How smart is Popeye? Smarter than you think. Popeye attributes his amazing strength to eating spinach but he is also protecting himself against osteoporosis, heart disease, colon cancer and arthritis.
How smart is Popeye? Smarter than you think. Popeye attributes his amazing strength to eating spinach but he is also protecting himself against osteoporosis, heart disease, colon cancer and arthritis. The Journal of Nutrition recently published a report that spinach fights prostate cancer while The Nurses Health Study reveals women whose diets are high in kaempferol, a nutrient in spinach, have a 40 percent less risk of ovarian cancer.
Spinach, like other leafy green vegetables, provides more nutrients than most other foods. Vitamin C and Vitamin A, two nutrients in spinach, are important antioxidants that work to reduce free radicals in the body known to cause blocked arteries, heart attacks, or strokes. Spinach's Vitamin K promotes bone health. Add the iron and calcium and you have the mighty spinach. Make your spinach organic and you even increase the healthy nutrients of the mighty spinach. According to a study by Rutgers University comparing conventionally grown spinach with organic spinach, organic spinach has 97 percent more iron and 99 percent more manganese than conventionally grown spinach. Many of the essential trace elements that are absent in the conventionally grown spinach are rich in the organic. The United States---notably California and Texas---is one of the largest commercial grower of spinach. Help the economy and yourself, have organic spinach for dinner.
Jasmati Rice with Spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large organic sweet onion, chopped
1 cup organic frozen mixed vegetables, defrosted
1 package of organic spinach, rinsed and dried
1 cup uncooked organic Jasmati Rice
2 cups of organic chicken broth
Place rice in pan with chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Wrap towel around lid. Secure wrapped lid on pan, making sure the cloth does not touch any part of stovetop. Simmer rice for 20 to 25 minutes or until all broth is absorbed and rice is slightly dry. Turn off heat but keep pan on burner. Remove wrapped lid.
Sauté onion in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add mixed vegetables and spinach. Continue to sauté for 3 to 5 minutes. Add rice to large bowl. Add spinach mixture and stir well.
Serve Jasmati Rice and Spinach with sliced tomatoes on the side. Tomatoes help the body absorb the iron in spinach.
 Whether you call it white sauce, cream sauce, or bechemel, you need to know how to make this basic sauce. When you know how to make a white sauce, you know how to make dozens of other sauce. This article will help you make a smooth white sauce every time. White sauce is the basis of hundreds of casseroles, soups, vegetable, and meat sauces. When you know how to make a white sauce, you know how to make veloute sauce, cheese sauce, onion sauce, curry sauce, and others. You can buy white sauce packets and, while some are good, others taste artificial. Nothing tastes as good as homemade sauce. I've been cooking for decades, but sometimes my sauce is lumpy because I am not paying close attention to what I am doing. Follow these tips and you will have a smooth white sauce every time. 1. Use a heavy-bottomed pan. This tip comes from the Epicurious website. Like most recipes, the recipe for white sauce on the website starts with butter. 2. Warm milk beforehand. This tip also comes from the Epicurious website. However, you can make a smooth sauce with cold milk if you are careful. 3. Stir/whisk the sauce constantly. According to the cooks.com website, you should stir the sauce constantly until it boils. Reduce the heat and cook a bit more, whisking constantly, until the sauce is smooth and thick. 4. Watch for sticking. Sometimes the flour in the sauce sticks to the bottom rim of the pan. You can feel this with the spoon or whisk when it starts to happen. To prevent lumping, remove the sauce from the heat, and scrape the bottom rim with a heat-proof spatula. 5. Use granular flour. I can make white sauce with regular flour, but prefer to use granuar (gravy) flour because it is less apt to lump. Most white sauce recipes call for regular or evaporated milk. My husband and I eat a low fat diet, so I use skim milk. I also use a butter-margarine blend to make the roux. Here is my recipe for white sauce. INGREDIENTS 1 tablespoon butter-margarine blend 1 1/2 tablespoons gravy flour dash low-sodium salt 1 cup skim milk METHOD Melt butter-margarine blend in a small saucepan. If you have a glass stove top, make sure the saucepan has a flat bottom and fits the burner. Whisk in gravy flour and salt. Cook roux for a few seconds. Add milk, whisking constantly, and cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens. You can change the flavor of your sauce by adding: * freshly grated nutmeg (nice with creamed spinach) * onion powder * garlic powder (I do this if I'm making Alfredo sauce.) * light cream cheese (about 2 tablespoons) * Parmesan cheese (2-3 tablespoons) * Cheddar cheese (1/3 cup) * fresh lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon) * chicken or fish stock instead of milk (Veloute sauce) After you have made white sauce a dozen times or so you will know the recipe by heart. I hope you make it often and invent new and delicious dishes for your family. Pizzas Made Easy by Dyfed Lloyd Evans |
In all likelihood, pizzas (in terms of a flatbread with toppings) are probably as old as the history of the cultivation of wheat and bread-making. The ancient Assyrians and Babylonians were almost certainly placing toppings on their flatbreads, but they have left us no written records so we cannot be certain of this. Indeed, the first real evidence we have for something akin to a pizza comes from drawings preserved in Pompeii. These depict flatbreads with toppings.
Of course, Roman versions of pizzas would not be anything like a modern pizza there would otn have been any tomatoes or bell peppers for one thing. These products both originate in the New World and were unknown in Europe until the 1500s. Still, based on the writings of various Roman authors it's possible to re-construct a Roman 'pizza' using a tapenade of olives and herbs, smoked sausages and cheese.
Indeed, the descendants of such recipes, known as 'White Pizzas' are still cooked in Italy today. We need to fast forward to Naples in the 1850s, however, to find the first 'true' pizzas a bread-based crust topped with a tomato sauce, basil and cheese. Indeed, as far as we can tell the first pizzeria (called Port 'Alba) opened in Naples in 1830 and is still in business today as the Antica Pizzeria Port 'Alba.
According to legend the Pizza Neapolitana (Piza alla Margherita) was crated by Raffaele Esposito at his pizzeria. Pietro il Pizzaiolo on the occasion of the visit of Queen Margherita of Savoy and her husband King Umberto I, to Naples in 1889. The ingredients were chosen because they represent the colours of the Italian flag and the pizza was reputedly sent to her at her residence in the Capodimonte Park in Naples (which might also mark this occasion as that of the first pizza delivery!).
Pizzas have changed and evolved greatly during the past 150 years, with the introduction of the American 'deep dish' pizza and in the 1980s the generation of the first sweet or dessert pizzas. Toppings abound today and most of world's major cuisines will have had a pizza topping created in its honour. However, the true secret of a good pizza lies in the base and below are recipes for classic savoury and sweet pizza bases that work every time!
Wheat Flour Pizza Crust
This is the pizza crust that I, personally use. It's based on a 1500 year old recipe (with modifications) and works properly every time!
Ingredients:
300g plain flour
1 packet dried yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Method:
Take half a cup of the warm water and add the sugar, mixing thoroughly. Pour the dried yeast into this, cover and set aside in a warm place for 15 minutes until the mixture begins frothing. Meanwhile add the sugar to the remaining water and mix well.
When the yeast has activated sift about 120g of the flour into the bowl and add the yeast and salt mixtures to this, making a wet dough. Add the remaining flour a little at a time until a firm dough is made. Tip onto a floured board and knead hard for 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball and turn onto a lightly-floured work surface. Either stretch with your hands or roll into a circle of about 28cm in diameter. Transfer to a lightly-greased baking tray and using your thumb and forefinger crimp the edges to form a raised lip. Cover and leave to stand for 20 minutes.
Top the pizza base with your chosen sauce and topping then place in an oven pre-heated to 200°C and bake for about 18 minutes, or until the crust is golden and cooked through.
Pizza Dolce
This recipe is for, quite literally, a 'sweet pizza'. By not it's the classic Italian method for creating a sweet yeast-based pizza dough though the original recipe is based on French brioche-style bread.
Ingredients:
1 tsp active, dried, yeast
175ml lukewarm milk
450g strong bread flour
4 large eggs
1 small egg yolk
3 large egg yolks
5 tbsp golden granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250g salted butter, cubed and softened
Method:
Mix together the yeast, 125g of the flour and the milk. Blend to a fine batter then cover with a clean tea towel and set aside for 15 minutes. After this time sift the remaining flour over the top, but do not mix in. Cover once again and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise. After this time the sponge base should bubble up through the flour covering.
Gradually mix the covering of flour into the risen sponge. Add the whole eggs and the 3 egg yolks and mix into the dough before adding the salt and sugar. Continue mixing until the dough is very elastic then turn onto a lightly floured work surface and gradually knead in the softened butter. Add the butter a tablespoon at a time, allowing each tablespoon to be absorbed into the dough before adding the next tablespoon.
Knead for 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic, then cover and place in the refrigerator to rise over night (by this time the dough should triple in volume). If necessary, remove from the refrigerator and allow to raise further in the morning.
When ready, divide the dough into two or three equal pieces and roll out on lightly-floured working surfaces into circles about 6mm thick. Crimp the edges with your thumb and forefinger to raise them then place on baking trays, cover and set aside to rise for 10 minutes in a warm place.
Prepare your desired toppings (these can be custard-based, chocolate based or cheesecake based) and prepare the pizza as you desire. When done place in an oven pre-heated to 200°C and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the crust is puffed up and golden.
Above you have just seen recipes for two classic pizzas. One savoury and one sweet. You can now create classic pizza bases, all you need to do now is to prepare appropriate toppings to complete your own pizza recipes.
15-Minute Marinated Chicken |
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