Human genome typing and Cauliflower Fritters... there's a connection !

My mother is a good cook, but like many of her generation she believed that all vegetables needed a good stew... and some vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli etc. really don't smell good because of the sulphur compounds that get released when they are overcooked. I remember walking into the kitchen as a kid and getting hit by an invisible wall of cabbage :-(

We do try to get a lot of cruciferous vegetables in our diet ever since my wife got herself tested at 23 and me. If you haven't heard of it, check it out, it's an easy way to get genotyped and find out about your ancestry, health and genetic tendencies. Anyway, among the fun things we found out... like she is 2.3% neantherthal (most people of northern European descent have a significant % of neantherthal in them) and that she's genetically inclined to be a good athlete, we also found out that she has a higher risk for breast cancer. And that's where cruciferous vegetables come in, their amazing cancer fighting properties.

Have to still make them tasty though, or my family of picky eaters will not eat them.

I find cauliflower the easiest of these vegetables to make a tasty dish out of, like a gratin, curry roasted cauliflower, an aloo gobi or even mashing them up along with potatoes and parmesan for a healthier, lighter mashed potatoes. But absolutely nothing beats cauliflower fritters, they are easy to make, need just a few ingredients and look and taste amazing.

Here's the recipe:

Cauliflower Fritters

Ingredients
1 medium cauliflower (riced)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp chili flakes (Omit if you don't like spice)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp chopped parsley (You can also use 1 tsp dill)
3 oz (about 1/2 cup) mozzarella, in small cubes
1 oz (2 tbsp) grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs (beaten)
1/3rd cup flour (I use a mixture of almond flour and a gluten free flower mix)
1/4 cup oil for frying

Method:
1. Prepare riced califlower by microwaving cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl. To do this cut the cauliflower into florets, pop into bowl, cover in clingfilm and microwave for 5 minutes on high. Use potato masher to mash the cauliflower until it resembles rice. See picture below

Riced Cauliflower

2. Add salt, pepper, chili flakes (if using), chopped parsley (or dill), cubed mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese and stir to combine.
3. Add flour and stir again and then finally stir in the beaten eggs.
4. The mixture should resemble a thick batter now.
5. Heat oil in a shallow pan and pan fry spoonfulls of batter for 2-3 minutes on each side



Cauliflower Fritters

Tips:
In a hurry, you can use pre-shredded mozzarella, but it is worth cubing it if you have the time. The larger pieces of mozarella melt and some hit the hot oil and form caramalized bits of goodness, yum!

I serve these with a quick sauce with a 1.5 tablespoons of ketchup, 1 tsp of shriracha and 2 tsp of mayonaise.

From Gardening to Eating Vegetables

My son eats a few vegetables in their undisguised form now. They are green beans, eggplant and peppers. You'd think that was all due to my awesome cooking :-), but you'd be wrong. It was my wife's doing.

She had the idea of getting our son involved in planting herbs and vegetables in our back garden. He's taken a real interest in it and willingly spends hours digging and planting seedlings. We purposely left a the vegetable patch without a drip system and he makes sure the plants are watered. My wife and he are in the garden now and I'll get a picture of him tottering around with a watering can that weighs almost as much as him watering the plants he's just planted.

It's amazing how much you can get from your own back garden in California. We don't plant that much, but we still have more tomatoes than we can consume fresh and usually jar some for later. And I tell you, there is nothing like home grown tomatoes.

So if you want to get your kid to eat vegetables, try getting him or her in the garden helping you plant them. And start young when he still prefers your company to his friends :-) It worked with my son, he eats 3 of the 4 vegetables we grow in our back garden. And I could claim he eats the 4th as well. He eats ketchup and pizza doesn't he?

Cook an Exotic Steak Dinner on a budget

There are many versions of rolled beef and all of them use a cheaper cut of meat and cook it in a way to make it tender. The Italians have braciola, the Germans rouladen, the English, beef olives. My favorite by far has to be “Matambre” which is rolled and stuffed flank steak that is popular in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

The best thing about it is that it’s a very easy dish to make and is quite spectacular looking when served especially if you pick brightly colored vegetables to stuff inside your flank steak.

Because the flank steak is so large, you can get quite a lot of vegetables inside it and it looks so appetizing even the pickiest eaters will want to give it a try.

Matambre also a fairly economical dish because flank steak is still relatively inexpensive compared to other cuts of meat. This cut of meat needs usually needs to be cooked really rare (so it doesn't dry out). In this dish, the steaming that happens inside the foil, makes this often tougher cut of meat stay tender.

Unlike many steak recipes, leftovers keep quite well in the fridge and the dish tastes good the next day even as a cold appetizer.

Here’s the recipe:

Matambre or Rolled Flank Steak

Ingredients:

I large flank steak (2-2.5 pounds)

1 large or 2 small carrots, cut lengthwise into pencil thin

1 large red bell pepper, sliced

½ green bell peppers

1 cup spinach leaves (I use baby spinach)

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp red chili flakes

1 teaspoon dried organo

4 cloves garlic chopped fine

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of 1 lime

Large sheets of foil to wrap the

Method:

1.       Trim flank steak of excess fat and silver skin and pound using a meat mallet or rolling pin until the thick areas are thinned down. Try to maintain a rectangular shape

2.       Lay the flank steak on a large cutting board and squeeze lime all over it. Then sprinkle the salt, pepper, cumin, red chili flakes, dried oregano and garlic all over it. Use fingers to rub spices into the meat.

3.       Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on the meat and then layer the spinach leaves. Leave ½ inches on all sides of the meat uncovered.

4.       Layer the vegetables in the center of the flank steak.

5.       Season vegetables with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and place in a large foil so it can be wrapped tightly.

6.       The steak should be rolled up so that when you cut the roll, you cut the steak against the grain of the meat.

7.       Drizzle with olive oil and wrap tightly in foil.

Here it is just before I rolled it up.

Rolled up, seasoned and ready for the oven

8.       A couple of hours before serving, preheat oven to 450C and cook for one hour.

9.       Remove from oven, let rest for 15-20 minutes then put foil wrapped steaks in a large dish to catch the juices and open. Slice in ¾ inch slices and serve along with juices.

So what happened to the picture of the final product?

When I came home from my game of tennis, my wife had hacked into the matambre and it looked like a dog's dinner!

I have to use a picture I found on the web:

• The Matambre should look like this! 

 

Tips:

For more flavor you can add sautéed bacon or sliced up smoked sausage (I like linguica for this).

You can throw the foil packets on a grill and cook for 45 minutes, turning a couple of times to brown evenly

A good accompaniment with this dish is mashed potatoes or pureed parsnips especially with a sauce made with the juices.

To make a sauce you can add a cup of beef stock to the juices that are released when you open up the foil packets and reduce in a pan. Use a little cornstarch or buerre manie to thicken the sauce. I use a gluten free buerre manie made by mixing Bob’s Red Mill All purpose Gluten Free flour with a tablespoon of butter in my hand. It thickens the sauce without any lumps. Add only a little at a time so the sauce does not get too thick. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then serve the Matambre with a drizzle of the sauce and more over the mashed potatoes or pureed parsnips.

Sneaking Veggies into Dishes

As I've mentioned before, my son doesn't like eating vegetables and it's a real struggle to get any in him.
 
He's obstinate about not eating them and I know where he gets it from... it's me. I didn't like them either as a kid and used to either stuff them down my throat quickly before I ate the rest of the meal or whine about the quantity that was put in my plate until my mother in exasperation picked them up from my plate and put them in hers. Yes, we didn't throw them out... I grew up in a third world country and my sainted mother would have had to light candles in church if we ever wasted food.
 
Anyway, the one way I can get my son to eat some veggies is to sneak them into dishes that disguise them well and one-pot dishes are great for that. I especially like shepherd's pie, stews, thai curries and of course chili.
 
Today's recipe is about chili. Besides the usual bell peppers and tomatoes and onions that usually go into this recipe, I suggest adding finely chopped up shitake mushrooms. They are meaty and when cooked, blend well together with the ground beef so that they are not even discernable, but make for a very healthy chili.
 

 Chili with 'Sneaky" Vegetables

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 lb ground beef

6-8 large shitake mushrooms chopped fine or processed to the size of the ground beef

1 tsp salt or to taste

½ tsp pepper

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro (coriander) stems

1/2 Tbsp chili powder

½ Tbsp paprika (this will give your chili a vivid red color)

1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

One 28-ounce can peeled tomatoes (Use a good quality one here)

1 cup beef stock or ½ beef bouillon dissolved in a cup of water

One 28-ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

 

Method

 

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium-high heat

Add the onions, green pepper and garlic and cook until soft, about 5 minutes

Add the cumin, and stir for a minute until you get the aroma from the toasted cumin

Add the meat to the pan, season with the salt and pepper and brown well

Add the chopped shitake mushrooms and continue to brown

Add the tomato paste, the rest of the spices and the canned tomatoes

Smash the whole tomatoes down using a potato masher

Add the beef stock

Stir in the kidney beans

Cook the chili covered for 15 minutes on medium-low heat

Tips

1. It is worth taking the time to toast the cumin. In fact, when I have time, I toast whole cumin seeds separately and then grind them up to add to dishes. Chili is meant to have a smoky flavor and the toasted cumin helps with this.

2. My family can take heat, so I often add more chilies, you should adjust to your own taste. Note that paprika does not add much heat, but it does add a lot of flavor and color, so don't skimp on it, cut the chilies instead.

3. You can serve this over rice, or as a hearty soup, with your choice of toppings. I like cheese, green onions and diced avocado on mine!