Avocado, Mushroom, Pepper and Tomato Salad

A while ago I was missing cucumber so I decided to add two different ingredients: avocado and mushrooms. This turned into what I now call an Avocado, Mushroom, Pepper and Tomato Salad. In fact I decided to only use pepper, tomato and the three base things I use when I start. They are balsamic vinegar, olive oil and sunflower seeds. There were also three new things I combined for this new salad. They were an avocado and two types of mushrooms. 

AMPT Salad plated w/ Pork Loin Chop

Ingredients 

Avocado, one small ( 72 g )

Balsamic Vinegar, One Table Spoon ( 16 g ) 

Olive Oil, One Table Spoon ( 13.3 g ) 

Oyster Mushrooms dried ( 7 g ) 

Red Sweet Pepper, medium size ( 100 g ) 

Shiitake Mushrooms dried ( 7 g ) 

Tomatoes, Two small ( 105 g ) 

 Putting it Together 

As mention above, I start all the salads I make with three main ingredients: Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil and Sunflower Seeds. Over time I've learnt that if I put in all of these ingredients in the same mixing vessel and stir all these together the sunflower seeds themselves get coated in the mixture. In doing so they have a propensity to stick as individual seeds to the other ingredients that are added. 

In this case I was adding two new ingredients in the form of avocado and mushrooms. When I was young and used to go foraging for mushrooms with my father. Some of those mushrooms he would pickle, while there were others that he used to dry.  I can't remember nor did I ever learn what the different types of mushrooms were called when I was young. However, when I ended up on ground in Ukraine for over ten years, that changed. 

On occasion when I was in my paternal village I would go out foraging for mushrooms with my cousin.  I have a pretty good memory of things I've seen and realized that the mushrooms that my father primarily dried were oyster mushrooms. So when I was at the local grocer's I decided to pick up a few packages of dried mushrooms, hence the reason I added mushrooms to my new salad that morning. 

Dried mushrooms quite literally taste like dirt, so one of the first things you do is to put your mushrooms in a bowl and re-hydrate them with some boiling water. The fungi will quickly soak up the water like a sponge and by the time you have cut up your avocado, pepper and tomato, they will be almost look like fresh mushrooms you just came back from the forest with. 

Cut both your avocado, pepper and tomato into pieces of about one centimetre cubed. Mix these into the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and sunflower seeds. What I like to do with salads is mix them in a container that one can put a lid on to really shake things up. I found that this works quite well when I'm putting avocado into a salad. When you mix it up, the avocado breaks down a little and the pieces mix in with the base fluids, plus the seeds and fluid of the tomatoes also do the same. 

Before doing this check and see if your mushrooms are well re-hydrated. Strain off the water and add your mushrooms to your container for the big shake. Once that's done, its ready to plate. 

That amount of ingredients included above will be enough to make two nice sized salads as a nice side dish for any meal. The mushrooms add a nice texture to the other ingredients. to any meal. 

 
Vasyl Pawlowsky 

Independent Consultant

Who Loves to Cook

 

TMZ: Tomatoes, Mung Bean Sprouts and Zucchini

TMZ is one of my little kitchen conjurings which includes tomatoes, sprouted mung beans and zucchini. Many are probably wondering: “What to hell are mung beans?” Well if you have ever purchased spouts to make chop suey and home, you’ve been eating sprouted mung beans, and you probably didn’t even know it. 

Back Story

Practically everything I dream up personally in my kitchen is in order to eat food that is good for me, nutritious and tasty. While this is a stretch, how I came across the idea for using sprouts in my cooking, came about due to the fact that many friends in Ukraine were constantly posting pictures of their mushroom foraging outings. They were making me jealous and I decided to go to a site I had bookmarked many years ago. It was site where you could purchase your own DIY home mushroom kit. 

While poking around the site I came across a number of different videos about sprouting. Thus the exploratory adventure began to learn more about how to sprout seeds for human consumption, and the benefits of eating sprouts. I will include more about that in a subsequent post. Within this recipe I will also include the ingredients for a spice mix I like to use in a number of different ways. Primarily I use to dredge some of the meats I like to prepare either on top of the stove in my cast iron pan, or in the oven. Though I like that mixture and the flavour it provides so I’ve started using in a variety of things I prepare. 

Ingredients

One-half (1/2) teaspoon allspice 

One-half (1/2) teaspoon finely ground black pepper 

One-half (1/2) teaspoon finely ground cumin 

One-half (1/2) teaspoon finely ground turmeric 

 One (1) teaspoon ground flax seed (can be purchased ground, I prefer to grind my own) 

One and half (1 ½) cups of mung bean sprouts 

Two medium sized tomatoes 

Two small zucchini 

Two table spoons, Virgin Olive Oil 

Vessel

One six-inch cast iron frying pan (a personal favourite cooking tool of mine)

Putting it Together

This has to be one of my simplest recipes that can be put together quite quickly, when you have all the ingredients and have prepped them. Slice your tomatoes into pieces, the fluids of the tomatoes add to the overall cooking process. Slice your zucchini into pieces from three to five mm thick. Pour two tables spoons of olive oil into your pan and add all your ingredients to the pan.

 The temperature you cook this meal at is not critical, though you do want to make sure all your ingredients are cooked. You will be able to determine this when you notice that most of your tomatoes have broken down, your bean sprouts have softened up and your zucchini slices have become almost translucent.

It is at this point that I add the spices and mix everything around making cure that all your vegetables are well coated in the mixture. Once this is don let everything simmer a a low temperature with something covering the pan. The reason to do this is to allow the fluids from the vegetables, which are significant in tomatoes and zucchini, to not evaporate into your kitchen, but to condense on the cover and be returned into the cooking process. 

The reason to do this is to allow the fluids from the vegetables, which are significant in tomatoes and zucchini, to not evaporate into your kitchen, but to condense on the cover and be returned into the cooking process. Benefits This dish is low calorie and high in protein and many different nutrients. Recently, during this crazy pandemic and self-isolation, I’ve been revisiting many different books in my library. Particularly, those that can help me better understand the foods I eat.

In one of the books, The Ripple Effect: Sleep Better, Eat Better, Move Better, Think Better, by Dr. Greg Wells I learnt the following. In order to get the most bang per calorie buck I would have to optimize the nutrient-to-calorie ratio in the foods I eat. On the same page I came across an interesting formula: “H = N/C, which translates as health = nutrients per calorie consumed.” This was derived by Dr. Wells from a book by Dr. Joel Furhman entitled Eat to Live. 

Dr. Furhman has developed something he calls the ANDI, which translates to mean: aggregate nutrient density index. While, I haven't used it in the past I will use it as a cheat sheet in making my choice of foods when in doubt, about my food selection.

In a snap shot this is what TMZ looks like. However, please note that this familiar “Nutritional Facts” label and the % Daily Value has been calculated for my personal weight. I weigh 121 kg, so I’m pretty certain if you weigh less, these values will be higher for you personally.

Though we can even dig a lot deeper into what this meal is comprised of using tools available in this day and age on the Internet.  Below, is an extremely detailed nutritional analysis of what I call TMZ. 

Nutrient Mung bean sprouted Zucchini Tomatoes Weight 310.5 g 392 g 246 g Calories 93.15 82.32 44.28 Vitamins Choline 44.7 mg 16.5 mg Folate 189.41 mcg 78.4 mcg 36.9 mcg Folic acid 0 mcg 0 mcg 0 mcg Niacin 2.326 mg 2.764 mg 1.461 mg Pantothenic acid 1.18 mg 1.439 mg Riboflavin 0.385 mg 0.141 mg 0.047 mg Thiamin 0.261 mg 0.165 mg 0.091 mg Vitamin A 65.2 IU 1920.8 IU Vitamin A, RAE 3.1 mcg 98 mcg 103.32 mcg Carotene, alpha 18.63 mcg 248.46 mcg Carotene, beta 18.63 mcg 1104.54 mcg Cryptoxanthin, beta 18.63 mcg 0 mcg Lutein + zeaxanthin 0 mcg 302.58 mcg Lycopene 0 mcg 6329.58 mcg Vitamin B12 0 mcg 0 mcg 0 mcg Vitamin B12, added 0 mcg 0 mcg Vitamin B6 0.273 mg 0.557 mg 0.197 mg Vitamin C 41 mg 133.7 mg 33.7 mg Vitamin D 0 mcg 0 mcg 0 mcg Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) 0.31 mg 1.33 mg Vitamin E, added 0 mg 0 mg Vitamin K 102.5 mcg 19.4 mcg Minerals Calcium, Ca 40.37 mg 82.32 mg 24.6 mg Copper, Cu 0.509 mg 0.38 mg 0.145 mg Iron, Fe 2.83 mg 3.1 mg 0.66 mg Magnesium, Mg 65.2 mg 129.36 mg 27.06 mg Manganese, Mn 0.584 mg 0.768 mg Phosphorus, P 167.67 mg 364.56 mg 59.04 mg Potassium, K 462.64 mg 1799.28 mg 583.02 mg Selenium, Se 1.9 mcg 1.2 mcg 0 mcg Sodium, Na 18.63 mg 11.76 mg 12.3 mg Zinc, Zn 1.27 mg 3.25 mg 0.42 mg Proteins Protein 9.44 g 10.62 g 2.16 g Alanine 0.307 g 0.557 g Arginine 0.612 g 0.451 g Aspartic acid 1.487 g 1.301 g Cystine 0.053 g 0.114 g Glutamic acid 0.5 g 1.141 g Glycine 0.196 g 0.404 g Histidine 0.217 g 0.231 g Isoleucine 0.41 g 0.384 g Leucine 0.543 g 0.623 g Lysine 0.515 g 0.592 g Methionine 0.106 g 0.153 g Phenylalanine 0.363 g 0.376 g Proline 0.333 g Serine 0.102 g 0.435 g Threonine 0.242 g 0.259 g Tryptophan 0.115 g 0.094 g Tyrosine 0.161 g 0.286 g Valine 0.404 g 0.482 g Fats Fat 0.56 g 1.57 g 0.49 g Saturated fatty acids 0.143 g 0.325 g 0.069 g Butanoic acid 0 g 0 g Decanoic acid 0 g 0 g Dodecanoic acid 0 g 0.012 g 0 g Hexadecanoic acid 0.099 g 0.278 g 0.049 g Hexanoic acid 0 g 0 g Octadecanoic acid 0.025 g 0.035 g 0.02 g Octanoic acid 0 g 0 g Tetradecanoic acid 0 g 0 g Monounsaturated fatty acids 0.068 g 0.122 g 0.076 g Docosenoic acid 0 g 0 g Eicosenoic acid 0 g 0 g Hexadecenoic acid 0 g 0.012 g 0.002 g Octadecenoic acid 0.068 g 0.114 g 0.074 g Polyunsaturated fatty acids 0.18 g 0.662 g 0.204 g Eicosatetraenoic acid 0 g 0 g Octadecadienoic acid 0.13 g 0.247 g 0.197 g Octadecatetraenoic acid 0 g 0 g Octadecatrienoic acid 0.05 g 0.416 g 0.007 g Fatty acids, total trans 0 g 0 g Carbohydrates Carbohydrate 18.44 g 12.19 g 9.57 g Fiber 5.6 g 4.3 g 3 g Sugars 12.82 g 6.47 g Sterols Cholesterol 0 mg 0 mg 0 mg Phytosterols 46.58 mg Other Alcohol, ethyl 0 g 0 g Ash 1.37 g 4.12 g Caffeine 0 mg 0 mg Docosahexaenoic n-3 acid (DHA) 0 g 0 g Docosapentaenoic n-3 acid (DPA) 0 g 0 g Eicosapentaenoic n-3 acid (EPA) 0 g 0 g Theobromine 0 mg 0 mg Tocopherol, alpha 0.31 mg 1.33 mg Vitamin D (D2 + D3), International Units 0 IU 0 IU Water 280.69 g 363.5 g 232.52 g

So now you have the complete run down on what is in TMZ. My post on sprouting will be out shortly.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

I've got the pickling bug. Now it's Red Pickled Garlic

More pickling because it seems I have caught the pickling bug! I’ve moved on to something else to pickle. It's garlic and I call my recipe Red Pickled Garlic. Those who have read my previous recipes I laid out some of the principles I work by in my recipe for Crunchy Hot Beets. One of those principles is to reuse something I’ve already made previously in concocting some new edible dish. Well I at least hope that turns out edible, though having started cooking when I was first taught to make crepes by my father when I was nine years old, I’ve had about 49 years to figure out what works and what doesn’t. If you haven't figured out why I call this recipe Red Pickled Garlic, you soon will.

Ingredients

Garlic - between eight and ten cloves, it is dependent on their size;

Between 200-300 ml of the remaining pickling fluid from Crunchy Hot Beets, see that recipe to find out what’s in the pickling fluid, though making a fluid that will give you red garlic, is one extra step as you will have to clean and cook the beets in your pickling fluid

Pepper corns – one (1) teaspoon.

Vessel

One 250 ml preserve jar with lid

Putting it Together

The 250 ml preserve jar will be your basic measure to determine how much garlic you will need.

To estimate how many cloves you will need before you peel and quarter your cloves, separate the cloves from the bulb and place them one at a time into your vessel of garlic you will want to leave about 1/2 cm to the top of your vessel so you will be able to complete submerge the garlic quarters in the pickling fluid. If you have not saved the fluid used to make the Crunchy Hot Beets, you can still pickle your garlic, though you won’t end up with red garlic quarters, they will simply be white. When making that pickling fluid, it would be your option as to whether you want to include any crushed dry chili peppers.

While you are peeling and quartering your garlic cloves, you could start heating your pickling fluid in a small pot of sauce pan. Over the years, particularly when preparing dinner for friends I’ve come to understand that timing things well, is sometimes critical to the end result, though in this case it is just a matter of practicality.

As you get about three quarters of cleaning and quartering your cloves, bring the fluid you saved, along with the peppercorns to a boil. (If you had to make your picking fluid from scratch the whole process will take longer – this is one of the reasons I like to save things that can be reused)

Once you’ve peeled and quartered your cloves of garlic, place them in heat tolerant mixing bowl or measuring cup.

When your fluid comes to a boil you are going to pour it over your quartered cloves of garlic. Let the mixture stand until it comes down to room temperature.

Pass the mixture through a strainer while saving the fluid in another container. Spoon the garlic and peppercorns, and possible any pieces of the chili papers that are still around into your 250 ml preserve jar. Top the solids off with the saved fluid. Seal the tops and but your jar in the refrigerator for three to five days.

Uses

My original intent for picking garlic was to either add to salads or stir fried vegetables to add a little bite. Or to just have something as a condiment for things like beef, chicken, fish or pork. Though being Ukrainian, I’m accustomed to garlic and sometimes it’s just something tasty to nibble on, though garlic is a little milder when pickled.

 

Beautiful Red Pickled Garlic With Peppercorns

Benefits

Aside from really giving you unpleasant breath, pickled garlic is much more mellow than raw garlic; however, some of the positive health benefits may also be reduced when the garlic is cooked in the pickling fluid, given we know that there is loss of vitamins and minerals in the cooking of other vegetables.

Here are some of health benefits of raw garlic. Health Line lists eleven benefits, touching on many different aspects of human health. Their list is as follows:

• Garlic Contains Compounds With Potent Medicinal Properties;

• Garlic Is Highly Nutritious But Has Very Few Calories;

• Garlic Can Combat Sickness, Including the Common Cold;

• The Active Compounds in Garlic Can Reduce Blood Pressure;

• Garlic Improves Cholesterol Levels, Which May Lower the Risk of Heart Disease;

• Garlic Contains Antioxidants That May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia;

• Garlic May Help You Live Longer;

• Athletic Performance Might Be Improved With Garlic Supplements;

• Eating Garlic May Help Detoxify Heavy Metals in the Body;

• Garlic May Improve Bone Health;

• Garlic Is Easy to Include in Your Diet and Tastes Absolutely Delicious.

Similarly, Medical News Today also has a list, though it lists only ten health benefits for garlic; however, it includes more specific information regarding research that has been conducted regarding the health benefits of garlic. As I librarian/information specialist by training I found the piece in Medical News Today to be more informative. You can check it out here.

Vasyl Pawlowsky 

Independent Consultant 

Crunchy Hot Beets

Foreword: 

Living alone I have no need to be making huge batches of anything let alone these crunchy hot beets and given that I enjoy cooking and find it therapeutic, I’m not extremely anal when it comes to measuring portions. I also work with what I have at hand. For example in this recipe I had to know that I had the vessels to use. In short, when I cook I’m flying by the seat of my pants. So knowing that I had
five or six 250 ml preserve jars I decided on the amount of ingredients as I went along. 

Ingredients:

Beets, about 1 litre 

Chili peppers dried – 4 broken 

Garlic – six cloves, I’ve come to love pink or Lautrec Garlic 

Vinegar – Plain white or Apple Cider 300 ml 

Water – 1 (one) litre 

Vessels

 Five (5) 250 ml preserve jars with lids 

Putting it Together 

Into one large measuring cup, mine is two litres, place the prepared ingredient’s below.

Peel and cut your beets into coarse pieces with the largest possible size being a cube of about a centimetre. I do a mix of cubes and smaller strips, the smaller more easily become infused with the taste of the garlic and peppers.

Lautrec garlic mentioned above has a pink coloured outer skin and has a wonderful and rich flavour the first time I purchased this pink garlic was about this time last year and it had a providence of Spain. Over the summer I found locally produced pink garlic, and while it is a little more expensive it’s definitely worth every penny. Clean six cloves, and cut them into coarse pieces. One such pink clove should render you about a dozen wonderful small chunks. 

Mix the beets and the garlic well in order to make the distribution of the garlic pieces as equal as possible. 

Mix the water, vinegar and crushed chili peppers in a pot, and bring this mixture to a boil. 

Pour the boiling concoction over your beets and garlic. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let the mixture return to room temperature. 

Empty the mixture through strainer and ensure to preserve the liquid in another vessel. 

Spoon your beets, chili pepper and garlic pieces into your containers, in equal portions. In my case I filled five (5)  250 ml glass containers with the mixture.

Top off each of your containers with the fluid you saved. 

Close your containers and put them in the fridge for at least a day. I’m experiment but these portions should keep for up to two weeks without any problems if refrigerated, though they may keep longer.

Health Benefits

This little concoction contains a great deal of positive. The beets here remain primarily in a raw form and raw beets contain more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than cooked beets. Here I will just send you to our wonderful free encyclopedia.

Then there is the garlic... which for many cultures is used in the culinary process...Here is where you can learn more about the wonderful bulb.

Recycle, Re-purpose, Re-use

Not long ago I poached eggs for the first time in my life. In the household I grew up in we had three types of eggs: boiled, fried and scrambled. I went on to make omelettes with a variety of ingredients. My first poached eggs were just a short while ago. Given that one of the magic ingredients in poaching eggs is vinegar, I'm thinking of using the fluids I have left over after I finish eating my crunchy hot beets. I will report back about that culinary experiment. I think a poached egg would look wonderful in red...


Vasyl Pawlowsky 

Independent Consultant