Roast Pork Loin and Asparagus with Wild Morel Sauce

It makes no sense -- not even to me does it make sense -- but I’ve been craving -- and consuming -- pork all week. (This week, of all weeks!)

I tell myself it has something to do with building immunity, but it does not: the two thoughts are really not connected. It has to do with the fact that pork really is the other white meat: it has that terrific richness (they don’t call it “pork fat” for nothin’), is incredibly versatile and surprisingly economical, especially for a dish as luxurious and just wonderful as this one.

The technique seems to strike neophytes as weird and labor intensive, probably because of the different surfaces involved: from skillet to roaster to cuttingboard. It’s not really and it’s worth getting the hang of as it’s a useful technique for other types of meat. You can, for instance, do a really lovely steak this way, just cut the time appropriately.

This recipe will serve four. Add a starch -- some roasted potatoes or a bit of rice -- if you’re serving bigger eaters or just like the look of a filled plate.


Roast Pork Loin and Asparagus with Wild Morel Sauce

1 lb. loin of pork or thick boneless chop
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
10 ounces fresh morel mushrooms, halved lengthwise (sliced button or crimini will do, as well)
1/3 cup white wine
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 lb. asparagus, with ends cut or snapped

Prepare the asparagus by snapping or cutting the bottom inch of stalk. Lay the asparagus in a shallow ovenproof dish. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and brown the pork loin all over. Putting the skillet aside, transfer the roast to a foil-lined pan, bake in preheated 400 F. oven until juices run clear, approx. 18-20 minutes. When removed from the oven, transfer the meat to a cutting board and tent with foil to let rest at least five minutes before slicing and serving.

While the pork is roasting, go back to the original skillet. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pork scraps in the pan, then add the onion and soften over medium heat, about four minutes. Add mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste, sauté until the mushrooms are cooked through, about eight minutes. (Slightly less if using common white mushrooms.) Add the wine and cook until almost evaporated, stirring to deglaze brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add stock and cook for another six minutes.

Mix butter and flour and add to sauce and simmer until sauce is thickened. Add the parsley and pan juices from the pork a couple of minutes before the sauce is done.

While the pork is resting and you’re still fussing with your gorgeous sauce, pop your previously prepared asparagus into a 450 F. oven. Cook for seven to 10 minutes or until tender. Peek in roughly halfway through cooking and move the stalks around a bit so that they roast evenly.

Slice the pork and arrange beautifully on a plate with asparagus stalks and sauce.

Five Foods to Help Fight Swine Flu

Pushing these immune-building foods as helping to fight swine flu in particular seems a bit sensationalist to me but, hey, I didn’t make it up. That part fell to “Internet Chef” Bridget Davis who, oddly enough for a chef, lists the foods, but leaves it up to us to figure out what to do with them.

When the World Health Organisation- WHO releases a global warning about a possible pandemic, currently swine influenza A (H1N1) or the swine flu public reaction tends to take one of the following forms.

You have your pragmatist or ‘well stocked pantry personality’ who is boy scout ready for any possible outbreak including stock piling face masks, bottles of drinking water and long-life batteries.

Lacking a recipe, I considered the five immune-building foods and it occurred to me that an answer could be very simple, indeed. If you were to combine the five, sauté slowly with a cup of coconut milk and then you poured the whole shebang over steamed rice, you’d have a rather lovely lunch.

Internet Chef’s list of the big five is here.

Happy Earth Day!

In some ways, around here every day is Earth Day! We’re very concerned about sustainable food options and how to make your kitchen a happier, greener place. Because today the whole Foodisima team is being pulled around to Earth Day events, here are a couple of links to tide you over. Kaboose overs up a whole bouquet of Earth Day friendly recipes here. And January Magazine delivers a review of Alice Waters very important Edible Schoolyard as well as a contest to win one of five copies.

Happy Earth Day!

Chocolate Sorbet: the Other Ice Cream

If you ever make your own ice cream, you know that there’s a lot of stuff in proper ice cream that aren’t especially good for the bits of you that you sit on. You can follow the urge to make ice cream “lite,” but -- on a certain level -- light ice cream just feels... well... wrong somehow. So when I came across this recipe for a rich, Mexican chocolate sorbet, something just clicked. It just feels right somehow. It’s a proper sorbet, so there’s absolutely no milk or eggs in this recipe, but it’s so rich you really don’t notice that they’re missing. It’s fabulous: but because it’s so rich, you really don’t need very much.

I love this recipe. It’s easy, rich, sinfully chocolaty and -- get this -- totally vegan not to mention ideal for anyone with food restrictions: it’s made out of almost nothing but water and chocolate.


Mexican Chocolate Sorbet with Bittersweet Nibs
from Cooking for Two (Chronicle Books) by Jessica Strand

¼ cup sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
¼ cup cacao nibs or mini bittersweet chocolate nibs

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine ½ cup water with the sugar until dissolved. Whisk in the cocoa, then add the cloves and cinnamon. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the stove and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Strain the chocolate mixture through a fine-meshed sieve into a bowl, then pour into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

When the mixture is nearly ready, add the chocolate nibs or mini-chips, and continue mixing until frozen. Serve immediately, or for a firmer consistency, place in a freezer-safe container and freeze for several hours.

Use Your Dishwasher to Go Green!

I always suspected that running a full dishwasher was more environmentally friendly than hand-washing. And now I have proof: Epicurious told me so!

Appliances might seem energy-intensive, but running the dishwasher when it's completely full is actually more energy- and water-efficient than hand washing. For an extra green measure, skip the heated dry cycle and let your dishes air-dry.

This from an article and video offering from the magazine by author and Better Homes & Gardens editor Danny Seo who offers up several suprisingly easy tips for greening up your kitchen. There’s tips on countertop and sponge cleaning, acceptable kitchen paints and this little snippet on choosing countertops that is not so easy, but is deeply interesting:

Choosing kitchen countertops is tricky business because many of the options can be harmful for you as well as the environment. For instance, granite is mined deep from the earth's surface (scarring the land and leading to erosion) and may emit high levels of radon gas into your home. Fortunately, there is an eco-friendly option: countertops made of recycled glass mixed into concrete. This durable composite doesn't require mining, uses mostly recycled materials, emits zero VOCs, and when tested for radon emissions, gets the lowest possible score. In addition, using this type of countertop can contribute to LEED certification—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a green building rating system. Recycled-glass-and-concrete countertops are available in a variety of styles and colors. Two of Seo's favorite sources are IceStone and Vetrazzo.

There’s lots more in the piece, as well as lots more to the series. You can find it all on the Epicurious Web site here.

Eggs Benedict Day

I’m a little bit distressed about the fact that I’m completely unprepared for National Eggs Benedict Day. I mean, let’s face it: Easter was less than a week ago so, of course, my egg supply has been depleted by design-mad colorists.

Even if I was prepared in the egg department, I’m not quite sure what I’d do to celebrate. Not make eggs benedict, that’s for sure. I haven’t made a proper eggs benedict since around the time I had a moonroof in my car. (To tell the truth: I still have a moonroof in my car, I just don’t call it that anymore.)

The trouble wasn’t with the eggs -- I’m a killer-mean poacher -- nor with the ham (since we’ve just had National Glazed Ham Day, the ham part won’t be problematic for most people... right?) and I usually have english muffins somewhere on the premises. No: it’s the hollandaise that gives me trouble. Not actually making it: it’s not that difficult to make a proper hollandaise if you follow a good recipe and make a commitment. And I certainly don’t mind eating it. The trouble is, when you make it you’re forced to acknowledge what’s in it, and what’s in it is not good for either my heart or my ass, two bits I’m quite fond of.

So, for me, when it comes to eggs benedict, ignorance is bliss. If you are bolder here are a couple recipes that likely won’t steer you wrong. The one, a classic bennie, is from Delia Smith (I love it when she says "squidgy" as she does in this one). Any recipe with "squidgy" in it can’t be half bad.) This recipe has been “Emerlized” so it’s not actually a benedict at all. (Looks good, though.) And this one is from mystery author Mary Daheim, so it’s a bit more about getting there quickly so you still have time to read. (You can argue for that.)

Happy Eggs Benedict Day!

Stinging Nettle

It’s said that stinging nettle is good for almost everything. Depending on what you read, it has the ability to aid in the treatment of coughs, tuberculosis and arthritis. Nettle is an antioxidant and may have anti-inflammatory, anti-microbal and anti-cancer properties.

All of these cures have been proven to various depths, but none of them make nettle sound very appetizing. Yet it is. And while it’s a challenging vegetable to prepare, it can be incredibly satisfying to eat something that tastes this good that is so good for you, it makes steamed kale look like junk food by comparison. (OK: not really, but you get what I mean.)

While there are many preparations possible for this incredibly iron and mineral rich leafy green, I personally find the slight fuzziness that remains in most preparations a bit distressing. As a result, I’ve adapted a classic western European spinach preparation to nettles. It leaves absolutely no fuzziness behind and is great on its own or as a base for other recipes.

Pureed Stinging Nettle

½ pound nettles – choose the leafy tops of young plants
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the nettles carefully, using tongs to avoid being stung.

Blanch fresh nettles in boiling water for two minutes. Drain, reserving two cups of the liquid.

Process the blanched nettles along with two cloves of fresh garlic with a food processor’s steel blade. Set aside.

Melt butter in a medium-sized saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for two minutes, until the flour is cooked. Add the chopped nettles and garlic and cook over low heat for seven to 10 minutes. You’re looking for a bright green, even puree, a bit smoother and firmer than a pesto. If the mixture appears too thick, add some of the reserved nettle water, a few tablespoons at a time. Cook, stirring regularly, until the garlic is cooked through. Serve over polenta, tossed into pasta or roasted potatoes.

National Pecan Day

Did you know that pecans are the only major tree nut that is indigenous to North America? As a result, the pecan features richly in American history. All those pecan pies! But, also, it is well known that Presidents Washington and Jefferson enjoyed their pecans and the nut has been propagated widely and successfully in the United States since the 1880s.

Want to learn more about the history of pecans? Check here. Need information about National Pecan Day? That's here. Want to learn how to make a pecan pie? (And who doesn't?) Start here.

World's Biggest Cheese

According to Holland Trade, in 2006, the biggest piece of cheese in the world was weighed in the cheese-producing city of Alkmaar in (unsurprisingly) Holland.

The Beemster cheese wheel weighed 600.5 kilos -- a little over 1200 pounds -- which Holland trade made the cheese "eligible for entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest piece of cheese in the world."

That's a lot of cheese!

Nutrition and Mushrooms

Mushrooms picked in sunlight are a great way to supplement your Vitamin D. In his 2005 book Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World (Ten speed Press), Dr. Paul Stamets suggests that “populations where vitamin D is seriously deficient, sun-exposed dried mushrooms can help address a serious health issue.”

In 2004, Stamets made the discovery that the levels of Vitamin D in freshly picked Shiitake mushrooms grown indoors rose from 110 IU per 100 grams to 46,000 IU when they were placed upside down in the sun for six hours.

Upshot: we’ve always known that mushrooms are delicious. Now we also know they’re good for you, too.

Welcome to Foodisima!

This is where we begin our journey of fun and food. Have a special topic you’d like to see covered? A recipe you can’t find anywhere else? Some food-related fact you’d like us to help you find? Let this be your starting point. We’ll begin here. No telling where the journey might lead us.