Fast Foodie

I haven’t posted in a bit. I have been away. And I am not back. I am somewhere in between, paused for a moment to hover in “normal” daily life before zipping off again to Belgium, Auburn, then Italy (yes Auburn sounds a little lame sandwiched between those two others but it is for WS100 pacing, which will be a blast). I really want to establish some sort of consistency with my blog(s) and cooking, but I find myself currently wrapped up just living life instead of writing about it. It is a good thing, it means that I am truly present in everything that I am doing. That said, there is a part of me that really wants to build towards my future. I want to make a living being a foodie, somehow. I want to write cookbooks and own an organic food shop a la Barefoot Contessa. I would like to go to “real” culinary school, just for the hell of it. I think I have a unique perspective on food and I cook for both people like me (endurance athletes) as well as people who just want to eat healthy and feel great. And while I want to cultivate my culinary and writing side, I also want to cultivate my running career. Currently, running wins as I am traveling for some great races. Being on the road, especially internationally, does not lend itself to culinary creativity. And that is ok. I do alot of basic staples when I can get in the kitchen: salads with protein, roast veg, gluten free wraps, etc. Delicious and simple. So this is to say, I may not be around for a bit, maybe a month, maybe more. While life currently makes me a “bad” blogger, it makes me a “good” present person. That is the goal ultimately right? To just live you life and be present in it? I think so.

In the meantime, there is plenty here to keep you satisfied. Go back through the archives and rediscover something you may have not tried yet. Or better yet, go over to the left hand column and order a copy of my cookbook from Tastebook. If that is not enough for you, jump on Foodbuzz and explore thousands and thousands of food blogs and food content.

Sometimes you just want to do something nice for someone for no other reason than they crossed your mind and for whatever reason, for wherever they are in their life, good or bad, you felt it warranted to do something nice for that person. Today, I wanted to bake something. And I wanted to bake it for my friend Leah Jurek. Leah is just one of those genuine, sweet, good people that I have had the pleasure to get to know since moving back to Seattle. She is also a talented massage therapist, runner and artist. So I decided to bake her something. Having tried out BabycakesNYC first hand, I was motivated to try out one of their recipes even though I haven’t managed to get my hands on the cookbook yet (it is shipping soon from Amazon). Luckily, Food and Wine featured one of Babycakes Recipes and I decided to adapt it by adding gluten free/vegan chocolate chips to the mix. I also changed a few other small things which I illustrate in the recipe below (no canola oil or soy milk). Result: Absolute bliss. I doubled the recipe as well, so that there would be two loaves. One for me, one for her.

I enjoyed two slices after lunch. Being a runner has its rewards and as I reflect on in my running blog (in this post), we need to refuel our bodies with enough fuel to sustain it and keep us running healthy and strong. That said, this bread is healthy enough for anyone even if you have never run a step in your life!

Adapted from Food & Wine:

I love Asian food- you name it Japanese, Thai, Korean, not so much Chinese, but you get the idea. I love the flavor profiles. Ginger, garlic, tamarind, soy sauce (wheat free of course), thai basil and on and on. I also love how simple a lot of the recipes are. I mean have you ever gone out to a Thai restaurant and marveled at how quickly your food came. It is because the ingredients are 1) simple and 2) get cooked quickly over high heat. No baking, no complications, simple, delicious. I crave Thai food alot and sushi even more than that.

Today, I was craving something I never crave: white rice. For the most part, I only eat white rice when it is a part of sushi or when I am having stomach problems and need to eat something incredibly basic and bland. Anyways, I was craving white rice. Be still my sisters heart. She loves rice. And she owns the one kitchen tool that I do not: a rice cooker. Even better, so I can cook it perfectly. Starting from wanting white rice is not exactly an inspirational jumping off point, most of the time. However, for some reason when I think of white rice and actually craving it, I think about a dish my sister, her ex-boyfriend and I use to make and eat relatively often when I lived with them about 3 years ago: Kao Gra Prow. Kao Gra Prow is ground meat (usually chicken), with fish sauce, chili peppers and lots of basil. It is delicious and simple. As soon as it came into my head, I was sold. It was exactly what I wanted. I headed to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients and started writing the recipe and working through the flavors in my head. When I got to Real Food, I was happy to find all the ingredients I needed and then ran into the kicker that took this recipe from good to great: ground ostrich. Considering Real Food in Sausalito does not carry very much meat at all, it was awesome to see that they had it! I grabbed it and headed home to get cooking.

This meat and rice dish is super simple, hugely flavorful and incredibly nutritious. The ostrich is so lean and the flavor combination of the roasted red chili paste, garlic and basil meld together for a very satisfying. Because of the noticeable absence of veggies in this dish, I decided to do some quick cooked asian greens on the side. Once I took the Kao Gra Prow out of the skillet, I simply added a bit of coconut oil and cooked the greens for a few minutes. I plated it all together and honestly, after a few bites of each separately to check flavor, texture and see if I liked the recipe, I mixed it all together and it just bumped up the whole dish to a whole new level. The two dishes can easily and fantastically stand alone, but they can combine to make a balance, nutritious, gourmet, even dare I say, traditional dish, which I will definitely be making again.

Ostrich Kao Gra Prow

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons garlic, minced
1.5 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
3 tablespoons roasted chili pepper sauce, divided
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 lb. ground ostrich
1-2 pkgs fresh basil, chopped

Directions:

In a wok over high heat, heat olive or peanut oil up and add garlic and 1 tbsp of the roasted red chili paste. Brown garlic, add ostrich and break up using a wooden spoon and cooking until beginning to brown. Add another tbsp roast red chili paste, soy sauce and dark brown sugar. Cook another minute. Add final tbsp of roast red chili paste. Add chopped basil and toss together. Remove from heat.

Serve over white rice (optional: once plated crack a raw egg over top of hot meat/rice and mix together) and side of quick cooked asian greens.

Makes 4 servings. Cooking time: 15 minutes.

(Cont. below)

Quick Cooked Asian Greens

Ingredients:

.5 tablespoon coconut oil
1 large bok choy, chopped
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Directions:

In a hot wok (perhaps the same wok used for the Kao Gra Prow), heat the coconut oil. Toss the bok choy and red cabbage into the wok and stir to coat with oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add in soy sauce and cook 1 more minute. Greens should be crisp tender.

Serves 1. Cooking time: less than 10 minutes.

I rarely go to NYC and over this past long weekend while I technically flew in and out of JFK, I didn’t spend much time in NYC proper. Instead, I was there to pace my friend Glen at MMT100 (yes 100 miles, actually 102) in Virginia. He lives in Inman Park and we drove the 5 hrs down to VA on Friday and returned to NYC on Sunday afternoon, soon after Glen had run an amazing race and come in second place in 20:44. I paced him for the last 6 hrs (27 miles) and endured lots of wet, wild, painful, technical running (and falling). It was awesome! Needlesstosay, running that far makes you hungry. Really really hungry. We stopped somewhere in PA somewhere to grab lunch, but by 4pm were ravenously hungry again and ready to head out to eat a huge plate of sushi at Glen’s favorite spot on the lower eastside.

90% of this is unagi. And this is just to start!

Sushi sounded like just the thing, but I was thinking on to breakfast the next day (and dessert after sushi) and was really hankering for a gluten free treat. We all deserve a treat now and again, especially after such hard running. As I drove us to the lower eastside, I was hit with a stroke of genius: Babycakes!!! I follow the Babycakes blog and suddenly I realized that we might just be in the right part of town to go try some out. I quickly found Babycakes on my iPhone and jumped for joy when Glen told me that the address was literally right around the corner from where we were going. Yesssssss!!!

After a bit of misdirection, we found our way and I illegally parked across the street, leaving poor, tired, debilitated Glen in the car with the hazards on (you would be debilitated too if you ran 100 miles). I popped in the shop and was instantly in heaven. They had a ton of gluten free agave sweetened cupcakes, different kind of frosted and unfrosted loaves, breakfast pastries, skinny buns and cookies. Not to mention Stumptown coffee. They had me at Stumptown.

On the glass of the pastry case they have written which items are gluten free and what they contain (i.e. agave sweetened, etc). I was very pleased to find out that while they do use spelt in some pastries, they do a strict seperation in the kitchen to avoid contamination of the gluten-free items. I mean what is the point in having a gluten-free bakery if the entire world of gluten-intolerance/celiacs aren’t going to be able to enjoy it! I was just happy to know it was egg-free, since half the time I can actually locate a gluten-free item, they still have eggs, dairy or soy (all of which I can’t have). I just stood there, going back and forth, back and forth about what I wanted. Deciding on items for Glen was easy, he had been mentioning wanting blueberry pie (he is a man after my own heart on that one and he doesn’t even know it) and he really likes cinnamon rolls. I ordered him a slice of frosted banana blueberry “loaf” and a skinny bun. For myself I ordered a small carrot cupcake and a banana muffin for breakfast the next morning (on my early early morning flight, concluding a weekend of no more than 4 hrs of sleep a night for 5 days). By the time I had ordered Glen had hobbled into the shop and approved of my purchases. We stopped for a quick photo of the shop and were off to sushi (or maybe Glen just needed a seat before walking back to the car).

Glen outside Babycakes, looking a bit tired.

After dinner we headed back to his apartment and I broke out the dessert treats, handing over his frosted banana blueberry loaf (not before swiping a bit of the very light, intensely blueberry frosting from between the two layers of load and tucking into my own carrot cupcake. The carrot cupcake was light, moist and very flavorful. Of all of the gluten-free, everything free, etc cupcakes/ dessert treats I have ever had, this was the one that tasted so “un” anything free (i.e. it tasted like the “real” thing), it blew my mind. This did not taste like alternative baking at all texturally.  The frosting of both items was not heavy or overbearing, it just added another layer of flavor and texture. We gobbled our treats, looking at each other wide eyed and saying, “wow that is good, that is really really good.”

The next morning we were up early, again before 5am and Glen took me to the airport. I carried in my bag some fruit and the precious BabycakesNYC muffin. I couldn’t wait to eat it, but I made myself wait. I wanted to be good and hungry for it. I wanted to let the anticipation build a bit. Plus I was still full from all that sushi! After the plane took off and I was chatting with the couple seated next to me, I was hungry enough to break out the muffin. I opened the box, peeled off a small piece and put it in my mouth to savor. It had the texture of a full gluten muffin, light and airy. The banana flavor was understated but balanced. Not too sweet, perfectly satisfying. I was in love with that muffin. I ate slowly. I closed my eyes. “Wow, that smells really good”, my neighbor to the right said, “if you don’t gobble that up, I may have to steal it from you”. It is a serious compliment on how good it smelled, after all, not many people threaten to steal a perfect strangers food for nothing. It was delicious. And it gave me hope that I too could create baked goods that were satisfying and wouldn’t sit like a brick in my stomach. I went home and immediately bought the Babycakes cookbook and am eagerly, enthusiastically awaiting its arrival. Frankly, I can’t wait.

Maybe its because I was thinking about my good friend Alison Hanks who lives up in Winthrop, who happens to like tuna casserole. Or maybe I had taboo foods on the brain because of Karina’s blog about garden loaf. But for whatever reason, I had the strangest desire last night to make something inspired by traditional tuna casserole. Now, let me get two things straight: I have never liked tuna casserole and I don’t really like pasta, at all. In my house growing up, tuna casserole and green jello were outlawed as my dad had bad childhood memories about those items. Even though my parents divorced when I was quite young, neither of these items were resurrected to the menu. As for the pasta, I ate it growing up pretty regularly but neither my sister nor I really enjoy it that much, in fact I think both my sister and I have an aversion to it because it has always made us have digestive issues (wheat-duh!).

Dijon & chive spiked tuna ready to meet pasta!

But there I was, last night and what did I want? Tuna casserole. Ok, that is not exactly true. I was really dreaming of a tuna melt. My mom makes those all the time- simple: tuna, tomato, melted cheese. I thought about making that but it was lacking creativity and more importantly a predominance of vegetables which is how I like pretty much every meal to be. That is when tuna casserole popped into my head. And the pasta part even sounded appealing. I am talking brown rice pasta here of course. No tuna casserole is worth a massive stomach ache and digestive issues for days.

I began with some trepidation. While the recipe that was in my head was vaguely based on a traditional tuna casserole: tuna and pasta (no cream of anything soup is going anywhere near me!), I wasn’t quite sure where I wanted to go from there or how I would incorporate all the elements in my head and make a delicious, healthy and still light meal. I knew I wanted there to be tuna (and I always mix Dijon with my tuna), I knew I wanted there to be a sharp tangy cheddar (inspired from the tuna melt). I also knew I really wanted to have not only a bunch of roast veg but also a big whack of cherry tomatoes (again from the tuna melt). But I figured I would just prepare the individual elements, combine, hope for the best and adjust from there. And what turned out was magical. Sometimes I surprise myself with my own innate ability to understand flavor and work things together in a way that just simply works. It was a well rounded flavor, each element complementing the next, the texture was perfect and unlike every tuna casserole known to mankind it was both light and healthy. So come of over, try tuna casserole again for the first time. I already convinced you that brussel sprouts are a fast foodie’s best friend, so you can trust me. I am in no ways going to develop an obsession with tuna casserole, but this one in particular seems a particular triumph over the old standard of a heavy, unhealthy blob of cream of mushroom soup, unflavored tuna and boring pasta. Enjoy!

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients:

2 cups broccoli & cauliflower
2 medium carrot
½ tbsp. olive oil
1 can tuna, water packed
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 scallion, diced
2 tbsp. chives, minced
1 serving brown rice pasta
1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 ounces raw sharp cheddar, shredded
salt
pepper
cayenne

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut broccoli, cauliflower and carrots into bite size chunks, toss with just a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper and spread on baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges of the vegetables are golden and crisp. Remove from oven and set aside.

Meanwhile in a small bowl, mix tuna, Dijon, scallions and most of the chives, retaining some for garnish. Salt and pepper to taste, a small dash of cayenne.

Boil water. Cook pasta according to package. Once pasta is cooked, drain pasta water retaining 1-2 tbsp of pasta cooking water. Add cheese (retain a few tbsp for garnish),roast vegetables, cherry tomatoes and tuna mixture into cooking pan and toss together, allowing cheese to melt and flavors to incorporate. Warm over low heat. Plate in a medium size bowl, salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with remaining cheese and chives and put a dash of cayenne pepper over top.

Serves one as a main, two if complemented by a nice mixed green salad with a lemony dressing.