Juicing

I am blessed in that I can eat pretty much anything, and thrive on a diet that includes a lot of vegetables, both raw and cooked.  But not everyone has the time, desire, or digestive track to consume copious amounts of vegetables. I think that juicing is a good way get nutrition from raw vegetables (and fruit too) if you need easy to digest calories because of health issues or endurance exercise and you don't want empty calories.  Unfortunately, juicing has more hype surrounding it that most food preparation methods, with health claims that are more false than true. Finding recipes for juices are a challenge, you need to wade through all sorts of weight loss advertising and "cleanses" which don't have any scientific basis.   And what you find are hundreds of seemingly random combinations of fruits and vegetables with vague quantities and no yields.  Which all just brings out the engineer in me.  I had the chance to do some experimenting with my mom's juicer, and here is what I learned.

Yields...  Most vegetables yield about 50% juice... If you start with a pound (16 ounces) you end up with 8 ounces. Celery is particularly juicy, you get about 75% juice, cucumbers and bell peppers will also will yield more than average.  Fruit, like apples and oranges, yields around 75% juice.   So if you want 10 ounces of finished juice, you should start with about 7 - 8 ounces of fruit or juicy vegetables, and 10 ounces of veggies (just over a pound total).

Flavors... In general, juicing concentrates flavors.  If you don't like the vegetable, you won't like the juice, so don't think that juicing is a good way to get lots of the vegetables you don't like.   Fruit and juicy vegetables are more neutral in flavor (but still there).  Ginger is especially strong, a piece the size of the end of your little finger will go a long way. Vegetables with bitter flavors (spinach, broccoli) will have juice with bitter undertones, and if you are not a fan of bitter, don't use too much of these, there is only so much you can cover up with sweeter or stronger flavors.  My mom even found she could taste the bitterness of carrot peels in the juice, and prefers to peel the carrots first.

Color...  You can get some beautiful red or green juices.  For red, beets, pomegranate pips, red bell peppers, and carrot all give a nice color.  For green, greens (spinach, herbs, broccoli, etc) will add vibrant green to a neutral base.   However, a mix of red and green can result in a fairly  mucky (i.e. swamp water) looking juice, which might taste fine, but you have to get it past your eyes first.

Juices are best when they are first made.  The same reaction that causes cut fruit (like apples) or vegetables to turn brown happens with the juice.  The mint that I juiced had a noticeable brown layer on top after sitting on the counter for an hour or so.   That said, the juices will still be tastely after being in the fridge (sealed in a glass container) up to a day but not longer.  There is a lot written about how the enzymes and other nutrients will drop over time, but it's not clear there is any science behind this (other that the drop that occurs for all vegetables starting when they are harvested).

So here is my advice.  Don't worry about a recipe, because even if you find ones that look interesting, you likely don't have everything on hand  (they are useful to give you thoughts about what else to juice, but leave it at that).    I liked a blend of juicy things (orange, apple, celery or cucumbers)  as a base plus some greens and root vegetables to get a nice color, more flavor and body plus a flavor pop from something like ginger, lime, and/or lemon.  Herbs like mint also give a nice pop, and sometimes a little salt is needed.  Like anything, you need to have a balance between the sweet / sour (acid - like lemon juice) / bitter / spice that can only come from tasting then adjusting.  Salt will balance bitter and grassy flavors, acid will brighten the taste.  Also, mix it up as you are putting stuff through the juicer, end with a good bit of the base, as some of this will stay in the juicer (for example, if you put the ginger in last, you would not get much of it out).  

One thing that everyone needs to tailor is sweetness.  You can do all fruit juice blends and they will be tasty.  But this is a big pop of sugar without the fiber of fruit, which I don't think is the best thing for you other than as a treat, like dessert.  The trick is to put in enough fruit to provide sweetness so its drinkable. Here is another bloggers input on juicing, which comes to the same conclusion.  I liked juices that had a good base of celery or cucumber, some sweeter vegetables like carrot or beet, plus a good hit of lemon or lime and ginger, but most people like to have a bit more sweet from fruit.  And when looking at the juice that you can buy at juice bars, they almost always have a good fruity base (so think of these as a treat, not a wholesome meal).

I'm not ready to go out an get a juicer of my own, but really glad I got to try one out.  Next I'll have to experiment with a Vitamix and smoothies.  Any volunteers with a Vitamix?

Butterflied Grilled Chicken

I have always considered myself to have good mechanical skills.  I learned to take apart and grease a sewing machine when I was a kid.  I can read schematics, put together Ikea furniture.  I spent a couple years of my engineering career working on precision molds and die-sets.  But when it comes to working on things that really get your hands dirty, like cars or bikes, I have virtually no experience. There was always a brother, or husband, or mechanic who did these things. I never doubted I could do them, but self confidence only goes so far.  I recently bought a bike off of Craigslist.  I spent $45. It pretty much worked, except the front wheel didn't spin freely.  I did a little googling and determined the front hub needed to be repacked.  Then some more googling for video's on how to repack the front hub, which all looked doable.  My biggest fear is that the bolt to get the wheel off would be rusted on, but it came right off. More YouTube video's searched to figure out out to release the brake to get the wheel off.  Everything came apart as described, the bearings were in good shape, a little bit of cussing to get the ball bearings back, a short phone consult with my husband about grease, it went back together and it works!  The moral of this story is that You Tube is an amazing learning tool.  You can learn things that maybe you are too embarrassed to admit you don't know or don't have anyone around to show you.  And I'm telling you this story because there are lots of cooking techniques you can learn from YouTube.  Like how to butterfly a chicken.  

This recipe is a riff on "chicken under a brick" recipe, I have just skipped the brick.  It still comes out great. And I have included the instructions to put orange slices under the breast, but half the time I forget to do it, and the chicken still comes out good.   And most the time, I don't have all three citrus types around, so I will just use two kinds (although one is *always* lemon).

Grilled Citrus Chicken

1 large orange
Juice from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lime  
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon paprika or ½ teaspoon mild chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

1 whole chicken, preferably 4 pounds, but this works for a typical 5 or 5 ½ lb bird.

Cut 6 thin slices from the orange.  Put into the refrigerator for later.  Make the marinade:  Juice the rest of the orange into a small bowl.  Add the other juices, oil, garlic, herbs and spices and stir. 

Butterfly the chicken:  With the breast side down, grab the chicken tail (aka the Pope’s Nose).  With scissors, cut up the side of the backbone.  It’s easy until you get to the shoulder bone, find the joint to get through.  Repeat on the other side of the backbone.    Now, cut out the breast bone. This is trickier, and not absolutely necessary.  Use a small knife to cut the cartilage at the top of breast bone, then use your fingers to pull out (check out the video to see how this is done).  If you are so inclined, put the backbone, neck, and giblets into a freezer bag and save to make broth at some later date. Remove the big chucks of fat (and if you are a real fanatic, you can render these down to make schmaltz). 

Put the chicken in a gallon zip-loc bag, add the marinade and distribute to cover all around.  Let chill for 2 – 5 hours. 

Start your grill; get to about medium (350 - 400F). Pull the chicken out of the bag, Carefully loosen the skin on the breast and insert an orange slice or two between the breast and skin.  Do the same on the thighs.  When the grill is hot, oil the grill racks (I like to put oil on a paper towel, then using tongs, rub the oily towel on the grill), then put on the chicken on the grill skin side down.  Turn the burners down to low (goal to maintain about a 350F or so, and not catch the bird on fire).  Cook for 15 or 20 minutes, until the skin is nice and brown.  Using a spatula and tongs, carefully flip over.  Cook for another 20 to 35 minutes until done (this is about 155 – 160F in the thickest parts of the bird). Let rest for 10 minutes or so, then carve and eat.

When life gives you lemons, make salad

Sorry to leave my faithful readers (both of you) hanging for the continuation of the side salad saga: Creations from Citrus. Our lemon tree is full (again) of nicely ripe lemons, so lemons are used pretty liberally right now at my house. It would be a huge adjustment for me to have to cook without having a tree to pluck lemons whenever I need. Almost as bad as not having an herb garden. 

I have published some of my citrus-based side salads before, like Mediterranean Couscous Salad, Vegetable Rice Salad, Greek Salad, and Corn and Bean Salad. Interesting tidbit: lemon juice based dressings are common in Middle Eastern food, because they historically don’t drink alcohol… so no wine, no vinegar, no vinaigrette based dressings.

In general, the dressings are 4 parts olive oil to 3 parts lemon (or lime) juice plus herbs. Personally, I like lemons and the acid bite, so I typically do more like a 1:1 ratio. And if you are using Meyer lemons, I would reverse the ratio, 3:4 (more lemon juice) because they just are not as sour.  Lemons pair wonderfully with many different herbs (basil, parsley, thyme, dill, oregano, mint) and will keep them from turning brown.

Beet salads just have a spectacular color, especially if you use red beets. It is a bit of a pain to cook them, I try to do ahead if I’m baking something else, just refrigerate after they have cooled, and they will hold for a day or so.

Beet and Orange Salad

Serves 4

1 pound gold and/or red beets
2 oranges
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ a small red onion (or sweet white onion) thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2-4 tablespoons chopped herbs, such as mint, dill, parley, or basil
Salt, Pepper
1 oz goat cheese

Cook the beets: Scrub and trim the beets. Halve if large. Put in a shallow glass baking dish, add a ½ inch of water and a drizzle of olive oil. Cover and cook for about 45 minutes in a 400F oven or until they are tender. Drain. When they are cool enough to handle, peel. (note – you can also peel them first then roast).

Prepare the oranges (start when the beets come out of the oven): Zest one of the oranges, put zest into bowl large enough to make the salad. Section the oranges by first cutting the peel off the top and bottom, then down the sides to expose the sections. With a small knife, cut out each section and put into the bowl. Catch the juice in the same bowl, and when the sections are out, squeeze any remaining juice from the membranes into the bowl. Add the lemon juice and onion slices plus a bit of salt to the oranges and let sit for 10 minutes.

Add the beets, olive oil, herbs and freshly ground pepper; stir to combine. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed. Serve with goat cheese crumbles on top.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

New Feature: Eating seasonally in Phoenix -- ideas for this week's CSA box

I am going to try to do a weekly update on my Love Grows Farm CSA box , with ideas and recipes to use the weeks bounty.  Plus identify unusual items. I am hoping that other customers of Love Grows Farm and other Phoenix-area CSA participants will read, comment, and share their ideas as well.  Please don’t be shy!  I think we can all use some inspiration; it seems that most of the food magazines and web sites are talking about making stew, braised short ribs and bread, not how to use wonderful tomatoes and greens!  Not to mention what to do with the pile of citrus we seem to be getting from friends, family and our own tree.
Last week’s box included salad greens, spinach, arugula, green onions, kohlrabi, lemons and oranges, and of course, tomatoes.

New is the box this week was kohlrabi, something I had never had before.  Kohlrabi is German for “cabbage turnip”, and is a member of the cabbage family.   They can be eaten raw or cooked.  Most recipes I saw called just to use the bulb part (trimmed and peeled), but the leave can also be eaten.   I ate mine raw, in a salad (I didn’t use the leaves, it was mid week by the time I got too them and they were wilted.  It’s similar to very tender broccoli stems.   I’m hoping to get more, to try cooked as well.   I think the leaves would go good in soup.
My recipe for this week (and inspiration to try to do this weekly) was a salad I made on Sunday for friends.  It was quite wonderful..  I wish I had remembered a picture (so much for my New Year’s resolution to take more pictures).
I actually used 4 things from the box for this one simple salad – greens, scallions (green onions), lemons and oranges.  I served on my new stainless steel platter I got for Christmas, and it looked marvelous as well.

Orange Salad 

Serves 4

1/3 cup walnuts (slightly broken up)
Two oranges
Large bowl of greens (guess about 8 cups, or 1 bag of baby greens)
Lemon – oil dressing (see below)

Toast walnuts. (I use the toaster oven – place on a piece of foil on tray, and 1 cycle through toast, or you can do in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, will take just a few minutes… whichever way, keep an eye on them - you want a light toast, not too brown).

Prepare the oranges:  cut of the ends, then cut off the peel.  You can either cut out the segments, or for a faster prep, just slice.  Remove any seeds.

Assemble:  toss the greens with the dressing, it should only take a few tablespoons.  Place greens on a platter.  Arrange orange segments (or slices) over top, and sprinkle walnuts over top.  Serve immediately.

Lemon – Oil DressingI adopted this from a Julia Child recipe (from the Julia and Jacques cookbook, unfortunately, its out of print)

1 tablespoon minced scallion
Zest from 1 small orange (optional)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 - 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 to ½ cup excellent olive oil

Put scallions, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk until blended (or use immersion blender).  Pour in the oil slowly, droplets at first, then in a thin stream, whisking constantly until the oil has been completely emulsified and the dressing has thickened.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.  Best used immediately,  store remainder in the refrigerator for a few days at most.

Stir Fry

One of the things I make on a regular basis is stir fry.  Mom gave me a big bag of oranges a while back, and in finding creative ways to use them, starting using them to make stir fry sauce. I thought this would be a good thing to post, but realized I don’t actually have a recipe, so it has taken me a while to figure out how I make it (including a couple of critical measurements, like how much cornstarch).  So, mom’s oranges are gone, but you can still get some at the farmers market.  I would hesitate to use the good looking oranges in market, as they are now imported (and who knows what they have been treated with to keep them pretty).  Speaking of the Farmers Market – they are getting some apricots and peaches!  Back to the stir fry -- the general recipe is a bit of meat or tofu stir fried with garlic and ginger, a big pile of vegetables that are “steam fried”, and sauce made from a spoonful of cornstarch, soy sauce and other liquid, served on rice.   Following is my recipe, but don’t hesitate to adapt to your taste (or what’s in the fridge or the market)!

Stir Fry

3-4 servings.  This takes me a little over 30 minutes to make: I get everything out, start the rice (if I’m using white rice..  brown rice would need to be started sooner), clean and cut the vegetables, cut the meat, prep the sauce, start cooking.

Protein: ½ pound of chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, or tofu (more or less to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
½ teaspoon red pepper flake (optional)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Vegetables:
1 small onion (sliced vertically)
1 large carrot (sliced diagonally)
½ red or yellow bell pepper (sliced diagonally) (optional)
½ pound mushrooms, sliced
2-3 cups green vegetables (celery, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc)
2-3 cups bean sprouts or napa cabbage (or use more green vegetables)
Water or broth for steaming

Sauce:
¼ cup soy sauce (I like the lower sodium tamari kind)
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
Zest from one orange (optional)
Juice from one orange, or ¼ cup wine or rice vinegar (optional)
Water or broth to make one cup

The cooking goes quick: everything should be prepped prior to starting to cook. All the vegetable should be in bite size pieces. If using meat, slice across the grain in thin strips. For shrimp, leave whole if small or cut in chunks if big, or cube tofu.   To make the sauce, measure soy sauce in a 1 cup measuring cup, add remaining ingredients and stir.

In a large sauté pan (or wok), heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 30 seconds, and add the meat or other protein.   Stir and cook until the meat is done, this should take a few minutes at the most.  Remove the meat to a bowl or plate.   Add just a bit more oil, add the onions and stir, then add any hard vegetables (carrot, celery, broccoli).  Add some water or broth (about a ¼ cup) and turn the heat to high. Stir and steam, adding the additional vegetables in order of cooking time – goal is tender crisp.  Add more water if the pan gets dry.  Bean sprouts or cabbage will need less than a minute.  When the vegetables are done, make a hole in the center of the pan, stir the sauce mix again and add to the pan. Turn down the heat to low.  Stir and cook until the sauce is thick (about 30 seconds), add back the protein (with any juices), toss to mix.  Serve over rice.