Oysters 2013

Oysters are in season and I am always looking for new ways to use them. They just taste saltier during the colder months so I try to take advantage of the short cold season when they are at their best.

I have subscribed to Louisiana Cookin’ magazine and they have at least 60 new recipes in every issue. This new oyster recipe which I tried is from that magazine and from the restaurant Le Creolé, a restaurant in Baton Rouge. This recipe is somewhat different because you sauté the oysters in an oyster butter and then put them in a hot oven for a few minutes. The secret for the wonderful taste is the “bacon”. Now, I have talked about this many times before, but a good quality, salty, smoky bacon is important and the best is Benton’s bacon which can be ordered online. I ordered a double amount around Christmas, and it just really changes the quality of the flavor of any food using bacon.

My son gave me a new cookbook for Christmas called Southern Comfort. I have mentioned this book before, and I was happy to have the book since it has a lot of good recipes. It is a new take on old favorites. He had earmarked everything he wanted me to cook. Since I was looking for oyster recipes, I tried oysters with Swiss chard and bacon. Again, the bacon is the thing. Swiss chard is a winter green that is in season just as oysters are at their peak. This dish was a wonderful combination of the chard that is sweet and the oysters which were salty.

These are two really wonderful oyster recipes if you are looking for something different. They are easy and would make good use of the oysters in season.

Cast-Iron Oysters

Courtesy of Chef Ryan André, Le Creolé Restaurant in Baton Rouge.

Makes 4 servings

1 cup Japanese bread crumbs (panko)

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (about ¼ cup) [I only used 4 slices]

3 tablespoons Oyster Butter, recipe to follow

1 dozen oysters, clean shells to contain oysters

Garnish: Fresh Thyme

In the work bowl of a food processor, pulse together bread crumbs, cheese, and bacon until well blended; set aside.

Preheat oven to 400ᴼ. In a small cast-iron skillet, heat Oyster Butter over medium-high heat until completely melted. Add oysters, and cook, stirring often, until they begin to crinkle around the edges; remove from the pan.

Spoon oysters into reserved shells. Sprinkle each with 2 teaspoons bread crumb mixture. Bake in a rimmed baking dish for 6-8 minutes or until bread crumbs are golden brown. Garnish with fresh thyme, if desired. Serve immediately.

Oyster Butter

Makes about ½ cup

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup chopped green onions

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 ½ tablespoons white wine

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon hot sauce

2 teaspoons Creole seasoning

1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

¾ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

In medium bowl, beat butter or medium-high speed with a mixer until creamy, about 4 minutes.

In the work bowl of a food processor, combine green onion, garlic, wine, lemon juice, hot sauce, Creole seasoning, Worcestershire, thyme, and red pepper; pulse until fine. Add mixture to butter. Beat on medium speed until combined. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Oyster-Swiss Chard Gratin with Country Bacon

From the cookbook Southern Comfort by Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing.

Serves 8

3 thick slices smoky bacon, cut into small dice

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bunches Swiss chard, stemmed, leaves chopped into ½ -inch dice

2 cups heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

18 oysters, coarsely chopped

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400ᴼF.

Brown the bacon in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the butter, onion, garlic, and Swiss chard and sauté until the chard is completely wilted. Remove from the heat. Pour the mixture into a colander set in the sink and squeeze out all excess liquid. Reserve.

Return the pan to the stove and add the cream and nutmeg. Bring to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to medium-low so the cream does not boil over. Cook the cream until it reduces to 1 cup. Set aside to cool

In a bowl, combine the chard mixture, cooled cream, and oysters. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into a 3-quart dish. Using the back of a spoon, spread the mixture evenly. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and sprinkle the topping evenly over the gratin.

Bake until the mixture is bubbling around the sides and the crust is lightly golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving.

 

 

 

Plants to Eat

The seed catalogues are coming in now and it’s time to start planning what to plant for the potager this year.  If you haven’t been growing any of your food, think about starting.  Herbs are a good place to start.  Bay leaves, thyme and rosemary are often called for and these are perennial plants and need little care.  They can be easily purchased at a garden center and grown in pots but if you have a place, planting in the ground doesn’t require so much attention with watering. The bay and rosemary can be sizable bushes so plan accordingly.  I also grow sage and oregano and chives. Frequently used annual herbs include basil, dill, parsley, and cilantro. Basil is a must for me for the tomato/basil/mozzarella   salads of summer.  If you use any of these frequently, then fresh from the garden is best. 

Some other plants to consider should be citrus.  Kumquat (the little tart oranges that are eaten whole) and Satsuma (oranges) can be planted in the ground in this area.  I have several lemon trees in pots and they are supplying us with the juiciest lemons this time of year. Figs are not easy to find in the grocery but are easy to grow.

And while we are thinking of fruits and berries, blueberries are healthy; I love them and the bushes have good fall color.  Put them in your shrub border with azaleas.  Both need acid soil.  I just bought some more from a local hardware store.  It’s been in business since the 1950’s and is now more garden store than hardware.  I bought 4 plants recommended for the deep South: Tifblue, Climax, Premier, and Brightwell. I need to remember to keep them watered the first year when it gets hot and dry. I lost my last planting by not doing that.

What else to plant.  Things you like and that maybe can’t be bought easily at the store are good bets. If you are growing the vegetables at home you can control the use of pesticides or non-organic fertilizers.

Okra is available commercially but having your own means you can pick it while it is small and tender.  I freeze it for doing gumbo in the cooler months when okra is not available.  I have been saving seed for several years of Cow Horn.  I am again growing a Louisiana heirloom, Stewart’s Zeebest, for a second year. Alabama Red, an Alabama heirloom, could easily go in the flower border.

English peas are best fresh from the garden. I grow Wando ‘recommended especially for southern and coastal regions.’ It is best to provide support.  And of course there are snow peas, actually more appropriately called edible podded peas or snap peas.  We usually think of stir-fries when we think of snap peas but they are a great side, sautéed briefly in butter or olive oil—salt and pepper.

Field peas, cow peas, Southern peas are easily acquired in season.  I like to grow them.  I stake them because if left on the ground the chipmunks seem to get too many of the peas.  Pinkeye Purple Hull is a good choice and Whippoorwill (grown by Jefferson at Monticello) does well for me.

Butter beans are a favorite of mine.  I grow Speckled Calico as it is a large bean.  It is a pole Lima so the harvest is extended.  This year I was still picking them even after a light frost.  Interestingly enough butter beans are not frequently found in the grocery.

Although we think of salads more in the summer, spring is the time we can grow lettuce. Romaine or Cos lettuce is the most nutritious type of lettuce.  Jericho, an Israeli introduction, is said to thrive in our hot summers but I think that is stretching it.  Rouge D’hiver, a French heirloom, is a pretty lettuce with red tips.  I like Bibb or Butterhead types.  They are intermediate in nutritional value and less tolerant of heat.  Speckled Bibb holds longer in heat. Buttercrunch is another possibility. Loose-leaf lettuce, second to romaine in nutritional value, is generally the easiest type to grow and more heat tolerant.  Oakleaf and the old Black Seeded Simpson, that I remember from childhood, are good choices.  I am going out on a limb this year and sowing Tennis Ball, a Crisphead, just because Thomas Jefferson, my hero, grew it.  I also grow arugula as I like the tang.  It self-seeds rather well so I find it all over the place.  Selvatica is a wild variety with smaller deeply serrated leaves and it lasts into the heat.  It also self-sows.  I also like to add in sorrel, a perennial with some lemon taste, and nasturtium leaves and flowers. Nasturtiums tend to vine and can be grown in a hanging basket—but then you have to be sure to keep the basket watered, something I am trying to get away from.  Radishes (I like French Breakfast) grow quickly and easily and bunching green onions are also a good addition to your salad.

I like my green beans fresh from the garden and sow saved seed of Rattlesnake.  It is a pole bean with an extended harvest. I picked from my vines up till frost last month. Bush beans are an option if you don’t want to stake but the harvest season is short.

Peppers are a staple in my kitchen.  Hot peppers are easier to grow than the sweet.  I use Jalapeño a lot.  I like sweet banana peppers.  Which peppers do you like to use?  I am growing another Jefferson choice this year as well—McMahon’s Texas Bird Pepper.  It is said to be a good container plant.

Tomatoes:  If anyone is going to garden this seems to be the plant. Vine ripened tomatoes are easily available in season but here is your chance to grow a different variety.  Heirloom tomatoes are numerous these days.  Pick one or two that you will not find in the markets.

I like zucchini and always plant some.  We like to eat the blossoms, stuffed or just sautéed and these you can’t buy in the stores so grow squash or pumpkins for the blossoms.  The male blossoms have no fruit but you can also eat the female small fruit with their blossom attached.

Another vegetable we like that can’t be found in stores is the luffa sponge. The trick is to pick them before they get too large and tough.  This plant does a lot of climbing but has an abundance of yellow flowers.

Cucumbers are a great summer treat.  I prefer them raw, sliced onto a green salad or sliced by themselves with salt, pepper and olive oil.  Pickling is a trend for 2013 and you can use your excess to pickle.  I grew West Indian Gherkins (just because Jefferson did) last year.  It is not good raw but I used it to pickle.  Other varieties such as Boston Pickling can be eaten fresh as well as pickled.

Three Species Dill Pickles (from the Seed Savers Exchange catalogue)

Ingredients:

Enough Mexican Sour Gherkins, Russian Pickling, and West Indian Gherkins (or other cucumber varieties) to fill 6 pints or 3 quarts

24 whole black peppercorns

1 garlic head, cloves separated, peeled and chopped

6 hot peppers (suggest Jalapeño)

6 dill heads, along with leaves

3 cups vinegar (cider, white wine, or distilled white)

3 cups water

¼ cup pickling salt

Directions: Leave cucumbers whole. Divide the cucumbers, peppercorns, garlic, hot peppers and dill among the canning jars.  Bring the vinegar, water, and salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt.  Pour the hot liquid into the jars, leaving ½ inch head space.  Close the jars with two-piece caps.  In a boiling water bath, process pint jars for 10 minutes, quart jars for 15 minutes. Store the pickles for at least 1 month in a cool, dry place before eating them.  After opening a jar, store it in the refrigerator.

Seeds are cheaper if bought locally but it might be helpful if you can find a store that caters to what does well locally.  Pinetree is a good seed source that is cheaper than most mail order.  Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Seed Savers Exchange are more expensive but have nice discussions about their offerings.

As one commentator says “Happy gardening everyone.”

Eating Healthy 2013

As the New Year begins I always think of how to eat better and lose some weight. This seems to be the trend every year for those of us over 60. When you think that about 70 percent of the over-60 population is overweight and about a third classified as obese, this therefore is a real problem.

Health complications from obesity cost the United States $190 billion in medical expenses each year. Obesity also shortens life three to 10 years, about the amount due to smoking. So why can’t Americans just resolve to lose weight? It is really difficult after 60, because of a slowing metabolism, a loss in muscle mass and a decline in hormones, all of which cause your body to store and retain fat far more easily.

I don’t believe there is a diet that really works, except perhaps for a short period of time. There are some basic things we do know that over time can help us look and feel better. Seventeen years ago, AARP teamed up with the National Institute of Health to study the effect of dietary and lifestyle choices on the incidence of cancer and other diseases among half a million people ages 50 or older. This has provided a wealth of information about what we should do and not do to have a long and happy life.

If we know how certain foods affect our body, we can adjust our diet accordingly to stay healthy and lose weight. We know that eating whole grains reduces the risk of colorectal cancer, while consuming red and processed meats increases it. Older adults who drink two to three cups of coffee per day--caffeinated or decaffeinated--have a 10 percent lower risk of premature death than do those who abstain. We have also found that dietary fiber is important in starving off heart disease, infections and respiratory illness.

I think most research concerning red meat fail to take note of how it is grown.  Grass fed beef is a different animal (pun intended) than the factory produced corn finished product.  Grass fed may not be as healthy as fish but it’s on the way.

Here are some principles outlined for you to think about concerning your health.

1.      Have breakfast every day. Breakfast should include protein, whole grains and fruit. This will help keep your insulin level steady all morning. In a study of 4,000 dieters who have lost weight and kept it off for up to six years, found that those who ate breakfast lost more weight. Two good choices: an egg sandwich with strawberries, or whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk and a banana.

2.      Drink more water. How many times have we heard that? Most of us do not realize how many calories we consume in sodas, juices, alcoholic drinks and other beverages. Drink nothing but water and coffee for two weeks and the pounds will come off. Please don’t drink the diet sodas. Research shows that diet sodas may increase the body’s cravings for sugar-sweetened, high calorie foods. Diet drinks also disrupt our ability to properly estimate the number of calories we are consuming so we end up eating more that we ordinarily would. Finally, drinking more than two diet sodas a day is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, as well as stroke and heart disease.

3.      Eat more fish. Fish is a crucial component of the American diet. It has the good omega-3 fatty acids that you need for brain health, is low in calories and contains important nutrients. In addition, the omega-3s in fish may lower your risk of getting certain cancers and may improve some inflammatory conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis.

4.      Eat whole grains. Whole grains are a major source of not only vitamins and minerals but also fiber. Regularly consuming whole grains--whole wheat bread--whole wheat pasta and brown rice--cut your risk of heart disease, respiratory illness and some cancers. Whole grains can help you lose weight. When compared, eating whole grains vs refined grains (white rice and white bread), those eating the whole grains lost weight over 12 week period.

5.      Fill up on fruits and vegetables. Most studies show that eating mostly fruits and vegetables help you live longer. Fresh fruits contain water which helps you feel fuller longer. Even potatoes are ok; just do not add the rich toppings.

6.      Be wary of “diet” foods. People can gain weight on foods labeled as “low fat” or fat free.” Often such products are loaded with sugar, to make up for the taste when the fat is removed. Since many “diet” foods are also highly processed, you end up getting fewer nutrients and lots of empty calories.

7.      Don’t eat out for two weeks. Dining away from home is fraught with potential problems. You do not know how the food is cooked, and you tend to eat large portions. Some experts say that restaurant portions are three times larger than a normal serving size. Fruit and vegetables should be the size of your fist and meat should be no larger than a deck of cards, and fish should be the size of a checkbook.

8.      Inspect food labels. Women who read food labels are on the average 9 pounds lighter than those who don’t. You do not need a calculator, just scan labels for calories and other nutrients. If one brand of yogurt has 12 grams of sugar and another has 20, you know which one to choose.

9.      Snack often. One snack should be between breakfast and the other between lunch and dinner. No snacking after 8PM. Snacking should keep insulin levels fairly constant, which can prevent hunger and overeating at lunch and dinner. Healthy snacks are nuts, carrots, fruit and hummus.

10.   Chew gum. Chewing gum releases hormones that signal that you are full. This activity helps if you are a nibbler—someone who tends to sample food while cooking or watching TV. Chew sugar-free gum.

11.   I have come to be a believer in the health benefits of eating grass fed beef, pastured pork, pastured poultry, free range eggs, grass fed dairy.  These things can be hard to find, especially in the average grocery. We need to ask for them and then maybe they can be more easily found. Wild animals often give us healthier meat as well as wild caught fish.  We use Kerry Gold butter.  It comes from grass fed Irish cows and being imported costs a lot (I recently stocked up on a sale --$2 off).  I have found a farmer where I can buy free range eggs.

12.   A recent study found organic to be no healthier than produce grown otherwise but I can’t help but thinking there may yet be benefits to not having any more pesticides, etc. than I can help.

This hopefully will help you get into a healthy mind-set for 2013. We all need to eat less, but our goal really should be to eat healthy food which keeps our mind and body fit.