Norwitz Notions

Episode seven of the Next Food Network Star still takes place in Las Vegas and we’re down to 3 contestants: Aaron, Lisa, and Adam.

Challenge #1: Prepare a 30 second promo for what could be their new show. Unlike in previous versions of this, each promo was carefully scripted (including wardrobe) by the Food Network and the contestant had a fair amount of time to do it, with multiple takes, a director, and rehearsals. Each promo was broken up into 2 or more mini-scenes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t done completely fairly. Aaron just had to walk down a hallway then he had to say something before throwing dice down a craps table. Adam had to stroll along a stage with a showgirl on each arm, with some closeups. But Lisa was harnessed to a rig where she went up a couple of stories, grabbed a bottle of wine from a shelf, and had to say her lines in multiple locations along the way. Needless to say, the quality of the promos was inverse to the difficulty.

Challenge #2: Prepare a buffet for 50 guests (the selection committee, hotel chefs, and Vegas performers). They had a reasonable 6 hours to cook and a $1000 budget. The buffet was supposed to be “over the top, Vegas style” and they had to do an “entertaining” intro before the service. Although they didn’t state any rules for the foods, each contestant appeared to have 3 main courses, one vegetable side dish, and a dessert.

How did things go? My favorite, Aaron, did the best with his promo but totally bombed at the buffet. His intro was embarrassingly bad and all three of his main courses were pasta (the reviews of the food were that it was okay but not great). Lisa did so-so with the promo (hard to do when dangling 15 feet in the air), fabulous with the buffet intro, and well with the food. Adam did decently with the promo, well with the buffet intro, and was the runaway favorite with the food.

It’s been obvious that the selection committee loves Aaron, likes Lisa but has reservations, and isn’t too fond of Adam. But because they traditionally gave immunity to the person who won a particular challenge, they couldn’t get rid of Adam. And they didn’t want to dump Aaron for having one bad week. So they wimped out and are bringing all 3 contestants to the final episode this Sunday. At least it’s in New York.

So, enough of that, what the heck would I make if I were feeding 50 people? The budget isn’t an issue, even with expensive items, because everyone ate all 3 buffets, so portions were small. $1000 is $20/person and you can do a lot with that (catering budgets include labor, not just ingredients, and they weren’t serving alcohol). I’d want to be true to my personal food restrictions, at least the basic ones.

Main Courses:

Sweet peppers stuffed with shrimp paste with a hoisin sauce (hot)
Grape leaves stuffed with fish (cold)
Vegan soup, maybe chickpea with Georgian Walnut paste (hot)

Vegetable/Side:

A beautiful raw salad (cold)

Dessert:

Mango sorbet topped with pine nut cream and toasted almonds (cold, but with hot almonds if possible)

The shrimp I envision is the kind you get in dim sum restaurants stuffed into tofu. You take raw shrimp and process it with some other ingredients. I’ve made it before but it was years ago. I’d add spice and something to bind it, egg or flax goo. Maybe peas or something like that for texture and a fresh flavor. Stuff into those gorgeous colored sweet peppers that are 1-2 bites each. Roast. Serve with a salty intense dipping sauce based on hoisin.

The grape leaves came to me as a great choice but, if I were really in a competition, I might swap them out since I don’t have much experience with grape leaves. I’d cook a mild white fish like halibut and mince (not process) it well with a lot of fresh flavors like parsley then either add chutney or use similar flavors.

I’ve made the soup before from one of my favorite cookbooks, Olive Trees & Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World, and it’s simple but really good. The walnut paste has a unique flavor and is used regularly within the country of Georgia.

The raw salad would have no lettuce but lots of carefully cut items to make it special. Lots of long thin strips like noodles. Avocado, some more of the sweet peppers, pea pods, bean sprouts, specialty mushrooms. I’d have to see what looked good in the store and went together. A variety of colors. Served either with a chimichurri sauce (lime juice, parsley, mint, cilantro, very good olive oil, and garlic) or something else with an intense flavor that would pull all the other ingredients together.

Mango sorbet is very simple, which is the best way to do it. Take very ripe mangoes, remove the skin and pits, and puree them. A touch of salt, a squeeze of lime, some vanilla is all you need. It’s plenty sweet enough. Most people would add simple syrup but mango doesn’t need more sugar and all that water will just dilute the flavor.

I’d serve it with some vanilla bean pine nut cream (because you don’t have to soak pine nuts) and some toasted almond slices on top. If the kitchen didn’t have an ice cream maker, I could freeze half the puree in ice cube trays and then blend it up and then freeze again (watching it carefully so it doesn’t get too hard).

My meal could be done by 2 people (each contestant got a former contestant as a sous chef) in 6 hours with no problems. Granted, it did take me a few days to come up with the dishes, instead of near instanteneously like the contestants are forced to do. And I might not be able to get every ingredient I needed (in January, in the middle of the desert…oh, they’d all be in the store, just not at their peak). But hey, I’m a blogger in front of a computer, not a trained cook trying to smile for the camera. I get to imagine success.

Episode six of the Next Food Network Star takes place in Las Vegas and has each of the 4 remaining contestants doing a Throwdown, a la Bobby Flay.  Why is the show in Las Vegas?  Other than being able to cook outside in January, I haven’t the faintest idea.  The judges asked the contestants to pump up their dishes Vegas style (which doesn’t mean much); otherwise, it wasn’t really mentioned.

Each contestant made their signature dish (something chosen in advance, though it’s unclear if they knew which of their signature dishes they were actually making until the contest) and also had to make (and improve on) the signature dish of the other contestant they were paired with.

Forget the Throwdown part…it’s not something I can do in 75 minutes (at least they were given recipes to work with) with dishes I knew little to nothing about.  When Bobby does a Throwdown on his show, he goes to his 2 assistants, who have already researched it, and they spend a few hours in the test kitchen.

But what’s my signature dish?  I’ve had a few over the years but I have to say, for now, it’s going to be sauteed tofu strips with vegan pesto, served over a raw salad with a light vinegar-based dressing.  Not only do I love eating this, but it sums up my point of view of eating very well despite dietary restrictions.

This dish is mostly raw, lowcarb, vegan, and free of gluten and a bunch of other common food intolerances (but not soy, can’t have everything).  I consider it a perfect meal.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this all turns out.  I’m rooting for Aaron.

Episode five of the Next Food Network Star is fun and is the first one really suited to figuring out if the contestant is someone who ought to have their own show.

There was just a single challenge, but it was a long one.  Each contestant was paired with a Brownie (a girl about 8 years old in the Girl Scouts) and had 10 minutes to plan a “kid-friendly” healthy dish with them.  Then the girls left and the contestants had 75 minutes to prep the dish using foods from the Food Network pantry.

The core of the challenge was to appear on Rachael Ray’s talk show and cook that dish in front of a live studio audience, using their Brownie as an assistant while being a guest on Rachael Ray’s show.  The segments were 4 minutes long.

My favorite contestant (from the beginning of the season) is Aaron.  His previous camera work was lacking but this time he really lit up the screen.  And he involved the girl far more than anyone else did.  They made pizza and she was rolling out the dough, with him right behind her helping to guide the rolling pin.

One contestant, Lisa, is an excellent cook who tends to do her own thing.  She’s a mom and related well to her helper but didn’t really listen to her.  She said several times that she doesn’t think “kid food” should be dumbed down versions of adult food.  I couldn’t agree more.  I don’t give Miriam typical kid food and I don’t serve it to other children either.

But “kid-friendly” means more than the food itself.  This was a cooking segment.  The best way, in my opinion, to get kids interested in trying new foods is for them to make it themselves.  I have a folding step-stool that lives in our kitchen for Miriam to stand on.  She knows how to use the blender and the food processor, how to cut food with a knife (right now she is only allowed to use butter knives), and is learning recipes.  Even before she was 2 she was able to identify condiments and get them out of the fridge at appropriate times.

Miriam is 3 now and does more cooking than all but one of those girls in the competition did.  Lisa talked about how the girl had a “sophisticated palate” but she didn’t involve her at all in the cooking (and only barely in the planning).  All that poor girl got to do was spoon some sauce on.

This was a hard challenge and I make no pretense that I would have done anything but bomb.  I’ve done live cooking demos before, but not with a child I barely knew, not with a famous host, not with a strict (short) time limit, and certainly not to a camera.  But I still have some food ideas.

One thing each contestant got right was to ask the girls what foods they liked and pick dishes based on their preferences.  But what I didn’t see anyone ask was what cooking experience the girls had and what they liked to do in the kitchen.

Miriam’s favorite dish to make is bean salad.  It’s super easy because we use canned beans (you could make it with dried beans but each one requires different cooking times).  Miriam can do everything except open the cans and dice the oregano.  She recognizes the oregano in the garden and can pick it.  She can empty the cans, add the other ingredients, and stir.  She doesn’t get amounts right and needs some physical help when it’s heavy, but she has the ideas down.  She even has most of the recipe memorized.

If I were preparing this live, I’d probably pre-open the cans and remove the lids.  But everything else could be done right there.  Dump the can contents into a colander and the colander contents into a bowl.  Add the oil and vinegar, stir and taste.  Make a point about the importance of tasting.  When the acid/oil balance is right, add the mustard, salt and pepper, and stir.  Taste again for salt.  Adjust.  Then make a point about how only grownups can handle the big knife and mince the oregano and let the child add it in.  If I were making another dish also, I would pre-measure the bean salad ingredients and put them into small bowls to free up some time.

Another good dish would be a wrap or taco.  The emphasis here would be on using leftovers that are already cooked.  I’d choose a protein (tempeh or fish would be my choices but you can use meat too) and bring it warmed to the counter.  And I’d have some sauteed veggies too.  Or, I could have cooked leftovers that were protein and veggies (like bell pepper strips, mushrooms, onions) and heat them in a skillet on the segment.  The tortillas can be room temperature or get a quick heat on the burner.  Spread the tortillas with some pre-made guacamole, add the protein and vegetables, add some shredded cabbage or lettuce or other fresh veggies, and (optionally) some salsa and it’s done.

If the child I was working with liked fish, I’d make some salmon salad from precooked salmon fillets which we would break up into a bowl.  Show some veggie cutting but mostly add pre-diced celery and red onion.  Add mayo and mustard, salt and pepper.  Serve on endive or small romaine lettuce slices.  Or roll into lettuce, serve on a salad, or put into a wrap.   Or just make a sandwich (to be ordinary).

Another favorite Miriam dish, and a real healthy kid-friendly food, is hummus.  Since I wouldn’t have time to prep dried beans, I would use canned.  But mention the option of dried.  It’s so easy.  You dump the canned beans into the food processor (drain 2 and leave 1 full), add the other ingredients, and push the buttons.  I would serve it with a salad, fresh veggies, olives, and carrots for dipping.  All while mentioning various serving options.  The problem with doing hummus on a short TV segment is the noise of the food processor for perhaps a total of 30 seconds.

If I wanted to use eggs, deviled eggs would be a great kid dish.  Or an omelet.  As an alternative to eggs, I would make a corn pancake with great fillings.  If there was masa in the pantry.

Another can’t go wrong dish is slushies.  Or popsicles if there was time overnight to freeze them (swapping out the freshly poured ones for done ones).  Of course the noise of the blender would be a TV killer, so maybe not.

Can you tell this was my favorite challenge so far?

I’ve been thinking about making pesto stuffed mushrooms for a while now, at least since considering the dish as worthy of a Food Network competition.  Then I was at the store and saw the beautiful criminis.  Usually they have the smaller ones, but sometimes they have ones almost big enough to be called portabellas.  If they were a little bigger, they would be, since criminis are just less mature portabellas.  Same type of mushroom.

Wash the mushrooms and gently remove the stems and the fleshy part over the gills (chop the stems etc and put aside for a stir-fry another day).  Lightly oil a baking pan, place the mushrooms gill down on the pan to get some oil then flip to roast on their backs.  To make this a raw dish, fill the mushrooms as is (when dry) or perhaps dehydrate them until soft (I haven’t tried this).

Bake until soft but still strong enough to pick up with your fingers.  About 15 minutes at 350*F, but go by doneness, not time.

Turn them over to dump the accumulated liquid (I poured it into some root vegetables I was also roasting) and leave them upside down on the dry pan to cool.

Then put a heaping spoonful of pesto in each mushroom.  I used my basic vegan pesto recipe made with extra pine nuts and nice and thick.

Serve warm, room temperature, or cold.  I chilled mine then brought them on a picnic at the Marin County Fair.

Episode five of the Next Food Network Star had some challenges that finally seemed worthy of candidates for a cooking show.

Challenge #1: Using a mystery basket with 6 ingredients, create a dish using them, and prepare to describe the dish on camera. The twist was that each contestant had to switch baskets with another, without being told what it was. Then they had 90 seconds from reveal to taste and describe the dish, focusing on conveying the attributes (taste and smell) that the audience couldn’t sense. I probably would have bombed like most of them did.

Challenge #2: Each of three pairs of contestants had to take one classic dish that normally took hours to prepare and create a version that a home cook could make in 45 minutes. Each team also made two side dishes.

I think this was a great challenge but, again, it was done with a very limited time frame. I just don’t see why. Anyone with a cooking show would plan this out and run some tests. These contestants had an unknown (but short) time to plan, 30 mins to shop, and then had to do everything, including plate for around a dozen people, in 45 minutes. Granted, they had two trained people to do it all vs one home cook, but it didn’t really make sense to force them to guess what would and wouldn’t work, when a 2 hour prep period could have done that. Then give them 45 minutes to actually prepare the dish (including prep work that would be done at home) and another 10 minutes to plate.

All three dishes were meat-based foods I have never cooked. Beef Wellington seemed the easiest (and, indeed, it not only was picked first but it won the prize of having the recipe featured in Bon Appétit magazine). It is a tender cut of beef, covered in a mushroom paste, and baked in puff pastry. The team constructed a seared beef fillet with mushroom paste (it has a fancy name but…) on top and all sitting on a puff pastry round. I would have done something similar (assuming I had someone to tell me what Beef Wellington was before I tried this) except I would have made a puff pastry turnover.

Their sides were roasted summer vegetables and creamed pearl onions. The veggies were perfect because they added color and had a fresh contrast to the heavy main dish. The pearl onions were too white next to the tans and browns of the main dish (the judges pointed this out but it was pretty obvious even to us amateurs). I would have blended some parsley into the cream sauce to turn it green, and mixed in some minced parsley too for texture.

The next dish was Coq de Vin, which is chicken in a wine-based stew. The team grilled boneless chicken breasts and topped it with a sauce that the judges loved but said had nothing to do with the target dish. I haven’t cooked chicken in over 25 years but I think I would have tried sauteing some flour dredged chicken cubes then putting them into a wine-based soup with stock and vegetables and boiling down into a stew. I don’t know if that would just remind people of the real thing too much (as a bad comparison) or if it wouldn’t work at all. Their sides were polenta and pasta. Where were the vegetables?

The hardest dish by far was Turducken. That bizarre thing some meat-loving folks go ga-ga for. Duck stuffed in a chicken stuffed in a turkey. The team did a dish with all 3 meats but it wasn’t a cohesive unit. I think I would have aimed for a lasagna. Or whatever you would call it when it’s all meat meat meat. You’d have to use pre-cooked meats so most of the 45 mins would be spent baking and blending. I don’t know what other flavorings are involved.

So, not Cyndi food this week either. They don’t make it easy to bring out your own style. You have to be a general cook to make it. One of the contestants was an Indian cook, who only did that style, but she wasn’t good enough to continue and left last week. Basically though, you have to know how to do everything, which means a focus on mainstream cooking. Not just “American” (which is fine as a base point) but meat, dairy, wheat. All those things I do without.

Episode four of the Next Food Network Star; more speed, quick thinking, and some camera work.

Challenge #1: Demonstrate a “basic skill” to the camera in one minute. I remember a couple of seasons ago the contestants had to show they knew some basic cooking skills by performing tasks in front of a judge (without other contestants watching). Each had the same tasks to do. I think they were dicing an onion, filleting a fish, and julienning some carrots.

This time there was a single task, none the same, under a cloth. Position the contestant, lift the cloth, give a sentence description of what they are to do, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go. Some were insanely easy (cut up a pineapple) and some were insanely hard (clean a squid). Though of course, what was easy or hard depended on what you had experience with.

The judges actually didn’t care if you got it right. They wanted “authority” and camera skills. One of the ones they liked was from the guy who was supposed to open a coconut and instead didn’t manage to get a drop of juice out, because he acted like he knew what he was doing.

I would have done well with some (the pineapple, maybe the coconut) and with others I not only didn’t know how but couldn’t have even faked my way through it (cleaning the squid, shucking an oyster).

Challenge #2: Pick one of the offered whole fish (each a different kind) and one of the crazy ingredients (all sweet or odd things like white chocolate, fruit-loop-like cereal, or coffee beans). Fillet your fish and take it, plus 10 lbs of pre-filleted fish, and create two dishes. One is a dish that Red Lobster might put on its menu (the winner had that happen), so it had to appeal to a general audience. The other must use the crazy ingredient. Then plate for 30 people (the judges plus a Coast Guard crew) and give a presentation.

They had some prep time one day then the food was stored overnight and they had, I believe, 45 minutes to finish and plate.

I’m not totally sure what I would have done because I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the offered fish. I’d heard of most, but not cooked with them. One I’d never heard of was Arctic Char. But it was described as a cross between a trout and a salmon. So I wonder…is that Steelhead? If so, it’s one of my favorite fish. You just can’t go wrong with it. Grilled, pan-seared, or roasted. Very tender flavor, but not bland, without falling apart. It’s moist with a good fat mouth feel.

If I had gotten cod or a similar fish, I think a fish stew would have been great. And then a wrap or soft taco with some fried, lightly battered, chunks. The crazy ingredient would have to be in a sauce I think. Maybe on some shredded cabbage in the dish. Grape jelly would have worked, maybe even the chocolate. Coffee could have gone in the stew. I don’t know, this was a hard one. I’m real good on how to leave certain ingredients out. Don’t have experience with forcing certain ingredients to be in.

Others of my standby fish dishes could have worked out. Fish cakes (which I’ve never actually made on my own), ceviche (which I think would have worked out great, if I could have marinated it overnight…they didn’t go for another contestant’s fish tartar, but I think ceviche is mainstream enough to work, at least in California it is…even have it at the county fair), or some fish rolls would have been a nice mainstream dish (especially if I could have made them the day before and cooked them the day of).

My favorite seller was at the Petaluma Farmer’s Market the other week, Chris the peach guy.  Chemical-free, great prices, and amazing flavor.  He had a “rejects” box he was selling at $1/lb (half the usual price)–mostly ones with small blemishes that most people wouldn’t even notice.  I was picking through it when he said, oh just take the whole box for $5.  So I did.  Probably about 10 lbs worth.

As you can imagine, a few of these beauties made it to the compost pile.  Not because they were bad when I bought them but because there is only so much you can do with that many peaches.  I already have several jars of peach chutney and several bags of frozen peach ice cream mix from previous summers.

I made quite a few dried peaches, ate a mountain of them fresh, and discovered a new treat: peach cobbler.

I didn’t follow a recipe, which is probably just as well since I’ve never made it the “regular” way before.  I just put together things that seemed right.  I’ve made it twice now.

Start by washing and slicing the fresh peaches.  I never peel them.  The ones below were on their last legs and had been in the fridge for a while, but they were still amazing.  You can not make this recipe with supermarket peaches grown for size and shipping stamina and picked too soon.

Toss the slices into a lightly greased baking pan.  Aim for one layer thick with some overlap.

Next, make the topping.

I don’t have an exact recipe.  I used nut meal, palm shortening, a little salt, and a touch of honey.  My first batch was with ground walnuts and it was great.  For the second batch I used ground almonds.  It was good but not as tasty.  I wanted to use some oats but didn’t have any.  It’s best with meal that is closer to flour (or actual nut flour with some meal mixed in).

Because I am trying to keep the carbs low, I used nut meal/flour instead of grain flour.  In my second batch I added a bit of stevia to boost the sweetening without adding more honey.  This worked out well.

Mix the nuts and shortening first until you have something that can stick together.  Then add sweetener and seasoning as desired.

Now, put the topping over the fruit and very lightly tap it down.

Bake at 400*F for about half an hour, or until done.  The first time I made a small batch and just put it all into the convection toaster oven.  It came out amazing.  The peaches tasted fresh and juicy but there wasn’t excess liquid.  The second time the pan wouldn’t fit in the toaster oven so I used the regular oven.  I had to overcook it to get the water to evaporate (I cooked the peaches some without topping at first).  It was still delicious but the peaches had almost a canned flavor to them.

So if you have a convection oven, use it.  If not, maybe baking the peaches at very low heat at first will work, then add the topping.

Episode three of the Next Food Network Star focused on presentation.

Challenge #1: Feature one special ingredient (the potato) in a single dish (45 minutes to make it…if I remember correctly).  Full use of the pantry for other ingredients.  Then hold the dish, face the camera, and speak about it for exactly one minute, telling a personal story about yourself in relationship to the dish.  The selection committee then tasted the dish in private.

Potatoes…oy.  They don’t make it easy to be a lowcarber on this show.  But at least it wasn’t wheat, dairy, or pig.  Although I haven’t cooked them in ages, I have several potato dishes I used to make.  Here are two that would have worked well.

Curry Mashed Potatoes

Dice potatoes small so they will cook quickly (unnecessary if not facing a deadline)
When done, drain and mash
Add raw egg, mix well to cook
Add curry powder and any other desired seasoning

The story would be how I lived in Nicaragua for 6 months 20 years ago and learned how to cook with very limited ingredients.  This recipe came from a Dutch woman volunteering at the same school where I volunteered.  (I’m trying to remember if this recipe has yoghurt or milk in it…I don’t think so, because those were hard to come by there.)

Potato and Egg Fry

Slice potatoes and onions, saute in oil until starting to brown
Add cubes of apple, stir
Turn off heat, add beaten egg, stir until done (I like undercooked eggs so perhaps I would have left the heat on longer to bring the eggs up to a more medium state of being cooked)
Add salt and pepper as desired

No specific story here, it’s just comfort food.  Maybe say something about how I made this dish a lot when I was in college and away from home cooking all my own meals.

If I wanted to do a vegan one I’d probably try to roast the potatoes (if I had time) with good olive oil, sea salt, and fresh rosemary.  Perhaps with some parsnips and carrots.

Challenge #2: Create a packaged food product that represents you.  Plan and shop for it quickly (half an hour to shop, not sure how much planning time but it was brief), cook/create the product and put into a couple dozen containers with printed labels (not much cooking time, an hour or two), and put aside overnight.  The next day, get 30 minutes to set up your table, including cooking all your demo items, and present your product to 50 food buyers (real people from places like Harry’s & David’s and William Sonoma) and one special guest, Martha Stewart.

I just don’t get these people.  Are they looking for great ideas or are they looking for grace under pressure?  I understand that they didn’t want people to take a week to source ingredients and do test runs, but do everything in a couple of hours?  One contestant, for example, needed cayenne pepper for his dish, but another contestant had taken it all.  It’s a common ingredient and he could have gotten it quickly from another store, but wasn’t allowed.

This is my dream challenge though.   I have all sorts of ideas for food products and I already have experience with organic certification, sourcing ingredients, knowing a lot about what is and isn’t available, pricing, and so forth.

If I had the money or the backing, I’d create a line of salad dressings, sauces, oils, and similar products that were all affordable and healthy based on my idea of healthy.  That means organic of course but mostly it means no junk food oils.  Have you ever tried to find a salad dressing with unrefined oil?  Even the organic ones at Whole Foods (including their brand) are based on refined soybean, canola, or safflower oils.  Yeck.  I get sick when I eat them.

If I were in this challenge, I’d make this dressing:

Olive tomato mustard dressing

Extra virgin olive oil
Raw apple cider vinegar
Sun-dried tomatoes
Olives (green and black)
Mustard
Hemp seed or sesame seed
Herbs, salt, etc

Blend together well in to a thick but pourable sauce.  It could even be made 100% raw if it were packaged for the refrigerated shelf.  Would still be healthy and good if steamed into a glass container.

I doubt I’d sell my concept well though.  Even for most people who are health conscious, unrefined oils aren’t on their radar.  They think of extra virgin olive oil as the expensive stuff you save for special occasions.  Rachael Ray has changed that to some degree, since she cooks with the stuff, but you still hear people like Alton Brown telling viewers not to waste the extra virgin on things like pesto (which is one food that really needs good oil).  When it comes to other oils, forget it.  Who cares about unrefined sunflower oil or untoasted sesame?  This is the era where refined, genetically engineered, pesticided canola oil is considered healthy.

Food buyers would take one look at my products and say, but there already are organic salad dressings (etc) out there, what makes yours different?  And I’d have a hard time answering without using the words “poison” “plastic” or “evil.”  That’s why I would make a complex one like the recipe above.  It tastes really good and it’s different.

Popsicles are an easy summer treat that feels like dessert but can be very healthy if made with the right ingredients.  I always use whole fruit, never juice.  And I don’t sweeten them either.  But you can make them any way you wish.

The basic recipe is:

Pureed fruit
Liquid to make them pourable

For this batch, I used frozen strawberries (because that’s what we had) and a banana.  I thinned it with water.  That’s it.  For a lowcarb treat, use lowcarb fruits like berries and melon (not watermelon) and stone fruit (peaches, plums).

My stepmother tells me she made popsicles for me and my brother as kids with orange juice and yoghurt.  Instead of the water I used, you could use cow’s milk, yoghurt, cream, soy milk, rice milk, nut milk, or juice.  Nearly any fruit would work well.  You can also make an ice cream base and freeze that.

Just mix it up and pour it into your molds, setting it up as appropriate.

I have some all metal molds but they’re harder to use and the sticks are not standard and are something you can’t substitute for or replace.  I’m not crazy about using plastic but it’s the easiest to find.

1.5 cups of puree filled 6 of my 8 molds.  Next time I’ll make 2 cups.  If you write down the total amount needed for your molds, it will make it very simple to whip up a new batch.

Let them freeze for several hours.  The stick should be firmly in place.  Dip the mold in very hot water (I used tap) for a few seconds then slide the popsicle out.  This may take a couple dips.

Eat on a blistering hot day for best effects.

Episode two of the Next Food Network Star is all about speed. Which I suppose is this season’s theme. Not quick cooking (30 minute meals, etc) like in other seasons, but frantic decisions with no time to plan. Not realistic.

This week there was one big challenge broken up into several parts.  The 9 contestants were randomly sorted into groups of 3.  After being woken up at 3am, their day started immediately after being given instructions.  With the clock ticking, they had to shower, dress, eat, and drive off.  To show character I guess, but I really didn’t see the point of it.

Each team visited 3 locations and had to answer a food-related question.  If they got it right, they could choose an offered ingredient and head off to the next location.  If they got it wrong, one team member had to waste time doing boring food prep before getting the ingredient.

The questions were a mix.  I could answer one third to half of the ones shown.  At least the first one was easy: which two components of wheat are left out of white flour? (bran and germ)…the team got it wrong.

The 3 locations were bread, cheese, and meat stores.  Each one had 3 ingredient choices and the teams got to choose in the order they were ready.  It was made out to be a big deal to get the last choice, but really everything was good.

When they finally arrived at the meeting point after the challenge, they found out that the prize for coming in first was simply to go first in the next challenge.  This was supposedly an advantage, though I didn’t see it that way.  Going later meant more time to think about what to cook.

Each team had a mere 45 minutes to plan and cook and plate brunch for 30 people.  On a moving train.  Each of the 3 ingredients from the previous challenge had to be featured, but there was a full pantry of other foods too.  Although I’m not sure this was part of the requirement, I believe each team made 3 dishes, each with one of the featured ingredients, and one team member made each dish.

So…bread, cheese, and meat.  Not really a Cyndi meal.  But sometimes cooking with restrictions means you have to use the foods you normally avoid.  The teams made French toast (2) and bread pudding, various salads (to use cheese or duck), fried eggs, a salmon sandwich (my favorite), and strip steak.

I think I would have made a frittata with cheese and meat and toast with a savory topping.  Or maybe eggs Benedict with the meat ingredient in lieu of the usual ham and the bread ingredient in lieu of the usual English muffin.  Then maybe a side salad (spinach would be nice) with the cheese ingredient.

Not the most exciting of challenges but at least the most boring contestant went home and my favorite (Aaron) was one of two to win the challenge and be featured in a magazine.

When I watch competition shows I do sometimes get caught up in rooting for the people I like but I usually end up wondering what I would do if it were me up there. The Next Food Network Star does include home cooks (though most are professional caterers, chefs, or restaurant owners, nearly all with professional training), all ages are represented, and I could always apply, I prefer the sidelines. Although I’m comfortable in front of audiences (and have even taught cooking before), I’m not photogenic and don’t have the culinary skills or television personality they want. But, hey, if they ever have a “create the recipes and write the script for the Next Food Network star’s new show competition,” I’m ready.

I’ve seen a couple seasons of this series before and it’s different each time. Sometimes the camera skills challenges (pacing a cooking segment, facing the audience (camera) as you do it, explaining things just so) start immediately (which means they expect some bumpiness because everyone’s new) and sometimes they come later (when they expect contestants to be more polished).

For one season, they kept emphasizing choosing recipes for the home cook, yet most of the challenges involved cooking for dozens or hundreds of people. Very odd. And pretty much always, they focus on fast fast fast. You’re lucky if you have a few hours to prep and cook (vs a few minutes) and the longest period I’ve ever seen for cooking is overnight (with no tending allowed). This rules out a huge percentage of dishes: bread, pickles, roasts, marinades, slow cookers, even beans. It’s an odd, but consistent, restriction.

Thanks to my trusty DVR, I’m a bit behind with the shows. I just watched the first one which aired June 1, 2008. Ten finalists were put through two challenges.

Challenge #1: Face the camera, with or without a prop, and state your culinary point of view in one sentence (or very quickly).

I know exactly what mine would be–I thought about it in past seasons too–though I’m still not sure how to articulate it succinctly. No props for me.

Vegetarian? food allergy? special diet? I’m Cyndi Norwitz and I’m going to show you how to turn a dietary restriction into an opportunity.

Challenge #2: The 10 contestants were randomly paired into 5 groups of 2. They had to present a 3 dish meal to 9 Food Network stars and producers (plus make a “beauty plate”). Each person in the pair had to make one dish that represented their culinary point of view, then collaborate on the third. The hard part was they had 10 minutes to plan their menu, a few minutes to shop, then only 30 minutes in the kitchen to prep, cook, and plate everything (with no help).

The time element made this one really hard. Just having a few more minutes to plan and another half hour to cook would have made all the difference. But I think I would have done this dish:

Chopped salad–lettuce, shredded root vegetables, avocado, and tomato–with an olive, sun-dried tomato vinaigrette (blended mostly smooth) and topped with seared salmon and mushrooms.

I would wash and slice mushrooms, sear the fish with mushrooms, then pop it in the oven (7-10 mins total, could save 3 minutes if I had pre-sliced mushrooms). Then wash and prep the salad veggies and blend the dressing (7-10 mins, assuming I had an electric shredder and a salad spinner, or I could save time with prepacked salad greens). The fish would be done in 10-15 mins, leaving a couple minutes to plate it all up. And with time to work on whatever dish I was sharing (as the fish cooked).

What would go with that dish? Let’s see…

Pine nut cream over fresh fruit (pine nuts can be creamed without any soaking, or they could soak for 10 mins if timed right)

Baked mushroom caps topped with vegan pesto and some toasted pine nuts (at last minute to warm them but keep from over cooking the pesto or making the seeds soggy)

Soup made with finely chopped butternut squash or carrot and ginger, cooked for as long as possible then blended smooth with plenty of spice and a boxed pre-made broth.

I’m loving this dehydrator a coworker of Michael’s gave him.  So far, I’ve made Fruit Leather and a bunch of dried fruits and vegetables.  Below are some of my experiments.  Everything was dried at 115*F to keep it raw.  I run the dehydrator all day then turn it off at night (or when going out) and run it again the next day.  Most things took 12-15 hours.

Bananas:

I sliced the bananas in half (thirds for longer ones) then lengthwise into 3 or 4 strips, and placed them on the tray.  As close together as possible without overlapping.

They came out smaller but not as tiny as some of the other foods.  I couldn’t get them crispy though, even though I ran them through the dehydrator for several days.  They were leathery and chewy and really delicious.  They were also dried plenty for safe storage.

My first attempt to make them was with banana chips.  The results were similar but arranging all those chips on the tray was a pain, so the strips are easier.

Carrots:

I tried both chips and strips here.

Like with the bananas, I never managed to get them crispy, though they were close. These shrunk up like crazy and some of the chips fell through the grate.  The chips would be good in soup I think.  These were tasty.

Beets:

I’ve made beet chips, with both red and golden beets, many times, and they have come out reasonably well.  I got them crispy and firm and able to be used for eating hummus.  I cut them by hand and dried them in the oven, at 150*F (the lowest I could go).  They work well in a convection oven.  But I had trouble with some burning or over-drying and also with the thickness.

I have been looking forward for a long time to making the chips with a mandolin (which I bought a few months ago) and a dehydrator.  But these were a disappointment.  The chips I made in the past tasted wonderful, but these were bitter.  Maybe it was the beet I used, not the method.  I think the slices were too thin also.  I can set the mandolin thicker, or I can cut by hand.

And I never got them past the leathery stage.  Maybe I’m being impatient, but it did seem that they got to leathery and then stayed there for hour upon hour of additional drying.  The other items were the same.

I’ll keep experimenting though, because I really do love beet chips.

This is one large beet.  It covered two trays.

This is what it it came down to.  You can see the other tray under the top one.  This is about the amount of shrinkage I got from oven drying.

Strawberries and Peaches:

A few apricots made it into the mix too.

Oh wow, these were amazing.  The peaches stayed a bit juicy (but were still storage safe) and all the fruits were chewy and stick-to-your-teeth delicious.  Despite having plenty of the fresh versions around to eat, Miriam is begging me to make more.  “Can you make some more of these chips?…Will you do it right now?”

Happiness is a dried peach.

I have a new (to me) dehydrator and it has a plastic insert for making fruit leathers. So I had to try it.

I just toss some very ripe fruit into the blender. Mostly stuff too soft for the dried fruit I was prepping. Peach, strawberry, banana. And a pinch of salt. I never remove edible skins.

I poured about 1 cup of pureed fruit on to the insert.

I dehydrated it at 115*F, to keep it raw, for many hours.  Not sure but maybe 8-10.

Peeling it away was hard to figure out, but then I cut a strip across and eased around the edges with a butter knife.  After that, it came off rather easily.

It’s really good and chewy and sweet, despite no added sugar.  It’s been storing very well in a plastic bag on the counter.  Next time I think I’ll do 1.5 to 2 cups of puree instead of 1, to make it thicker  Oh, and get more inserts.

Michael and I were in the terrific produce section of the new branch of Farmer Joe’s market in Oakland last week. They had a wide chile selection and we got some that looked like poblanos, but turned out to be spicier. I made a filling for them the other night.

Recipe:

4 stuffing peppers (any kind you like, even bells), core
15 oz very firm tofu
A couple leaves of something firm and green (I used bok choy)
1 bunch fresh basil (leaves)
1/4 cup pine nuts
Salt & pepper to taste

Food process the tofu, greens, basil, and seasoning until fairly smooth. Add the pine nuts and process until chunky.

Stuff the peppers well with a spoon until full. I like to put a toothpick across the top to help keep them closed, though I’m not sure how much good it does. The middle pepper with the extra toothpicks had a bad bottom I had to slice off.

Tip: when you cut off the tops to prep the peppers, save the ring of flesh around the stem. Chop finely and save in fridge or freezer for future stir-fries.

I had leftover filling, so I grabbed a couple of mushrooms, removed the stems, and stuffed them too. Those are large criminis by the way, not small portabellas. What’s the difference? about $3/lb.

It was the tail end of our recent heat wave, and I didn’t want to waste energy either, so I baked these in the toaster oven (larger style convection oven). 350*F for 30 minutes (turning peppers over every 10 minutes) then 10 minutes at 300*F. The details aren’t important…just make sure the peppers are soft but not falling apart and don’t let them brown too much.

I served it with a quickie salad. Sliced romaine lettuce (fine to cut with a knife if you eat it right away…it makes for a different mouth feel), hemp seeds, and a simple vinaigrette.

Aside from the over-abundance of green, it was a fast and lovely meal.

We belong to a Shabbus potluck group that meets every month or two.  Yesterday, it was at our home.  Although Miriam (and I) can’t have gluten, traces aren’t an issue.  Unfortunately, it’s not that way with egg.  Even a little crumb can give her symptoms.

Challah is a braided egg bread that plays an important role in the weekly Shabbat prayers.  As you pray, you touch the bread, or touch someone touching it.  Though of course I don’t have any or allow Miriam to eat it, that isn’t enough when it’s happening in my house.  We can’t leave the crumbs and contaminated surfaces behind when people go home.  And cleaning well often isn’t 100%.

So I decided to make challah.  Or at least a bread-like substance that was challah-like.  Technically, challah should contain chametz (one of the 5 grains, also meaningful for Passover), but fortunately no one minded that it didn’t.

I’m not much of a baker (i.e., I stink) so I just bought a mix.  The bread a friend made from Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free mix was so good, I got that one.

Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix
INGREDIENTS: Sorghum Flour, Tapioca Flour, Sweet Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Organic Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar, Chicory Root, White Rice Flour, Millet Flour, Honey and Molasses; Rice Bran, Sea Salt, Xanthan Gum, Yeast Packet.
1 slice of bread (1/16th of loaf) has 25 usable grams of carbs (29 total minus 4 fiber).

As it happens, they even have a recipe for turning the mix into challah on their website.

We used the egg-free alternative directions but super-concentrated it.  So for 3 eggs, I used 1/2 cup of water and 4 tablespoons flaxmeal.  We also made it dairy-free

Recipe:

1 bag Pamela’s Wheat-Free Bread Mix
Equivalent of 3 eggs
1/4 cup palm shortening, melted
1/2 cup soy milk (use anything)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 yeast packet (enclosed)

The recipe calls for a stand mixer, which we don’t have.  It recommends a whisk attachment, which we do have on our stick blender.  But that made the too-dry dough fly all over.  Even adding some water didn’t help.  So Michael mixed it by hand with a large whisk then kneaded it with his hands.

Now the mixture was too sticky, so I added some brown rice flour as Michael kneaded.  And it turned out glossy and smooth and really nice.  It was so easy to handle I just braided it by hand instead of the plastic bag piping business the website recommends.

I think I could have easily done a true braid, but I started easy  by just making two long rolls and twisting them then sealing the ends.  I did this on a floured (rice) cutting board then moved it (with a dough scraper) to a greased baking pan.

I wanted to put sesame seeds on the outside, but didn’t have any.  So I did a light sprinkling of some ground sesame salt we had.  I didn’t do anything in place of the egg wash for the outside.

I put this in the oven, turned it on to 150*F for a minute, then turned it off (it was a cool day), and let it rise for a little over an hour.  Then we turned the oven on to 350*F and let it bake for one hour.  The bottom got a bit over-brown, almost black, but was still edible, and the crust was strong and thick.  The insides were soft and luscious.  I didn’t do a good job sealing one of the ends.  Also the two twists never really melded together and were like separate pieces of bread.

Our guests all loved the bread, though it didn’t really taste like challah and all of them were wheat-eaters.  I’d gladly make it every week if it weren’t so carby.  It’s definitely a winner for special occasions.  I think dividing it into two loaves and baking it for less time would soften the crust while still cooking the insides.