Simple Foods

You may have noticed that many of the dishes presented here on the Evolving Palate are fairly simple. This is another motto of the Evolution Kitchen: "Simple foods satisfy the palate; complex foods confuse the palate." This is the main reason I don't like French cuisine. It it often overly rich and complicated.

I like to think that food has several levels of complexity. To me, the most important levels are taste and texture. Other less important levels, but still important, are color, temperature, and aroma. Complex foods have many tastes and textures. A rule of thumb for me is: simple foods should have no more than 3 tastes and textures, each. Any more overwhelms and confuses your senses.

There are many tastes in the food world. Example tastes are:

• sweet
• sour
• salty
• creamy/buttery
• cheesy

That list pretty much sums up the repertoire of the SAD (standard American Diet). But there are so many other tastes that foreign to us, like savory, earthy, bitter, tangy, spicy, and so on.

For texture we have:

• soft
• chewy
  
• crunchy(celery, apple)
  
• crispy (fried food, chips)
  
• flaky (pastries)
  
• stringy (meat)
• mushy
  

Food can be categorized according to their complexity. Here is a chart with some example dishes to demonstrate what I mean:

The green zone are foods that require little enhancing. Nuts and fruit are excellent examples of food that can be eaten simply as they are. Yellow zone foods blend contrasting tastes and textures to create a tantalizing dish, yet still simple. The red zone is what we call overly-complicated food. This food is such a mish-mash of tastes and textures that your mouth never quite knows what it's eating. The type of food you will find in the Evolution Kitchen are those in the green and yellow zones.

I present now a recipe that clearly falls into the yellow zone. Not only does it have only three main ingredients, but it forgoes the traditional sauce that drowns most vegetable dishes.

Here I showcase broccoli, an incredibly nutritious vegetable that rarely needs much enhancement. But I add a little twist by putting in cranberries for their sweet/sour taste and slightly chewy texture. Then I add some toasted pine nuts to add a crunchy earthy taste. This recipe is a breeze to make and satisfies the palate.

Broccoli with Pine Nuts and Cranberries

Ingredients

2 bunches of broccoli (about 2 lbs)

1 T olive oil

1/3 c dried cranberries

¼ c pine nuts, lightly toasted

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

Steps

1. Trim the broccoli into bite-size pieces. Shave off outer layer of stalks. Cook broccoli in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain, but keep the broccoli in the pot. Add the olive oil and stir fry for 2 minutes.

2. Stir in cranberries and pine nuts. Heat for another 30 seconds or so until heated through. Serve.

Back to Basics: Polenta

Polenta is a recent discovery of ours. I've known about it for a long time, but never really tried it. If you haven't and you like corn, you should give it a try. Polenta is basically boiled cornmeal. Those in the Southern US may recognize a similar dish called grits. Polenta is enjoyed throughout Italy and Eastern Europe.

Polenta is typically made one of two ways: either as a porridge, or allowed to firm up which can then be sliced and cooked again. While we do eat the porridge style of polenta for breakfast, we also like the type that is firmed up. Afterward, it has a consistency of tofu and can be sliced or cubed. These can then be sauteed or grilled.

You may have seen tubes of pre-made polenta in the grocery. While this seems convenient, think about it: It's in a plastic tube. Sitting on the shelf. For months. Maybe even years. That's really gross, especially since you can make it at home relatively quickly.

To make polenta, all you need is coarse grits. I prefer the yellow ones, but white grits will do. Don't use quick-cooking grits. Polenta can be customized in hundreds of different ways: using various herbs, chunks of vegetables, etc. For this recipe, we throw in some corn kernels for extra corniness, and some thyme. Other herbs-- such as oregano, marjoram, etc --work just as well. You could also drop in some sun-dried tomatoes, or olives, or whatever you fancy.

We like fairly plain and simple food. Once the polenta is done, we like to either grill it or quickly pan-fry it. Add a little pasta sauce and a sprinkle of cheese and you have a meal!

Here is what the polenta looks like after firming up. It's almost like a grits jello:

Polenta with Corn and Thyme

Ingredients

2 T olive oil

1¼ t salt

1 c corn grits

1 c corn kernels

1 t fresh thyme leaves (or ½ t dried)

Steps

1. Bring 3½ c water to boil in large saucepan. Add oil and salt. Whisk in corn grits slowly until smooth and mixture returns to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add corn kernels and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until polenta pulls away from the sides of the pot. Stir in thyme.

3. Pour polenta into a pie plate or baking dish. Set aside until firm.

4. When firm cut into desrired shapes. Can then be pan fried, grilled, or simply heated in an oven.

Here a sample application of polenta. Pan fried in a little olive oil, drizzled with pasta sauce, and draped with a slice of mozzarella cheese:

Healthy Granola

Granola is typically a mixture of rolled oats, nuts, and fruit, which is then baked or toasted. When it is not baked, it is called muesli. I remember when granola first made the scene, it was kind of a "hippie" food, and traditional families tended to push it aside while reaching for the Cocoa Puffs and Super Sugar Smacks.

Slowly granola became a popular alternative to the cocoa-frosted sugar bombs. Now you would think granola is a rare commodity, as it costs $3.00 or more a pound. It's ironic, since oats used to be shunned by humans as just horse fodder.

I also noticed that most store-bought granola is just as sugar-laden as the other over-processed, over-sweetened cereals. Here is a quote from a Yahoo news article:

Bear Naked's latest "all natural" flavor contains 21 ingredients, including four types of sweeteners, chocolate, and peanut butter. It's also 140 calories per ¼ cup (that's a whopping 280 per serving!). Even low-fat granola packs a caloric punch. One serving of Health Valley's Real Oat Bran Almond Crunch clocks in at 200 calories.

Luckily, granola is dead simple to make at home. However, many of the recipes out there continue the sugar addiction and adds gobs of honey or maple syrup. Egads, we are a nation of human hummingbirds!

The following granola recipe is barely sweet at all. Certainly you can adjust the sugar content to your liking. You can use this as a base and add whatever you have on hand. Granola is very forgiving; you could put in rice flakes, croutons, M&Ms, whatever. I also add some puffed grain just to provide some texture contrast. You can use something else, or just more oats.

You'll notice I don't put any fruit in it. That comes later. Some recipes have you put dried fruit in the mixture before cooking, but this usually results in really dried fruit, and sometimes crispy fruit. I add fruit after it has been cooked and cooled.

Healthy Granola

Ingredients

dry:
4 c regular rolled oats (not instant)
1 c puffed grain (like rice, millet, or corn)
¾ c nuts
¾ c seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, etc)
1 t ground cinnamon

wet:
½ c apple juice
2 T canola oil
2 T brown sugar (or honey, maple syrup)
1 t vanilla extract

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to mix.

4. Spray a 13x9 inch metal or glass baking pan with oil. Pour the granola mixture into the pan and spread it out.

5. Bake for about 45 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want your granola. Stir the mixture several times while baking.

6. Cool thoroughly before storing.

Back To Basics: Tortillas

One of our mottoes here at the Evolution Kitchen is: "Home-made is better-made". If you can make something from scratch, and you have the time to do so, then you should do it. Homemade food is fresher, has fewer additives, and is usually cheaper. You know exactly what's in it, and it will most likely taste better. Homemade is simply much more appealing. Here is what I mean:

Try this little experiment the next time you're hosting a dinner party. Say you're serving baked beans as a side dish. Your guests take a look at the bowl and say something like, "Oh. Baked beans."

For the experiment, you can try various types of responses and judge their results. Here are some sample responses:

1. "I just opened a can of beans and heated them on the stove top."
2. "I had some old cans of rations from the Korean War laying around, and I wanted to use them up. Weird how the cans were starting to bulge. Bon appétit!"
3. "I made them myself. After pressure cooking the dried organic beans in a flavorful broth, I slow-cooked them in a clay crock with dark molasses, brown sugar, and sweet onion."

I am certain that response number 3 will garner the most favorable reaction. Without even tasting them, just knowing that you cooked the beans from scratch makes them seem better. This is why food advertisements use phrases like "old-fashioned lemonade" and "artisan wood-fire baked bread". (Damn, just writing that has got my mouth watering.) Don't those sound better than "heated in a huge industrial stainless steel vat, and then pumped into metal cans"?

Unfortunately, our society has accepted factory food. We don't know exactly what's in it, who made it, or when. But hey, it was on sale! We are addicted to its convenience. Not only is this unsafe and unhealthy, it is simply unappealing. Think about it: some factory worker, who you don't know, maybe in some other country making pennies a day, is peering into your vat of "Country-Time Baked Beans" and thinking, "I hate beans and anybody who eats them." The opportunities to write many gross scenarios are endless here.

The Evolving Palate wants to encourage people stop relying so much on factory food. For those with allergies, it is necessary to be more in control of the food you eat. But if you simply want good food, it's best to get "Back to Basics", which will be a recurring theme here at the Evolving Palate.

Today's "Back To Basics" recipe is for simple flour tortillas (sorry, not baked beans).

Tortillas are not so special by themselves, but they make wonderful vehicles for getting food into your mouth. Not only are they extremely versatile, but their simple taste and soft texture make them a favorite among kids. Sure, you can buy them in the store in packs of a dozen or more, but even this is factory food. Making tortillas is not that hard, and most of the time it takes is allowing the dough to rest. You do all the work, but the dough is the one that rests.

(These tortillas are not gluten-free. I am working on a gluten-free version, but there are still some kinks to iron out. Hopefully I will post a successful gluten-free tortilla recipe soon.)

You don't need any special equipment to make these, and they require only four ingredients. Don't fret about getting the breads completely round. These are hand-made, artisan breads. Each one should be unique, or as I like to call my imperfections: "Rustic". Only machines can make perfectly round tortillas.

You can cook these in a dry skillet or griddle. I cook mine on a long electric griddle so I can make three at a time. While they are cooking, I am busily rolling out the next batch. With practice you will get into a rhythm of rolling and cooking, and you'll be able to cook a whole batch in about 5 minutes.

Flour Tortillas

Makes 8

Ingredients:

2 c unbleached white flour
½ t salt
3 T olive oil
½ - ¾ c warm water

Steps:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour and salt. Next drizzle in the oil and mix thoroughly.

2. Gradually add the water. Start with the ½ cup and add more as needed. Mix the water in as you pour. What you want is a dough that is not too wet or too dry. You can use your hand and mix it in the bowl. You're not kneading, simply mixing.

3. Once the dough is ready, cut off 8 pieces of the same size. Roll each into a ball and then flatten partly in your palms to a disc about 3 inches in diameter. Lay these out on a plate (don't overlap them, else they'll stick to each other. After all 8 are done, lay a piece of wax paper across the top and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

4. Start heating your skillet or griddle to medium-high. On a lightly floured surface, roll a dough ball until it is 7 to 8 inches in diameter. Flip them over at least once to prevent them from sticking to the board and rolling pin. Once it is flat, drop it on the hot griddle. Cook until little bubbles begin to show, about 45 seconds. Don't let it brown, otherwise it will become stiff and dry. Flip it over and cook the other side the same. Remove and keep warm in a towel. Repeat this process for each dough ball.