April 2010 Archives

Recently, a heated food debate has surfaced between the dyed in the wool "food expert" Michael Ruhlman (he's written some fine books on food, appeared on TV, and speaks at conferences) and the food philosophies espoused by celluloid FoodTV starts such as Rachel Ray and Jamie Oliver.  In a Huffington Post article, Ruhlman argues that people should make the time to cook a whole chicken (w/ potatoes) in the oven for an hour and that if you, as an adult in America, choose to heat up a Lean Cuisine meal instead of cooking that chicken it's not because you don't have the time, but rather you choose not to make the time to cook, from scratch, food at home.  

Personally, I'm torn with Ruhlman's assertion.  On the one hand, my nose turns ever so northward when I hear the phrase cooking is too complicated and takes time (and as Michael asserts, I say, bullshit!), yet I can clearly see the want and need to cook a quick meal in under 30 minutes after a long day at the office and a constantly screaming baby.  However, there is one thing that I do know, and assert boldly; that is, the American public should stop listening to the so called "food experts."  And, moreover, it's ok to read Ruhlman's books, watch Pepin on PBS, and maybe even spend a few minutes with Mario Batali and Rachel Ray on FoodTV, but for God's sake don't take what these people say as "food truth."  

I've arrived at my food philosophy via my Italian heritage. I grew up with "from scratch" food and, on the occasion, was allowed to dabble in the processed food world (my mother allowed me to eat potato chips and the occasional "Steak'um sandwich."  So, I cringe whenever I hear someone in the food industry utter the words local, organic, Sous vide (French for under vacuum), micro-gastronomy, etc. as a reference to some sort of Über-cuisine.  To anyone looking to appreciate food, I say to them go out and buy nice ingredients (the best you can afford - see my article on the myth of equating good food with spending power) and experiment at home.  Go and buy some good dry pasta, a nice bottle of extra virgin olive, and a hunk of Grana Padano.  Thereafter, go home and boil some pasta and combine it with the olive oil and grated cheese (that will take you 15 minutes; hence a "15 minute meal").  Is this a bad thing?  No, rather it's a pragmatic truth that modern life does have drastically different time constraints (regardless of how a family or individual made their way, or "choose their way", into this situation) and that most individuals want to eat tasty meals that do not require excessive amounts of time to consume.  Given a long day at the office, I'd rather, for example, purchase a rotisserie chicken from my local market than spend an hour watching it roast in my oven.  If I had a light day and I'd like to stand in my kitchen come dinner time for about an hour and half, I'll roast a chicken, make risotto, finely chop some fennel and parsley for a salad, and even make a small appetizer of toasted bread with homemade ricotta.  

The point is that it's too easy to say that folks should both turn away from 30 minutes meals and healthy and high quality foods prepared by someone else.  Yes, on most occasions, folks should find time to cook from scratch meals at home, however there are pragmatic times when "making time to cook" is truly not a possibility (this is a hard truth, even epistemic if I can get fancy!).  

My first memory of ricotta wasn't pleasant.  I remember thinking that the cheese was tasteless and had a consistency of something akin to white mud rather than some wonderful food concoction.  Fast forward about 20 years and I'm in love with ricotta and value its subtle flavor profile and creamy texture (not to mention it's versatility).  Note to parents: introduce as many foods to your young kids as possible!  

For the last installment of the Scordo Pasta Challenge I made a simple chickpea soup with onions, brocolli, fresh parsley, dried oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  I also boiled a small amount of Ditalini (pasta shaped like a small tube) and added it to the soup.  My dish also included plenty of grated Grana Padano.

Ah, the humble sandwich or panino; two pieces of bread with some filling in between can be as vile as bologna on wonder bread or as elegant as prosciutto di Parma with extra virgin olive on slices of pane Pugliese.  My leanings, as you probably guessed, are toward the elegant side of the sandwich world.  I like pairing salty and intensely flavored salumi with a simple tomato and olive oil (along with a bit of Kosher salt), for example, or even letting the salumi come through alone without any condiment (just the perfect marriage of bread and cured pork).  

I'm also a huge fan of fresh farm eggs and consume them in countless ways (frittata, poached, scrambled, etc.).  Recently, I've been experimenting with egg sandwiches and I think I may have found an all-time favorite recipe.  

Here are the ingredients:

- 1 large, farm fresh, egg (there's a huge difference between fresh and mass produced eggs; if you have a local farm near you try and buy them at the farm.  If you need to purchase eggs from a market, then try and buy cage free eggs from chickens that have eaten organic feed).

- A few thinly sliced onion pieces

- Canned chickpeas

- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

- 1 ripe tomato

- Good extra virgin olive oil

- Good bread (I like ciabatta or Pane Pugliese for sandwiches; if you're lucky enough to live in the NYC metro area and have access to Sullivan Street Bakery bread then buy some of it)

My fried egg and rustic hummus sandwich is fairly straightforward.  Start by frying your egg in a small frying pan with enough olive oil to coat the entire pan; the olive oil will give the egg tremendous flavor and goes well with this particular sandwich.  Add salt and pepper and fry your egg until the white has solidified (I like a runny yoke and I think it's key for this sandwich, but, and if you must, you can cook the egg longer until the yoke has solidified).  Just keep in mind a warm and runny yoke is one of the most amazing food experiences you can have!

Next, use a mortar and pestle to combine and crush about two cups of chickpeas.  Add a bit of water (from the can if you're using canned chickpeas) along with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Crush and mix the ingredients until you have a rustic paste (you're not looking for formal hummus here, just a condiment/spread for the sandwich.  

Spread a liberal amount of the chickpea mixture on both sides of your bread and your sliced tomato and onions on one side.  Season the tomato and onions with salt and pepper along with a bit of olive oil.  Finally, place your fried egg on the opposing side of the tomato and onions.  Bring the two sides together and slice the sandwich; if you've cooked your egg perfectly the buttery egg yoke should begin to coat the sandwich ingredients,  In turn, bringing the entire sandwich to life.  I enjoyed the sandwich with a Sam Adams Summer Brew (with extra lemon).   

So, the executive staff behind Scordo.com (there are actually no executives or staff at Scordo.com) have decided to designate May 1st as global Arancini Day.  The designation is a first (according to a few informal web searches) and I'm asking that loyal Scordo.com readers fry up their  versions of Arancini on May 1st, 2010 and send in photos of their golden and crisp rice masterpieces.  Thereafter, I'll post any photo and recipe here and we can continue the tradition every year!  The logic behind Arancini Day is that rice balls require a little bit of time to prepare and carefully fry (I don't make them more than 2x per year, for example) so why not designate a single day throughout the year to fry up a patch and share on the web!

Please share this post on Twitter and Facebook and via eMail with friends and family!  Send all photos (and/or recipes) to blog at scordo dot com.  And rice balls aren't just an Italian thing, for example there's the equivalent of a Filipino rice ball that is also deep fried!

Both of my parents were born in Southern Italy where unemployment is high and quality of life is superb. My mother, A., made it to the 7th grade and my father, T., recieved the equivalent of a technical high school diploma. Both of my parents immigrated to the US in 1975 and are currently debt free, own their own two-family home, and have plenty of cash in savings. They are, in many ways, leading the American dream - by not adopting the principles of American consumerism.

The lessons below may be be described as "old school" and overly simplistic, but the hard truth is that each tip works!  And, moreover, are used frequently by recent immigrants to the United States (and are often forgotten by the 2nd or 3rd generation):

For my parents, saving was akin to a religion. They didn't save 10 or 20 percent of their paycheck; rather they saved close to half of their take home pay. I suspect the urge to save is an instinctual feeling for many recent immigrants who arrive in a new country with no job and no home. The ability to save such a large percentage of what they made was dependent on controlling how much they spent each week. If you live well below your means you can save a large percentage of your weekly income.

My parents have never owned a fancy car or purchased luxury clothes or items. My parents hardly dine out or buy pre-cooked or packaged food. Rather, A. and T. find true fulfillment in family, great food, wine, and visiting the country where they were born. My parents appreciate nice, material things, but they are not defined or fulfilled via acquiring the aforementioned things.

This means finding an uncle who does plumbing and a cousin who is a paralegal at a law firm. My parent's family network has helped me, personally, with home improvement, legal advice, emergency situations (taking care of babies or a ride to the hospital), etc. If I had to pay a stranger every time I needed something done in my life, I would not only be broke, but I would lack real friends and family. The real life lesson here is to nurture family relationships and not rush to pay someone to do something for you. (There are other ways to reward people without a large check).

If you look at my dad's wallet on a typical day it would resemble George Costanza's wallet from Seinfeld - full of notes and papers and a good amount of cash. My father pays for everything in cash, and if he doesn't have the cash, he will either not purchase the item or go to the bank and take out money. My parents have had very little credit card activity over the last 30 years, and I think it's a key component to their practical lifestyle - (that is to say, you can't buy stuff if you don't have the cash!).

My parents bought a two family home shortly after arriving in the US. The logic behind purchasing a two family home centered on having a monthly reoccurring revenue stream outside of a normal job. Sure, they would have liked a single family home with a larger yard and without constant maintenance in their rental unit, but they like the cash more! Do you have cash coming in every month outside of your normal job? If not, you may not be as financially secure as you think you are!

My parents are both incredibly crafty. My dad performs his own car repairs, produces homemade wine, renovates his own home (including plumbing and electrical), cuts his own grass, and more. My mother makes all of her own food, cans tomatoes and vegetables, sews, cleans, and grows and tends a garden, among many other things. My parents have often told me that if the world were to fall into disrepair they would have no problem living their life. (They are independent and self sufficient).

This may sound like a line out of the Godfather, but the fact that American society is based on a capitalist operating principle will motivate everyone from the shop owner to the general contractor to make as much money as possible from you, and there are no safety nets when it comes to preserving the wealth you've worked hard to acquire. This life lesson is akin to former Intel CEO Andy Groove's line: "Only the Paranoid Survive."

A job or career usually defines most adults in Anglo-Saxon cultures. Ask any typical American about their life, and the narrative usually centers on their work or job. If you ask the typical person from Southern Italy about their life, they'll tell you stories about their family, homeland, last name, daughters, sons, food they grow, or wine they make. (I swear this isn't connected to the high unemployment rate.) My parents are defined by who they are and not the job they do for someone else or the amount of money in their paycheck each week. This is a powerful principle to live by, and once you truly embrace it, the byproduct can be quite liberating.

Do you ever become overwhelmed by a problem you can't, for the life of you, see past the immediate future? Maybe you're worried about your job or if little Timmy will get accepted to Harvard in a few years, for example? These are illustrations of "small picture" thinking, and it can handicap many individuals from getting through tough moments in their life. Like many immigrants, my parents had to somehow block out the immediacy of not having much when they arrived in the US, in order think long term about the type of life they would someday lead.

I'm convinced that many individuals lead their life according to the goings-on of their neighbors. For example, if Doris next door leases a shiny new German sedan, you may be compelled to question the worth or legitimacy of your 10-year-old Ford sitting in the driveway. If, by the miracle of home refinancing, Doris adds another 800 square feet to her over-leveraged center hall colonial, you may all of sudden feel cramped in your tiny Cape-Cod-style home. What is my parents' opinion of neighborhood goings-on? Make friends, and be a good neighbor, but don't follow the neighbor into debt and materialism.

My latest pasta conquest centered on the Cencioni, a little known pasta from the Basilicata region of Italy.  Cencioni, or translated as "little rag", is perfect for loose sauces.   Cencioni has great texture and could work well as a substitute for baked ziti.  The pasta is a bit difficult to cook as the outer edges cook before the dense center, 

I consumed the Cencioni as a "primo" with tomato sauce, followed by some roasted chicken with sauteed escarole.  The meal was extra special because it was accompanied by some newly bottled homemade wine (courtesy of Tommaso Sr.).   

(photo: lots of mozzarella, aborio rice, a bit of tomato sauce, and a few bits of beef)   

At times, I think the political and cultural columnist David Brooks has a little bit of Mediterranean blood flowing through his body (regardless of his Anglo-Saxon appearance).  Time and time again Brooks puts together elegant arguments on the paradox of American living, why gun control is necessary, or, say, how most people struggle to find happiness.  While I don't agree with every opinion Brooks' holds, I did enjoy a recent New York Time Op-Ed where he argues that we, as a society, should spend more time chasing what truly makes us happy versus material wealth .  The article got me thinking about how many of Italians I know have high levels of happiness (especially the ones living in Italy) and why they so easily grasp how to lead a good life. 

It's no secret that Europeans, generally speaking, have a higher quality of life than most Americans.  The "European way of life" is known throughout the world as emphasizing family, food, and overall well being, while here in the United States the perception is that the more money one makes the better off he or she will live.   Are the Europeans just freaks of nature high on multiple cups of espresso; afterall, isn't a flashy career more important than an afternoon siesta and a pre dinner aperitif?

The above questions beg the ultimate question; namely, why wouldn't everyone want to live like an Italian (or their Europeans neighbors)?  Are we too focused on capitalist models here in the United States training our best and brightest to become investment bankers versus well rounded individuals who have a passion for leading a happy life?  

Prescribing how to lead a happy life is akin to telling someone how to dress or which religion to follow; that is to say, most folks don't want to be told that they would be happier only if they did X, rather they want to discover their own path to smiling each and every day.  

My advice is to listen to the latest psychological research on what makes people happy throughout the world and follow a little bit of Brooks' advice.  In turn, here's a quick summary of how Brooks interprets the latest empirical findings from the new field of "happiness studies" and why living the "Italian way" may be more beneficial than chasing the almighty dollar (or living like an American):   

1. "Marital happiness is far more important than anything else in determining personal well-being. If you have a successful marriage, it doesn't matter how many professional setbacks you endure, you will be reasonably happy."

2. "Poor nations become happier as they become middle-class nations, but once the basic necessities have been achieved, future income is lightly connected to well-being."

3. "The US is much richer than it was 50 years ago, but this has produced no measurable increase in overall happiness. On the other hand, it has become a much more unequal country, but this inequality doesn't seem to have reduced national happiness."

4. "Winning the lottery doesn't seem to produce lasting gains in well-being. People aren't happiest during the years when they are winning the most promotions. Instead, people are happy in their 20's, dip in middle age and then, on average, hit peak happiness just after retirement at age 65."

5. "People get slightly happier as they climb the income scale, but this depends on how they experience growth. Does wealth inflame unrealistic expectations? Does it destabilize settled relationships? Or does it flow from a virtuous cycle in which an interesting job produces hard work that in turn leads to more interesting opportunities?"

6. "The daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with others. The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting. According to one study, joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income. According to another, being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year."

7. "If you want to find a good place to live, just ask people if they trust their neighbors. Levels of social trust vary enormously, but countries with high social trust have happier people, better health, more efficient government, more economic growth, and less fear of crime (regardless of whether actual crime rates are increasing or decreasing)."

8. "Most of us pay attention to the wrong things. Most people vastly overestimate the extent to which more money would improve our lives. Most schools and colleges spend too much time preparing students for careers and not enough preparing them to make social decisions."

9. "Interpersonal bonds are critical to being happy day in and day out...overall, economic and professional success exists on the surface of life, and that they emerge out of interpersonal relationships, which are much deeper and more important."

There have been a slew of new and recently published books on happiness including Stumbling On Happiness by Gilbert, The Politics of Happiness by Bok, and the Hidden Wealth of Nations by Halpern.  Here's an interesting talk from Halpern, which includes some great data/findings on happiness levels throughout the world.

(photo: final product with a bit of extra provola and olive oil)