Spear Hunting in the Produce Aisle by Cindy Embelton

RECIPE BELOW: White Asparagus with Garden Seasonings

When the electric door swings open at the grocery store entrance, you fly inside like a pig to a truffle patch. You’re a passionate food lover, armed with a fearless sense of adventure. Oranges? Passé. Green beans? Yawn. Instead, you head straight for the “alternative” produce section, that wild n’ woolly assortment of mysterious African melons, quinces and other edible anomalies—is the skin poisonous? What about the seeds? Your adrenaline swirls with the thrill of intrigue, exoticism and danger, and of course, there’s the most important question: which of these foods actually tastes good?

If you choose purple or white asparagus, you’re in for a treat. The purple kind looks much like the popular green variety, except that it’s slightly larger with burgundy skin. Though purple asparagus sightings are relatively rare, the lucky few who have eaten some often rave about its sweet, succulent taste. Produce expert Elizabeth Schneider writes in her book, Vegetables: from Amaranth to Zucchini that, “The purple spears…were…among the most sweet, juicy, tender, and tasty asparagus I have ever eaten. So was the purple asparagus I sampled last year, and a year earlier.” Part of this vegetable’s charm is that it has a 20% higher sugar content than its green counterpart, and it also tends to be less stringy. As an added bonus, purple asparagus can be eaten raw. If you prefer to serve it hot, the ideal cooking methods are boiling and steaming, but beware of one dirty secret: when cooked, purple asparagus turns green. To remedy this, some cooks add vinegar or lemon juice to the cooking water, since the acid in these liquids keeps the purple hue from fading. Purple asparagus will also retain much of its original color if you don’t cook it past al dente. Vinaigrettes enhance the flavor of this exquisite vegetable, and its creamy, emerald inside, coupled with its deep purple skin, makes it a vivid ingredient in salads.

Some farmers grow green asparagus without exposing it to sunlight. Because the “greening” and “purpling” pigments can’t develop without the sun, the end result is pristine, ivory white asparagus. The mild, nutty taste of white asparagus makes it a prime candidate for flavorful sauces and savory entrées: sidle it next to a hunk of ham or dip it into a dish of hollandaise sauce, and you’ve got something special. Unlike the green variety, white asparagus spears must be peeled before they’re cooked. The best way to tackle this is to hold the spear flat on a cutting board (if you try to peel it while holding it in the air, the spear might snap in half), and peel it from right under the tip, downward to the base, with a vegetable peeler. The outer peel is thin and comes off very easily. In view of this extra step, larger spears are generally recommended over smaller ones, because they’re easier to peel, and after peeling, you’re still left with a sizeable vegetable. Some cooks prefer to leave the peel on pencil-thin white asparagus, however, since small, thin spears can be quite tender, even with their peels intact.

When buying white or purple asparagus, look for shiny spears with closed tips, and avoid any that have dents, bruises, open tips or signs of shriveling. Also, be sure to buy from a chilled display area, since heat can wreak havoc on them. Time can be equally brutal, since all types of asparagus perish quickly. For this reason, you should buy only an amount that you plan to cook within the next day or two.

White Asparagus with Garden Seasonings

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This side dish can be served with any number of entrées, including marinated chicken breasts.

1 pound large, white asparagus spears, peeled and the bottoms trimmed off
(about 1 inch from the base)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Fresh Parmesan cheese

Arrange asparagus in a steamer basket and steam, covered, until you’re able to push a fork through a spear without any resistance. (Cooking time varies with spear thickness, averaging about 10 minutes.)

Once asparagus has been cooking for 5 minutes, heat olive oil in nonstick skillet over high heat for 30 seconds; add garlic to oil and reduce to medium heat, then sauté for 1 minute. (If garlic begins to brown, lower heat immediately.) Add basil and sauté mixture for 40 seconds. Remove mixture from heat; let sit for 4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove asparagus from steamer basket and place spears side by side on a platter (or on separate dishes); pat spears dry with a paper towel. Spoon garlic/basil mixture over asparagus; garnish with Parmesan shavings.

Serves 4.

Author: Cindy Embelton

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The One Pot Wonder by Jeannie Chen jeannie@jeanniechen.com

Shabu-Shabu Restaurants around New York City

The return of warm weather usually means to most severing the winter relationship we had with heavy stews and braises and rekindling our relationship with chilled soups and salads again.  Well, the one pot wonder cuisine called Shabu-Shabu never goes through break-ups because of the season, instead it is enjoyed year round by the Japanese and Chinese.  More recently the young crowd has made it popular, Shabu-Shabu establishments have been popping up in the different boroughs of New York City for the past few years.

Named Shabu Shabu by the Japanese for the swishing sound it makes when you cook the food in hot liquid, the Chinese, calling it ‘fire pot’,has in recent times have also adopted this name.  This cooking style, literally the “kitchen sink” in one pot is actually cooked by the customer at the table; could be individual as most new Chinese establishments are, or one large pot to share with at the table.  The communal pot promotes a social gathering while cooking and eating.  It’s ideal for families, but even more fun with a group of friends.

The idea is that all the best quality ingredients in raw form, vegetable, meat and seafood are cooked by dipping them into a pot of boiling light stock until cooked to the desire state.  The meal usually starts with a plate of vegetables and tofu, they also take a few more minutes to cook.  Meat and seafood are optional and are very quick cooking.  Noodles or rice vermicelli are also usually included to round out the meal.  The cooked morsels are dipped in a sauce of preference before eating it; the sauce varies from place to place.  The final coupe de grace is drinking the well flavored soup at the end. 

Of course, there are the occasional mistakes when cooking is left to the customer. Such as, the forgotten beef slice lost to the bottom of the broth, only to be discovered when drinking your soup. Or that shrimp was lost through the inexperience of using a chopstick. To rectify the common mistakes, restaurants do provide a personal sieve for each customer knowing that every customer’s chopstick skill can vary.

The health benefits of eating a shabu-shabu meal is unmistakable; it covers all the food groups and is low in fat and carbohydrate(note Atkin and South Beach dieters, your food option horizon has expanded!).  As an ethnic Chinese, I have enjoyed this style of cooking with my extended family since I could remember.  When done family style, it was always exciting for me to see the array of dishes my mom would put out as a selection.  But, it also alerted me that it was going to be a fun social night with my family and memories to be shared.

So, put aside your chilled gazpacho soup and fancy salads and go out a try a shabu-shabu meal in a nearby neighborhood. A little sweat at cooking your own meal is worth the effort at the end, then you can chill down with dessert of red bean or green tea ice cream.

Shabu-Shabu restaurants to be found around the New York City & Borough: 

Minni’s Shabu-Shabu
136-17 38^th avenue, Flushing, Queens, New York,  11355
(718) 762-6277, (718)762-6696
Average price:
Nearby subway: 7 train to last stop, Flushing. Or LIRR to Flushing stop
Good info to know: They serve individual shabu-shabu pot.

Flushing Mall (ground floor, food court)
http://www.888flushingmall.com/
133-31 39 Avenue (at Prince Street), Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 762-9000
Open: Sunday to Thursday: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Nearby subways: 7 train to last stop, Flushing. Or LIRR to Flushing stop

Shabu-Tatsu
216 East 10^th street, New York, NY 10003
(212)477-2972
Average price: $30/per person
Only open for dinner
Nearby Subways: 6 train, 14^th street or Astor place stop
Good info to know: Also offers cooking at table with Sukiyaki, and Japanese BBQ

Swish Café & Shabu-Shabu
www.swishrestaurant.com
88 West 3^rd street, New York, NY  10012
(212)777-8808
Average price: $25/per person
Nearby subways: A, C, E, F, B, D, V, West 4^th street stop
Good info to know: Offer chocolate fondues on Saturday night, call ahead to reserve it.

Author: Jeannie Chen jeannie@jeanniechen.com

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Drinks You Can Chew by Liz Tarpy lizatarp@hotmail.com

One of my favorite pastimes is browsing grocery stores. All sorts of grocery stores. The funkier the better. And most definitely ethnic. It is interesting to see what other cultures put in a can, or pickle, or even consider food. Some of the barks and seeds I see don’t inspire a lot of culinary confidence, but it’s fun to learn why these strange things are there and how to use them. 

Many people may consider themselves adventurous eaters, but what about adventurous drinkers? Drinking large quantities of bad alcohol in the wilderness with a loud group of friends doesn’t count as being adventurous. That’s just plain fun. I am talking about trying new and potentially gross drinks just for the sake of doing so.

I recently realized I had been neglecting an area of my favorite stores: the beverage section. So I decided to take a closer look.

Among the many cans and bottles on the refrigerator shelves of a local Asian grocery store, a certain subsection stood out: drinks with things in them. Things you chew. Drinks with names like Grass Jelly Drink. Rice Drink Punch. Basil Seed with Honey. How intriguing! 

I of course bought one of everything, raced to my friend’s house with a devilish grin, and we proceeded to have a tasting. 

The Taiwanese Grass Jelly drinks came in several flavors: original, coconut, banana, and lychee. All four of these varieties shared a common texture and color – lumpy, chewy, and murky. Not adjectives that might describe something you would voluntarily want to drink or find refreshing. But we all should be proven wrong on a regular basis. 

We found the original to have a slight medicinal taste, though pleasant and rejuvenating. This is not surprising considering the plant used to make the jelly, the Chinese herb chin chow, has cooling properties. The coconut flavor was full-on coconut cream. I almost felt I was drinking that horrid coconut-scented suntan lotion. The banana flavor was so fake, so cloying, and tasted like banana extract. And it stayed with me for hours, reminding me that I really don’t have to try everything. Our favorite was the lychee-flavored drink. We were reminded of roses, pineapples, and grapes.

Moving on to the Korean Rice Drink Punch, we felt ready for any challenge. We noted the sodden rice particles coming out of a cloudy, lemonade-like liquid and felt a little less certain. But, try it we did, finding it sweet, slightly syrupy, malty, and grainy. The flavor might remind someone of that ubiquitous school cafeteria dish: rice pudding.

Finally we arrived at the Thai Sweet Basil Drink with Honey, certainly the strangest looking of our selection, with tiny black seeds suspended in a gray (or sometimes yellow) liquid. First, we investigated the smell. Honey, vanilla, and banana came wafting from the bottle. Not a bad start. Timidly, we took a sip of this science project and were inundated by the seeds, which were encased in a jelly-like substance. The sweet liquid went down quickly, leaving the seeds behind. We chewed them quickly and then swallowed. The effect was thunderous – the popping echoed inside our heads, preventing any other sound from penetrating. All in all, not a terrible drink, but I am not sure I would be able to finish an entire bottle for pleasure unless some monetary reward were offered.

Having survived this tasting of chewy drinks, I feel ready to tackle other sections of these markets. I want to experience the whole range of flavors and textures (though “prickly” is not one I will look for readily) in as many cuisines as I can manage. Not only is it a form of armchair travel, but it will better inform my palate when I make choices in my everyday cooking.

Author: Liz Tarpy lizatarp@hotmail.com

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