(y)our food choices

Author Archives: (y)our food choices

We cook a lot in our tiny kitchen and love it! Baked bread, simmering soups and homemade pizzas are just a few of the staples in our apartment. We are constantly experimenting with recipes and love a challenge. We’re not Iron Chefs but we do respect the men and women who are and their dedication to the craft. We’re just two men who are trying to get back into the simple ways of life. We’re all about farmer’s markets and grass fed beef. We believe that the food we eat is sacred, even if we are not of the religious state of mind, and that with every bite we take or every drink we consume we can all make a difference, for good or not so good. We hope you enjoy reading about what we are eating, peruse the pictures we take of our food, and tell us about what your eating and drinking. In the future we will be linking this blog to a new blog called Your Food Choices where we hope to get some lively discussions about food and how it affects us all. Cheers! Steve & Jason

Parmesan Cheese Rind Soup

Let’s assume that if you’re reading our blog you’re a foodie, right? Which means that you don’t have a can of Kraft Parmesan cheese in the refrigerator and that you most likely have a wedge of Grana Padano, or another type of parmesan cheese, that you use on a regular basis. And if you don’t know the difference it’s time that you do a bit of homework on the world of cheeses and visit your nearest cheese shop, or at least go online and do some research. Cheese should never come in a can, and don’t get us started on Cheeze Whiz. If you have a can of that crap in your fridge you have some serious food hang-ups and there’s probably nothing we can do to help you. So stop reading and just leave, just kidding. But seriously, get up from your computer and get rid of that can of Cheeze Whiz now.

We purchase Grana Padano from Costco, and while it is a large wedge it also lasts us for months. The best way we have found to store it is in a plastic bag (we are looking for an alternative, but as of today, it’s the best solution), within a plastic box (again, looking for an alternative) in the fridge. The plastic box has become our cheese drawer. It allows moisture to remain at a minimum while also keeping the cheeses fresh, and since Grana Padano is in the hard cheese category you’ll want minimal moisture. We use the cheese with anything from pastas, soups, breads, sandwiches, and anything that parmesan cheese is used for you can use Grana Padano. It has a nutty, sharp flavor that intensifies any dish.

When we get down to the rinds, something most people would just throw away, we freeze them and use them for soup stock. The flavor is so intense and wonderful and the soup is so rich that all you need is a small cup to be satisfied, although you’ll be tempted to eat a large bowl. The cost of the soup is also so economical that it literally costs less than a can of Campbell’s soup to make. If you have a pressure cooker it will take very little time to create. If you don’t have one you can use canned beans or soak dried beans overnight but it will take a lot more time, and the flavors won’t be the same.

Beans and Herbs in the pot

Cheese Rind Soup Recipe

2 cups dried Navy beans (picked over for small stones)

2 bay leaves

Sage & Thyme bundle

2-3 garlic cloves

½ – 1 pound Grana Padano cheese rinds (or other hard cheese rinds)

1 pound Kale, Chard, Spinach, or other leafy greens

Add the dried navy beans, garlic, bay leaves, sage and thyme to the pressure cooker, with about six cups water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 12-15 minutes. The beans will not be fully cooked. Reduce pressure and add the cheese rinds. Bring back to a boil and pressure cook for another 10-15 minutes. Reduce pressure again and remove the cheese rinds. The rinds will be hot so take caution when removing. Chop the rinds into small pieces and add them back to the soup. Add the greens and bring to boil and then pressure cook again for about 5-7 minutes. The cheese should mostly be melted but there may be small pieces. Add salt and pepper to taste. The cheese will already add a lot of salt so take caution not to add too much. Make sure to stir after each reduction of the pressure to assure that the cheese does not stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.

Serve with a drizzle of good quality extra-virgin olive oil. You can also add croutons or serve with crackers. For a spicy kick add your favorite Tabasco or hot sauce.

It's What We're Reading Now

No Impact Man

I picked up No Impact Man, by Colin Beavan, at the library on Sunday, the day we posted a piece on our blog about our Plastic-Free Dream. [Digression: I just need to say that the library is an amazing place. For years Steve and I have gone to bookstores and purchased books just because we “had to have them.” Now we walk just two blocks to the local branch of the San Francisco Public Library where we can borrow as many books as we want at anytime, and if we don’t read them we don’t feel guilty for spending the money. Check out your local library before purchasing your next book.] While we don’t plan on going on an impact-free diet, we’ll still use electricity and toilet paper, I’m sure it’s going to give us helpful information on reducing regular plastic use.

The next part of this post is going to be a little critical of Steve–sorry Sweetie. On Sunday, Steve made the delicious frittata with stinging nettle. (If you didn’t read the post let’s just say we were popular with the BDSM Googlers for a minute.) There was enough left over for Steve to take for lunch today and for my lunch as well. To my surprise, I opened the fridge and pulled it out it for lunch and I discovered that it was wrapped in parchment … AND plastic. Was the plastic wrap really necessary? Couldn’t it have been stored in a Tupperware container instead? I also noticed that the blanching broth from the stinging nettle was also covered in plastic. We do have mason jars with lids that Steve could have used instead, eliminating the need for the plastic wrap cover. So, unfortunately, on the first day of our plastic-free life, Steve used plastic wrap twice when it wasn’t necessary at all.

Plastic FAIL

I know to many I’m sounding like a nag, which I probably am, but if we are truly going to stand by our pact to reduce our use of plastic we both need to take that first step together. Sweetie, I am sorry for the public humiliation, but the next time you reach for the plastic wrap I hope you’ll remember this blog entry and that it makes you think twice about wrapping anything in plastic.

With Love, Jason

Explanation for the title revision “Busted!”: Writing a blog with your husband can be challenging at times. In our case, Steve’s grammar is impeccable and I like to have him review and edit my posts before I publish them. Sometimes he gets a bit carried away changing the style and tone of them, and publishing them before I have a chance to review. For yesterday’s blog, Steve titled it “Busted!” and posted it before I had a chance to agree to it. In my opinion it set the tone of the blog to be very accusatorial and finger-pointing at Steve, which was not my intention at all. I may be anally retentive when it comes to certain things, but in this case I just wanted to set our Plastic-free dream off on the right foot. I’ve changed the title to reflect my true intension, “Hard Habit to Break” and hope that with that change my true tone is reflected in the blog post. Of course, now that I have spent the last paragraph explaining all this it makes me sound like a true prick, but I’ll let you be the judge of it.