Focus: CILANTRO (Coriandrum Sativum)

Cilantro is a pungent, aromatic and controversial herb. Some people hate it because they say it tastes like soap and smells slightly fetid.  They are not lying and I feel bad for them.  Some people love it.  Especially people who live in Vietnam, India, Mexico, Thailand and China.   Some people - like me - have learned to love it. There is science to back up the cilantro haters.  You can read about it here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html

Unless you are one of the folks with a true genetic aversion to cilantro, I encourage you to keep trying. Don't give up too soon.   It is an acquired taste.  I think you will not regret having a cilantro conversion experience.  

Sometimes cilantro is referred to as fresh coriander.  Coriander is the seed of cilantro and is central to much Indian cooking.  Coriander seed has been around for a long time.  It has been found in Egyptian tombs.  Cilantro is a fresh herb with tender and delicate green leaves.  It is only used fresh.  If dried, the highly aromatic fresh leaves lose all their distinctive flavor.

A global herb
Cilantro is often referred to as Chinese, Asian or Mexican parsley.  In Latin American or Caribbean stores it may be called cilantrillo.  It grows wild in Mediterranean Europe and probably originated in Northern Africa or the Middle East.  Even though it is native to the Old World, it is very popular in the New.  It is central to the cuisines of Southeast Asia and Latin America.

According to Diane Kennedy, Mexican cooking guru, both cilantro leaves and coriander seed have been "adopted wholeheartedly into the cuisine of Mexico".  The leaf and tender stems are used in raw and cooked sauces, some green moles and with soup, rice and seafood.

Storage
Fresh cilantro is quite delicate and must be stored with care.  Do not wash until ready to use.  In Mexico cilantro is always sold with the roots attached.  If your cilantro still has the roots,  place it in a jar in a few inches of water in the refrigerator and it should keep fairly well for a week or two - depending on how fresh it was when you bought it.

If your bunch of cilantro is sans roots, just wrap the stems in a wet paper towel and place the cilantro in a ventilated plastic bag in the refrigerator.   Make sure the leaves are as dry as possible - wetness will promote spoilage.

You could try freezing cilantro leaves.  Wash and gently dry them thoroughly.  (The leaves are easily bruised.)  Spread them out on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper.  Place in freezer.  Once leaves are frozen, place in a freezer bag and carefully press out as much air as possible.  Use the leaves directly from the freezer - don't thaw first.

Cilantro in America
I was amused to read Mark Bittman's offhand remark in How to Cook Everything that cilantro "can be found everywhere".  Clearly he has never spent any time in the grocery stores of Fillmore County, Minnesota.  However it is true that cilantro can be found in farmers markets - even in rural Minnesota. That is a sign of cilantro's growing popularity.  And it is definitely widely available in much of this country.  If nothing else,  people who are discovering the joys of making their own salsa are learning to appreciate fresh cilantro.

Cooking with cilantro
It is usually advisable to add cilantro to a dish at the very last minute, because the volatile flavor can be quickly dissipated with heat.  I often add it as a fresh garnish to various noodle or rice or bean dishes and don't cook it at all.  Sometimes if I have a lot on hand I throw a few handfuls of chopped cilantro in a pot of beans right at the end of cooking.

One nice way to use cilantro is chopped with mild onion in equal parts - with maybe a little fresh serrano or jalapeno added for some heat.  You often see this in Mexican restaurants as an all purpose condiment with a wide variety of dishes - tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, burritos, etc.

Since fresh cilantro is so perishable,  I also have a few standby recipes for turning it into a sauce or puree which can either be frozen or will keep in the refrigerator for a week or two.  These sauces are great on the side with Indian curries, grilled meat or fish or even grilled vegetables like summer squash or onions.  You could also try a dollop of cilantro sauce in a bowl of plain tomato or winter squash or even potato soup.  Or add it to some yogurt for instant raita.

Other serving ideas:
Add chopped cilantro to potato salad, pasta salad
Coleslaw- shredded cabbage with lime juice, honey, cilantro, a bit of rice vinegar and chopped peanuts
Toss fresh leaves into green salad (especially with an Asian style sesame vinaigrette)
Add to tomato or tomatillo based salsas or to guacamole
Use in pesto instead of basil
Or try this coleslaw recipe 
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spicy-Napa-Cabbage-Slaw-with-Cilantro-Dressing-243168?recipename=Spicy%20Napa%20Cabbage%20Slaw%20with%20Cilantro%20Dressing&saved_to_box=y

Recipes
Cilantro sauce - 2 versions
These sauces are easy to make if you have a food processor - just put all the ingredients together and press the button.  You may have to stop once or twice to push the sauce down the sides to help make the texture more uniform.

To prepare the cilantro, wash well by swishing in a pan of water.  Let the grit sink.  Lift out the herbs.  Pick over to remove any yellow or wilted leaves and tough stems.  Shake or spin or pat dry with a towel.

#1 - this simple sauce should be used soon or frozen
2 cups fresh cilantro,  packed.  (That means pressed down some to remove air spaces.)
1/4 t. salt
1  clove garlic, peeled
1 T vinegar (white wine or rice wine types are nice) or lime or lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
optional addition - fresh chili pepper- about 1 T. chopped


#2 - Long lasting cilantro mint chutney

This recipe is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  He says it will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.  I just made some so we will see. 

1 ½ cups fresh cilantro and ½ cup fresh mint (both firmly packed)
1-2 hot fresh green chilies or red pepper flakes to taste
2 inches fresh ginger cut into chunks
½ red onion,  quartered
5 cloves peeled garlic
½ c white wine vinegar
½ t salt
Place ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Store in a covered glass jar in the refrigerator.

This sauce has personality plus

Green Rice

This recipe is from the Featherstone Farm cookbook.  It is called a "Mexican holiday rice" and was adapted from Aida Gabilando's Mexican Family Cooking (Ballantine Books 1992)

1 small white onion, peeled and quartered
2 poblano chiles, deveined, seeded and quartered
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup fresh cilantro (I assume packed)
2 cups chicken stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked
2 T. vegetable oil

Place first four ingredients in a blender with 1 cup of the stock.  Blend, strain and season with salt and pepper. (I don't think I would strain and lose all that good fiber and flavor.)
Rinse and drain the rice. Saute the rice in oil that has been heated in a heavy bottomed pan for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the blended sauce and the remaining stock.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove pot from heat and let sit, covered, for 10 more minutes to finish cooking.

Hands On - backbone and bad food

This week's Hands On post is different.  Usually I try to be pretty upbeat and practical.  Usually I show you a basic cooking procedure or talk about equipment choices.  We work together on the question:  How exactly can we feed ourselves and our loved ones good food day in and day out?  We demystify and get to work.  We peel and chop vegetables, wash our own greens and don't whine.

But since I know you care about good food,  I want to tell you about the meal I ate Wednesday night at the closing banquet of the Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College.  Remember, the theme of this conference was "What makes food good?"  Inherent in this question is the idea that food can be bad.  Hold that thought while I summarize the message of the banquet speaker - Francis Moore Lappe, famous global change agent and author of Diet for a Small Planet and many other books. 

The title of Ms. Lappe's talk was "Getting a grip - gaining clarity, creativity and courage for the world we really want".  She talked about how to put ideas into action.  She asked why we live in a world that no one of us would choose to build if we had the chance.  (e.g. starvation, suffering, war, despoilation of resources, exploitation of people)

Her answer was that individuals feel powerless to change these big problems.  She then talked about the power of ideas and democratic and group action.  She encouraged us to have backbone and courage to act on our ideas and to work for what is "good".  She acknowledged the fear that people have of being ostracized from their friends/community/group/"pack" if they challenge or question the status quo.  She admitted to still feeling scared at times - warned by her pounding heart.  She shared her way of dealing with that internal fear -- she said she just thinks of that pounding as "internal applause". (So whenever you feel afraid, you can whistle a happy tune or think of clapping for yourself.)

Now that I have set the stage a bit, I would like to tell you about the dinner we were served at the banquet.  Remember now - - the speaker was Francis Moore Lappe.  The woman who has been talking for forty years about food and social justice and sustainability of resources and planetary limits and good health.  And we all had just spent two days learning about:  nutrition, food insecurity, causes of obesity, global poverty and hunger, the importance of small scale farming in the developing world, the impact climate change will have on agriculture, equitable access to diverse foods and seeds, the organic and local food movement, taste in our food and food ethics and philosophy.  Whew.

Our dinner menu was:
Salad greens (quite conventional)  with industrial croutons, a few carrot shreds and vinaigrette
White dinner rolls and sliced (7 grain?) bread and butter
Steak - I would estimate half a pound per person- with mushroom sauce
Wild rice pilaf with a few small pieces of vegetable, including zucchini
Thinly sliced potatoes with a very few slices of winter squash and onions and a generous amount of cream
Cheesecake with caramel sauce and sliced apples

So this is what I need to say.  This was a reasonably tasty meal.  It was nicely presented.  I ate everything except half the meat.  (Frank ate that.)  There were beautiful flowers on the table and good conversation.  But I would not call it a "good" meal.  By many of the measures discussed at the conference, it was a pretty bad meal.   There was a shocking disconnect between the talk at the conference and the "walk" on the table.  Given the quality of ideas, curiosity and imagination of the conference speakers and participants, I expected much more. 

Before I explain why I am being so presumptuous as to pan this meal,  please know that I have great respect for Gustavus Adolphus College and its efforts to stimulate thoughtful discourse about global food issues and other topics.   I am sure that I do not fully understand all the logistical challenges presented by the need to feed hundreds or even thousands of people for two days.  (Although I do know - because I learned this at the U of M healthy food summit last week - that logistics are not an excuse.  There exist among us successful food service businesses serving thousands of meals every day in Minnesota, using seasonal foods from our region.  This is possible.  And can be profitable.)

I am a Minnesota Lutheran and it is definitely scary for me to come right out and say that this meal was pretty bad.  (It could have been worse.)   My heart is pounding a little right this minute.  But I listened carefully to our banquet speaker and decided to follow her advice.  I am exercising some backbone.  I can't believe I was the only person in the room wondering why we weren't eating more seasonal vegetables and less sugar and fat.  I am sure there were others questioning whether it was a good idea to serve each person a half pound of meat when we know that we should be eating less meat.  (I love meat.  I live in Fillmore County.  I have good friends who raise livestock.  But I still think the world would be a better place if each of us ate less meat.) 

I think that one way to "make food good" is for more people to speak up when food is bad.  If we don't, how will our children know the difference?

I don't like it when people just complain about problems and don't have solutions.  So here is my idea for a meal that would have been "good" - or at least better:
(NOTE - see link below for more information on how the food service at Gustavus has adopted changes because of the Conference.)

Salad with fresh Minnesota spinach and other seasonal greens - garnished with diced pickled beets and thinly sliced red onion and dressed with a vinaigrette using Minnesota sunflower oil.  And maybe a little sprinkle of sunflower seeds for crunch.


Braised beef (about 2 oz. per person) in a red wine sauce with mushrooms, onions, zucchini and red peppers, served over wild rice pilaf. 


Locally grown carrots, cut and glazed with a little maple syrup and seasoned with fresh thyme.  Or braised chard with garlic and olive oil.  Or mashed winter squash.


Whole wheat rolls


Apple crisp using local apples or pumpkin or squash pie (not if you serve mashed squash) -- with a dollop of fresh real whipped cream

Blessings upon you who make the effort to prepare good food.  Please don't give up.  And will you think about - once in a while - having the courage to call out bad food when you see it?  There is a lot of bad food out there so this is a big job.  I can't do it all by myself.   Be prepared to make your case.  And be nice.

ADDENDUM:  GO TO THIS LINK FOR EXAMPLES OF WAYS IN WHICH GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS HAS BEEN ADAPTING MENUS IN LIGHT OF THE NOBEL CONFERENCE:
http://kitchencabinet.blog.gustavus.edu/

Dig In - Food and Public Health

Your roving reporter is writing this post from beautiful St. Peter, Minnesota, location of the 46th annual Nobel Conference, sponsored by Gustavus Adolphus College.  The theme of this year's conference is "Making Food Good".  Yesterday an actual audience of about 5,000 people and a virtual audience of unknown size heard presentations on nutrition and public health, food security, crop and seed diversity and causes of obesity.  Food and nutrition policy expert Dr. Marion Nestle's lecture was titled "Food Politics: Personal Responsibility vs. Social Responsibility".  And that is the talk I want to tell you about today.  (Nestle rhymes with wrestle.)

I need to tell you right up front that I am a huge fan of Dr. Nestle.  (This blog links to her blog.  Need I say more?)  She has been in the trenches working to improve public health for decades, fearlessly taking on many powerful interests.   Her work centers around food systems -  the agriculture to food to nutrition to public health connection.  She advocates for an agricultural system that would support, not undermine, public health.  She wants to raise the "dietary literacy" of the general public.  She is plain spoken, fair minded and straightforward.  She knows her stuff.  One of her particular areas of interest is the effect of food marketing on childrens' diet and health.  As bonus, she has a sense of humor.

So now that you know my bias,  I will touch on some of her key messages.   If you have one hour to spare, I encourage you to listen to her entire presentation.  Then you can see for yourself if I am telling you the truth.  The video is archived here:  http://gustavus.edu/events/nobelconference/2010/archive.php

Hunger
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) keeps track of facts and figures on hunger.  The good news is that in the last year the number of people who are chronically hungry is down 10%.  The bad news is that there are still 925 million people who don't have enough to eat.  See where the world's hungriest people live here.  http://gustavus.edu/events/nobelconference/2010/archive.php

Dr. Nestle emphasized her view that the solutions to world hunger are social, not technological.  She suggested several ways to address the problem, including increasing the rate of breastfeeding and empowering and educating women.

Food marketing
Did you know that the 2009 marketing budget for Froot Loops was $20.3 million?  And for Frosted Flakes it was $20.9 million?  I don't mean to pick on these two cereals - but these are the examples Nestle used because the information is publicly available.  Most information about corporate expenditures on food advertising is proprietary.  Her point in sharing these numbers is that the food industry is very competitive.  Food manufacturers are good at their job - which is to sell their food products and keep their shareholders happy by showing a profit every 90 days.  Their job is not to protect public health.  Their job is to get us to buy (and eat) more of what they sell.  As Nestle put it, "Eating less is very bad for business."

Dr. Nestle spoke at length about marketing practices like "front of the package labeling".  Consumers want to be healthy, so various claims such as ""heart healthy" or "may lower cholesterol" are plastered all over many products.  You might want to start paying more attention to these claims and ask yourself how valid they are.  Ask yourself the question Dr. Nestle posed - "Is a 'better-for-you product' a good choice?"  In other words, one particular breakfast cereal might be a better choice than another.  But wouldn't good old oatmeal with some real fruit and nuts be the best choice?

Be especially skeptical of food "self endorsements" and rating systems.  There have been many efforts by food manufacturers to come up with special systems or symbols to convince you that their food will make you healthy.  Dr. Nestle told of one major grocer in the Northeast who hired independent experts to rate the many thousands of products they sold based on specific nutrition criteria.   Their plan was to implement a star system to help their customers.  More stars on a product would mean more nutritional benefit.  It was so interesting to learn that the independent firm found that only 24% of the products evaluated met even criteria necessary to quality for even one star.  One more reason to cook real food at home from scratch.

Obesity
Obesity is a major cause of illness in the U.S. and a growing cause of illness globally. 
Dr. Nestle showed us many charts showing the increased rates of obesity in this country since the 1980's.  She discussed several reasons for this trend - larger portion sizes, ubiquity of food, proximity to food and low prices of food.  One of the reasons for more proximity, low cost and ubiquity is the fact that, on average, we are producing about double the calories that we need in this country.   The more calories we have to choose from, the more competitive the people selling the calories need to be.  Hence calories are everywhere - and overall pretty cheap.   This causes me to wonder more about causes of obesity.  Is it just failure of will power (personal responsibility)?  Or is their an environmental component which crosses into the realm of social responsibility?  We could probably have a long conversation about that.

Food Politics
Dr. Nestle's charts showing the lobbying expenditures of the food industry were eye-opening.  If you ever wonder why we have the food and agriculture system that we do, you might keep in mind the fact that many of our elected leaders accept large political contributions from all manner of food producers.  More than one speaker yesterday mentioned our political system and the way political campaigns are financed as a reason for the policies we live under.  No surprise there.

Moderation
It was also no surprise that Dr. Nestle's overall "prescription" for a healthier diet was "balance, variety and moderation."  Just like the speakers at the U of M conference last week, she did not tell us about a silver bullet.  Even eating your CSA vegetables every week is not a silver bullet.  But a CSA box is a good arrow to have in your quiver.

Inspiration - Week #19

This week's box, deconstructed by menu

In this week's Grande box:  Mixed onions, red or white potatoes, red Kabocha squash, spaghetti squash, garlic, cilantro, Savoy cabbage, Sugar snax carrots, bunched beets and beet greens, salad mix, black radishes, mixed peppers

I am trying something new this week -- I spread out the contents of my box on the kitchen table and divided it all up according to my menu ideas.  Helps to see things all laid out this way.  Kind of like matching up dancing partners.  Close up pictures of food groupings are below with each menu idea. 

One suggestion I have for you this week is to make a nice big pot of brown or white rice (or other grain like quinoa or barley) and also of beans (like pinto beans).  They will each be fine for a few days in the refrigerator and they will make meal preparation quicker if you decide to try some of the menus listed below.  If you have extra rice, warm it up and eat it for breakfast with some milk, sugar and raisins.  If you have extra beans mash them up with some chopped onion, garlic, cumin and  cilantro and a little olive oil and make a sandwich filling or dip.

Last spring, before I knew I was going to a two day conference on food last week,  Frank and I signed up to go to the Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus college in St. Peter because we knew it was going to be about food.   So I am getting a large dose of food learning all in a row.  The line up of speakers is quite impressive and I am looking forward to hearing even more viewpoints about "how to make food good".   Expect a few blogs this week about the conference.  You can follow the event live online starting Tuesday at 9:15 a.m.  http://gustavus.edu/events/nobelconference/2010/
Marion Nestle, one of my favorite food experts (see link to her blog on my blog list)  is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

MENUS  (recipes below for items marked with an asterisk)
Note - You might have some extra winter squash.  Bake or steam it, scoop out the flesh and mash it.  This can be used in baking cakes, cookies, quick or yeast bread or custards.  I like to stir a little mashed winter squash into polenta for added color, flavor and nutrition.

1.  New England boiled dinner*; Indian pudding*.   As soon as I opened my box this week I thought "boiled dinner"!  This dish calls for potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, cabbage and turnips.  I think you could try substituting black radish for turnip.

New England dinner

2.  New world stew, cole slaw and cornbread.  Saute chopped onion, garlic, peppers, 3 cups of cubes of peeled uncooked winter squash in some oil.  Add about 3 cups canned tomatoes with their juice (or fresh if you have them), chopped and 3 cups of cooked pinto beans.  Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until all vegetables are cooked through.  Add extra water or broth if more liquid is needed.  Amounts of vegetables can be varied as you wish.  Serve over rice or other grain with chopped fresh cilantro as a garnish.  (Or add cilantro near the end of cooking).  A handful of chopped peanuts might taste pretty good with this stew.

New world stew and coleslaw

3.  Mixed green salad with sliced or grated radish, hard boiled or poached egg and mustardy vinaigrette;  Spaghetti squash tossed with olive oil, sauteed garlic, parmesan; bread  Bake the squash and then scrape out the flesh - it will be in little pasta like strings.  Mix with sauce as you would any pasta.

Bake spaghetti squash and use like pasta

 4.  Rice, beans and tortillas with "the works" -- grated cheese, sour cream, fresh lime, radish salad (finely chop radish, garlic, peppers, red onion, cilantro, hot peppers and mix with a little lime juice or red wine vinegar and oil.

Radish salad

5.  Curried potatoes, carrots and squash* with rice; raita (yogurt, chopped cilantro and onion), some side dishes with raisins and cashews to sprinkle on the curry would be nice, too.

These vegetables would make a lovely curry

6.  Pasta with beet greens*, bread, mixed green salad, pears poached in spiced red wine

Beet greens are great sauteed with garlic in olive oil

RECIPES

New England boiled dinner
a 3 pound lean beef brisket or corned beef
onions, peeled and quartered or halved
potatoes, quartered
beets, whole unless very large
carrots, cut into chunks
turnips (or winter radish) peeled and cut into chunks
cabbage, cut into wedges
salt and pepper to taste
prepared horseradish or mustard or both
melted butter
Put meat into a large pot of water - enough to barely cover the meat.  Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer 3-4 hours until meat is fork tender.  Add all vegetables except the beets and simmer about 1/2 hour or until tender.  Cook beets separately, then peel.  Remove meat, slice and arrange on a platter surrounded by vegetables. If desired, pour some melted butter over the vegetables.  serve with horseradish or mustard on the side.

Indian Pudding
Ingredients
2 cups milk
1/4 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 cup light molasses
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. salt
1 egg
 1 cup cold milk

Heat 2 cups milk until almost boiling.  Slowly add cornmeal, while stirring and cook for 15 minutes until thickened.  Add molasses and seasonings.  Beat egg in small bowl - add a little of the hot cornmeal mixture to prevent the egg from curdling and add egg to cornmeal, whisking until blended.  Pour cornmeal mixture into a greased baking dish.  Let sit undisturbed for 15 minutes.  Then pour one cup cold milk over all, do not stir.  Bake in a 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until set in the middle.  Good served with whipped cream.  Applesauce would also be good.

Curried potatoes, carrots and squash
Peel and cut carrots, potatoes and squash into medium chunks - about 8 cups vegetables in total.  Also chop about 1 cup onion and mince 3-4 cloves garlic.    Saute vegetables, including onions and garlic,  in 2-4 T. oil along with our favorite curry seasoning (curry powder, canned curry paste or mixture of spices such as mustard seed, cumin, fresh ginger and turmeric.) and about 1 t. salt for about 5 minutes.  Add water, coconut milk or a mixture.  Add more or less depending on how much sauce you want.  Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Sometimes I add about a cup of red lentils along with the vegetables for extra protein.  They cook fast - right along with the vegetables.

Beet greens and pasta
Wash beet greens well, cut off stems.  Cut greens into strips.  Heat olive oil in a large pan and gently cook chopped garlic - about 2 cloves per serving and thinly sliced red onion.   Stir in the beet greens and cook for a few more minutes, stirring every so often.  Cover pan and cook a few minutes more to assure that the beet greens will be tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Toss with cooked pasta,  adding a bit more oil and a little pasta cooking water if needed.  Serve with grated cheese.  Diced boiled or roasted beets could also be tossed with the pasta.  A splash of balsamic vinegar at the table is a nice touch.  If you don't have enough beet greens, you can add kale to this dish as well.  Cook it as you would the beet greens (remove the tough central rib of each leaf.)

Tried and True - Apple Pie

Note to readers - this post is a column I wrote for our county newspaper a few years ago. Given our current economic conditions and work-in-progress health insurance system it still rings true.   See my Thursday post for a more in depth pie crust discussion and video.

This is the time of year for a special visit to an apple orchard.  Buy plenty of Minnesota apples - some for eating out of hand, some for applesauce or pie or crisp or salads or . . . .   Here is a Minnesota Grown link to help you find the orchard convenient for you.  http://www3.mda.state.mn.us/mngrown/searchresults.aspx?location=&products=7


Ida Bailey Allen was a famous food expert during the 1930’s and 40’s. She had a syndicated newspaper column and a radio program and also wrote many cookbooks. One was called “Ida Bailey Allen’s Money Saving Cookbook” and in it she answered questions from her fans. One was “Can a man out of a job afford pie?” The questioner didn’t ask if an unemployed person could afford steak. Or pickles. Or brownies. Or ham and cheese sandwiches. He asked about pie. Why pie?

Because when life is hard, a nice piece of homemade pie will make you feel better. I am not sure why. Perhaps it is because pie is not just a tasty dessert (or breakfast if you are lucky) – it stands for something. Mom. Home. Comfort. Security. Maybe even dignity. Even if you are out of a job, if you can still afford a piece of pie then you know it is not time to give up. Life is still worth living and you can still find the strength to do what needs to be done.

We are not in the Great Depression, but about 46 million Americans will be without health insurance some time this year* and lots more can barely afford the insurance plan they do have. I am hoping that our next crop of elected leaders will finally do something serious about that – but while we are waiting let’s keep making pies. Because it is still pretty affordable to make a homemade fresh apple pie. Because where there’s pie, there’s hope.

American Apple Pie (9 inch two crust pie)
I confess rhubarb custard and lemon meringue are my two favorite pies. But apple pie still takes the cake when it comes to popularity. Baking an apple pie is really not that hard. Take it step by step and pay attention to the details. Practice makes perfect. If the crust breaks, just patch it up or start over. Crust, like life, doesn’t always go according to plan. You will be so proud when you are done. What a nice thing to share with your family or maybe a friend who is out of a job. Keep America strong – bake a fresh apple pie today.

Equipment
You will need a pie pan, rolling pin and a smooth flat surface for rolling. Also two large bowls, measuring cups and spoons, a fork and a pastry cutter or two knives. I like glass pie pans the best. I have a marble slab which is great for rolling pastry. But a clean countertop will work just fine.

Crust
If you want to hear a spirited debate, ask a few Grandmas to talk about the relative virtues of lard, butter or shortening for pie crust. When I have high quality home rendered lard I prefer that. If not, then butter is great. But I have made many pies with butter flavored Crisco and it is pretty darn good too.

2 cups unbleached flour (you could use some or all whole wheat pastry flour)
1 t. salt
2/3 cup cold lard, butter or shortening or a combination
4 to 6 T ice water
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in fat (with pastry cutter or two knives or even fingertips) until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle on water and mix with fork until dough holds together, Handle lightly. Form into two disks, one slightly larger than the other (larger is for the bottom) Chill about 30 minutes, well wrapped. Roll out larger piece first and place in pan for filling.

Filling
The very big decision to make here is what kind of apples. By all means use fresh Minnesota apples and buy them from a local orchard if you can. Paula Red is a good early pie apple. I also like Cortland and McIntosh, mixed. Go for big flavor. NEVER use Delicious apples for pie. They are not delicious, they are boring.
6 cups peeled sliced apples (about 6 large apples)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour (A little more if apples are very juicy)
1 t. ground cinnamon
2 T butter
Mix all but butter together and pack into into shell, arranging to avoid large spaces. Dot with the butter. Cover with top crust. Seal and flute crust. Cut slits in crust. Cover edges of crust with foil to avoid over browning. Remove foil about 15 minutes before end of baking. Bake at 425 degrees for about 40 to 50 minutes.

* this number was accurate in 2008 when this column was written. It is also accurate for 2009 based on U.S. Census data

Focus: EAT MORE PLANTS

I have just spent two whole days and one evening listening and talking and thinking about food - in particular healthy food and in special particular plant foods.   I was privileged to attend the Food for Thought - Healthy Foods Summit 2010 sponsored by the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute at the U of M, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum,  and Lakewinds Natural Foods (a faithful customer and supporter of Featherstone Farm and CSA's in general.)

I have been inspired, enlightened and encouraged.  I have eaten some nice meals.  I have made some new food friends and re-connected with old food friends.  This event was packed with nutritionists, academics, food educators, cooks, food service professionals, food media people and lunch ladies.  I even ran into some Featherstone CSA members.  I was in networkers' paradise.  (Plus I just got 7 new cookbooks from the U of M Arboretum annual book sale.  Italian.  Spanish.  Japanese.)  And I had some face time with Mark Bittman when he signed my copy of How to Cook Everything.   This was not quite as exciting as when I got to sing about rhubarb with Garrison Keillor on the Prairie Home Companion  -  but it was right up there.

My head is jam packed with facts and figures and ideas and stories.  I want to tell you all about it but of course you really don't have the time.  You need to do some cooking.  And I would rather take a nice long walk around the Arboretum before I drive home instead of write a huge detailed post.  So I will be sharing some of what I have learned in bits and pieces over the coming weeks and months.  And some time soon I will give you the link to this event so you can experience some or all of it on line when it is convenient for you. 

One of my new food friends is Sarah Kniskern Aughengaugh.  She is a Featherstone CSA member and food policy professional who attended the conference.  I asked her what the take home message was for her.  She said it was that no one needs to be perfect.  The important thing is to be moving in the right direction toward a more healthy diet -- to just keep making progress.  "There's still lots of room for butter and chocolate,"  she said.  (Amen to that.) "Food is fun.  There is value in coming together around food.  And a lot of people are working so that it is easier to make better choices,"  she concluded.

I agree with Sarah.  We are fortunate here in Minnesota to have many, many smart and hardworking people who understand how important it is - to ourselves, our communities and the planet - that we change our food system for the better.  We have many institutions - public and private -  who are committing serious resources to finding better ways to feed ourselves and our families.  More and more people - not just CSA members! - are taking Mark Bittman's advice:  "Eat more plants and less of everything else."

The main take home message for me was that cooking real food - especially vegetables, fruits and whole grains - at home is one of the most important things we can be doing as individuals to achieve a better food system.  So I say to all home cooks and CSA members (and farmers market customers and gardeners and coop shoppers and vegetable eaters) -- hooray for you.  Keep doing what you are doing.  It is no big deal if you fall off the wagon once in awhile and eat a fast food cheeseburger.  Don't mourn too long for the bok choy you had to compost.  Temporary setbacks are to be expected.  There will always be another meal ahead.  And last but not least -- do what you can to have a happy kitchen.  Restaurateur Brenda Langton (Spoonriver) made a point of that in her talk.   Put some love in your cooking.  Find the joy.  Keep learning.  And you will be fine. 

Hands On - Pie Crust

Why do you think we have the expression "easy as pie"?  Do you think it is because making pie is easy?  YES!  It is.  It is like anything else - you need the right tools and a little experience.  Once I get out the flour, salt, lard, ice water and equipment I can throw together a single crust in less than 5 minutes.  Really.  Add clean up and it is a 10 minute job from beginning to end.  And MUCH better - and cheaper - than storebought crust.

So today we are going to make a pie crust. This is enough for a one crust pie.  Can be doubled.
I recommend good lard (I render my own but I don't really expect you to do that) for a crust.  You can also use butter or shortening - the same amount should work fine, but you might want to try adding an extra T. of fat if you are not using lard.  I like lard for the flavor and also because it is so easy to work with.  In moderation, lard is a good fat.  Real food.

I am giving you a quick and simple approach to pie crust in this post.  I am trying to avoid the intimidation factor.  I don't want you to think this is any more complicated than it really is.

However -- if you promise not to be intimidated and if you are in the mood for a longer discussion of the finer points of butter v. lard v. leaf lard -- then you might want to look at this 2006 article from the New York Times.   It pretty much covers all the pie crust bases.  http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E6DC173EF936A25752C1A9609C8B63&scp=2&sq=lard&st=cse

EQUIPMENT
mixing bowl
fork
measuring cups - 1 cup, 1/3 cup
measuring spoons
rolling pin
good surface for rolling - wood, marble or a clean countertop will all work
optional - pastry cutter
pie or tart pan or just a cookie sheet if you are making a galette (put pastry on a baking sheet, place some fruit or other filling in the middle - leaving a border of about 4 inches.  Gently fold up the edges all around, pleating a bit if necessary.  Bake in hot oven until crust is browned and filling is done.  Quite impressive result for little work.)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup flour plus extra for rolling
1/2 t. salt
1/3 cup lard, cold  (or 1/3 cup butter or a mixture of butter and lard)
2-3 T. ice water

PREPARATION
Here is a video demonstration Frank and I made this morning:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5o6WhGZtAQ

In words, not pictures:
Add salt to flour in mixing bowl.  Add lard and, working quickly with fingertips or a pastry cutter, incorporate the lard into the flour.  Don't overwork the dough.  Add 2 T. ice water and mix with fork until dough sticks together.  Add more water if dough seems too dry.  Gather into a ball and knead a few times - shape into a smooth disk.  Refrigerate about half an hour.  Roll on a clean smooth surface - sprinkle surface, dough and rolling pin with flour to avoid sticking.
Use dough as directed in whatever pie or tart recipe you are making.