Salmonella Salsa

So watching CNN today I see where the recent salmonella outbreak is the worst in over ten years.  To make matters worse the FDA really has no idea what is causing it.  In addition to tomatoes they have now added cilantro, jalapeños, and Serrano’s to the list of culprits.  With a menu like that it is easy to understand why the states with the largest outbreaks have large Hispanic communities.  Clearly this is a plot by Al-Qaeda to derive us of my favorite condiment, salsa.

 

I easily eat five to six 16 ounce jars of salsa a week.  I make mine from scratch because it not only costs about the same as one jar from the grocer but because it taste way better.  Why?  Because it is fresh.  Jarred salsa is pasteurized which means it has been cooked.  It is also laden with a multitude of fillers, binders, and assorted other additives that you would never put if salsa if you made it yourself.

 

My recipe is easy: organic canned tomatoes (always use canned unless tomatoes are in season where you live), garlic, onion, cilantro, and jalapeños (I sometimes use Serrano chilies) thrown together in a food processor or blender just long enough to mix but not long enough to turn the salsa pink.  So looking at my ingredients you can see why this latest news about salmonella is distressful to me.

 

Sure, I could make a cooked salsa and have fun doing it, grilled tomatoes, roasted garlic, sauté the onion and chilies in a little Spanish olive oil, but cilantro sadly is really only good raw.  Cooking makes it stringy and gives it the overwhelming taste of aluminum foil and dried cilantro is completely devoid of any flavor.

 

The rest of the ingredients are easily found organically grown locally.  If only I could find a local organic farmer to grow me my most favorite herb then I would be set.  Well, I guess it is the old Aerogarden to the rescue.

 

For more on the whole salmonella thing check these articles:

Investigation of Outbreak of Infections Caused by Salmonella Saintpaul from the CDC.

Chili Peppers Linked to Some Salmonella Illnesses from Elizabeth Lee of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

Salmonella Signs Point to Peppers by Jonathan D. Rockoff of the Baltimore Sun.

Kosher Cooking School?

From JTA Breaking News:

The only professional kosher cooking school in North America opened this week.

The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts, a six-week intensive course, held its first class Monday in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Flatbush in Brooklyn, N.Y. Thirteen students, men and women, are registered. The course, which costs $4,500, is in cooperation with Kingsborough Community College.

READ ON.

Also check out this from Jewlicious.com.

Macadamias Can Kill Fido? Nuts!

By now most people know that chocolate is seriously toxic to pooches.  There is a chemical in chocolate that dogs cannot digest.  A small dose can make them very ill, a larger dose will kill them.  I have spent 12 long worried hours with a Yorkie that ate one Hershey’s kiss wondering if my friend’s $1200 Christmas gift was gonna croke because kids just have to leave candy laying every where.

Lessons learned:

• Don’t give kids candy.
• Never pay $1200 for a dog when muts are free and make better pets.
• Chocolate really is bad for pooches.

Well now it turns out that some nuts have a similar effect.  I found this on a11news.com:

Nuts Toxic To Dogs – Walnuts and macadamia nuts toxic to dogs and people should avoid giving human snacks to dogs as many other foods are toxic to dogs besides nuts.

Nuts toxic to dogs include macadamia nuts and walnuts, but other varieties should be avoided as well as the exact cause of the dog toxicity is unknown.

One type of human food that should not be fed to dogs and cats is nuts. Walnuts and macadamia nuts are especially toxic, with symptoms ranging from vomiting to paralysis to death.

There’s more so visit the site for the 411 from a11news.com.  For more info on just what people food can kill your K9 check out this little diddy from MSNBC.  I guess that is why my vet has a freezer full of rabbits and squirrels.  Always trust a vet with an Auburn degree.

Everyday Gourmet TV Show

I know that I have a lot more readers these days so many of you may not know that I have my own cooking show called Everyday Gourmet.  It is funny and educational plus you get to see what I look like and that I actually know how to cook.  Some are fancy and some are fun, a few will even help you get rid of the belly fat.  Now I’m no Bobby Flay, or Emeril Legasse, but then again they’re not Stuart Reb Donald.  That DNA is some persnickety stuff.  Check it out.

Here’s an episode breakdown:

• Episode 1 is a two-parter $7 Dinners (linguine with clam sauce & meatball sub)
• Episode 2 is a Pool Party - Don’t worry, I’m not wearing Speedos.
• Episode 3 Alternative Pizza  – I reinvent the French Bread pizza.
• Episode 4 Gourmet Burgers - you have never seen a burger like this.
• Episode 5 Funky Frittata  – This vid will change your life.
• Episode 6 Mediterranean Pasta – I go Greek, but without the stupid sweater.

Katrina Relief Gets Kicked Up a Notch

Originally Posted by Well Fed on the Town (wellfedonthetown.net) on July 2, 2007.

The Katrina-ravaged city of Gulfport, Mississippi, has a new place to go for vittles. On June 21^st the Island View Casino and Resort completed Phase II of its construction with the opening of a beautiful new restaurant. The Island View is situated on the property formerly occupied by the Gulfport Grand Casino and is a major cog in the rebuilding effort along the Gulf Coast.

Thanks to the manmade drama in New Orleans following Katrina, the national media largely ignored the devastation in Mississippi. It was actually the Magnolia state, not the Big Easy, that took the brunt of the storm. The property damage in New Orleans, though widespread, was superficial compared to that of the Gulf Coast. The storm surge in New Orleans was around ten feet, the storm surge in Waveland, MS was 32 feet. Not a single edifice in Waveland survived Katrina. The entire town ceased to exist overnight. Flood waters recede but complete annihilation is a little harder to come back from.

Mississippians are resilient folk and they began their recovery effort the very next day, all by themselves. Despite far more extensive destruction, the Gulf Coast’s recovery is slow but astoundingly sure. The casino industry is back on its feet. The jewel of the area, the Beau Rivage reopened last year and the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is about to open. And now with the new restaurant at the Island View the good people of Mississippi have something they can really hang their hats on.

The new restaurant is a magnificent tribute to the area with thousands of hand-blown glass bubbles hanging from the ceiling and a 4000 bottle wine tower that partially conceals an 80 seat private banquet room. The menu features “coastal Creole” cuisine a mixture of the New Orleans style food found just to the west and the local seafood and produce found in the Gulfport area. The restaurant is guided on a daily basis by General Manager Jason Lonigro a veteran of the Crescent City restaurant scene, and Chef de Cuisine Steve D’Angelo who worked in New Orleans and Las Vegas prior to opening his own place in Bay St. Louis, MS six years before Katrina destroyed it.

The name of this new world class eatery in the heart of Katrina country? Emeril’s Gulf Coast Fish House and it is owned by Chef/Proprietor Emeril Lagasse whose family weekend home in Pass Christian, MS was also destroyed by Katrina. Alden Lagasse, Emeril’s wife, was born in Gulfport and played a large part in her husband’s decision to build there.

Here is hoping all of the best to Chef Lagasse and the people effected by Katrina from the flood devastated streets of New Orleans to the decimated fishing villages in Alabama. God speed.