Health for life

PRE-POST NOTE #1: Today on Serious Eats, it’s a holiday gift guide for Healthy Eaters. From nonstick skillets to Zombie t-shirts about the Slow Food movement, the list is sure to satisfy every nutritionally concerned cook you know and love.

PRE-POST NOTE #2: This Wednesday! I’m liveblogging (or running diarying or whatever you want to call it) Food Network for an entire broadcast day. It’ll begin at 9:30am and end when the first infomercial airs 19 hours later. It’d be sweet to read your comments as the day goes on, so tune in! But first, today’s post…

If I released an album about Mushroom Bhaji, it would have the following tracks on it:

"Be My Bhaji"
"Bhajicuda"
"Me and Bhaji McGee"
"Bhajombs Over Baghdad"
"Message in a Bhajottle"
"Bhajemian Rhapsody"
"Knowing You, Knowing Bhaji"
"Bhajilly, Don’t Lose That Number"
"The Bhajattle of Who Could Care Less" (or "The Bhajittle of Evermore," depending on whether you per Ben Folds or Led Zeppelin)
and
"The Mushroom Dance"

Of course, songs would be sung by The Bhajeatles, David Bhajowie, and Bhajob Dylan. We would listen to it in Bhajoca Raton and eat bhajananas, but only after seeing our favorite movie, The Curious Case of Bhajimin Bhutton.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that I really liked Mushroom Bhaji. It doesn’t rip your head off with in-your-face flavor, and it’s not a 100% authentic Indian recipe. But it is warm, hearty, cheap, vegetarian, and stupidly easy to make. You can even forget to add the salt ‘til last (*cough cough*), and everything still ends up okay. (Don’t cry, tall, pale, food blogging lady who did that. It’s going to be all right.)

While the taste is earthy and lovely, the real winner here is the texture. You know how button mushrooms usually shrink to an eighth of their size, and lose all semblance of bite in the process? Not these, which remain meaty the whole way through. Their heartiness lends heft to a dish that might have otherwise seemed insubstantial.

Of course, if you should try Mushroom Bhaji yourself, know the following:

1) Don’t fear the jalapeno. I reduced mine, thinking it would be too spicy. In retrospect, I should have used it all, since it mellows in the stewing process.

2) Don’t throw out the mushroom stems! You can chop ‘em up and save them for omelets, where nobody knows the difference.

3) For even better savings, wait until mushrooms go on sale. I bet you can get this recipe under a dollar per serving.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to drive my Bhajentley around Bhajooklyn. Maybe take out a bhajook from the librarbhaj … okay, that one doesn’t work.

~~~

If you like this recipe, you might also dig:

• Chicken and Mushroom Marsala
• Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms
• Sweet Lassi

~~~

Mushroom Bhaji
Serves 2
Adapted from The Perfect Pantry via Serious Eats.

14 ounces white button mushrooms, stems removed and thickly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon minced green onions or chives
Cooked white rice

1) Heat oil in a medium pot over medium-high. Saute onion and jalapeno for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they being to soften. Add garlic, and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cumin, coriander, chile powder, and stir thoroughly. Cook for 1 more minute.

2) Add mushrooms, tomato paste, salt, and water. Stir thoroughly and reduce heat to low. Cover pot and cook for 10 minutes, stirring after 5. There should be a stew/sauce formed, and mushrooms should be plump and just tender. If not, take lid off and cook another few minutes.

3) Serve over rice. Sprinkle with scallions.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
136 calories, 7.5 g fat, 3.1 g fiber, $1.60
With one cup of cooked white rice: 341 calories, 8 g fat, 3.7 g fiber, $1.72

Calculations
14 ounces white button mushrooms, stemmed: 62 calories, 0.9 g fat, 2.8 g fiber, $2.49
1 tablespoon olive oil: 119 calories, 13.5 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.11
1 medium onion: 46 calories, 0.1 g fat, 1.5 g fiber, $0.20
1 jalapeno pepper: 18 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0.7 g fiber, $0.06
2 teaspoons minced garlic: 8 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.09
1 teaspoon ground cumin: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.02
1 teaspoon ground coriander: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.05
1/2 teaspoon chili powder: 4 calories, 0.2 g fat, 0.4 g fiber, $0.03
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
1 tablespoon tomato paste: 13 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0.7 g fiber, $0.07
3 tablespoons water: 0 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.00
1 tablespoon minced green onions or chives: 2 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.07
TOTAL: 272 calories, 15 g fat, 6.2 g fiber, $3.20
PER SERVING (TOTAL/2): 136 calories, 7.5 g fat, 3.1 g fiber, $1.60

Dear Sir or Madam,

I do not know your identity. You may be a candystriping Girl Scout, or a grandmother who volunteers 20 hours a week at the Red Cross. You may work to save endangered species, and your dedication to social equity and human rights might make Mother Theresa look like Jeffrey Dahmer on a bad hair day. You may be kind to children, fair to animals, and a patron saint to environmental causes the world over.

I do know that you have a car alarm, and that its gone off twice in the last week, at 3am, for 30 minutes each time. And that makes me hate you.

What is it with car alarms? They seem like leftovers from the 80s, the pride of hyper-vigilant teens and twentysomethings with shiny new Iroc-Zs to protect, presumably from menacing threats like wind and rain. (I do not know what else sets off car alarms.) Yet, especially in the Tri-State area, they are as prominent as Applebees and lower back tattoos. Why they havent been relegated to the dustbin of history, along with stonewashed jackets and Ratt posters, is beyond me.

In fact, I have it good on authority (meaning: my own delusion) that, throughout the course of automotive history, car alarms have deterred exactly two burglars. The first was Borden P. Titmouse, a hapless petty thief doomed by his particularly sensitive hearing and lack of arms below the elbow. The second was a cat who mistook a Chrysler for a hunk of steak. Cats are dumb, see.

The number of people awoken, annoyed, and otherwise driven apoplectic by car alarms, however, numbers in the millions. The billions, even. McDonalds would kill for that kind of demo.

Someday, I may be a mother. And if your car alarm wakes my child - who I presume will have spent the whole day alternately being adorable and vomiting into my open mouth, if Facebook is any indication – I will key it into oblivion, then pound the remaining atoms into a pretty purple paperweight. I dont care if you are the Chairperson of Greenpeace, the head of Habitat for Humanity, and the potential broker of peace in the Middle East combined. You will be upset. Neighboring cars will weep. Charlie Sheen will question my destructive tendencies.

In closing, no one wants to steal your Honda. For the love of god, turn off the alarm.

Love,
The rest of Brooklyn

Oh yeah – the food. About two years ago, we ran a Jamie Oliver recipe for Pappa al Pomodoro, or Tomato and Bread Soup. It was pretty simple, involving some roasted cherry tomatoes, a few handfuls of basil, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Well, brace yourself, Waldo, because this one is even easier, tastes just as lovely, and can be made (almost) entirely from ingredients sitting around your pantry. Except rosemary. You have to buy that. The fresh stuff is worth it.

But, mmmm. So good. Make it now! And dont buy a car alarm.

~~~

If this looks real purty, you’ll be like, “Yeah, y’all!” to these:

• Easy Tomato Sauce
• Grape and Feta Salad with Rosemary
• Tomato and Bread Soup

~~~

Tomato and Bread Soup with Rosemary
Serves 3
Inspired by Jamie Oliver.

Without cheese

 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
28 ounces whole canned tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth (veggie broth for vegetarians)
About 1/3 large loaf Italian bread, chopped or torn into chunks:
Grated Parmesan, for serving

1) In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add rosemary and garlic. Sauté 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and broth. Turn heat to high. While mixture is coming to a boil, break tomatoes up with a wooden spoon or good set of kitchen shears. Once it starts boiling, drop heat to a healthy, rolling simmer and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2) Kill heat. Add bread. Gently stir so bread soaks, but doesn’t fall apart. Serve with Parmesan, if desired.

With cheese (avec frommage).

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
183 calories, 5.9 g fat, 3.6 g fiber, 6.9 g protein, $1.05

Calculations
2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin: 9 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, 0.4 g protein $0.10
1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary: 2 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0.2 g fiber, 0.1 g protein, $0.50
1 tablespoons olive oil: 119 calories, 13.5 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.10
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.02
28 ounces canned tomatoes: 151 calories, 0.8 g fat, 7.9 g fiber, 7.3 g protein, $1.25
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth: 25 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 4.9 g protein, $0.57
About 1/3 large loaf Italian bread, chopped or torn into chunks: 244 calories, 3.2 g fat, 2.4 g fiber, 7.9 g protein, $0.60
TOTAL: 550 calories, 17.6 g fat, 10.7 g fiber, 20.6 protein, $3.14
PER SERVING (TOTAL/3): 183 calories, 5.9 g fat, 3.6 g fiber, 6.9 g protein, $1.05

Today on Serious Eats: Curried Kumquat Chutney. Delicious, hilarious to say.

It’s the second full week of 2010. By now, you may be ten or eleven days into a resolution diet. You’re probably feeling really good about your progress. Chances are you lost a little weight. There’s a possibility you noticed a physical change already. You might even be thinking (and justifiably so): “I am the greatest person alive! Besides Eddie Vedder, I mean.”

Sadly, this may also have crossed your mind: “If eat one more salad, I’m going to set my face on fire.”

Sweet baby Jane, I hear you. When I began to change my eating habits, salads made up a big chunk of my diet. Office lunches were never-ending parades of the Caesar varietals (with light dressing, natch), and I got real tired, real fast of baby spinach. Then, I learned to cook and life got exponentially better. (Exponentially! That’s a lot.)

Anyway, once I started puttering around the kitchen, I realized the following:


With a creative topping, you can turn five ounces of pedestrian grilled chicken into a succulent celebration, a flavoral fooferaw, or even a scrumptious shindig. (Or any other gratuitously alliterative party.) Think of the meat as your canvas, and the accompaniment as your pretty rainbow paint of rainbows.

Take Gail Simmons’ Tomato and Avocado Salsa from Food & Wine, for example. You can use it as a dip for chips or veggies, sure. (The Super Bowl’s coming up, after all.) But on plain poultry, it becomes something else entirely: a tasty, filling, healthy dinner. Like almost all salsas, the recipe is staggeringly easy to make and constitutes a solid serving of vegetables. For $1 and 100 extra calories, that ain’t too shabby.

This week, when you’re choking down another round of Romaine, stop. Grab an avocado and a few grape tomatoes, grill a slice of chicken, and treat yourself to Tomato and Avocado Salsa. It’ll make the next few months a lot easier to stomach.

~~~
If you like this recipe, you might also dig:

• Guacamole-Bean Dip Mashup
• Mango Salsa
• Tomatillo Guacamole

~~~

Tomato and Avocado Salsa
Serves 4.
Adapted from Food & Wine.

1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
1 Hass avocado, diced small
1/4 cup onion, chopped small
1/2 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
1/8 cup fresh lime juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1) In a medium bowl, gently combine all the ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir again to combine. Serve on meat, chicken, fish, chips, cheese, or … anything, really.

NOTE: If you’d like a less chunky salsa, chop the tomatoes and avocado even smaller.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
4 servings: 100 calories, 7.4 g fat, 3.7 g fiber, $1.04

Calculations
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved or quartered: 45 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $2.50
1 Hass avocado, diced small: 322 calories, 29.5 g fat, 13.5 g fiber, $0.99
1/4 cup onion, chopped small: 13 calories, 0 g fat, 0.6 g fiber, $0.08
1/2 small jalapeno, seeded and minced: 9 calories, 0 g fat, 0.3 g fiber, $0.05
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped: negligible calories and fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.25
1/8 cup fresh lime juice: 10 calories, 0 g fat, 0.2 g fiber, $0.25
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.03
TOTAL: 399 calories, 29.5 g fat, 14.8 g fiber, $4.15
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 100 calories, 7.4 g fat, 3.7 g fiber, $1.04