Mmm... there's nothing like fresh, organic garlic in the spring! While garlic is something we find all year round, the spring yields many varieties fresh from the defrosted winter ground, and there's nothing like this pungent yet subtly sweet herb to stir up some springiness in your dishes!

Tomes have been written about the love of garlic - both for its culinary and medicinal purposes. Native to Central Asia, its usage predates written history. In fact it's been planted so long that its seeds are no longer fertile and it is no longer wild: instead - it's propagated by clove - planting a clove will yield one bulb two seasons later (often harvested in spring and fall).

Nutritional properties

Garlic is a Superfood with a notable capital "S". Aside from hosting enviable amounts of vitamin C, B6, selenium, and manganese, it is a potent anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory. Just a few of the known health benefits:

• regular garlic consumption has positive affects on regulation of blood pressure and triglyceride levels
• fresh garlic is useful for helping to protect severe asthma attacks
• helpful in the reduction of pain and inflammation in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
• effective in treatment of common colds, flu, and stomach viruses
• effective in treatment of candida overgrowth
• may help prevent against many common cancers
• potent antibiotic - even against some drug-resistant strains of bacteria (promising studies show it may help against MRSA)
• helpful in treatment of skin cancer and prevention of colon cancer
• may help prevent development of diabetes
• promotes weight control

A couple medicinal uses for the home apothecary...

Kick that cold in the arse: do you have a cold or cough that's just been lingering? Tuck a clove of garlic in your cheek and suck on it for an hour at night - each night until your cold disappears. Yes, you will have garlic breath, but it's manageable with toothpaste and mouthwash. You can also chew some parsley to rid of it. Your cold should vanish within a couple days.

Garlic & Honey Cough & Cold Syrup: this is a powerful concoction to keep on hand during cold season: Peel organic garlic cloves, put in jar. Cover with raw organic honey. Set in warm place for 2 weeks or more until the garlic turns opaque. Take 1 teaspoonful as needed. Dilute with a little water for children. Works wonders!

Selection, storage, preparation

For maximum flavor and nutritional benefits, always purchase fresh garlic - don't go for that pre-peeled jarred stuff. It's not so hard to get the peels off if you're armed with this helpful technique: take one clove, slice off the end (not the pointy end, but the other end), place the clove with the smooth side down on a cutting board and gently tap it with the flat side of a wide knife. You should be able to take the peel right off.

Also, as with many produce items, smaller cloves tend to concentrate more flavor and have more sweetness. Purchase garlic that is plump and has unbroken skin. Gently squeeze the garlic bulb between your fingers to check that it feels firm and is not damp. Store fresh garlic in either an uncovered or a loosely covered container in a cool, dark place away from exposure to heat and sunlight. This will help maintain its maximum freshness and help prevent sprouting. It is not necessary to refrigerate garlic.

Avoid garlic that is soft, shriveled and moldy or that has begun to sprout. These may be indications of decay that will cause inferior flavor and texture.

You may have noticed that different recipes call for you to prepare your garlic different ways. Why all the fuss, you ask? Well, there is some lovely nuance to be had - all based upon what kind of flavor you're looking to get out of it. Garlic may be mashed, pounded, pressed, diced, sliced, or left whole. A whole clove, cooked slowly, has a mild, nutty flavor because the heat destroys the enzyme responsible for the sulfur compound within. So heat is one factor. The second factor is exposure to oxygen, as those cells exposed release sulfides that oxidize on contact with the air - therefore, a thoroughly mashed clove is more potent than one that is sliced or chopped.

Finally, as you may have learnt already - when cooking garlic, do NOT brown it. It will become bitter and ruin the dish. If this happens, it is better to start over, washing the pan out and everything, than continuing - there is no correction for a dish with burnt garlic...

Fresh Garlic Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
3-5 cloves of fresh garlic

Mash the garlic by first cutting into small pieces, then either mixing with a pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle, or adding salt to the cutting board and mashing and puling with the flat side of your knife. The salt will pull the water out of it and help it liquify, or mash. Thoroughly combine all ingredients, and dip fresh or steamed veggies for a snack or meal. The sauce will keep for a couple weeks.

Simple Roasted Garlic

As many bulbs as you want to roast
Olive oil

1 Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Eat as is (I love straight roasted garlic) or mash with a fork and use for cooking. Can be spread over warm French bread, mixed with sour cream for a topping for baked potatoes, or mixed in with Parmesan and pasta.... let your creative juices flow with this one, the sky is the limit!

Posted by Michelle at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week begins an important documentary series on PBS exploring the socio-economic impact on the health of our culture:

It often appears that we Americans are obsessed with health. Media outlets trumpet the latest gene and drug discoveries, dietary supplements line shelf after shelf in the supermarket and a multi-billion dollar industry of magazines, videos and spas sells healthy "lifestyles." We spend more than twice what the average rich country spends per person on medical care.

Yet we have among the worst disease outcomes of any industrialized nation - and the greatest health inequities....

Our international health status has fallen radically in the last few decades. In 1980, we ranked 14th in life expectancy; by 2007, we had fallen to 29th. Our infant mortality rate lags behind 30 other countries. And illness now costs American business more than $1 trillion a year in lost productivity.

Healthy behaviors, molecular research, and of course, universal health care are all important. But evidence suggests they miss the most vital factor of all: how the social circumstances in which we are born, live and work can get under our skin and disrupt our biology as surely as germs and viruses.

We produced UNNATURAL CAUSES to draw attention to the root causes of health and illness and to help reframe the debate about health in America.

Posted by Michelle at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It was my turn to make dinner the other night. My husband had requested my special guacamole, so I had my starting point. Since we had some whole wheat tortillas, wraps or burritos of some kind seemed inevitable. In addition to the guacamole, I figured I would make a quick bean-y spread (the original Moosewood Cookbook has a great recipe). But somehow that seemed too simple. I was in a cooking mood, after all. Then it came to me - rice! Spanish rice. I hadn't made any in a long, long time. Long enough that I think I used a can of Campbell's tomato soup the last time. And white rice. I may have been in college.

I started looking through my books for a recipe. When I got to Mark Bittman's (aptly named) How To Cook Everything Vegetarian I hit the jackpot. What I love about his book is that he tells you how to do something, gives a basic recipe, and then suggests endless variations. This allows you to come up with your own variations, too, and makes it a great reference book. I highly recommend it. I looked up rice, and there it was: Baked Rice.

Okay, you're saying. What's so exciting about that? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here's why this is my new favorite way to make rice:

1. The rice comes out fluffy, chewy, and not even a little bit mushy.
2. I get to use my cool enamel-coated cast iron pot (my favorite).
3. Baking seems to wake up the spices, rather than making them soggy with the steam of the usual stovetop or rice-cooker methods.
4. Since the heat is coming from all sides at once, everything blends beautifully, instead of having the spices or broth or whatever you might be using end up on top.
5. Did I mention that I get to use my favorite pot?

As a matter of fact, I think I'm going to try baking other grains, too, like quinoa and millet. In fact, you could make a whole casserole-y kind of meal and add cheese on top at the end and get it nice and brown and gooey by taking off the lid and cranking the heat. But I digress.

Here's what I did:

Mark Bittman's Simpler-Than-Pilaf Baked Rice (Jody's Variation)

Ingredients
1 cup long grain brown rice (Basmati if you have it)
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (I like cumin!)
1 medium tomato, diced (or 3/4 of a can)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups water
1 handful chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse the rice and set aside. (FYI - you should always rinse your grains before you cook them, especially if you buy them in bulk. They tend to get dusty sitting around in those huge silos and bins.)

In an oven-proof pot (like my favorite enamel-coated cast iron one), heat the oil and add the spices, cooking for about a minute or until the cumin seeds begin to release their aroma. Add the rice, tomato, salt and pepper and continue stirring for another minute or so, until the rice is coated. Add the water, bring to a boil, cover and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and let rest for another 15 minutes. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Not only was it a big hit at dinner, it made a great lunch the next day.

Posted by Jody at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you think making your own bread is too laborious, check out this hot ticket - it's been spreading like wildfire among in-the-know foodies since its recent printing in the New York Times. It might take a while, but the active time is nil for breadmaking. An easy way to impress friends and family...

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (can substitute a cup or so of Whole wheat flour)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. (and you can add sesame seeds which is great!)

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

Posted by Michelle at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)