Spaghetti with Turkey Sausage

I realize I am pretty bad about writing recipes. It's just another sign that I am becoming my mother. People are always asking her for her recipes and she can't explain them, it's a little of this, a little of that and you just have to watch her do it. I think my next goal for my food blog would be to start posting mini cooking vlogs by my mother because I think it's a fantastic way to archive her talent. So back to spaghetti. We've been watching The Sopranos through Netflix and it always gets my husband craving spaghetti. Lately, I've been making my sauce with ground turkey and I must say, I don't miss the red meat. This week my husband requested something out of the ordinary: turkey sausage. Hmmm. I have never bought sausage in my life but I've seen Giada cook with it so I figured I could give it a try. I still wanted a hearty meat sauce so ground turkey was mixed in with little rounds of sweet and spicy Italian turkey sausage. It was like having spaghetti with meatballs; it was delicious. I really don't think the way I make my spaghetti sauce is admirable because I combine crushed tomatoes with store bought tomato sauce which a true Italian would probably scoff at. But it tastes delicious. Here is what I did:

Heated up my dutch oven with a drizzle of olive oil and squeezed the meat out of a few sausage casings (I bought Harris Teeter Italian sausage). This was fun, I felt like a butcher. I broke the meat up into little balls while it browned. Removed the meatballs. Sauteed half an onion, four cloves of garlic. Sprinkled in Indian spices (garam masala, cumin, coriander, red chili powder). Browned turkey meat. Salt, pepper. Poured red wine in, let the meat absorb it. Then I added a can of crushed tomatoes and added fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage, basil) and a spoon of fresh pesto. Lastly, I poured in a can of tomato sauce and sprinkled in some cayenne pepper for heat and added a bay leaf. I let this simmer for about an hour, and then I tossed in the turkey sausage.

Chilean Sea Bass in Papillote

Ooo la la, sounds tres fancy, no? It was ridiculously easy. It's just fish wrapped in some parchment paper. I was inspired by this recipe I saw on an episode of Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie. I decided to go to Whole Foods since I knew they would have a nice thick white fish. Unfortunately, they didn't have haddock or striped bass, and though I've heard Chilean sea bass is overfished it was my best option. I need a good Fishmonger. Anyone know one in the D.C. area? I've only ever had Chilean sea bass at restaurants so it was such a nice treat having it at home since we usually eat the typical salmon and tilapia. I don't know all that much about fish, frankly and am eager to learn more. This was a very simple preparation and I liked that the flavors weren't too complex as to take away from the integrity of such a beautiful piece of fish.

All you need is some garlic, cherry tomatoes, lemon and fresh herbs (I skipped the capers ). Here is the recipe, from Gourmet:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
• 2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
• 12 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 1 (1 1/2-lb) piece white-fleshed fish fillet such as striped bass, haddock, or halibut (about 1 inch thick)
• 8 thin lemon slices (from 1 large lemon)
• 8 fresh thyme sprig

kitchen string

• Preheat oven to 400ºF with rack in middle.
• Heat oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then sauté garlic until pale golden, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and a pinch of salt and sauté until tomatoes are softened, about 1 minute. Stir in capers. Remove from heat.
• Cut fish into quarters (you are aiming for square-shaped pieces rather than long, thin cross-cut slices). Pat dry and sprinkle both sides with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper (total).
• Arrange 4 (12- to 15-inch) squares of parchment paper on a work surface. Drizzle center of each parchment square with a little olive oil, then top with a fish fillet. Slide lemon slices under fish and top with thyme sprigs. Spoon tomato mixture over fish.
• Gather parchment up around fish to form a pouch, leaving no openings, and tie tightly with string (make a bow so that you can untie it easily). Put pouches in a large shallow baking pan and bake until fish is just cooked through, about 18 to 20 minutes. (Check by unwrapping one pouch.)

Fried, Green Tomatoes

Oh yum, these were tasty! I could have eaten a giant bucket of them. We've got quite an abundance of green tomatoes at the moment and my patience for their colors to turn is wearing thin so I decided to snatch a few suckers off. How hard could fried, green tomatoes be? Not hard at all it turns out. A few recipes I looked up called for quite an assembly line: milk, flour, eggs, breadcrumbs. I decided to skip the heavy process and only dip them in eggs and then panko. I'm a big panko fan: it provides a big crunch. It was a nice, light coating (I wanted to taste more of the tomato than the batter). I sprinkled some paprika into the panko and of course well salted and peppered each slice. I fried them in a very thin layer of oil in a cast iron skillet. A few minutes on each side and they were crispy, crunchy, sweet with a big of tang and all kinds of delicious. Rohan was thrilled to, literally, be enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Raspberry and Hibiscus Sorbet

With red wine and fresh herbs!

Ohmy I was beyond thrilled when this came out well (I was going in to it quite blindly). I've stolen my mother's ice cream maker and it's an old Krups model but it worked like a charm. I didn't have instructions on how to operate it so thankfully there is really only one fail proof way: freeze the bowl, pour in the mixture, place the top on with the blade and press a button and 15 minutes later I had sorbet. Here is what I used:

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

1 1/2 cup water

1/4 cup red wine

1 cup sugar

5 dried hibiscus flowers

lemon zest

fresh thyme and sage

A lot of recipes I looked at mentioned equal parts water and sugar but even with a bit more water in mine I thought it could have been a lot less sweet, and you could easily use splenda as a substitute. The hibiscus is optional, the taste was a nice "kiss" really, as was the wine. I just had these lying around and figured I throw them in. The lemon zest makes a nice difference and the herbs gave the sorbet a silky, earthy backend to it which compliments the sweet and tangy flavors. Here is what I did:

Heat water, sugar, wine, hibiscus flowers, lemon zest and herbs in a pot. When the sugar dissolved I lowered the heat and added the raspberries and mashed them up in the pot. This differs from many recipes that simply call for the berries to be blended and then strained. I thought heating it may bring out the flavors and I wasn't in the mood to clean a blender. I then strained the mixture (which wasn't too graceful), chilled it and churned it up in the ice cream maker. As a huge sorbet junky, my husband went bananas over it and I am happy to have found a more economical way of stocking the freezer.

Healthy General Tso's Chicken

My husband's office is at the Georgetown Waterfront and he often eats at Bangkok Joe's. He loves their General Tso's Chicken, which we all know is not the healthiest of dishes. He has ordered grilled chicken in the past and they have obliged but he wasn't satisfied. I decided that I wanted to conquer the healthier version of this dish to see if he would love it as much as the fried version. Of course nothing beats fried chicken, but he loved this and I will say it didn't lack anything and was packed with all the supreme Asian flavors you want. I served it over Chinese noodles but it would be delicious with rice as well. I read a few recipes and came up with my interpretation. Here is what I did:

Cut up 1 lb chicken (thigh)

Marinated it for a few hours in ginger and garlic paste, salt, pepper, some turmeric and a marinade of red chili and hoisin sauce. Marinating chicken for a few hours in ginger and garlic paste makes a world of a difference (in my opinion).

I decided to broil the chicken under a gas flame but you could easily stir fry or grill it (and cut up the chicken after the grilling).

I sauteed some chopped carrots and then added chopped snap peas and scallions and removed them from pan after a few minutes. You could of course use whatever vegetables you want.

Then I added some oil to the pan, added fresh ginger and garlic, red chili. I made a sauce of a tsp of thai curry paste, 1/4 cup soy sauce, tsp brown sugar, tsp corn starch, tsp hoisin sauce, tsp of rice wine vinegar and a bit of sesame oil. Once all of this cooked down in the pan I began pouring in some chicken broth to thin it out, about 1/2 cup over all. I dumped in the chicken, tossed in the vegetables and that was it. You can sprinkle some sesame seeds over top if you want and squeeze in some sriracha if you wanted it hotter.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I followed this recipe and they were delicious.

Semi-homemade

Sandra Lee would be so proud. When I'm in a hurry and want to throw together some homemade hummus but don't quite have the time (or energy) to make a smooth chickpea and tahini blend from scratch, I take a short cut and jazz up some store-bought hummus. I roasted a red pepper and a few cloves of garlic (place in baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake at about 350 for 20 minutes or more or less, until the skin is peeling off, you may have to remove the garlic before) and then blended it up with some plain hummus. Salt, pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of paprika, and you've got a delicious roasted garlic and red pepper hummus on your hands. It has come out more bright red before but the red pepper I picked up was on the small side. It really adds a pleasant sweetness to the hummus and of course the roasted garlic adds some depth (and I prefer this to buying roasted garlic or roasted red pepper hummus; it definitely tastes more homemade, but of course, it's only sorta kinda homemade). Serving with endives is a nice alternative to pita chips.

Risotto with Lobster and Peas

New under cabinet lighting has been installed in the kitchen and I could not be happier! It's great being able to see the counter so well now. We also got some dimmers put on the recessed lights which will be really pleasant when we entertain at night.

So, the kitchen was open last night. Since I had some arborio rice in the pantry I decided to make risotto since I've always wanted to give it a shot. I'm not going to lie, it took a really long time and frankly, Whole Foods risotto in the box takes 20 minutes and is pretty darn good, so I'm not so sure how often I'll feel motivated to make risotto, but it was delicious (and I'm always happy when I can conquer a previously unknown dish). Harris Teeter had lobster tails on sale for $2.99 so I picked a few up and figured I'd jazz up the risotto. I read a few recipes to understand the basic template of making risotto and then here is what I did: removed lobster meat, chopped, sauteed in butter for just a minute, removed and set aside. Sauteed one large shallot in the same pot (added some olive oil). Added a few chopped cloves of garlic and then some fresh sage, rosemary and thyme. Salt, pepper. Added 1 cup of rice, coated, then did the whole 'chicken broth, stir, chicken broth, stir, etc' song and dance. I used about 4 cups of broth for 1 cup of rice. After a very long time when it was finally cooked and tender I threw in some peas and the lobster as well as some shredded parmesan and pecorino romano cheese. We also grilled a leg of lamb (butterflied) and I made a delicious rub for it: ginger and garlic paste, olive oil, salt, pepper, red chili powder, tandoori masala, cumin, coriander and rosemary.

Shrimp Curry (Sukhe)

Sukhe means a "dry" curry sauce. This is another dish my mother in-law made and was incredible! We had bought some large frozen shrimp (the easy peel kind, always get shrimp that still has the shell on) and I could not have imagined creating something so delicious out of them. I devoured them with a fork. Here is what we did:

Marinate peeled shrimp overnight (if you can) with some salt, ginger and garlic paste and a pinch of turmeric. We had about 26 shrimp. Heat a pan with some oil and sautee a half a white onion, chopped. Add fresh ginger and fresh garlic (as much as you like), add a little red chili powder. We then added about a tablespoon or so of tomato paste but a fresh chopped tomato is also recommended (I just didn't have any). Add about 1/4 cup fresh frozen shredded coconut (this is the third dish we have made with one packet). Toss in shrimp, add some fresh chopped cilantro. Squeeze some lemon juice.

Mangalorean Style Chicken Curry

Another Indian recipe courtesy of my mother in-law. Here is what you will need:

2 chicken breasts, cubed

1 T each of ginger and garlic paste

1/2 c fresh frozen shredded coconut

1 t ground cumin

1 t ground turmeric

a few cloves

half a chopped onion

coriander

1 green chili (if you desire)

Marinate the chicken overnight (if you can) with ginger and garlic paste and some salt. Sautee onion in a pan with some oil. In a mini food processor, blend shredded coconut with a teaspoon of turmeric and a few cloves. Add some water to create a thick paste (1/4 c). Add this mixture to the pan with the onions (and add chopped chilis if you want the heat), then add the chicken, a teaspoon of cumin, and some fresh coriander. Add water to hydrate as you see fit. That's it! 

Goan Lima Beans (Kuval)

I finally learned how to make this Goan dish, one of my husband's favorite! It's a family recipe, so you won't find it anywhere else. It's a healthy, hearty and filling lima bean dish that sits in a thick curry. It's really fun to eat with freshly toasted bread. While it requires only a few ingredients, you'll need to make a trip to an Indian grocery store for a few of the ingredients. Here is what you will need:

1 package frozen baby lima beans (13oz)

fresh frozen shredded coconut (you will find this in the Indian store)

chili peppers (if you desire)

curry leaves

mustard seeds

tamarind paste

asafoetida

The last two are not something I had in my spice cabinet but I added them yesterday with my mother in-law. They come in small containers, one in a paste form, the other a powder. They provide rich, deep layers of flavors to vegetarian dishes in India. It makes a fantastic breakfast or brunch or lunch dish. You could also easily substitute peas if you don't like lima beans.

We roasted the peppers, but you can leave them out or simply skip the roasting. In a blender, combine about a cup of the shredded coconut with the peppers and tamarind. Add some water to allow it to blend to a thick paste. In a pot heat up oil and throw in a handful of curry leaves with a tablespoon or so of mustard seeds and a teaspoon of the asafoetiva powder. Cover, and when you hear all the mustard seeds pop, scoop in the paste. Add some water (a cup or so) to hydrate the mixture. Once it comes to a boil, pour in the lima beans. Heat back up and add salt to taste.

Asian Turkey Basil

My in-laws were coming in town late in the evening so I wanted to prepare something I could make ahead and heat back up and I thought this Asian Turkey Basil was a good dish to prepare. You could easily use ground chicken instead, I just prefer ground turkey. I suppose the flavors are a combination of Indian and Thai (I found inspiration in some Thai Chicken Basil recipes). You can alter it all you want when it comes to adding vegetables (shredded red cabbage would be great), but I really recommend trying to use fresh garlic and fresh ginger if you can. I tend to use pastes (Indian brands) when garlic and ginger are background flavors of a dish, but they really become a fantastic supporting star in this one. You could serve this with rice or noodles, and for a healthier option turn it into lettuce wraps (skip the coconut milk and add a little chicken broth for moisture). Here is what I used:

ground turkey
basil
ginger
garlic
white onion
green chili
scallions
fresh coriander
red bell pepper
green beans
coconut milk
soy sauce
fresh lime juice
bay leaf or curry leaf
Indian spices: turmeric, red chili powder, ground cumin, coriander
instead of these you could add some thai red curry paste which would go really well with this dish (I just didn't have any)
brown sugar
sriracha

A lot of these ingredients are optional - I tend to squeeze in sriracha sauce in just about anything (yes, just like pesto), but if you don't need the heat, skip it. Add some lemongrass for even more flavor. Here is what I did: I sauteed half a white onion with some oil, then added lots of ginger and garlic, then the Indian spices, then added the ground meat (a little over a pound). Salt, pepper, a few tablespoons of soy sauce, a sprinkle of brown sugar, lime juice, curry leaf, green chili, then I threw in the chopped vegetables. I then added a small can of coconut milk. I wasn't too happy with the coconut milk as it was watery and not as thick as the kind I usually use (that's what I get for buying Harris Teeter brand coconut milk!). Let it simmer for a while to allow the flavors to really develop and then finish with the basil, scallions and fresh coriander. It's a really delicious dish.

Chewy Amaretti Cookies

I'm not sure I can really unabashedly rave about these cookies, but they are tasty, have three ingredients, and aren't hard to make. If you are fond of almond flavors, like marzipan, you will like them. Just be warned; they are extremely chewy. Almost like a candy, like a big almond cookie version of a skittle. Ok, that sounds really gross. I thought they would be more the texture of a French macaroon, but they are not so much. I was flipping through January's Gourmet magazine and came across a scrumptious picture of them. It's always the pictures that entice us, isn't it? I purchased parchment paper for the first time in my life to make these cookies. The key ingredient is almond paste, which I found at Harris Teeter (a typical grocery store) but it is pricey, over $7 for a 7 oz tube. The recipe also called for the use of a pastry bag but I used a good ol spoon which worked fine. Here is the recipe (from Gourmet Magazine and here on epicurious):

• 1 (7-ounce) tube pure almond paste
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large egg whites at room temperature for 30 minutes

Preheat oven to 300°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line 2 large (17- by 12-inch) 4-sided sheet pans with parchment paper.

Pulse almond paste and sugar in a food processor until broken up, then add egg whites and pulse until smooth. Transfer to pastry bag and pipe 3/4-inch rounds (1/3 inch high) about 3/4 inch apart in pans. Dip a fingertip in water and gently tamp down any peaks. I simply used a spoon.

Bake, rotating and switching position of pans halfway through, until golden and puffed, 15 to 18 minutes.

Wearing an oven mitt, rest 1 pan in sink at an angle. Lift top edge of parchment and slowly pour about 1/4 cup water between parchment and sheet pan so that all of parchment is lightly moistened (water will steam on pan, moistening bottom of cookies to help them stick together later). This kinda sorta worked. Repeat with remaining sheet pan. Cool cookies in pans on racks.

Peel cookies from parchment and sandwich bottoms of cookies together. I sandwiched some, and then realized the cookies are totally fine unsandwiched.

* According to the recipe, the cookies keep for a day. A DAY. Clearly not the most practical of cookies.

Blueberry Crisp

This blueberry and peach crumble/crisp is a treat and a great opportunity to put the blueberries exploding everywhere to good use. And if I can do it, anyone can. Only ten months ago my idea of making dessert was stopping at a bakery and I bought flour for the first time after I got married. I do get a slight amount of anxiety when I read dessert recipes, but this one in particular brought me some semblance of relief as I had a feeling you couldn't really mess it up. I also like a dessert recipe that doesn't involve various mixers or beaters. It's a casual deep fruity ooey gooey crunchy dish of heaven, even more heavenly when paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Perfect for a lazy summer evening with family or friends. I was inspired by this food blogger's recipe (taken from Alice Waters) but I made a few minor alterations. Here you go:

Topping
½ cup almonds
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Inside
3 peaches, any kind you like
1 1/2 cup blueberries
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
lemon or orange zest
sprinkle of corn starch (optional)

Topping:
Toast the almonds. I used pre-sliced almonds and did not chop them up beyond how they were. You could use any kind of nuts you have, walnuts, pecans would work well. Combine the flour, sugars, cinnamon in a bowl. Add the butter in pieces and mix with your fingers (it will be chunky), then add the nuts and mix a bit more, it will start feeling like chunky dough.

Inside:
The amount of fruit you want to use is really dependent on the dish you use or how much fruit you want to use up (you want a good layer of fruit, you be the judge); I used this medium sized baking dish and wanted more blueberries than peaches. I tossed the fruit together in the dish I was going to be baking so as to not dirty another bowl. Toss in the sugar and zest in some lemon or orange. Sprinkle in the four, toss. I then added a bit of corn starch just to thicken the inside to avoid a runny mixture, but the original recipe didn't call for it.

Pat topping on to the fruit mixture and bake at 375 for about 40-50 minutes. When the inside was bubbling up and it just overall looked delicious I actually broiled it for about 3 minutes to get the top extra crunchy (keep an eye on it, it may brown up really quickly!).

Chocolate Mousse

This chocolate mousse recipe was discovered for a "dessert" theme cooking club a few months ago. I felt incredibly blessed to have my very first attempt at making chocolate mousse come out as well as it did, and as a result, I may never follow another chocolate mousse recipe again. This recipe comes from Martha Stewart's Every Day Food. It takes some elbow grease to whip the eggs (a powered beater was used for the cream) but it is a very simple recipe and the result is a smooth, rich, dense yet fluffy chocolate dream. It's the kind of treasure of a dessert where a small ramekin satisfies you for what will feel like eternity. Actually, one noteworthy piece of information: be weary of serving this after a late dinner party as it may be difficult for your guests to fall asleep that night, depending on how sensitive they are to caffeine. I think the key to this chocolate mousse is to use a great quality chocolate and cocoa. The cocoa I used was brought home from Venezuela and is the only cocoa I have ever possessed so I can't really speak for any brands in particular, but I did use Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate which I highly recommend. You can find it at your local Whole Foods and I recently found some (much cheaper) at World Market. Here is how you can prepare it:

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. chop up chocolate; set aside. In a double boiler, whisk yolks, sugar, and salt until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, quickly whisk in chopped chocolate until melted and cocoa until smooth (mixture will be thick). Cool to room temperature.
2. In a medium bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Whisk half of whipped cream into room-temperature chocolate mixture. Gently fold in remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Divide mousse among four serving dishes. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
3. Remove mousse from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with shaved chocolate.

*Note: To store mousse, place a paper towel under the plastic wrap (without touching mousse) before sealing for refrigeration. The paper towel will absorb the drops of condensation that might otherwise drip onto the surface.

Caprese

I'm a big fan of buffalo mozzarella, and an even bigger fan of burrata, but I decided to curb my need for the imported goods and support a local farmer by buying his cow's milk mozzarella. We had also picked up some heirloom tomatoes (though some of them didn't look all that heirloom to me which led to a discussion later that afternoon that resulted in the realization that none of us could agree on what we thought heirloom meant). I know for a fact that beautiful cherokee purple is an heirloom, but I suspect the term "heirloom" is being used loosely these days as perhaps the USDA has no regulation on it (remember when companies were calling things organic before they actually had to prove they were organic?). Anyway, where was I......so, mozzarella, tomatoes, fresh basil = caprese. One of my favorite salads and one that needs great ingredients or it's just not worth consuming. I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled some salt and pepper and tossed in a teaspoon of fresh pesto because I like a good strong basil punch to my caprese. If I closed my eyes, I was sitting in a trattoria in Sicily.

Fresh Basil Pesto

I love pesto. Look at that gorgeous green, how can anyone resist it? During our courtship, fresh pesto (usually my mother's) was just about the only thing that could be found in my fridge, and pasta was the only thing in my pantry. When we got engaged, Rohan joked that he looked forward to a lifetime of eating pesto with pasta. I think he is enjoying, literally, eating his words. I still always have pesto on hand. I use it as a condiment; on sandwiches, in burgers, in anything I can add some to. My love for pesto started when I was very young, in the 80's, when my mother was the only woman on the street making "green pasta" and pronouncing it "baasel, not bayzil". She can make fresh pesto with her eyes closed. I had not made pesto in a very long time and was craving some* with pasta over the weekend. While the store bought is good when slathering on a burger, nothing can compare to freshly made pesto with linguini. We are growing basil but so far it has only been enough to add to sauces or pizza so I grabbed two massive bundles of basil at the farmer's market. The portions never need to be precise when blending pesto, but here are the ingredients I always use:

basil

olive oil

fresh lemon juice

fresh garlic

salt, pepper

parmesan cheese

toasted pine nuts

If I don't have pine nuts I'll use any nuts I have on hand, which is usually walnuts. I've recently been buying Trader Joe's pine nuts as they come pre-toasted. While the flavor may not be as deep I have accidently over toasted pine nuts a few times and love the convenience and the price. I love my pesto super garlicky, and usually use at least four cloves. If you want it spicy, add some chili. When I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll shred fresh parmigiano reggiano cheese but if you are making a lot of pesto you need a lot of cheese and the pre-shredded parmesan works fine for me. My mother adds some butter which gives a nice creaminess to the pesto. In the end, the portions are up to you and the quality of the ingredients are up to you. A true gourmet may scoff at anything but a mortar and pestle, but a cuisinart is my tool of choice.

*This is the picture that inspired me. I came across it while going through our honeymoon pictures on an old laptop. It was quite possibly the best pesto with pasta I've ever had. Alain Ducasse, a Michelin star chef, has a restaurant at the One and Only in Mauritius where we stayed. Spoon des Iles. Just the mention of that restaurant makes me go mmmm. The pillows of fresh pasta with the perfect pesto were incredible. We ate at the resturant twice and both times I ordered it, as my appetizer. Don't judge, I didn't have any more bridal outfits to fit in to.

Food, Inc

I've been really curious to see this movie and I enjoyed this piece in today's Food section in the Washington Post (for more, check out http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/sustainable-food/gut-check-pollan.html)

We're Getting A Bad Feeling About Our Food

By Ezra Klein

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Editor's Note: Gut Check is a new biweekly column on the politics of food.

"Does for the supermarket what 'Jaws' did for the beach," says Variety's John Anderson. "Everyone should see 'Food, Inc.,' " enthuses this newspaper.

It's high praise, and not undeserved: "Food, Inc." is certainly an important film. But, like the movement that spawned it, it's also a frustrating one. It's driven less by a thesis than by an intuition: Something is wrong with our food production system. It's just not clear what. Over the course of 94 minutes, we wander through meatpacking plants and fast-food drive-throughs and the halls of Congress. We meet a mother who lost her son to tainted meat and a farmer who can no longer stomach Tyson's treatment of her chickens. We stop in with a hyper-charismatic farmer who pets his pigs and preaches sustainability and loathes corporate cash cows, then travel with a hippie yogurt baron who touts his company as the ethical future of big-box food.

The sense that something is wrong with our food quickly blurs into the suggestion that everything is wrong with our food. It has too much bacteria but also too many pesticides. It is too expensive, but we do not spend enough money on it. We need fewer corporations, or maybe more corporations run by the yogurt guy. With so much wrong, it is hard to know where to start. And sometimes, in fact, it seems that fixing one problem would create another: Making fruits and vegetables cheaper, for instance, is hard to do if you also want them to be organic.

But despite its overwhelming complexity, "Food, Inc." joins "In Defense of Food," "Fast Food Nation," "Super Size Me" and dozens of other polemical books and films in the necessary effort to convince us that checking out at the supermarket is, on some level, a political act, with consequences for ourselves, our families and our world.

Amid all the concern over global warming, we are beginning to reckon with the fact that meat production accounts for more carbon emissions than cars. As we labor to reform the country's health-care system, we now realize that the skyrocketing costs are in no small part due to the way our diets make us obese and sick. An IBM poll released last week found that 77 percent of Americans want more information about the food they buy. That's no surprise. As food writer Michael Pollan says at the start of the film, "the way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than the previous 10,000." The way we think about the way we eat hasn't kept up.

Quite the opposite, in fact. We know rather less about our food than our grandparents did. In part, that's because the process of creating food in a lab is less familiar than the process of growing it in a garden. Food producers might have to print ingredient lists, but no one ever passed a law saying we had to understand them. (How do you hydrogenate an oil, anyway?)

But there also has been a concerted effort to pull a curtain across the food production system. You see that twice in "Food, Inc." Once, when a farmer who raises chickens for Tyson agrees to allow cameras onto his farm, only to have Tyson quickly call and persuade him to rescind his offer. And again, when Monsanto refuses to comment on, well, anything. It's one thing to be kept out of Dick Cheney's underground lair(s?). But we'reeating this stuff.

It's little better in Washington. Last month I sat down with Pollan, who consulted on "Food, Inc.," and Robert Kenner, who directed it. "The way farm policy gets made in this town is within a very tight group of people," Pollan said. "Industry, committees on the Hill, the USDA, and very little input from us."

A nice example came in January, when the USDA released its guidelines for producers who want to affix the "naturally raised" logo to their meat. Such companies would have to ensure that their animals "have been raised entirely without growth promotants, antibiotics (except for ionophores used as coccidiostats for parasite control), and have never been fed animal byproducts." I know that's what I think of when I imagine an animal living naturally.

"Transparency," Pollan said, "is one of the unifying themes. You can talk about personal responsibility all you want. But you need good information before you can exercise personal responsibility." And that's where this column comes in. Twice a month, we'll take a look at the evolving politics and policy of food: from farms to Congress, on land and in sea, within and without the District. Because it's not that something is wrong with our food. It's that particular things are wrong with our food. And knowing what those things are is the first step toward fixing them.

Ezra Klein can be reached at kleine@washpost.com or through his blog at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ezraklein.