of you with a lot of liquidity, look into franchising options!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Who doesn't love red velvet cupcakes?!  The recent red velvet cupcake craze has been pretty remarkable.  I  am a red velvet fiend, but I didn't fall in love with the RV until 2007.  I was at a friend's graduation party, and she had catered a red velvet cake.  One bite and I was in love with the almost-chocolate taste combined with the cream cheese icing--a perfect match.

I have been looking for  a good red velvet cake recipe pretty much since then.  I have gone all over the U.S. tasting red velvet cake--from Picadilly in Louisiana (the cake is rumored to have southern roots), to red velvet cheesecake at the cheesecake factory, and even Starbuck's--which only recently added red velvet cupcakes to their menu (avoid them at all costs--not worth the money, calories, and not fair to your taste buds!)  

So, I recently experimented with a recipe when I made these cupcakes for a fundraiser.  It was the BLSA (Black Law Students Assoc.) annual "Soul Food Lunch" fundraiser.  A portion of the proceeds went to the Haiti relief effort.  

Though the taste was not the best I've ever had (and I've had a lot), the texture was incredibly light and the cake absolutely melted in my mouth.  It was almost dangerous--multiple cupcakes could easily be consumed.  For that reason alone, I will be making these again.  Tomorrow actually.  I have a feeling that cupcakes and Champagne will make a great pair...

Cheese Soufflé

Yet another venture into the world of the mysterious *soufflé.*

This dish was such a delight due to both its taste and texture.  Though it tasted like scrambled eggs with cheese and near perfect seasoning, the texture was incredibly light and airy.  I imagine that clouds have a texture similar to soufflés.

Unlike chocolate souffles, I cooked the center completely through--so it was not gooey inside.  The recipe which would have made one regular sized souffle, or 5-6 mini souffles, used only 4 eggs (plus one egg white) and one cup of cheese.  That's less than a serving each of egg and cheese per souffle serving.

I used Julia Child's "cheese souffle" recipe in her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1. So, you can find the recipe in the book.

The texture alone makes the 25 minutes or so prep time worth it.  So next time you are having a lazy morning in, consider making this very special treat.  I served mine with bacon and orange juice, in my sunlit living room.  It's the little things...

Step 1: Dusting the ramekins with bread crumbs or parmesan cheese (If these were dessert souffles, we would use sugar.)  Souffles need something to cling onto so that they can climb the wall of the dish.

Step 2: Make a roux (oil+flour). Correct seasoning.

Step 3: Add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.

Step 4: Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Incorporate into the egg yolk mixture by folding.  If you overfold or stir, your souffles will not rise.

Step 5: Fill the ramekins with the mixture. Then bake.

Remove from oven when the tops have lightly browned.

Voila!

*If you plan on purchasing Julia Child's incredible book, I recommend Amazon.  The list price is $40, and the Amazon price is $26.40.