Curry this

Healthy is a progression, at least it was for me. I learned to be concerned about my weight in 10th grade, when a friend convinced me we needed to go on a "diet." (We lived in London, and I am fairly certain we discussed this over bags of Maltesers, milk chocolate covered malt balls which are conducive to eating by the handful.) I am not sure what our "diet" was, except that it made the sweets all the more tasty -- her mother made a pistachio pudding cake with ginger ale (really!) that still rocks my mind.

In college, "dieting" was a two-day cleanse consisting solely of very large chocolate chip cookies heisted by the stack from the dining hall. In my first years of working, I would go to the gym before work, and to happy hour after, eating free appetizers and drinking wine spritzers to save calories (and money). Clearly I was learning balance.

 Of course I learned to eat salads, asking for dressing on the side. I made soups, leaving out the pasta. One of the first "healthy" cookbooks I got -- from my mother, I believe -- was Jane Brody's Good Food Book. While the high carbo style didn't do much for my body -- instead of the promised high kicks, I got what felt like a rock in the gut, diagnosed much later as gluten intolerance -- there are some of her recipes that I return to time and again.

It is only in the last ten years that I have kicked up eating healthy to eating locally, and this is the step that has truly made the difference. When I found this huge cauliflower (at the Farmer's market, not in my own garden as this photo might suggest), such a far cry from the cellophane-wrapped waxy white florets usually found in the grocery, I immediately thought of Jane. She makes an easy vegetable curry that will jolt your world. Try it.

Cauliflower Curry

adapted from Jane Brody

1 large cauliflower, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup broth
1/2 cup coconut water, or more broth
chopped cilantro and Greek yogurt, to garnish

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and stir until translucent. Add the spices and roast one minute.

Add the cauliflower and stir to coat with spice. Roast, stirring so doesn't burn, a few minutes then add broth and coconut water. Let simmer until cauliflower is done and sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes, depending on how big your cauliflower is. Add more broth or coconut water if you want more sauce or if it begins to dry up (again, depends on how big your cauliflower is).

***Spoiler alert!!!!!
Cauliflower is way healthy: high in fiber, antioxidants and vitamin K, it provides digestive support via an enzyme that provides protection to the stomach lining plus -- get this -- possesses the ability to prevent, and perhaps even reverse, blood vessel damage. By the way, the French like it too -- and have you ever met a French chef who chooses a food solely due to its health benefits? -- the chouxfleur shows up in François Pierre La Varenne's Le cuisinier françois, the original  French cooking, though it was not common until  Louis XIV introduced it to the table.

And so we are introducing it to ours. This is how we get our 5-year-old to eat healthy items: "No, don't eat that, I don't want you to grow up and be bigger than me!" (totally untrue, but totally works, by the way.) It occurs to me that might work with adults as well, so here goes ..... don't try this at home ...

Enjoy!

Sweet veggies

Starting babies on real food is easy. They love the color that sweet potato becomes when it splats on the floor, the gush of a green pea being smushed. But getting big kids to eat real? More of an issue.
I had a child who heartily chowed colored food - wore it proudly, as it were - until he was 4. Now he prefers white food: mac and cheese, pizza, bagel and cream cheese. I am constantly pushing his nutritional envelope, swirling peas into whole grain pasta, hand-making tomato sauce, putting strips of crunchy red pepper in his lunch.

So when I heard of a recipe that involved cauliflower and broccoli, which kids were clamoring for, I had to check it out. Ana is from Bella Vista, in Jalisco, Mexico. Her mother has a bakery there, so Ana grew up with flour on her hands and the sweet smell of Belle Vista's sugar mill in her nostrils. I have not been there but I have a vision of a light-dappled town draped in bogainvillea and  smelling faintly of caramel all the time, a sweetness that surely permeates its inhabitants if sunny Ana is any indication.

(Just as an aside, here is a scary indicator of America's sweet tooth: According to Domino, of 100 pounds of sugar cane, 88 pounds become white "extra fine" or table sugar, and 3.5 to 4 pounds become three types of brown sugar: dark, light, and a medium that is sold only commercially. Two pounds becomes liquid sugar and two pounds is powdered. One and a half pounds of blackstrap molasses, a byproduct of the refining process, are also produced. Another byproduct, bagasse, which is what is left after the cane is all pressed out of the stalks, is being converted to fuel by some savvy entrepreneurs.)

Growing up, Ana made this with the vegetables that grow plentifully and are sold at the outdoor market there; we used organic substitutes from the local market and it was still yummy, strangely sweet though there is no added sugar.  Or "jummy" as Ana says it, "jummy in my tummy." Imagine how sweet it will be when we get our own local produce. 

 

Cauliflower and Broccoli En Salsa

olive oil, 1 teaspoon plus two tablespoons
1/2 a small onion
clove of garlic
pinch oregano
5 small tomatos
1 cauliflower, separated into florets
1 broccoli, separated into florets
3 eggs, separated
salt to taste

Slice onion lengthwise and saute in one teaspoon oil in a medium pan, until translucent. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and blanch tomatoes so their skins slide off easily. Put tomatoes and garlic into blender and whiz to puree. Add to onion with pinch of oregano and let cook on low while you prepare the cauliflower and broccoli: this is the salsa.

Separate the egg. Beat whites until high and stiff. Fold in beaten yolks. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan. Dip florets in egg batter and fry until golden. Remove to a paper towel to cool. Repeat until all are done.

Season the salsa to taste with sea salt. Put the vegetables in the salsa and cook ten minutes; sauce will thicken and permeate the veggies.


Enjoy!