Making the front page of the Dining section in the New York Times gives you bragging rights for at least a day, doesn’t it? We’re as proud as new mamas and papas here at Foodista, grinning from ear to ear that our food-wiki baby has splashed the pages of the Old Gray Lady.

Barnaby also bravely roused himself out of bed this morning at the crazy hour of 3:45 for an interview on The Takeaway, an NPR and BBC syndicated radio program hosted by John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee with co-guest Kim Severson, author of the Times article.

Cigars all around!

Photo by Axel Koester for the New York Times.

Jo Stougaard (Mylastbite.com) making Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks.

Find the recipe on Foodista:

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Categories:	Interview	12 Comments
Tags:	Food • food wiki • foodista • foodista.com • jo stougaard • kim severson • mylastbite • new york times

We’re scouring the Web for fun food links to share with you every week and here’s what we’ve found:

• Al Dente has uncovered the ultimate fusion food – the Zucchini Weenie
• Beantown Baker kicks off Cupcake Week with recipes, photos and a contest!
• Yummy pie + tasty lollipops = Pie Lollipops
• Party Like It’s 1959! Aurelio’s Pizza is selling their pies at 1959 prices. Book us on the red-eye to The Windy City!
• The Cake Spy brings us The Hermit Cookie from 1880
• Craving that South-of-the-boarder flavor? Try these delicious Chiles en Nogada from Cookstr.com.
• These Goodbyn lunchboxes on SeriousEats.com make us want to go back to school!
• ‘Top Chef Masters’ winner Rick Bayless dishes about his 27-ingredient mole and more
• While we’re talking Top Chef…we’re rooting for Robin, our fellow Seattleite!
• It’s the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock! Stay tuned to the Foodista Blog for some modern twists on some hippy classics

Photo: Gio JL

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Categories:	Uncategorized	Leave a Comment
Tags:	Food • food news • recipes

As a restaurateur, the ambiance and experience your guest will have in your restaurant is just as important as the food they will eat. Often months of research and development take place before a restaurant opens while the owners, chefs and management search for the right look, feel and taste to define what their new venture will be. Instead of trying to replicate that slow-cooked tomato sauce that tastes authentically like an Italian grandmother’s secret recipe, one restaurant owner decided to go straight to the source. According to the New York Daily News, Joe Scaravella of Enoteca Maria Italian restaurant on Staten Island has hired eight Italian-born grandmothers to  cook truly authentic Italian cuisine every night. Each of the women rotate cooking for the 35-seat restaurant and since each of the women come from different parts of Italy, regional dishes can vary from night to night. One woman was quoted saying that she’s happy to cook what she wants and how she wants, her husband is spoiled and doesn’t appreciate what she does, at Enoteca Maria, people clap in appreciation at the end of the night.

If you can’t get to Staten Island any time soon, you can attempt to create your own Italian style dishes- here are some standouts from Foodista for inspiration.

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Categories:	Restaurants	Leave a Comment
Tags:	Chefs • enoteca maria • Food • Italian • Restaurants

Editorial Note: We’re happy to introduce Warren Etheredge of The Warren Report as a Contributing Editor on the Foodista Blog. Be sure and check out the video clips below.

Which would you rather eat?

a) a genetically-modified, patent-protected soybean increasingly devoid of nutrients that may put all family farmers out of business?

b) a hamburger comprised of dozens of the ground-down slaughtered carcasses of cattle — raised more cruelly than Augusten Burroughs, Christina Crawford and Antwone Fisher — and padded with an ammonia-cleansed filler of fat, gristle and trimmings?

c) your words?

FOOD, INC. poses this question indirectly, but it is the crux of the movie. If we truly are what we eat, shouldn’t we review our options a little more judiciously? And, shouldn’t we discuss our choices publicly before our Freedom of Speech is bought out by the very business interests that intend to limit them?

Robert Kenner ’s well-packaged documentary serves up the issues in a manner suited for mass consumption. The film covers all the inherent problems with our increasingly industrialized food chain from the main ingredient of chicken soup to Big Food’s litigious oppression of growers and consumers that’s just nuts. We learn that poultry-breeders are today’s indentured servants, seed-cleaners are tomorrow’s witches and grocery-shoppers are an endangered species because food-like substances being marketed and sold to us are killing us slowly. (Think you’re healthier than your grandparents? Guess again. They didn’t stop thrice daily at the Yum-Yum Snack Shack for a Mega-Meal and Jug-o-Pop. Grandma and Grandpa also got out in the sun — to work! — once in a while.)

Authors Eric Shlosser and Michael Pollan have stated their convincing cases before — in Fast Food Nation and In Defense of Food, respectively. Here, they offer up their worries and warnings in bite-sized chunks that serve as a narrative backbone, along with pinches and dashes of like-minded mavericks such as Joel (Salad Bar Beef) Salatin of Polyface Farm and Gary (Stirring It Up) Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm (The latter is a entrepreneurial champion of the commodification of the organic movement; the former, an authoritative advocate for the (re-)simplification of the food cycle. Bet he read Snip, Snap, Snurr and The Buttered Bread.) Naturally, the big cheeses of Big Food refuse to go on camera, on record. Consequently, it is the repressed testimony of Republican mom Barbara Kowalcyk that lifts and separates FOOD, INC. from the cornucopia of related documentaries. Having lost her 2-year-old son to an E. Coli outbreak in 2001, Ms. Kowalcyk now fights for food safety legislation despite the efforts of lobbyists and lawyers to shut her up. Sadly, these money-launderers and three-bit shysters have succeeded to a great extent. Congress has done little to protect the public. And, when pressed to explain how her own eating habits have changed since her son’s death, Ms. Kowalcyk zips her lips for fear of prosecution. (You’ve got to see it to bereave it.) Apparently, it’s okay for the food industry to kill kids with tainted burgers, yet it is not okay for to her to have it her way and speak her piece.  Even Elise Pearlstein, the producer of FOOD, INC., shied away from talking about her diet, during our conversation, for fear of retaliation. Only Oprah is bold and wealthy enough to speak up and shill out for a dream team of defense attorneys. But what good is the First Amendment if Free Speech is only available for purchase? What good is the FDA if its policing-powers are as morally-corrupted by conflicts of interest as Eliot Spitzer at a Hookers-For-Justice conference? What good is the federally-approved food pyramid if its corn-and-grain keystones serve only as building blocks for a fatter, not fitter, America?

FOOD, INC. frames the dilemma, offers multiple choices. THINK before you bite. Read Pollan, Schlosser and Salatin. Read Nina Planck’s Real Food: What to Eat and Why, the best blend of the sense and science of nutrition. Better yet, visit a farm, not just your farmers’ market. If you’ve got kids, take ‘em. If you’ve got fists, shake ‘em at Tyson, Perdue, Monsanto and so many more. Remind yourself where your meals come from before saying grace. Not everything that lands on our plates is worth being thankful for, but by changing your shopping habits, you can ensure you are blessed. Think global, eat local.

(For more information on food issues, purchase a copy of The Warren Report: EAT ME, a half-hour investigation of organic food and farming with special guests Nina Planck, Colin McCrate and John Peterson of THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN The dvd — which contains bonus materials including a 40-minute panel discussion with Peterson, McCrate and Maria Hines, chef/owner of Tilth — sells for only $10, plus $5 p&h. Order on-line or write to warren@thewarrenreport.com)

FOOD, Inc. Interview

Eat Me Trailer

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Categories:	Author	Leave a Comment
Tags:	cattle • Eric Shlosser • Food • Gary Hirshberg • genetically modified foods • inc • michael pollan • the warren report • warren etheredge

The genesis of this soup was a trip to Costco, our first in a long time, resulting in wide eyes and a cart full of mega packages of delicious things to be used up…somehow. Even with three adults on the eating roster, that pound and a half container of lovely Italian brown mushrooms was going to last awhile.

Then suddenly it was a rainy Sunday — soup weather! I came up with this recipe after cobbling together ideas from several cookbooks. I am not a big fan of over thickened floury “cream” soups or those testing the arterial limits with scads of butter and cream. So for shortening I used a combination of non-hydrogenated margarine and grapeseed oil. Where traditional recipes called for thickening with cream or with a true butter based béchamel, I used a microwaved white sauce with a base of skim milk. The huge volume of flavorful mushrooms is what made this all work.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb fresh Italian brown or other mushrooms, washed, stems removed, chopped medium fine
1/2 cup white or yellow onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
4 Tbs tbs non-hydrogenated unsalted margarine (or substitute butter)
3 Tbs mild cooking oil such as grapeseed, olive oil not recommended
1 C skim milk
2 tbs white flour
4 cups chicken stock, unsalted or low salt
1 C cooked brown rice
salt and pepper

TECHNIQUE
Heat 3 Tbs of margarine and 3 Tbs of oil in large heavy saucepan or stock pot
Add garlic, onions and mushrooms
Sauté for 15 minutes adjusting heat as needed to keep contents from browning
Sprinkle with 1 Tb flour, stir in, then add 4 cups of stock
Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes

Make 1 cup of thin white sauce in microwave as follows:
melt 1 Tb margarine in microwave safe bowl
Stir in 1 Tb flour and mix to a paste
Heat 30-60 seconds in microwave until the mixture looks grainy – do not let this brown!
Add 1 C skim milk and whisk until incorporated
Heat in microwave for 1-2 minutes, stopping to stir occasionally, the sauce should come to a boil as this helps cook and remove the “floury” taste
NOTE: you could skip this step and instead use cream or half and half

Add white sauce to soup pot, stir, and heat through
Stir in the cup of brown rice (optional, but adds nice body) and heat to just below simmer
Taste and add salt and pepper as needed

Serve and get ready to receive compliments!

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Categories:	Pasta & Grains • Soup	6 Comments
Tags:	Food • foodista • mushroom soup • mushrooms • rice • Soup

This is a fun twist on the classic curried chicken salad. It’s brighter and lighter with the apples and lime juice, and more flavorful with the lemongrass in the curry. The chilies in the curry also adds a nice kick! Increase or decrease the amount of curry to adjust the spice. This salad can also be served in sandwiches. Try substituting tuna for a “pescatarian” version.

Green Curry Chicken Salad

½ roasted chicken
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Thai Green Curry Paste
1 Lime, Juiced
1 tablespoon fish sauce
¼ cup green onion, chopped
1 head Romaine lettuce

Remove skin from chicken and then meat from bones. Shred meat, discarding skin and bones.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, green curry paste, lime juice, and fish sauce.

Mix in shredded chicken, chopped apple and green onion.

Chill and serve on a bed of Romaine or Bib lettuce.

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry • Salads • Thai	1 Comment
Tags:	chicken salad • curry • Food • foodista • green curry • salad

I’ve started smoking. No, not cigarettes, but food. I wrote before about the electric smoker I gave Barnaby for his birthday in December and we’ve been going crazy throwing down various meats and fish on the grill: mangalitsa pork, trout, skirt steak, shrimp, scallops. Next on the list is cheese: provolone, mozzarella and cheddar.

Last night we tried a new preparation: cold smoking. Traditional cold smoking requires cooling the smoke before applying it to food, however, that’s both difficult to achieve and requires special equipment. Our version of cold smoking is much easier: toss a piece of frozen fish on the grill and let the smokin’ begin.

Starting with frozen fish minimizes the amount of cooking so the result is a delicious smokey flavor and ever so minimally cooked – perfect for sashimi! We used a 1.2 pound sashimi-grade albacore tuna loin and smoked it over alder pellets for about an hour and a half. If you’re looking for a more fully cooked preparation, or you are smoking meat, then you can sear it afterward.

Our meal was Japanese-style; the tuna drizzled with a bit of ponzu sauce and served with rice, seaweed salad and yaki imo (grilled sweet potato). The smoked tuna would also be delicious in a salad, such as niçoise.

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Fish & Seafood	3 Comments
Tags:	albacore tuna • brinkmann • electric smoker • fish • Food • foodista • smoked fish • smoking • tuna • tuna loin

Normally tagines are long-simmered dishes, but when your hungry belly can’t wait, or you simply don’t have the time, you can make them relatively fast. We threw this tagine together with leftover chicken and ingredients we already had on hand. The wonderful thing about this Moroccan dish are the many fragrant spices used, creating layers of delicious flavor. We were missing dried fruits so we opted roasted red pepper for added sweetness, and threw in some mild green olives (not the martini kind), which gave it another element of color.

Chicken Tagine With Coucous

2  tablespoons  olive oil
1 chicken, skin removed and cut into chunks
1  medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup mild green olives, sliced
4  large garlic cloves, minced
1  tablespoon  minced fresh ginger
1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
1  teaspoon  ground turmeric
1  teaspoon  ground coriander
1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
2  cardamom pods, lightly crushed

1 roasted red pepper
2  small dried red chilies
2 small preserved lemons, sliced
1  teaspoon  salt
4  cups  reduced-sodium chicken broth
5  fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs plus 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2  cups  couscous
1/4  cup  lightly toasted pine nuts
1  teaspoon  grated fresh lemon zest

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Drain all but 2 tablespoons of oil from pot and reduce heat to medium. Add onion and sauté until golden. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, black pepper, cardamom pods, chilies, preserved lemons, olives, and salt; stir to combine.

Return chicken to pot and add 2 cups chicken broth, and parsley sprigs. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 40 minutes. Take pot off heat and remove parsley sprigs and chilies.

For the couscous:
In a covered medium saucepan, bring remaining 2 cups chicken broth to a boil. Turn off heat, stir in couscous, cover, and let sit 5 minutes. Uncover pan and fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in 2 tbsp. minced parsley, pine nuts, and lemon zest and toss to combine.

Mound couscous on a platter. Top with chicken thighs and pour sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Serves 4.

Optional ingredients: 15 apricots, sliced.

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry • Moroccan • Pasta & Grains	3 Comments
Tags:	chicken tagine • Couscous • Food • foodista • Moroccan • spices • tagine • turmeric

About 25 years ago my family went on a glorious ski trip to the Italian Alps, our hotel room nestled at the base of the stunningly spectacular Matterhorn. We heard you could ski across the border into Switzerland, so my brother and I, being the daring teens that we were, took the various lifts and gondole up to the top of the mountain and swooshed our way, miles and miles down the other side, into the charming little town of Zermatt. We plunked our skies into the snow and entered a cozy little tavern where the wooden floors were dented from years of ski boot traffic and the tables and benches were smooth and shiny. Being under 21 we enjoyed the freedom of sipping fine European beer and nibbling on bratwursts in a quaint Alpine beer haus. Needless to say, many trees were visited on the trip back up and over the mountains.

There’s a new German-style tavern in our West Seattle neighborhood called Prost! that reminded me of that little pub visited years ago in the Alps. In addition to Prost!’s fabulous beers (Franziskaner being my favorite) they have a selection of “brats and wursts” that are, in a word, outstanding. We sampled the Landjager, a German dry and smoked sausage, that was served with both a spicy and a grainy mustard. I don’t know which I liked better: the sausage or the mustard!

Reminiscing over that memorable trip and consuming the good beer and sausage at Prost! prompted me to make my own mustard at home.

Grainy Stout Mustard
Adapted from a recipe found in Saveur, January 2009

12 ounces stout beer
1 ½ cups brown mustard seeds
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 24-48 hours. Transfer mixture to a blender or food processor. Process until seeds are coarsely ground and the mixture becomes thick. Ready for use immediately or store refrigerated in jars for up to 6 months.

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Categories:	German • condiments	6 Comments
Tags:	bratwurst • condiments • Food • foodista • German • grainy mustard • grainy stout mustard • mustard • Prost! • pub food • sausage

Photo: Laurel Fan

They’re funny looking, but ever so delicious! Jerusalem artichokes, also called sunchokes, look a bit like ginger, but oval, and taste like a cross between a fingerling potato and the heart of an artichoke. Two foods that top my list.

I’ve found roasting to be the simplest preparation, as steaming or boiling can result in a mushy mess. I cut them into quarters, toss them in a bit of olive oil, sprinkle them with a bit of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, and slow roast them until tender. That’s it. They’re so delicately flavorful they don’t need much more than that.

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Categories:	Veggies	3 Comments
Tags:	Food • foodista • jerusalem artichokes • roasted vegetables • sun chokes • sunchokes • vegetables