April 20, 2007
Red, Hot, and Easy: Low Carb Tortilla Soup
Some of you may be aware, although many may not, that back a number of years ago, Mike and I made a family foray into the restaurant business. We purchased the area franchise rights to a concept out of Dallas, called ZuZu Handmade Mexican Food, which we were to own with our sons. The plan was that we would provide the capital, they the industry and expertise.
Though the boys worked like dogs and the food was delicious, for a variety of reasons, the concept failed to thrive and not just in our case, but in virtually every franchise that was bought outside the Dallas area, save for the ones in St. Louis, MO. Chief among the reasons were that although the preparation of the delicious, made-from-scratch food was labor intensive and the top quality ingredients were costly, the prices-to-the-consumer set by the franchiser were more in line with a Taco Bell, meaning that the resultant margins were shaved razor thin. One tiny misstep and you were in the red.
(If you're in St. Louis or Dallas and get a chance to visit one of the few stores that are still open, pop by and enjoy the fresh salsa bar and some really authentic, inexpensive food from the interior of Mexico. The food is fabulous, though not low carb, so if you go, go armed with a couple of your own low carb tortillas and enjoy the salsa, salad, and a Chile Relleno or the Pollo Asado, if they're still doing it.)
And after a couple of years of struggle and 16+ hour days for low pay, the kids had had enough; we all cut our losses and moved on. Our eldest son moved on to marriage and law school, our middle son went west to pursue his movie making dreams in Hollywood, and our youngest son, who had already headed off to college, kept on doing his thing at the College of Santa Fe, relieved that he'd never again be called upon to bus tables at the restaurant when he came home during breaks from school.
Owning a restaurant always seemed like a romantic notion: the sea of contented diners, eating delicious food in the peaceful dining room.
The hard reality (at least in our experience) is that whatever is going on out front in the dining room, behind the swinging door, the work is grueling and often thankless, the margins are slim, and the help notoriously unreliable. You have to absolutely love the restaurant biz to withstand the hours, the pressure, and the never-ending grind.
Mike had it right when on the night of our grand opening, at about 11:30 pm when, after everything was finally cleaned up and they could sit down at last and have a beer, our eldest son remarked, "Well, Dad, we've finally got us a ZuZu."
Mike sighed and shook his head and said,"No, son, it's got us."
And that's the truth of it. Once you're open in a restaurant, you're open and the work just never quits. It's like Sisyphus in Greek mythology. Cursed by the gods for his treachery, he labored all day each day to push a giant boulder up a steep hill only to have it roll down to the bottom just when he neared the top, so that he'd have to begin all over again.
I anyone reading this ever hears me say I'd like to open another restaurant, slap me hard until I recant!
I am deeply grateful, however, that there are people in the world who love the restaurant biz and do it well, so that I can go to fabulous restaurants and enjoy good food and impeccable service in a beautiful, peaceful dining room and never ever again have to go behind the swinging door to the "back" of the house, where all is often chaos.
The ZuZu experience had its virtues, though. For one, we all know how to cook some really excellent fresh and flavorful Mexican recipes, one of which was for a luscious tortilla soup, which I've been craving since my recent bout with upper respiratory misery has left my taste buds sort of wanting some spice. The original soup recipe was made with lots of real corn tortillas, homemade chicken broth, and lots of fresh roasted peppers and spice. In the intervening years I've tinkered with that original recipe to make a lower carb, easier version, which, if I do say so myself, is delicious.
And, in plenty of time for Cinco de Mayo, here it is:
Tortilla Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients for the soup
2 tablespoons olive oil (divided use)
1/2 pound spicy breakfast sausage
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional to desired heat level
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 small fresh pasilla (or poblano) chile pepper, seeded and diced
1 (4-ounce) can fire roasted diced green chiles, mild or hot
1 (14-ounce) can fire roasted diced canned tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
2 small low carb flour tortillas, cut into ½" strips
For the garnish
1 small low carb flour tortilla
½ teaspoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
4 teaspoons Mexican cream or sour cream
1.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees for baking the garnish tortillas.
2.) In a soup pot on the stovetop, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat, add the pork sausage, breaking it up with a spoon; season with the cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and brown. Remove the cooked sausage from the pan and drain in a bowl lined with paper towels to the side, covered with foil to retain the heat.
3.) Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, add garlic, onion, and fresh chile pepper and sauté over medium heat until the onion is translucent and the peppers softened.
4.) Add the tomatoes and their juice, the canned chile peppers, and the broth, stirring to combine.
5.) Add the strips of soft tortilla, stirring well to distribute them throughout; increase heat to bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
6.) Meanwhile, prepare the garnish. Combine all the spices in a small bowl and mix well.
7.) Brush the garnish tortilla with the olive oil, sprinkle lightly with the spice mixture, and cut into ¼" to ½" strips.
8.) Separate the strips, place on a wire rack in the hot oven, and bake for about 10 to15 minutes or until crisp.
9.) Puree the hot soup with an immersion blender. (Alternatively, transfer soup to a blender or food processor and process until mostly smooth. If using a blender, proceed very carefully, holding the blender lid on with a folded kitchen towel to prevent eruption. Puree in two batches if necessary to avoid overfilling the blender jar.)
10.) (If using alternate method, return the pureed soup to the pan). Add the cooked sausage to the soup, and stir to combine and reheat thoroughly.
11.) Ladle the soup into four bowls, garnish each with the chopped fresh cilantro, a squiggle of Mexican Creme or dollop of sour cream and a 'haystack' of baked spicy tortilla strips.
Protein per serving: 14 grams
Effective carb per serving: 12 grams
You could drop the carb content a bit by omitting the 2 tortillas that thicken the soup; the taste would be generally the same, but the consistency would be different and it wouldn't be tortilla soup! Enjoy!
Posted by mdeades at 12:57 PM | Comments (1)
April 16, 2007
Brahms' Requiem a Success
Well, the Brahms went off swimmingly; the audience seemed to love it, judging by their long ovation and multiple curtain calls. And Mike concurred. Many thanks to all who sent their good wishes.
Somehow, with the days of self-imposed vocal cord rest (which included doing the Ashlee Simpson and lip-synching the orchestra rehearsals Wednesday night, Friday night and Saturday afternoon) and the miracles of modern medicine--which included, a veritable witches' brew of herbs, gallons of tea, dozens of lemons, vitamins, minerals, prescription and over-the-counter medications, taken orally, inhaled, snorted up my nose, and even shot (by my darling husband) into my gluteus maximus just before the Saturday night performance--I was able to hit about 90-95% of the notes required during the demanding seven movements.
Strangely, the high register came in pretty clearly, which was a good thing, since Herr Brahms wrote most of the soprano line at the top of the staff and above it. (Click here to go to the Amazon page for possibly the best recording of the piece with the legendary Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta Symphony and Orchestra and you can listen to samples and see what I mean.)
There were a few notes that simply weren't reliably there for me, at least in their piano or pianissimo volumes and after the first couple of movements, the mid-staff D left me completely. When I would have to sing it, it was like hitting a piano key that's dead; nothing whatever would come out.
And after the climactic and powerful VI movement, most of which happens for the soprano line way up there at the high F, G, A, and B region, all the notes down there below and including the aforementioned D (the C, B, A, and G going down on the staff) were often absent as well. The bottom of the staff (F and below) remained oddly intact.
Fortunately what came out came out nicely and when it didn't, it was just the absence of sound, which in a chorus of 150 voice doesn't disrupt things too much. Would have been a deal breaker for a soloist, though.
Sunday was a little better for me, though still not 100%. But at least I made it through and got the chance to be a part of an excellent performance of this monumental choral masterpiece.
I learned that I wasn't alone in my misery; probably a dozen of us in the choir had various respiratory and throat maladies that made singing a challenge and worse yet, the SB Symphony's wonderful new maestro, Nir Kaberetti, conducted Saturday night with a temp of 102 F. And he never missed a single cue. Except for slightly longer pauses between movements to mop his fevered brow and regain his breath, you'd never have known he was battling a bug. Amazing dedication to his work and to the audience.
Now that this milestone is behind me, it's on to work on the Spring Concert repertoire, which is Haydn's Theresienmesse (Mass in B) and Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, which the choir will also be taking on tour to Italy and Germany this summer, and which, when the time comes, Mike promises to blog about along the way to keep everybody in the loop, both about the performances and about the fabulous food and wine we encounter along the way.
The Choral Society, in addition to being the oldest continuing community performing arts group in the Santa Barbara area, currently in its 59th season, also has a mission of community service in music education. On this summer's upcoming tour, we will be providing full and partial scholarships for approximately 20 deserving young singers, so that they may enrich their musical education through performance abroad. The total cost to do this to the society is about $80,000. We have spent this season raising the funds and are almost, but not quite, there. If any of you music lovers out there would care to contribute to the cause, you may do so by contacting the Choral Society through their website. Tell them MD sent you!
The Santa Barbara Choral Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and your donation (in any amount) is fully tax deductible and you will receive a written receipt. If you can help us fulfill this mission, please do so. And thanks!
Posted by mdeades at 9:47 AM | Comments (1)
April 13, 2007
Gettin' into The Habit
Mike and I flew into Santa Barbara late Tuesday night (after multiple SNAFUs going and coming on a trip to Dallas to visit with the grandangels). We're here this week, because it's concert week for me; the Santa Barbara Choral Society, with which I proudly sing, will be performing Brahms' German Requiem this weekend with the Santa Barbara Symphony at the Arlington Theater.
As luck would have it, either the copious spring pollen (our black car was positively yellow from it) or some vile bug in the (check all that apply) a) airport b)airplane c)7-year old birthday bash lunch we attended at Chuck E. Cheese left me exiting the plane minus my normal voice and plus a leaking faucet where my nose should be.
I hied myself immediately upon landing to a cup of hot tea with lemon, the Singer's Saving Grace spray bottle, and the Cold Packs I neglected to stuff in my bag before we left home, just in case it wasn't the pollen.
I'm praying for a full recovery, having spent the last four months working on Brahms' demanding choral masterpiece in planes, buses, cars, hotel rooms, and at home, both in SB and Lake Tahoe. I refuse to be done out of performing it by an attack by pollen or microbe, so I've put myself on total voice rest until Saturday night's performance!
Voice rest, of course, doesn't mean body rest and we had a bunch of catching up to do from being gone, so we were out and about pretty much all day. We had to run some errands in the morning and when lunchtime rolled around we found ourselves down on Milpas Street and hungry, so Mike suggested that we head over to The Habit, a Santa Barbara hamburger institution. I agreed, with hand signals and head bobs, since not talking also doesn't mean not eating and The Habit's burgers are to die for.
The Hamburger Habit began as just a single little burger shack out in neighboring Goleta, not too far from UCSB in 1969, but now has grown to a pretty good-sized chain throughout California. If you're ever in Santa Barbara, trust me, it's worth a stop into The Habit. There's one on State Street (where all visitors to the city ultimately wind up) that makes for a convenient place to stop in for lunch.
The one on Milpas has a nice outdoor patio and since (pollen notwithstanding) the day was simply gorgeous, with crystalline blue Mediterranean skies, palm trees swaying, bright flowers everywhere, the scent of citrus blooms and eucalyptus in the breeze, we decided to place our order and take up a table outside.
I love the taste of their Char Burger (with the works, including cheese, bacon, and onions) and Mike nearly always opts for their BBQ Tri-Tip Sandwich, both served 'protein style' wrapped in several crunchy leaves of fresh iceberg lettuce. Today was no different, except that instead of our usual bantering conversation over lunch, I was as silent as a mime as I wolfed down my yummy burger. Smiling and nodding at appropriate moments.
For his part, Mike probably enjoyed having the last word for a change. He better enjoy it while he can, because my silence will be short lived.
Posted by mdeades at 9:46 PM | Comments (2)
April 2, 2007
Low Carb Convenience: Splenda Quick Packs
Occasioned by my last post on sweetener alternatives a helpful reader (thanks Amy) commented about a new Splenda package that I must admit I was utterly unaware of: the Splenda Quick Pack. What the manufacturer has done is nothing short of brilliant.
To make it easier to use their product in quantity they've thoughtfully packaged it into a single envelope that packs the sweetening punch of 1 cup of sugar, but with only 0.5 gram of carb and just 2 calories. Gone is the debate about fillers and the number of carbs they may (or may not if the maltrodextrin filler is essentially a non-absorbable carb as some have suggested) bring to the table.
Better yet, it means saying goodbye to the hassle of tearing and dumping 24 individual packets!
One cup, of course, is the perfect amount for sweetening, say a 2-quart pitcher of unsweetened KoolAid, which explains its being shelved near the drink mix packets and not on the baking aisle, which, in turn, explains why I've never seen it, since I don't often peruse the drink mixes. It's even a pretty standard amount for baking, if the bulk of sugar isn't needed to make the recipe work. But the real beauty of it to me, since I'm not big into KoolAid, is this: it's perfect for a whipping up a big batch of eggnog or a double batch of margaritas.
Now you're talkin'!
Posted by mdeades at 12:24 PM | Comments (7)
April 1, 2007
Sweeter Than Sugar?
Recently, I've gotten several letters on a similar theme from viewers of our TV show fowarded to me through our Low Carb CookwoRx website. The recurrent theme involves where we stand on the use of sugar versus artificial sweeteners or on one artificial sweetener versus another. Here's a typical one:
I like sweets and want to reduce intake. I have tried artificially sweetened products but suffer from constipation and bloating ...Is there any way to avoid this or do I have to just reduce regular sugar intake and forget the artificial sweeteners? --MJB
It occurred to me that a number of blog readers have asked similar questions and many others, who haven't written, might also welcome the information, so here's my reply:
It's always been our recommendation that it's a good thing to curb the sweet tooth, so that one can once again perceive the natural sweetness in foods, such as almonds and snap peas, for instance, that most of us can no longer even recognize as sweet. Continuing to bombard the sweet receptors (taste buds) with high intensity sweetness, whether from sugar or from artificial sweeteners will overwhelm that natural perception ability.Sugar, of course, has an entire spectrum of metabolic consequences apart from its sweetness: elevated blood sugar, which is itself harmful to the kidney's filtering apparatus, excess insulin in the blood to counter that elevated blood sugar, which has a Pandora's box of associated problems. There are a hundred reasons to avoid eating much sugar.
As to artificial sweeteners, they all have their drawbacks: bitter aftertaste, bloating and gas, excitotoxic potential for the brain and nervous system, allergic reactions, etc. In our opinion, for most people, Splenda has the fewest problems, if used in moderation, but there are definitely those people who cannot use it. Of the sugar alcohols, many notorious for unpleasant intestinal side effects, probably erythritol (sold as Z Sweet) and xylitol (sold under a variety of names and in bulk bags in many health food stores) have the fewest of these side effects, if used in moderation. The sweet herb, stevia, and even plain old saccharine don't have a lot of intestinal side effects, but do have a bitter aftertaste if you use even slightly too much.
The best advice is to find the artificial (or natural in the case of stevia) non-sugar sweetener you tolerate best and don't use much of it. Bit by bit taper the amount of sweetness you add to foods and let the natural sweetness shine through. Cordially...
Now, I'll broaden the educational value of the post a little, to add a short reference glossary of alternative sweeteners. Much of this information comes from an American Association of Cereal Chemists book we have in our library, called Sweeteners: Alternative by Amy L. Nelson (Eagen Press, St. Paul, Minnesota)
Acesulfame K: An accident of chemistry, discovered in 1967 by a Hoechst Company researcher in Germany, who noticed a sweet taste on his fingers, while reacting a couple of chemicals. (As you'll see from the entries that follow this is how more than a few artificial sweeteners got discovered. There seems to be a pattern among chemists to stick their fingers in their mouths, which, to me, a person with an undergrad combined biology/chemistry major, seems to violate every basic tenant of safe laboratory behavior I ever learned.) Acesulfame potassium, or AceK as we usually call it, is a synthetic, white, crystalline powder about 200 times sweeter than sucrose. Positives include having no demonstrated health risks so far (approved in the US in 1988) and good stability; it's not thought to decompose and is excreted unchanged from the GI tract. Drawbacks: really no serious ones, except that it is truly 'artificial' which, all by itself, is enough to turn some folks off. It's sold commercially under the name Sunette. We have no problem with its use in moderation, as all sweeteners should be used.
Aspartame: Sold under the brand name NutraSweet, the compound was also an accidental discovery in 1965 by a chemist at Searle & Company. (Another finger sucker, apparently.) It is a synthetic, white, crystalline powder, made of two amino acids (L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine) with about 160-220 times the sweetness of sucrose. Positives include a clean taste without metallic bitterness. Drawbacks include its notorious instability in non-acidic aqueous solutions or when heated, at which point it loses its sweetness and potentially becomes toxic. When the molecule disassociates (breaks apart) one potential decomposition compound is methanol or 'wood alcohol'--the stuff sometimes in moonshine that makes you go blind if you drink it. Just image what could be happening to those aspartame molecules inside all those cans of diet soda in the back of a delivery truck on a sweltering August day in Atlanta. We have personally witnessed a startling array of clinical ills anecdotally attributable to its use, ranging from severe and reproducible stomach cramping to sleeplessness to hives to emotional disturbance to memory loss. There's some evidence (again, anecdotal) that these potential ills might even be of greater risk to people on a low carb dietary structure. These concerns, in part, are what prompted our reversal of opinion about the sweetener's safety after writing Protein Power and why we no longer allow any little blue packets in our house. We do not recommend its use!
Cyclamate: Another accidental discovery, in 1937 by a graduate student at the University of Illinois. (This time a 'coffin nail' sucker who got his chemically contaminated fingers on his cigarette and noticed the smoke tasted sweet. Yeeaacch!) Cyclamate is a synthetic, white, crystalline powder about 30 times sweeter than sucrose. Drawbacks include: a bitter-tasting breakdown product and questionable health risk. Based on studies in the late 1960s that suggested the product might cause bladder cancer in rats, cyclamate was banned in the US in 1970 never to return. Subsequent studies in the 50 plus countries that didn't ban the product--and where it is still sold--showed no carcinogenic potential, but its petition for reinstatement in the US still languishes 25 years later.
Erythritol: A naturally occurring sugar alcohol (found in small quantities in mushrooms, pears, melons, grapes and wine) that is produced commercially by fermentation of table sugar (or other sugars) in a process somewhat akin to making yogurt. It's only about 70% as sweet as sugar but has only a fraction (about 0.2) of a calorie per gram, basically low enough to qualify it as 'zero calories'. Erythritol is a small molecule, rapidly absorbed by the small intestine, meaning little of it gets to the colon to cause the typical intestinal misery common to other sugar alcohols. On the good side, research has shown that more than 90% of what's absorbed is excreted unchanged in the urine within 24 hours. (That does beg the question of what happens to the other 10%, but let's not split hairs.) Positives: Most people feel it has a clean taste. As I do with xylitol, I perceive a slight cold, faintly metallic taste of the straight stuff that disappears to a large extent when it's added to a food or beverage.
Lo Han Guo: The extract of a Chinese berry, that, when purified into its individual compounds is 300 to 400 times sweeter than sucrose. Used in China for centuries (possibly millennia) it's a fairly recent entry into the natural alternative sweetener scene. (Proctor and Gamble patented a commercial extraction and purification process in 1995.) To read more about it, click here.
Saccharine (Sweet'n'Low): Discovered, again by accident, in 1878 at a Johns Hopkins University laboratory, saccharine is a synthetic, white, crystalline powder 300-600 times sweeter than sucrose. Drawbacks include: bitter aftertaste and questionable health risk. The substance had been shown in a 1977 Canadian study to cause bladder cancer in male rats fed an amount of saccharine equal on a human scale to that in 800 to 1000 cans of diet soda per day. Subsequent study on humans has failed to show a connection. According to Ms. Nelson's book, President Theodore Roosevelt, who championed the cause of keeping saccharine available to the American consumer, is said to have remarked:
"Anyone who says saccharin is injurious to health is an idiot!"--Teddy Roosevelt ,1906
Ole Teddy knew how to call a spade a spade.
Sorbitol, Mannitol, and Maltitol: All are sugar alcohols produced by the fermentation of corn, wheat, or potato starch into either a crystalline powder or a syrup. Depending on how the starch is broken down (by which enzymatic reaction and for how long) the same starch can yield any of these sugar alcohols. Glucose converts to sorbitol, mannose to mannitol, and maltose to maltitol. None are as sweet as sugar, though maltitol comes closest at 90%. Positives: they have fewer calories than sugar (about 1.5 to 2.5 per gram versus the 4 per gram in sugar). Drawbacks: All these sugar alcohols cause the notorious intestinal side effects common to the group--intestinal rumbling, gas, bloating, and often diarrhea--if consumed in more than small amounts, which limits their usefulness. Although some food purveyors will completely subtract all grams of any sugar alcohol they use in a product from the carb total, that's probably not entirely kosher, since some portion of the substance does get absorbed (although there's no good data on how much of which one to my knowledge) and therefore has to at least count as calories in. Although it's not double-blind, placebo controlled research data, it's long been our custom to count sugar alcohols a contributing about a third of a gram of carb per gram of sugar alcohol (or 3 grams for every 10) which serves to curb intake somewhat in people watching their carbs.
Stevia: First extracted in the early 1900s from the leaves of a South American plant, Stevia rebaudiniana, but used as an herb for centuries before that to sweeten bitter medicines. The leaves are about 30 times sweeter than sucrose and the purified extract (the stuff sold in little green packets in stores nowadays) is about 200 times sweeter. Positives include its natural origins and purported safety demonstrated by its lengthy use in folk medicine. Drawbacks include its bitter afterbite, which make it difficult to cook with, since just enough to make a dish properly sweet is a molecule away from the too much that makes it bitter. A good Stevia cookbook is a worthwhile purchase for anyone wanting to use this product to sweeten. Stevia extract has not received GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status from the FDA (for who knows what reasons, but cherchez l'argent if you ask me) and, therefore, can only be sold as a dietary supplement, not a sweetener. Go figger.
Sucralose (Splenda): One of the few artificial sweeteners actually developed on purpose (by researchers at Queen Elizabeth College in London) sucralose is a synthetic compound made directly from the sugar molecule by selectively replacing three hydroxyl (-OH) groups with chlorine (-Cl) molecules to produce a substance about 400 to 800 times sweeter than the molecule it came from, sucrose. Positives include its clean taste, stability both in solutions across a wide range of pH values and at high temperatures. Additionally, it is minimally metabolized, being mostly excreted in the stool, unchanged--ie with all its added chlorine molecules still bound in their positions, not wandering around in the body somewhere as some alarmists would have you believe. To date, we have seen no credible evidence (either with our own eyes or in published controlled studies) to indict this sweetener as a health risk. As always, our minds will stay open and if such information becomes available and has merit, we will adjust our recommendations accordingly. For now, for us, sucralose in its little yellow packets or in bulk packages is fine, used in moderation as all sweeteners should be.
Tagatose: Derived from the milk sugar, lactose, this sweetener is slightly less sweet than sucrose (about 92% so). Positives include having only 1.5 calories per gram versus 4 for table sugar and honey (so although not no calorie, it's low calorie), not rotting your teeth, and exerting a pre-biotic effect in the gut by stimulating the cells of the colon to crank up their production of butyrate (a short chain fatty acid) that helps nourish both the colonocytes and the friendly bacteria there. Drawbacks: Makers suggest that it is metabolized in a manner similar to fructose (which might not be a good thing) but is only partially absorbed. About 15 to 20% is absorbed and the balance flows on downstream to cause all the same intestinal effects as other partially absorbable carbohydrates--namely, gas, bloating, and diarrhea--if used to excess. Marketed in the US in a product called Shugr.
Xylitol: A sugar alcohol, derived from xylan (a complex sugar chain, sort of like cellulose, which is found in corncobs, straw, almond shells, and birch bark) which is then broken down into individual units of a simple sugar, called xylose, which is then hydrogenated to make xylitol. Positives are that it has a sweetness exactly equal to sugar (but only half the calories) and so measures exactly like sugar spoon for spoon, making for easy recipe conversion. Additionally, there are a pretty good number of research studies that point to its actually being of some health benefit for preventing cavities and ear infections in children. Drawbacks: from my own use, I noted typical intestinal side effects of sugar alcohols, such as gas, bloating, rumbling, and diarrhea, although some people aver less misery with it than with other sugar alcohols, except, perhaps, erythritol. Additionally, I am able to perceive a slight cold, faintly metallic quality to its taste, although other people describe it as a clean taste. Once only found in chewing gum, so in small amounts in the diet, it's now being manufactured in bulk and in individual single serving packets. If you tolerate using it, and many people do, it's probably among the least offensive of the sugar alcohols.
I should note that all the high-intensity sweeteners (those with sweetness hundreds of times greater than sucrose) require a bulking agent to be used. Most of what's in the little packets of any color is the bulking agent, most often maltodextrin. There is currently great debate about whether the maltodextrin forms used for this purpose are an absorbable carb or not. The half a gram or so attributed to packets of sucralose, stevia, or saccharine come from the maltodextrin and we've always counted them into the total carb count. If it turned out that, like fiber, they went unabsorbed entirely, that would be an added benefit. Time will tell.
So, there it is. A glossary of the compounds sweeter than sugar. If you choose to use...Caveat emptor!
Posted by mdeades at 1:45 AM | Comments (22)
March 28, 2007
Avocado Ahi Towers
We had a dinner party last night at Casa Eades for a group of Mike's golfing buddies and their wives/girlfriends. I knew some of the group, had casually met others, and didn't know a couple of them before last night's gathering, which can make for a bit of a challenge when devising a menu in this day and age of nutrition Nazis and food freaks who can't eat this, don't eat that.
Nowadays, a dinner host has to navigate a veritable labyrinth of food proclivities to try to please all comers. What ever happened to the rule my mother taught me as a child when presented with something I didn't especially like or had never seen before: Take a bite to be polite?
Actually, I'm the first to try to accommodate food preferences for guests I invite to my home for a meal, if I know in advance of their requirements. And usually, I ask ahead of time: Anything anybody can't or won't eat? Obviously the last thing I'd want to do is feed something to someone with a true allergy, unless of course I planned to keep my medical bag close by to pop them with a dose of subQ epinephrine when they took a bite and began to gasp for air.
We've entertained folks who couldn't or wouldn't eat everything from wheat (usually not a problem in our house), dairy, seafood, and beef to onions, certain dye colors, and red wine. We've entertained vegetarians. We aim to please.
Last night's menu started with an Asian flare: Thai Tomato Ginger Soup, then an Avocado Ahi Tower with Microgreens. We then moved to cattle country, with a Marinated Grilled Flank Steak served on a bed of Mashed Fauxtatoes with Roasted Asparagus garnished with strips of Roasted Red Pepper. Dessert was one of my favorites: Wine Poached Fragrant Pears with a Cabernet Reduction Sauce.
As the group assembled, we slurped on a big batch of Guiltless Margaritas and some Spicy Low Carb Tortilla crisps and Salsa Roja. (The South of the Border part of our culinary world tour.)
(The Fauxtato, Pear, Margarita, and Tortilla crisp recipes are available on our PBS tv show's website and appear in the show's companion cookbook, Low Carb CookwoRx Cookbook
After a suitable interval of convivial gabbing, Mike and I ladled up the soup and invited all the guests to the dining room to begin.
After one bite of the soup, one of the guests asked "Do I taste pepper in this soup?"
"Yes, you do," I replied. "There's a bit of fresh Serrano pepper in there."
His dining companion laid down her soup spoon.
"I can't eat peppers," said she. "They make my tongue swell and tingle."
Needless to say, I was horrified. Thankfully, she hadn't eaten any of the soup, so I didn't have to rush for the bag or call 911.
"I'm so sorry," I said, "can I get you something else?"
She graciously demurred and I assured her that there were no hot chile peppers in any of the coming courses.
We cleared the soup and brought in the Avocado Ahi Towers, which were absolutely beautiful, if I do say so myself, not to mention delicious. (The recipe for how to do it follows below.)
I had to leave in the middle of the fish course to tend to the grilling flank steak and when I returned to finish my ahi, I was pleased to see that every single bit of food was gone from every plate. That's always a gratifying sight for the cook
It wasn't until all the guests had departed and Mike and I were cleaning up afterward that he spilled the beans to me. The Pepper Lady apparently wasn't into sashimi, either, because while I was out of the room tending to the beef, she'd given her entire fish portion to her dinner table neighbor, who accepted it, happily, and consumed every bite.
Which explains why the Pepper Lady had asked for more of the cauliflower puree (Mashed Fauxtatoes). Poor thing was probably starving half to death.
The moral of this tale is this:
People with food allergies or strict requirements should ALWAYS notify their hosts in advance!
For those of you, who, like us, love ahi sashimi, here's the recipe:
Avocado Ahi Towers with Microgreens
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the dressing/marinade
Juice of a lime
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 inch Wasabi paste (or 1/4 teaspoon Wasabi powder)
2 Tablespoons Ponzu Sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 pinch Celtic Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 green onions, diced, both green and white parts
1 pound fresh sashimi grade ahi (tuna), diced into 1/2" cubes
1 ripe Haas avocado, diced into 1/2" cubes (doused with the lime juice)
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 cups fresh microgreens
1/4 cup pickled ginger*, if desired for edible garnish
1.) Prepare four 4-ounce ramekins or custard cups by lining each one with a square of plastic wrap. (You'll need about a 10" length for each cup, center the wrap over the middle of the cup, press it down all around and leave the edges lapping over the sides.)
2.) In a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients, except the oil and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes to allow flavors to combine and salt to melt. Then whisk in the olive oil in a slow stream.
3.) Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the dressing/marinade for use in dressing the microgreens just before serving.
4.) Place the diced ahi and green onions in a bowl, pour on half the remaining dressing/marinade and toss to coat completely.
5.) Pour the remaining dressing over the cubed avocado and toss gently with your fingers to completely coat.
6.) Place one-quarter of the ahi into each ramekin, top with one-quarter of the avocado, and then bring the 'tails' of the plastic wrap up and over to cover. Press slightly down to make the layers firm.
7.) Stack the ramekins one atop the other (the weight helps to solidify the 'tower's' body) and refrigerate until ready to serve. (You can do this up to 3 or 4 hours in advance, but much longer and the avocado will begin to break down and get mushy.)
8.) When ready to serve, dress microgreens lightly with the reserved dressing/marinade. Gently tug on the ends of the plastic wrap to pull the 'towers' out of the ramekins, open the bottom of the wrap, and invert the tower on a chilled salad plate. Place one-quarter of the dressed microgreens beside the tower. Garnish with a few coins of pickled ginger, if desired.
*(Note: Pickled ginger is available in little plastic bags, usually in the Asian or International Foods aisles of most grocery stores.)
Posted by mdeades at 2:07 PM | Comments (1)