Although asparagus is available to us year round, mid-April to June is the best time to eat these delicate spears. For optimal taste and nutrition, cook this veggie the day it’s purchased. If that’s not possible, keep it in the fridge for up to five days by wrapping the bottom of the stalks in a damp paper towel and placing them in a paper bag in the crisper drawer.
Storing asparagus well helps preserve its high content of folic acid (also known as folate) but it’s also a good source of beta carotene, potassium, vitamin K and fibre.
One of my favourite ways of preparing asparagus is roasting it with a flavoured oil, a recipe that I’ve adapted from Shirley O. Corriher’s book, Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking (HarperCollins, 1997).
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| photo by Linda Watts |
Flavoured oils are a subtle way to lower our fat intake; they pack more flavour than their plain cousins, so a little goes a long way. Neutral-tasting vegetable oils, including mild extra-virgin olive oils, can be infused with the essence of herbs, citrus zest, or dry spices, to amp up the taste of roasted or grilled vegetables, meat, chicken, fish or seafood. They can also form the base of more intensely flavoured salad dressings, marinades and sauces.
But infused oils can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Any substance containing water or moisture -- such as garlic, shallots, onion, citrus peel, fresh peppers, fresh herbs or spices -- that’s submerged in oil, may support the growth of the bacteria, Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism food poisoning.
C. botulinum bacteria grows in conditions where there is no oxygen. Storing oil in a sealed container doesn’t prevent contamination. What’s worse, is there are no obvious signs, appearance, taste or smell-wise, of spoilage.
To be safe, make small quantities of flavoured oil at any one time and use it within a few hours. If made ahead of time, refrigerate the oil for no longer than a week. Leftovers containing infused oil should be refrigerated and used within ten days, frozen, or discarded. Never store home-made flavoured oil at room temperature.
Although garlic infused in oil is especially known to cause harm, Health Canada states that it’s safe as long as it’s served immediately, or stored in the fridge on a continuous basis and used within a week.
Health Canada also recommends checking the label on commercially prepared garlic-in-oil products. If salt or acid is in the list of ingredients, then the product has been preserved. As long as you follow the directions for storing it, you don’t need to be concerned about food poisoning.
Roasted Asparagus with Lemon-Chili Oil
serves 6
What You Need:
1 shallot, minced
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup canola, grapeseed or peanut oil
1 teaspoon water
Finely grated zest of 3 small lemons
1 pound asparagus (about 24 to 30 stalks)
salt to taste
What To Do:
In a small saucepan, bring the shallot, red pepper flakes, black pepper and oil to a light boil, then reduce to a very low heat. Simmer for about 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the water and the zest of 2 lemons (save the rest of the zest for garnishing). Let mixture stand at room temperature for one hour and then strain the oil into a small container.
Preheat oven to 500 Fahrenheit. Place an oven rack on the top shelf of the oven. Trim the asparagus stalks by snapping off the wooden ends and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle 3 to 4 teaspoons of prepared lemon-chili oil over asparagus and toss with hands until stalks are well-coated. Arrange stalks side by side so they aren’t overlapping. Roast 6 to 7 minutes.
Remove from oven and spoon another 2 teaspoons of lemon-chile oil over the asparagus. Sprinkle with salt and 2 tablespoons of the remaining lemon zest. Serve right away.
Published in the Vancouver Courier, May 25, 2012
I love making my own pizza. Compared to take-out or store-bought varieties, homemade is fresher, tastier and cheaper. But I’ve always struggled with creating the crust; I’m notorious for whipping up pizza dough that’s sticky enough to hang pictures on the wall.
Recently, I discovered a dough recipe that’s changed my experience for the better. It’s made in a food processor and doesn’t require any fooling around with yeast and water temperature, or special flours.
The recipe, which is an adaptation of one written by New York Times food columnist and cookbook author, Mark Bittman (published in the New York Times, April 17, 2012), is perfect to prepare with young kids. There’s no need to hand-knead the dough; the food processor does the kneading for you. When it’s time to roll or stretch it out, the dough pretty much cooperates. And best of all, making this recipe shouldn’t create a big mess in your kitchen.
Make the dough ahead or within an hour of wanting to eat dinner. I often prepare and freeze the dough a few days before I want to use it. The time spent chilling makes it even easier to roll into your desired shape and thickness.
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| photo by Linda Watts |
Mark Bittman’s Pizza Dough
makes enough for two 10-inch thin-crust pizzas
What You Need:
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring hands and work surface
1 teaspoon instant yeast if freezing dough; 2 teaspoons, if making pizza immediately
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for oiling baking pans
1 cup water
What To Do:
Place 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon yeast (if freezing dough), 2 teaspoons salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor. Pulse machine about five times to combine ingredients. Turn machine on low setting and slowly drizzle in water through the feed tube. Near the end of the drizzling, the food processor will get noisier and rock a bit as the ingredients come away from the sides of the processor and the dough forms.
When all the water is added, the dough shouldn’t be sticking to the sides of the container. If it does, add more flour, one tablespoon at a time, with the machine running. If the dough is too dry and refuses to come together, add more water, one tablespoon at a time. Turn machine off once dough forms to prevent it from toughening.
Using clean, lightly-floured hands gather the dough together and gently pat into one large ball; slice into two equal parts. Wrap each half in plastic wrap. If freezing, place dough balls in a large zip-lock bag and freeze for no longer than a week. When ready to use, allow the dough to reach room temperature before rolling out. If you’re making pizza right away, let each plastic-wrapped dough balls rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 F. Lightly oil two baking pans and set aside. Lightly flour a clean counter top or large cutting board, and remove each dough ball from plastic wrap. Gently roll or pat out dough with a lightly-floured rolling pin, or your hands, into desired shape and thickness. If dough isn’t cooperating because it’s too elastic, let it rest for about 10 minutes and then go back to it. Once rolled out, transfer dough to each baking pan and pinch edges to form a raised outer edge.
Layer pizza with your favourite toppings and bake until the bottom of the crust is crisp and the top of the pizza is browned and bubbling, about 10 to 20 minutes.
published in the Vancouver Courier, May 11, 2012
If you've been keeping up with the latest food and diet trends, you’ve most likely heard the buzz about gluten-free eating. In the last five years there’s been an explosion of gluten-free articles in the media and gluten-free products in the marketplace.
British Columbia’s Silver Hills Bakery has gotten on the bandwagon by introducing two bread products: gluten-free Mack’s Flax and Chia Chia.
“Finding healthy, gluten-free products proved to be a challenge [for consumers], so it was a natural fit that we wanted to help inspire healthier living for all dietary needs,” says Brad Brousson, co-founder of Silver Hills Bakery and vice-president of sales and distribution. “They’re the only 100 per cent organic, vegan, whole food gluten-free breads out there.”
Gluten is one of several proteins naturally present in wheat, rye and barley. While obvious sources are bread products, pastas and most breakfast cereals, gluten may also be found in salad dressings, sauces (including soy sauce), seasonings; soups, prepared meats, candy, flavoured coffees and teas, and corn- and rice-based cold cereals.
Although eating gluten isn’t an issue for many of us, others truly suffer. According to Dr. Scott Whittaker, a gastroenterologist at St. Paul’s Hospital and professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, a small percentage of the population have the genetically-determined illness, celiac disease (CD), and another segment of the public -- a larger group -- have a more broadly defined condition called gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity.
Whittaker explains that when an individual with CD consumes gluten, it triggers an immune response in the body that causes an inflammatory reaction in their small intestine. This in turn damages the small intestine lining. And since that lining is the direct pathway for nutrients to enter our bloodstream, proteins, fats, calcium, iron, other minerals and vitamins may not be properly absorbed.
“The degree to which people run into problems [with nutrient deficiencies] and experience symptoms depends upon the severity and duration of the inflammatory reaction in their small bowel,” said Whittaker. “And the thing that we’re learning, from doing more screening, is that the majority with CD don’t have the classic symptoms of diarrhea and steatorrhea (fat malabsorption).”
Instead, many individuals are coming into their doctors’ and dietitians’ offices with more vague symptoms such as unintentional weight loss, bloating, gastrointestinal discomfort, fatigue and iron deficiency -- symptoms that overlap with other conditions, namely irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. Some individuals may even have “silent celiac disease”: they have no or very subtle gastrointestinal symptoms despite the evidence of significant injury to their small intestine lining.
Shelley Case, a Regina-based registered dietitian who specializes in celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, says that physicians and other heath care providers are now realizing that the prevalence of CD in the North American population is much higher than initially thought. Once believed to be 1 in 10,000, research over the past decade has revealed that 1 in 100 people have the condition.
Case, who authored Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide (Case Nutrition Consulting Inc., 2010), adds that because the condition is being mistaken for other illnesses, only 5 to 10 per cent of those with CD are being diagnosed. That means at least 90 per cent of people with the disease are walking around unaware.
To boot, recent U.S. research indicates that six per cent of the North American population may have what is described as non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Unlike CD, it isn’t an autoimmune disease where sufferers develop long-term complications but the symptoms are similar.
“At this point we really don’t know that much about non-celiac gluten sensitivity. There are many unanswered questions, like: do these individuals have tolerance levels or can they possibly grow out of the condition?,” Case said. “And we don’t have an accurate test for diagnosing non-celiac gluten sensitivity. The only way to diagnose this condition is to rule out CD while the individual is still eating gluten. If the tests are negative, a gluten-free diet trial is initiated to see if symptoms resolve.”
CD can develop at any age. We can have the genetic markers for the condition from birth and be perfectly healthy eating gluten until a stressful event (puberty, pregnancy, surgery, or an illness such as a gastrointestinal infection) switches on the immune system and causes us to lose our tolerance for gluten.
Interestingly, the number of people diagnosed with the condition has doubled over the past 15 years and, according to a study by Italian celiac expert Dr. Carlo Catassi, the fastest growing age group of North Americans being diagnosed is 40 to 60 year olds. This begs the question: why are so many older folks developing CD?
One thing is for certain: it’s not because of changes in wheat protein from the hybridization of plant strains -- a theory espoused by Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly: Lose the wheat, lose the weight, and find your path back to health.
Case, who sits on the Grain Foods Foundation Scientific Advisory Board in the U.S. and has consulted with wheat genetic scientists, said: “Genetically modified wheat isn’t grown in North America and isn’t in the U.S. or Canadian food supply. Wheat protein content hasn’t significantly changed over the years – it’s actually lower than the ancient grain, Kamut. However, one thing that has shifted is the baking industry’s increased use of vital wheat gluten to produce better volume and texture so we may be eating more gluten than our ancestors did.”
Recent research has shed light on a possible reason for the increased prevalence of CD and other autoimmune diseases: changes to our intestinal bacterial composition. The quality of our diet, using acid reduction medications, or over-using antibiotics may be disturbing the ratio of good-to-bad bacteria in our digestive tract and interfering with the digestion and absorption of gluten.
Whittaker, however, is more cautious about discussing prevalence theories. “We have more accurate diagnostic techniques and there’s good evidence that the rate of CD has increased but what’s not clear is the reason for the rise. Until we have more research, we [health care providers and the media] have to be careful about putting out theories because people may make changes to their lifestyle based on speculation,” said the physician.
But is there any harm eating gluten-free products when we don’t have CD or any kind of gluten sensitivity? After all, doesn’t eating a gluten-free diet help with weight loss?
“A gluten-free diet doesn’t equal weight loss,” said Case. “It’s not gluten, per se, that causes us to drop pounds; it’s the reduction in calories from eating less bread, pasta, pizza and baked goods.”
“If you compare some of these gluten-free products [with gluten-containing items] they are often higher in calories because of the levels of sugar and fat needed to make the ingredients cohesive and make the product palatable,” she added.
“And eating gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s always healthier, either. Nutrition-wise, you may not be getting the fibre, iron and B vitamins in a lot of gluten-free items unless you’re using bread products, cereals and pastas enriched with these nutrients and/or eating more nutrient-dense gluten-free whole grains.” (Note: Silver Hills’ gluten-free breads are enriched.)
That being said, Case emphasizes that you can eat a healthy gluten-free diet if you start eating more nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, low fat milk products, and good gluten-free whole grains.
Those who follow a gluten-free diet because it’s the latest food trend, concern Case. “Because of all the hype in the media about celebrities going gluten-free, the people who really do need it medically often aren’t being taken seriously by others or when they eat out in restaurants,” she said.
If you believe that gluten is causing health problems, Case says it’s important to be tested; CD affects about one per cent of the population. And it’s crucial that you’re eating enough gluten-containing foods (e.g., 2-4 slices of bread/day) for at least six to eight weeks prior to having the celiac blood work and biopsy done for the tests to be accurate. If the CD tests come back negative and completing a trial of eliminating gluten from your diet significantly improves your health, you may be among the six per cent who have non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
“I strongly advise anyone with CD or non-celiac gluten sensitivity to consult a registered dietitian who specializes in the area because the gluten-free diet is one of the most complex to follow,” said Case.
For more information on the gluten-free diet, celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, visit here and here.
Originally published in the Vancouver Courier, March 16, 2012
