Welcome Raymond Sokolov to the ranks of those advocating a reign of grain as “the answer to the hyper-modern problem of nutrition in a long but sedentary life.”
One of our more intellectually inclined cookbook authors (his works include “The Saucier’s Apprentice” and “Fading Feast: A Compendium of Disappearing American Regional Foods”), Sokolov draws on lessons of history and the transformation of his own eating habits to build a case for putting “grain-based dishes at the center of our diet, rather than leaving them at the periphery.”
His patiently researched, unpolemical approach to this goal makes “With the Grain” (Knopf, $25) an important addition to the swelling grain category of cookbooks.
“In this country menus are not built around grain,” he said during a recent visit to Chicago. “The meat (or poultry or fish) comes first, then a vegetable side dish. The grain (or starch) comes third. I want to bring grains to the forefront.”
Grains, he writes in the book, “supply the food energy and fiber we must have to survive,” and “serious medical and nutritional research has gradually convinced those capable of rational thought that the low fat/high fiber (diet) theory is correct.” The popularity of pasta and Asian dishes based on rice is an indication of a swing in that direction, he believes.
Therefore his approach is to “show off the versatility of grains without, however, turning a cold shoulder to other foods.” In chapters dedicated to barley, corn, oats, rice and wheat, Sokolov presents recipes that are his own versions of “things that already exist,” a goodly number of which contain some meat or butter or sugar.
The inspiration is eclectic: The Middle East; China, India, Thailand; Northern and Central Europe; Italy and Spain; the Americas. He favors soups and stews, makes risotto and stuffed grape leaves in several forms and a variety of breads and puddings.
“Whether a dish is good for you was not the determining factor,” he said. “It had to be good to eat.” While recipes are based on whole grains or grain flours, he limited breads and pastries to keep the book a manageable size. He also lumps together such health-food favorites as amaranth, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, rye, teff and wild rice as “minor grains.”
We tested several recipes from “With the Grain” in the Tribune test kitchen. They worked well, though additional flour was needed in an apricot dumpling recipe and a egg-drop and greens soup tasted strongly of barley flour. An unusual twist on a Mexican classic, picadillo, in which Sokolov has substitued quinoa for rice worked well. And a cultural coupling of an Italian rice and peas dish with tree-ear mushrooms and a pair of Chinese flavorings was intriguing.
In the first chapter of the book, Sokolov introduces “paleoethnobotany,” a subsection of archeology whose practitioners are “hoping to establish where and when our forebears first took to eating and planting the edible grasses we call grains.”
The grains we too often ignore or take for granted may be responsible for “the birth of agriculture and the settled life (that) marks the beginning of true civilization.”
Historically as well as nutritionally, “With the Grain” appears to be the way to go.
PICADILLO
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from “With the Grain.”
3 tablespoons oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 to 3 jalapeno peppers, trimmed, seeded, and finely chopped
4 quarts water, lightly salted
2 cups quinoa, well washed
1 pound ground beef
1 green bell pepper, trimmed, seeded and diced
1 can (14 ounces) tomatoes, chopped
Salt, pepper
1/3 cup raisins
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, for garnish
1. Heat the oil in a skillet. Stir-fry the onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno peppers 3 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the water to boil for the quinoa in a large pot.
2. Add the ground beef and continue stir-frying 3 minutes longer. Add bell pepper and tomatoes (with their juice), mix well and simmer 15 minutes.
3. After the final simmering in the previous step has been going on for 5 minutes, begin cooking the quinoa in the boiling water. Cook over medium heat, covered, for 12 minutes or until al dente.
4. When the quinoa is finished, drain and transfer it to a serving bowl. Straightaway add salt and pepper to taste, and then the raisins, to the picadillo in the skillet. Continue cooking a minute or two, just long enough to heat the raisins through. Toss the picadillo with the quinoa. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories………….725 Fat……………33 g Cholesterol……70 mg
Sodium…………265 mg Carbohydrates…..78 g Protein………..32 g
RISI E BISI CINESI (ITALIAN RICE AND PEA SOUP IN A CHINESE MOOD)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Adapted from “With the Grain.”
2 tablespoons oil
4 green onions, trimmed and chopped
6 cups of water or light meat stock
1 cup risotto rice
1 cup tree-ear mushrooms, soaked for 30 minutes in hot water and trimmed
3 1/2 cups peas
Salt, pepper
Szechwan hot pepper oil
Chinese rice vinegar
1. Heat the oil in a 4- to 6-quart pot over medium heat. Add the chopped green onions and stir-fry a few minutes until wilted.
2. Add water or broth. Heat to a boil, add the rice, lower the heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, or until the rice is al dente.
3. Add mushrooms and simmer 5 minutes, uncovered. Then add the peas and simmer 5 minutes longer.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pass the hot pepper oil and rice vinegar. Let each person adjust the heat of the soup by adding a little oil and then tempering it with the vinegar, as they might with Szechwan hot and sour soup.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories………….225 Fat………….5 g Cholesterol…………0 mg
Sodium………….30 mg Carbohydrates..38 g Protein……………..7 g
