For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week the sugar industry blocks dental research, high vitamin D linked to death, and Julia Child’s amazing egg poaching technique.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (Yes, I took that picture of the pepper heart myself.)

Read the rest of this story »

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week mindful eating reduces future eating, fish oil supplements may negate real fish benefits and spray paint becomes edible, or something.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato,  Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (And yes, I took that pepper heart pic myself).

Links of the week

• Food memories may aid weight loss, researchers say <<Cool new research suggests that mindfulness doesn’t just help you eat less in the moment, but can also help you remember what you ate better so that you eat less in the future. Got that? (LA Times)
• Why Fish Is Better Than Supplements: Omega-3s from Fish Vs. Fish Oil Pills Better at Maintaining Blood Pressure in Mouse Model <<This is fascinating research. It doesn’t just show that natural omega-3s are better, but that the version of DHA in most supplements actually antagonizes the benefits of the natural form. I’m not recommending everyone toss their supplements just yet, but keep an eye on this research and choose natural sources of nutrition whenever possible. (ScienceDaily)
• Edible Spray Paint Gives Food A Futuristic Feel <<BS of the week. Tell me these pictures of metallic blue strawberries don’t make you gag. WTF is wrong with people?? (Huffington Post)
• Brain Pathway Triggering Impulsive Eating Identified <<Eating for pleasure, it’s not just for foodists anymore! Next time someone calls you an elitist for caring about how food tastes, tell them that even maggots do it so it’s totally natural. (ScienceDaily)
• Salty Diet Might Help Trigger MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis <<New research suggests excessive salt (read: excessive processed foods) increases risk of autoimmune disorders. It’ll be interesting to see how this line research turns out. (Medline)
• Make Perfect Poached Eggs with a Mesh Strainer <<Whenever I’ve used someones “trick” to make perfect poached eggs, they still never turn out quite right. This, however, looks very promising. (Lifehacker)
• Food Allergy Advice for Kids: Don’t Delay Peanuts, Eggs <<Speaking of eggs, if your kids are allergic to them it could be because you waited too long to introduce them as babies. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Shelf Life of Food <<Want a super duper handy chart showing you how long you can keep different foods in your kitchen? Of course you do. (Visual.ly)
• Kimchi Omelet <<I eat kimchi with eggs at least once or twice a week. Here’s a slightly more elegant version, courtesy of David Lebovitz and Jaden Hair.

 What inspired you this week?

Poached Egg Salad

Several weeks ago I wrote about how to make your salads more satisfying by adding extra protein, fat and whole grains. In this recipe I experiment with poaching eggs, which turned out to be easier than I expected.

To me poached eggs have always seemed like an impossible delicacy best left to San Francisco’s finest brunching establishments. The few times I tried poaching eggs before turned out to be a disaster, so I erroneously assumed the skills required were beyond my grasp.

Turns out I just wasn’t doing it right and it is actually pretty easy.

As you might guess, my fear of cooking poached eggs was conquered by the wisdom of Mark Bittman in his book How To Cook Everything. For me the problem was in the temperature of the water. To keep the eggs from being torn apart by boiling bubbles, the temperature must be kept just below the boiling point.

Problem solved.

Summer Salad With Poached Egg

Ingredients:

• Gem lettuces
• Treviso (or radicchio)
• Summer tomato
• Yellow crooked neck squash
• Mediterranean cucumber
• Avocado
• French green lentils (cooked)
• Green onion
• Basil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Farm fresh eggs
• White vinegar
• Salt and pepper

For the eggs, start heating a deep skillet or shallow pot with 1 inch deep water. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp white vinegar. Heat the water until it barely bubbles, around 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

For salads I recommend using your best farmers market greens, but anything colorful you can find will work (this salad is wonderful with frisée). The list above is what I used, but obviously whatever you have around is fine.

I’m a big fan of adding raw summer squash to salads, but the quality of the squash is very important if you are eating it raw. The fresher the better.

Chop your greens and vegetables while your water is heating and prepare your salad dressing. With eggs I love to use a red wine Dijon vinaigrette. Something about the mustard and egg combination is divine.

My vinaigrette recipe is as simple as it gets:

Add 1/4 cup high-quality extra virgin olive oil and just under 1/4 cup red wine vinegar. Add 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard to taste, salt and pepper to taste and whisk with a fork for a few seconds. Taste and adjust the condiments until you like it.

Personally I do not think it is necessary to add sugar to salad dressing, but some people do. You can also add 1 tsp of finely diced shallots or some minced garlic if you want extra flavor.

In a large bowl, toss your vegetables with your dressing. After this add your lentils (or brown rice or nuts), and toss again. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Use tongs to plate your salad and get ready to prep your eggs.

Rinse your eggs and crack them one at a time into a small bowl or large serving spoon. Gently lower each egg into the warm water and release it into the pan (use a larger pan for batches greater than 2). Allow the egg to cook until the yolk has filmed over and the white is set, about 3-5 minutes.

Remove egg with a slotted spoon, drain off water and carefully place the egg on top of your salad. Garnish with pepper and serve immediately. Poached eggs go particularly nicely with sour toast.

Do you have any tips for poaching eggs?

Originally published June 24, 2009.