Self-confessed Food Nerd

I am browsing through a book called Food in History by Reay Tannahill, hence the aforementioned "food nerd". And I couldn't believe this excerpt concerning food additives in the 1800s:

"China tea was green, and fake varieties were often produced from thorn leaves by drying them and then colouring them with verdigris, which was, of course, poisonous...The usual thing was for merchants simply to buy up used tea leaves from hotels, coffee houses and the servants of the rich, stiffen them with a gum solution and re-tint them with black lead. Even after treatment with verdigris or lead, however, tea was still a healthier drink than some of the 'gin' that had been sold a century earlier - compounded, according to one recipe, from ingredients that included sulphuric acid and oil of turpentine.
...crusted old port was new port crusted with supertartrate of potash; ...pickles owed their appetizing green colour to copper; ...many table wines gained their 'nutty' flavour from bitter almonds, which contain prussic acid; ...the rainbow hues of London's boiled sweets were produced by the highly poisonous salts of copper and lead; ...most commercial bread was loaded with alum; and ...the rich orange rind of Gloucester cheese came form ordinary red lead."

Shrimp Fettucini with Pesto and Asparagus

This was a foray on our own last night with a little help from Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cookbook. I used her recipe for blender pesto and omitted the pine nuts and romano cheese simply because we didn't have either on hand.

Serves 2

Pesto

2 cups basil leaves

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup good evoo

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

3 Tbs. room temperature butter

Combine ingredients in a blender and pulse. The sides may have to be scraped down occassionally. Remove pesto from blender and beat cheese in by hand. Add butter. Place pesto in fridge until ready to use.

Fettucini

1 bunch asparagus

10 pieces 26 count shrimp, deveined, shell on

2 cloves garlic peeled and minced

2 Tbs. butter

1 bag fettucini

2 Tbs. salt

I keep the asparagus in their rubberbanded bundle and chop off the tough ends. Cut the remaining stalks into three even pieces. Put a large pot with enough water to accomodate the asparagus on the stove to boil. When boiling add the asparagus and cook them until they are tender, about 10 minutes depending on the size of your vegetables. I drain the asparagus and save the heated water to cook the fettucini returning it immediately to the stove on high. Once it is at a rolling boil add the 2 Tbs. salt and enough fettucini for two people. In a medium sized skillet melt 1 Tbs. butter over low heat. Once melted increase the heat to medium low. Add the garlic, cook until you can smell it then add the shrimp. They will take about five minutes to cook through. Do not overcook them or they will be tough. Remove the shrimp from the pan and put in the asparagus with the last Tbs. of butter. Allow them to warm on low heat while the pasta finishes cooking. I generally drain the pasta then return it to low heat in the same pot in which it cooked. To this add the shrimp, asparagus, and pesto and toss until completely combined.

Lavender Iced Tea

Well it had to happen sometime. The temperature has crept up into the nineties this week. And in amongst our whinings about the upcoming summer we decided to make some Iced Tea. It's a summer treat. Something to combat the 100+ degrees when we hole up inside and draw the curtains. We're not there yet, but this will calm our anxiety about the coming inferno.

yield: 3 quarts

Tea

2 qt. water + 1 qt. added at end

10 Lipton or other black tea bags

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp dried lavender buds - roll them in your palms or fingers to crush them and release their flavour

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Knot tea bags together for easy retrieval and when pot boils, dump them in. Turn off the heat and let steep for half hour or until mixture cools. To make the simple syrup, combine sugar and water in a sauce pot. Stir to wet all the sugar and put on low heat. At this point make sure there are no sugar crystals clinging to the edges of the pot. They will cloud the syrup. Simply wipe them off using a wet pastry brush or your finger. I'm not particular. When sugar appears to have entirely or almost entirely dissolved up the heat to medium or medium high (depending on patience). Let simple syrup come to a rolling boil for ten seconds. Turn off heat. Add lavender buds. Let steep for 10 minutes. Strain out lavender, add to tea, and add remaining quart of water. Voila!

Sea bass and Fennel Tagine

While Tyler and I are sometimes adventurous enough to "wing it" in the kitchen we often use recipes in cookbooks. This stew comes from Meditteranean by Joanna Farrow and Jacqueline Clarke.

stew

1 1/2 pounds sea bass or other whitefish

8 oz. shrimp

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 bulb fennel

1 onion

2 cups fish broth or weak chicken stock

8 oz. new or waxy potatoes cut into large pieces

chermoula

4 tsp. paprika

4 tsp. ground cumin

3 Tbs. white vinegar

1 Tbs. lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic crushed

2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tbs. chopped fresh Italian parsley

Assemble the chermoula first. Shell, tail, and devein the shrimp. Cut the whitefish into large bitesize pieces. Place the seafood in separate shallow containers and coat each in half of the chermoula mixture. Cover fish and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. In a large dutch oven heat the olive oil on medium. Add the onion sauteing for 2 minutes. To this add the fennel and cook until the vegetables begin to catch the bottom of the pot and brown. Add the stock and scrape up the yummy brown bits on the bottom of the pot. To this add the potatoes, cover and simmer until they are tender - about 15 minutes. Uncover pot, test the potatoes, if they are just about cooked, add the whitefish taking care to also add all the chermoula. Make sure the pot is at a low simmer so the fish doesn't fall apart too much. After about 4 minutes add the shrimp which will take an additional 2 minutes to cook. Serve with a crusty baguette, good quality olive oil (for drizzling) and kosher salt.