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Low Salt Law

The Accidental Hedonist's Food Journal reports that "the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has recently begun a campaign to encourage processed food companies to reduce the amount of sodium in their goods by more than 40 percent over the next decade." Not clear to me whether they are aiming to legislate, as they did for trans fats in restaurants. I hope not. Spending public funds to promote lower salt is fine with me, but making it the law is another matter. Here's the comment I posted.

Difficult question, but not new: Freedom vs. public good. I don't think the public benefit here is sufficient to tell people what they can buy and sell. But that said, I would enjoy seeing lower salt use because people are so used to overly salty foods that they can't taste it. Reducing all the salt use would make foods taste better for all. As it is, most reduced sodium products (e.g. chicken broth) are saltier than I like.

But that's just me and while I would like to see it happen, legislating it seems wrong to me. 

What do you think?

The Queen's Website

 

Queen Elizabeth II has redesigned the British Monarchy's official website, with the assistance of Tim Berners-Lee -- the man who invented the World Wide Web. Really. 

Source: Silicon Valley Webguild

Shop TJ's

If you have never been to Trader Joe's, you can watch this, but won't understand the TJ experience. If you have, then you'll be tickled by:

via: TheFoodGeek.com

Parmesan Bath

This may horrify my fellow foodies.

Freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese is an on-hand staple for any serious cook. I found myself throwing away half-used blocks, not because  it had spoiled, but because it had dried out and was hard to grate. My remedy is to give it a quick rinse with water and place it in a food container (not plastic wrap) in the refrigerator! The small amount of moisture rehydrates the cheese but is not enough to encourage mold. The cheese lasts a very, very long time and remains easy to grate.

Gluten-Free Pie Crust

Baking without gluten is like building a house without nails or screws: You can still build it, but you have to be crafty and it won't be quite the same. A protein found primarily in wheat, gluten is the elastic component of flour that catches the bubbles and makes the dough rise, and gives the baked goods their stretchy, springy bite.

Unfortunately, people with celiac disease have to eliminate gluten from their diets. Which makes cooking difficult and baking -- well, more difficult. Long on the lookout for a decent pie crust, we found this one, posted by "GingerLemonGirl." 

It's very good! The texture is not quite the same but it's very close to a good crust made with conventional flour. We used it to make the Presidents' Pie.

Presidents Pie

Two stories in one. The first is about this great berry pie we found in the newspaper: President's Pie. The second is about the crust, which is gluten-free.

First, the pie. It's a berry pie, made with blueberries and raspberries. The filling is bright in color with big, berry flavors, not too sweet, and the berries kept their form. I was fortunate that the Farmer's Market had nice raspberries (in January). I got a three-pack which turned out to be exactly right. The blueberries came from the supermarket where the big clamshell was on sale. You can use strawberries, too.

Presidential Pie (Off-Season Cherry Pie)

This is the original recipe, as we found it, though we did not use this crust (we used the gluten-free crust — recipe below).

If you use the gluten-free crust, skip the lattice. GF dough is not workable enough.

Crust:
1 - 3/ 4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
⅓ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Filling and assembly:
Milk and sugar for glaze
¼ cup sugar
1 cup cherry preserves (we used Bonne Maman, which was excellent)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ lb. blueberries
¾ lbs. raspberries
2 teaspoons butter

In a large bowl whisk together flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt. Cut butter into small cubes and with quick fingers work it into flour mixture until bits range in size from specks to peas. Stir together sour cream, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons cold water. Pour cream mixture over flour mixture. Toss with a fork to form lumps. If the pastry looks dry, drizzle on 1-2 tablespoons cold water. Turn out, knead once or twice. Divide pastry into 2 discs, 1 slightly larger than the other. Wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Roll out the smaller round of chilled pastry into a 9-inch circle. Using a pastry wheel, slice into strips 3/4 inch wide. Line a baking pan with parchment or waxed paper. Calmly weave a lattice onto the paper. Brush with milk, sprinkle with sugar. Slide pan into the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

Roll out the larger round of pastry into an 11-inch circle. Fit into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Chill.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrape preserves into a large bowl. Stir together sugar and cornstarch, sprinkle onto preserves, mix thoroughly. Roll in blueberries and raspberries. Add butter, cut into bits. Using a rubber spatula, mix gently.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set pan with chilled crust on top. Pile fruit mixture into the crust. Settle frozen lattice on top.

Bake until crust is light brown, 25 minutes. Cover loosely with foil and continue baking until the crust turns golden brown and the juices bubble, 20-25 minutes more. Cool on a rack completely before sliding off ring and slicing.

Source: Leah Eskin, Chicago Tribune