Lemony Spinach Soup with Chicken and Barley

Last week I was gifted with a large bag of baby spinach, already cleaned and prepped and looking for a recipe. I had just made spanakopita so that was out. There's only so much spinach salad one person can eat, so that wasn't going to do it. And San Diego was about to get hit with another storm so a cold salad didn't appeal to me anyway.

But soup did.

I already had the remains (meaning the breast meat) of a rotisserie chicken I had bought at Costco. (Existential question: Does anyone really enjoy a market rotisserie chicken beyond the convenience factor?) I had feta cheese and a just wrinkling jalapeño pepper I needed to use, a huge head of garlic, a quart of vegetable stock and an onion, fresh herbs and Meyer lemons in my garden, and purple prairie barley in the pantry. As I scoured my kitchen and garden I figured I had the makings of a big pot of soup.

Now you can, of course, add other vegetables to this. Mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, or winter squash would all be nice. You could leave out the chicken for a vegetarian soup or add sausage or other proteins to make it even more hearty. Couscous or rice would work instead of barley. It's all up to you. But what you really want to keep in--besides the spinach, of course--is the lemon juice. It's the magical ingredient that makes this soup special. It turns a very nice conventional soup into something bright and interesting. And makes it the perfect go-to for a chilly cloudy weekend. In fact, my mom has already made a batch for herself and gave some containers to friends.

Lemony Spinach Soup with Chicken and Barley
Serves 4 to 6
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
1 pound baby spinach, thoroughly washed, dried, and chopped
1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
2 cups water
Juice of 1 lemon
8 ounces shredded chicken or other protein (optional)
6 ounces barley
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced
crumbled feta for garnish

Directions
1. Heat a large Dutch oven and add olive oil. Add the garlic and onion. Sauté until golden. Add the pepper and sauté another 30 seconds.

2. Add the spinach in batches, stirring until it cooks down.
3. Add the stock and water, stirring to mix. Then add the chicken and barley. Bring to a boil, then reduced to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 40 minutes or until the barley is tender.
4. Add the herbs and lemon juice. Stir. Let cook another 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Serve with feta.

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Stuffed Winter Squash with Italian Sausage, Mushrooms, and Farro

Going to Costco is supposed to be an exercise in happy excess, eating a meal via mega samples and buying too much stuff in quantities too large to store. Shopping at Costco is one of my parents' favorite errands, but last Saturday it turned into a nightmare for my mom. She was in a darkened aisle, didn't see an exposed bolt in the floor, and took a bad tumble after tripping on it. Fortunately, she didn't break any bones, but she is bruised and is suffering the equivalent of whiplash.

I learned about this Saturday afternoon so Sunday morning I went over to make them lunch and dinner. Earlier in the week I had brought her a small kabocha squash after she told me she hadn't had one before. While she was curious, she still hadn't used it. I love winter squashes and have written about them a lot over the years. There are so many unique varieties that are so beautiful and versatile.

Kabocha squash

The dense flesh transforms into perfect creamy soups for chilly days--and you can even make the soup in the squash itself.

Roast them and you get some magnificent sweet flavors that stand on their own, can be part of a stew, or can be turned into filling for ravioli.

The baseball-sized ones are a perfect chalice for stuffing. They're a one-dish meal. And, hey, I love chomping on roasted seeds.

Making stuffed winter squash for them seemed ideal so I stopped by the market to pick up a second kabocha. Since the remaining ones were too large, I got a nice looking acorn squash instead, along with sweet Italian chicken sausage, and an apple. I brought along a package of farro and figured I'd scavenge any other ingredients from her always well-stocked refrigerator. Indeed, I found a box of crimini mushrooms, onions, garlic, and a package of Trader Joe's Quattro Formaggio Shredded Cheese Blend, which is made up of asiago, fontina, parmesan, and mild provolone. Perfect.

Making stuffed squash is pretty easy and, of course, you can riff on any ingredients that sound great to you. I chose farro as my grain but rice, quinoa, barley... any of them will be wonderful. You don't have to include meat, but I thought my folks would enjoy some flavorful sausage and since my mom no longer eats red meat, the sweet Italian chicken sausage was an ideal choice that my dad would also like. To me, sausages, mushrooms, onion, and garlic are a perfect combo. You could also include sautéed spinach, pine nuts, raisins...the list is endless. You can add herbs or spices, but I think the Italian sausage has enough in them already and didn't want to mask those flavors.

The first thing you do is par-bake the squash after cleaning it. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, pull out the seeds and then scrape the hole with a spoon to remove all the remaining fibrous material. Then put the squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet and add water to surround the halves up to about a quarter inch. Cover them with foil and bake in a 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes or until they are easily pierced by a fork.

While the squash is cooking you'll make the filling. Put up your grains to cook. Chop your vegetables and fruit--I like adding apple or persimmon or citrus or pomegranate seeds to a savory filling. Then start sautéing.

I'll give you a marvelous tip on sautéing mushroom slices that I learned from Alice Waters on a show she did with Julia Child. Leave them alone. That's it. Add them to a hot pan with olive oil, spread them single layer, and just let them be until they brown. Then flip them over and leave them alone again. By not constantly stirring them you end up with beautifully caramelized mushrooms that taste phenomenal.

So, sauté the mushrooms and put them in a bowl. Sauté the onions and garlic, then add the diced apple and let them just brown. Add the sausage after removing the casing and poke it into small chunks as the meat cooks. When the sausage is browned, you'll add back the mushrooms so the flavors can meld. Put the mixture back in the bowl, add your cooked grains and the cheese and mix well. The cheese will melt a bit to bind the ingredients. By then the squash should be cooked and out of the oven. Now some people scoop out the flesh, chop it up, and add it to the filling. Go ahead. I chose to keep it intact. Either way, rub a little olive oil on the inner surface of the squash and then fill the squash "bowl" with your very fragrant filling. Top with some more cheese and put them back in the oven (yes, keep the water in the pan) uncovered. You'll cook the squash for another 15 minutes. Then serve or cover and refrigerate, then reheat before serving.

I had just a bit of stuffing left over which my parents demolished while the squash were cooking. So I think it was a success.

And, yes, Mom's feeling better. Thanks for asking!

Stuffed Winter Squash with Italian Sausage, Mushrooms, and Farro
(printable recipe)
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 round(ish) winter squash, about the size of a baseball
3 to 4 cups of cooked grains
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large sweet Italian or spicy Italian sausage (about 8 ounces), casing removed
1 firm apple (I like Granny Smiths for this), peeled and diced
Olive oil for sautéing and to rub the cooked squash
1 cup shredded cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Slice the squashed in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. You can reserve them to clean and toast as a snack. Using a spoon, scrape the remaining fiber off the surface of the squash flesh. Place all four halved cut side down on a baking sheet. Add enough water to rise about a quarter inch along the sides. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes, until a fork easily pierces the skin. Remove the squash from the oven and turn them cut side up. Reserve.

While the squash is baking, make the grains and the stuffing. To make the stuffing, add oil to a pan and turn on the heat to medium. Add just enough mushrooms to cover the bottom of the pan in one layer--you may have to sauté them in a couple of batches. Let the mushrooms cook on one side without disturbing them. As they shrink, they'll brown. Then flip them over and let them cook on the other side until done. Add them to a large mixing bowl. Add more oil to the pan and sauté the onions and garlic until they turn golden. Add the diced apple and let them also cook to a golden color. Then add the sausage.

Crumble it as it cooks and let it cook until the pink of the raw meat turns to brown. Add back the mushrooms and stir together briefly. Put the mixture into the mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Add the grains and two-thirds of a cup of the grated cheese to the stuffing mixture and stir together to thoroughly combine the ingredients. By now the squash should be out of the oven and ready to be stuffed. Rub a little oil on the cooked flesh. Then scoop the mixture into the hollow of each squash half. It's okay if it overflows a little. Top each half with the remaining cheese.

Return the squash to the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately--or you can let it cool and refrigerate covered. Before you're ready to serve it let it come to room temperature and then put back in a warm oven to reheat.

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Top Less (in Calories)

If you live in San Diego and are planning a trip to Costco, check out their latest product offering, VitaTops. These two-ounce, 100-calorie "muffin tops" have 6 grams of fiber and only 1.5 grams of fat. I think they're also only one Weight Watchers point. Plus, they have no cholesterol and no preservatives (meaning you'll want to store them in the freezer, defrost, and heat them up in the toaster to bring out their flavor).

But how do they taste? I tried the deep chocolate flavor (they have 15 altogether) and was impressed. Is it like getting your favorite muffin or cupcake from the bakery? No. But I still liked the texture -- perfect when you're watching calories but craving that unique sensation of biting into a piece of cake -- and the flavor was rich and intensely chocolate. Really, it's not a bad alternative to eating rich, fattening baked goods.




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Saluting the Troops Through Shopping

No, I don't mean the Bush dictum to "go out and shop" as a way of keeping the home fires burning. You're probably aware that while our service men and women, including the National Guard, are in harms way on our behalf, they and their families frequently have a tough time making ends meet at home. As do those who are retired from the services. One of the benefits devised to help has been the system of commissaries that offers foodstuff and other essentials at discounted prices. Only the families of active and retired military, including the National Guard and reservists, can shop at these commissaries, so unless you're part of this family it probably hasn't been on your radar.

In San Diego, we have the largest commissary in the world. The non-profit Naval Base San Diego Commissary on 32nd St., near downtown, opened on April 20, 2007 to serve a customer base of 267,000. Today, the average number of transactions is 4,000 a day, with much more on paydays. More numbers? The building itself is more 127,000 square feet, with 75,000 of this making up the sales floor. The Commissary's 18 aisles are wide, at least a third larger than conventional markets (but no more directional shopping arrows). There are more than 800 linear feet of frozen food. There are 29 cash registers. Think of it as a very large Costco in terms of size but focusing almost exclusively on food.

I accompanied Lisa Schmidt of A Blog About Food in early October after she commented on Twitter about the amazing buys she found there. "Price is number one, with the extreme best deals being in milk and dairy, the meat department and spices," she said. "These can be up to half off (and more when referring to spices) what I pay in civilian stores."

In fact, store director William Vick said that a family of four could save over $3,000 a year shopping at the Commissary. All commissaries sell products at cost plus a five percent surcharge, which is used to build new stores and modernize existing ones.

The other reason Schmidt shops at the Commissary is selection. "Sometimes they have foods available that are not usually found in this region of the country. Like I found some dumplings in the frozen food section that I'd only seen in Kentucky."

In October I jokingly asked if I could send her a shopping list and instead she very kindly invited me to tag along with her so I could see the place. I couldn't buy anything, of course, but I did get a wonderful new friend out of it and a great opportunity to see a place usually out of bounds to civilians. Following that trip, Vick took me on a more formal tour of the Commissary. Ironically, although he manages a team of 190 employees, he can't shop there either, having been with the Air Force for a tour of duty but not long enough to take retirement. So, for those of you who have no military affiliation, here's a peek at a place you might not ever be able to visit or at least shop at. And, for those who have access to the Commissary but somehow don't make it there to shop, here, perhaps, is a little incentive, especially going into Thanksgiving and the holidays.

The store itself is a an enormous stucco structure that's not much to look at from the outside. But inside is a mighty food emporium that is clean and bright, thanks to skylights and automated lighting that adjusts to the natural light, an energy cost savings that Vick enthusiastically bragged about.

At the entrance is a massive produce section, almost 11,000 square feet in size. Vick explained that they try to get as much of the produce as they can from local sources, using Coast Produce Company in Los Angeles.


You'll see the variety of everything you'd expect to find in a civilian supermarket in Southern California only in tremendous quantity. Plus, since the Commissary has a large Asian customer base as well as customers who have been based in Asia and enjoy Asian cuisine, there are displays of more exotic produce that you'd usually find in Asian markets, like taro root, long beans and banana hearts. And, a considerable amount of Hispanic products to appeal to their many Hispanic shoppers or those who like Hispanic cuisine.

Also in the produce section is an interactive computer kiosk. Given the enormity of the store, the management decided to set up a screen that allows customers to place an order in the deli department (on the opposite end of the Commissary) so that it would be ready for pick up before they check out.

About 5,000 orders monthly are placed through the kiosk. Allison Chase, a regular customer, loves this service and has been encouraging her friends to take advantage of it, too.

Vick is also proud of the organics sections that he's established in produce, dairy and packaged goods. However, he acknowledges that organic produce is limited because the shoppers here are naturally price conscious.


Nevertheless the options are there. In the packaged organics aisles, you'll find cereals, breads, juices, soups, snacks, beans, condiments, raw whole flax seeds, cookies and candy bars. There are selections in gluten-free and soy products. Red Mill products are here as are other familiar brands. In the refrigerated section are eggs, juices, dairy, frozen foods, and, of course, produce.

Without venturing too far, you'll also enjoy cooking demonstrations at a booth in the produce section outfitted with a stove, sink and prep area. The morning I was visiting, chef Valerie Salatino was making an "Italian paella" using a variety of products sold at the store.



Vick took me over to the Seafood section and there I noticed something interesting that I haven't seen in the markets I shop at. Digital price labels. According to Vick there are about 5,000 of these throughout the store.


The technology allows prices to be updated automatically, eliminating a lot of time spent manually switching out prices and enhancing the accuracy of price changes. As you can see, among the seafood products sold at the Commissary are those by San Diego-based Anthonys Fish Grotto.


The New England clam chowder is just one of a whole case of Anthonys products that include prepared or semi-prepared seafood meals. Across from the seafood case is another large case of what Vick describes as dinner kits.



These dinner kits do very well, said Vick. For those who prefer to put together a meal on their own is a large meat and poultry department. The Commissary orders up to 800 cases a week of Foster Farms chicken. The meats are all cut in-house daily by a full staff of butchers. In keeping with the cost-consciousness of their customers, the meats are USDA choice and select. No prime here. But, you can find bison, whole beef loins and a wide variety of pork and lamb.

The Value Aisle is like a trip to a membership store. Some three truckloads of products are displayed, many of which are club packs and now mostly holiday oriented.



Nearby is an aisle filled with various ethnic foods from around the world. There are shelves upon shelves of packaged German foods.



And, because of the large Asian customer base, there's naturally a large selection of Asian products, ranging from Japanese and Chinese to Korean, Thai and Filipino.



At the far end of the Commissary is a large bakery and deli. There are full selections of meats and cheeses, rotisserie chicken and breads and cakes.



In this same part of the Commissary is a 1,500-square-foot store-within-a-store concept called the Grab N Go. Vick acknowledged that this is still a work in progress. The idea was to have a place close to the exit where service people--probably single and not interested in a big shopping trip--could run in for the necessities, like milk, bread, eggs, soda and snacks. There are even 10, 15-minute parking stalls to allow people to run in and get what they need, along with eight self-checkout registers. Currently, the space is taken up with health foods but Vick anticipates that with the new single sailor housing quarters going up across the street, that the Grab N Go concept will once again be a go.

Alongside this little store is also a sushi counter, with two sushi chefs whipping up their creations for those looking for a bite for lunch or dinner.



And, if you have a special occasion, like a wedding or big birthday, you can special order cakes from Red Ribbon, a local Filipino bakery that also provides less lofty baked goods for parties or other gatherings.



The 32nd St. Commissary is located at 2525 Callagan Highway, Building 3629. Again, it is limited to active and retired military.

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Out of the Water and Enjoying the Breeze: The Delights of the Air-Chilled Chicken

Americans love their chicken. According to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, in 2006, the average person consumed 88.2 pounds of chicken. To keep our appetites sated, there are some 200 chicken processing plants in the U.S. slaughtering and prepping chicken for consumption.

But, are we enjoying it? There’s a reason why so often you hear a comparison between the flavor of most every out-of-the-ordinary animal and chicken. Rattlesnake? Tastes like chicken. Rabbit? Tastes like chicken. Frog legs? The same. How can that be? Well, unfortunately, most mass-produced chicken has no flavor. It’s often just a bland delivery vehicle for the gorgeous, rich marinade or the barbecue sauce it carries. When something tastes like nothing, it apparently tastes like everything.

I’ve been trying to remedy that in my own household by buying organic chicken. Trying because I still haven’t felt the love. I’ll do a simple roasted chicken with salt, pepper, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil and… nothing. It tastes fine, but it’s nothing special. However, on Monday afternoon I was on my way back to my parents’ house with my mom and niece and my mom wanted us to make a quick stop at Bristol Farms to pick up some lemon sorbet. I decided as long as I was there to buy chicken for myself for dinner and got a couple of air-chilled whole legs.

I finally felt the love. All I did was thin a couple of tablespoons of Majestic Garlic’s sun-dried tomato/jalapeño blend with a little olive oil and spread it over the legs and thighs. Then I roasted them at 375 degrees for about an hour. What came out of the oven was a gorgeous red-toned chicken with crispy skin and tender, juicy, FLAVORFUL meat. It tasted like something. It tasted like chicken.

So, I thought I’d find out a little more about air-chilled processing compared to conventional processing.

Since the mid-1990’s after some major E.coli and salmonella scares, the USDA required that the carcass temperature of chickens be lowered within four hours after slaughtering to at least 40 degrees to retard bacteria growth. Processors have preferred to do this through immersion chilling, soaking the chickens en masse in a communal vat of chlorinated ice water for about an hour.

Now, the problem with this is that, depending on which study you read, the chickens may absorb anywhere from two to 12 percent of their body weight in added water which weeps out of the meat. That’s the liquid you find in fresh chicken packaging at the grocery store. And, you’re paying for that extra weight.

Air-chilling is done by only a handful of plants in the U.S., although it’s a technique that’s been around for about 20 years in Europe. Air chilling involves spraying the chickens inside and out after slaughtering with chlorinated water, and then moving them one by one along a track through chambers where they’re misted with cold air. It takes about two-and-a-half to three hours before they’re fully chilled.

MBA Smart Chicken of Nebraska was the first in the U.S. to air chill chickens, and that was 10 years ago. Two years ago, Pitman Farms of Fresno became the first on the West Coast. Another processor, Bell & Evans, claims it has an air chill system with a single chilling line that prevents cross contamination from birds on higher racks dripping on those underneath.

So, what are the benefits to air chilling chickens? Supporters claim that the slow chill process, which gets their birds to under 35 degrees, tenderizes the meat and that the chickens’ natural juices are not diluted in or replaced by the water in a conventional water chiller.

Food scientist Harold McGee has said that it makes the chicken taste more “chickeny” because the bird absorbs less liquid, leaving the real flavor of the chicken undiluted. Based on my Monday night experience, I agree.

It also produces a higher cooked-meat yield than immersed chickens because the immersed meat absorbs more water, which then cooks out. And, air chilling contributes to crispier cooked skin.

Air chilling also saves tens of thousands of gallons of water a day. USDA researchers say it takes an average of seven gallons of water to process a chicken through immersion processing and estimate that air chilling would save a minimum of half a gallon of water for each bird processed—not bad in drought areas. They estimate that processors could save about 4.5 billion gallons of water a year if all nine million birds processed annually in the U.S. were air chilled. (However, air chilling takes longer than immersion chilling so more energy is expended on air chilling.) Another sustainable benefit is being promoted by Bell & Evans. They says that since chickens aren’t weeping liquid, the company can use recyclable and reusable shipping containers.

As for the chlorine, the fact of the matter is that chemical disinfectants are have long been popular way to disinfect food products, and chlorine is used about 80 percent of the time. But the amount is limited to 50 ounces per 7,800 gallons of water. So, it shouldn’t be detectable to consumers, particularly after cooking. Chlorine is also used in treatment of other food products like seafood and produce.

Locally, air-chilled chickens are sold at Jonathans, Harvest Ranch, Whole Foods and Bristol Farms. Chickens sold by the latter are also anti-biotic and hormone free and free-ranging. Robert Whitley tells me he buys air-chilled chickens at Costco.

And, a note to Lou, The Gourmet Club’s wonderful engineer and rabid foodie, who asked me about Blue Foot chickens. Lou, these are an American variety of the French chicken breed, Poulet de Bresse, which is the only chicken to receive its own AOC, or Appellation d’origine contrôlée, which translates as “controlled term of origin.” It’s the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications (GI) for wines, cheeses, butters and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government's Institut National des Appellations d'Origine.

This is an elite chicken, selling at about 10 times the usual price of most other chicken. And it’s almost always sold—and served—with the head and feet still attached. That’s because it has a gorgeous red comb and white feathers, and it has unique steel-blue feet. It’s slaughtered later than usual chicken and it, too, is air-chilled, both of which apparently give it a stronger flavor and texture.

You can buy Blue Foot chicken through D’Artagnan.com and at Exotic Meats. And, yes, you’re right if you think you saw these chickens featured as the secret ingredient on Iron Chef America. There was a Battle Blue Foot Chicken on Iron Chef America in 2007 with Bobby Flay going against Jeffrey Ford.

And, here’s a link to a delicious sounding recipe at Food & Wine.com for Roasted Blue Foot Chickens with Glazed Parsnips and Carrots. And, if you are just mad about chickens, check out chickencrossing.org.

Have some thoughts about air-chilled chickens, Blue Foot chickens or markets in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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