(y)our food choices™

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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.

Nettle Frittata

The Story

The first thing Steve says to me after returning from the farmer’s market with a small batch of stinging nettles is that a few year’s ago he read that nettles are used in certain cultures as a penis-enhancing device. Allegedly, they’re put to use by rubbing them on the penis with the resulting swelling from the “venom” making it bigger. I’ve never heard of using stinging nettle as a male enhancement so I asked him to explain his remark and to do a Google search to back up his claim. His reply was a statement that I’m a pervert even though he’s the one who brought up the topic. After doing a bit of searching on Google we discovered that nettles are used in BDSM (bondage) play – not exactly our cup of tea. We won’t go into the salacious details here (you can do your own Google search on the topic if you want). Our collective reply to this type of use of the herb was “OUCH!” Rest assured neither one of us wants to volunteer for the nefarious experiment. Our goal is to find a purely culinary use for them!

Fresh Stinging Nettles

The prickly bastards are so painful that while Steve was cleaning them one of the stingers got him on a finger tip and it hurt like a huck-a-buck for several hours. I decided not to handle them, but can only imagine the pain.

Last night while I was working, Steve did a bit more research on the herb (weed, vegetable?) and discovered it is actually good for you. As it turns out, they’re full of vitamin K and a host of antioxidants. What’s more, they’re 40% protein, more than just about any herbaceous edible around. The species is ubiquitous and has been used as food for centuries. Northern Europeans have been making soups and teas from the leaves and in Italy, they’re ground into pesto with walnuts or used as a filling in stuffed pastas. In England, they’re used to flavor cheese. In Native American cultures, nettles are powerful medicine.

This morning Steve made a great frittata with the stinging nettles. They added a beautiful, green color in contrast with the earthy colors of potato, caramelized onion and golden egg. If you can’t find the prickly things you can also substitute spinach or any leafy greens for them with great results. Just make sure you use heavy plastic gloves when handling and we recommend not rubbing them anywhere on your body.

Cheers, Jason

Nettle Frittata Recipe

8 eggs, scrambled

4 small to medium new red potatoes

1 onion, sliced into half-rounds

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place potatoes, skins on, in a medium saucepan and fill with enough water to cover potatoes by a couple of inches. Add 1 bay leaf and 1/4 tsp. salt to water. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, approximately 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool in cold water. Slice potatoes into 1/4-inch thick rounds.

Heat large non-stick skillet over medium high heat and add olive oil. When oil begins to shimmer, add onions and 1 bay leaf, lower heat to medium and sauté onions slowly until they begin to caramelize. Be sure not to let them get too dark too quickly or they’ll lose their sweetness. Once cooked, remove onions from pan and set aside.

While potatoes are boiling and onions are sautéing, clean nettles and remove large stems (be sure to use thick rubber gloves). Blanch nettles in boiling water for approximately 4 minutes to soften and eliminate the stinging quills. Drain and set aside.

Add butter to skillet and heat to melt. Scatter blanched nettles over bottom of pan evenly. Place potato slices in an even layer on top of nettles. Scatter caramelized onions in an even layer over potatoes, sprinkle with paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper. Add grated Swiss cheese in an even layer. Pour beaten eggs over cheese, onions and potatoes and bring pan up to heat. Once the edges begin to bubble, remove from stovetop and place pan in oven, cover and cook on middle rack for approximately 15 minutes. Remove lid and cook for an additional 2 – 4 minutes or until center is set. Remove from oven and let sit for 2 minutes off heat.

Hot Out of the Oven!

To serve, remove frittata from pan by placing a plate over pan and then inverting frittata onto the plate. Slice into wedges and plate with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche, a sprinkle of cayenne and a pinch of gray sea salt.