Kids in the Kitchen

Ask any kid about his or her favorite snack food and you'll inevitably hear about some sort of junk food. Ice cream, cookies, chips and candy have forever been associated with the between-meal munchies. In an effort to encourage children to make smarter snack choices, the Junior League launched "Kids in the Kitchen", a nationwide event connecting inner-city kids with nutritionists and chefs in the name of healthy eating. Last week, I was honored to serve as the "guest chef" at the Bridgeport, Connecticut "Kids in the Kitchen", sponsored by the Junior League of Fairfield County, where I shared some simple recipes for nutritious snacks that didn't skimp on taste.


After a local dietitian explained the food pyramid and the importance of eating a balanced diet, it was my turn to put principle into practice. We started by preparing Ham & Cheese Pinwheels, using whole wheat tortillas, low-fat cream cheese, and low-fat deli ham. While most of the kids were familiar with tortillas, none of them had ever seen the whole wheat version. Skeptical as they may have been, they enthusiastically assembled and rolled their wraps, and I went around and cut them crosswise into "pinwheels". As the gobbled down their snack, I think most forgot they were even eating the "brown" tortillas, a few admitted that they liked them even better than the white flour ones.


Next we moved onto a sweet snack that still packed a healthy punch. While a few of the volunteers sliced up fresh apples, I whipped up a dip for the fruit which incorporated protein-rich walnuts and low-fat cream cheese . I sweetened the deal by adding some sugar and vanilla to the mix, and in no time the kids were enthusiastically digging in their apples. Anticipating that they’d love dipping, I’d planned another dip for the last snack. This dip was a savory one and used canned black beans, garlic, and jarred salsa --- a super simple combination using three ingredients most people have on hand at home. By mashing the beans with a fork (I couldn’t assume these kids had fancy food-processors), and stirring in the salsa and some chopped garlic, we created a creamy, low-fat dip with plenty of flavor. I set out bowls of baby carrots and pita chips alongside the bean dip, and it was immediately clear that the snack was a hit.


At the end of the presentation, the kids all went home with recipes for some new and easy snack foods, a green-grocery bag stuffed with more healthy goodies, and a belly full of healthy food. I was amazed that they were absolutely willing to try everything. I never heard one “ew”, “yuck” or “gross”. They were attentive, curious, and seemed genuinely happy to participate in the event, even though it was 3:00pm on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully they’ll go home and share what they learned with their families, and get more kids in the kitchen!

Ham & Cheese Pinwheels
Serves 4

4 tablespoons low-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
2 – 10 inch whole wheat tortillas
4 slices deli ham (or turkey, roast beef, or salami)
Lay the tortillas on the counter. Spread half of the cream cheese on each tortilla, covering as much of it as you can.
Place 2 pieces of ham on each tortilla. Tightly roll up the tortilla into a log shape and cut off the ends. Cut each “log” into 8 pinwheel slices.

Apple Wedges with Creamy Walnut Dip

Serves 8
(This recipe was given to me by my friend Carolyn G..)

8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup chopped walnuts
Apples, cut into slices
Mix cream cheese, sugars, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Add the chopped nuts and serve with apple slices.
(NOTE: If you have a blender or food processor, you can use that to blend the ingredients)

Black Bean Dip
Serves 8
(This recipe is from my friend Sarah S., which was so many years ago she probably forgot she even gave it to me.)

1 can black beans
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½-3/4 cup tomato salsa
Drain the beans in a colander and rinse them thoroughly with water.
Place into a bowl, and using a fork or potato masher, mash all the beans into a paste.
Add garlic, salsa, and mix together.
Serve with raw veggies or pita chips.
(NOTE: If you have a blender or food processor, you can use that to blend the ingredients)

Restaurants: Sarabande, Fairfield, CT

***Please note that Sarabande is now closed.

Sarabande, a modern American bistro in Fairfield Center, is a restaurant I recently rediscovered. The menu, which changes seasonally and features appetizers, gourmet pizzas, entrees, and main course salads, has something for everyone. That is not to say it lacks focus; it features fresh, high quality ingredients artfully prepared to please a wide variety of tastes. Chef Phyllis Bodek even picks much of the produce used in the restaurant herself, at her friend's farm in Easton. In addition, the fresh bread that arrives at your table upon arrival is baked in-house.

Over the course of several visits, I've worked my way around the menu. On my most recent visit, I wasn't overly hungry, so I ordered a bowl of curried butternut squash soup (it hit the spot!), and the "Tonato Salad" from the list of nightly specials. "Tonato" is an Italian sauce made with tuna, and is usually served over veal or turkey. I'd enjoyed Veal Tonato while visiting friends in Italy, but had never seen it in any form on an American menu. Sarabande's twist on this Italian classic was a colorful salad of arugula, tomatoes, olives, and roasted red peppers with a creamy, delicious tonato sauce on the side. It instantly transported me back to Italy, and before I knew it I'd put my manners aside and used the last piece of fresh bread to mop up every last bit of sauce left behind on my plate!

The ambiance at Sarabande is appealing, and features a spacious front room with large picture windows looking onto the street, and a cozier back room with a long banquette along one wall. The small bar is adorned with pendant lighting and is a great place to have a glass of wine while waiting to be seated. There is also a small deck for outdoor seating in the warmer weather, although it was not open as of late April. The service is efficient and attentive, and the wine list has a nice variety of wines with plenty of moderately priced selections.

Sarabande's location is perfect for an evening out with your significant other or friends, as it is nestled on Unquowa Place, right off the Post Road. There is a parking lot adjacent to the restaurant, but there is always street parking if the lot is full. My husband and I recently enjoyed dinner there, and then took a walk down to Starbucks for a quick coffee & dessert before heading to the Community Theatre to see a movie. If I wasn't rushing to relieve a babysitter, we may have even walked over to O-Bar for a post-film cocktail. An entire evening's worth of activities within walking distance of a single parking spot---now that's a date!

Note: Sarabande is offering a 2008 spring special that can't be missed: Monday-Thursday evenings, enjoy a three-course dinner (starter, entree and dessert) for only $20.08!!

Sarabande
12 Unquowa Place
Fairfield, CT 06824
203-259-8084

Lunch: Tuesday - Friday, 11:30 am - 2:15 pm
Dinner: Monday - Saturday, from 5:30 pm
Closed Sundays

Cooking with Tea

Tea. We drink it hot. We drink it iced. We drink it black, with lemon, or with milk and sugar. However we like our tea...we rarely think beyond the mug. I was no different, until last fall, when I received an interesting phonecall from the Bigelow Tea company.

"We are looking for someone to develop recipes using tea as an ingredient," they said. "Are you interested?" Up for a new challenge, I readily agreed. Before I even hung up the phone already had a half dozen ideas scratched out on a pad of paper. This would be fun! Now I had to see if these ideas would translate into dishes that people would actually want to eat. I was a little skeptical, but with several dozen boxes of tea at my disposal and a grocery list in hand, I forged ahead into the culinary wild.

My first idea was to create a soup. Everyone loves chicken noodle soup, so I started there. Ginger was a flavor already used with both chicken and noodles, so why not in soup? I began by making a broth which was 2/3 chicken stock and 1/3 strong ginger tea. I experimented with a variety of other soup ingredients, and settled on a simple combination of garlic, carrots, noodles, and parsley (and of course, chicken). I realized during my first taste (which resulted in a ho-hum initial impression), that salt was a very necessary component of this soup, as it is in most soups. Just a teaspoon of salt completely brought forth the wonderful ginger flavor, which was otherwise masked by the other ingredients.

Since developing this soup recipe, I've gone on to create many more....so check them out and consider using tea to flavor your next dish!

Chicken Noodle Soup with Ginger

Morroccan Chicken and Lentil Stew with Cinnamon

Orange Beef and Chinese Broccoli

Citrus Marinated Sea Scallops with Poppy Seeds

French Style Green Beans and Carrots with a Balsamic-Pomegranate Glaze

Vanilla and Cinnamon Baked Challah French Toast

I Love Lemon Asparagus Wrapped in Smoked Salmon

(more spring/summer recipes to come soon at http://www.bigelowtea.com !!)

Photos courtesy of Bigelow Tea Company.

Breaking in the Panini Press

A panini press is something I'd avoided buying for years. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps because it was just one more gadget to store in my cabinets. Or, perhaps because I figured it would go the way of the other small appliances I use only once or twice a year--relegated to the basement.

I'd written articles on indoor grilling and always included a section on contact grills (the less fancy name for a panini press), but yet I didn't own one. It seems as if everyone loves them---and George Forman has made a fortune selling them---but I never took the plunge. Then, a few months ago I was in Boston visiting college friends and saw a panini press on the counter. "I'd use it for every meal, if I could," my friend said. She was flabbergasted when I told her I didn't have one. "I can't believe you, of all people, do not own one!"

I thought about it on the drive back to Connecticut, and thought that maybe I should finally join the happy panini-making masses and pony up for one. I could even develop some panini making classes (Aha! A business expense!). So off I went to do my homework.

I ended up purchasing a Cuisinart Griddler....which works as a panini press and indoor contact grill, but when you swap out the ridged grill plates for the flat plates, you can open the grill flat and use it as a griddle to make pancakes, french toast, the works. The best part? The grill/griddle plates are dishwasher safe.

So far I haven't even found a spot in the cabinet for my panini press, since it has been on my counter getting daily use (I know, first flames). I've made a variety of panini (prosciutto/mozzarella, dessert panini, PB&J panini for my kids), I've grilled chicken breasts, and today I made a recipe for Whole Wheat Vanilla Pancakes I read over at the Cooking with Amy blog (by the way, they were delicious).

Fresh strawberries are coming into season, so try using them in a panini for a delicious dessert or snack. My Panini Dolci (dolce is Italian for "sweet") combine sweet berries with chocolate, making them a treat for the whole family!

Panini Dolci

Serves 4

4 slices country bread

butter, at room temperature
4-6 medium strawberries, hulled and sliced

1/4 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet are my favorite)

Preheat your panini press to medium-high heat.
Butter one side of each slice of bread, and put two slices butter-side down on the bottom plate of your press.

Arrange a layer of sliced strawberries on each piece of bread, and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly on top of the fruit.

Cover with the other slices of bread (butter side UP), and close the press. Grill for approximately 3-5 minutes, until bread is toasted (grill marks should be apparent) and the chocolate chips are melted.
Cut each sandwich in half and serve warm.

From the Farm: Radishes

Lexi was back again this week with a half share of this week's harvest from the Gazy Brothers Farm. It included a big bunch of crunchy bok choy (which I plan to use in tonight's stir fry), more green garlic, and some absolutely gorgeous radishes. Pretty as they are, radishes were never one of my favorite things. My husband, on the other hand, loves them. His family always had a garden, and because radishes grow relatively quickly, it was the first veggie he learned to plant as a child. After sampling the fresh bunch in this week's bag, now I know why he loves them----fresh from the garden radishes are DELICIOUS! To me, they were entirely different than the ones I've found in the grocery store. Somehow more mild in flavor, and crunchier. Even my kids loved them (this is my 5 year old's hand grabbing them just as I shot this photo). Before I could even think of what to use them for, half the bunch were gone as my family happily crunched away.

With what was remaining, I chopped up a little Asian-inspired salad. The idea came from a similar salad I used to enjoy when we lived in New York City, at my favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant. A simple, crunchy combination of cucumbers, carrots, and in this case, radishes. A perfect accompaniment to any Asian flavored dinner, or even great on its own for a light lunch.

Crunch away!

Asian Salad with Radishes

Serves 2

1 bunch fresh radishes, sliced into half-moon shaped pieces

1/2 English cucumber, sliced into half-moon shaped pieces

2 medium carrots, sliced into half-moon shaped pieces

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons canola oil

salt/pepper

pinch of sugar

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Place the radishes, cucumbers, and carrots in a bowl.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, sugar and cilantro.

Toss with vegetables and serve chilled or at room temperature.

From the Farm: Greens

The phone rang, and it was Lexi Gazy "from the farm", as she said. That would be Gazy Brothers Farm in Oxford, CT, where I recently joined the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). For those of you who aren't familiar with CSAs, they are programs where you agree to purchase a “share” of the farm, and in return, you receive weekly harvests of whatever is in season at the time. For creative cooks and adventurous eaters alike, this is a wonderful way to have a variety of interesting, fresh produce each week, and the opportunity to support local farmers. Shareholders pay the farmers upfront, guaranteeing them a market for their crops, which in turn provides stability in the sometimes unpredictable world of farming. Gazy Brothers Farm in Oxford is in their fourth year of the CSA program.

I'd missed the deadline to join the spring CSA, so a friend and I went in on one share of veggies and one share of fruit for the summer growing season. Lexi had a few bags of this week's harvest left over and said she could swing by if I was interested. Naturally, I was. She pulled up and opened the hatch of her car to reveal a half dozen or so white bags of produce. Given the time of year, the bags were full of a variety of greens, ranging from the familiar, to those lesser known. I immediately recognized a gorgeous bunch of cilantro, some green leaf lettuce, and arugula. I also saw what looked like monster scallions, but were instead green garlic. I guessed correctly on the beet greens, which gave themselves away by their vibrant red stems, but didn't recognize the remaining two bunches. They turned out to be kohlrabi greens and turnip greens.

After thanking Lexi for thinking of me, I rushed inside to wrap everything correctly to insure they stayed fresh. Then sat down to figure out what I was going to do with all these greens. Since there was no way I could possible eat everything in the next few days, I decided to focus on longer-term storage.

This process was old hat to me, as I had grown accustomed to harvesting my abundant indoor basil plant every several days. Unless I needed basil for whatever I was making for dinner that night, I would pull out my food processor and whip up a batch of basil puree or pesto. I would then scrape the contents of my work bowl into a plastic ziplock bag, squeeze out the air, and freeze for later use. I figured this was probably the best bet for many of the greens I'd just received. I started with the green garlic. Into the work bowl they went with some salt and olive oil, and the result was a wonderfully bright, pungent puree. I figured the garlicky goodness would be fantastic slathered over grilled fish or chicken. I didn't have any lemons on hand, but I will likely squeeze some fresh lemon juice into the mixture when I'm ready to use it, making it a totally fresh lemon-garlic seasoning.

For my second batch of puree, I didn't even bother to clean out the work bowl of my food processor, since I figured the remnants of my green garlic puree would be a fantastic addition to my arugula pesto. I whirred the peppery greens (also know as "rocket") together with salt, pepper, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil to make a beautiful sauce for pasta. I saved some for the night's dinner, and froze the rest for another day.

Lastly, I made cilantro pesto, which I often use with shrimp. It is great brushed on grilled shrimp skewers, or even as an alternative dipping sauce for chilled shrimp. To cut the strong flavor a bit, I added the last of my fresh parsley from my indoor garden, and also added a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lime juice, which gives it a bit of a southwestern flair. Like the others, into the freezer it went, filling my shelves with great solutions for fast weeknight meals.

I can't wait to see what is in my farm bag the next time!

Contact info for Gazy Brothers Farm:

391 Chestnut Tree Hill Road, Oxford, CT 06478

203-723-8885

http://gazybrothersfarm.net/

Email: gazybrothersfarm@sbcglobal.net

To find a CSA in your area, go to http://www.localharvest.org/.

RECIPES

Linguine with Arugula Pesto

Serves 4

1 large bunch fresh arugula (rocket) greens

1 large green garlic stem, cut into 1 inch pieces (or 2 small garlic cloves)

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

olive oil

salt/pepper

Place the arugula and green garlic in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until finely chopped.

Add pine nuts and Parmesan cheese, pulse to combine.
With the blades still running, slowly add olive oil through the feed tube until a puree is formed (everything should whirr around the work bowl like a sauce).
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with linguine and more grated cheese.

NOTE: To make a creamier sauce, add 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese to the pesto.

Cilantro Pesto

1 large bunch cilantro, thoroughly washed and thick stems removed

1 large stalk green garlic, cut into 1 inch pieces (or 2 small garlic cloves)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon sugar

olive oil

salt/pepper

Place the cilantro and green garlic in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until finely chopped.

Add lime juice and sugar, pulse to combine.With the blades still running, slowly add olive oil through the feed tube until a puree is formed (everything should whirr around the work bowl like a sauce).
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve as a dipping sauce for chilled shrimp, or brush on shrimp skewers before grilling. Also good for chicken, fish, or grilled veggies.