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Roasted Salmon with Veggie Sushi Salsa

by in Expert Chef

Erin Dow

When my ten year-old was a toddler, he would eat anything. From Thai food to cooked fish sushi, like many kids he was game for any flavor experience out there. He was especially fond of salmon: I remember buying it at the grocery store back then: one pound for my husband and me, and half a pound for my two year-old.

As he grew up, his desire to experience varied foods was trumped by his desire to control his food intake, and again, like many kids, his preferences narrowed; eventually, we could accurately apply the “picky eater” label to him. His love for salmon fell by the wayside with many other foods, and I forced myself not to freak out, instead deciding to be patient and wait this phase out.

Well, that phase lasted about 6 years, but eventually, his love of salmon was rekindled after I actually paid him a dollar to take a bite. He loves it again—as do my other two children–and now, with a family of five to feed, we can go through a lot of salmon in one meal. He still hasn’t gotten back in touch with his “sushi period,” so I decided to develop a recipe that might lure him back to the exciting tastes and textures of Japanese food. It’s one thing to label my son’s food choices as “picky.” It’s another thing entirely to let that label affect how I choose to feed him. And my choice is, and always has been, to encourage adventurous eating in a no-pressure way. Since I believe a varied diet begets a more balanced diet, it’s worth the effort—and high risk of rejection—to keep trying…

Roasted Salmon with Veggie Sushi Salsa

Warm Beet Salad with Pistachios and Gorgonzola

by in Expert Chef

Erin Dow

As the crisp air of fall approaches, our priorities start to shift. The kids are back into the routine of school, the beach gear is getting put away, and the grill is getting a bath before it goes in for the winter. Here at my place, the garden is waning, and what’s left in the ground heralds the coming chill: potatoes, onions, and winter squashes will be cured in the breezy and cool shade to prepare for their winter home in my root cellar. Dried onion tops will be braided to hang from the rafters like sleeping bats—they last until the following May at least—and the final batches of pickles and tomato sauce have been canned and stored. The firewood is in, next year’s logs are already bucked and starting their curing, and soon the herbs will be snipped and hung to dry to flavor holiday dinner. Even the chickens are wandering less and less from their home in the barn: they feel it coming too.

For those of us who love to cook, the coming winter also brings with it the promise of hearty stews, braises, and roasts—all the things too long-cooking and too body-warming to work in the dead of summer—the comfort foods that we associate with snowy days full of sledding or skiing or, in the case of us Mainers, the inability to leave our homes until the snow blower starts or the plow guy gets here.

But for every shank or rib or neck that makes it into your cold-weather repertoire, there exist countless other hearty but healthy permutations of seasonal ingredients that can satisfy your desires without triggering an accelerated trajectory toward hibernation weight. My Curried Squash and Apple Bisque with Leek utilizes seasonal ingredients to produce a warming cream soup that’s perfect for a cold night in: and it’s low fat and full of the vitamins your body needs. Roasted root vegetables–with a bit of good quality olive oil and fresh herbs–makes everyone happy. One of my personal cold-weather treats is oven roasted Brussels sprouts straight out of the garden after a hard frost; they take on an amazing sweetness, and the caramelization they receive in the hot oven gives them a meaty flavor that can’t be beat.

My Warm Beet Salad with Pistachios and Gorgonzola, below, is another way you can approach seasonal ingredients during a season that often seems, well, not so fresh. Beets are an excellent source of Vitamin C, fiber, and iron. Moms-to-be can rely on them as a great source of folate. While low in calories, beets are high in sugar, so care should be taken to exercise moderation. This salad balances the sweetness of the beets and caramelized onions with the piquant warm Dijon-onion vinaigrette and a healthy dose of baby spinach for contrast…

Warm Beet Salad with Pistachios and Gorgonzola

Oven Roasting: Fool-Proof, Healthy, Tasty

by in Expert Chef

Erin Dow

I hauled 50 pounds of tomatoes out of my garden last week, and as I look out on this morning in the middle of September, I see another 100 pounds looking back at me. It has been an epic gardening year, and I feel fortunate to have had such success after such a difficult season in 2009. Now, a few years ago, I would have felt the panicky pressure about getting these tomatoes out of the field and into the pantry. But a few years ago, I started utilizing a different method with many of the items I can—tomato sauce, apple and pear sauce, etc.—that has all but eliminated the drudgery of the harvest season: oven roasting. And indeed, oven roasting can enhance many of our favorite garden finds, both taste- and health-wise.

There are several significant advantages to roasting that are worth noting for every home cook…

Oven Roasting: Fool-Proof, Healthy, Tasty

Secret Weapon Bread Dough

by in Expert Chef

Erin Dow

Well, it’s back-to-school time, and parents are feeling the pressure of the school lunch routine. While it seems like it should be so easy, it causes so much stress and anxiety that it almost offsets the relief we should feel when summer vacation is over and the kids are back to their school schedule. After witnessing this issue dominating my friends’ discussions over the last few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that packing lunches is one of the biggest stressors parents face during the school year.

But the truth is, it’s just not that hard, and my opinion is that there are two reasons parents have problems with school lunches– the same reason they have problems with breakfast and dinner: portion size and rigid expectations about what constitutes an “appropriate choice.” Kids don’t like many of the same things we do—and they don’t like change very much either—so any attempt we make to impose our own desires on them is met with resistance, leading to more frustration and culminating in increased resentment. Eventually, to cope, parents often lean on pre-packaged and sugar-laden options just to stem the complaints. But I think that once we stop foisting our own desires about what foods and how much of them onto our kids, our lives get much easier…

Secret Weapon Bread Dough

Hummus

by in Expert Chef

Erin Dow

My friend Jeannie’s kid is 2 years old, and he’s obsessed with hummus and has been since he started eating solids. He dips everything in it, from Goldfish™ to veggies to his finger. He doesn’t really like meat and isn’t really a fan of cheese, so it’s a main source of protein for him. Jeannie goes through tubs and tubs of hummus a month, and while it’s not prohibitively expensive, buying a pre-packaged processed food—granted a natural one—gets old, I’m sure. Last month my kids discovered the Goldfish™/hummus combo when visiting Jeannie’s house, and sure enough, I found myself in the refrigerated section buying up tubs of hummus as well.

Around the same time, the garden started to ripen, and distracted by the beet greens and lettuce we were happily harvesting, we neglected to notice that buried beneath a super healthy and blossoming squash plant lay two of the hugest zucchinis I’d seen in a long time. Tender young zucchinis are one thing: hard, mature, two foot-long zucchinis are something else entirely. They’re the running joke of all home gardeners, as we’ve all forgotten to harvest and been surprised by fruit so large they might attain consciousness.

Now, when I’m blessed (or cursed) with these things, generally I’ll scoop the seeds out and shred one or two up to freeze for future baking; of course, one large zucchini provides enough shreds for two years of breads and muffins. Sometimes we put diapers on them and Mr. Potato Head parts and show them to our visiting friends. Some people are known to seek out unlocked cars in parking lots and leave anonymous gifts; but generally speaking, large starchy zucchinis are not considered a delicacy to say the least…

Hummus