At one point in my food journey, I virtually eliminated nearly all forms of animal protein from my diet in an attempt to rid my body of some painful and persistent Irritable Bowl Symdrome (IBS)-like symptoms.  Although I noticed some aesthetic changes to my shape, the reality was that my increasingly leaner body felt weaker, not stronger, as I had hoped. I felt increasingly sluggish, tired, and, well hungry!

With a little more experimentation, I began to understand that the best way for me to heal a sick, bloated belly was to eat a balanced diet that included some animal protein (and a lot less refined and natural sugars).  These little tweaks are all I seem to need to consistently and sustainably meet my energy needs.  Reading about the Polyface farming model led me to understand that the animals I eat enjoy same benefits of a balanced diet that I do. What I’ve found is that I not only prefer pastured raised meats over factory farmed meats based on taste, but it also makes me feel better.

While some Polyface food products are available at DC farmer’s markets, a trip to Polyface, local food tasting in Staunton, and the opportunity to walk the farm that Joel Salatin pioneered, made the trip to buy eggs and chicken from the farm store worth the extra effort.  Unlike the skinless, boneless, cellophane wrapped meats that may appear clean in a well-lit grocery-store, the free-range Polyface chickens I observed have the enviable distinction of having been raised in a “happy place”.

Upon arrival at Polyface farms, the lush green backdrop, and the overall transparency of the operation left a lasting impression on me.  The store’s grocery is open from 10am-4pm on Saturday and is a large, uncluttered space, simply decorated with a very modest “hall of fame” and a wall where t-shirts and books are sold.  The refrigerated section had a section for meat, chicken, and eggs.  Before venturing out to tour the farm, I bought some chicken and eggs and set out to get closer to the chickens and cows that lived there.

The highlight of my visit was watching the chickens leave the Eggmobile shelter to sun and exercise themselves with walks along the grassy hill.  If you are ever in the VA area, I highly recommend a visit to Joel’s farm for some farm-fresh air and a better understanding of a farming practicing that emphasizes respect for animals, which ultimately makes for tastier food.

1. How does this Open Source work, and why did you choose to go this route?

We are open source in the way that we disclose recipes, techniques, and business processes. If you have an idea on how to make us better, we welcome all helpers. If you would like to volunteer with us, we’ll take you. I feel that this is in keeping with our sliding-scale pricing — we are focused on inclusivity and equability. Also, we live in a technological age where the internet has democratized nearly anything that can be manufactured, including food. We are not in a race to the top by any means — we just want to bake as best we can.

2. Do you think food companies and the food industry will go the way of pay-what-you-want? What challenges does this model hold?

I’m happily surprised by Panera’s selective adoption of pay-what-you want, but ultimately, there are too many ways for corporations to squeeze a dollar – board members answer to shareholders, and shareholders generally don’t understand a business model like sliding-scale. I think for non-profits and privately-owned businesses, it might be an option. The reason why it works for us is that we have a collegial rapport with the customer. If we were anonymously selling out bread online, I think people would pay much less (I think this happened to Radiohead when they released a pay-what-you-want album). No one wants to feel ripped off, so customers naturally project themselves into our shoes when they decide what to pay (i.e. “Am I paying enough? Does this cover their costs? Am I a good person if I effectively tip a dollar extra?”). I think sliding-scale gets tricky at larger scales not just because of possible anonymity of the transactions, but there is a transaction cost associated with deciding what to pay (i.e. the time and sometimes consternation that goes along with picking a price).

3. Have you found the model profitable for your business? What are the challenges?

We are profitable right now. I make enough to pay myself and the two or three other folks that help out in any given weekend. We do get unpaid or “underpaid” volunteer help frequently which helps. The money is really secondary for me, but if it was unprofitable, I think it would be harder to justify the entire enterprise. One challenge is that sometimes I would like to source a fine ingredient (like Valrhona chocolate), but the person who is buying an item sliding scale might not be able to infer that cost based on our product description alone. For instance, we used more expensive cheese than usual (sourced from Reliable Cheese) last weekend, but that did not mean that we necessarily got a higher per tartlet price. People just see a savory tartlet and price accordingly.

4. How did you get started baking?

I messed around at home for a bit, and then during the economic dead zone of 2009, got a job as baker at 9th Street Bakery. When you go from thinking about food for three meals a day to thinking about food 8-10 hours a days as your job, fortunately or unfortunately it becomes a habit that is hard to turn off.

5. How do you come up with your recipes? How do you decide what to make?

Our recipes are an amalgam of cookbook, family, historical, and internet inspirations. When I say historical, for instance, next winter, I want to attempt a stollen as it was made in the 18th century. Or last year I tried to make matzo as it might have actually tasted in the Egyptian desert. Whatever the recipe, most go through a series of home-testing that might last between a week and years. I am currently on my 9th iteration of bagels, and have been making and refining one chocolate chip cookie homage for almost four years!

6. What are your family’s baking/cooking traditions?

My grandmom on my mother’s side makes great mandelbrot, so that was the inspiration for that product. My grandmom on my father’s side made great knaidlach, which is a beef-filled matzo dumpling. Mostly, my inspirations from my childhood revolve around several Jewish bakeries in and around Newton, MA, where I grew up (Diamond Bakery, Tuler’s Bakery, Lederman’s, Rosenfeld’s Bagels).

7. Is Durham a special place for this model to work or do you think it will work anywhere?

Of course Durham is special!

There is an old Indian saying that “a good cook uses his spices similar to how a painter uses his colour palette”. A little more of this and a little less of that do make a huge difference. The importance to know the correct blend of spices in a particular curry requires research, guidance and experience. Also, in Indian cooking, there is a special emphasis to the process called bhunno or bhoona. This is the process in which spices are added to the hot oil and cooked with the main ingredients until the raw taste and smell of the spices is gone and essential oils are released from each of the spices. This part of cooking requires careful control over the flame, as the amount of heat from time to time also determines the taste of the final dish.

Now let’s understand what the word dum means. Dum is a slow-cooking method practiced in India since the beginning of time, but gained greater significance during the Mughal period, when dum aloo (potatoes simmered in gravy) and dum pukht (chicken simmered in gravy) dishes came to exist. These dishes required patience and tasted amazingly delicious and succulent – a result of slow-cooking method. Actually, any dum curry tastes its best if cooked in a special vessel called hundi or handi, which is almost a ball-shaped utensil with an opening at the top. Appropriate amount of water is added along with other par-cooked or bhoona ingredients. The lid of the hundi is tightly sealed with wheat flour dough and cooked on charcoal fire. This is the traditional method.

Back in my Mumbai home, I do have a beautiful hundi, but due to storage constraints in small kitchens in Hong Kong, I did not bring it here. So I decided to go on with a modern non-stick skillet with a proper-fitting lid. My dum pukht came out perfectly succulent and the taste of the spices reached the innermost layers of the chicken delicately. Do give this a try and you will fall in love with this scrumptious culinary obsession!

Murgh Dum Pukht (Simmered Indian Chicken Curry)

[Dum means to breathe and pukht means to cook. Please use chicken with bones for this recipe, since the juices from the bone marrow intensify the flavour of this dish.]

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken (with bones, cut into medium-sized pieces)
3 medium-sized purple onions (sliced)
1 cup hung curd (thick, unsweetened yogurt)
2 TB ginger paste
3 TB garlic paste
1.5 tsp red chilli powder
10 almonds
5 cashew nuts
2 dried bay leaves
3 green cardamon pods
5 cloves
1 black cardamom (big) pod
12 whole peppercorns
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
2 blades mace (optional)
1/4 cup coriander leaves (paste)
4 red or green fresh chillies
1.5 tsp salt to taste (plus extra 1 tsp for the gravy)
7 TB oil
1 tsp Ghee (Indian clarified butter)
2 cups water

Directions:
1. Marinate the chicken overnight with yogurt, 1.5 tsp salt, ginger-garlic paste and red chilli powder. Heat 3 tbsp oil till it starts to smoke. Reduce the heat to medium and fry onions (cut lengthwise and thin) till these become golden brown. Remove the fried onions from oil, cool at room temperature and make a fine paste.

2. Soak the nuts in a little water (just enough to immerse them) overnight as well. Next morning, make a fine paste.

3. Heat the rest of the oil to its smoking point and then reduce the flame to medium once again. Add the dried bay leaves, green cardamon pods, cloves, black cardamom and whole peppercorns to this. After the bay leaves turn a little darker (not black, but dark brown), add the marinated chicken along with the marinade. Increase the flame to high and toss the chicken pieces continuously, so that the chicken becomes well-coated with the spices and the marinade becomes almost dry. This takes around 15 min.

4. Reduce the flame to medium now. Add the fried onion paste, mace (optional), turmeric powder, black pepper powder and the nut paste to the skillet and toss well for 15 min.

5. Add the coriander leaf paste and the red or green fresh chillies (whole) to this. Cook till the chicken is almost dry and oil starts leaving from the the spices and the chicken. Now is the time to add the ghee.

6. Add water and stir well. Check the salt and add more, if needed. Simmer the flame and put a well-fitting lid on the skillet. For best results, seal the edges with wheat flour dough to ensure that the steam can’t escape from the skillet. Let this cook on a low flame for 30 more minutes. This slow-cooking called dum is a great way to cook some of the popular Indian dishes such as this one!

It was the summer of the big Northeast blackout, and I was living the young English major’s dream. I had an internship lined up at a New York publishing company that specializes in limited edition, hand-bound, letterpress books. I had rented a room in a warehouse-cum-photographer’s studio-cum-artist commune in Astoria. Radiohead was headlining a festival that summer. It was supposed to be the best time of my life.

I was miserable. My first lesson in the strange kindness of New Yorkers occurred when I struggled up subway stairs with my luggage. A stranger took the handles from me and unceremoniously dumped my bag on the platform. He walked away without a word. Hungry and homesick, I half-heartedly explored my neighborhood. It was my first time living alone. Money was short and I didn’t know how to take care of myself. Even if I knew where to find a supermarket, I wouldn’t have known what to buy. I bought a loaf of stale bread from a local bodega, retreated to my room, and threw myself an extravagant pity party.

Then, a roommate knocked on the door. Through the door, he asked if I would share dinner with him. “I made Thai peanut noodles,” he said. I didn’t respond immediately. It took me a few moments to collect myself even after he walked away. I got up and opened the door.

I eked by that summer eating yogurt for breakfast and learning to make avocado sandwiches (ingredients: avocado, baguette) for lunch. Needless to say, with the luxury of on-campus housing and dining during my final years in college, I forgot what little I learned about cooking that summer until I graduated and moved to London.

Again, it was the kindness of my flatmates who lessened the misery of that cold and gray first day. Micah made hamburgers for us on that first night. Erin could roast a mean chicken, and watching Micah annihilate the carcass could be more entertaining than television.

It was my friend Colette, however, who unknowingly taught me how to cook. She often invited me over for dinner—on one night it was a roast pork loin skewered with rosemary over a bed of caramelized Granny Smith apples. On another night, couscous topped with roast vegetables, still steaming from the oven. On yet another night, a hearty winter root vegetable and sausage stew. I would beg her for the recipe, and then cook it myself. Repeatedly. From my friend Mary, who was teaching English in Oundle, England, I learned how to bake my first loaf of bread—whole wheat rosemary and parmesan foccacia. I still have the torn notebook papers on which I dutifully copied the recipe.

When I left London and entered law school, I began baking breads and cakes regularly. I made my own stock and granola. I called my mother every other night for this recipe or that recipe. I threw mushu roll parties, congee parties, potsticker parties, or just plain old Katherine’s comfort food parties, trying to recreate exactly what my mother used to make: steamed scallops, braised ribs, and simple soups.

The elegance of cooking is that no dish cooked by two chefs will ever be alike, no matter how detailed the instructions are. It’s even more difficult to recreate a treasured recipe when the source is your mom, and she tells you the right amount of soy sauce or cooking time “just depends on experience.”

How do you repay the most important cook in your life? When my mother visited me in New York recently, I treated her to my favorite fancy restaurant in New York—Eleven Madison Park, where chefs customize every dish to your preference. Gluten-intolerant? No problem. Paleo diet? Bring it on. Every course is artful and balanced.

But not even Eleven Madison Park can capture the magic of that first meal with new friends in a lonely city—or at the kitchen counter with your mother after years away from home.

I request this dish from my mother frequently. The sauce is creamy, but surprisingly contains no dairy. It’s perfect for spooning over rice. The barely cooked cilantro and scallions counterbalance the richness of fermented bean curd. I’ve tried to be specific as possible in the recipe, but the proportions, well, depend on experience.

Momma Tsai’s Fermented Bean Curd Chicken (腐乳雞)
About 2 people with leftovers.

Ingredients
At least 5-6 cloves of garlic for ½ chicken (or more if you love garlic). Remove the skin.
½ chicken chopped into small pieces, skin and bone left on

Note: It’s helpful to ask a Chinese butcher to chop up a chicken for you. Pieces should yield approximately two bites of meat. The last time I asked a Whole Foods butcher, he got huffy and asked how he could possibly cut up a chicken even into 8ths. A good Chinese supermarket will offer truly free range chicken (土雞), which, unlike American “free range” chicken, tastes firm and flavorful.

Chinese cooking wine
Rock sugar (regular sugar is also fine)
Taiwanese sweet and alcoholic bean curd (甜酒豆腐乳)

Note: The density and sodium level of this fermented bean curd resembles miso. It’s delicious on its own in extremely small quantities, paired with congee or rice.

Cilantro (about 1/3 to ½ a bunch) and scallions (at least 2 or 3 stalks), cut into small pieces

Directions:
1. Sautee the garlic in vegetable oil on medium high until you can smell the garlic.
2. Add the chicken and sauté until the outside is cooked. You’ll notice that chicken juice will be released in this initial process. Sautee until some, but not all, of the juice has cooked away.
3. Meanwhile, mash several cubes of the fermented bean curd with rice wine in a separate bowl. Feel free to pour in some of the bean curd liquid as well. Because the bean curd is so salty, be conservative at first. For ½ a chicken, I used 3 cubes of bean curd, plus some of the liquid.
4. Once mashed and mixed in, add the bean curd/rice wine mixture to the chicken. Add more rice wine and/or water until the chicken is half covered.
5. Add a hunk of rock sugar (or regular sugar) to taste. If using rock sugar, babysit the sugar while it is melting in the sauce, and rescue it before the sauce is too sweet. We are reducing the sauce, so err on the side of caution. What tastes perfect now might be too sweet or too salty later.
6. Flip the chicken pieces occasionally so that every portion has a chance to simmer in the sauce.
7. Cook on medium low, uncovered, until the sauce thickens. Because reducing the sauce takes some time, this recipe is forgiving and you can continually adjust the sauce to taste. If the sauce is too sweet, add more mashed bean curd cubes. If the sauce is too salty, add more sugar.
8. When you’re satisfied with the taste and viscosity of the sauce, stir in the cilantro and scallions, turn off the heat, and cover for a few moments.
9. Enjoy with a bowl of multigrain rice and vegetables! (The multigrain rice pictured here is a 10 grain rice mix that can be found in many Asian supermarkets. My particular mix includes oats, millet, buckwheat, pearl barley, mung bean, red bean and yam).

On Sunday, Bull City came alive in only the unique way Durham, NC can – with community and heart. Despite a bit of rain in the morning, Fullsteam opened its doors to us, Sol Food Mobile Farm, and Real Good Food. Fullsteam is a local brewery that has become a community mainstay – a true community gathering place that is not your typical brewery (dogs and children welcome).

The three of us put together goodies for raffle ticket winners for those who donated – including mason jars, packets of seeds, bumper stickers and more! (If you want a Zomppa magnet or bumper sticker or set of postcards, let us know!).

While Sol Food parked the bus outside getting ready for visitors, Real Good Food prepped the tables for the food swap. Meanwhile, ZomppaPatty, ZomppaKat, and ZomppaKatherine, all of whom flew from all over the world to join, got the Zompping for Food and Planet workshop ready – featuring Italy!

Adults and children alike loved Sol Food Mobile Farm (hard not to!), and the incredible team shared about their upcoming national tour. They also shared with the community knowledge about running a bus on waste-oil, container gardening, and of course, their amazing rooftop garden (this is a photo of the roof…no joke!).

Meanwhile, Real Good Food got things going with a community swap. Folks brought their goodies and the different items were laid out. Folks then noted whether the food was organic, local, gluten-free, or vegan/vegetarian. Then folks walked around and bartered their goodies.

The list of food traded was impressive, including:

Lemon balm jelly with backyard honey
Chocolate Chip Quinoa cookies
Tomato Avocado Black Bean Salad
Strawberry Mini-cakes
Chewy Chocolate cookies
Homemade Dill Pickles
Triple Coconut cupcakes with dark chocolate chunks
Sourdough Starter
2 different Kombucha Scobys (starter)
Homegrown Arugula Pesto
Chocolate Peanutbutter-Graham Squares
Hazelnut Granola
Fresh Mozzarella and veggie Fusili pasta salad
Handpicked Strawberry Jam

I bartered my Avocado-Tomato-Corn-Black Bean salad for some real goodies, including Berenbaum’s amazing cookies, some ridiculously awesome chocolate peanut butter bars, and a jar of this incredible honey.

ZomppaKat led a few dynamic workshops on Italy – and the kids (and parents) were enthralled and fully engaged making their pasta jewelry, singing opera, and analyzing the Mona Lisa.

Of course, the kids also were fully engaging learning knife skills and making bruschetta. They could not get enough – who knew these little ones would appreciate a healthy, easy-to-make meal!

But the day was not just about us three. After all, it is a community.

We were fortunate and honored again to have the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle with us. They shared with folks about their various programs that aim to reduce hunger in North Carolina, from food recovery, to culinary training programs, to community gardens.

They had fresh produce, recovered of course, and encouraged folks to try black bean, vegetarian, lettuce wraps. We even saw a bunch of kids eager to try the vegetables!

We were also treated to learning more about how Triangle Raw Foods prepares 100 pounds of zucchini, and how This & That Jam packs so much flavor in those jars. Ari Berenbaum’s amazing homemade goods (his crusts and pastry shells are ridiculously beautiful) were available for everyone to taste and buy – paying what they felt was the right amount.

Folks seem to have a great time, with parents and children excited about our curriculum and wanting to see it at their children’s schools, folks of all ages thrilled at seeing the bus in action, and community members curious about when the next food swap would happen.

Additionally, we had the support of many local NC bloggers and friends spreading the word, including Carpe Durham, Durham Socialite, the indelible Jonathan Bloom of Wasted Food, Dirty Durham, Durham Foodie, and Green Eats Blog.

Having all these groups and organizations who care about local food and community, and connecting it with the global truly makes it clear that indeed, it takes a village.

Thank you.

You can check out more pictures from the event on our Facebook page.

What is Epoisses? 

Epoisses has two meanings: it is the name of a French town, as well as a type of cheese from the region where we live: Burgundy.  In fact, the cheese comes from, and is therefore named after, the town of Epoisses.

It is a soft, washed rind (meaning that it is periodically rinsed) cheese made with whole cow’s milk.  The cheese is known for its orange color, soft texture, and very strong aroma.

How is it made?

Like many other cheeses, Epoisses originated as a way to preserve milk before it spoiled.  This initial process of cheese making has two basic ingredients: milk (cow, goat, sheet, buffalo…) and rennet.  Rennet is an enzyme that causes milk separate into liquid and solid forms…

For the rest of the article and to learn from these young students how it is eaten and how to make Quiche à l’Epoisses with proper piecrust, please join the Global Potluck here. But first, a bit of poetry about the quiche written and performed by the students:

Quiche à l’Epoisses
By: Students in Semur-en-Auxois, France

Quiche
Unique
Incroyablement
Croustillante
Horriblement
Excellente

Avec

L‘extraotdinaire
Epoisses
Pour la classe
Onctueux
Incomparable
Superbe
Savoureux
Et
Super!

Full article here.

I asked myself this question a couple of days ago.

As most bakers know, the key to tender and perfectly baked cakes/muffins/cookies requires that all of your ingredients are at room temperature prior to baking.  This includes butter, eggs, dairy and anything else that might have been previously refrigerated.   The only time this rules does not apply is when a recipe clearly states that certain (or all) ingredients should be cold (like in a pie crust).

So why’d I ask myself this question?

On Monday night, I’d set three eggs out on the counter, as I’d planed to bake this Cherry-Chocolate Chip Pound Cake on Tuesday.  Unfortunately, my three little eggs sat on my counter through Tuesday (I was in the ER w/my mom as she managed to break her big toe in the process of swatting the hell out of a fly) and into Wednesday (I spent an entire day in my county’s Zoning Ordinance Department due to a dispute regarding a treehouse we’ve built in our backyard.  Irritating what one can/cannot do on her property, but that’s a discussion for another time/a separate magazine).

In the end, it wasn’t until Thursday before I had an opportunity to begin thinking about baking this cake, making it a total of three days that my eggs sat on my counter.    I always leave my dairy on the counter to warm up to room temperature; however, this normally takes 30 minutes to an hour…not necessarily 3 whole days.  Was it safe to bake with these eggs?  Would a family member or I die from ingesting these?  Would we vomit incessantly as a result of eating a rotten, salmonella infested egg?

I hated to throw these eggs out, as they were incredibly expensive (sun-powered, organic, free-ranged eggs, which cost approximately $.50 per egg.  I know, I know, but they taste so good and the egg yolk is as orange and shiny as the setting sun over the horizon at the end of a balmy, sunny day….so worth it).  So, I did a little unscientific/unofficial research.

What I found (online) is confusing, slightly complicated and most likely unreliable.  However, most sources seem to agree that large portions of the world, in both the developed and developing world, eat unrefrigerated eggs with no issue.  With that said, it seems that most societies abide by one major guideline when eating unrefrigerated eggs:  know your egg sources (i.e. farmer) to ensure that your eggs are delicately cared for and properly handled as this information can/will determine how long your eggs can sit on the counter prior to ingestion.  Otherwise, it is probably a very good idea to refrigerate your eggs (if you can) and too fully cook them (unless you are making a caesar salad dressing, but then you’d better know where your egg came from).

All in all, I’ve decided, based on my thorough research, that my eggs are safe to ingest after sitting on the counter for a couple of days.  It is important for me to note that I’ve never been fond of eating eggs raw (unrefrigerated or refrigerated), but I suspect if you had a chicken coop in your yard and you, yourself, handled your chickens/eggs properly, that it would be relatively safe to eat the egg, refrigerated or unrefrigerated, raw, at room temperature or fully cooked.

I realize this article was probably not all that helpful for people genuinely struggling with the question I posed in the beginning.  If this is the case, I suggest you simply take three eggs from your fridge or counter and try this pound cake recipe.  You won’t be disappointed.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

1 loaf

Slightly Adapted from Barefoot Contessa’s Lemon Yogurt Cake

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (reserve ½ a cup)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plain coconut yogurt (use any yogurt you like here)

1 cup sugar

3 extra large eggs

Zest of 2 lemons

Juice of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup of frozen cherries

½ cup of mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Butter and flour a loaf pan.  Line the bottom w/parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, add all the dry ingredients and sift (I always use a whisk to do this).   In a large bowl, add the yogurt, sugar, eggs, extract, zest and lemon juice.  Mix well.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients w/o overbeating the batter.  Mix until just combined

Add the olive oil and mix, gently.  Try not to overbeat.

In a small bowl, mix the cherries, the reserved ½ cup of flour and chocolate chips.  Make sure the cherries and chocolate chips are fully coated w/flour.

Add the cherries/chocolate chips to the batter and gently mix, folding over careful so not to break up the cherries.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and place in pre-heated oven for about 1 hour, checking after 55 minutes.  The top should be golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean.  Let rest in pan on a rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and let it fully cool on rack.

Enjoy w/tea or coffee!

What really stuck out to me, besides the bakeries on each street and corners overflowing with sweet and savory breads, twists, custards and tarts, is how food brings people together. Meal time is a social hour where you catch up over a miniature feast ranging from leitão with steamed kale, baked potatoes and a side salad to chanfana made in a ceramic caçhola with roasted potatoes, fresh bread with a hint of cinnamon and of course, with a nice vinho to wash it all down. These meaty dishes sound delicious, looked incredible, and garnered rave reviews, but being vegetarian, I just sniffed, smiled, and chowed down all of the scrumptious, non-meat sides.

It was tough to be in Portugal as a vegetarian, but I am so lucky that everyone tried to cater to my preferences, especially my family (though they did quite often ask me to just try a nibble or two of the leitão, roast suckling pig, for flavor’s sake). Although the entrees in Portugal are definitely meat centric, the desserts certainly are not, making them a HUGE staple in my diet while I was visiting. And I’ve got to tell you, I couldn’t have been more pleased with that outcome.

My family went above and beyond when it came to desserts, especially since I was such a huge fan. I feasted on homemade rice pudding, pão caseiro, pão de lo, pão de Pascua – let’s just say a lot of pão. And then there was the crispy, crunchy caramel almond cake, the bolo de laranja, and let’s not forget the natas! I was in heaven -, anyone would be. Yet there was something missing and I knew exactly what it was: Serradura. Directly translated as “sawdust,” Serradura is a simple-to-make dessert, requiring only a handful of crumbled Maria cookies, some heavy whipping cream, condensed milk and vanilla to taste. It is my favorite Portuguese dessert.

At every restaurant we went to, every bakery we stopped at, the homes we visited, and the grocery stores we frequented, I searched high and low for this dessert I love and associate with my Portuguese heritage. In the 12 days I was in town, I didn’t happen by one place that served this light and airy taste of heaven topped with crushed Maria cookies. At the end of the trip, with my family providing all of these tasty recipes for sweet and savory dishes and desserts for me to take back (and share with all of you!), I realized that my search for serradura was rooted in a taste for home. It had been 17 years since I had been to Portugal, but during those 17 years, a few times a month my family and I would go to our favorite Portuguese restaurant to feast, and I was notoriously known for ordering Serradura to top off my always enormously scrumptious meals. Serradura kept me connected to Portugal and it is incredibly delectable, so naturally I am obsessed with this sweet dessert.

When I got back to the States, and I settled into my routine again, the first thing I did was buy the ingredients to make some Serradura. After assembling my little glass, crushed cookies on the bottom topped with cream and more crushed cookies, I took my first bite and realized that the connection I had wasn’t just to Portugal – it was to my family. Now when I enjoy this heavenly dessert I think of my time in Portugal with my family, whom I plan to see again next year during Easter, my time growing up enjoying it at the table with my sister and the adventures I have had making, enjoying (the entire recipe many times by myself!) and now sharing it with you.

I love this dessert and am really excited for you to try it and incorporate it into you quick and easy arsenal for sweet treats. You’ll have to hold on a bit longer for the recipes of the other delicious morsels I mentioned being spoiled with abroad but don’t worry, I promise they will be worth the wait.

Bom proveito!

Serradura
Serves four.

Ingredients
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/5 cup condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
120g (roughly half a package) Maria cookies

Directions
1. Crush Maria cookies and set aside.
2. Whip remaining ingredients.
Tip: Add more condensed milk to the cream or drizzle some on the top of the dessert for some added sweetness.
3. Layer in a glass alternating between the Maria cooking and the cream, finishing with Maria cookie crumbs.
4. Get a spoon, sit back and enjoy your little cup of heaven in a glass!
Tip: Add some fresh, sliced strawberries or other fresh fruit for a punch of color. For a punch of sweetness drizzle some of the left over condensed milk on top!

Bom Proveito!

Last fall, the European Union considered “a roughly 75 percent cut in funding for a program that helps feed 18 million of its poorest citizens” during a winter of rising unemployment and consumer food prices [CBS News].  Six countries – Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Sweden – supported the abrupt cut of an EU program that began 25 years ago as an effort to distribute “food from surpluses within the EU’s bloated farm program [CBS News].”  These six countries argued that “the program was [no longer] living up to its original mandate of using excess products…[and] that social policies like this should be funded by EU states individually [CBS News].”

Click the image to learn more about the proposed cuts European food aid

The decision to cut funding to The Food for the Deprived program on January 1, 2012 was eventually denied since food banks had no backup plan in light of the very short notice.  Instead, the program’s funding (500 million euros, or 1 percent of the total Common Agricultural Policy budget) was extended for at least two more years to allow the time for food banks to establish alternative solutions.  The program, one of the last social policies managed at the European level, will be definitively cut in 2014.

The general debate over how social policies should be handled in the EU is understandably not of immediate importance for many Americans.  However, the debate over supporting social policies like food aid during a time of economic difficulty – especially while the federal legislation is currently being discussed in Congress – should be.

The USDA’s SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) currently provides food for over 46 million people, or 15 percent of the nation’s population, each month. SNAP’s overall enrollment has steadily grown since 2007.  The program has recently set record numbers of enrollment that are “comparable to the percentage of the American workforce affected by unemployment or underemployment [FRAC].”  In addition to this growing population, it is estimated that “three in ten people eligible for SNAP go unserved [FRAC].”

The U.S. Census Bureau and USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) report that “SNAP benefits lift people out of poverty,” in addition to making huge differences on enrolled members’ economic well-being and health [FRAC].  Despite these benefits, cuts to SNAP’s average annual spending of roughly $68 billion – including a proposal to convert the entire system into block grants – are currently up for debate as part of the 2012 Farm Bill.  According to the Community Food Security Coalition, “block granting would prevent the program from responding to fluctuations in need and place a cap on spending.”  Stopping SNAP from spending when needed, and/or restructuring the system, could seriously affect both enrolled members as well as the potential enrollment of eligible participants during a time of growing need.

Critical decisions regarding the 2012 Farm Bill are scheduled over the coming weeks.  To learn more about the Farm Bill, SNAP, and how to contact your member of Congress, I recommend the following resources:

• Food Research and Action Center
• USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• USDA Farm Service Agency
• NY Times piece, “The Farm Bill, Beyond the Farm”
• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• Environmental Working Group
• Community Food Security Coalition
• National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

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