Improvisation

As I've become more experienced in the kitchen, I've been more willing to experiment with cooking sans recipe. Generally I keep it pretty simple, combining flavors that I already know will work. This usually means some sort of stir-fry, or as is the case here, pasta with vegetables.

This is a simple spaghetti dish, made with shrimp, tomatoes, and spinach, which were sautéed in olive oil. I think there were also some fresh english peas in there, but it's hard to tell in the picture and I made it so long ago. They would be a natural addition, though, and frozen english peas are just as good. The finished product is sprinkled with parmesan cheese. I think it was a little heavy on the oil, frankly. I'm really looking for an easy, light cream sauce or white sauce to go with it. Similar to an alfredo, but not necessarily as heavy. I haven't been able to find one yet, but if you know of any let me know!

Garden

Our tomato and pepper seedlings are growing nicely. We planted them about a month ago (a bit late, since the packet said to plant a few weeks before the last frost, which for Irvine this year occured in approximately January 2006). It's been a bit cooler and cloudier this year than would be best for them, but c'est la vie. Growing my own vegetables is something I haven't really done lately (what with my current lack of arable land), but I've found it to be quite rewarding in the past. You put in some effort and actually get results (i.e. edible, tasty things), plus homegrown vegetable are usually cheaper and taste much better than what you buy in the store. This year there will be tomatoes and peppers, plus spinach from the winter. I'll try to keep this updated as the season progresses. Hopefully there will be edible tomatoes and peppers within a few months.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday which shouldn't surprise anyone, since it is all about food! But in actuality, for me, it is more than that. It is the one holiday that is about getting together to celebrate with each other. There are no expectations about gift-giving, which so many other holidays include. There is no place that you need to go to see anything. And it is a time for me to reflect about how privileged and blessed my life is. As a physician I see so many people whose lives are difficult; whose families have devastating illnesses, who have financial troubles, emotional troubles and so many stresses. I do have my problems, but I always feel that they are solvable and I often say to myself, "there, but for the Grace of God, go I". So every year at Thanksgiving, I give thanks for my many blessings and plan to try to give to others throughout the year who are less fortunate than I. For what goes around, comes around!

And at my house this year, what is going around is a heritage turkey. Everyone has their own recipe for turkey. I have been tweeking mine for years, and have been lifting from many recipes that I have read from a variety of sources over the years. But this is what I have been doing the last few years, and I have no plans to change it.

HERITAGE TURKEY
First you have to buy a heritage turkey(www.heritagefoodsusa.com). This may mean that you have to sell your first born, or at least rent him out as they average $12/lb including shipping. And yes, I know, you can get a turkey for free this time of year. This was pointed out to me by my husband when he saw the charge on our credit card. But I'd rather spend my money on delicious food than other forms of entertainment. And you do have to figure in the amount of time you will spend with this bird. With stuffing, cooking, eating, cleaning, and eating leftovers, it really comes down to less than a $1/person/hour. And really, what else can you do for entertainment at that price????

STUFFING
Ingredients

seasoned corn bread stuffing (I use Mrs. Cubbison's)
Broth (see below)
Butter (NOT margarine)
1 onion/bag
1/2 cup celery/bag
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage/bag
1-2 eggs/bag

Broth
Take the neck, gizzard and heart. (I throw out the liver because I hate liver.) Throw it in a pot with the tops of the celery, an onion and a couple of carrots, a few garlic cloves and some salt. Put in some water and cook for about an hour to make some broth. You will also use this for gravy, so make sure you don't boil it all away.

Cook the celery and the onion in the butter. Don't brown it, but cook it until it is soft. Add the sausage. Discard the excess grease and then when it is cool enough to handle, add it to the corn bread. Add 1 cup melted butter, broth and mix together. When not too hot, add the eggs until fairly moist.

STUFFING THE TURKEY
This is when it is helpful to know a surgeon. I learned the proper technique to separate layers from going to a lot of Cesarean sections. When you are a pediatrician, there really isn't much to do until the baby is born. So you watch the ob's technique. Now, I've watched quite a few over the years, and I've got to say, Dr. Laurie is the one who is responsible for my expertise with a turkey. She really cares about her patients and tries to minimize trauma to their bodies during surgical procedures. She gently blunts dissects between tissue layers and I always try to emulate her technique. Clearly, it is not nearly as important to do this as well when cooking as during surgery, but why not imitate the best? So Laurie is one more person I give thanks to!
Anyway, I put my stuffing underneath the skin and above the breast meat. This accomplishes 2 things - it keeps the turkey very moist and imparts a delicious flavor to it. I do take incredible care in the separation of the layers and since I make a lot of stuffing I extend the separation and put it in the spaces between the legs and the wings and any where that I can.
I then put celery, onions, carrots, salt, sage, parsley and peppercorns loosely in the cavity.
I grease the turkey completely with olive oil, put it in a roaster with a cover and into an oven at 400 degrees

COOKING
I cook this turkey much faster than recommended for turkeys. It usually takes about 2 to 3 hours for a 20 pound turkey.

I hope that your Thanksgiving is wonderful and that you find much in your life to give thanks for.

Modified Caprese Salad

When I was in Italy four years ago, I ate well. One of the things that I really enjoyed were the Caprese salads with tuna. Italian tuna is packed in olive oil, and oh-so-delicious. Nowadays, you can find oil packed tuna in most markets. When I make this salad, I tend to use spinach as the base for added nutrition. Here is my version of this salad.



Tuna packed in olive oil
Basil
Tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella or burrata cheese
Spinach
Additional olive oil, if desired

The amounts of each ingredient can be varied to suit your needs. I don't really care about the amount of spinach, since it has very few calories. However, the cheese and tuna do, so I like to put in one serving of tuna per person, and whatever is easiest in terms of the cheese. If I'm buying burrata from Trader Joe's, I'll usually put in one large ball, which is four servings. For two people, this is fine. If I'm using tomatoes from my yard, I'll put in as many as I can and supplement if necessary, until it looks like there's the right amount of tomato in there.

Slice tomatoes, slice cheese, chop basil, and break up the tuna. Toss all ingredients in a bowl. Enjoy!

Persimmon

It's fall in the rest of North America, which means that tomatoes and fresh vegetable are out. Unless you live in California, where due to a mistake by God we ended up with no weather, no seasons and a long annual growing period. Fortunately the long, dry growing season also means certain fruits grow well almost exclusively in California, such as pomegranates and persimmons. Growing up we had a persimmon tree and more persimmons every year than could be reasonably eaten fresh by five people. So persimmon inevitably went into everything - oatmeal, pancakes, smoothies, desserts, to name a few. (Picture: Hachiya persimmon)

So here is a recipe for persimmon bars, from my mom. This works best with the soft persimmons (Hachiya variety, can be found in the farmer's market, shaped like an acorn) as opposed to the hard persimmons (Fuyu, better for fresh eating because they are not messy, shaped like a squat tomato). The soft persimmon need to be very soft - almost liquid - in order not to be astringent. This also means the pulp does not need to be processed much before baking with it.



Persimmon bars:
1 cup persimmon puree (or soft pulp)
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp each: salt, cinammon, nutmeg
1/4 tsp groud cloves

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel

In large mixing bowl, stir baking soda into persimmon puree. Beat in egg, sugar, oil and molasses. Stir in salt, spices, then flour. Beat well. Spread into 9"x12" pan. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until dough springs back to touch.

Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice and peel. Spread over cookies while still hot. Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

Dorm Food

This is a quick post to go with a quick recipe. I visited a college student friend this evening. We were discussing the blog and he offered me a recipe. Here it is:

1 box of cake mix
12 ozs of soda
Mix, put in a greased 13 by 8 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins (less if you want it less cakelike and more pudding like)
Cool
Serve by itself, or with ice cream or whipped cream.

I stopped on the way home, spent $4 at a convenience store and bought a Devil's food cake mix and black cherry soda. 35 min after I got home, I had finished baking the cake. 15 min later, while still warm, I served it.

Serves 12; each serving cost 35 cents and was 195 calories.

My friend likes the combination of Sprite and yellow cake mix.

THANKS, E!!!!!!!!!!!

Suicide Prevention and Food

Yesterday I participated in a community walk, Out of the Darkness. It was sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. As I was walking with hundreds of others I started thinking about if food could be part of suicide prevention. (Somehow, I think everything relates back to food for me.) Food is more than nutrition - it is a very social part of life. We all have busy lives - if you are a student, you've got classes to go to, studying, Facebook, etc. If you are parent, you've got car-pooling, play dates to arrange, etc. If you just started a job you've got your career to plan; I could go on and on. But we all have to EAT! So look around you and if you don't have a "family" to eat with daily, make one. Don't eat alone, or in your car or at your desk for every meal.
When I was growing up with 2 working parents, we still sat down as a family and ate together almost every night. When I went to college I had my friends that I ate dinner with every night and felt sad for those students who took their dinner back to their room. What I should have done is invited them to join us. I suspect some of them might have been depressed, and depression often is a precursor to suicide.
In my adult life, even though I am a doctor, I make sure my family sits down and eats dinner together. It is a way to connect, to keep in touch with their daily lives, to enjoy their company.
So, if you have been eating alone, find someone to share meals with. If you already eat in a group and know someone who is alone, have them join you. Maybe, if we include others we can help someone who is going through a difficult time and we don't even know it. I have no proof that this social "recipe" will prevent suicide, but I know it can't hurt.
It seems I can't end a post without a recipe. There are those that believe dark chocolate has natural substances that boost your mood and is good for your health. As much as I love chocolate, I'm not willing to consider it a health food quite yet. But I do know that one to two pieces of the following recipe a day will bring a smile to anyone lips!

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Make a chocolate ganache. (The one I use is below)
1 cup whipping cream
12 ounces dark chocolate (56-70% - the higher the percentage, the less sweet it tastes. You can also use semi-sweet chocolate chips.) Break them up into small pieces
2 tbsp sweet butter (that means no salt)
2 tbsp sweet stuff - white sugar, brown sugar or honey. Each one of these will give it a slightly different flavor(I got told I was pretentious when I spelled this word the British way in a different post.)

Put the broken-up chocolate in a bowl
Put the cream, butter and sugar in a pot with a good bottom so it won't burn. Stir it constantly until it is boiling.
Pour the mixture over the chocolate.
Let it stand for 2-3 minutes and then stir until it is smooth. (A whisk or 3 chopsticks works best.)
Wait for it to return to room temperature (about an hour)

Now comes the MESSY part.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Ingredients
ganache
cocoa powder
Take your ganache. Refrigerate it for 15 mins, stirring every five. Line a pan with wax paper or parchment paper. Put a tbsp of individual ganache mounds. Roll in your palm to make round. (I coat my hands in cocoa powder so I don't have to wipe my hands so much.)
Roll the truffle in cocoa, nuts, coconut, sprinkles, or whatever you like. Put in individual small "cupcake paper holders"
Serve at room temp, but you can keep them in the refrigerator for a few days.

If you get tired of making these and you still have ganache left over, you can use it as frosting, or heat it up and put it over ice cream.