The weekend begins and I am thinking about the meal of the day….I use to own a small cafe, limited seating and a great menu…..but that was younger days…..I also use to write a food blog, The Food Nazi, but time made me give it up in favor of IST……so from time to time I enjoy writing some food news or even some recipes depending on my mood.
Speaking of recipes……
Bags of mixed baby peppers, 5-6cm long and in red, yellow and orange, are available from most supermarkets (they’re sometimes labelled “chiquino”). They vary in size, so use more or less of the filling as required. Serves four to six.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch swiss chard, trimmed, stalks and leaves finely sliced
Salt and black pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 mild red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
30g pine nuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
50g pecorino romano, finely grated
80g mozzarella block, roughly grated
500g mixed baby peppers (ie, about 20 baby peppers)
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Heat the oil in a large saute pan on a medium-high flame, then fry the chard, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of pepper for 15 minutes, stirring often, until the stalks are soft and starting to brown. Add the garlic, chilli and oregano, fry for another minute, then take off the heat. Leave to cool, then stir in the pine nuts and both cheeses.
Optional: I mix in some Ras al-Hout seasoning….
Enjoy…..
Today I would like to write about some health issues around our food.
But first a little food news from the presidential trip…..
When President Donald Trump sits down for dinner in Saudi Arabia, caterers have ensured that his favorite meal — steak with a side of ketchup — will be offered alongside the traditional local cuisine.
This should explain everything…….a beautiful steak with ketchup….sounds like a 6 year old’s meal…..
First, is avocados…..it appears that people are injuring themselves when cleaning an avocado…….
Avocados are all the rage. So much so that Huffington Post recently called the opening of New York’s first avocado bar “painfully trendy.” Turns out avocados are also, quite literally, part of a painful trend. Emergency room doctors are reporting an increase in the number of amateur chefs winding up with serious “stab and slash” injuries as they attempt to cut through the soft flesh and remove the hard pit, reports the Times of London. The injury even comes with its own name: “avocado hand.”
“I had to go to the [ER] and get three stitches and I have lost most of the sensation in my finger,” Freya Watson, a TV producer in London, tells Vice’s Munchies. “When I was in the [ER], there was a woman with the exact same injury.” Sure enough, people are posting pictures with hashtags like #avocadoinjury, and Simon Eccles—secretary and former president of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgeons—tells the Times he sees four patients a week with avocado hand. So if you’re unskilled yourself, maybe watch a few tutorials before attempting to dissect
Okay people it is NOT rocket science…..you use the back end of a chef’s knife a good whack and twist and the pit will come out very easily.
After reading that I though about a post I did a year ago about this guy that was suing a major chicken chain because he hurt himself eating fried chicken…..(read it below)……
Source: How Do You Eat Fried Chicken? – In Saner Thought
Don’t know about you but I would never admit that I could not eat fried chicken without injuring myself…..
Lastly, this one is for all those people that must eat “bait”….sushi……
Beware your next Seattle roll; doctors say it could contain something that should never be found in sushi (besides cream cheese): a “worm-like” parasite. A paper published Thursday in BMJ Case Reports says cases of anisakiasis are on the rise in the West due to the increasing popularity of sushi and other dishes involving raw or under-cooked fish. The report gives the example of a Portuguese man who was suffering vomiting, fever, and stomach pain. He told doctors he had recently eaten sushi, and they discovered an anisakis larva attached to his stomach lining, CTV News reports. According to CNN, the anisakis is a parasitic worm that lives in mackerel, squids, salmon, herring, cod, red snapper, and halibut.
There’s no treatment for anisakiasis, which can also cause bowel obstruction and digestive bleeding, besides physical removal of the anisakis larva, which can require surgery, the Guardian reports. Anisakiasis is common in Japan due to the prevalence of raw fish in the diet, with between 2,000 and 3,000 cases diagnosed per year. But cases are starting to pop up in the US and elsewhere in the West. To avoid getting the parasite, patronize high-quality sushi restaurants. “Properly trained sushi chefs can detect anisakis larvae,” one doctor says. “They are grossly visible in the fish.” Or if you’re making sushi at home, freeze the fish for at least four days beforehand to kill the larvae
Safety Tip: If you must eat fish…then cook the damn thing and avoid the ER.
A closing thought: Ketchup on steak? Seriously!
Careful what you eat. Enjoy your Saturday…..be well, be safe….chuq
