Cooking with fresh ingredients Part III
In previous entry titled "Cooking with fresh ingredients Part II ", I wrote that since Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution campaign;bring
fresh food to school lunch menu, I have started noticing many more
celebrity chefs are working on their own project to encourage people to
eat fresh food not processed food.
Also, not only fresh food for humans, people are showing more interests in fresh food diet for dogs too. I feed our stumpy little dog "Palette" fresh food diet a.k.a. raw diet and, her menu is always fresh and she gets wide variety of food and,not just main diet menu, her treats are also simple ingredients treats and,I never give highly processed,sugary treats. If fresh food is better for humans, then why not for dogs, isn't it?
When I go to grocery store, I see all kinds of fresh produce and, sometimes, I find very interesting vegetables and fruits and, I am really looking forward to go to grocery shopping wondering what I would find this time.
Under the such fresh food movement, I think restaurant is trying to focus on more fresh food, but I think that most cases, their plates still lack variety of vegetable.
Sometimes, their dish has full of cream,butter etc and they come out greasy, and salted heavily, and with very little vegetable. Most of the times, it seems plate comes with 1 or 2 kinds of vegetable.
Recently, we visited Italian restaurant.Since I love Marsala dish, I ordered the Marsala dish. I was shocked to see the sauce; oil was separated from sauce, and meat was sort of swimming in the broken sauce. Vegetable on the plate was mashed potato and green beans.
I ate some of it and I was thinking about bringing leftover by shaking off the greasy sauce. After a while, waitress came and put the leftover into the container saying "You know, this is the best part of the dish. " pouring the greasy broken sauce..
Other time, at another Italian restaurant, I ordered gnocchi with sherry lobster sauce that comes with grilled scallop and roasted sweet potato. Sauce was so salty like sea water, and gnocchi was also salty, and scallop was overcooked and only thing I could eat was roasted sweet potato..
Technically, vegetable on the plate was potato (for gnocchi), a little bit of spinach,and sweet potato.This was the most heavily salted dish I ever tasted at restaurant. They do have tasty lobster bisque but I have hard time finding the main dish I enjoy..
At another American steakhouse restaurant, they have nice big prime rib dish. Mostly, the plate is prime rib and rest was either steak fries or baked potato.Technically, on the plate itself, vegetable was only potato.
When I ordered sesame crusted salmon with ginger mustard aioli, and the salmon self was nicely cooked; juicy, flaky and nicely seasoned, but I think that chef might be bathing the fillet with oil to cook and it was a bit greasy side. I could eat only the half of the salmon fillet.On the plate, vegetable was mashed potato and deep fried spinach leaves.
They do great job on spinach salad for appetizer and they have nicely seared Ahi tuna dish.So, with the restaurant above, if you choose appetizer wisely, you could get more variety of vegetables for the meal.
I think since I use lesser than 1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil for meals I cook at home, dishes served at the restaurant here in the states maybe having much more oil in it.
If you see the plate from traditional Japanese restaurant in Japan, you would be surprised to see how different the restaurants' plate are;variety of vegetables on the plate makes very colorful plate, and they do not use so fatty sauce/dish.
Fish is usually grilled/broiled or simmered in light sauce, if not sashimi dish.Vegetables are served either lightly cooked, or in vinegary sauce etc.
That being said, food here in the states seems to revolve around meat while our dish is revolve around rice and a little of this, little bit of that and we tend to eat/plate up much more vegetable,fish and fruits.
One thing I was amazed about food in the states is that you can get all kinds of meat; Beef,Lamb,Pork,Chicken, Turkey,Elk,Goat,Buffalo etc etc while meat in Japan is,as far as I remembered, limited and you see Chicken,Beef,Pork but I do not remember seeing any more than that. I had never had Turkey,Lamb etc until I come over to the states.
With fish, I think grocery stores in Japan has wider variety of fish and has more whole fish then grocery stores in the states. I think we Japanese eat more fish on the diet too. And cooking method for fish is a bit different.
Chefs in the states seem, tend to come up with rich heavy sauce using butter or if lighter sauce such as lemon butter caper sauce, often times, I find the taste is bland for fish dish. As for cooking method for fish, I think that most of times, I feel chef might be bathing the fillet with oil to cook in the skillet if not grilled because fish dish comes out bit greasy side.
Chefs in Japan or mothers in Japanese family tend to season them with much more lighter sauce, and cooking method is very simple. My mother for example, broiled the fish with head still on and no heavy sauce was needed. If fish were not broiled, fish was simmered ginger soy flavored sauce or sweetened miso flavored sauce. Or simply she bought sashimi.
Cheese here is so wide variety too, and cheese is one of the thing when my family comes over to the states, they buy a cheese and enjoy them to their heart content.
Produce,spice,herb are also wider variety than Japan.
So, food source is quite wide to make a nice dishes made with fresh food using more vegetable on the plate. However, according to news paper article written by Jennifer Motl, American people are supposed to eat 2 C of fruits and 2 1/2C of vegetable per day, but 75% of them eat fewer than 1.5C of fruits per day, 1/3 C of dark green/orange vegetable and legumes.
She points out that why we fall so short when it comes to vegetable/fruits department are taste,convenience,cost,availability,family habit, and lack of knowledge.
She writes, variety is the key for the taste and, if you find all kinds of variety in the same fruits, for example, Apples, you can try all kinds of Apple and see what variety of an apple you like.
For me, personally, I love the crispness of Fuji Apple and it is the variety I am familiar with from young age.
She also points out that even if you think you do not like the particular vegetables, you may change your mind once you have tasted the fresher food a.k.a. home grown vegetables and fruits.
I think it true. I used to grow sweet peppers. Green peppers, Red peppers, Jalapenos.. fresh from garden tasted much much different from the taste from you get with vegetables from grocery stores.
Also, when in- law family took us to Florida state, my husband, who hates fish, tried grouper sandwich and he loved it. Fish in Florida might have been much fresher than fish we can get at where we live.
Also when he visited Maryland, he had seared Ahi tuna. He did not order it, his friend did, and he was told by his friend to try and see if he likes it. He was hesitated but tasted it and then.. guess what? He liked it.
Yet, try and error, I made fish menu once a week with different kinds of cooking method, different kinds of sauce and he now can eat fish without much of complaint. He found out that he can eat it better if fish was white meat mild taste fish.
Also, since the time in MD, he order seared Ahi tuna at restaurant sometimes and eat happily.
I myself used to hate fish as a kid, and my mother always plate up a small amount of fish on my plate and, I had to eat at least one bite. But then, tasting all kinds of fish, I found out that I like Mackerel (Saba), Horse Mackerel (Aji), Shishamo (Smelt in English?) and I like other fish too when she made Tempura with it.
At elementary school, when I had something I could not eat because I did not like the food, I could not just stand up and bring the plate back to the front, and we kids had to remain seated and eat while others were doing next scheduled thing (cleaning). Occasionally, teacher came up to me and said as long as I take at least one bite, I can bring the plate to the front and I can play with other kids before cleaning time.
Recently, I made Pork Gyoza dumpling with pork tenderloin with vegetable. My husband is not big fan of pork meat and secret vegetable I put into the Gyoza dumpling, but he loved it. He said it was the best pork Gyoza dumpling I ever made
What I made was basically mu-shu pork made with Pork tenderloin with vegetable wrapped with Gyoza dumpling wrapper.
Mu shu pork is basically a simple stir fry with hoisin sauce in it. The flavor is big,and bold.
Mu shu pork Gyoza Dumpling..
I think sometimes, different sauce,different cooking method can change your mind for not so thrilled vegetables on your plate.
For the solution regarding cost problem, Jennifer suggests that buying the vegetable in season because it is the cheapest time of the year.
She writes we can find what's in season by visiting the Fruits & Vegetable more matters website. I think it is a great website because you get to see what are in the season and then, if you click the vegetables or fruits that interests you, it shows, "how to select","how to store" and if you were interested in nutrition of each food, you can see what nutrient you can get through the vegetables/fruits you have clicked.
To visit Fruits & Vegetable more matters website, please click here .
And, last but not least, home growing the vegetables and fruits for fun,taste and cost. Even if you do not have garden space outside, you can grow at your porch,too. If you have kids, they can help harvesting all kinds of vegetables and fruits and it is fun for them.
To read full article by Jennifer Motl at fredericksburg.com website,please click here.
If you have a picky eater in your family,do you have any tips?
Also, not only fresh food for humans, people are showing more interests in fresh food diet for dogs too. I feed our stumpy little dog "Palette" fresh food diet a.k.a. raw diet and, her menu is always fresh and she gets wide variety of food and,not just main diet menu, her treats are also simple ingredients treats and,I never give highly processed,sugary treats. If fresh food is better for humans, then why not for dogs, isn't it?
When I go to grocery store, I see all kinds of fresh produce and, sometimes, I find very interesting vegetables and fruits and, I am really looking forward to go to grocery shopping wondering what I would find this time.
Under the such fresh food movement, I think restaurant is trying to focus on more fresh food, but I think that most cases, their plates still lack variety of vegetable.
Sometimes, their dish has full of cream,butter etc and they come out greasy, and salted heavily, and with very little vegetable. Most of the times, it seems plate comes with 1 or 2 kinds of vegetable.
Recently, we visited Italian restaurant.Since I love Marsala dish, I ordered the Marsala dish. I was shocked to see the sauce; oil was separated from sauce, and meat was sort of swimming in the broken sauce. Vegetable on the plate was mashed potato and green beans.
I ate some of it and I was thinking about bringing leftover by shaking off the greasy sauce. After a while, waitress came and put the leftover into the container saying "You know, this is the best part of the dish. " pouring the greasy broken sauce..
Other time, at another Italian restaurant, I ordered gnocchi with sherry lobster sauce that comes with grilled scallop and roasted sweet potato. Sauce was so salty like sea water, and gnocchi was also salty, and scallop was overcooked and only thing I could eat was roasted sweet potato..
Technically, vegetable on the plate was potato (for gnocchi), a little bit of spinach,and sweet potato.This was the most heavily salted dish I ever tasted at restaurant. They do have tasty lobster bisque but I have hard time finding the main dish I enjoy..
At another American steakhouse restaurant, they have nice big prime rib dish. Mostly, the plate is prime rib and rest was either steak fries or baked potato.Technically, on the plate itself, vegetable was only potato.
When I ordered sesame crusted salmon with ginger mustard aioli, and the salmon self was nicely cooked; juicy, flaky and nicely seasoned, but I think that chef might be bathing the fillet with oil to cook and it was a bit greasy side. I could eat only the half of the salmon fillet.On the plate, vegetable was mashed potato and deep fried spinach leaves.
They do great job on spinach salad for appetizer and they have nicely seared Ahi tuna dish.So, with the restaurant above, if you choose appetizer wisely, you could get more variety of vegetables for the meal.
I think since I use lesser than 1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil for meals I cook at home, dishes served at the restaurant here in the states maybe having much more oil in it.
If you see the plate from traditional Japanese restaurant in Japan, you would be surprised to see how different the restaurants' plate are;variety of vegetables on the plate makes very colorful plate, and they do not use so fatty sauce/dish.
Fish is usually grilled/broiled or simmered in light sauce, if not sashimi dish.Vegetables are served either lightly cooked, or in vinegary sauce etc.
That being said, food here in the states seems to revolve around meat while our dish is revolve around rice and a little of this, little bit of that and we tend to eat/plate up much more vegetable,fish and fruits.
One thing I was amazed about food in the states is that you can get all kinds of meat; Beef,Lamb,Pork,Chicken, Turkey,Elk,Goat,Buffalo etc etc while meat in Japan is,as far as I remembered, limited and you see Chicken,Beef,Pork but I do not remember seeing any more than that. I had never had Turkey,Lamb etc until I come over to the states.
With fish, I think grocery stores in Japan has wider variety of fish and has more whole fish then grocery stores in the states. I think we Japanese eat more fish on the diet too. And cooking method for fish is a bit different.
Chefs in the states seem, tend to come up with rich heavy sauce using butter or if lighter sauce such as lemon butter caper sauce, often times, I find the taste is bland for fish dish. As for cooking method for fish, I think that most of times, I feel chef might be bathing the fillet with oil to cook in the skillet if not grilled because fish dish comes out bit greasy side.
Chefs in Japan or mothers in Japanese family tend to season them with much more lighter sauce, and cooking method is very simple. My mother for example, broiled the fish with head still on and no heavy sauce was needed. If fish were not broiled, fish was simmered ginger soy flavored sauce or sweetened miso flavored sauce. Or simply she bought sashimi.
Cheese here is so wide variety too, and cheese is one of the thing when my family comes over to the states, they buy a cheese and enjoy them to their heart content.
Produce,spice,herb are also wider variety than Japan.
So, food source is quite wide to make a nice dishes made with fresh food using more vegetable on the plate. However, according to news paper article written by Jennifer Motl, American people are supposed to eat 2 C of fruits and 2 1/2C of vegetable per day, but 75% of them eat fewer than 1.5C of fruits per day, 1/3 C of dark green/orange vegetable and legumes.
She points out that why we fall so short when it comes to vegetable/fruits department are taste,convenience,cost,availability,family habit, and lack of knowledge.
She writes, variety is the key for the taste and, if you find all kinds of variety in the same fruits, for example, Apples, you can try all kinds of Apple and see what variety of an apple you like.
For me, personally, I love the crispness of Fuji Apple and it is the variety I am familiar with from young age.
She also points out that even if you think you do not like the particular vegetables, you may change your mind once you have tasted the fresher food a.k.a. home grown vegetables and fruits.
I think it true. I used to grow sweet peppers. Green peppers, Red peppers, Jalapenos.. fresh from garden tasted much much different from the taste from you get with vegetables from grocery stores.
Also, when in- law family took us to Florida state, my husband, who hates fish, tried grouper sandwich and he loved it. Fish in Florida might have been much fresher than fish we can get at where we live.
Also when he visited Maryland, he had seared Ahi tuna. He did not order it, his friend did, and he was told by his friend to try and see if he likes it. He was hesitated but tasted it and then.. guess what? He liked it.
Yet, try and error, I made fish menu once a week with different kinds of cooking method, different kinds of sauce and he now can eat fish without much of complaint. He found out that he can eat it better if fish was white meat mild taste fish.
Also, since the time in MD, he order seared Ahi tuna at restaurant sometimes and eat happily.
I myself used to hate fish as a kid, and my mother always plate up a small amount of fish on my plate and, I had to eat at least one bite. But then, tasting all kinds of fish, I found out that I like Mackerel (Saba), Horse Mackerel (Aji), Shishamo (Smelt in English?) and I like other fish too when she made Tempura with it.
At elementary school, when I had something I could not eat because I did not like the food, I could not just stand up and bring the plate back to the front, and we kids had to remain seated and eat while others were doing next scheduled thing (cleaning). Occasionally, teacher came up to me and said as long as I take at least one bite, I can bring the plate to the front and I can play with other kids before cleaning time.
Recently, I made Pork Gyoza dumpling with pork tenderloin with vegetable. My husband is not big fan of pork meat and secret vegetable I put into the Gyoza dumpling, but he loved it. He said it was the best pork Gyoza dumpling I ever made
What I made was basically mu-shu pork made with Pork tenderloin with vegetable wrapped with Gyoza dumpling wrapper.Mu shu pork is basically a simple stir fry with hoisin sauce in it. The flavor is big,and bold.
Mu shu pork Gyoza Dumpling..
I think sometimes, different sauce,different cooking method can change your mind for not so thrilled vegetables on your plate.
For the solution regarding cost problem, Jennifer suggests that buying the vegetable in season because it is the cheapest time of the year.
She writes we can find what's in season by visiting the Fruits & Vegetable more matters website. I think it is a great website because you get to see what are in the season and then, if you click the vegetables or fruits that interests you, it shows, "how to select","how to store" and if you were interested in nutrition of each food, you can see what nutrient you can get through the vegetables/fruits you have clicked.
To visit Fruits & Vegetable more matters website, please click here .
And, last but not least, home growing the vegetables and fruits for fun,taste and cost. Even if you do not have garden space outside, you can grow at your porch,too. If you have kids, they can help harvesting all kinds of vegetables and fruits and it is fun for them.
To read full article by Jennifer Motl at fredericksburg.com website,please click here.
If you have a picky eater in your family,do you have any tips?
Posted by yassy at 1/11/2011 1:35 PM 
Categories: Miscellaneous (cooking)
Tags: food fresh picky eater Gyoza dumpling
Categories: Miscellaneous (cooking)
Tags: food fresh picky eater Gyoza dumpling
Comments