Maple Cayenne Glazed Chicken and Sweet Potato Hash

Before school started I ate egg whites, boneless skinless chicken, and low fat mayo… but today a chef came in and talked to us about nutrition. I learned about the French Paradox, which is basically how do the French eat so much more salt, butter, cream, and drink and smoke a hell lot more than Americans but manage to have a MUCH lower amount of cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and colon cancer. Boy, I thought I knew a lot about nutrition, but I did learn a few things.

• First, I learned that Americans have been brainwashed about good vs. bad fats. I already knew that butter is better for you than margarine. I also learned that chicken skin is considered to be a monosaturated fat (olive oil and avocados are other sources of monostaurated fats)… so chicken skin is good for you? The chef “nutritionist” said that the chicken skin is actually good for us and gave us a homework assignment to buy a rotisserie chicken and just eat the skin (that was just a joke of course). So I have spent years eating bland boneless skinless chicken breasts, well no more.
• I learned about the business of salmon. Wild Atlantic salmon is apparently all gone and if we want wild salmon, we have to resort to Alaskan wild salmon which is outrageously expensive (like $25/pound). But often the only reason I eat salmon is because I’m thinking I need some Omega 3s. But guess freaking what, farm raised salmon almost has NO omega 3s because they are fed corn and soy products instead of other fish and coral like they are supposed to eat. And the pink color from farm raised salmon comes from beets. Are salmon supposed to eat beets?? I don’t think so but at least it’s not artificial color…
• Salmon being fed corn and soy products brings me to another point. We are not what we eat, but we are what we eat eats. That is kind of a depressing thought, because almost everything we eat is fed corn and soy (think cows and chickens), so that’s why our meat is so far inferior compared to other cultures. Apparently, in Japan, the chicken is raised just right and they can eat it raw if they wanted because their chicken has virtually no salmonella! I learned that in America, our chicken is disgusting and full of salmonella. In class, when we prepared chicken that was the only meat we had to all wear gloves (we have cooked steak, venison, rabbit, duck, etc). Chicken is the most common meat produced in the U.S. so it makes sense that our chicken is just awful because people want to go to Wal-mart and buy the cheapest chicken which is probably chock-full of salmonella. Now I will not ever try to complain about paying 5.99 a pound for chicken.

Anyhow, I don’t want to scare you from eating chicken because that is my recipe for today. All in all I learned that I may need to pay more for better quality food (Duh, everyone knows that but now I might actually be willing to after learning all this information) and to finally indulge in chicken skin.

I made cayenne maple chicken : Food Network and Sweet Potato, Bacon and Apple Hash Recipe : Anne Burrell : Food Network. I made the recipes exactly as they are stated and they are both delicious. It took me until after I cooked all this to realize this would be perfect for the fall oops but it was still very good.

Zucchini Crusted Pizza

For the past two weeks at school we have been cooking meat, meat, meat and more meat. Today we did eggs, finally something other than meat thank god. I could definitely go vegetarian for the next few weeks until I start craving meat again. Yesterday was our organ meat day….. let me tell you I was a bit nervous about the day. I made beef liver with caramelized onions, lamb tongue with a fingerling potato salad (yes and it still looked just like a tongue), sweetbreads with a brown butter caper sauce, and sautéed kidneys. I had to try everything I made because the chef instructors were watching all the ladies in my class to make sure we were trying it, because “How can you know how to cook it properly, if you don’t know what it is supposed to taste like.” Valid point they made, so I tried everything. Liver wasn’t bad, but of course you can top a shoe with caramelized onions and I’d probably eat it. The sweetbreads were breaded and fried up and had slightly sweet flavor and had a chickeny texture... I’d eat it again. The tongue was served cold and it was interesting to eat because I kept thinking that a tongue was touching my tongue so that had a bit of an ick factor; but if I hadn’t known it was tongue, I might mistake it for beef possibly. The kidneys were my least favorite of the bunch; they looked like quartered mushrooms, but they had a crunch almost like a grape. But glad I got organ meat day out of the way.

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. My friend who came to visit and I decided to venture over to the west side by the Hudson River and watch the big Macy Fireworks show. Can I say people, people, and mooooooooooore people. It was recommended to get there about 2 hours ahead of time so we set down our blanket thinking we could sit or lay down. People pushed forward till we were laying down in the middle of the mob. Before the fireworks started, we decided to pack up the blanket and stand like everyone else. But it was a spetacualr show, so I guess standing in the middle of a crowded crowd was worth it. I tried to capture a few photos, but of course it does no justice.

I have been coming home and having very light dinners after cooking all of those stick to your ribs dishes at school. I found this recipe in The Moosewood Cookbook, which is a well known vegetarian cookbook. This recipe stuck out because I love the flavor of pizza, but I didn’t want that heavy bready crust.

Zucchini-Crusted Pizza

olive oil & flour for the pan

2 cups (packed) grated zucchini (about 2 7" zucchini) SQUEEZE all the moisture out

2 eggs beaten

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup grated mozarella

1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan
1-2 finely chopped garlic cloves

¼ cup chopped basil

TOPPING SUGGESTIONS:

Any of your favorite pizza toppings. I topped the zucchini crust with a tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.

1. Preheat oven to 400. Generously oil a 10" pie pan or 8 by 13’ baking pan.

2. Grate the zucchini and salt with about 2 tsp of salt. Let sit for 15 minutes. Put zucchini in a kitchen towel and squeeze as much liquid out.

3. Combine zucchini, eggs, flour, mozzarella, parmesan, garlic, basil and 1 TBS olive oil in a bowl & mix well.

4. Spread into the prepared pan & bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown. . Remove from oven.

5. Top with your favorite pizza items and bake at 400 until heated through (about 10 min.)