Rookie Cookery

Persimmon Vinegar and a quick cabbage and carrot salad recipe

No, I didn't forget about the persimmon vinegar I made this winter.  I drew the vinegar off the fruit and decanted it into this empty (and cleaned) soy sauce bottle.

I rarely buy prepared salad dressings anymore, because it is so easy and tastier to make my own fresh.  Lately I've been dressing salads with a couple of tablespoons of my own persimmon vinegar, mixed with a little extra virgin olive oil, mustard powder (to emulsify the dressing), salt and pepper.  The persimmon vinegar adds an intriguing and unexpected note to the mix.

Here's a quickie salad: grate some cabbage and carrots,  toss them together in a bowl, and dress very very lightly with a vinaigrette such as my persimmon vinaigrette or your own version. (You can substitute red wine vinegar for the fruit flavored one and it will be yummy too). 

It makes me happy to create a dish with my own crafted ingredients, even something as simple as this.

Mmmm it's beginning to taste like summer.

Grilled Yellow Zucchini

One of the best things I ever did was buy a cast iron grill pan at a local thrift shop.  It allows me to grill indoors, all year long.  I love the way it adds grill marks and texture to vegetables, meats, and even firm fleshed fruits.

I let the pan heat up for a few minutes on the stove top while I slice my vegetables and give them a very light coating of olive or vegetable oil. then a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.   Then it's off to the grill for a few minutes on each side.

The veggies are good by themselves hot off the grill, or they make good leftovers, cut up into a cold salad or reheated with pasta, in a soup.... you know the drill.  Good stuff.

Natural Ginger Root Beer from Zevia

Recently we were invited to try the new diet soda alternative Zevia, the soda made with the Stevia supplement instead of harmful artificial chemical sweeteners-- specifically their new Ginger Root Beer flavor.   This led to the following brilliant insight on the part of my son Evan, who then enlightened me--Root Beer is flavored with Ginger Root!  Hence the name! Ginger! Root! Ginger Root!

That's right, until that day I never realized that the traditional flavor of root beer has always been made with ginger.  These two dots have now been formerly connected in my brain.  I always thought "root beer" was some mysterious un-named plant or flavor that gave it the distinctive root beer flavor.  Maybe there was a plant called root beer plant.  But no. "Root" is just a shorthand way of referring to ginger root.   Once identified, it is forehead smackingly obvious, but in my defense may I point out that my son Evan had the same revelation that day. 

We owe this new culinary insight to the good people at Zevia, who had the sagacity to put the word ginger in the title of their fourth new soda flavor.  And it's good! This new flavor makes it even easier to order a case of 24 from their web site,  allowing you to try all four flavors if you wish. 

My family was fairly unanimous in their positive review of the new ginger root flavor of Zevia.  "I like it the best," said Ethan. Jim said "Their new flavors are always the best".   Evan says "it's made with ginger!"  Me? I like it too!  I enjoy the subtle flavors, gentle and refreshing. 

Having struggled with a diet soda addiction myself,  as well as caring for a diabetic loved one, it gives me great pleasure to have a natural and healthy alternative to sodas made with artificial chemical sweeteners. ZEVIA is made with Stevia, the sweet-leaf plant supplement that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar but with zero calories.

For those of you rightfully concerned about the ethics of the diet soda industry: Please be advised that Zevia is completely GMO free, and is NOT associated with Coke or the Cargill company in any way. Zevia uses pure Stevia, as it occurs naturally. This is important, because industry reports are that the Coca-Cola company, in association with Cargill, has plans to develop a genetically modified (and hence patentable) version of stevia  called "Rebiana".   I do NOT support GMO foods, nor this attempt by Coca-Cola and Cargill to continue their monopolies in the beverage industry.  Furthermore, if one is to consume diet sodas at all, I encourage the support of companies like Zevia who refrain from the use of GMOs and who have the health of their customers firmly in mind.  Indeed, the concern with health is why Zevia was created in the first place! Please have a look at their web site to learn more about their history.

One final note to the commenter who tried to leave a note stating that Zevia was part of the Coca-Cola/rebiana/Cargill unholy trinity: Please get your facts straight before you make acusations against a company that is trying to provide a genuinely healthful alternative!  Zevia is one of the good guys in the beverage industry.

Previous Zevia reviews: here and here.

Easy Fish and Chips Beer Batter Recipe

I love fish and chips. There, I've said it.  And in defense of this fried food, let me say that when properly cooked, fish and chips do not have to be soggy and greasy.

Here's the trick: the hot oil simply must be hot enough to fry the fish quickly and vigorously, but not so hot that it spatters and creates a fire hazard!

Use a frying oil that has a low "smoke point", meaning it comes up to frying temperature quickly, such as grape seed, vegetable or canola oil (not olive oil).

To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a tiny bit of batter into the oil. If it sinks and stays there, it is not yet hot enough. If it immediately fries to a crisp or explodes, too hot! What you want is for the batter to sink, then immediately rise to the surface and stay there while it turns golden and bubbles away merrily.

Here's a tasty and dead-easy batter that results in light crispy fish:

INGREDIENTS:

For the batter:

one cup of all purpose flour

one cup of room temperature beer

optional: a teaspoon of cayenne pepper

firm white fish filets (cod is best, can use tilapia or others)

corn starch

cider vinegar, lemon slices or tartar sauce to serve

potatoes

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, beer and optional cayenne pepper and whisk until blended. Set aside for up to an hour.

Slice the potatoes into wedges, coat lightly in olive oil, salt with kosher salt and spread out on a pan. Bake or broil in hot oven until lightly browned, about 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile fry the fish:

Pat the fish filets dry, then dredge lightly in corn starch. Then dredge and cover the fish with the batter and (very carefully so as not to splash the hot oil!) place into the hot oil.  Turn carefully when golden on one side. When completely golden brown, remove the fish to a paper towel and allow to  drain and cool a bit. Serve while still hot, with the cooked potato wedges.

Serve the fish with fresh lemon, tartar sauce or cider vinegar.