On two recent trips to India, chocolate and candy maker Paul Poole has been fortunate to catch an intimate glimpse into the lives of some Indian families. The key was the sharing of food, but not only meals. Paul taught his Indian friends how to make various types of chocolates and they shared the knowledge of local sweets. Great Taste listeners will not only hear about Paul’s adventures, but learn the recipes involved in this cross-cultural exchange.

Fairfield, IA craftsman Paul Poole began making chocolates, toffee, and other sweets in the late 70’s in San Francisco. At times he actually sold his creations, but for the greater part of three decades you might have received some as a gift if he made a custom kitchen cabinet for you. Even now you have to be lucky.  If you aren’t on his holiday list, then the “right place” (KRUU’s studio) is your best shot.

You won’t believe how easy it is to create these delicious treats in your own kitchen with proper instructions and tools. But, you’ll be amazed at Paul’s ingenuity when working under less than ideal conditions in simple Indian kitchens.

Tune in for the stories and how to make chocolates, toffee, and other tasty treats. Stop by to watch and have a taste at the studio if you are in the neighborhood. You’ll be in the “right place.” Alternatively, listen to the live stream from 7-8 PM on Wednesday or the rebroadcast Friday at 7-8 AM.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter where we tweet the Daily Dish, daily.

More about KRUU’s Great Taste program:

In case you haven’t picked up on the little nudge-nudge reminders from your sweetheart, Valentine’s Day is this Sunday.  Regardless of whether you subscribe to notions of roses, chocolates, or romantic love, this weekend presents a rare opportunity to dine out in Fairfield on a Sunday evening.

If staying around town is part of the plan, you’ve got options:

Revelations will be open for the occasion and offering a special menu.  Start off with creamy spinach artichoke dip or shrimp cocktail.  Salad options include fresh strawberry, walnut, and goat cheese salad or grapefruit, asiago, and pecan salad and the soup featured will be Greek tomato with couscous and feta.  For your main course, feast on seared chicken breast and mushroom marsala with whipped potatoes, carrots and green beans, seared Alaskan salmon with Moroccan couscous and green beans, grilled eggplant with local ricotta and zesty marinara with orzo pasta or Indian coconut chickpeas over basmati rice.  Satisfy your sweetheart’s sweet tooth with strawberry cheesecake, chocolate mousse or chocolate lovers’ cake.

At Vivo’s, in addition to the full menu, specials include clams oreganata as a starter and for the main course choose from gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce topped with herbed pistachios and steamed vegetables, braised tilapia with asparagus risotto, or rosemary chicken with kalamata olives, artichokes and capers with whipped potatoes.  Top it off with the triple chocolate cake dessert special.

More than one special friend to entertain? At Top of the Rock Grill you can enjoy a Valentine’s day menu all weekend long– specials include oriental scallops bruschetta as a starter and entrees of rosemary rack of lamb with potatoes, crab stuffed shrimp over basmati rice, and lobster ravioli in sherry sauce. Heart shaped apple pie headlines the dessert menu.

Café Dodici in Washington is offering specials all weekend as well– Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening as well as a Sunday brunch.  In addition to their regular menu offerings, special entrees include meatloaf wellington, blackened orange roughy, buffalo rib eye, vegetable pot pourri, Alaskan salmon, seafood cannelloni, and butternut squash ravioli.

If you’re prepared to venture a bit further and perhaps try something new.  I highly recommend taking a drive down to Bistro 322 in Burlington.  Featuring a blend of French inspired cuisine with a touch of Asian influence, termed “comfort cuisine,” Bistro 322 is a refreshing and romantic dining experience.  They also feature a variety of wine flights and fun specialty drinks.

There’s still time, make your reservations now! Invite your friends, lovers or neighbors. Who says food isn’t love!

[Note: this article was originally posted in July 2009.  It is now updated with the complete recipe - include at the end of the article - for making the Artisan Free-Form Loaf.]

My bread habits have come a long way in the past forty years. I started with Wonder Bread. In the 80s I moved on to a Whole Wheat bread which was basically the brown version of Wonder Bread from a nutritional standpoint. In the 90s I discovered real Whole Wheat breads (thanks to local co-op grocery stores) and explored the tastes of fresh baked artisan breads. And now, thanks to my wife, my family is learning that sliced bread isn’t the greatest invention after all. Instead, our family is now baking all of our bread ourselves, and what may surprise most people is that it’s relatively easy to bake enough healthy, great tasting bread to feed your family.

Over the past several months we’ve been buying fewer and fewer loaves of sliced bread, and baking more and more bread at home. Two weeks ago we decided to stop buying bread at all, and switch entirely to baking our own bread. So far it’s going well and I don’t miss store bought sliced loaves. Our routine is to prepare a high moisture no knead dough once a week, store that dough in the fridge, and use portions of it to bake bread (or pizzas) as needed throughout the week.

Baking all of your own bread may sound like a lot of work, and while it is more work than putting a loaf of bread in your cart at the grocery store, it isn’t as labor intensive as you might imagine (as I thought until recently).  Of course we were helped greatly by a book that was featured on The Splendid Table titled Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  The book provides detailed instructions and techniques on how to bake an Artisan Free-Form Loaf.  It’s what they call their “master recipe”, which once mastered contains all the skills required to bake the dozens of other recipes in the book.

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My friends know the story: when my wife proposed that we move back to South East Iowa to live near her family, I could not conceive of making the move unless we found a town that had access to good quality, healthy, natural foods. When we identified that the small town of Fairfield Iowa was home to an established natural foods store, Everybody’s Whole Foods Store, we began packing.

During one of my first shopping experiences in Everybody’s I could not find pepperoni (for pizza) or grass fed ground beef. I asked an employee something close to “where’s the beef?” I can recall his reaction of shock, as if I had just walked up to him and spoken in tongues, “beazula mira mira azzzzkanam feed mew deeevil BEEEEEEF!”

Grass-fed roasted tenderloin with crab meat, by MJ Rehm

As with most of the common knowledge in this town, I was slow to understand that Everybody’s isn’t your average Natural Foods store, because after all, this is Fairfield, which isn’t your average town. While Everybody’s does attract non-meditator customers like myself, the store exists because it has primarily served the meditator community since opening it’s doors 1995. And the meditator community is largely vegetarian, and for reasons I have never been able to figure out, those that do eat some meats, are OK with chicken, turkey and fish.

When asked why Everybody’s doesn’t carry natural beef products, Manager Adam Pohlman explains, “The number one answer is the demand for beef and pork is greatly lacking especially for frozen. We have considered carrying a few items but found there to be push back by a number of customers when we conducted surveys. The combination of not having a lot of demand and the fact that those who did not want, really did not want it and were adamant in there comments on the idea.”

But there is hope for other Fairfield residents who enjoy the taste, and the ethics, of naturally raised, grass-fed beef – Yoder’s Natural Farm. Located in nearby Bloomfield, Iowa, Yoder’s Natural Farm offers grass-fed beef, pastured broilers and eggs, and pork. You can get an order form from them (call 641-664-2060) and have your meats/eggs delivered to the Farmer’s Market right here in town.

Raised on the family farm in Southern Iowa, Robert Yoder started Yoder’s Natural Farm in 2006. “It is my goal to maintain a farm that provides a superior natural product for my customers while still caring for the land, animals, and the environment in a positive and natural way.” I’ve ordered steaks, hamburgers and bacon from Yoder’s several times and their meats are delicious and affordable.

Why should meat eaters choose grass-fed beef? Read this article at FoodRevolution.org by John Robbins. In short, it tastes better, is healthier for you, and healthier for the environment.

Would you like to see more access to grass-fed meats at Everybody’s and Hy-Vee? Let us know along with any other thoughts (both omnivores and vegetarians welcome).

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Many people are afraid of trace amounts of poison, especially in their food and water; failing to understand that the amount of poison is what really determines a food’s safety, not that the toxin exists.

Image via Wikipedia

We routinely tolerate toxic chemicals in the food we eat every day. Even organic fruits and vegetables contain extremely toxic chemicals. For every gram of artificial pesticide residue we consume, we eat over 22 pounds of natural toxins found the vegetables themselves.

As an example, I’ve prepared a sampling of a carrot’s ingredients; other than carbohydrates, fat, water, fiber, and protein, a carrot contains 371 measurable compounds, many of them extremely toxic to humans.

Listed below the ingredients list I have compiled a listing of the chemical properties of these chemicals. You’ll see that the chemicals in carrots are used as sunscreens, pesticides, tranquilizers, contraceptives, decongestants, refrigerants, preservatives, soap, sedatives, and rat poison. Many are carcinogenic and toxic to the heart and central nervous system.  We are able to ingest carrots and receive a net health benefit because the poisons are found in small amounts. As you can see, carrots are anything but “chemical free.”

A carrot contains:
ALANINE, ACETONE, ACETALDEHYDE, ALPHA LINOLENIC ACID, ALUMINUM, ARSENIC, ASARONE, ALPHA TERPINENE, BORNYL ACETATE, BORON, BROMINE, BUTYRIC ACID, CADMIUM, CAMPHOR, CHOLESTEROL, CHOLINE, CHROMIUM, COBALT, CYSTINE, CYSTEINE, ETHANOL, FORMIC ACID, FUMARIC ACID, GLUTAMIC ACID, HYDROGEN CYANIDE, ISOBUTYRIC ACID, ISOPRENE, LAURIC ACID, LEAD, LECITHIN, LITHIUM, LYSINE, MALIC ACID, MERCURY, METHYLAMINE, MYRISTICIN, NICKEL, OXALIC ACID, PHENYLALANINE, PHOSPHORUS, QUERCETIN, SILICON, STEARIC ACID, SULFUR, TARTARIC ACID, TIN, TITANIUM, TRYPTOPHAN, XYLITOL.

If an organic carrot were labeled with this (partial) list of its ingredients, how many of us would purchase one? It contains many chemicals that we might reject including Phytic Acid ( 52,700 ppm; a preservative with E number E391), Xanthotoxin (300 ppb; a drug with the trade name Oxsoralen), Oxalic Acid (56 ppm, a pesticide used to treat bee hives, fatal in humans at 71mg/kg), Methylamine (3,970 ppm, an industrial solvent and DEA controlled substance), and so on.

Carcinogenic, Cardiotoxic, CNS-Stimulant, CNS-Toxic, Contraceptive, Convulsant, Corrosive, Cytotoxic, Decongestant, Deliriant, Disinfectant, Diuretic, Expectorant, Fatal, Flatugenic, FPTase-Inhibitor, Genotoxic, Hallucinogenic, Hepatocarcinogenic, Hepatotoxic, Herbicide, Hormone, Hypnotic, Hypothalmic-Depressant, Immunosuppressant, Insect-Repellent, Insecticide, Irritant, Laxative, Lubricant, Motor-Depressant, Mosquitocide, Myorelaxant, Narcotic, Neuroexcitant, Neuroinhibitor, Neurotoxic, Ozone-Scavenger, Parasiticide, Perfume, Pesticide, Phototoxic, Pituitary Stimulant, Preservative, Refrigerant, Renotoxic Respiration Depressant, Rodent Poison, Sedative, Soap, Spermicide, Stimulant, Sunscreen, Sweetener, Surfactant, Termiticide, Testosteronigenic, Toxic, Tranquilizer, Tumorigenic, Tumor Promoter, Urine-Acidifier, Uterorelaxant, Vasodilator, Vasomotor Stimulant.

SOURCE:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/plants.html

I was chatting with Lori Schaefer over at Agri-Plastics the other day and we got to talking about Thanksgiving and, ultimately, food.

This meandered into food quality, when Lori asked me if I had ever heard of Vande Rose Farms.  I told her I hadn’t, and she almost wept when she told me about how wonderful that their beef and pork products are. OK, so I’m exaggerating about the weeping, this IS an article about food though and you know how people get about their food

She went on to tell me that the best restaurants in the country serve their meat, and that not only is it all-natural, hormone free, etc… But they can also trace each piece, each package, to the animals which the meat came from in the first place. “Whoa” I replied. “Yeah” she responded.

The next likely question was where a mere mortal such as myself could purchase this magical meat, and her first answer was – Hy-Vee. “Hy-Vee?” I responded. “Yup” she replied.

She explained that Hy-Vee sold their bacon: Vande Rose Farms Artisan Dry Cured Bacon. Found in the section with the other 39 types of bacon. I thanked her for this tip and rushed over to Hy-Vee (because what Jewish boy from NY doesn’t like bacon? Talk about forbidden fruit – yum!)

It wasn’t easy to find, there were dozens of packages of Oscar Meyer, Hy-Vee, and other sordid brands of bacon. Many of which I must say, as a bacon connoisseur (ok, not really),  DO taste good. But are they good and good for you? This is where the comparison ends.

For $4.99, certainly more than the price of the other stuff, I purchased 340 grams of the most incredibly yummy bacon that I’ve ever had really. They call it Iowa Duroc Heritage Breed Pork. It has been procured since 1850, and the pigs are raised without growth promotants, fed all natural grains, no antibiotics, and no added phosphates. Of course there is some processing, but there are NO artificial ingredients.

With trembling hands, I rushed home to cook my bounty (Ok, I really ate it the next morning.)  Was it as good as Lori had proclaimed? Would this “healthy” bacon taste better than the other 38 types on the shelf?

The answer is a resounding “yes.”  My wife and son loved it too and as such, we’re hooked. Incredible taste, probably well-cared for animals, and created in a manner that is more aligned with the health concerns of so many of us today.

I highly recommend this bacon. Now where do I go to get a Vande Rose t-bone?

I walked over to last week’s annual meeting with JFAN, Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, Inc.

I came late as I usually do for events hoping to sit in the back and observe. Too late. The only seats available were in the balcony, on the side. That meant walking almost on stage for the stairs on each side. Note to self: come early for next year’s JFAN meeting.

This annual meeting served as much for a celebration as it did for a pep rally.  Rightfully so, for both reasons.  JFAN and its members have much to celebrate. I saw this at a glance when I walked into FACC’s lobby (late) and was greeted by 3 or more volunteers there to answer questions, provide handouts, direct me upstairs. These volunteers were clear on their roles, excited to contribute, friendly and engaging. I saw it at a glance with the FACC packed on a Wednesday night.  Getting volunteers out is always a challenge. But to inspire volunteers and members to come out on a weeknight, so many that the FACC is packed to overflowing,  is a sign of great leadership inspiring great participation.

Jim Rubris and JFANs Board of Directors have inspired, empowered…planted, fertilized, watered and now harvested  a successful grass roots organization. Their purpose is clear.  They have emboldened their members to speak up, speak out and take ownership of this organization and its purpose. Their tools and resources continue to grow in sophistication and reach. Check out their site. Check out their printed materials. See how they used digital media with a live broadcast during the evening meeting and lead-up interviews on KRUU.

Consider the speakers at last week’s Annual Summit.

David Murphy, Co-founder and Co-director, Food Democracy Now! Smart, energetic, organized, organizing, inspiring.

Dr. John Ikerd, Agricultural economist, author, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri,

Francis Thicke, Co-owner and co-operator, Radiance Dairy, Former member, Environmental Protection Commission, Iowa Food Policy Council, Iowa Organic Standards Board; and former National Program Leader, USDA-Extension Service

All presented with passion, focus and well-documented data. That last point impressed me greatly.  Sometimes, in evangelistic grass-roots organizations, data can take a back seat to fervor and conviction.  Sure, there were anecdotal stories and the well-deserved jabs at corporate farming. But, they remained anecdotal and jabs to set up the delivery of the data.

There’s overwhelming data that shows the negative impact on farms,  our communities from corporate farming, our health. The key word is our. No one near a CAFO goes free from its impact. Near means…next door, down the roads abused by swine haulers, in the community that slowly dies as jobs whither and disappear, as the public agencies are overwhelmed with those left and their needs from lowered wages and rising healthcare needs, and the farms themselves as they face the awakening of being suckered with their land and their family into competing in a commoditized industry on a global basis.

But there’s also growing data that shows there is a viable, profitable, sustainable option.  That is the organic, sustainable, agriculture option. According to the Organic Consumers Association, Sales of U.S. manufactured organic products grew 38 percent during the past year. Meat, poultry and eggs grew 64%! (Note: that’s during a recession, not that we need reminding.)

This data could supply the content for the pep rally part of future annual meetings. This may be the future of JFAN: Highlighting this growth opportunity for those considering a CAFO. And not just highlighting it, but promoting it, coaching it, leading it. Include the positives of the business model for organic, sustainable farming, in the materials. Granted, it may be there. But, as a non-member looking in, it seemed hidden. The dangers and negatives from CAFOs, and corporate farming, are well-known. What seems less well-known are the very viable alternatives with sustainable, organic, farming, along with the business metrics for its operation.

JFAN has accomplished deep connections with its current membership. That’s helped stem the momentum of corporate farming and its impact in our communities. However, its mission may be accomplished when it builds bridges outside the current membership of  true believers to include those whose vocation depends on finding a viable solution.  That bridge could be built with information and tools and resources, education and skills, provided by JFAN,  that create a business that is sustainable and healthy for them, their families, their neighbors, their community..and together that makes it our families, our neighbors, our communities.

Fairfield Ledger also covered the event.

Through a stroke of amazing luck and serendipity, I contacted Chef Gordon Rader just a couple of days before the Culinary Arts program’s American Contemporary Luncheon on Thursday, July 9th. This luncheon is part of the International Luncheon series, held 3-5 times a year at the Indian Hills Culinary Arts program. I was curious about just how often these special presentations happen since it was hard to believe that I just happened to have decided to go visit Gordon at such an opportune moment. According to him:

Summer and Winter Terms have the international lunches and we generally have 3 to 5 depending on class size.  We will also begin our Winter/Spring Dinner Series in October.  One dinner in October, November, February, March and April.

The American Contemporary Luncheon was designed and presented by 6th term students Ron Wexman and Mangal Tamang. Mangal’s a Fairfield resident from Nepal.

Chef Gordon went to the trouble of requesting that vegetarian dishes be prepared as the main course for my wife and me. Mangal Tamang asked what I would like, and my first thought (since he’s Nepali) was momos. If you’ve never had a momo, it bears a vague parallel to dumplings. I’ve never had good momo’s in the US, and here was my chance to get a Nepali to make some for me But I also requested that he try to be as true to the theme as possible. So he’d have to make us vegetarian options that fit with “American Contemporary” cuisine.

Momos by Mangal Tamang

To be absolutely honest my expectations were not high for this event. I do not expect to have outstanding food from students in Iowa (many profound apologies to Chef Gordon!). Add to that my vegetarian restrictions and I just have to set the bar low. I’ll say that my expectations were blown out of the water and whether it is Chef Gordon, or whether the students just have their act together, the Culinary Arts program delivered on the promise of a very high caliber luncheon. The entire presentation was well thought out, the students worked smoothly with absolutely no dysfunction, the kitchen was a pleasure to be in (absolutely orderly, clean and no feeling of stress at any point in spite of us being in the way) and the courses went out without a glitch. The plating, garnish and presentation were very appealing and a good combination of color and texture. And the service was extraordinarily smooth.

I could be very nit-picky with certain elements of the meal, but I’ll say that all-in-all (including the meat, which my meat-eating friend gave me comments on) everything was as good as any decent restaurant in Chicago. In spite of their limited exposure to the world of gastronomy the students created an interesting range of dishes – from hand-cut chips to champagne sorbet.

In some sense I regret that I don’t eat meat, but only because it would have allowed me to review those offerings better from a first-hand perspective. My omnivorous friend, however, stated that the meat dishes were “pretty good”, and that the meal was altogether as good as any decent Chicago restaurant.

I should add that Mangal’s challenge to create an American Contemporary envisioning of vegetarian food was pretty interesting. His Nepali background may have hindered him in that he immediately assumed that my being Indian required that he make Indian-tasting fare. But that said, the momos he made were absolutely outstanding. And the tomato sauce that he created to go with them was perfect (and I don’t say *that* too often about food). He also created a rice and vegetable main course. The vegetables were very Indian sub-continent inspired. The rice, however, was very unique. He made it into a sort of pilaf, but included cottage cheese, which created the combined texture of heat and cold, tough and creamy. I’ve never had anything like it and my palate was very happy.

The desserts were really inspired. The menu stated that the dessert would be “Chocolate Ricotta Pudding with a Strawberry Sauce”. The chocolate ricotta pudding was, in fact, served with a combination of mango and strawberry sauces. They were both divine, to the degree that the remaining strawberry sauce was basically spooned up by the students in a non-stop stream until it was all gone. Again, perfection in these sauces. And finally the sorbet. We were told the sorbet was mango-pineapple. I could definitely detect the pineapple texture, but would not have been able to identify these two ingredients (mango or pineapple). It tasted more like a subtle pear-based sorbet. This may have been the result of the champagne crossing with the pineapple and mango flavors. In any case it was very very good.

Chocolate Ricotta Pudding with Strawberry and Mango Sauce

I don’t know what the Culinary Arts program was like prior to Chef Gordon’s arrival. But given the comments I received from a couple of graduates and a couple of the students, he has been nothing short of inspirational. This is quite evident in the respect his students demonstrate and the orderliness with which they conduct themselves in his presence.

Ron Wexman’s goal is to start a higher-end restaurant in Keokuk in the next couple of years (once he can get a loan and get is current student loans figured out). He wants to have his own fresh-baked bread, and is even considering a prix fixe offering weekly to cater to the more adventurous but also dedicated gastronomists. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed that that happens soon.

Mangal Tamang, who used to apparently work in the MUM kitchen for a while, has to deal with the standard visa nonsense and so will try to get a decent internship, probably not in Iowa. This is unfortunate since Mangal has some serious talent (or genetic makeup). I’m of the opinion that a Nepali-fusion restaurant is what he should create, catering to a somewhat adventurous yet still conservatively inclined midwestern palate. We really need some variety in the area and it has to come with quality! [On a side rant, I'm just absolutely appalled by the so-called "Indian" restaurants in the area, pretty much all of which do a dis-service to Indian food. Mangal could even do well serving true Nepali fare, which has a taste and texture that is inspired by Indian spices, but takes it a step further in inventiveness.]

The bottom line here is that anyone interested in a culinary experience should try to sign up for the next International Luncheon. There will also be some prix fixe dinners ($75/plate) coming in the next few months, which Chef Gordon will be blogging about at his blog, and has promised to also send me updates on (which I’ll blog about right here)..

If you’re interested in the American Culinary Foundation South-East Iowa Sub-chapter which Chef Gordon is trying to get going, there will be a meeting on July 27th at 6pm at the Bridgeview Center in Ottumwa about his plans. He’s hoping to bring together the area’s €œlike minded€ chefs, cooks, restaurateurs and culinary enthusiasts to unite and organize on the new €œfood front€ in SE Iowa. Laudable goals and one that I’m gung-ho about!

[P.S. If you'd like to see a full feed of the pictures, check out my HillsKitchen set at flickr or check out the slide-show below.]

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