2022

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted in the Kitchen Spirit section, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been cooking up a storm. I’ve been obsessed with Sourdough baking for the past six months. I missed the first frenzied round of Covid Sourdough baking, but I’m firmly on board now and absolutely loving it. I’m planning a whole post on the ‘Zen of Sourdough’ soon.

I’ve also been binging Top Chef and my favorites are the Asian Chefs Melissa King (@chefmelissaking) and Shota Nakajima (@chefshota) for their creativity, clean food, and zen energy in the kitchen. Melissa adds a bit of miso, or a glug of soy sauce, to just about everything—soups, stews, dressings and marinades—because it’s got umami and creates more of a flavor bomb. Umami is one of the five basic tastes, along with sweet, bitter, salty, and sour and has a savory/meaty flavor. Shota introduced me to Furikake the Japanese seasoning mix. It’s sesame seeds, roasted nori seaweed, bonito flakes, and dried shrimp that combine to create more umami in a dish. There’s a vegan version, too. Think ‘everything bagel’ seasoning Japanese style sprinkled on rice, eggs, and avocado toast. I’ve been adding dashi to enhance my cooking water thus cutting down on boxed broths. Dashi is dried kombu (kelp) and it comes like a tea bag; just steep it for a few minutes and you’ll get an antioxidant-rich broth that works well in almost any dish. Very portable with little packaging, I love it. Be sure to buy a brand that is MSG-free.

I had a houseful over the holidays and did a lot of plant-based cooking to please everyone’s palates. The Minimalist Baker’s Easy 1 Pot Tomato Soup is a crowd favorite, especially paired with my whole grain sourdough fresh from the oven. Honestly, their book Everyday Cooking is my go-to cookbook, plant based or not. Their next-level Spiced Buckwheat Pancakes will fuel you through the deepest darkest days of winter.

Tomatoes top the umami list along with Parmigiano cheese, so by adding a sprinkle to your soup you double the flavor profile. Other bombs include anchovies, cured ham, seaweed, mushrooms, cultured and fermented foods, cheese, soy, fish, and Worcestershire sauce.

It’s storming here in Vermont (yay!) and I’ve been giving my Instapot a workout with the help of Milk Street’s excellent Fast and Slow cookbook. I have loved their Tuscan Beef and Vermouth Chicken for hearty one pot meals, but my favorite dish from the Instapot is a simple whole wheat spaghetti with turkey ‘sausage’, a recipe my foodie dentist begged me to try. I finally did, and Oh MamaMia, soooo good! The sauce gets baked right into the noodles and because it’s a healthy and sustaining dish, it now tops my comfort food list. I’ve shared the recipe below.

I’ve also been practicing a technique to coax the most flavor and health benefits from roasted vegetables (sweet potatoes, butternut squash, onions, carrots, celeriac, fennel, shallot, cauliflower, asparagus, bsprouts, are all good candidates.) Turns out if you steam them first in a sealed pan with a little bit of water, say 375 degrees for 35 minutes, then roast them, uncovered, at a high heat for 20 minutes longer, with a bit of good olive oil and herbed salt, you will create a flavor bomb due to a cellular reaction of the fiber in the veg. The result is a fluffy, creamy texture on the inside and caramelized yumminess on the outside. Even more exciting, if you roast a big batch of veg and then store them in the fridge, this creates more ‘resistant starch’ which is fiber that is better for your body’s digestion and glucose regulation. Simple idea, and great long term health benefits when you batch cook.

I’ve been boning up on the glucose-health-eating topic with podcasts like Healthier Together where Host Liz Moody interviews biochemist Jessie Inchauspe (@glucosegoddess) who gives real-time blood sugar hacks for better energy and hormone balance, and for craving reduction. It is fascinating the effect that glucose regulation has on our overall health and day to day sanity. The Be Well by Kelly podcast with nutritionist Kelly Leveque is also a great resource. I’m going to to try a CGM glucose monitor for a few weeks to learn more about the effect of different foods and their glucose content on my body.

If you don’t care about these topics and just want to nerd out on delish foodie porn listen to Radio Cherry Bombe for the latest and greatest in food news.

On the olive oil front I made a delightful discovery of a brand called Nudo. My baking teacher, Heike, of Brot Bakehouse (@Brotbakery) was serving it during a class and so, of course, I looked it up. Turns out this cool little company not only produces incredibly fresh and flavorful olive oil, they have a program for adopting an olive tree to promote sustainability among their farmers cooperative. You get to choose your farm and receive the olive oil in installments as it is produced. The flavor is grassy and green and fresh. ‘My’ farmer is fun to follow on Instagram, too. I gifted a tree adoption to friends and they are still raving about it.

To complement the olive oil I’ve been blending various sea salts together and adding dried rosemary and thyme to them. I love the Maldon brand of sea salt mixed with their smoked sea salt. Just allow a few fresh herbs to air dry and then crumble them into a dish of mixed salts. For a some sweet heat you can add Ajika Georgian seasoning to just about everything. Trader Joe’s has it. It’s superb in soups, along with some fresh orange zest, for adding complex depth and flavor. Also, stock some Aleppo pepper, I use it instead of regular pepper when I cook.

A fun spice combination that I created for when I want to cook salt-free or add a flavor bomb to roasted foods is my ‘Desert Dust’. It’s equal parts onion powder, granulated garlic powder, and black pepper, and I usually add it to soups, potato dishes, and salad dressings or anything that needs a bit of a booster along with a splash of white balsamic vinegar.

Instapot Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Add mushrooms for more umami or for a vegan alternative.

adapted from Paul Averill , DDS with gratitude

Time 20 m (Prep 5 min, Cooking 15 min) You can make it ahead 2-3 hours, even better!

• 1 pound ground turkey (I use a ground turkey that is seasoned with sausage seasoning)

• 1 large onion, chopped; 6 cloves of garlic minced (optional)

• Salt & pepper; dried Italian seasoning, to taste, approximately 1-2 T

• 8 ounces whole wheat spaghetti

• 3.5 cups water

• 24 ounce jar of good quality spaghetti sauce

• 2 T tomato paste

  Sear function saute onions in 1-T olive oil for 5 minutes. Add turkey and garlic and saute until lightly cooked through. Add seasonings. Break spaghetti into thirds and fan over the meat alternating the direction of each third. Do not stir!
  

  Cover with water. Cover with sauce. Add tomato paste on top. Do not stir! Cook on HI pressure for 5 minutes. Allow to self-vent for 10 minutes. Open pot and gently stir, it will be wet. Recover; allow it to sit longer to absorb more liquid and increase flavor. I keep mine on warm for 2-3 hours and then serve it with fresh basil and shredded romano cheese. Serves 4.

  I’d love to hear from you—feel free to send your comments to me!