Veggie Burgers Galore!

Recently, I've had the opportunity to try some really tasty veggie burgers from several companies.

The above burger is by Sweet Earth Natural Foods, a wonderful company based in Moss Landing, CA.  http://www.sweetearthfoods.com/
The above burger was served with pickled onions and feta cheese on a pretzel bun.

This burger has some delicious Columbus-based Krazy Kraut, pickled onions, and banana peppers.  Check out Krazy Kraut at the following link: http://fermentedkrazykraut.com/

Roasted Root Vegetables

When searching for an inexpensive and healthy side dish, search no further than root vegetables.  These onions, sweet potatoes, carrots, and turnips were roughly cut and then drizzled with olive oil and fresh cracked sea salt and black pepper.

In the Food Pope's opinion, a pyrex pan works best for even cooking.

A 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes is all it takes!

Fresh Cut Fair Fries

Last month I had the opportunity to enjoy a basket of some of my favorite fries around.  Fresh cut and deep fried in peanut oil, I've been enjoying these fries at the Franklin Apple Festival each year because of their delicious, crispy texture which makes them perfect with tons of Heinz ketchup and a bit of salt.

Of the many delicious fair food items available at the festival, fries are by and large the best!

Free Range Turkey

For the Thanksgiving holiday I'm excited that I don't have to prepare the meal.  While I love cooking and enjoy the process of making a range of side dishes, desserts, and entrees for everyone to enjoy, it's always very nice to occasionally not have to worry about cooking and just sit back and eat.

While I was visiting the Worthington Farmer's Market this weekend, I chanced upon some fresh free-range turkeys for sale.  At a future holiday gathering, I hope to have the opportunity to purchase and prepare one of these ethically raised and killed turkeys from Ohio.

November Tomatoes

To my utter disbelief, I walked outside yesterday to find a wide variety of cherry tomatoes still alive and well on the plants I had planted in May.  While I usually think of the beginning of October as the end of Ohio's growing season,  the below tomatoes suggest otherwise.

My concern that the tomatoes would be flavorless was quickly dispelled when I arranged several on a salad.  They were sweet and flavorful; far better than anything available at the supermarket this time of year.

Light, Healthy, and Delish!

After enjoying stuffed grapes leaves at a local restaurant several weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at making them at home.  My recipe needs a little tweaking, but the stuffed grape leaves still ended up being really tasty!

Start with cooked barley.  To view a simple recipe for cooking pearl barley, visit http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-barley-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-198693

To your cooked barley, add olive oil, lemon juice, small cubes of feta cheese, and parsley.  Mix thoroughly and let the fun begin!

Grape leaves can be found at most Middle Eastern and Mediterranean markets.  They come tightly packed in salt water so be sure to remove them carefully from the jar so they remain in-tact.

 

Take a spoonful or two of the barley salad you prepared and place in the center of a grape leaf.  Begin rolling by folding both sides inward.

 Once the sides of the grape leaves are rolled inward, begin rolling the grape leaf from the back and moving forward.  The resulting stuffed grape leaf should look like a small cigar.  Place in a small glass container with the others you made and drizzle with olive oil to enjoy right away or later!

Simple Hummus

Most grocery stores sell pre-made hummus that is tasty and great in a pinch.  However, the best hummus is the hummus one makes her or himself from tasty, easily found ingredients.

To prepare a quick, simple hummus that fits almost any budget, you'll need the following ingredients:

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 heaping Tbs. tahini* (available at most Middle Eastern markets and many grocery stores)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lemon, squeezed with seeds extracted from juice
3 Tbs. olive oil

Instructions:
Mash the chickpeas either using a fork or food processor--mashing by hand takes longer but I think the resulting hummus actually tastes better :)

Transfer the mashed chickpeas into a bowl and add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Mix vigorously.

Serve with flat bread.

*tahini is sesame-seed paste 

St. Louis BBQ

A recent visit to St. Louis with several colleagues from Columbus State Community College afforded me the opportunity to come face-to-face with a culinary treasure the city is known for: St. Louis Ribs.

Fig. 1: Ribs from Pappys Smokehouse in St. Louis

While Louisianans have claimed that they consume the most barbeque, an article in St. Louis Magazine reminds readers that St. Louis in fact holds the crown for most barbeque consumed.  In the article titled "Who's the Sauciest," the author notes, "I called my old friend Erol Tan at Sweet Baby Ray's, the nation's best-selling sauce brand, and it turns out: 'You are correct,' Tan says.  'St. Louis does consume more barbeque sauce than any other area in the U.S.'  In fact, we're in first place by a mile."

The ribs I sampled were tender, had a good smoked flavor, and were covered in plenty of sauce.  I'd highly recommend trying them anytime you're passing through St. Louis!

-The Food Pope

See related article:
https://www.stlmag.com/dining/st-louis-sage-do-locals-consume-the-most-barbecue-sauce/

SPAM Scatter: A Poem

Start with cubes of SPAM.

Heat a cast-iron skillet to not quite screaming, but quite hot.

Carefully pour a tablespoon or so of olive oil into the pan: it burns less quickly than butter, don't you know?

Toss the cubes of meat-amalgam into the hot oil, taking comfort in the searing sizzle.

Next, start searching your refrigerator for any leftovers that might get thrown out if not used soon.

Waste-not, want-not, my grandmother used to say.

Take the quarter of a red onion tucked way back in the vegetable drawer and the sad parsley, wilted from a week of neglect,

And chop them vigorously.

Add them to the SPAM, throwing the vegetables into the pan with reckless abandon.

Carefully take two free range eggs out of the refrigerator.

Yes they have to be free range eggs: they taste better because the chickens lead happier lives.

Crack them into a bowl and mix lightly.

10 wisks with a fork does it, then dump the eggs over the sizzling meat and vegetables.

Once cooked on one side, flip the entire mess over onto the other side, and cook a few more minutes.

Until you have a meal fit for a Queen, or even a King.

Cheap, bountiful, and unwasteful.

That's made even better with a Kraft single, splash of hot sauce and dollop of sour cream.

For more information on SPAM, click here: http://www.spam.com/

For more information on Kraft singles, click here: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/

Ode to an Old Grill

Ode to an Old Grill

Once shiny and majestic, the years have taken their toll on you.

You once held a coveted place in the backyard, waiting for the arrival of the evening or weekend.

When propane would flow through your arteries, expelled through the ports of your burner to combust in a beautiful haze of blue flame.

Oh how you served my wife and I well.  Before my wife and I married, she used you to prepare many of her meals.

Before I took over many of the cooking responsibilities.

Now a new grill has taken your place: shiny and black, but without the character that you had.

As I rolled you to the corner, I felt as though I was saying goodbye to an old friend.

No longer used, but not forgotten.

Dream Wheels

As I drove along I-270 circumnavigating Columbus, Ohio, my dream vehicle slowly began to materialize in the distance.  My eye's could make out the vehicle's shape as my foot pressed against the accelerator to catch up.  Watching the speedometer rise from 60 to 70 to 73 miles per hour, I worried that perhaps my speed was getting too high.

I missed my exit, but was too focused on the vehicle I was trying to catch up with to worry.  Noticing that the beautiful vehicle I was chasing had pulled off on the last exit I could take before going way out of my way, I excitedly waved to the driver as we both pulled to a stop.

To my right was several tons of pure beauty.  The polished wheels shone in the sunlight.  Curves accentuated the vehicle's body and a fresh coat of wax had been recently applied.  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped a quick picture of my dream car . . . the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile.

Contemplating a Fall Roast

The English Composition 1 class that I teach for Columbus State Community College has food as its theme, and this week we read Michael Pollan's "An Animal's Place."  Like Pollan who pondered Australian Philosopher Peter Singer's Animal Liberation while eating a steak at the Palm, I contemplated Pollan's ideas as I sat down to the first roast beef of the Fall.

Pollan describes Singer's opinion that a day will come when "eating animals, wearing animals, experimenting on animals, killing animals for sport: all these practices, so resolutely normal to us, will be seen as the barbarities they are."  While I believe that people will continue to use animals to benefit mankind as food and for other purposes, the future holds changes in how we view and use animals.

I hope that meals such as this roast don't become a "relic" and will still be accessible to future generations, but possibly on a smaller scale than they are now.  In my view, most of us can drastically reduce the amount of meat we consume a year, and still lead healthy lives filled with delicious culinary options for every meal of the week.

The Outdoor Kitchen

In warmer weather, outdoor kitchens offer home cooks the opportunity to prepare a wide variety of foods without the heat and lingering odors that can be problematic when cooking inside the house.

Nemo and I are huge fans of Great Lakes smelt.  Here, I'm preparing a batch on an outdoor cooktop designed for camping.  Set up in grass or on a paved surface with cardboard underneath, small oil droplets and odors aren't nearly as problematic as when cooking indoors.

A simple flat surface provides the cook with a place to set foods that are ready to cook or have just finished cooking.

"Before" shot of Nemo anxiously awaiting a smelt.

"After" shot following a tasty diced smelt tail.

Pesto Diablo

Harissa olive oil is infused with spices to give it a lively kick that accompanies a range of foods from hummus and bruschetta to chicken and fish dishes.  This lovely bottle of harissa olive oil was a graduation gift from Evan Anderson.  Not having cooked with it much before, I wasn't anticipating such a bold flavor but found it to be absolutely outstanding in some pesto that I made this week.

After blending black walnuts and grated parmigiana cheese with coarsely-chopped basil and several garlic cloves in a food processor, I drizzled a generous amount of harissa olive oil into the mix and pulsed a couple of additional times.

The resulting mix was phenomenal on toast points and I can imagine would be outstanding if tossed with a whole wheat pasta to make a carb-friendly pasta with pesto diablo.

World's Tiniest Tomatoes?

Thank you to my good friend and master gardener Dan who gave me several tomato seedlings in late Spring.  They're starting to produce some tiny, but flavor-packed tomatoes.

Several food magazines and recipes are starting to highlight these minute, flavor-packed cherry tomato varieties on salads, pizza, or as a garnish to other dishes.

Cupcakes and Writing Reflections

I wish to send out a special thank you to Mariah, my student who was kind enough to bring cupcakes to our scheduled final exam period this week.

The students were writing final reflections on their growth and development as writers over the course of the short summer term and the cupcakes were a perfect accompaniment.

Mariah said that she substituted eggs with cinnamon applesauce and I noticed two things:

• the hint on cinnamon was a perfect accompaniment to the chocolate cake
• they stayed moist for a really long time (I took several at the end of class and hid them in my office so that I was able to enjoy wonderful breakfasts for several days afterwards)

The Corn Supremacy

For summer grilling that is delicious and easy on the wallet, look no further than fresh corn. Lindsay, my wife and culinary researcher, found a simple recipe that utilizes corn husks as a wrapping for seasoned chicken thighs. Similar to tamales but missing the corn filling, they were very tasty.

Start with husks pulled from several ears of fresh summer corn.

Place a medium-sized piece of chicken within one of the open husks and season.  Wrap another piece of husk around the meat so that it's completely encapsulated in husk.

Use a strip of corn husk to tie the bundle into a neat package.

Place the bundles directly over hot coals.  The husks will shield the chicken slightly from the fire's intense heat.

 

Grill for 25-30 minutes, turning once partway through cooking.  Move the bundles out of the way of the fire's direct heat partway through cooking if it appears they'e cooking too fast.

While the bundles are cooking, boil the ears of corn that were inside the husks, cut from the cob, and quickly fry in a cast iron skillet with some butter and sea salt.

Serve hot off the grill.  Be careful when unwrapping as the contents will be hot.

Baba Ganoush for Simple and Light Summer Dining

One of my favorite foods to make in the summer is baba ganoush.  Also referred to as eggplant caviar, this heavenly dish is simple to make and delicious on bread, in sandwiches, or by itself.  Start with a large eggplant (or 2-3 smaller ones).

Slice into 1/2" thick pieces and generously splash or brush with olive oil.  Cook on a hot grill.  I like to cook the pieces to the point of charring, but you don't have to do this.  Alternatively, you may cube and bake the eggplant in a 375 degree oven.

Cut the slices into smaller pieces, add 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic (depending on taste), and the juice of 1/2 lemon.  Puree the ingredients in a food processor or blender.

After blending, add 3-5 tablespoons of tahini, which is available at Middle Eastern markets or the international section of most grocery stores.  Mix well.  Bon Appetit!

Thanks Randal for Introducing me to Babka!

On a recent visit to Columbus, my friend Randal brought me a mango babka from Trader Joe's.  Knowing that I couldn't finish the entire pastry before it began to go bad, I cut it into portions and froze them to enjoy later.

I researched babkas online and found that they're enjoyed in many parts of Eastern Europe and often served on Easter Sunday.  This version had mango layered in with a wonderful glaze and made a perfect breakfast with a cup of tea.

Food is about sharing the things we enjoy with those we care about.  Thanks Randal for the many gifts of food and friendship you've given to me over the years!

If you're interested in trying you're hand at making a babka, this recipe looks like a good one.
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-babka-229608 

Avoiding Food Waste

Avoiding waste can be a challenging.  At the store, we often purchase more than we need and find that at least some food travels almost directly from the store to our garbage cans, with only a brief layover in the fridge.

I purchased these lovely cucumbers several days before the 4th of July.  Planning on using them for a salad over the weekend, I reached for the package and found them moldy and unsuitable to eat only 5 days after they had been purchased.

Below are a few suggestions on how to reduce food waste this summer:

• Visit the grocery store frequently and buy only what you plan to use for 2-3 days.  I was fascinated when I visited New York's Chinatown about a decade ago and was advised that most residents only buy groceries for 1-2 days, use those items, and then go out to buy for the next several days.
• Have recipes in mind when you purchase meat and produce.  If you know what you plan to make, there's a greater likelihood you'll use what you buy.
•  Cook frequently.  Even if your schedule is busy, try to make the time to prepare most of your meals at home.  You'll eat healthier and portions will be much more reasonable.

Thanks Professor Alomari!

Thank you to my friend and colleague Omar Alomari for the WONDERUL baklava!  Occasionally when a friend brings food into work it's a wonderful reminder that food serves many purposes in our culture: it provides sustenance to the hungry, it serves as a catalyst for gatherings and conversation, and perhaps most importantly, it is a wonderful sign of friendship and care for others.

Served with a cup of hot tea, there is nothing better than this famous Middle Eastern treat.  Thank you Omar!

FoodPope Summer Tip: Keep an Eye Open for Discarded Grills

As the summer continues to heat up, grilling becomes a wonderful way to prepare an array of meats and vegetables.  If you're looking to get grilling for a reasonable price without the hassle of paying a lot at a local department or hardware store, keep an eye open on garbage night!

This little gem is a lightly-used Charbroil grill that one of my neighbors was tossing in the garbage last year after upgrading to a larger model.  If investigating a grill that someone has thrown out, check to make sure that rust is minimal and that the grill grate appears to be in-tact.

Also, make sure the grill appears stable and if it's a gas model ensure that hoses and attachments to and from the propane source appear uncracked and undamaged.

With this grill I found I got a really hot charcoal fire going the first time I used in and then placed the grate over it for about 10 minutes to burn off any remaining food and residue left behind.

Approximately 12 rack of ribs, 10 burgers, 10 hot dogs, and several chickens after finding this grill in the garbage, it's still working great and I plan to use it for at least another season.  At $0, the price was definitely right!

Dueling Crock Pots

The Rival Crock Pot has a long history of helping hungry families prepare a range of dishes from soups and chilis to roasts and ribs.  Here, my Crock Pot from the early 2000s duels against a model from the late 1970s.

Despite a several-decade difference in age, both Crock Pots performed beautifully at cooking a rack of ribs each.  Each rack of ribs was cut into 3-4 rib sections before placing in the Crock Pot and cooking at low heat for 7 hours.

After cooking, I applied a dry rub consisting of equal parts Joe's Stuff seasoning and brown sugar before finishing for 8 minutes per side on the grill.  Delicious!!!

Check out Crock Pots: http://www.crock-pot.com/

Check out Joe's Stuff: http://store.nosoc.com/joes-stuff-21-oz/