Foodies
Milk – au naturel
March 29, 2011 | 
Author Milk is one of those things that nary a thought is given to when choosing in the grocery store. The exception to this is perhaps only which fat content to buy. We don’t think a lot about it; grab and place in the cart, move on to the next item on the list.
A Jersey - Hard-working and the source of this wonderful substance
Milk, obviously, is the basis of all dairy products, especially bovine. Name it, it’s made of milk. Cheese and its multitudes, various forms of creams, butters and whey, they all come from it. Although we can obtain milk from other animals (sheep and goats, to name two), for my discussion I am going to focus only on milk from the bovine, as it is by far the major one in the Western world.
Alton Brown commented once that Americans have never seen real milk. This statement caused some discussion amongst close food friends of mine, and then, surprisingly, it appeared on facebook as a question amongst friends there. I am not one that believes in coincidence, so I took this to mean that there was a meme in the air in regards to this topic. Specifically, both discussions centered on a very charged topic: Milk au natural, otherwise known as raw milk.
This, as anyone who has entered into this fray will know, is a topic that seems to have no end. I have consumed raw milk all my life, and my earliest memories of it are filled with politics of its legality, nutritional value and whether or not it is safe to consume, not to mention the difficulty in obtaining it and the incessant interruption in its supply. I am going to steer clear of this mine field, my dear readers, and focus only on what it is. At the end of this article I will include a couple of links where you may go to read more for further edification. Also, feel free to ask any questions as the forum allows.
Raw milk is completely legal in most states. However, if one goes to the grocery store to purchase it, you will find that you can’t. If you go to a regular dairy to buy it direct, they won’t sell it to you. If you try to special order it, it will be unavailable. So, how does one obtain it? Like most things of value, it may require a bit of work and effort on your part.
The only way, that I have found, to obtain this product consistently, is via “cow share”. In our new location, my wife has found a cow share source. And it works thus; you lease the cow.
That’s right; you become part owner in the cow. You can’t take it home with you, but it gives you the ability to receive from it the milk, in its raw form. This is the only consistent way that I have ever found to be able to obtain this product.
As to what it is and how it is different, well, that’s another thing. It ain’t homogenized, nor is it pasteurized, so chances are, no one, unless they are older and lived on a farm, has had it in this form. The first thing you will notice is that there is a separation of the cream from the milk (in cow’s milk, not goats). It floats, on top. In order to drink this (unless you are going to be unfair to others and drink the “cream off the top”) one needs to shake it up and mix it all back together. Here’s what it looks like:
How it comes to us - in a mason jar...
(The arrow marks the level of cream that rises to the top)
This is the cream at the top; thick rich and waiting for use in your morning coffee. But, if this is not your preference, just shake it up. Its taste is pretty much the same as homogenized, but richer in flavor.
freshly opened jar and a sample of the cream
Being an amateur cheese maker, this is the best milk to be working with. No calcium needs to be added, and it forms a strong curd. I have made many cheeses, but I have never attempted a blue because I lacked the ability to deal with the complexity of the process nor did I have this available. I now have it and need only over come my own apprehension at attempting it. I’ll save that for another article…
Dining at the “Mouse House”
I grew up visiting Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I lived in Virginia for over twenty years and every couple of years my parents would treat my younger sister and I to a trip to the “mouse house,” as my dad called it. You can imagine my excitement when I moved to California ten months ago and realized that I lived within a two hour drive of Disneyland! I don’t even have kids and I was dying to go!
My husband and I just got home from our first ever trip to Disneyland in Anaheim. We took our dogs to the farm, packed up all our gear, and drove down the I-5 to Anaheim. Now, I know what you are thinking… what are a grown man and woman doing going to Disneyland? Well first, we love all things related to Disney and second, they have some amazing restaurants there. Parents take your kids to Disneyland when they beg: alcohol and delicious dining await you!
So my husband and I have what we call the Disney diet which we developed over the course of our honeymoon in Disney World (I know, we are so sad.) It consists of one big meal plus turkey legs, ice cream, gummy bears, cotton candy, and pickles for snacks throughout the course of the day. On a side note, my husband managed to unintentionally lose five pounds eating the prescribed diet while on our honeymoon in December. Anyways, we decided to dine at the Wine Country Trattoria at Disney’s California Adventure while in Anaheim. I try to be the classy one in my marriage and this seemed like an “adults only” kind of place away from crying babies and tired kids. If you live in Southern California, if you are going to Disneyland, or if you are one of those Disney nerds with season passes, PLEASE make reservations to eat at this place. The food was delicious, they have beautiful al fresco dining, and they have a side patio with a wine bar!
The trattoria features twenty or thirty wines available by the glass and they have wine flights so that you can taste multiple wines over several courses. We each ordered a different glass of wine and the waiter was knowledgeable enough about the wine and menu to help us each pair a glass with our entrée. Now, we ate off of a prix fixe menu to get special tickets to the World of Color show that night. It should be noted that all of the dishes we ordered were also available on the main menu. It should also be noted that I was too lazy and too happy with my food to take pictures of all of my courses, I apologize in advance!
We ordered a salad as an appetizer. The salad had goat cheese (my favorite) with reconstituted figs, nuts, and herbs over a spring mix with some kind of fig-balsamic dressing. If you put goat cheese on a salad, it’s going to make me happy so I was very pleased. Also, I loved the dressing which was sweet and tangy all at the same time thanks to the fig flavor. I ordered the sustainable fish for my entrée. The fish of the day was halibut and I got a giant juicy piece with just the right amount of pesto on top. The chef served the halibut with a tomato ragu with cherry tomatoes, potatoes, and herbs. It was so good. The tomatoes were soft and tangy and just the perfect consistency, soft but still with texture, not mushy. The fish was cooked perfectly and the pesto provided a clean flavor to the dish without over powering the dish with herb and garlic flavors. The hubs ordered the New York Strip Steak with gorgonzola potatoes and green beans. The steak arrived medium rare, as ordered, and dripping with a delicious sauce. The green beans were crisp and the gorgonzola potatoes were amazing! The blue cheese did not over power the potatoes and provided that perfect salty, creamy, blue cheesy flavor.
As if we had not stuffed our faces enough, we got a dessert sampler to share. It came complete with tiramisu, vanilla panna cotta, some chocolate hazelnut creamy thing, and a strawberry crostata. The tiramisu was delicious and was my favorite of all of the desserts on the sampler. It was your standard tiramisu, well executed, and with a cute pistachio garnish. I ate the panna cotta but I wouldn’t order it if I went back there. The flavors were very boring in comparison to the other treats on the platter. The texture was silky and creamy but the vanilla flavor was overpowered by the berries on top. Not the worst thing I ever ate but definitely just average. I wish that I could describe the chocolate hazelnut lemon nugget that we had but I don’t even know what to call it. Kind of like a mix between a pudding and a chocolate with my favorite flavor combination, chocolate and hazelnut. In the middle there was a dab of something yummy and lemon flavored. Now, I know that you are thinking that chocolate, hazelnut, and lemon sound disgusting together but the lemon really makes the dessert more refreshing and less sugary sweet. Very pleasant combination. Finally, I tried the fruit crostata. It was miniature, it was strawberry, it was delicious but it wasn’t anything super creative or out of the box, just very well executed and rather tasty! The whole platter was whimsical and fun and you got to sample all of the desserts in the menu. It was a great final touch to the meal.
We ate outside on the terrace underneath the vines and amongst the flowers. I almost forgot we were at Disneyland because the restaurant was so quiet and charming. Our meal was very reasonably priced with generous portions, great service, and just downright delicious food. So the moral of my dining story is that next time your kids/spouse/whoever beg you to go to Disneyland, say yes because a wine country experience awaits you at California Adventure. I enjoyed my meal and I will definitely go back for seconds the next time I visit the “mouse house.”
Wine Country flowers
Paczki Day
In New Orleans, they had Mardi Gras; in Brazil and in Europe, they had Carnival.
And here in Michigan??? Yesterday, we had pączki.
First things first — it’s pronounced POONCH-kee. It’s Polish, not some Midwestern nasal twangy thing, so just go with me on this despite the seeming spelling anomaly. And remember that pączki is actually the plural, because no matter how many tons of fat and calories are in ‘em, no one — no one — eats only one. You’ve gotta get rid of all those treats before Ash Wednesday, after all!
These may vaguely resemble jelly doughnuts but oh, that is such an unfair comparison! Think of a jelly doughnut with a bare minimum of twice as much sugar and eggs and butter, and thus twice as much heft. These are sturdy little things! And they are filled with apple or raspberry or custard, or even — if you want to be very traditional — a lovely perfumed rose jelly.
You can buy pączki at the grocery store, but why??? They’re simply not as good as those that come from the Polish bakeries in Hamtramck [ham-TRAM-ick], a traditionally Polish (though now fairly mixed) city which is mostly-but-not-entirely surrounded by Detroit.
Every year, the local morning news crews televise long lines outside these shops. People set their alarms and get up extra early to stake a claim to a reasonable spot in a sea of dozens and dozens of others who have the same hope of being first in line (or perhaps 50th, if they’re lucky!). Folks buy the treats to eat for breakfast, to share at work, whatever … who needs an excuse???
There was even a “Countdown to Pączki Day” party in Hamtramck this past Saturday, featuring live music, Polish dancers, a visit from the Detroit Tigers’ mascot, and — oh, the thrill! — a bus tour (The Pączki Express) to take riders from one bakery to another for ease in purchasing goodies. Pączki Day is a BIG deal here!!!
Every year, I have the privilege of enjoying pączki bought at the fabulous Copernicus Deli; they are baked in Hamtramck and then schlepped here to Ann Arbor … does it get any easier? One of my very dearest friends in the world, Connie (of Pickle Soup fame), works there too, so I even get a quick visit in while I pick up my goodies.
Copernicus is an amazing place that imports all sorts of treats — from jams to chocolates to cookies to pickles — from Poland. At the counter, you can find a variety of sausages and pierogi, traditional cabbage dishes and salads. There are spicy mustards and rich sour creams, and so many delectable goodies that it’s hard not to just buy one of everything while shopping.
But in the chaos of Pączki Day, one only focuses on the sugar. For the record, let me tell you that Copernicus ordered 10,000 of those luscious, rich, sugary pastries … 10,000 at one little shop alone!
Because yesterday was Pączki Day. Nothing else mattered, other than getting the annual fix ….
“floo·zie \ˈflü-zē\: a usually young woman of loose morals.” Thus a Food Floozie is not a woman who can be seduced by virtually any man, but rather a woman who can be seduced by virtually any food (other than sushi).
For more blathering about recipes, restaurants, beverages, ingredients, and anything else even tangentially related to food, please come visit me Monday through Friday at Food Floozie or check out my mostly-regular Tuesday posts on AnnArbor.com.
Posted in Blogging, Foodies, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Shopping | 
Tags: Copernicus, doughnut, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, paczki, Paczki Day, Polish, Shrove Tuesday | 
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Minestrone Genovese
Genoa, Italy
This is just a fabulous soup, and worth a little effort.
Buy a container of basil pesto from the deli section, fresh, not canned. 6-8 oz
For the soup:
3 T olive oil
¼ lb spinach washed and coarsely chopped
¼ lb beet greens washed and coarsely chopped
¼ lb dry lima beans, soaked for an hour in water, then drained
½ savoy or other cabbage coarsely shredded
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 T or more chopped onion
1 leek, white part only, cleaned and sliced
2 t. salt, or chicken bouillon for 8 cups water I use “Better Than Bouillon” a paste
½ t. pepper
½ lb linguine broken into 1 inch pieces
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the spinach, beet greens, soaked lima beans, cabbage, potatoes, chopped onion, leek, and bouillon or salt, and pepper. Stir and cook briefly 2-3 minutes. Cover with the 8 cups water and simmer gently covered for 1 ½ hours. Raise the heat, bring to a rolling boil, and break the pasta into the soup, and cook until just cooked according to package directions. Taste, adjust seasoning.
Blend in the pesto with a wire whisk, and cook for a minute to blend flavors. Serve with shredded parmesan cheese.
Comfort Food – Part 2
Super easy … and kinda hard (lots of choices!)
Salsa Chicken
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 lb. chicken breasts strips
2 Tbsp. oil
14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/3 c. apricot or peach preserves
Empty the taco seasoning on a plate or into a plastic bag. Add chicken strips and toss to coat. Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add chicken and sauté 5-7 minutes or until done. Stir in tomatoes and preserves. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
OR
This is a VERY complicated dish but an absolute favourite of everyone!!!
SOOO worth the time … and can easily be made “less caloric” if you so desire with milk instead of cream, etc!
Seared Duck Breast Pasta
Sauce
1 finely diced large onion (Vidalia is best, white will do)
¼ c. butter
¼ c. flour
1 ½ cups duck or chicken stock (hot)
1 ½ cups 18% cream
2 tsp. freshly ground pink peppercorns
1 tsp. salt
¼ c. fresh minced tarragon
Enough cooked linguine or pappardelle noodles for two servings.
2 large duck (or chicken) breasts, skinned
1 pound assorted mushrooms (shitake, morel, and oyster), cleaned and thinly sliced.
1 large thinly sliced zucchini or yellow winter squash
Garnish: more chopped fresh tarragon and cracked black pepper.
Sweat the onions in the butter over medium heat until clear, no colour achieved, and then add the flour slowly and cook until you have a blonde roux (4-5 minutes). Remove from the heat and cool the bottom of the pan in water and add in ¼ of the stock and make into a thick paste. Slowly incorporate the rest of the stock, then the milk, constantly stirring so that no lumps form (or you will get a crappy pasta sauce!). Add in the pink peppercorns (black will do if you don’t have the pink), salt and tarragon and simmer on low heat for a minimum of 20 minutes to cook out the starch in the flour. Stir occasionally to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Keep the sauce uncovered, as it will probably reduce which is fine.
Cook the pasta until al dente and keep warm until ready to serve while sauce is simmering,
Heat a skillet with olive oil in it and cook the breasts. If it is duck, make it rare (dark pink in the middle) so it is its best flavour and consistency — overcooked duck is horrific. (140 degrees is an accepted temperature for rare. Duck should reach an internal temperature of 180º F and it should not be pink in the middle. Remove and keep warm on the side, add zucchini and mushrooms and cook until al dente.
Check taste of sauce, season to taste. Slice the breasts into 6-8 slices or serve whole on the bone.
Assembly:
Place pasta in two large bowls and cover with sauce (the more the better!). Mix a little in the bowl but don’t make it sloppy (pretend you are serving it in a restaurant and it has to look good!) Layer half of the mushrooms and zucchini in each bowl. Place a breast in each bowl and pour some more sauce on top of the breast/veggies. Garnish with a little more tarragon and cracked pepper.
Eat with gusto and smile and your dining partner. This is not a dish to add grated cheese to, as the flavour will overwhelm the dish.