Now, Why Didn’t I Think of That?

I like to read food magazines (no big surprise there). Cook’s Illustrated (Sept./Oct. 2009) did an article on making vinaigrettes. For me this was a great article. I like to make my own salad dressings. One problem that I have with homemade vinaigrettes is that the oil and vinegar separate into two layers. Shaking helps for a few seconds, but upon sitting for a few minutes they separate. Oil on top and vinegar on the bottom. That is because oil is less dense than vinegar. Alone they just can’t stay together. 

To keep oil and vinegar together, you need an emulsifier. Emulsifiers have two ends. One end holds water (hydrophilic) and one ends holds oil (hydrophobic). Therefore emulsifiers act to bring oil and water together into one. Egg yolks contain an emulsifier, lecithin. This is why egg yolks are used to make mayonnaise.

 

Schematic for an emulsifier

So why not use a little mayonnaise to keep a vinaigrette together. You are essentially using an emulsion to make an emulsion. And it worked. The vinaigrette made with the mayonnaise was a little thicker and did not separate. I made a lemon vinaigrette using this method.

Lemon Vinaigrette

Makes about ¼ cup.



Ingredients:

½ teaspoon mayonnaise or light mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

⅛ teaspoon salt

Black pepper, freshly ground

3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper. Gradually add lemon juice.

2. Slowly, add the oil, whisking constantly. Vinaigrette should be slightly thick with no oil on surface.

Note: Recipe makes enough to coat about 8 to 10 cups of salad greens. The original recipe only called for ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard. I happen to love Dijon mustard, so I added more. Finally, I also prefer more acid and less oil, so feel free to adjust the ratio of acid to oil. 

Sweet Potatoes – The ‘In’ Vegetable for 2011

I like to keep up with food trends. I am not sure I believe them, but it is fun to follow them. One of the hottest ‘new’ foods for 2011 is the sweet potato. (http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2010/12/food-trend-predictions-for-2011.html?intcid=epi_hptile4) Can you believe that – sweet potatoes? When I read that, my first thought was to applaud some trend watcher. My second thought was what took you so long? You see, the sweet potato has been a staple of the southern diet for eons.

So why sweet potatoes. First of all they are a nutritional powerhouse. They are high in fiber, beta carotene, and vitamin C and low in calories. They are showing up on more restaurant menus and not just as fries. Google searches for the vegetable have increased by 40% from last year. Now granted we don’t always prepare sweet potatoes in the most nutritionally sound ways. We have topped them with marshmallows – poor sweet potatoes, drowned them in butter and sugar, aka, candied yams and now we even fry them. Sweet potatoes are good on their own and don’t need much adornment to shine.

The sweet potato and white potato are only distantly related. The sweet potato is actually a member of the morning glory family. Although the leaves are edible, sweet potatoes are grown primarily for their roots. While there are hundreds of varieties of sweet potatoes, there was a time when Americans purchased two basic types, the yellow and deep orange kind. Now there are several varieties readily available to the US consumer. In addition to yellow and orange one can purchase white and purple sweet potatoes. White sweet potatoes contain more starch than the orange varieties and tend to cook up mealy. Orange varieties have a higher sugar content, are more watery and are easily caramelized. Purple sweet potatoes are sometimes referred to as Okinawan potatoes and are native to the Japanese island, Okinawa.

Roasted sweet potatoes is an excellent recipe for mixing different varieties of sweet potatoes. I like this recipe because it is easy – put it in the oven and walk away. But most of all, it showcases sweet potatoes. It allows the beauty of sweet potatoes to shine.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Serves 6.

 Ingredients:

3 pounds sweet potatoes, about 4 medium

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Wash and peel potatoes. Cut into cubes or French fry shape. Toss with oil, salt and black pepper.

2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray foil lightly with cooking spray. Add potatoes in a single layer.

3. Cover tightly with foil. Turn oven to 425°F and cook for 30 minutes.

4. Remove foil and continue to roast for 15 to 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Mama Still Rocks

I am a fan of Cook's Illustrated books and magazine. I like to know the science of food and how to make the ‘best’.

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I decided to try and make the ‘best’ pumpkin pie. Since I did not grow up with pumpkin, I enlisted the help of a few friends. I started by asking around to see how people make pumpkin pie. One friend says, they always used butternut squash because they grew so much of it that why should they use a canned product. Yet, another friend says, I just use the recipe on the back of the can of pumpkin.

I started with the recipe from Cook's Illustrated (Nov/Dec, 2008), since it was the ‘best’. I also found recipes from a couple of Midwestern cookbooks. After all, a Midwesterner should know how to make pumpkin pie. I gathered my ingredients and began making pies. And here are my results.

The Cooks Illustrated recipe made the pie with the mildest flavor. It was deemed as being ‘good’. One pie was made with condensed milk and fresh pumpkin or squash. It was deemed as ‘gummy’ and good but not the ‘best’. The last was made with canned pumpkin and evaporated milk. A friend summed up his thoughts on this pie in this manner. “It tastes like Mom’s. “ He didn’t say anything about the best, but it tastes like Mom’s.

This little experiment reminded me that sometimes it’s not the best that we seek. We seek the comfort of the familiar, tradition, home and Mom. And I think that’s just fine. In this day of instant messaging and all other ‘instant’ stuff, it’s nice to hold on to tradition.

To all those folks at Cook's Illustrated, thanks for giving us the ‘best pie’. But apparently Mom still rocks.

Finally, I came up with my version of Mom’s and Cook’s Illustrated pumpkin pie recipe. I made it for my same friend. He liked it, but wished it was more orange, aka, the canned stuff. If you like, you can substitute one can of pumpkin and one cup of sweet potatoes.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
Crust for 1-9” pie
3 cups pumpkin or butternut squash
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1½ cups half and half or 1 can (12 ounce) evaporated milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together and pour into pie crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in a 425°F oven. Center will be slightly soft, but will set upon cooling.

Note: If desired the filling can be made in a food processor.