Monday, April 26, 2010

"Z" is Zealous for Super Foods!


When I was a kid my mom would always repeat, “Eat your spinach. It’s good for you.” Somehow my mom knew instinctively that spinach was a super food. I should have realized its power, given Popeye’s love for it.

I was too busy indulging my immature palate with corn, macaroni and cheese, chocolate, pizza, potato chips and French fries (Yippee!!). I was laying the groundwork for my carbohydrate addiction. Unfortunately, there’s no 12-step program for this gut-expanding, flab producing, artery blocking, childish diet program.

However, I’ve learned that adding super foods to one’s diet will aid in boosting the immune system and fighting disease.

Dr. Steven Pratt is considered the Superman of super foods. He is a world-renowned authority on the role of nutrition and lifestyle in the prevention of disease and optimizing health. He is also a senior staff ophthalmologist at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., and an assistant clinical professor at the University of California at San Diego.

Pratt is the author of SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods. According to Pratt, about 14 super foods are better for you than others. He says, “Each food was selected based on gold standard research of healthy dietary patterns around the world. These foods are an integral part of all the recognized healthy dietary patterns that prevent disease and extend our health span, and perhaps our life span, as well.”

His list of 14 include beans, blueberries, broccoli,

1. Beans: A great low-fat, low-calorie source of protein and an easy way to help control your weight and your blood sugar.
2. Blueberries: The best food on the planet to preserve a young brain as we mature.
3. Broccoli: The best food on the planet to prevent cancer.
4. Oats: A sure-fire way to lower your cholesterol.
5. Oranges: The most readily available source of vitamin C, which in turn lowers the rate of most causes of death in this country, for example, heart disease and cancer.
6. Pumpkin: Loaded with phytonutrients, which keep our skin young and help prevent damage from sunlight.
7. Wild salmon: A guaranteed way to lower your risk for cardiac-related death.
8. Soy: The only complete vegetarian source of protein.
9. Spinach: The best food on the planet to prevent cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, thus ensuring a lifetime of good vision.
10. Tea -- green or black: The easiest and cheapest no-calorie way to avoid heart disease and cancer.
11. Tomatoes: One of the easiest ways for men to avoid prostate cancer is the consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products.
12. Skinless turkey breast: The leanest meat source of protein on the planet.
13. Walnuts: Consuming walnuts is an easy, tasty way to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.
14. Yogurt: A tasty, easy way to boost your immune system.


Super foods are those packed with nutrients, aiding your body in boosting your immune system and fighting off all forms of disease.

Studies now show that red wine, consumed in moderation, with meals contributes toward a healthy lifestyle. So, there’s absolutely every reason why you should include red wine as part of your New Year’s resolution of eating right in 2006. You can cut down on fat, or calories or carbohydrates and still enjoy a glass of the fermented red grape.

Research shows that where the diet is high in fat, those who drink red wine with meals have a lower incidence of heart attacks. Many experts believe that red wine contains compounds, such as antioxidants, that aid in protecting our hearts and reducing the risk of strokes. Resveratrol is the most famous antioxidant found in red wine. It is believed to be good at mopping up chemicals responsible for causing blood clots, the primary cause of heart disease. Guercetin is another antioxidant believed to help prevent lung cancer. Red wine also has a flavanoid known as catechin that contributes to the reduction of heart attacks, as well.

Add to this that a glass of red wine after a stressful day acts as a natural tranquilizer, reducing anxiety and tension. Wine also aids in our digestion and contributes minerals and vitamins to our bodies.

A glass of red wine is also okay if you’re on a low carbohydrate diet. A 3.5 ounce glass of red wine contains only 1.8 grams of net carbohydrates. If you’re reducing your caloric intake, you’ll be happy to know that this same glass of wine only contains 74 calories.

While it is always pleasant to include a glass of red wine with your evening meal, it’s an experience of the senses to choose one that harmonizes with your main entrée.

There are basically three styles of red wine. The first is light, fruity red wines, which include those produced from grape varieties, such as Gamay or Pinot Noir. These wines tend to be refreshing, fruity with some sourness. For this reason it is best to chill your light reds for a half hour in the refrigerator before serving. Light, fruity red wines go nicely with ingredients offering sourness as their predominant building block. Foods highlighting sourness are cheeses, such as fresh Chevre, feta, as well as sour cream and cream cheese. When it comes to fish, tuna and salmon work nicely with light, fruity reds.

Red wines with forward fruit character is another wine style. Wines that fall into this category include shiraz, zinfandel and merlot. These wines tend to be low in sourness and low in bitterness with lots of berry fruit flavours. Pair these wines with roasted meats and vegetables, pasta or pizza with roasted tomato sauce, chicken or beef.

Austere red wines are heavy with lots of pleasant bitterness from the tannin and fattiness from their high alcohol content – about 13.5 to 14%. Cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc are two grape varieties fermented into austere red wines. These reds work well with game meats and beef. Due to their bitterness, you can also pair them with foods offering bitterness, such as olives, radicchio and blue cheese.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

"Y" is for Yummy Wine Cocktails


Picnics are simply fun. But add a wine cocktail and you’ve turned a picnic into a celebration. Wine cocktails are a refreshing and tasty choice for spring and summer entertaining. They're simply yummy! The best part about this style of beverage is that you can use any brand of inexpensive wine.

When you’re creating wine cocktails, you may want to think of new ones that combine wine with fresh juices, liquors, pure alcohols and garnishes. O, you may want to reinvent an oldie.

Like food and wine, wine cocktails taste best when balanced in flavor. Too much acidity from added juices, too much bitterness or too much sweetness from liqueurs can alter the entire experience of a wine cocktail.

It’s fun to look for new and/or obscure ingredients for your wine cocktails, as well. Wine cocktails can include ingredients, such as lemongrass, maraschino liqueur and truffles. In fact, one of the most popular and newest wine cocktails in downtown Toronto is the Icewine Martini graced with a real, frozen Vidal grape from Niagara. Fresh mint leaves, slices of lemons and limes and sliced strawberries add color to these cocktails, making them pleasing to the eye.

‘Sangria’ is no doubt the most well known wine cocktail. Made in a pitcher, Sangria recipes are countless. However, a boozy version calls for five cups of red wine, five cups of orange juice, one and a half cups of Triple Sec, one cup of sweet and sour mix, one cup of Grenadine, one cup of brandy and two cups of lemon-lime soda. Triple sec adds strong orange flavour to this beverage, while Grenadine is a non-alcoholic syrup made from pomegranates that adds a bright color and zesty fruit flavour. Sangria is like an alcoholic tropical fruit bunch.

Along with Sangria, there are a variety of wine cocktails that you can serve this summer for barbecue dining and for entertaining. White port can be used in the making of ‘Scotti’s Apple Juice.’ To make this beverage, place crushed ice in a glass. Add an ounce of white port and an ounce of Drambuie and fill the remainder of the glass with apple juice, adding a dash of bitters at the end. Drambuie, made from a blend of scotch whiskies, gives this cocktail its alcoholic zing.

The ‘Cardinal’ combines red wine with an ounce of Crème de Cassis over ice and decorated with a slice of orange. Crème de Casis is a sweet, black currant-flavoured liqueur that complements the subtle acidity in full-bodied red wines.

The ‘California Julip’ is made with one and a half ounces of brandy, a quarter ounce of strawberry liqueur, a tablespoon of simple syrup (a mixture of sugar and water), brut sparkling wine and mint leaves. To make this drink, place a few mint leaves and the liqueur and syrup into the bottom of a glass. Using the back of a spoon, crush the leaves into the liquid. Place crushed ice in the glass. Add the brandy and fill the glass with sparkling wine. Garnish with mint sprigs.
I once asked my husband, “If I was a glass of wine, what wine would I be?” He immediately replied with “Champagne.” His reasoning, he told me, is that I’m always justifying a reason to celebrate. I crack open a bottle of bubbly if I’ve failed or succeeded, happy or sad. I prefer to think of myself as a complex, vintage Champagne. He argues that I’m an easy-going bubbly.

Wine cocktails made from sparkling wine are festive, refreshing and pleasing to the palate, not to mention a less expensive alternative to table wine for patio dining. And while these specialty drinks are called ‘Champagne’ cocktails, it’s best to use inexpensive sparkling wines, as well. These cocktails can also be made with soda water for the designated driver. Just add a little sugar to the soda water to sweeten the mix.

For wine aficionados who do not believe in mixing the ‘purity’ of wine with other liquids, such as fruit juices, pure alcohols and liqueurs, I have but one comment, “Lighten up!”

Here are a few Champagne cocktail ideas:

Classic Champagne Cocktail:
Champagne cocktail is the easiest to make. Pour sparkling wine (one with some sweetness) into each flute glass. Add 2 tablespoons of brandy and add a dash of bitters. A slice of lemon to each glass adds some flare.
· Colio Wines Viva Spumante (CSPC # 184390) $6.75
(Available at Colio Boutiques)
· Barclay’s Brandy (CSPC 6528) $12.75
· Alpenbitter (CSPC 212688/100 mL), $3.95

La Vie En Rosé:
This cocktail is also easy to make. Place four sugar cubes in the bottom of flute glasses. Pour one tablespoon of rosewater over the sugar cube. Let the cube soak up the liquid. Pour rosé sparkling wine into each glass.
· Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (CSPC # 88591), $13.95
Rose water available at health food shops and some pharmacies

‘Death in the Afternoon’
This drink combines an ounce of absinthe and five ounces of sparkling wine, served in a champagne flute glass.
· Pastis Janot (CSPC # 701045) $19.95
· Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (CSPC # 88591), $13.95

Bellini
This wine cocktails calls for an ounce of fresh peach puree and five ounces of sparkling wine.
· Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (CSPC # 88591), $13.95
· 3 peaches, peeled and pureed

Flirtini
This is a highly alcoholic cocktail, calling for two pieces if fresh pineapple, half an ounce of cointreau, half an ounce of vodka, one ounce of pineapple juice and three ounces of sparkling wine.
· Cointreau SA (CSPC # 10322) $15.95
· Alberta Pure Vodka (CSPC # 1503) $11.70
· Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (CSPC # 88591), $13.95

Thursday, April 8, 2010

"X" is for eXceptional Beer Marinade to Pair with Wine


Summer may be around the corner, but barbecue season is in full swing!

This past weekend my husband and I headed to my mom and dad’s house for a barbecue. My brother Bret and his family joined us.

Bret is as proficient with the barbecue as I am with my oven. As my dad puts it, “That boy can barbecue!” So, when dining at mom and dad’s home, Bret is always designated grill master.

Bret also brought with him a tub of rib eye steaks that he said had been marinating for a few hours in his refrigerator. I asked him about the marinade, and he told me that it was made from beer. Bret is as proficient with using beer in his cooking, as I am, wine.

In fact, I sat and watched him barbecue the steaks, hoping to pick up a few tips. Barbecuing appears to be an effortless affair for Bret. He holds a can of Canadian beer in one hand, and with the other, swings the tongs back and forth and up and down as though he is conducting a symphony.

At one point Bret jerked his arm forward, spraying beer from the can over the steaks. They sizzled. Smoke bellowed from the grill. I asked him if he had added more beer to flavour and tenderize the flesh.

Bret replied, “No. I’m putting out the flames.”

As a wine lover, I rarely use beer in my cooking, unless making a batter for deep fried fish or shrimp. I was curious as to how the taste of beer in the grilled steaks would taste with the flavours of red wine.

The steaks were delicious -- tender and juicy and highly flavourful.

The beer marinade obviously tenderized the meat while adding the taste sensation of bitterness to the steaks. Hops are the primary source of bitterness in beer. Red wine also possesses bitterness that derives from tannin. So the beer marinade and red wine harmonized in taste sensations.

This marinade also possesses flavour sensations that complements red wine, as well.
Bret’s beer marinade is a great match for big, red wines with weight and structure.

Paxton Jones Block 2005 Shiraz, McLaren Vale, Australia, (CSPC # 149914), $26.95 is a good choice. This is an exceptional Shiraz, the aromas swirling with ripe black berries and black peppercorns. The full-bodied palate offers flavours of raisins and leather, supported by excellent structure, medium tannin and a black pepper corn finish. This wine will certainly complement steaks done in Bret's marinade.

Paxton Jones Block is a member of ‘1% For the Planet Organization (www.onepercentfortheplanet.com). This organization’s mission is to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet. All members donate 1% of their profits to environmental groups around the globe each year. If you choose wines not only for their taste, but also for their social consciousness, you may want to explore other wineries committed to this same mission. Other wineries that belong to this organization in California include Sterling Vineyards, Spottswoode Winery, Shypoke Vineyard, Paradigm Winery, Oakville Ranch Vineyards, Hess Collection Winery, Grassi Wine Company and Ceritas Wines. Odisseia Wines in Portugal, Paxton Wines in Australia, Constant Jomini in Switzerland and Dosnon Champagne in France also belong to ‘!% For the Planet.’

The 14.5 percent alcohol gives Paxton Jones Block Shiraz much viscosity, making it ideal for heavier proteins like steak.

Here is the recipe:

Bret’s Beer Marinade

For Four Rib Eye Steaks

Three quarters cup of Canadian beer
One cup of Kraft Signature Roasted Garlic and Fine Herb Dressing
One package of Club House La Grille Seasoning Mesquite Marinade
Four rib eye steaks

In a large glass baking dish combine all ingredients. Whisk together. Set steaks in dish. Cover with plastic wrap. Set in refrigerator for about four hours, turning steaks over at beginning of second hour. When ready to grill, remove steaks from marinade. Throw out remaining marinade. Grill steaks to desired doneness.