March 11
Kathryn
Organic Challenge
Head to head, comparing organic chicken to supermarket standard... organic eggs to regular eggs... organic cornstarch to generic cornstarch, can you tell the difference, and is that difference worth the cost?
That is what we were there to determine. Tinamarie called the challenge. She is a committed, evangelical organic food champion. So, our menu was to be organic. All organic. That was a challenge...
The menu:
Starters: Humus and black bean salsa served with pita bread.
Sweet potato and pecorino dumplings.
Beautiful blood orange wedges.
Entrees:
Roasted chicken with caramelized onions and homemade garlic croutons. A vegetarian tagine over cous cous. Macaroni and Cheese.
Dessert:
Pavlovas (meringue topped with whipped cream and fruit)
Gabe brought a series of organic beers and Donna found an organic Vodka and made gimlets with organic limes. They were tart and bright, and mixed well with champagne.
So, we ate and we tippled... then Tinamarie began asking questions. Is your champagne organic? No. Were the ingredients in the meringues organic? Some.
So, how do you call the dish organic if the cream of tarter and the cornstarch are not organic? Or, does it really matter that much (to you)? The pavlovas were made with organic eggs, cream, sugar and fruit... the vanilla, the salt and the 2 above mentioned ingredients were not organic. They were what I already owned. And - horror - I did not feel guilty. A practical concern came first.
Donna insisted that she could not tell the difference in taste between a roasted organic chicken and a roasted supermarket special. She could, however, tell the difference between eggs and thought they were worth the extra cost. (I have a short memory and wanted a side by side taste test. Trying to recall what the last roast chicken tasted like was too hard. I knew I'd enjoyed it, but could not tell you exactly why.)
We were all very pro organic fruit and vegetables...
The final verdict... there are places where organics really make a taste difference. And others where it is not obvious, so go with your practical instinct. If you go with watt you already have, or a cheaper version to save a little, so be it. So, excepting Tinamarie who is passionate about being organic and monitoring exactly what she put in her family's mouths, we were split on strict adherence.
We did all agree once again that the food was delicious and we were happy to be hanging out together and cooking up a storm.
Renee was sidelined by a surfeit of parties. She had hosted a large event the night before and just had nothing left to give. Our party champion!
And we gave our congrats to Min who announced her engagement to a very nice man, Walter... who cooks. What better gift?
March 11
Donna
Organic Madness
My sister Tinamarie is becoming the Organic Queen. Our last food gathering was all about being organic, at her request. Lesu was gracious enough to host the gathering at her home as well as the idea.
I decided to go with roasting organic chickens. How involved could that be? I went to Whole Foods and collected my items.
*2 Chickens
(It was the most expensive chicken I have ever bought)
*Thyme
*Sweet Onions
*2 mini baguette loaves
*Garlic
Actually everything was pricey accept the baguettes.
I picked up an organic wine while in Cape May the previous week, so I was all organic and ready. I washed the chickens, patted them dry and placed them in a roasting pan, then stuffed them with thyme, garlic, sprinkled with salt, pepper and drizzled with olive oil (not organic). Added thyme, garlic, the onions (cut into fourths) and wine to the bottom of the pan then popped them in the oven on 425 degrees.
A little note, know your oven; 425 degrees may be high and you end up with a burned chicken. I have a stove that’s larger then most so I have to have mine a little higher.
As the chickens roasted and the aroma began to fill the house, it smelled a little different to me, but not to Jim. He said it smelled like chicken he couldn’t wait to eat. I had to remind him it was not for home consumption, but for our food gathering. Promising to bring some home, so he was ok.
The chickens were done, removed from the oven and placed on a pretty platter to be dressed for the gathering. It came to my mind from one of the Barefoot Contessa’s Cookbooks, a chicken recipe she’d had made with croutons. So I figured why not, if it doesn’t work, we are a food group and it would give us something to talk about.
I cut the bread into medium size croutons, tossed them in the pan with the chicken juices, wine, very soft garlic, onions and pieces of thyme. I popped the pan back in the oven to toast up the croutons. I had to toss it a couple of times to be sure the croutons toasted evenly.
I added the croutons and all the other goodies from the bottom of the pan to my chicken platter to finish getting my chicken ready. How very attractive, but something was missing…rich luscious gravy.
My chickens all dressed up and ready to go were a big hit at the gathering.
Did this event make me think more about going organic? Sorry Tinamarie, at those prices and to not have a noticeable difference in taste, I would have to say no.
There’s always next time.
