Michael Pollan, Oprah, Food Inc., Chipotle, And More

So if you haven't heard, Michael Pollan has written a new book , Food Rules. I didn't write about this sooner assuming that for those of you who are already reading this blog Food Rules ( a condensed, simply and smartly stated set of rules based on his two previous books) would perhaps be old news.
However, this new book is getting a lot of press, valuable press for those who care about the health of our food system. This week Pollans new book received good press in a NY Times article that was apparently one of the most e-mailed articles from The Times. You can read the article Here. Last Thursday Pollan appeared on Oprah to discuss the basic tenets of Food Rules. The episode started with a seen from the film Food Inc. that featured Michael Pollan among other important players like Joel Salatin. Oprah implored to her viewers to watch the film, read Pollan's book, and make up their own mind. To that end Oprah offered a discount through Amazon for anyone who would like to purchase the DVD of Food Inc. A Code given at Oprah.com gives you a discounted price of $9.99. Just click Here to read all about this episode and then scroll down to the Food Inc. on DVD" link. It's on Amazon with out the link for $10.16 at this time. If you think you know all about Pollan and Food Inc. already, you might be interested in the portion of this episode that featured the founder of Chipotle discussing his efforts to use fresh, local produce as well as meat that is more humanly raised.

Recipes for VATM: 'After the Frost'

This month on Virginia this Morning, we are highlighting some of the vegetables which ripen more fully after a frost, like roots veggies, kale, persimmons and brussles sprouts. The show airs on Monday, November 16 at 9:00 am. To change things up a bit, we asked our friends and readers for some of their favorite cold weather recipes using these ingredients, and got some real treasures! Enjoy!

Sallie sent her mom's recipe:

Happy's Kale and Potato Soup with Red Chili

This is one of my favorite soups and has endless variations- it can be vegan or vegetarian or done with a chicken broth and sliced kaelbosa for the dedicated meat eater.

Here is the recipe in Mom's words: A very satisfying winter soup!

1 bunch of kale

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red or yellow onion diced into 1/2 inch squares

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

1 small dried red chili, seeded and chopped or 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes

1 bay leaf

1teaspoon salt

4 medium red potatoes (about 1 pound) scrubbed and dried into 1/2 inch cubes

7 cups water

pepper

sour cream (optional)

Using a sharp knife cut the ruffled kale leaves off their stems, which are very tough and take a long time to cook. Cut the leaves into pieces roughly 2 inches square, wash them well and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot, add the onion, garlic, chili, bay leaf and salt and cook over medium heat for three or four minutes, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes plus a cup of water or stock. Stir together, cover and cook slowly for five minutes.

Add the kale, cover and steam until it is wilted, stirring occasionally. Pur in the rest of the water, bring to a boil, then simmer slowly, covered until the potatoes are quite soft, 30 to 40 minutes.

Use the back of a wooden spoon to break up the potatoes by pressing against sides of the pan or puree, a cup or two at a time in a blender and return to the pot.

Taste the soup for salt and add a generous grounding of pepper. If possible let the soup sit for a hour or so to allow flavors to develop. Serve hot.

Jennifer's Persimmon Chutney

6 persimmons

1 small onion

1 granny smith apple

1 asian pear

Dice fine and saute in olive oil.

Add the following and simmer over medium heat until your house smells amazing. (Add stock if mix becomes too thick).

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons ground clove

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Really wonderful if you marinate chicken in it for 4 to 8 hours and then bake.

Root Vegetable Gallette, from the Freemans:

Ned says:Here's what I remember without looking at anything. May need some refinement.

You want a pretty hot oven. Maybe 400 degrees.

Filling

Get what looks good, fresh, and local but I usually include:

Sweet Potato

Onion

Rutabaga

Turnip

Parsnip

Cube the Sweet Potato, Rutabaga, Turnip, Parsnip into roughly same size, an inch or smaller. I have this belief that some variation in size is good for caramelization and texture, but I could be fooling myself there. On the onion, I usually just quarter it and then slice again into 8ths.

Chop up a good bit of fresh rosemary 2-4 sprigs maybe, a little fresh thyme (sprig or two) -- you want a healthy pile to toss with the veggies.

Put root veggies in large bowl, toss liberally with olive oil, heavy dose of salt, the herbs, and a lot of fresh ground black pepper. Don't be shy, spices are your friend. Coat the veggies really well, and if it looks like you need more herbs, add some. Also, make sure it's all well coated with oil -- that really helps caramelize things when you roast them.

Put the mixture in a big roasting pan, spread out in a single layer.

Roast it, uncovered, probably between 40 min to an hour. Turn it with a spatula every 20 min or so, a little more frequently toward the end. Keep an eye on them. You want a good bit of caramelization and browning, but not burn. (some crisp edges on the smaller pieces is fine.) When it looks good, it's done.

Pastry

While it's roasting, make your favorite pastry dough. I usually use the butter pastry from Joy of Cooking, though I've been known to toss in a tiny little extra sugar and salt, and I use all butter, replacing shortening.

You'll need to chill the dough a little before working, so make sure you get to it pretty soon after the veggies go in the oven.

Assemble the gallette.

By the way, I don't know if this is what an official "gallette" is or not. So someone should check that out. But anyway, that's what we call it and here's what we do.

Roll out the dough to about 1/8" (I say 1/8", but honestly we just roll it out till it looks right). You're just rolling it out kind of roundish and irregular... like a pie crust, but worrying even less about regularity.Place the rolled out dough on a flat cookie sheet. (It's ok if it spills over the edges... you're going to fold it over later toward the middle).

Once your veggies are roasted and beautiful, let them cool a little... you want them still warm.

Put warm roasted veggies in a large bowl, add some blue cheese that you've crumbled up. Between half cup and a cup, depending on size and how much you like the blue cheese flavor. I like it. Stir the cheese in to the veggies with a wooden spoon... you'll find that in doing so you lightly mash a few of the root veggies. Not a lot... what you're doing is just making the mixture hang together lightly.

Now, spoon veggie filling from bowl into the middle of the pastry. Spread it out to the size you want the finished gallette. The idea is that you fill just fold the edges of the gallette over the filling. Usually, I leave enough room to cover the top of the gallette, but with a good 3" or so hole in the middle so you can see the good stuff. Fold the edges over the top at one point first, then move around clockwise. the dough kind of folds over making this nice rustic looking fan pattern.

Bake it.

Turn oven down to 375 degrees

Bake the gallette on the cookie sheet until done. I'm guessing here, but I think it's about 20 minutes Browned, but not burnt. Enjoy in wedges. Nice fall spinach salad with a lightly acidic dressing is great with it.

Shannon's Green Olive and Garlic Brussels Sprouts

The recipe for this side dish came to be after I found a recipe in Bon Appetit for Brussels Sprouts with pistachios...I changed just about every ingredient in the recipe, but stuck to the technique of cooking the separated brussels sprout leaves rather than the whole sprouts. Separating the leaves and sauteing them over medium/high heat allows for them to cook quickly enough to preserve their crisp, nutty flavor and prevent the sulfurous smell and bitter tastes that have stopped so many potential sprout eaters in their tracks. My husband loves this recipe, although before I convinced him to try just one bite of this recipe he was a time tested, Brussels Sprout detester. Separating the leaves is time consuming, but the results are well worth the effort. As usual I don't usually follow a recipe, but just keep tasting and adding dashes of things until the flavor is just right for me. Do the same for yourself with the garlic, salt and cheese and you are sure to be happy.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil

1-1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

12 large brussels sprouts (about 1 1/2 pounds),

about 10-12 large unpitted, green olives (pit the olives and cut into eights length wise)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
About 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Course Salt and Fresh Ground pepper to taste

Preparation
Fill a large bowl with cold water. Submerge the sprouts and then remove from the water. Remove the individual leaves by cutting off the bottom of the sprout. The outer most two or four leaves will fall of or be easily removed. Keep repeating this process, slicing a little off the bottom, removing the loosened leaves until you are left with the yellowish core. Discard the core. Rinse the lose leaves once more and set aside.

Heat oil in large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add Brussels sprout leaves and olives, and saute until leaves start to become tender, but are still bright green. This should take about 3 minutes total. After about 2 minutes drizzle lemon juice over. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Grate the parmesan cheese over top and stir. Serve immediately.

Shannon and Matt's Parsnip Curls

My husband uses these "curls" as a topping for one of our favorite salmon recipes among other things. I thought they might make a great topping for some homemade macaroni and cheese.

Peel a couple of large parsnips. Discard the peel. Continue to use the peeler to reduce the parsnip to a pile of long, thin shavings. Heat oil (canola works well) over medium/high heat in a skillet. Once a test parsnip sizzles when added to the pan add the rest. Cook until the curls start to turn golden brown (usually within a couple minutes). Use a fork or slotted spoon to remove curls and lay them on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Season with salt to taste.

For the Mac and Cheese, try one of my favorite recipes for the dish from Martha Stewart. Click here to view the recipe.

Share with us!

Guess what?! The RFC has been asked back to Virginia This Morning for another spot in November! What to focus on this time? Since it is getting cooler outside, and we especially love feasting with friends, we're thinking of sharing recipes of favorite comfort foods from our readers on the November segment. We will be focusing on foods that improve in flavor after a frost, foods like greens, persimmons, root veggies or brussels sprouts. So, if you have a favorite food for winter using one of those ingredients, something that you look forward to and that you love making for people, email us the recipe. We'll post them all, and hopefully will be able to make some of the dishes for the show.

Thanks, y'all!

Shannon talks Apples on Virginia This Morning

 

Thanks to Anne at AgriBerry, and Chris from Thistledown Farms for their great apple knowledge and selection. Also, many thanks to the staff at Virginia this Morning for their support and for this fantastic opportunity.

Erin's Appearance on Virginia This Morning

 

Thanks to Virginia this Morning for having us on, to Warsaw Plants, Frog Bottom Farm, Amy's Garden, and Victory Farms for their generous donations of tomatoes, to Erin's mom who went to the market when Erin could not, and to Shannon's folks who recorded VTM shows to enlighten us. We are so grateful to our community for all of their good work- thank you so much!

Goochland Farmers Market Featured on Virginia Home Grown

The Goochland Farmers Market will be featured a week from today on Virgina Home Grown. You can catch up with whats new at The Goochland Farmer's Market at 8:00 p.m. on the August 25 episode of Richard Nunally's Popular PBS program. Lisa Dearden, the Executive Director of the Center for Rural Culture says that this show will conclude with a call in portion to answer your questions. Virginia Home Grown is a monthly program now in it's ninth season and is a great resource for all things agricultural and horticultural around Virginia.

Michael Pollan on Steven Colbert

Last Wednesday Michael Pollan was a guest, for the second time, on Steven Colbert. Although Michael was of course unable to really get out any information, the interview is entertaining.
You can Check out the short clip Here.