The Farmers’ Market isn’t just for vegetables.  Ideally, your local farmers’ market supports farmers raising livestock in an organic and sustainable manner. One of the largest carbon emitters, and therefore contributors to global warming, is commercial livestock farming.  In addition, if you research the commercial farming industry, you’ll discover deplorable conditions, animal cruelty and practices that lead to the kind of food borne illnesses and contamination that have plagued this country in recent years.  I try to eat consciously and responsibly, and I choose to be a carnivore, I feel I need to do so in a conscientious manner. Commercial meat products come to store shelves laden with chemicals, hormones, antibiotics and little flavor. Meat from a local farm is an entirely different animal.

Local farmers (hopefully) feed their pigs and cattle a natural diet that promotes health and well-being, eliminating the need for the antibiotics and hormones that are necessitated by a chemical-laden diet that fails to reflect the animals’ nutritional needs.  Look for free-range, hormone and antibiotic free.  Look for grass fed and finished cattle.  Often local farms will not be organic because they cannot afford the certification process from the USDA, but if you take the time to engage your local farmers, they will be more than happy to describe their process.  Taking care in raising animals makes an enormous difference not only in their health, but in our health.  And it makes a huge difference in flavor.  A great, free range, grass fed cow produces steak that tastes like…steak.  The meat has a full, beefy flavor to it that really bring to light the injustice done to commercially raised beef.  It cheats the animal, it cheats us and it cheats our palate.  This may sound silly, but if you’ve tasted properly raised meat, you know what I’m talking about.

Recently, I met a lovely woman at the Farmers’ Market who runs a local farm with her husband.  She offered a beautiful selection of properly raised pork and beef.  We didn’t want to buy too many items on our first visit, so we picked up a couple porks chops and some steaks (more on those another time).  If you’ve read any of my past Farmers’ Market posts, you know I like to prepare dishes simply and let the fantastic natural flavor of the ingredients shine through.

Pork chops on the grill are the ideal way to highlight their flavor without too much fussiness.  We rubbed a small amount of French Herb Blend into the pork chops before putting them on the grill.   Make sure the grill is properly heated before putting the pork chops on the grill.  If you are careful, and turn them only once, the result will be a much moister pork chop.  A word of caution here: free range, naturally raised beef and pork tends to be leaner than commercially raised meat.  Think about it: this animals get exercise so they are obviously fitter and therefore have less fat than their factory farmed counterparts.  This means that you have to be very careful not to overcook the meat or it will be tough.  A nice piece of pork can be served less than well done.  It will be moist and delicious.

After cooking, we finished with a little more French Herb Blend.  The pork chops were so juicy, and you could taste the freshness, the diversity in the diet and the care with which the animal was raised.  It tasted the way you imagine pork should taste, and so rarely does. This dish is awesome with zucchini or brussels sprouts.

If your Farmers’ Market does not have meat purveyors, investigate your local farms or check out www.localharvest.org to find a farmer near you.

I don’t always have time to prepare an exquisite, gourmet meal during the week. But I do love to eat and frozen pizza doesn’t always do it for me.  Although I love fresh produce (see here and here), I often rely on frozen ingredients for quick, easy meals.  One of my favorite freezer staples is individually vacuum sealed fish fillets.  Now, stop right there gourmet critics/snobs.  I know fresh fish looks better, tastes better and probably is better for me and the environment.  And I strive to do better with my food choices, diet, carbon footprint and sustainability contribution.  But sometimes life gets in the way and I still need to eat.

Here is my favorite, 15 minute gourmet, weeknight meal: Citrus Basil Tilapia with Sauteed Broccoli (or other frozen green vegetable).  Serves 2

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with tin foil.  Defrost two frozen tilapia fillets.  On one small plate, pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup of milk (I prefer local or organic dairy products-yummy).  On another small plate, combine bread crumbs with Citrus Basil salt.  I use a ratio of about 3 parts breadcrumbs to one part salt, but you should combine to taste.   Dip the tilapia fillet in the milk, followed by the Citrus Basil breadcrumb mixture, and lay on the tin foil lined baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining tilapia fillet.  Bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

While the fish is baking, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan.  When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add frozen broccoli or green vegetable of your choice.  Cook until heated through, but not soggy.  This should take no longer than the fish.  I like to season with Garlic-Shallot, but French Herb, Herb Garden and Chef’s Blend are all great options.

Voila, dinner is served.  Sometimes I add rice or a green salad, but often fish and veggies is plenty for a healthy, quick meal.

One of my culinary obsessions (besides salt!) is the Farmers’ Market.  The bounty of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats inspires me to get in the kitchen and experiment with new ingredients. Vegetables that I ordinarily find less than appealing call out to me as they sit in large piles, overflowing the folding tables at our local Farmer’s Market. One of the vegetables that I ordinarily eschew on my plate is zucchini. Typically, zucchini is part of some mixed vegetable medley served by a restaurant that doesn’t particularly care about its vegetable side dish. This zucchini sits limply and blandly next to a delicious protein that has been lovingly crafted by a caring kitchen staff. Then the vegetables, as an afterthought, are steamed, seasoned with a few dried flakes of thyme and shipped off to my plate, to be pushed aside for the food I actually want to eat. The lack of seasoning combined with a mushy, watery texture…ugh, zucchini.

      Yet somehow I forget all of this when I see the beautiful, green zucchini recently harvested by a favorite local farmer. Suddenly zucchini looks appetizing and enticing, and I must buy several of them because how can I live without zucchini?!?! Then I get home, unload my bags and survey the results. Wait, zucchini? I don’t even like zucchini. What was I thinking? Okay, deep breath.  Time for a pep talk:  you are a fairly competent home cook…it’s just a vegetable..you know how to make it delicious. Just because some restaurant steams it to death doesn’t mean I have to treat it with such disrespect.

    With trepidation, I slice the zucchini into rounds and cut it into quarters. Tasting it raw, I realize this is a delicious, crunchy, slightly sweet vegetable that has suffered an injustice at the hands of the ubiquitous vegetable medley. Now, it is up to me to remedy this travesty and treat this lovely green squash with respect and admiration. I heat some olive oil with fresh, minced garlic and added about two teaspoons of Garlic Shallot Salt. I let a little of the salt dissolve in the oil, but there were still plenty of salt crystals remaining to add the crunch I desired. Once the oil reaches a nice temperature where the garlic was sautéing, but not burning, I add the zucchini and sautée it for about five minutes. I wanted to retain the crunchy texture, but still infuse it with the garlic, salty goodness. During the last minute of cooking, I added about two teaspoons of butter, a little more Garlic Shallot Salt for good measure and a few sprinkles of fresh thyme from my garden. The result? A glorious vegetable side dish with little resemblance  to the mushy abomindation I knew as zucchini.

     This zucchini tasted fresh and firm, with a little extra crunch from the Garlic Shallot Salt and a smooth, succulent mouth feel from the butter. I am converted. Bring on the zucchini! Since that first experiment, I have followed the same cooking method described above with French Herb Garden instead of Garlic Shallot Salt. Reserve all of the salt for finishing the dish rather than adding some at the beginning of the cooking process. The thyme, lavender, rosemary and black truffle add a tremendous earthiness to the zucchini. This side dish is delicious with simple broiled fish or grill pork chops.  This cooking method has served me well during a summer of zucchini.  I’m so happy there is still time left in the zucchini season; I have more salts to try!

You know you’re supposed to add salt to the boiling water when cooking pasta, but why?  Does anyone really know?  And do you really have to?

Everyone seems to have an opinion in this, and no one seems to agree.  Let’s go through the common beliefs about the add-salt-to-boiling-water method for cooking and get to the bottom of this once and for all.

Adding salt to water will raise the boiling point so the water will get hotter and cook the pasta faster.
FALSE: Yes, salt can and does raise boiling point of water (salt is a total chemistry nerd!), but in cooking applications, this rise in temperature is negligible.  The ratio of salt to water for cooking pasta would only raise the boiling point by the tiniest sliver of a degree and therefore barely reduce the cooking time of your pasta.  It would maybe be ready a blink sooner than it would be without the salt.

Salt prevents the pasta from sticking together.
FALSE: Salt will actually do nothing to prevent stickiness in your pasta.  The only way to prevent your pasta from sticking together is to make sure you have a good-size pot with enough water to allow your pasta to move around (six quarts of water for each pound of pasta will do),  and stirring it occasionally to keep it from clumping together—especially during the first few minutes of cooking when the pasta is at it’s stickiest.  A little olive oil added to drained/dry pasta will help keep it from sticking after it’s been cooked, too.

Salt keeps the water from boiling over.
FALSE: Though that sure would be nice!  I knew this one was fishy when I realized that people out there believe that adding salt to boiling water will actually cause it to boil over (also false).   How could some people think it causes boiling over and other people think it prevents boiling over?  I mean, it has to be one or the other, right?  Well, it’s neither.  It has no affect on the boiling overness of your pot of water.  You can prevent something from boiling over by making sure you have an appropriate-sized pot for you pasta with the appropriate amount of water (funny, that helps the pasta from sticking together, too!) and keeping an eye on the heat (simply turning the heat down will keep it from boiling it over—shocking!).

Salt enhances the flavor of the pasta.
TRUE: DING DING DING, WE HAVE A WINNER! We, of course, already knew that salt enhances flavor, so this really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.  Salt’s purpose is simple: it gives the pasta a boost of flavor so it’s not bland.  Pasta is a dehydrated food, and the absorption of the boiling water is what cooks it and brings it to life. If the water is salted, then the pasta is able to absorb that flavor as well.

Now that we know that salt’s purpose is simply for taste, that opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for our pasta cooking routine.  Adding a tasty blended salt, like the Beyond Blends French Herb salt, which will infuse your pasta with a delicate taste that will compliment your sauce, vegetables, or any other accoutrements for your dish.

I’m so glad the pressure is off salt to perform some miraculous function with the water and pasta, and it can just do what it does best: add flavor!

While eating at The Boathouse in Traverse City (the home of our Salt Chef), I was treated to one of the most delicate and delightful cuts of meat I have had in years. Of course the name “Waygu Kobe beef” is enough to send excited shivers down a dinner guest’s spine and make the wallet tremble in fear. Since I had not been to Traverse City nearly as much as I wanted this summer, I thought recession be damned, and boldly placed my order! I was certain Executive Chef Eric, wouldn’t dare mess around with something sculpted with culinary purpose out of nature by the master Japanese cattle farmers, and so I went “all-in” with the 5 ounce filet.

And indeed, I was rewarded when my plate arrived at our table. We already had a marvelous meal up to this point, but nothing makes such a grand entrance as a perfectly cooked piece of some of the finest steak known. Tender and bursting with flavor, I couldn’t wait to carve into this lovely cut of meat.

We were given knives that would normally have a difficult time carving through a properly seared scallop, let alone beef, but of course the playful point was made. This was no ordinary steak, and the typical cutlery would be unnecessary to enjoy the remarkably tender filet. Chef Eric lightly seasoned the meat with the queen of the unrefined world of salt, fleur de sel, as we wanted to play with different combinations from our Beyond Blends collection. Of course, only the finest salt would do for this premium steak experience, and so we brought Hickory Maple, French Herb, and Citrus Basil out of flavor arsenal (tucked in resealable sample packs, of course).

We knew each of these blends was amazingly scrumptious as a finishing salt on steak we had grilled at home, but the question was if the flavors and textures would match well on one of the world’s finest cuts of beef… and the answer? Well it can be summed up by the fact that over a week later I am still dreaming (and writing) about this dining experience. For the Waygu virgin, this is a very special breed of cattle that is known for its flavor and subtle texture. The meat is heavily marbled which adds to its juicy tenderness. The ‘Kobe’ part of the name is a reference to the area in Japan where the cattle was raised. Waygu ranchers are known for the special care used to raise these incredible animals.

Anyway, all three of the Beyond Blends we tried on our steaks finished them beautifully, highlighting the unmistakable flavor and texture of the Waygu beef. The favorite of the table was Hickory Maple, with Citrus Basil and French Herb not far behind. Regardless, you can’t go wrong with this cut of meat (if your bank account can handle the sizable blow), especially when in the hands of a master artist in the kitchen, like our Salt Chef. Cooked right, Waygu filets are some of the finest culinary experiences around (just don’t forget to pair your steak, or any grilled beef for that matter, with an equally premium gourmet salt)…

You would pair the perfect wine with every course, select the appropriate fork for every serving, so why not choose the ideal salt to enhance every dish?

The Easter Sunday meal was the time to test this out. We started with the classic decorated hard boiled Easter egg and a dash of Windy City Celery salt. The next course was a fresh pea and potato soup taken to a new level after mixing in a dab of Truffle Wet salt. The aroma was heavenly. Ham slices came to life after a sprinkling of some Hickory Maple salt on top. Along side was a serving of snap peas and asparagus with vinaigrette brightened up with a pinch of the French Herb salt – a taste of Provence. And dessert? A little Citrus Wet salt mixed in with the strawberries over a luscious slice of cheese cake did the trick. Only the solid chocolate bunny escaped the salt tastings.

Have fun experimenting with your own flights and trying your own combinations!