Dinner’s On The Table – Healthy Specialty Foods & Recipes

We went to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck this past Sunday for Maple Weekend.  It was wonderful.  We got to stand in the evaporator and take in the maple scented air.  We sampled fresh maple syrup right out of the evaporator.  We took a walk through the grounds to see the tapped trees, and we had a yummy meal of pancakes, sausage and fresh maple syrup. 

There were many people purchasing honey and maple products from Remsberger Maple Farm and Apiary.  The question of the day is this…What do I do with the syrup and sugar now that I have a years worth?

There are a few really easy applications, such as top your ice cream or yogurt with maple syrup.  It’s delicious and when you use a good quality low fat unsweetened yogurt, you have control over what you’re eating.  Instead of a spoonful of sugar on your oatmeal, try maple syrup!  The next time you make an apple cobbler, replace some of the sugar in the topping with maple sugar. 

Here’s a nice way to incorporate maple into savory dishes, like salmon.

Maple Salmon on a Cedar Plank

Ingredients

4 4-6 ounce salmon filets (can be a whole filet or individual pieces)

Salt + pepper

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1 lemon, juice and zest

1/4 cup chopped parsely

At least one hour before you are ready to grill, soak your cedar planks in water.  This can be done in the morning for dinner tonight.  You need a good soaking inorder to get enough smoke to nicely flavor the fish.

Fire up your grill to 350-400. 

Combine maple syrup, lemon juice, some of the zest and parsley.  (Taste before adding all of the lemon, adjusting to your liking)

Place the cedar planks on the grill.  Close the grill for up to 2 minutes to allow the planks to start smoking.

Lay fish on planks, but be careful not to crowd the fish.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.  Brush some of the maple mixture on the fish. 

Cook with the cover closed for 15-18 minutes, until the fish flakes with a fork.  (The fish will be cooked through and will have a nice smokey flavor)

While the fish is cooking, put the maple mixture in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  This will concentrate the flavors for a final glaze.

Using a clean brush, baste with the maple mixture before serving. 

Garnish with a wedge of lemon and more fresh parsley.

No problem if you don’t have a grill or just want to cook this in your oven.  Place the soaked cedar plank on a baking sheet.  Set the sheet in a 350 oven for up to 5 minutes to get the plank heating.   These are the only changes to the grill instructions. 

If you don’t want to use the cedar plank, just place the fish in a Pyrex container and bake the prepared fish for 15-18 minutes in a 350 oven.

If you like your fish rare rather than cooked through,  start checking the fish after 10 minutes. 

Note: Only use cedar that is sold for cooking.  Cedar from a lumber yard has been treated with chemicals.

Maple Weekend continues this weekend, March 28 and 29 at the Fairgrounds.

www.remsburgermaple.com/

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     Salt. You can’t escape it. It’s in almost everything we eat. And it’s also a necessary part of our body’s chemical processes, particularly hydration. You could say we have a love/hate relationship with the mighty salt crystal. On the whole, we need a minimum of 500 mg per day to be healthy. 2300 mg per day is the recommended maximum intake which is the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of table salt.

But the average American consumes 2-3 times more salt than needed on a daily basis.

     So how can you reasonably keep track of how much salt you’re consuming? If you eat at restaurants regularly there is no way to accurately estimate the salt content in your diet aside from keeping the rest of your meals low to salt free.

     Restaurants over salt your food for a number of reasons. First, they know we crave salt. It’s part of our physiological make-up. Second, because it makes food "taste" better, we are more likely to eat out at restaurants that hit our taste buds in the right spots. Third, restaurants that serve alcohol know that you are more likely to order more drinks if you feel thirsty. And alcoholic drinks are a very big money maker for restaurants.

     The inspiration for this post was the new Food Network program called, "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" with Anne Burrell. In the episode in particular, Burrell was making Spaghetti Bolognese, a very popular Italian dish. We sat there in utter amazement as she grabbed handful after handful of salt and flamboyantly splashed it into the dish during the cooking process in Emeril Lagasse fashion. The only thing missing was the "Bam!"  

     She then went on to explain that it may seem like a lot of salt, but in "restaurants we properly season our food." Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

     Too much salt, is too much salt. And salt intake can be addicting just as with sugar. Our bodies and taste buds become used to a certain level of salt. And just as some foods require salt to bring out their flavors, too much salt can also mask flavors so you can’t taste them.

     Personally, we use a modest amount of salt in our food at home. I grew up with parents who needed to reduce their salt intake due to blood pressure and other reasons. Because we use salt moderately, we’re better able to judge the taste of dishes. Preparing foods with a minimum amount of salt, enough to make dishes taste great without being overwhelming, is very important to our clients who require a lower salt diet – and to us.

     So, back to accurately estimating the salt in your diet, the best way to do this is to cook your own meals and watch the amount of salt you use. If you must buy prepared foods, watch the sodium content. This, along with eating correct portions, will allow you to reduce your salt intake. The other option is to hire a personal chef who will work with you to build the right meal plan for you and who will adjust the seasonings in your food to help you build a healthier lifestyle. Actually, we’ve learned that herbs and spices offer a variety of flavors that, along with a modest amount of salt, create a flavor panorama that is more satisfying than just salt alone.

     And stay away from frozen TV dinners! Many frozen dinners can pack 2-3 days worth of salt and fat into one meal. Now you would need to eat plain fruit and veggies for the next 2 days to make up for it (if it were that easy!). Check out the 20 Saltiest Foods in America.

     Tip: Taste your food throughout the cooking process. With raw meat, wait until the meat has cooked through. Remember, you can always add salt to a dish, but you can’t take it out!

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          We use our kitchen counters for holding everything. And that goes well beyond the food we eat. From tools to work gloves, to mail to the latest novel we’re reading. And we don’t clean those counters often enough – do we? Nope. I’ll bet big money on that too.

          The problem is we also tend to place our food directly on those counters without thinking about it - and sometimes without cleaning the counters first. And many illnesses from germs (bacteria and viruses) can be transferred in this way.

          If you don’t like using store bought chemicals, you can simply dilute white vinegar in water, 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water, in a spray bottle and give your counters a good bath a couple of times each day and especially before you plan on preparing any kind of food.

          As Personal Chefs we take cooking surface cleanliness seriously. The second thing we do when entering a home to complete a cookdate or catering party is wipe down the counters thoroughly. The first is making sure all perishable foods are placed in the refrigerator.

          Food safety should be your number one priority in the kitchen.

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Do you have biology experiments going on in the back of your refrigerator? You open a jar of who knows-what, because you don’t remember what it was, and you find an amazing assortment of colors and textures that simply don’t fall under what we would normally call food anymore – and could possibly send you on a one-way-trip to the barf-eteria or emergency room if you did eat it.  But, believe it or not, most foods that are just getting old and have started to turn bad due to "spoilage bacteria" won’t make you sick, they just make the food taste bad.

It happens to everyone. Food that gets too old to eat gets tossed. But what if it still looks good to eat? It could be goulash from last week. Or chili? But what day did you put it in the fridge? Two, three days ago…maybe more?

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says "A general rule of thumb for refrigerator storage for cooked leftovers is 4 days."

We found that the best way to know when your food was placed in the refrigerator is to label it. And you can do this very inexpensively. The next time you go to the hardware store (some grocery or dollar stores too) grab a roll of masking tape, the tape that is used to help painters avoid splashing paint on trim and edges, and a sharp point magic marker. If you have these already, great! This tape comes off of all food storage containers without leaving any residue. The next time you’re about to place some food in the fridge, leftovers or otherwise – your choice, tear off enough tape to label the item by name and date or just the date. Another option is to write an expiration date for your leftovers of 3-5 days out from when you placed in the fridge. Just be consistent whether you are placing a new date or expiration date so you don’t confuse yourself.

You’ll never be wondering how long the food was in your refrigerator again!

Quick Tip: Masking tape doesn’t stick well to cold surfaces. Make sure you label the container before you put it in the fridge!

If you want to learn more about refrigerator safety visit The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Web site.

Dinner’s On The Table Personal Chef Service serves the Greater Mid-Hudson Valley (Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia Counties) and Eastern Connecticut.

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