Rachael Ray's Blog, page 65

When Famed Peter Luger Meets Saag Paneer

Saag Paneer is an Indian restaurant topper. This dish of spinach and cheese has a mass appeal to adults and kids alike.  There is comfort in saag paneer which stems perhaps from it’s familiarity and yet element of adventure. The spinach itself is like cream of spinach and the paneer appeals to our mouth memory in the ‘yes, I know your taste’ – slightly mozarella, slightly ricotta. And then of course, there is cumin that is used in a mild manner and brings us back to the Indian subcontinent.

As much as I love to eat this dish, cooking the spinach separately first and then adding it back in, is a deterrent. It’s just one step and one dirty pot too many. Recently, I was thrilled to discover Peter Luger’s cream of spinach. It is sold in grocery stores and even better, a larger and less expensive package is sold at Costco. Whilst I am an advocate for fresh cooking, if it means I won’t make a dish because of the steps involved, then it’s best to give-up that brick in that moment.

Peter Luger

Many recipes call for cream and butter. But if you use Peter Lugers spinach, it is already creamy (and they barely use cream – go figure!) and really doesn’t need more. This dish is cooked delicately. Unlike most bases that used caramelize onion, ginger and garlic (the North Indian soffrito), in this dish, these ingredients sweat lightly. The paneer, which is available at your local ethnic store in blocks (the way you would buy mozzarella), is soaked in warm water for a while to soften it and remove it’s industrial texture and then pan seared before it is added to the dish. This dish allows the 2 partners to stand out rather than get bullied by a list of other ingredients.

Pan-seared paneer

Serve this up with some warm buttered-pita and find a hobby for the night as this dish will take you less than 10 minutes to make.

Recipe For Saag Paneer – Spinach puree with Indian Cheese

Ingredients

¼ tsp. cumin seeds

Salt and pepper to taste

1 x14 oz. container Peter Lugers cream of spinach (or 2 cups of home-made cream of spinach)

¼ cup of onion, finely diced

1 tsp. ginger, grated

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 tsp. lemon juice

6oz. paneer (recommend nanak paneer from local Indian store or halloumi from any grocery store)

2 tbsp. milk

1 tbsp. cooking oil

Method

1) Soak the block of paneer in warm water for 5 minutes. Drain and cut in to 1” cubes

2) Heat the oil and add cumin seeds until the sizzle. Add onions and sweat the onions and ginger until soft. Add the garlic and continue cooking until garlic is soft (cover with lid so it steams rather than sautés). Season with salt and pepper

3) Add the spinach and lemon juice and cook until heat through. Add the milk and boil off

4) Heat a frying pan. Add the paneer and allow to brown on all sides. Combine the paneer with the spinach reserving 4-6 pieces for garnish.

Serve hot with reserved paneer garnished on top

Saira Malhotra, is of British–Indian descent and is a chef, food writer and cooking instructor based in New York City. Raised in Hounslow, U.K, or rather ‘Little India’, where the air is aromatic with roasted spices, little did Saira know these moments would follow her from being a student in France and Italy to residing in NYC with her husband and kids and parlay themselves unexpectedly in to a culinary career. She is a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York City. Come visit her at her food blog: www.passportpantry.com where she shares approachable and international recipes

An Insanely Good Pork Sandwich, and…

Half the fun of discovering a new restaurant is sharing it with people you know will enjoy it. As Rachael Ray’s resident restaurant guru, here’s an inside look at what I report back to Rach about some of my favorite restaurant finds and food experiences!

From: Kappy

To: RR

Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 2:54pm

Subject: An Insanely Good Pork Sandwich, and…

Hey Rachael -

Not only was I excited to check out the new Rachael Ray show studio, but I’ve been hearing some great things from the staff about the food in the area. One place that kept coming up is Rocket Pig. While its proximity to the studio explains its popularity in part, Rocket Pig is one cool little - and I mean little - project from the chef of Trestle on Tenth. It essentially was one of their storage closets that they turned into a tiny place that focuses on one thing and one thing only: the Rocket Pig. This is a pulled pork sandwich served with red onion jam and mustard sauce on a fresh ciabatta roll. The pork is brined, rubbed, smoked and roasted for more than 12 or so hours. While it’s not cheap, it’s definitely worth a try when you need a damn good pork sandwich.

A friend at work had invited me to try Desnuda in the East Village for a drink later that evening. Another small space, this wine bar and cevicheria serves up drinks and ceviche from the bar. There are many different creations from the chef - since we had some other damage to do that night, we picked at one of the specials, which was Kona Hamachi with truffle, and a lobster ceviche dish that seemed like it was marinated in a coconut milk mixture and served with mango salsa. I am not going to tell you it was the best ceviche around, but the cool factor makes up for it - just don’t go with a big group.

Just before Desnuda, we popped into Fonda, the one in the East Village (there is also one in Brooklyn). This is one of Roberto Santibanez’s restaurants. He’s a talented Mexican chef and I wanted to try twenty things, but we were on a mission to try the Fish Salpicon, cooked and chopped white fish with a bunch of lime juice, diced onions, diced serrano chilies and chopped cilantro served with fresh hand-pressed corn tortillas. People call this “fish salsa,” which isn’t the most appealing term to me, but it was delicious nonetheless.

And that’s what’s on my plate!

~ Kappy

Rocket Pig

463 West 24th Street

New York, NY 10001

(212) 645-5660

www.RocketPigNYC.com

Desnuda

122 East 7th Street

Manhattan, NY 10009

(212) 254-3515

www.DesnudaNY.com

Fonda

40 Avenue B

Manhattan, NY 10009

(212) 677-4096

www.FondaRestaurant.com

Andrew “Kappy” Kaplan loves food. A professionally trained chef, by day he runs Yum-o!, Rachael Ray’s charity focused on kids and cooking, and keeps special projects running smoothly for her. By night he hops course to course, place to place, all across the country. He’s Rach’s own personal dining guide! You can also follow Kappy on Twitter to see what’s On Kappy’s Plate in real-time!

How I finally got my kids to stop fighting…..

Being a parent is definitely a journey. I laugh when I think about the absolutes I held early on in my mothering career (No soda, ever! Chore charts will be followed. Ha.). I have had to give in on a few of my kids’ habits, and I pick my battles, as a means of survival.

Just a few of the things I have learned to accept when it comes to my kids:

My middle daughter will wear shorts - and only shorts -  once the temperature creeps out of the 40’s. If she is cold, she will change.
My son will not eat green vegetables. He has a generally healthy diet with this exception. He likes fruit. He is growing, his health is good. Oh well.
My older daughter has not yet learned to laugh at herself and cannot bear to be the subject of good-natured ribbing (which I have come to realize no one really likes anyway). The whole “we are not laughing at you but with you” line does not work. I tread lightly.

One absolute I continue to hold is no fighting in our house. I have not and will not accept when my kids fight. Run-of-the-mill bickering and teasing is to be expected with three siblings within four years of each other but mean, nasty teasing or fighting is not allowed. Non-negotiable. I have always preached that our home should be a refuge for everyone from school, work, and the outside world. Home is where you get a break.

When it somes to physical fighting, wrestling is fine, but pinching, hitting and slapping is a no-go. My husband tells me about growing up with his younger brother and they literally couldn’t help but wrestle, every night. His mother would put them in their rooms to do homework, and she would watch the clock, waiting for the bedroom doors to open, and the wrestling to commence in the hallway, like clockwork.

In the past few months my kids have been fighting - the hitting, punching and slapping variety. I had punished, lectured, etc., yet nothing was getting through to them. Finally, two weeks ago, my son and daughter were engaged in fisticuffs in one room, while I was watching Downton Abbey on a computer with headphones on (my typical good mother mode) in another. That’s when I heard a slap, so loud, and hard, that it came through my headphones from two rooms away.

I knew my daughter, who is about to be 13 and nearly my size and strength, had wailed on her 9-year old brother, and probably with good reason. I lined them up, and started with my usual lecture while my son sobbed and my daughter continued to plead her case - he started it (I am sure he did), it wasn’t that hard (untrue), etc. I explained - again - that she knew hitting was not allowed, and she especially can hit really hard. She continued to make excuses. So I very calmly grabbed her arm, and quickly slapped her. She couldn’t believe it. I have never laid a hand on my kids. I was very deliberate, and calm. This was not out of anger but to illustrate my point.

My daughter looked at me, completely startled - she couldn’t believe it. I calmly told her that this is what is felt like when she hit her brother. After her state of shock subsided (an hour or so) she hugged me and said she was sorry. She understood. No one has fought since. Call child services, but my kids got the picture.

On The Roof, With Spring Lamb, Using a Wire Hanger

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” The disorienting opening line of George Orwell’s 1984 came to mind today, when I set out too grill - Yes! - the first meat of spring. And it being spring, it seemed only right to make spring lamb. It wasn’t real spring lamb of course; it’s not time for those innocent little creatures to be slain yet. But it is spring, and it was lamb, and that is spring lamb enough for me. The wood was oak and the cut was a rolled leg and the result was so spectacular that I was forced to eat it before I could take a picture. The one above is a crude approximation drawn from an internet search engine.

Now, you are probably asking yourselves: how did he grill a whole rolled lamb roast? The answer is obvious: I unrolled it. I’m a huge fan of rolled lamb legs; I made one for passover, searing it off in my Le Cruset dutch oven and then cooking it covered with Beglian ale and cherry peppers. (Pro tip: when you add cherry peppers to anything, pour in some of the vinegar too.) The lamb leg, once unfurled, is still an unwieldy piece of meat, odd-shaped, thin in some places and thick in others - the last thing you want to see in grilling meat. Worse still, from a grilling point of view, is the fact that lamb leg is relatively tough. Typically, you see it either slow-roasted or braised; cooked straight up on hot coal, it would have been a blistered mess, its surface black and burnt on the outside and either raw or leathery inside.

Needless to say, my own lamb leg was nothing of the kind. And here’s why: I did it in two steps, first brushing it with rosemary infused oil and the customary salt shower, and grilling it over lump coals and rosemary stems. It didn’t take long to sear the meat, and when it was over, I took it off, and cooled it down, and rolled it back up. It wasn’t as taut or neat as when I got it from the butcher, nor was I able to produce a ball of butcher’s twine, but the wire coathanger I bound it up with kept it from unrolling at least. I inserted lots of garlic, more rosemary, and whatever other herbs I had at hand inside it, and put it on the cool side of a two-zone fire for approximately forty minutes. It’s still cold here in New York (which is what brought 1984 to mind) and the temperature inside the Weber was kept down by the nippy winds swirling around it on my roof. That’s OK; I didn’t need it to cook long or hot; just enough to get cooked most of the way though the outside layers, leaving a rosy-rare inside. Getting the coathanger off was rough though; I ended up having to cut around them. You will however be using butcher’s twine, so presumably the issue won’t arise.

What will happen, though, is that you will have a big, juicy, sizzling brown and herbaceous roast, with an unmistakable wood-smoke crust and a juicy, garlicky interior: the perfect thing to hail the end of winter with.

Rooftop Rolled Spring Lamb Leg

1/4 cup EVOO

four big sprigs of rosemary

1 tbsp Fresh oregano / marjoram / thyme

5 cloves garlic

A rolled, boneless leg of lamb

1. warm the oil in the pan and add the leaves from a spring of rosemary. Let them simmer in the oil until they have infused it with their flavor. (Taste to test.)

2. Open the roast, unroll it, and shmear the oil all around the outside of the roast; add some chopped up rosemary, plenty of kosher salt and some black pepper.

3. Grill over direct heat using lump hardwood charcoal, wood, or non-matchlight briquettes. Brown both sides. Remove.

4. Let the meat cool, and then rub the inside with smashed garlic, the herbs, salt, and while you’re at it add in the full rosemary sprigs. Roll it back up and tie it, as best you can, with butcher’s twine. (Or a coathanger.)

5. Set the meat on the cool side of a two zone fire with only a small amount of coal embers on the hot side; just enough to build up some heat. Close the lid, open the drafts, and wait about forty minutes.

6.  Remove, stand, and slice up. Serve.

Coconut Oil Roasted Sweet Potatoes

It’s April already, so it’s technically spring, but in much of the country, we still only have winter vegetables in season. That’s why today’s recipe focuses on the beloved sweet potato, a root vegetable and a cold weather favorite. This quick-cooking tuber has plenty of flavor on its own, but when paired with sweet and fruity coconut oil, its richness is almost too good to be believed.

If you’re new to coconut oil, you’re in for a treat. Virgin coconut oil has a texture similar to butter, and a naturally subtle coconut flavor that perfectly complements sweet and tropical foods. It’s now widely available in health food stores, and is widely considered a heart healthy cooking oil.

When you mix coconut and sweet potatoes, you’ve got a sweet, creamy, and flavorful treat. Forget the old Thanksgiving standby of adding marshmallows to sweet potatoes, because in this dish, they’re already sweet and caramelized enough. All you do is roast them in a little virgin coconut oil with a pinch of salt. That’s it.

I like using a cast iron pan for cooking the potatoes, because you can melt the oil on the stovetop and then go straight into the oven, but you can melt the oil separately and combine it with the sweet potatoes in any roasting pan. Serve these sweet potatoes as a side dish, or with some beans and sautéed kale as part of a vegetarian meal.

Coconut Oil Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

2 large sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Instructions

Peel the sweet potatoes, and cut them into pieces roughly 1 inch big.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat, and add the coconut oil. When the oil is melted, add the sweet potatoes and salt and toss to coat in the oil. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about an hour. Let the sweet potatoes cool slightly before serving.

Louisa Shafia is the author, most recently, of The New Persian Kitchen, a book of healthy Mediterranean and Silk Road-inspired recipes. See Louisa’s cooking videos and her schedule of upcoming events at www.lucidfood.com.

Philly Strikes Again

Half the fun of discovering a new restaurant is sharing it with people you know will enjoy it. As Rachael Ray’s resident restaurant guru, here’s an inside look at what I report back to Rach about some of my favorite restaurant finds and food experiences!

From: Kappy

To: RR

Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2012 11:57am

Subject: Philly Strikes Again

Hey Rach -

On our last trip of 2012 to Philly, I couldn’t help but fit in a few more spots. From the airport, it was straight to Reading Terminal Market for some beef jerky. I know you’ve shot here for your show, and I really enjoy this market as well - there really is something for everyone. On this visit, I discovered a little meat market with beef jerky in all different flavors. So, I picked some up to take back to Chicago and headed to my first stop.

I arrived to The Farm and the Fisherman, which is a simple 30-seat restaurant with some serious talent behind it. There are some Daniel NYC vets, plus Josh Lawler, who was the Chef de Cuisine at Blue Hill Stone Barns. Josh does some pretty serious things at this restaurant that should not be overlooked. Since I had a few places to go, I was told to get one thing and one thing only: the Bloody Beet (no, not beef) Steak. This is a whole roasted beet, skin on, which is then cut in half and smashed on a plancha, capturing all of the juice in the beet. There is a smooth yogurt spread underneath. This dish was insane - one of the better dishes I’ve had in quite some time - and I demolished it. This picture does NOT do it justice. I then had a little flatbread dish, made with a cracker-like barley bread spread with some local ricotta (not much at all) and laid out with beautiful fresh veggies and greens, such as pea shoots and fresh herbs. A full meal at this restaurant is definitely in my future.

From The Farm, I headed to Old City to Fork. While the restaurant is about 15 years old, Chef Eli Kulp, a Torrisi (NYC) veteran, recently arrived on the scene. I kicked things off with a delicious bay scallop crudo dish with pickled beet slices and parsley pesto. Their “bread plate” was an amazing trio of a mini homemade bialy with a grass-infused cream cheese; a raw baby carrot dipped in “soil” (cocoa nib, lemon zest, anchovy and sesame); and a one-biter Philly-style pretzel injected with a beer-cheese sauce. I added a tasty strachiatella crostini with pickled eggplant on top and their homemade chicken nuggets with hot mustard sauce, which were out of control. Not quite ready to be through with the menu, I took a few bites of the charred octopus with fennel agro dolce and crispy potatoes. If you go, you’ll notice Fork, etc. next door, which looks like a cool little spot for breakfast or lunch.

And last, but definitely not least, was Pub & Kitchen and their talented Chef, Jonny Adams. This is a casual corner pub with rock solid food. I met a friend here and picked… and picked… and picked… and picked… I felt like the food did not stop - but I love this place. I’ve written about it once before, but the menu was nearly entirely new; what was the same was that everything was as on point this time as it was last time. We had an escargot dish with flavors of rich red wine; their fantastic burger with Jonny’s special burger blend made by Pat La Frieda in NYC; the duck breast; a spot-on fish dish with grits (pictured above); and the short ribs - one of my favorites on a chilly night. I do still want to get back here for brunch, so you haven’t seen the last of Pub & Kitchen! I do have to tell you that between the time I ate here and the time I wrote this, Jonny has left the restaurant and moved on to another project. Stay tuned for more info on that and check out his other endeavor over at Rival Bros Coffee Roasters, but still don’t miss out on P&K!

And that’s what’s on my plate!

~ Kappy

Smucker’s - Reading Terminal Market

12th and Arch Streets

Philadelphia, PA

(215) 922-2317

The Farm and the Fisherman

1120 Pine Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

(267) 687-1555

www.TheFarmandFisherman.com

Fork

306 market Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106

(215) 625-9425

www.ForkRestaurant.com

Pub & Kitchen

1946 Lombard Street

Philadelphia, PA 19146

(215) 545-0350

www.thepubandkitchen.com

Andrew “Kappy” Kaplan loves food. A professionally trained chef, by day he runs Yum-o!, Rachael Ray’s charity focused on kids and cooking, and keeps special projects running smoothly for her. By night he hops course to course, place to place, all across the country. He’s Rach’s own personal dining guide! You can also follow Kappy on Twitter to see what’s On Kappy’s Plate in real-time!

Keema Parantha - India’s Meat Stuffed Pastry

It is the Sunday mornings I miss in particular about being unmarried and living at home with my parents in good old Hounslow, our little suburb in West London. Staggering downstairs around 11am, dad would thrust a perfect cup of tea in to my hands whilst mum made the usual, savory-stuffed pastry ‘parantha’. Paranthas are Indian flat bread that are given a searing in butter for perfect crispness. The scene was pretty much replicated by our neighbors, my grandmother’s home 2 blocks away and my friend’s house across the street. We lived in a little Indian colony and to tear in to a parantha over a cup of sweetly spiced tea made it ‘Sunday as usual’ for most of us.

Walking through the kitchen, I would fight the haze created by copious amounts of butter sizzling on the skillet. My mum has always had a very liberal hand. As she rolled out little balls of dough, stuffing them with spiced cauliflower, radish, potatoes or ground meat, I would hover over her with special instructions. I wanted mine with the tiniest amount of pastry and a whole lot of stuffing and of course, some extra green chili and ginger. The hot and crisp parantha would land on my plate as I busily scoffed my first. Once I got going, the paranthas keep coming until I gave an honest, strong NO and not a whimpy ‘I shouldn’t but I totally could’ gesture. Each filling is dressed a little differently. They all have the crunch of fresh onions, cilantro and ginger, but then, cauliflower and potatoes are given a sour twist of dried pomegranate whist the ground meat is brought to life with a sprinkle of mango powder.

Filling the parantha with keema

Whilst many set up their plate with some pickle or chutney, a little bowl of plain yoghurt and an additional piece of butter, I am a purist and won’t make space for anything to come between me and my parantha.

Whilst paranthas make for great live action entertainment, you can certainly make them ahead of time and reheat on the skillet when you are ready to serve.

Browning the parantha

Recipe for ground chicken ‘keema’ parantha
Ingredients

Dough

2 cups of flour

¾ tsp. salt

3/4 cup water and reserve ¼ cup of water

Meat filling

1 tbsp. oil

1lb. ground chicken/ beef or lamb + 1 tsp. grated ginger

¼ cup frozen peas

1 tbsp. ginger, grated

¼ cup onions, finely diced

2 tbsp. fresh cilantro

¾ tsp. mango powder

Salt to taste

Black pepper, ½ tsp.

Garam Masala, ¾ tsp. (Indian spice blend, now available at most supermarkets)

Coriander powder (available at local supermarket)

Assembly

2 tbsp. butter

¼ cup flour for dusting

Method

Dough

1) Combine the flour and salt in a deep and wide mixing bowl

2) Add the water in three stages, needing the dough with your hands. Once the dough forms a ball and feels like pizza dough, allow to rest for at least 30 minutes (makes it more pliable and provides for a nicer crust)

Meat

1) Saute the meat with the ginger. Season with salt and pepper. Break the meat apart well. Add frozen peas, cook until moisture has evaporated.

2) Cool meat, combine with remaining ingredients

Assembly

1) Heat a skillet on med-high

2) Divide dough in to golf ball-sized pieces, lightly coat with flour. Dust the work surface with a little flour. Roll in to small disks (the size of a coffee cup). Fill center with 1 tbsp. of filling and gather the ends and pinch closed. Flatten by hand and roll out carefully, not to break the dough and let filling come out

3) Roll out, switching sides a couple of times until it is the size of a quarter plate. Dust off excess flour

4) Place on the hot skillet and cook on both sides until it becomes crisp and little golden brown spots appear (usually 3 minutes). Flip and cook the other side, glaze with butter (no more than a light smear) and flip one more time to make it crispy and flaky

5) Serve immediately

Saira Malhotra, is of British–Indian descent and is a chef, food writer and cooking instructor based in New York City. Raised in Hounslow, U.K, or rather ‘Little India’, where the air is aromatic with roasted spices, little did Saira know these moments would follow her from being a student in France and Italy to residing in NYC with her husband and kids and parlay themselves unexpectedly in to a culinary career. She is a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York City. Come visit her at her food blog: www.passportpantry.com where she shares approachable and international recipes

How to Make Your Haircut Work from Day to Night

There’s nothing like the thrill of getting a new haircut. You feel confident, special, different, excited. And those feelings don’t have to stop when you leave the salon. My latest collection for ULTA make it easy to style your locks in more ways than one.

Experimenting with your new cut is a great way to discover new styles that work for you. One of the most popular cuts this year is heavy, blunt bangs.  First Lady Michelle Obama recently cut bangs as a way to change up her look, and mum-to-be Kim Kardashian also recently made the chop.  Bangs are a great look for Spring and, contrary to popular belief, can be styled in a number of different ways.

How to achieve the look: Apply Redken Argan-6 oil to mid-lengths and ends followed by Redken’s Layer Lift 07 from scalp to ends. Begin blow drying with a paddle brush to remove moisture while maintaining control. Once the hair is 50% dry switch to a boar bristle round brush to create volume at the roots and smoothness on the ends.  Finish by using a large barrel curling iron to set the hair and increase shine.

How to achieve the look: Using a soft boar bristle brush, backcomb lightly throughout. Smooth the surface softly then pull everything into a ponytail and secure with an elastic band. Where, on the head, you place the ponytail will vary based on length and desired outcome.  Lightly mist the ponytail with a light hair spray and smooth ponytail surface with a soft boar bristle brush. Firmly grasp the ponytail and begin to tightly twist the hair in one direction. Allow the ponytail to organically twist onto itself and wrap into a soft loose knot. Secure with bobby pins.

How to achieve the look: Pull hair into a high ponytail and mist with a light holding hair spray. Backcomb the ponytail and then gently grasping the ponytail twist it loosely around the base creating a soft disheveled bun. Encourage bits of hair to fall for a more organic end result. Finish by softly rubbing the palms of your hands over the surface for an additional light airy texture.

Above are three looks, a messy but chic topknot and a low sitting chignon that are perfect for evening (it works well with a statement necklace and cropped pants, or a cute dress), and a soft wave that’s ideal for daytime. So whether you’re enjoying a much-deserved date night with your husband or boyfriend or heading to work, try and embrace one of these styles into your regimen this week. Remember, it’s all about making your cut work for you.

(And if you’d rather let a professional give you a quick lesson first, head to your nearest ULTA salon, where they can recreate the look for you!)

The Hidden Health Benefits of Turmeric

Every time you slather mustard on your hotdog or hamburger, you just may be helping to prevent Alzheimer’s or arthritis. The reason is that the humble spice turmeric, routinely added to mustard to give the condiment it signature yellow color, has been shown to have powerful curative properties.

Turmeric is a rhizome, like ginger, and in its native India, where people cook with it daily, the rate of Alzheimer’s in people in their 70’s is among the lowest in the world. Studies are now being conducted on turmeric’s prevention of Alzheimer’s, as well as its effectiveness as a treatment for people who already suffer from symptoms of the disease.

In addition to being a possible preventative of Alzheimer’s, turmeric is being studied as a preventative and even cure for certain types of cancers. Tests have also shown that turmeric is effective in preventing and treating arthritis, and it’s being tested for its beneficial effects in instances of cystic fibrosis, diabetes, psoriasis, and lowering cholesterol.

So, what makes turmeric such a magical healing substance? It contains something called curcumin, a powerful anti-inflammatory. Because inflammation is a contributor to so many diseases, including Alzheimer’s and arthritis, the curcumin in turmeric is a precious find.

Now that you know why turmeric is such a good ingredient to incorporate into your diet, you may want to know how to cook with it. The key to using turmeric is to incorporate a modest amount of it into your daily cooking. You only need a small amount, as turmeric has a deep mineral taste that is slightly sweet and very earthy. Add no more than a teaspoon to soup, stew, chili, or a marinade. Cooking mellows the flavor of turmeric, but you can even add a pinch of it to uncooked foods like salad dressing or a smoothie without affecting the taste.

As a rule, turmeric works well with in Indian recipes. Here is a simple recipe for red lentil soup flavored with turmeric. Put a different spin on this soup by adding a cup of chopped fresh vegetables, a few handfuls of leafy greens such as spinach, or a cup of a cooked grain like rice or quinoa.

Red Lentil Soup with Turmeric

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 small yellow onion, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 cup red lentils

1 teaspoon salt

1 lime, cut into quarters

1/2 cup plain yogurt

Instructions

In a soup pot, heat the coconut oil on medium heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger, garlic, coriander, turmeric, lentils, and salt, and cook for one minute more.

Add 5 cups water and bring to the boil. Decrease the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils have cooked into a puree, about 20 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Top each serving with the juice of 1/4 lime and a dollop of yogurt.

Some NYC Gems

Half the fun of discovering a new restaurant is sharing it with people you know will enjoy it. As Rachael Ray’s resident restaurant guru, here’s an inside look at what I report back to Rach about some of my favorite restaurant finds and food experiences!

From: Kappy

To: RR

Sent: Friday, March 29, 2013 1:05pm

Subject: Some NYC Gems

Hey Rach -

While I love a place that gets hyped up, I also love a place that meets the hype. I had already been to the sister restaurant of Parm, called Torrisi, where I had eaten two extremely memorable sandwiches for lunch. So I was happy to check out their newest venture, Parm, which is more on the casual side (sidebar-they actually have a newer one that just opened called Carbone). I started with a side of Brussels sprouts that the server talked me into getting. I’m glad I did, because they were like a crazy addiction… and I got the last order! The homemade mozzarella sticks I added were fat, milky and crisp. For my sandwich, I tried the eggplant sandwich on a round roll. Parm lives up to the buzz on the street, so be sure to check this place out. P.S. On Sunday nights they shake things up a bit and do Chinese dinner.

From there, I walked over to the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop. I have loved what these guys are up to with their truck, so I was excited to finally get to the shop. I had the American Glob, a vanilla soft serve ice cream with pretzels and sea salt dipped in chocolate. Sounds disgusting, I know - and by disgusting, I of course mean totally insane! Anyway, I had them make me a half cone, because I was so full from lunch that I didn’t want to waste a full cone. Well, I should have gotten a full cone - there will always be room for more of this ice cream! Check out their new shop in the West Village, too.

I know that you’re a huge fan of what French Chef Mathieu Palombino does at Motorino Pizza in the East Village, so you’ll probably want to check out his Bowery Diner. It’s, well, a diner, but I mean that in a good way. I had a pretty solid French Onion Soup and a special of the night: Peconic Bay Scallops served with kimchi and preserved lemon. These are only available for a very short time of the year around November/December and are small, briny and tender. With an explanation like this, how could I not get them?! I also had some of the Bowery Burger, which has homemade pastrami and gruyere - it was pretty great. Bowery Diner reminds me of what Florent in the Meatpacking District used to be; and perhaps not coincidentally, Florent, himself was sitting at the table next to me.

And the sleeper of the bunch? Danji in the Hell’s Kitchen area. Holy smokes, this place was amazing! It’s a small restaurant that focuses on authentic Korean flavors, but flirts with classic techniques. On their menu, this translates into a “Traditional” side and a “Modern” side. I started with a just ever-so-sweet Pea and Edamame Soup and also picked at a trio of kimchi with cabbage, radish and cucumbers, while also nibbling at the Scallion Pancake with Korean Pepper. I then ordered the K.F.C. Wings - Korean Fire Chicken wings, that is - which featured honey, garlic, and four chilies in the sauce. They were spicy, crispy and really good. I had to try the Bulgogi Beef Sliders served with spicy pickled cucumbers and scallion salsa. Luckily these were all small plates (and I share with my neighbors, too!).

And that’s what’s on my plate!

~ Kappy

Parm

248 Mulberry Street

Manhattan, NY 10012

(212) 993-7189

www.parmnyc.com

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

125 East 7th Street

New York, NY 10009

(212) 533-9333

www.biggayicecream.com

The Bowery Diner

241 Bowery

Manhattan, NY 10002

(212) 388-0052

www.bowerydiner.com

Danji

346 West 52nd Street

New York, NY 10019

(212) 586-2880

www.danjinyc.com

Andrew “Kappy” Kaplan loves food. A professionally trained chef, by day he runs Yum-o!, Rachael Ray’s charity focused on kids and cooking, and keeps special projects running smoothly for her. By night he hops course to course, place to place, all across the country. He’s Rach’s own personal dining guide! You can also follow Kappy on Twitter to see what’s On Kappy’s Plate in real-time!