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This recipe was stolen with permission from Yoshio Shinohara, Executive Chef and his team of chefs at Megu, NY. Meaning "blessing" in Japanese, Megu presents modern Japanese cuisine, sushi, and sumibi aburiyaki (a grilling technique using bincho-tan, a special charcoal found only near Kyoto and prized for its superior purifying properties.) Megu has several locations throughout the world, with more opening soon and the concept of the restaurants is to combine organic food, excellent service and a sophisticated ambiance with traditional Japanese elements. The Megu team has carefully selected the best American Kobe Beef available in the U.S, as well as the best Japanese Satsuma Beef from Kyushu and specializes in highly refined selections of hand-made Tofu, fresh organic edamame and authentic smelts, flown in from all parts of Japan. Other Japanese condiments such as salt, soy sauce and 6 varieties of miso are also carefully selected.
Please note: this recipe calls for Hosho paper, a special Japanese paper, but if you can't find it, parchment paper is a good substitute.
Silver Cod in Hosho Paper is served at Megu for $24. This recipe makes 4 restaurant servings.
Silver Cod in Hosho Paper Ingredients:
- 1 pound black cod
- 14 sheets Hosho paper
Ingredients for the Marinating Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons sake
Ingredients for the Mixed Miso:
- 1 cup white miso
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup shimeji mushroom
- 2 teaspoons yuzu citrus peel
- 4 very thin lemon slices, quartered
Each week we will post the latest reviews and I hope you will log in to see what's hot...and what's not!
I'm sure you've heard about the latest tomato fungus problem (aka Irish potato famine disease .. aka late blight fungus) currently hitting the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Even Martha Stewart seems to be having problems with tomato fungus. Called the Late Blight Fungus, it's caused by Phytophthora infestans and affects tomato and potato plants worldwide. Farmers are diligent about preventing this disease through various methods, which includes destroying crops that are thought to be infected. Unfortunately, the fungus is highly contagious and preventative methods do not always work. Late blight thrives in cooler wet and windy weather, exactly the conditions now plaguing the Northeast; in fact, this is the earliest reported and most widespread occurrence of the disease. Another unfortunate reality is that the infected plants were distributed by large local retail stores from Ohio to Maine.
If you have a garden, be sure to inspect your plants daily! Symptoms include: water-soaked leaf lesions (when dry they appear lime green or even beige), white powdery spores, brown/black spots on stems and fruit and open lesions, each of which can produce hundreds of thousands of infectious spores.
There are some sprays available for home use, but are only effective before blight symptoms appear. Visit your local garden center for more info. Insects can carry the fungus spores, so spraying with both fungicide and insecticide are common practices for deterring pests.
Both conventional and organic farmers and home gardeners' crops are susceptible to this disease and need to be equally diligent about inspecting, treating and disposing of their crops. Organic farmers and gardeners use a copper based fungicide, which is not as effective as conventional versions. Copper fungicides are easily washed off with rain, and with the current weather conditions need to be reapplied often!
In general, organic fruits and vegetables are more susceptible to diseases and bacteria because the farmers don't spray with more potent chemicals, but many organic farmers take extra care to protect and monitor their plants. Our responsibility as consumers is to always practice proper handling/cleaning/rinsing/washing techniques, regardless whether the produce is organic or not!
Some have suggested that the "cure" for this blight would be irradiation. Not so! Tomatoes (and potatoes) infected with late blight cannot be effectively treated by irradiation. If the disease is already present, it will most likely have caused significant irreversible changes in the plants.
Irradiation (sometimes called electron or cold pasteurization) is the process by which foods (meat, grains, fruits, vegetables, spices, seasonings, etc.) after harvesting, during processing and before packaging, are exposed to a controlled amount of radiant energy to kill harmful bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella, prolong shelf life, reduce spoilage, and also inhibit ripening and sprouting. While this process may sound like the cure-all, critics are concerned. The amount of energy used during irradiation is likened to 15 million times the amount of energy used in a single chest X-ray. The energy waves passing through the food break molecular bonds in the DNA of bacteria, pathogens and insects. The process is FDA-approved, and they report that this has little effect on the food itself and that the nutritional quality, taste, texture and appearance of the food is not compromised. Every package of food that has been irradiated must be labeled as such so that each of us can make the decision whether or not we want to consume such foods.
photo: twitter.com/marthastewart
The American Dietetic Association's (ADA) July 1st update on their position regarding vegetarian diets may surprise some, but at a time when most of us are keeping a close eye on our wallets, becoming more aware of the environmental costs of factory farming and looking for ways to prevent and control disease through nutrition, or just on the quest for optimal health, the ADA's conclusions praising vegetarianism could not have come at a better time.
The July 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association features the updated stance on vegetarianism, including total vegetarian or vegan diets. Based on the paper published by Andrew University and the Vegetarian Resource Group, the update concludes that vegetarian diets, if appropriately planned are, "healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases...[and] are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and for athletes."
The ADA Evidence Analysis of vegetarian diets specifically points to the adequacy of vegetarian diets in pregnancy, resulting in positive maternal and infant health outcomes, the association with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease, cancer-protective factors, osteoporosis, and the role that fruits, vegetables, soy products, protein, calcium, vitamins D and K, and potassium play in bone health.
Generally, the ADA concludes that, "vegetarian diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, have higher levels of dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids and other phytochemicals," all possible explanations for some of the health advantages of a varied and balanced vegetarian diet.
If you are considering switching to a vegetarian diet, ADA advises consulting a registered dietician, who can help you plan, provide information and also help modify your diet to meet personal health needs. You can visit the American Dietetic Association at www.eatright.org.
photo: h. eastwood/getty images
Everyone loves to save money, and since the average American goes grocery shopping a little more than twice a week, there is no better place to start looking for those extra dollars. You already know that you should have a list prepared before you head to the store (those shoppers save an estimated 25% on their shopping bill by eliminating impulse purchases) and bring those coupons (which now have an average face value of almost a dollar), but what you may not know is that WHERE in the store you shop may also make a difference.
Today every retailer seems to be selling groceries, and why not? We buy foodstuffs more often than any other category of goods and therefore so is the likelihood of us visiting a particular store more often. And when we are there...if the merchandising is doing its job, we will buy more items than we planned to and that leads to extra profits for the store. As a result, there is a battle going on between warehouse clubs, supercenters, drug chains and our traditional supermarkets to entice us to their stores and purchase our groceries at their check stand.
Here are a few tips that can turn your next shopping trip into a windfall.
With all the attention on the failings of Wall Street over the past couple of weeks, few people gave notice to what, in my mind, is even a more severe long term problem. Yes, the reality is that the storms and hurricanes of the past few years are creating a real problem for agriculture, and adding much pressure to the rising costs of producing food.The headlines told us that Hurricane Ike was the ninth storm to hit the U.S. so far this year; which followed closely on the heels of the devastation of Gustav. Louisiana first, and then Galveston. Reports as of this writing is that there are still tens of thousands of homes without power. Some estimates are that the damage in Louisiana in many cases is worse than from Katrina or Rita. But this column is not about the human sufferings, which countless others have written about far better than I could ever do. This column is about the story that needs to be told about the weather and our food world.
The reality is that by the year 2050, we will need to produce almost twice as much food as we do today based on current population trends which predicts a global population of over 11 billion mouths to feed; and be able to produce it on a shrinking land mass.
It is the impact of this year’s storms on the agricultural, fishing and seafood industries which the rest of the nation will feel the effects of for years to follow. As examples, the Texas alfalfa crops that have been decimated will surely increase the costs for cattle feed, and the price of beef at retail. Sugarcane producers in southern Louisiana have been faced with salt-water intrusion by both storms. And for our agricultural production to even have a chance for success means that farmers of all sizes must be able to make a profit.
The USDA has released its September corn yield projection as 152.3 bushels per acre – a drop of 2-percent from its August prediction of 155 bushels. The Storm Exchange estimate is 6 percent below the prediction. As a result, USDA also increased its price estimates for corn and soybeans, an increase of ten-cents per bushel for both commodities in just one month.
And that’s just the beginning...
Coupons are everywhere. Industry experts estimate a whopping 400 billion coupons will be distributed this year... and this comes just in time!As more of us struggle to keep up with the rising food prices, using coupons is a quick and easy way to save big bucks. Since January of this year, more than $173 billion in coupons have been delivered just in those newspaper supplements and mailings alone.
With the average face value of food coupons now at 91 cents each and non-food coupons worth an average $1.61 the savings can add up quickly.
Tom Lemke, a talk-show guest on Oprah, explained years ago how he bought more than $400 of groceries for less than $100 using coupons. And, while Lemke's level of success is rare, coupons can easily shave 15-20% from every grocery bill. That's an annual savings of over a $1,000 for a family of four.
Check your supermarket couponing rules carefully – these days many who used to double coupon value are limiting the doubling value to those coupons under $1. For even more savings look for coupons that can be redeemed on products that your store have put on sale and offer additional savings with their frequent shopper card program. But here’s the catch – many shoppers have to give up their favorite brands in order to go with what’s on sale. With a little preplanning you wont have to: Stock up on your favorite brands when they are on sale and you wont have to sacrifice the quality you are used to.
Love cheese? You better shop around. Look carefully in three places in your store for the same product -- all with different prices. The dairy case will usually have staple cheeses such as cheddar, Swiss and Monterey Jack, prepackaged at the lowest price. The deli and cheese tables may have the exact same products, but you'll pay more. Know what you want, and shop all three areas for the best price.
Top 10 Ways to Outsmart the "Super" Marketers
- Shop around for cheese
- Pay attention to package sizes
- Don't be fooled by "New" or "New and Improved"
- Check the calories
- Don't trust "tastes great!" claims
- Read the nutritional label (not the brand)
- Think twice about rebates
- Enter contests without buying the product
- Don't believe the scanner
- Don't go shopping when you're hungry or cranky
Get more information on Today on iVillage.
We’ve all seen it – we open our freezer door and see those dry patches of white stuff under the plastic of our foods, or even on the top layer of our ice cream. Yeeech. The good news is that freezer burn wont make us sick, but it can make our foods taste bland and chewy. It is created when food is exposed directly to cold air. You can prevent it! And prevention starts as soon as you get home from the supermarket.
Keep all frozen foods in their original sealed packages, then place in another plastic freezer bag. Push as much of the air out of the package as you can.
If you want to open a package and divide into smaller portions and freeze those separately, remove the pieces from the original package – then wrap the individual portions tightly in a plastic cling wrap – again try to remove all the excess air. Then wrap in aluminum foil, then place in a plastic freezer bag.
Freezer burn seems to just love those pints of ice cream. To keep it out, make sure that you put a piece of plastic cling wrap or aluminum foil over the top of the container then replace the lid.
As with all frozen foods, be sure you write the date that you first put your foods in the freezer on the outside of the package. And while most people realize that foods won’t stay forever in there, we have a tendency to forget that after 6 months or so there will be a loss of flavor and texture.
We just love pasta. Its easy to make, comes in lots of shapes and sizes and one of the least expensive meals you can make. But when you really think about it, it’s the sauce that makes the difference. Next shopping trip pick up a can of crushed tomatoes and a jar of your favorite sauce. Compare the ingredients. Most jarred sauces list tomato paste, water and a sugar (high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup) among the first ingredients. The crushed tomatoes typically list just crushed tomatoes and maybe added spices.
Now compare the price. Usually a can of crushed tomatoes will be less than half the cost. Buy it and try it!
Now compare the flavor. I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the robust, rich and fresh taste flavor. Add a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, crushed garlic and some spices and voila!
And just a reminder, when cooking that pasta, never add oil to the boiling water. The oil will coat the pasta and the sauce will slide right off.
