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Asparagus – An Enchanting Low Sodium Ingredient

June 15, 2012 By 2 Comments
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Asparagus is a tremendously versatile vegetable. Whether smothered in our nearly guilt free  velvety mock hollandaise, pureed in soup, or sliced in a simple salad, the possibilities are deliciously endless. But there’s more to it than the end product. Here, we look at nutritional facts, how it grows, three varieties, how to choose and store it.

Asparagus Nutritional Facts
• 5mg of sodium and 310mg of potassium per cup (180g).
• 88.2mg of phosphorus and 5.3 grams of protein per cup (180g).
• Each spear contains only 4 calories, plus, asparagus is a good source of folic acid, fiber and vitamins.

Growing Asparagus
One of the more enchanting things about asparagus is the way it grows. A crown planted about a foot deep sends spears up for harvest. In the cooler early spring, it may take 4-5 days between harvests. As the days and nights get warmer, a spear can grow as fast as 10 inches per day. If the spears aren’t picked, they become woody and grow out into ferns – hence, asparagus fern.

Asparagus Colors: Green, White & Purple
The most common type of asparagus is the green variety. However, white asparagus is very popular in Europe, where it’s known as “the royal vegetable.” Though less bitter and more tender, it’s the same botanical variety as green. So how does it grow white? By “blanching” – manually covering the spears with a mound of dirt. This deprives the plant of sunlight, preventing photosynthesis and the production of chlorophyll, producing white spears. I can only imagine what a pain-staking job this is. But, the added labor explains why white asparagus is more expensive.

Purple asparagus, or Violetto d’Albenga, was originally developed in Albenga Italy. With higher sugar content and less fiber than green, purple asparagus makes a great accent in salads and is my personal favorite. The purple color is retained during brief cooking, but keep in mind that if you cook it too long, it will turn green

Selecting, Preparing & Storing Asparagus
Spears are best when straight, firm, vibrant green and the tips tightly closed. Dull green and/or limp looking spears are aged. Thicker spears may have a fibrous layer of skin at the base. Rather than cutting the section off, the skin can be peeled for more tenderness and quicker cooking. White asparagus tends to have fibrous skin, so it’s most delectable when gently peeled prior to cooking. Peel from just below the head, down to the stem.

Asparagus is best used within two to three days of purchase. With a higher respiration rate than many vegetables, it can lose water content and wilt more quickly. For proper storage, clip about a ¼-inch off the bottoms and place in an upright container, stems submersed in one to two inches of water. Or, wrap the stems in a moist paper towel and store in a plastic bag.

When you’re ready to indulge, try steamed asparagus with our fabulous and nearly guilt free low-sodium, no egg yolk (and olive oil based) velvety mock hollandaise sauce .

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Laughing about Low Sodium Vegetable Gardening

May 8, 2012 By 3 Comments
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Our cart after the first two minutes

Come, join the fun! Enter to win one of 25 fun prizes in our “Birthday Giveaway”!

For many of us, early May is an opportune time to plant our summer garden. We headed out to our local gardening center to pick out our seedlings, and while there, we stumbled upon an interesting, and somewhat humorous, family gardening dynamic.  Meet the planner and the gardener (the “doer”).

When it comes to gardening in our family, I am the planner. The planner basically tags along throughout the whole gardening process. We “invite” ourselves to be included in the seedling selection. Once at the nursery, we are inspired by all of the choice.  The little seedlings call our name and say, “Take me home. I’ll blossom, smell great, create oxygen, help you lighten your carbon footprint, and at the end of the season, I’ll deliver a cornucopia of vegetables that you can eat”.   It’s so easy to get tempted and grab twenty or thirty new plants — all the while, envisioning the most local source-to-table meals throughout the summer.  You can usually spot the planners from a distance: we grab seedlings off the shelves and can pack the cart full in less than 5 minutes flat.  Occasionally throughout the growing season, we might help plant, water, and weed (mostly on fair weather days) – primarily, we are the ones with “the vision”.

In stark contrast, the “gardener” follows a somewhat different approach. At the seedling selection, the gardeners silently stand by.  They watch, partly in shock and partly in horror, at how quickly the planners fill the cart. They calculate how much time, effort, and plot size all of the seedlings are going to need throughout the growing season.  The calculation process takes up much of their initial focus, as new plants are added to the cart every minute, changing the previously calculated requirements. Typically, the first time that gardeners provide collaborative input is after they’ve realized that the planners have overloaded the plant wagon.

Jeff is the gardener: he plants, waters, weeds, and watches our garden with near hawk-like precision. He makes sure that the timers are always working, and replaces parts on the drip or sprinkler system when things break down.  When we get bug infestations, he figures out the least invasive way how to deal with them – solutions like sprinkling ladybugs (they eat aphids) in the garden at late night so that they don’t fly away. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that without the gardener, there would be no actual garden.

The irony about gardening is that it’s supposed to be about getting in touch with our roots and nature; it’s supposed to represent collaboration.  In the early pioneering settlement days, farmers and neighbors alike would help each other out during the planting and harvesting seasons.  One would think that gardening would be a serene experience, getting back to nature and all, but our recent trip to the gardening center revealed a lot more about families than we had expected. Instead, we witnessed a lot of animated exchanges going on around us: couples, parents, and children, voicing their differences in gardening approaches and plant selections – a philosophical duel between the planners and the gardeners. Its’ a subtle family dynamic, but if you have an opportunity, take a step back and observe for a minute or two.  We did.  The funniest things in life are when you see yourself in other people – people that you don’t even know. Laugh and the world laughs with you.  Pick the plants and be prepared to pitch in. And most importantly, try not to let gardening become a source of contention (apparently, gardening can cause many disagreements, just Google it).

In the spirit of sharing, here’s a list of what’s in our vegetable garden (don’t worry, Jeff didn’t plant them all by himself and we had some left over from prior years) :

  • Basil
  • Chile pepper plants (mix of ancho poblano and jalapeno peppers)
  • Chives
  • Epazote
  • Eggplant
  • Fennel
  • Garlic
  • Galangal
  • Grapes (Cabernet)
  • Grapefruit (still in development)
  • Lavender (edible variety)
  • Lemongrass
  • Lemon Verbena
  • Lime
  • Mint (chocolate, Moroccan, peppermint)
  • Oregano
  • Radicchio
  • Rosemary (we have what my mom has nicknamed the $3000 rosemary plant, due to its maturity/size)
  • Sage
  • Squash/zucchini
  • Strawberries
  • Thyme
  • Tomatoes (Roma, heirloom, etc.)
  • Yuzu

Happy Planting!

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Sustainable Aquaculture: Carlsbad Aquafarm, Inc.

April 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Ever wonder where these beautiful oysters actually come from?  We did.

The wonderful thing about food blogging is that it sparks our curiosity and leads us to explore foods and places located outside of our normal realm.  As many of you know, we cook and eat lot of global dishes– we’ve been inspired from our travels, having eaten and cooked our way around the world.  Much like our love for travel, interest spurs impetus – our stomachs act as our compass. Often, we consciously seek out new experiences; periodically, fate plays the role of our fairy godmother and new foods are found within arm’s reach.  Our reality is that once we return to Los Angeles, we source many of our recipe ingredients close to home; many are farmed in sustainable habitats, like Carlsbad Aquafarm’s Luna Oysters (you can read about how we initially discovered Luna oysters in our Thai inspired Curry Oyster Stew Recipe).

More curious, we wondered, what activities go into farming the fresh oysters that we buy?

On a mission, we headed down to Carlsbad Aquafarm for a private tour of their sustainable aquaculture operation – where they farm abalone, clams, mussels, oysters, and seaweed.  Additionally, they cultivate “live-feed”: micro and macro algae, copepods, amphipods, and brine shrimp.  This post is a primarily a photo tour that focuses on mussel and oyster cultivation (with a little narration).

Once onsite, we soon realized that there are a shocking number of  variables, inputs, and considerations when creating, cultivating, maintaining and growing an aquafarm operation. Let’s start with the food (doesn’t it always start with a hungry stomach?) The aquafarm develops and grows their own shellfish food (algae), as they are a fully sustainable operation:

[Oyster] larvae are cultured and replicated via an assisted hatchery process.

Small pieces of shell are later added to the larvae mix.  The larvae attach themselves to the tiny shell fragments; this helps to kick-start the next phase in the oysters’ metamorphosis.

Over time, the oyster larvae develop into baby oysters.

Small mollusks attach themselves to artificial strands; this helps to simulate mollusks growing in a more natural aquatic environment

Special protective netting is wrapped around the mollusks strands, helping to reduce predator attacks.

As seen below, periodically, mollusks are removed from the estuary and undergo simulated “environmental” conditions. Simulating natural environmental stress helps control the overall production yield.

There is a fine art to simulating natural or environmental stress. An activity, such as simulated tumbling, helps to mimic certain environmental conditions that would normally occur in the open water. Controlling or maximizing different growth variables helps to cultivate an optimal oyster meat to shell growth ratio.

The oysters are sorted by size, placed into trays, and returned to the estuary. The aquafarm repeats the environmental simulations a number of times until the oysters reach optimal market size.

Upon reaching maturity, the oysters are removed from the estuary, sorted by size and placed in new trays where they undergo a final filtering process.

As you can see, there are many trays, and harvesting mollusks is a rather involved process.

Oysters soaking —  undergoing the final cleaning/filtering process.

Perfection! These are ready for market.  (It’s probably a good thing that we didn’t bring our oyster knives, or we would have shucked and eaten our way through all of these oyster trays!!)

After spending an afternoon touring the Carlsbad facility and following the oyster lifecycle, we have a huge appreciation for all of the hard work that goes into sustainable aquaculture.  There’s a lot of science, (mussel, and a few oysters) behind these tasty mollusks!  Thanks again Rebecca, Kelly and the team @ Carlsbad Aquafarm!

(P.S. the Carlsbad Aquafarm, Inc. facility is not currently open to the public).

In appreciation to Carlsbad Aquafarm, we made a Curry Oyster Stew and gathered some low sodium oyster recipes together to tie together a whole oyster theme! Happy sustainable eating!

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Celery Root (Celeriac)

April 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Celery root, otherwise known as celeriac, has a delicious, concentrated celery/parsley-like flavor.  Out in nature, or at the market, its’ flavor is hidden from plain view.  Celeriac does not present itself as being the most attractive or user friendly root vegetable: its’ appearance makes it seem especially daunting to cook with — especially with so many root spires jetting out from the bottom.

Perhaps its’ unpleasant disguise helps to achieves its’ intended survival effect?  Well masked to the untrained eye, it’s secret flavor is often overlooked.  Refrigerated and wrapped in a plastic bag, unpeeled celery root should keep fresh for a couple of weeks.   There are a couple of helpful tips when buying celeriac:

  • buy celery roots who still have the top foliage section attached.  Call me a sucker for “two for the price of one” deals; baby celery can be especially useful for drink garnishes. (Note:  the celery leaves will not keep “fresh” as long as the root does).
  • The trick to a good celery root dish is to step up to the plate and just do the work: choose the smaller ones, no bigger than a small fist, and embrace the peeling process.  The smaller celeriac yield the most tender and flavorful insides.
  • If the market doesn’t have small celeriac and offers to “chop off only the amount you need”, its’ well worth it to walk away, call around and find small celery root.

Most people don’t like peeling celery root because the peeling process can be cumbersome – I often see people reaching for large celeriac, the size of a baseball or even larger, with the general goal of minimizing prep work/peeling.  The downside to this “time saving” strategy is that the larger celeriac tend to get more fibrous as they grow larger and somewhat less concentrated in flavor; people often wonder why their celery root dishes taste like wood when they use large celeriac. Blanching or sauteing the finished [often shredded] product can help a little, but again, that adds another step; blanching/sauteing  celeriac to make it more tender mostly defeats the “time saving strategy” by selecting a large root.

Celeriac measures in at 156 mg sodium (468 mg potassium) per 1 cup/156 grams –not tremendously high, but not zero either. Most often, one doesn’t eat a solid cup of celery root – its’ typically shredded or chopped and becomes the flavor base in something tasty.

If you don’t mind distributing the flavor, a good way to reduce the sodium content is to “cut” (or blend) the celeriac with another ingredient.  We like to use white cabbage (purple for more color), or radicchio (pictured below) as a way to mix up the flavors (some people use carrots or throw in whatever else happens to be in their produce compartment).

Regardless of the blend, the fun thing about cooking is that there’s always an ‘unknown’ element of surprise and a reminder that every dish has something special and unique about it.  Keep posted, we’ll share our favorite celeriac recipe shortly!

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