fauren

Delicious and Funny-Sounding, It's Rhubarb!

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but I lived the first 27 and a half years of my life without ever knowingly consuming rhubarb. What?!

Happily, that changed yesterday. I'd gone up to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket this past Saturday and rhubarb seemed to be everywhere, its red and green stalks poking out of crates at more than a couple stands. They were a hard sight to resist, so I went ahead and bought myself a bunch despite having no idea what I would do with it.

Remembering that I had some boneless pork chops in my freezer, I thought I might try out a sauce for them. I love sweet and savory combinations like pork chops and apple sauce, so maybe something similar could be done with rhubarb, which is so tart on its own it almost always needs to be sweetened.

The result of this experiment was a simple compote. Combining the rhubarb with shallots and fresh thyme yielded a dish that's indicative of this time of year for me - somewhere between winter and spring, at once hearty, fresh, and crisp. Needless to say, I was pleased. And, by the end of it, quite full.

Sautéed Kale with Toasted Walnuts and Bacon

As I mentioned in the other day's catch-all, I've spent some time in the kitchen recently saying a happy goodbye to the last of my winter veggies. Sweet potatoes, swiss chard, kale... they're all delicious, but these longer days and warmer temperatures have cranked my spring vegetable craving to 11.

Kale received my favorite send-off last week, sautéed and complemented with toasted walnuts, some nice salty bacon, and a little black currant red wine vinegar, which might just be my favorite thing in the pantry cupboard right now.

Happy Balumtimes

So I hate Valentine's Day. Not in a jilted lover kind of way, but in a do you really need a fake holiday to express your love kind of way. I also hate it because babies wielding bows and arrows kind of freak me out. So this year, big D and I decided to stick it to the man and stay home. It worked out pretty well, actually, because we ate exactly what we wanted and we didn't have to put on shoes.

I had been craving fried plantains something fierce for the last few days, so we planned the whole meal around those. In the end, we ended up with pan-seared pork chops with mango and pineapple salsa, fried plantains, and greens dressed with a lime, mint, and cilantro dressing. Not too shabby.

Those plantains really hit the spot, especially with a little hot sauce. I needed a little something tropical to brighten up this most dismal of months. And it didn't hurt that I got a little something hokey (but delicious) from D to top it all off:

The name says it all. The Chocolate Room has only been in the neighborhood for just about two years, but it's established quite a fan base (apparently it was full to brimming when D stopped in, though of course there was a run on chocolate fondue for two that particular evening). Inside this little bag were three each of the Antoinette, Kelly, Cleopatra, and Donna, descriptions of which can be found in their chocolate profiles. They were all incredible, but the Donna and Antoinette definitely win points for their unusual flavors.

It was about as pleasant a Valentine's Day as I could have asked for.

Abuse of Cows at Slaughterhouse, New Disease Associated with Pig Slaughter

Via The Ethicurean: The Humane Society has posted video on their website of abuse of downed dairy cows at a slaughterhouse in California. Please be aware that the footage below is very graphic.

The footage was shot by a worker at the slaughterhouse and shows downed cows ― cows that are unable to stand on their own due to poor health and injury ― being abused with high-pressure hoses and forklifts, and being dragged by their legs with bulldozers. Though the video was produced by the Humane Society itself, I think it's pretty safe to say that this material is objectively appalling. (For more, see Cheap Meat, narrated by the HSUS worker who went undercover to film this footage.)

Also regarding slaughterhouses, the Washington Post ran an article today about a disease thought to be associated with slaughtering pigs at Quality Pork Processors in Minnesota.

Washington Post: Inhaling Pig Brains May Be Cause of New Illness

USDA Weighs In On Cloned Meat

I was momentarily hopeful to see the headline in Wednesday's Washington Post, "USDA Recommends That Food From Clones Stay Off the Market." Then I started reading, and it turns out that recommendation is only temporary:

Bruce I. Knight, the USDA's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, requested an ongoing "voluntary moratorium" to buy time for "an acceptance process" that Knight said consumers in the United States and abroad will need, "given the emotional nature of this issue."

Thanks, USDA. That's awful sweet.

More disturbing, though, is the fact that meat from the offspring of cloned animals has apparently been on the market for quite some time, despite a request from the FDA not to enter these animals into the food chain. No particular surprise that it wasn't made public, I suppose, since many proponents of cloned meat don't even want to label the stuff that will legitimately enter the marketplace.

I remain highly skeptical that meat and milk from cloned animals pose no more a health threat than those from non-cloned animals, but that issue aside, it disturbs me to no end when consumers are not given the choice to know what they are buying and eating. Sure, farms that don't raise cloned animals could theoretically go the route of producers of non-GMO foods and label their meat and dairy "non-cloned," but why on earth should that burden befall the people that are not doing it?

Well on that note, it's the end of the work day. I think I will not stay at my office any longer.

Déjà Moo

Good morning, world.

And what a wonderful day it is, because today! Today it's officially safe to eat meat from cloned animals in the United States.

The European Union's Food Safety Agency made its announcement to this effect this past Friday, with the Food and Drug Administration expected to follow suit shortly thereafter. Well, the Washington Post has obtained a copy of the FDA's report, which has not yet been officially released, and it indeed draws the conclusion that meat from cloned pigs, cows, and goats is no less safe to eat than meat from their non-cloned counterparts. That is all they are at liberty to conclude, however:

"Moral, religious and ethical concerns . . . have been raised," the agency notes in a document accompanying the report. But the risk assessment is "strictly a science-based evaluation," it reports, because the agency is not authorized by law to consider those issues.

Like Bonnie over at the Ethicurean, I'm kind of horrified that these conclusions were drawn after mere months of study. The FDA research is based on an inconsistent pool of animals, and because it is so difficult to determine what will actually predict the safety of food from cloned animals, the FDA is just going with what's (only kind of) worked so far:

...agency scientists decided to use the same simple but effective standard used by farmers since the dawn of agriculture: If a farm animal appears in all respects to be healthy, then presume that food from that animal is safe to eat.

Somehow, I'm not reassured... E. coli, anyone? Added bonus: as of now, when that cloned meat starts hitting the grocery shelves, it will not be required to be labeled as such, à la the current guidelines for genetically modified foods.

Though the few articles I've looked at this morning haven't really touched on this, the only point I can see in cloning animals for food is to give cloning companies business and boost meat production in the States, like we need it. Is that so crazy, or am I missing something? Well, count me among the folks who would rather eat meat from a known farm upstate once every couple of days than have cloned meat from who knows where for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

New York Times: Cloned Animals Safe to Eat, FDA Concludes
Washington Post: FDA Says Clones Are Safe For Food
Washington Post: Animal Cloning: A Risk Assessment (excerpts from the FDA report)
The Ethicurean: FDA approves food from cloned animals

Now THAT'S What I Call a Snack

Yesterday was my dear friend Lis's birthday, and we had an evening out in Carroll Gardens to celebrate.  Carroll Gardens, though only a few stops on the subway from my own neighborhood, is a place I don't visit too often.  It's part of that whole Manhattanites-don't-come-to-Brooklyn-for-anything thing... as a result, I either miraculously convince my friends to come to my own neighborhood, or I end up going in to Manhattan.  It's very rare that something happens in between, so I get extra special excited when I have a chance to explore parts of Brooklyn that I don't get to see much.

The evening began with dinner at Frankies 457 Spuntino (457 Court Street, Brooklyn), a cozy Italian restaurant with brick walls and a nice outdoor patio.  The word "spuntino" means "snack" in Italian, and the menu at Frankies is mostly true to the concept; aside from a list of 7 or 8 main dishes and a number of sandwich choices (served on Sullivan Street Bakery rosemary bread), the rest of the menu has a lot of wiggle room for mixing and matching individual items.  You can have the decision made for you with the traditional antipasto (chef's choice of 2 each from their meats, cheeses, vegetables, and marinated olives), or you can get crazy with your own choices.  Add their crostini, salads, and soups into the mix, and suddenly deciding what to eat is a veritable Sophie's Choice of food.

After our very patient waitress plied us with cocktails (and may I take a moment to recommend the bourbon lemonade...), we managed to make a decision upon her third stop at our table.  We had two antipasti for the table, and I ordered for myself the Frankies greens with a delicious cippolini onion cider vinaigrette, an avocado and pesto crostino, and roasted Brussels sprouts.

Between the two antipasti, we got to sample both spicy and sweet sopressata, prosciutto di Parma, marinated cremini mushrooms, roasted cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, string beans with preserved garlic, green and black olives, and two cheeses -- Villa D'Este, which is a soft and rich sheep's milk cheese otherwise known as a Caciotta; and Castelrosso, a harder mixed milk cheese from the Piemonte region of Italy that's a bit saltier and has a very nice bite.

My love of Brussels sprouts is pretty new but totally intense, so I was more than happy to have another plate of them all to myself.  One thing I love about good Italian food is how simple it can be; the sprouts were halved, very lightly salted, and roasted in olive oil, then served at room temperature.  Perfect. 

The crostino was also quite good.  It could have used a bit more pesto and the avocado was slightly under-ripe, but I would be lying if I said it didn't taste pretty darn good anyway.  I also liked having my greens at the end of this meal.  It was a nice, light way to finish things off.  The greens themselves were straightforward, which was fine because clearly the dressing was meant to be the highlight, and indeed it was.

I couldn't believe how full I was at the end of this meal.  I was perfectly happy to be so, except that it meant not getting to sample any of the desserts.  I can imagine them now, though... red wine prunes with mascarpone... tiramisu... ricotta cheesecake...

(A brief pause, to clean up this drool.)

So after dinner it was off to Abilene (442 Court Street, Brooklyn) for a vodka gimlet.  They were advertising a bar spelling bee, which sounds like a prospective replacement for my favorite, now-defunct trivia night, Dr. Fact's Night of 50 Questions at Buttermilk (577 5th Avenue, Brooklyn).  (In Buttermilk's defense, they may no longer have trivia, but they've got pizza night, a photobooth, and a fantastic jukebox.)

Before I threw back one too many cocktails, it was time to head up to Cobble Hill Cinema to meet my partner in crime for some peanut M&Ms (Come on!  No one's perfect.) and Michel Gondry's quirky and beautiful Science of Sleep.

A lovely evening all around.