Here First

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Well, for almost a year now we’ve been bringing you recipes and videos to help you eat deliciously and healthful (for the most part!). We’ve also been giving you articles, opinions and insight about food and health in general. Often, we’ve been among the first to bring this to public light. Today is no exception. Several months ago we reported on vitamin B supplementation as opposed to consuming diets rich in B vitamins. Here is a report on calcium supplementation, a very common practice.

A recent article in the British Medical Journal suggested calcium supplementation may increase your risk of a heart attack. The trial was another meta-analysis that looked at data from 11 smaller trials, comprising about 12,000 female patients. The data showed that that although the total number of women having heart attacks was small (around 1-2%), among those taking calcium supplements there was a 31% increased risk of having a heart attack. Again, this type of result is correlative, not necessarily causative. Also, supplements with Vitamin D were excluded from the analysis. A very interesting side note is that studies that looked at diets rich in calcium did not show any increased cardiac risk. A yin to the yang of the Vitamin B story where there was benefit with the diet rich in Vitamin B but no benefit and no adverse affect to those in the general population without kidney disease who took Vitamin B supplements.

So back to our mantra of Eat Fresh and get what you need from a good, varied (and make it tasty) diet. And in the words of The Band “You take what you need, and you leave the rest,” that includes unnecessary supplements.

It’s Good to be Green-Code Delicious Episode 4

The proper sequence and video back up! Episode 4, Swiss Chard is available for viewing here. Learn the simple and easy way to prepare those perfect summer greens!

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Vodpod videos no longer available.

Code Delicious-Episode 4, Swiss Chard, posted with vodpod

 

Code Delicious Reboot

Sorry-We’ve got the episode pulled down to edit the video dead time. Will have a new one back up shortly!

Spicy Stuffed Breast (Chicken)

Code Delicious Episode 4 is here! Please note the 20+ second intro before it gets going, hang in it’s worth it!

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Vodpod videos no longer available.

Spicy Stuffed Breasts (Chicken), posted with vodpod

 

Monday Monday Monday!

Please join Chef Booker and myself as I appear as a guest on Basil Magazine Radio Monday, starting at 6pm (I come on at 6:45).

You can call in at :347-637-2315  [tweetmeme source=”WCWD” only_single=false]

or visit via  Basil Magazine Radio

Strong to the Finish

  

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Want to be strong to the finish? Then you eats your spinach, like Popeye the Sailorman! Although spinach in the early 20^th century was a slang term for marijuana (ever wonder why Popeye ingested it through a pipe and lost all ability to speak, not to mention any sense of grammar??), we’ll stick to the labeled meanings and not get Glenn Beckian into any hidden messages and agendas; true or otherwise. The real problem with being green, is that well, it’s easily boring. So here’s a simple way to kick up your spinach. Of course you could always add other things to spinach as well [hit here to reminisce over theme music  Popeye theme; here for modern rendition [audio https://whatscookingwithdoc.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/14-im-popeye-the-sailor-man-11.m4a%5D

Creamy Baby Spinach and Feta

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1Tbs chopped shallot
• 8 oz baby spinach
• 1 Tbs mascarpone cheese
• 2 oz feta cheese

Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. Add the garlic and shallot and cook 1-2 minutes, until shallots translucent. Add the spinach. After the spinach has cooked and reduced in volume, and is bright green, add the mascarpone and feta. Cook another 1-2 minutes; salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Bubba Grunt

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Sometimes going to the fishmonger is like a box a chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. So I have to give a shout out to my friends at Whitney’s, who have graciously kept me supplied with fresh, delicious and local seafood since my first foray into the sunshine state. They have also kept me apprised of the BP oil spill’s impact on species and supplies. I can’t reiterate this enough, but if you find a local fishmonger, especially one like I have, that supports the local industry, then please support them. I know getting some Chinese pre-frozen at the mega mart is easier, but easier is oft not better.

OK, off the soapbox and into the kitchen. Today I found some good southern grunt, or as I like to call them, Bubba Grunt. There about ~150 different kind of grunt with most being a reef fish. They get their name from the audible grunting noise people make whilst eating the tender light flesh. Not really, it’s from the sound you can hear them make underwater but it makes a nice story. Anyway, we prepared this to be grilled by making a couple of scores in the side of the whole, cleaned fish. We then inserted some fresh Florida oranges, stuffed the interior with fennel and cilantro and after a little olive oil splash, salted and peppered. Grill until done and enjoy. It is a really healthy dish that will make you fit. And it is delicious, in fact it is fitlicious. I often make up words like that, “My Momma told me I was special….”

• Whole Grunt (1-2 per person depending on size, they can run small)
• 1 orange
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• ½ bunch cilantro
• 1/3 cup chopped (roughly) fennel bulb

Make several scores on each side of the whole fish. Stuff the interior with cilantro and fennel. Slice the orange and place into the scores. Lightly drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill until done.

It’s not always what you think: researchers “surprised” by association between PCBs, hypertension

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We’ve written extensively about the addition of additives and adulteration of what we ingest; from antibiotics to preservatives and fillers. When people read about chemical exposures from the environment, the concern is immediately about cancer causing agents-and with good reason. Yet here’s an example of the accumulation of PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] via environmental exposure that potentially results in the disease state of hypertension. Remember too, that most hypertension in the US is not the result of single causative agent or condition. It is often termed essential benign (even though there is nothing benign about it) hypertension-which means we don’t know why you have it, but you have it.

There is a study recently published in the journal Hypertension, (July, 2010) that people in Anniston, Alabama “who had higher levels of the chemicals known as PCBs in their bodies were much more likely to have high blood pressure.” Please note that PCBs have been banned in the US since 1979, after concerns over possibly causing cancer. After examining 758 Anniston residents, the investigators found that “those with the highest levels of PCBs in their bodies — in the top third — were more than 3.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure than those in the lowest third.” The researchers theorized that PCBs “could possibly disrupt genes that regulate blood pressure” or perhaps “alter the way hormones work, encourage inflammation, and disrupt cell functioning in the heart and blood vessels.” These chemicals, although banned, do not readily breakdown and therefore exist within the ecosystem. Therefore they find their way into meat, eggs, fish and dairy products. Even more troublesome is the fact that since the relationship is correlative, not causative, the PCBs may just be a marker for something else which does cause the problems.

So it’s a bit like the old joke:

• Man goes to the doctor.
• The doctor says “I have bad and worse news”
• “Oh my God, says the man, “What is it?”
• “You have cancer,” says the doctor.
• “What else could be wrong?”
• The doctor sighs and says, “You also have Alzheimer’s disease.”
• “Oh well,” says the man, “at least I don’t have cancer.”

Spicy Margarita Chicken with Fire Roasted Corn and Grilled Pineapple Relish

  

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Here’s a healthy summer grill item. I used skinless, free range organic chicken breasts (see the Code Delicious video, From Beak to Tail Feathers for details) and marinated in the spicy margarita marinade. This is also great for pork or flank steak for fajitas or such. The relish is very hearty and the beans add a satisfying element. The flavors of summer are all there; heat, sweet and meat! This is great with a cool white like a Sauvignon blanc that has citrus and/or pineapple flavors. Make the marinade, add the meats and marinate. Make the relish and let the flavors  dwell together while you grill then rest the meat of your choice. Oh, it goes great with one of Doc’s Flo-Ritas as well!

Spicy Margarita Marinade

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1/3 cup tequila
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 Tbs Emeril spice
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 3 Tbs chopped cilantro
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1Tbs Adobo sauce
• 1 tsp chopped ginger

Combine all ingredients.

 

Grilled Pineapple and Roasted Corn Relish

• 1, 1 inch section grilled pineapple round diced
• 3 ears roasted corn, kernels removed
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 tsp chopped thyme
• Juice of 2 lemon
• Juice of 1 lime
• ¼ cup chopped yellow onion
• 3 chopped and seeded roma or plum tomatoes
• 16 oz Pink beans, cooked
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 roasted jalapeño, seeded and diced (leave seeds and membrane for additional heat)
• 2 roasted poblano, seeded and diced
• 1 red or yellow sweet pepper, chopped
• 1 chopped avocado

Combine all ingredients, salt and pepper to taste

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

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It’s a bit of a weird association, but certain weather reminds me of certain places. From my travels to Japan, the brisk fall in October reminds of Noda City, in northern Japan. But so does the hot, humid summer days like we are experiencing now. I think having been overseas for a few typhoons, when the air gets hot and heavy with a tropical tinge, my mind reaches back; most likely because during the typhoon season over in Japan I am often reaching back for a few combat sized bottles of sake. Regardless, the weather and the memories got me hankering for some of my favorite Japanese street food, yakitori. Grilled and marinated meet bits on a skewer, with a tangy sauce-Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

Chicken Yakitori: Yakitori is a traditional Japanese kebab. You can still get this great street food around Japan. There, you can find not just chicken but squid, fish and other assorted meats cooked over a charcoal grill. Substitute other meats, or use the sauce as a glaze to roast the meat and give t an Asian twist.

• 16 Bamboo skewers, soaked (or other kebab holder)
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound of chicken pieces
• Yakitori Sauce:
• ¼ cup Mirin
• ¼ cup Sake
• 3 tbsp Sesame oil
• 1 ½ tsp finely minced fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp garlic puree

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Combine all the marinade ingredients into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 5-10 minutes, reducing the sauce by 1/3 to ½. . Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Marinate the pieces, place on the skewers and cook on the grill. Reserve some of the sauce to coat the pieces as they cook. The sauce can be made in advance and will keep for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.