Maple Wasabi Glazed Salmon

February 13th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

Good things come in pairs: You and your valentine. The sweet/spicy concert of flavors in a well-prepared dish.

Professional chefs combine sweet, hot, tangy, salty, bitter and sour flavors for crave-worthy meals. In our Valentine’s Day featured entree, watch out when wasabi and maple—the ultimate in sweet heat—team up.

Accented by ginger and garlic, Maple Wasabi Glazed Salmon features an exciting twist on teriyaki. This combination is also great for enhancing the flavor of stir-fries, ribs and chicken.

Maple Wasabi Glazed Salmon

Makes 8 servings

2 teaspoons wasabi powder
1 teaspoon water
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 pounds salmon fillets

Mix wasabi with water in small bowl until well blended. Add remaining ingredients, except salmon; stir until well mixed.
Place salmon in 13” x 9” baking dish. Spoon wasabi mixture evenly over salmon.
Bake in preheated 375°F oven 15 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork, basting occasionally with wasabi mixture.

Note: Because you’re dedicated to organic living, OrganicAuthority.com recommends using certified organic ingredients, when available, in all recipes to maximize flavor, while minimizing your risk of exposure to pesticides, chemicals and preservatives.

Book Pick of the Day: Salmon: A Cookbook

Recipe courtesy of McCormick & Co.

Triple-Berry Granola Crisp

February 12th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

Let’s start planning Wednesday’s organic Valentine’s Day feast—and what better way to kick things off than a deliciously healthful dessert?

With strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, this fruit-filled, easy-to-prepare dish is a romantic feast for the eyes and palate.

Triple-Berry Granola Crisp

Makes 9 servings

1 bag (10 oz.) Cascadian Farm frozen organic blueberries
1 bag (10 oz.) Cascadian Farm frozen organic strawberries
1 bag (10 oz.) Cascadian Farm frozen organic raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1½ cups Cascadian Farm organic oats & honey granola
Vanilla reduced-fat ice cream or vanilla yogurt, if desired

Heat oven to 375°F. In ungreased 8-inch square (2-quart) glass baking dish, stir together frozen berries, sugar and flour until fruit is coated.
Bake 20 minutes. Stir; sprinkle with granola.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until light golden brown and bubbly. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with ice cream.

Book Pick of the Day: Berries

Valentine Salad

February 9th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

Beyond its physical beauty, this salad offers interesting textural and flavor combinations.

A perfect addition to a Valentine dinner, it is also special enough to make a festive first course for any celebratory meal. All of the ingredients should be available at your local natural and organic food store.

Valentine Salad

Makes 4 servings

Canola oil spray
4 medium beets
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon pomegranate concentrate or juice, divided
1 cup dried cherries
1 bag mixed salad greens, preferably including red cabbage
1 medium red onion, peeled and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Segments of 2 pink grapefruits, with pith and seeds removed
1/4 cup tangerine juice
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon raspberry or balsamic vinegar
Pinch of sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray bottom of a baking pan with canola oil spray. Add beets and lightly coat with the spray. Add 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup pomegranate concentrate. Cover pan with foil; roast beets until knife easily pierces center, about 50 minutes. Remove beets from pan and cool. Peel beets wearing rubber or plastic gloves to protect hands. Slice beets thinly. (Beets can be cooked, peeled in advance, stored and refrigerated until ready to serve.)

At serving time, soak cherries in hot water to cover. Drain when soft and set aside. Meanwhile, divide mixed greens among four salad plates so pieces of red cabbage are visible on top. Sprinkle onions on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

On top of the greens, alternate grapefruit segments with beets in a pinwheel or daisy design. Sprinkle beets with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cherries over salad.

In a cup, mix together the tangerine juice, remaining fruit concentrate, oil and vinegar. Add sugar if mixture is too tart. Drizzle dressing over each salad and serve.

Recipe and photo courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research

Book Pick of the Day: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to a Healthy Relationship

Go Red for Valentine’s Day

February 8th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

For a romantic and organic Valentine’s Day dinner, the American Institute for Cancer Research recommends a selection of naturally red foods whose color reflects the presence of health-protective phytochemicals.

For your entree, try a delicately broiled salmon, garnished with cranberry relish. For side dishes, there are many options: beets, red cabbage and red onion, not to mention pink grapefruit, dried cherries and raspberry vinegar.

Garnet-red beets contain flavonoids that help lower your risk of cancer and heart disease. As beautiful as they are delicious, they are a cinch to roast, and their meaty texture takes well to dressings.

Pomegranates are relative newcomers to the U.S. market and well worth getting to know, as they are packed with health-protective antioxidants. You can now find pomegranate juice and concentrate in many stores (and even pomegranate molasses). It adds a brilliant vermillion color and a bright, sweet-tart flavor to salad dressings. Either the concentrate or molasses versions of this fruit make an elegant nonalcoholic cocktail when mixed with club soda.

Tune in tomorrow for a special Valentine Salad recipe, featuring beets, pomegranate juice, pink grapefruit and dried cherries, among other yummy ingredients.

Book Pick of the Day
Pomegranate Seeds: Latin American Jewish Tales

Florida Flounder Sandwich with Lime and Sweet Onion Tartar Sauce

January 24th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

Floribbean fare is one of today’s hottest restaurant trends, combining the flavors of Florida, the Caribbean and Cuba.

The following recipe comes from award-winning chef Aliza Green, author of Starting With Ingredients, in collaboration with Oso Sweet Onions. These sweet winter onions are grown in Chile between January and March.

The sandwich, with its tangy fresh lime and sweet-onion tartar sauce, will bring back memories of sand and surf. Pan-fried fish sandwiches are a beach-shack favorite in Florida. The crunchy crust of Japanese panko breadcrumbs holds in moisture so the fish is juicy inside. For those who love lime, increase the amount of juice to two limes.

Florida Flounder Sandwich With Lime and Sweet Onion Tartar Sauce

Serves 6

Tartar Sauce

2 tablespoons each chopped parsley, green olives and pickle relish
2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and chopped
Juice and grated zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup finely diced Oso Sweet Onion
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Fish

2½ pounds lean, firm white fish fillet, such as flounder, halibut or cod, cut into 2- to 3-ounce pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Japanese panko breadcrumbs or other breadcrumbs
1 cup vegetable oil (for frying)
2 long French baguettes or Italian breads, split open with some of soft insides removed
1 Oso Sweet Onion, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
Green leaf lettuce, separated into individual leaves, washed and dried

For tartar sauce, stir all ingredients together and refrigerate.
Season fish with salt and pepper. Lightly beat together eggs and milk. Set up three bowls: flour, egg mixture and half the panko.
Dip each piece of fish into flour, shaking off excess. Next, dip into egg mixture, allowing excess liquid to drip off. Finally, dip in crumbs, coating well on all sides. (Add second half of panko to bowl, as needed, so crumbs stay dry.) Arrange fish on a waxed paper-lined baking tray and chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
In large, heavy skillet, heat half the oil until shimmering. Lay fish pieces in oil without crowding, turning pieces as they brown. Fry until firm and well-browned, about 6 minutes; repeat with remaining fish.
Drain and keep warm in 200ºF oven.
Spread baguettes with tartar sauce on both sides. Arrange fish in single layer on each bread, top with onion, tomato and lettuce; close, cut in portions and serve.

Tags: fish sandwich, florida flounder sandwich, food recipes, sandwiches
Posted in Organic Food Recipes | Comments Off

Creamy Curried Soup with Wilted Spinach

January 19th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

Evaporated milk is a staple in international cuisine. With its special concentration of milk proteins and sugars, this cooking milk contributes to the creaminess of our weekend curried soup recipe.

According to the experts at Whole Foods Market, most of the water is removed before evaporated milk is canned, and it’s “commonly used to enrich custards and in savory dishes to thicken sauces and slow-cooked recipes. When mixed with equal parts of water, it is a substitute for regular milk in recipes, and when partially frozen it can serve as a modest stand-in for whipping cream.”

All of the following ingredients should be available in your local natural and organic food store, but I’ve posted links to products available through Amazon.com.

Creamy Curried Soup With Wilted Spinach

Makes 4 servings

1 can (15.5 oz.) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated fat-free milk
3/4 cup apple juice
3/4 cup water
1½ to 2 teaspoons curry powder
1 reduced-sodium chicken-flavored bouillon cube
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups spinach leaves (about 2 oz.), chopped
Chopped peanuts (optional)

Place garbanzo beans, evaporated milk, apple juice, water, curry, bouillon, garlic and ginger in blender; cover. Blend 1 minute or until smooth.
Pour into medium saucepan. Add spinach; bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; simmer 1 minute or until spinach is tender.
Ladle into bowls; top each serving with peanuts, if desired.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving: 150 calories, 1 g total fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 460 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 9 g protein, 25% calcium, 16 g sugars

Recipe and photo courtesy of Carnation Evaporated Milk

Tags: creamy curried soup, food recipes, soups
Posted in Organic Food Recipes | Comments Off

Inventing a Recipe

January 15th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

Have you ever invented a recipe in your organic kitchen?

Dana Jacobi is the author of several cookbooks, including The Joy of Soy, and she creates recipes for the American Institute for Cancer Research. Today, she explains how she came up with the idea for last Friday’s recipe for Middle Eastern Meatballs.

Inventing a Recipe

By Dana Jacobi, American Institute for Cancer Research

I am often asked how I create recipes. One that I developed, for a cocktail party during last month’s holidays, is a hot hors d’oeuvre. The recipe started with the thought of meatballs, which came to mind because everyone likes them. But making them for a crowd is a nuisance. Besides having to stand and turn them, I dread the way cooking them leaves the stove spattered with grease.

So I set out to create a recipe with three goals. First, a meatball with distinctive, appealing flavor. Second, one that can be broiled or baked. And finally, a way of making my meatballs more healthful while keeping them tasty.

For flavor, I got an inspiration while doing errands. I stopped at a fast-food cart parked on the street that sold freshly grilled shish kebab. The warm Middle Eastern spices flavoring the meat made me think of using cumin, cinnamon and herbs in the meatballs. The bed of rice under the meat led to the idea of mixing cooked brown rice into the meat. This would make them more healthful and cut the cost by stretching the meat—a good idea because I wanted the flavor of lean ground sirloin.

Moving on to the second goal, and thinking that baking could dry out the meat, I decided to broil the meatballs rather than cook them on top of the stove. Turned only once, they came out juicy and just right.

Except for the Swedish type, a dip usually accompanies meatballs served as an hors d’oeuvre. Because Greek and Middle Eastern meat dishes often have a yogurt sauce, that’s what I decided to start with. For pungent flavor, I added garlic and hot pepper. But it needed another flavor dimension.

Considering how Mediterranean dishes use mint with meats, it seemed a good choice. Since most fresh mint sold in supermarkets tastes mediocre, dried mint was the answer—the kind used to make mint tea. To see how this worked, I grabbed a mint tea bag, tore it open and stirred its contents into the dip, making it the perfect finish for this meatball recipe.

Middle Eastern Meatballs

January 12th, 2007 - Barbara Feiner

Our end-of-the-week recipe comes from Dana Jacobi, author of several cookbooks, including 12 Best Foods Cookbook, The Joy of Soy and The Best of Clay Pot Cooking. She also creates recipes for the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Because you’re dedicated to organic living, OrganicAuthority.com recommends using certified organic ingredients, when available, in all recipes to maximize flavor, while minimizing your risk of exposure to pesticides, chemicals and preservatives.

Middle Eastern Meatballs

Makes 4 servings

In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, garlic and mint. Season to taste with salt.
Set the broiler rack 5 inches from the heat. Preheat the boiler.
In a mixing bowl, combine the meat, rice, onion, cilantro, parsley, cinnamon, cumin, red and black peppers, plus 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring the mixture with a fork until it is well blended. With your hands, form the mixture into 1½-inch meatballs. As you make them, place the meatballs on a baking sheet that fits under the broiler.
Broil the meatballs until they are well browned on top, 4 to 5 minutes. Using tongs, turn and cook until the meatballs are browned outside and no longer pink in the center, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer them to a serving plate and serve warm, passing the yogurt sauce in a bowl.

Per serving: 171 calories, 4 g total fat (2 g saturated fat), 12 g carbohydrate, 21 g protein, less than 1 g dietary fiber, 391 mg sodium

It’s a Crock!

December 27th, 2006 - Barbara Feiner

Crock pots, which many home cooks have banished to the back of a storage closet, are the hip “new” kitchen appliance. With a host of new features—from programmable temperatures to digital timers—these kitchen workhorses are making a culinary comeback.

“Winter is right around the corner, and nothing says comfort like coming in your front door and smelling a delicious and nutritious dinner just a few moments away,” says Odette Smith Ransome, chef at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

“Crock pots, the wonderful invention of the late 1970s, make all that possible. They are a busy family’s lifeline. Many professional chefs are big fans of crock pots. Pretty much whatever grandma did can be done in a crock pot. Try some of her recipes and see for yourself.”

Treat yourself to a new cookbook that showcases hearty recipes for your organic kitchen:

White Wine Cream Sauce

December 22nd, 2006 - Barbara Feiner

Looking for a way to simplify your holiday to-do list?

Imagine a table lavishly spread with platters of mouthwatering miniature crab cakes, tender tiny quiches and flaky mushroom turnovers. Markets are offering a wide assortment of high-quality, pre-made appetizers, which can be thawed or reheated in your oven.

Add this simple from-scratch sauce for a unique flair. It’s divine with hot appetizers like vegetable turnovers. To ensure your party planning stays stress-free, you can prepare the sauce up to 24 hours ahead and keep it refrigerated.

White Wine Cream Sauce

Yields about 2 cups

2 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons minced shallots
1/2 cup white wine
1 pint heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 1 minute.
Add wine and cream; cook 12 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.
Add salt and parsley. Season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to serving bowl.
Note: If you prepare sauce ahead and refrigerate, it will need to be reheated. Warm 2 ounces of cream in a saucepan and bring to simmer. Then add refrigerated cream sauce by whisking in slowly. Continue whisking until hot and bubbly; add 1 tablespoon butter to finish.

Note: Because you’re dedicated to organic living, OrganicAuthority.com recommends using certified organic ingredients, when available, in all recipes to maximize flavor, while minimizing your risk of exposure to pesticides, chemicals and preservatives.

Recipe courtesy of Nancy’s Specialty Foods

Maple Wasabi Glazed Salmon

Triple-Berry Granola Crisp

Valentine Salad

Go Red for Valentine’s Day

Florida Flounder Sandwich with Lime and Sweet Onion Tartar Sauce

Creamy Curried Soup with Wilted Spinach

Inventing a Recipe

Middle Eastern Meatballs

It’s a Crock!

White Wine Cream Sauce

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