I felt a great disturbance in the force... as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in cheers!

STAR WARS IS COMING OUT IN BLU-RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE WIRE

not really food related but Anthony Bourdain and I both feel that this is the greatest show of all time - and it's on sale for the lowest price I've ever seen today - ONLY $75 FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!!




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Best… Popcorn… Ever…

Who knew?  Popcorn is actually HEALTHY for you?!  One of the foods I used to indulge in and feel really guilty about is actually something proven to fill you up and help you lose weight, especially if you’re filling up it instead of cheese doodles, nachos or glazed donuts.  I’m not talking about the popcorn you get at the movie theater covered in oil and yellow food coloring and salt - enough salt to make you drink your entire 300 ounce soda halfway through the movie.  With or without the option of having it soaked in a few pumps or a healthy (pun intended) stream of liquid golden “butter” – which isn’t even real butter.  There’s enough trans fat in there to kill a small horse - you can actually feel your arteries clog around the second act of the film.

Here’s my ultimate recipe for healthy, great tasting popcorn.

First, get yourself a hot air popper.  

Yes, some people swear by the 94% Fat Free Microwave Popcorn, but it's a lot more expensive in the long run; you are paying about 10 times as much per pound of popcorn than you are buying the kernels.  You’re also adding a lot of salt, preservatives, dyes, chemicals, natural and/or un-natural colors and flavors and a slew of other things you don’t necessarily need in your body.  And what about that 6% fat they can’t seem to get rid of like the dreaded one calorie in the diet soda?  That’s a special coating of oil (usually soybean or cottonseed) that they add to each kernel to help them pop faster so presumably most of them pop before some of them begin to burn.  Air popped popcorn contains NO FAT!!!  You can find them online for about $25 bucks or look for one at bed bath & beyond for around $40 (be sure to bring your 20% off coupon – ignore the expiration date, they always take them).  You’ll make that $25 investment back in 6 months by buying one bag or plastic jar of kernels which will last you as long as 5 boxes of the microwave stuff.  The other great advantage of air popping is you can run to the bathroom, answer the phone or the door or turn on your HDTV and blu ray player without having to stand with your ear 6 inches from the microwave doing who knows what to your brain cells trying to listen for that magic 3 seconds between pops which seems to always come well past that burning smell emanating from the bag.  You have to stand there like an idiot and make a well timed decision when to stop the microwave and walk the fine line of either having only half the kernels pop in the bag pop or popping 2/3 of them and ending up with a bunch of burnt ones.  In short, you can leave the room and not have to worry about ruining your popcorn or setting the house on fire - as the popcorn pops it leaves the hot air popper and drops into your bowl.

Speaking of bowls, make sure you have a large one.  And I mean LARGE.  The larger the better.  Some people say that size doesn't matter.  They never air popped popcorn.  The first time I air popped I felt like I was in an "I Love Lucy" episode as I ran and chased after all the popcorn that spilt all over the counter and the floor when usually adequate sized popcorn bowl became obsolete and overflowed with kernel upon kernel of crunchy goodness.  You’ll be amazed at how much popcorn you get out of only ½ cup of kernels. It doesn't double in size like pasta or quadruple in size like elbow macaroni.  I don't even know the word for what it does, my introduction to Latin class I took in 7th grade either didn't cover that or I was too busy daydreaming about Madonna.  Quintuple is 5 times, sextuple is six, septuple is seven, octuple is eight... how would you say 26 times???  That's right, 26... depending on which brand of kernels you buy and the size of them, you're going to get about 10 to 13 cups of popcorn from a half cup of unpopped kernels.  You'll be able to count on both hands the ones that don't pop.  If you don't know how much 13 cups of popcorn is it's about 4 full bags of the single serving microwave popcorn (which would probably give you 200 unpopped kernels.  Yes, you could also get a brown paper bag and fill it with popcorn kernels and microwave that (a little secret that Pop Secret doesn’t want you to know) but I’ve tried it and you still end up with a lot more less unpopped ones with an air popper.  And for you green people out there, the air popper uses a lot less electricity than the microwave, you probably spend more energy drying your hair – I don’t (I wish I could) but you ladies definitely do - and you’re not killing the environment using up another paper bag every time you want to make a snack.

When your popcorn is finished popping, simply unplug the popper and enjoy!!!  Just kidding, unless you enjoy eating Styrofoam packing peanuts you’ll want to add a little flavor to these.  You can make a nice, healthy great tasting trail mix of them as is with some nuts, a few raisins, or some Chocolate Cereal.

But if you’re going to be in front of the tube watching Chuck Norris battle pink-o communist drug dealing terrorists invaders you’re going to want some big and bold flavor.  Don’t forget I said best popcorn EVER.

First we need to add something to help our flavors stick to the popcorn and add a healthy, great tasting flavor as well.  You can melt butter using the measuring cup from the popper but I’ve got something healthier and better tasting.  It’s time to break out your E.V.O.O. (Extra Virgin Olive Oil to all three of you who’ve never seen Rachel Ray).  This is where you want to use the good stuff.  Like real maple syrup, you don’t need a lot, a little goes a long way.  For this you an need olive oil sprayer.  Yes, you can buy the aerosol cans of the stuff from the supermarket, but those sprays all taste like hairspray to me and even though they don’t contain fluorocarbons anymore, they’re still bad for the environment (wow, I really sound like a tree hugger today, huh?) because of the plastic and metal of that disposable can.  I got one for about ten bucks 9 years ago and it's still going strong.  Just fill one of these bad boys up with olive oil and give it a few pumps of air and spray away.  Don't worry about the added fat, it's only a little, and olive oil is healthier than soybean and some of the other oils and you're only going to use about a tablespoon for the whole bowl anyway and you get a nice work out pumping it up.  Now get yourself some of your favorite spices.  Personally, my favorite mixture is a few shakes of garlic powder and then a couple of dashes of Emeril's Essence. You can get it expensively in the supermarket or much cheaper at your food club or online.  It helps to yell “BAM” while you put it on.  

  

If you want to save even more money and you have all the ingredients you can also make your own, unlike the fried chicken place, Emeril doesn’t keep his herbs and spices a secret.  You can also change his recipe a little to your liking and/or to cut out some of the salt.

Toss the popcorn a little and then give it a few more sprays of olive oil and spices and you’re done.  You can kick it up a notch and add a few dashes of hot sauce and if you want to be naughty, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.

And next time you go to the movies or a ballgame, take a tip from your Grandma and sneak a bag of your own popcorn inside under your jacket or in your purse to save yourself some money and calories!

Kitchen Gadget of the Day - Silicone Steamer

I found these on amazon the other day.  I read a weight watcher's article recommending using steamers for vegetables.  The steamed food is healthier and tastier than boiled vegetables which lose a lot of their nutrients and flavor in the water and much healthier and easier than sautéing them in oil.  There are many metal steamers out there, but they are more expensive and harder to clean, they rust and they can also scratch your expensive non-stick cookware.  These silicone steamers are great, much like the silicone baking mats nothing sticks to them.  You can't see from the photo but they have three little silicone legs that holds the basket above the water.  You don't have to spray them with oil or worry about your pot stickers sticking to them and clean up is a breeze - you can pop them in the dishwasher and not have to worry about them rusting like the stainless steel ones.  They're also currently part of amazon.com's 4 for 3 sale and make great gifts.  I bought one in green for Maria (her favorite color), a second in red for us to use to steam raw meat so we don't have to worry about cross contamination, one in red to give to my Mom to match her kitchen and one in orange for my sister in law to match her Xango colored kitchen.  These steamers fold easily to fit almost any sized pot - they come in two sizes for very small pots.  You can store them just about anywhere - I heard someone uses them as spacers between their nonstick pans to protect the teflon - I'm all for a nice added bonus use!   I made spinach with it last night and it came out great.  I rinsed some baby spinach, placed it in the steamer in a pot with a little water and covered it for about 5 minutes.  I drained the spinach, poured out the water and thew a little pit of garlic and a splash of olive oil in the hot pot and tossed the spinach back in for 10 seconds with some salt and pepper... delish!!!  I'm going to pick up some crabs, lobsters, clams, etc. and try them next.

GYROS - It's not all Greek to me.

A couple of months ago we travelled down to Baltimore to see the Yankees play at Camden Yards.  We found a hotel through hotwire where you get great rates but don't get to pick out the hotel - you pick the area of the city you want to go to and how many stars and have to pay up front to get the awesome rate which is much lower than any advertised rate.  To make sure I didn't end up in a 'bring your own sheets' motel, I checked out the reviews of the place we were going to stay at several months in advance.  There were a lot of mixed reviews, some good, some bad - but since most people don't bother to write a review unless they really hated the place, I figured we'd be fine, which we were.  One of the reviews said that the hotel restaurant wasn't any good and mentioned a food truck around the corner which had great gyros, and really cheap ones too - only about $4 each.  I hadn't had a Gyro in years, I think I only tried one once when I was a teenager and was turned off by the white mayo like sauce.  I'm 38 now and tastes change and I figured if I didn't like it, it was only $4 and I'm sure my wife would love it so I could always give it to her.  I had recently discovered real Indian cuisine thanks to my wife's co-workers and love it immensely.  Needless to say I am now in love with Gyro's.  They easily cracked my top ten favorite foods list... Number 3 with a bullet behind only Sushi and Guacamole Burgers.  The perfect combination of lamb, spices, fresh tomatoes and lettuce, red onions, tangy cucumber yogurt sauce and a little hot sauce in mine to boot makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  My mom got a chicken salad and my dad got a couple of dirty water dogs which he wasn't impressed with - hey, you can't beat NY for those so everywhere else is a step down at best, right?  The next day we stopped there again and all got Gyros - Mom got a chicken one.  For those of you who have never been to Camden Yards, YES you can bring food in (and unopened plastic soda bottles).  If you don't have season tickets, don't get there 2 hours before game time hoping to catch batting practice, they won't let you into the stadium part until an hour and a half before first pitch - a little off topic, but I don't want to forget to mention.

We got back to NY and the next night I was craving a gyro BIG TIME!   We went out to a local Greek place with a restaurant.com $25 gift certificate which I bought THAT DAY and was told when we got there that they no longer accept them... ok... "bye".   I pulled out my iphone and found another place close by.  We went there and ordered Gyros which were good, but not as tasty as the ones in Baltimore and they also had more salad than meat and were a little pricey.  It turns out the place was not Greek, but a Turkish restaurant that has gyros on the menu.  We loved the ambiance and went back again, and their hummus was awesome, and we will go back again but next time I'm going to try something else like one of the Turkish dishes.  I found a REALLY, REALLY good gyro place close to work  on Sunrise Highway in Merrick called Gyro Palace  but it’s too far to travel to from home (about 45 minutes each way) and too far to go to for my 30 minute lunch break which I prefer to spend getting my exercise points in walking up and down Freeport’s Nautical Mile.   Gyro Palace had a great after 4PM special - 4 gyros plus a large Greek salad for only $30 plus tax.  Not nearly as good as the food truck in Baltimore price, but very good for a place on Long Island paying New York rent.   It works out pretty good for me as I get out of work at 3:30 and get there around 3:50 and they let me order it even though it’s not exactly 4PM yet.  The only drawback is that I get to  smell the food the entire way home and it drives me crazy -  by the time I get home I'm like a rapid dog and I wolf it down too fast to fully savor and enjoy it.   I've gone there 4 times already in the past 30 days.  My Gyro craving is starting to hit home though now because Gyro Palace is too far a trek for me on the weekends and Baltimore is much, much too far.

I looked up online to find gyro recipes and learned a lot.  For one, I thought that big hunk of meat that you see on all around the world  on 'Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations'  that they keep cutting from was a big leg of lamb or beef or pork with a bone in the middle... it's not.  It's a long sword like skewer with stack upon stack of boneless slices of meat stacked on top of each other.  The skewer turns like a vertical rotisserie oven in front of a flame and cooks the outside which is sliced off to make each sandwich, gyro, taco,  whatever all day long.  A hunk of fat is placed at the top which drips down on the sides of the meat and cooks to a nice crisp crust.  How ingenious!   I found a few spice mixtures and cooking techniques for the gyro meat and the Tzatziki Sauce that I combined and improved on to make them tastier and healthier.  I’ve now got a HUGE chicken gyro at under 10 points - not bad at all considering a Big Mac is 13.  I think I might be able to scale it down even more.

GYRO MEAT:
Get I pork loin with the fat trimmed off or a package of  boneless skinless white meat chicken breast.
 Chill the meat in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes.  This will firm it up and make it a lot easier and safer to slice very thin.  Sharpen your knife and slice the chicken or pork as thin as you can - about 1/8 to 1/4” thick.  I slice each chicken breast into 4 slices.    Spinkle both sides of each slice of meat very liberally with a spice mixture of PAPRIKA, OREGANO, SEA SALT, BLACK PEPPER, CUMIN and GARLIC POWDER.  Stack the seasoned slices on top of each other with a teaspoon of vinegar on top of each layer.  Place in the refrigerator to marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.  Don’t leave it marinating too long as the acidity of the vinegar will cook and toughen the meat.  While it’s marinating you can make the  Tzatziki  Sauce.  When it’s done marinating, heat a teflon non stick pan on high heat.  Place the meat directly onto the hot pan without any oil.  Cook about 45 seconds to a minute on each side.

GYRO SAUCE (Tzatziki Sauce)
Peel and remove the seeds from ONE LARGE CUCUMBER  Chop finely and place into a food processor.  Add one 8 oz container of FAT FREE GREEK YOGURT, one teaspoon of SEA SALT, 1 tablespoon of FRESH DILL (or 2 tablespoons of DRY DILL), WHITE PEPPER, 1/4 cup of LOW FAT SOUR CREAM, 2 cloves CHOPPED GARLIC and 1 tablespoon of fresh LEMON JUICE.  Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for 30 minutes.   This will make more than enough for 4 Gyros.  Each serving is only 1 point.  I also like to mix some SRIRACHA HOT CHILI SAUCE  in mine as well.

PITA
Here's a trick I learned that my wife uses with day old rice - it works well with bread, shumai, rice, anything that you want to heat and soften up a little in the microwave.  Place one WHOLE WHEAT PITA BREAD onto a plate with a damp paper towel on top and microwave for 15 seconds, flip over and microwave for another 15 seconds.  The Whole wheat pitas I found were only 4 points each.

VEGGIES
1 large diced TOMATO, a few slices of coarsely chopped ROMAINE LETTUCE, a few thin slices of RED ONION.

Place 5 oz of chicken or pork onto the whole wheat pita,  top with lettuce, tomatoes, onion and tzatziki  sauce.

Hello

Welcome to mere chef - my cooking blog.  Here I will share recipes, my favorite restaurants, stories and adventures in travel, tourism, eating and life.  Feel free to post anything: recipes, stories, whatever.  Mangia!