Superhero Egg Salad

Got your shopping done? Great! Then it is time to start cooking! As I mentioned before, it's all in the preparation. Most of us live busy lives and don't have time on weekday mornings to be preparing sumptuous breakfasts. The way I make it work is by not cooking every day. What?! Yes, you got that right, Sassy only cooks a few days per week. 


I personally prefer to prepare several dishes at once which can be kept for a few days in the fridge (or even several weeks in the freezer). It takes marginally more time to chop an extra onion, have two or three pots on the stove and you only have to do a big clean up once. When it's time to eat the following day(s), all that's required is a reheat or a simple assembly of the delicious dish you prepared beforehand. 


Flavours also tend to be more intense once you allow a dish to cool down and then reheat it. Preparation also eliminates the painstaking "what shall we eat" question when you have more pressing issues on your mind. This method works for all meals, but let's get started with breakfast because that is our mission right now!


Sassy's Superhero Egg Salad is easy to make and will last you up to four days if you keep it in a tightly closed container in the fridge. It's also great for lunch on a bun or baguette with lettuce and cucumber.


INGREDIENTS:

• 6 (organic) eggs, as fresh as possible (look at the production/use by date on the packaging)
• 1 whole crusty "rustic" bread (dense texture, preferably sour dough)
• 1 small bunch of parsley, chives, dill (if you can't find it fresh, get the dried version)
• sea salt and coarsely ground pepper
• 3 table spoons of (organic) mayonnaise
• 1 table spoon of French fine mustard

METHOD:

• Boil the eggs: put all the eggs in a cooking pot, cover them with cold water and gently bring it to a boil. Once they are boiling, turn the heat right down and turn on your timer for 3 minutes. If your eggs are XL size, simply add one minute. If you are located on high altitude (> 1500 m. above sea level), just double the cooking time. After the required cooking time, take the eggs off the heat, and let them rest for one minute. Then drain the water and add cold tap water so the eggs cool down rapidly. We want the eggs to be softly boiled, where the egg white has set but the egg yolk is still creamy.
• Peel the eggs and chop them in smallish cubes, it doesn't have to be superfine. 
• Add three table spoons of mayonnaise and one table spoon of French fine mustard.
• Chop the herbs finely and add them to the mixture.
• Mix everything by gently 'folding' the ingredients (rigorous stirring would make it mushy).
• Add pepper and salt to taste.
• Take a slice of bread and put some egg salad on top. Sit down and close your eyes. Before you take a bite, have a look at your own creation and smell those delicious aromas! Have a bite and enjoy the fruits of your labour! Well done!
• Even if you are severely affected by Murphy's Law this week, you have one thing you can count on... Homemade egg salad waiting in your fridge to help you start your day!

* You can vary this recipe in several ways, for instance by omitting the herbs and the mustard and adding half a table spoon of yellow curry powder. For a fancy version you can add bacon bits or smoked salmon. I'm sure you will come up with lots more interesting versions so I would love to hear from you!

Hungry for breakfast? Let's go shopping!

Awww, you missed me? Well, I missed you too! Besides preparing and eating sumptuous breakfasts, I was busy setting up Sassy's B&B, studying for exams, writing uni papers and going on an amazing field trip to Trentino. 


Staying in a hotel for a week and being unable to prepare my own meals made it even more apparent how important it is to have a decent breakfast. The first morning I got seriously excited when I noticed the breakfast buffet offered  German style "grey bread", a heavy, dense, sour dough variety which goes very well with the lovely cold cuts and cheeses which are usually served with it. How I got it all wrong... The bread turned out to be about as tough as cardboard and the cheese and sausage resembled plastic both in taste and texture. For the first time in my life I ate hardly anything for breakfast and my stomach and head protested for the rest of the day... Clearly, this is NOT the way to seduce people into having breakfast. 


Luckily, if you still remember my last blog post, we are about to change this! Breakfast is not just the first meal of the day. It's the kickstart to our metabolism, the foundation to build our day on, the fuel for our brain! Ok, so maybe you really don't feel like eating in the morning, maybe you feel sick at the thought of it. How about trying just a little something, anything you like, while you read this blog and get inspired about having a real breakfast? There are only three prerequisites for a Sassy Breakfast: it has to be delicious, quick AND healthy. We will be preparing Superhero Egg Salad, Mediterranean Morning Toast, BananaChoc! smoothies and Move Me Muesli (breakfast on the go).


So now we've decided to get serious about breakfast, let's go shopping! It's all about the preparation you see... All we need to do is invest a little bit of our time and add an ample dosis of love! Since most of us do our weekly shopping at a supermarket or buy our daily groceries at a city corner store, it's just as easy to get your breakfast ingredients there. No idea what to buy? Perhaps my shopping list can help out; it's for one person but can easily be multiplied to cater for more people. Don't worry about buying jars of foods you may not be accustomed to, you will be able to use them for months to come, not only for breakfast.


BREAKFAST SHOPPING LIST FOR 1 PERSON 

• fair trade (organic) quality coffee or herbal tea
• 1 liter of (organic) milk or soy drink
• 6 (organic) eggs
• 1 whole crusty "rustic" bread (dense texture, preferably sour dough)
• 1 bag or box of muesli (a mixed grains and dried fruits variety, NOT baked!)
• 4 (organic / fair trade) bananas
• 3 lemons
• 2 ripe, aromatic tomatoes
• fresh basil
• 1 small bunch of parsley, chives, dill (if you can't find it fresh, get the dried version)
• 1 box of fair trade, organic cocoa
• 1 bottle of extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and coarsely ground pepper
• 1 jar of (organic) mayonnaise, please do not buy low fat mayo, I will explain why later
• 1 jar of French fine mustard

We also need a blender or juicer and a portable mug (like you would use for coffee). If you don't have these, maybe you can borrow one for a week and see if you like it. You can always buy one later.


Now we got the shopping done, we can get busy in the kitchen! Remember, none of the recipes which we will prepare will take a lot of time or amazing cooking skills. All it takes is a little bit of preparation and foresight and you will be having breakfast like a king or queen! The best bit? You will feel more energetic and focused, less hungry later in the morning and save money!

The UN breakfast - new and improved!

Whilst travelling on buses, trains, and planes on my way to Amsterdam today I had several pleasant encounters with fellow foodies from around the world. Somehow we instantly recognised each other which made it very easy to strike up a conversation and get straight to the topic we love: food, glorious food! None of these people work in the food industry, food is just their lifetime passion and hobby. It made me realise once again how fortunate I am to be able to live in Italy and to spend my days learning about food in an in depth way that I could never have achieved if it were to be a mere past-time. 


I also met a very interesting lady from Eastern Europe who works for one of the security agencies of the UN (I can't tell you which one, it's top secret, hehehe!) This woman works so hard that she even has to cut her vacations short to speed off to some distant destination to dutifully fulfill her job requirements. Inevitably the subject got to food and she told me that she has no time to eat. She has no time to shop for food, no time to prepare it and no time to think about it. Even though she likes to eat well, food is fuel to her at this point in life. Nevertheless, she's not happy with the way she eats and she would like to make some changes. 


Today I will devote my blog to this lady as I have promised to help her with some easy ways of eating well and nutritiously. You see, she is not the only one out there who tries to balance a busy job with a happy and healthy life style. So, while she and so many others are out there devoting their lives towards doing incredibly important work, it is time for this Slow Student to give back a little and share a secret or two about food.


We decided that the first thing she could improve on was breakfast. She used to eat a wholesome savoury breakfast in her home country, but in her new Southern European place of residence she has to contend with capuccino and a brioche. Not bad, you may think, until you have to have it every day. Lunch is usually something quick on the go, often of the unhealthy sort. By the time she finally finishes work she's too exhausted to cook. It would be unrealistic to expect of people like her to change their entire diet, but much progress can be made by doing it one step at a time.


Before we begin, I should mention a few things. I am neither a nutritionist nor a dietitian and this is not a diet or regime. I have merely spent considerable time studying food and I use my own common sense to determine what works best for me and my body. Everyone is different and your age, gender, genetic predisposition and habits will determine how your body behaves and what it needs in terms of diet. This is not a menu aimed at weight loss. The goal is to eat well and feel well. All I can do is give you a few pointers and help you find ways to figure out the best eating pattern for yourself.

So here goes! OrganicSassy hereby officially launches the UN breakfast! The letters U and N standing for Unadulterated Naturalness. I will publish a breakfast menu on this blog, which can be prepared either in advance, for instance on Sunday or on a weekday morning on the spot in less than five minutes! I will take you on a trip to the (super)market to help you buy the things you need, show you how to prepare it and how to enable you to have a sit down breakfast every morning! 

See you soon! Maybe I'll wake you up with breakfast in bed! ;-)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: between the evils of raw milk and the goodness of chemical additives

Raw milk is dangerous! It has to go through a heating process called pasteurisation in order to be safe for human consumption. At least that's what most policy makers in Westernised countries say. Raw milk also isn't what the consumer wants. Consumers want model products; pretty and predictable. It has to loose weight to become skinny and it always has to have the same consistency and nutritional values all year around. That's what the dairy industry says.


What do consumers say? Huh?! Who? Yeah, you! The one who's reading this either for fun or professionally, but who will quite likely at some stage this week be in front of the dairy section of a supermarket making consumer choices. Unless you are lactose intolerant of course. I mean, have you ever been asked by a diary producer what your preferences and opinions are? In fact, have you ever tasted raw milk? Have you ever been to an old fashioned dairy farm where you were given fresh milk straight after the milking of the cows? Have you ever had to shake a bottle of milk because the fat had separated from the watery part? Did you know that milk tastes differently all year around, depending on the season, the type of food the cow eats and the health of the animal?


You wouldn't be the only one having difficulty to answer yes to at least two of these questions. Most people in westernised countries aged under fifty can't. We are too far removed from food production to occupy our minds with such questions. We trust the food industry and policy makers to take care of our food safety and supply. If they say raw milk and raw cheese should be banned, then so be it. Despite the fact that half the world has been consuming raw milk products for centuries without entire populations being wiped out. So how did they get to that decision? Who are these people anyway?


What's concerning is that these same people, the policy makers, allow the food industry to put a myriad of chemical additives in our food. And this is where it gets tricky. As the world chemical already implies, this is not a natural part of food and therefore not part of our natural eating pattern. What's interesting is that many of these additives have not been sufficiently tested in order to guarantee that long term and cumulative consumption is not harmful to our health.


Let's have a brief look at food history. Since about the fifties of the last century the food industry has increasingly stripped raw ingredients of its natural goodness, substituted natural ingredients by adding cheap chemical components and to add value they fortify foods with the exact vitamins and minerals that are now lacking in many processed foods. If the food industry was anything like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory we may not have much reason to worry. However, since the bottom line is that of making ever growing profits and pleasing the share holders I'm afraid that Charlie has little to do with it.


At the same time, there has been an impressive increase in diet related diseases. These may not have as much to do with chemical additives as they do with sugar and fat intake, but the occurrence of many types of cancer, depression, allergies and behavioural disorders is also rising. Now, I'm not a scientist and even if I was, there is no data at this point in time which can help me substantiate my premise, but my common sense tells me that in two or three generations we will find out what the actual effects of continuous, accumulative consumption of artificial food additives will be on human health. 


So I'm not a professor, but I did study commerce and I learned that there's a golden rule that one can apply to various areas of life: everything has its price tag. Cutting costs by the food industry leads to several hidden costs we prefer not to think about. But as long as we keep buying what the government and the food industry tell us to and stay the hell away from the evils of raw milk we can keep on living in our happy world of make believe. Now where's that damned Charlie? I want my daily fix of magic and a fortified chocolate bar!

To be cool or not to be cool, that is the question... Or the chicken and the egg?

Once in a while you have a day that is unlike any other. It's the kind of day when you realise just how fortunate you are. Today was such a day. We had a class about food technology, which was mostly about food preservation methods and extending shelf life. Not exactly the most exciting subject, but it is like building a house. You may put up a wall and be quite contented about your day's work, however, without a proper foundation the house may not be built to last. In other words; it's basic knowledge we need to have in order form an informed opinion about the food industry.

If it wasn't for my dear and respected colleagues this may have turned out to be a rather dull kind of day. Nevertheless, the University of Gastronomic Sciences brings together people from all sorts of backgrounds and professions, which is truly amazing when it comes to cross pollination of knowledge and view points! Putting these kinds of people together means that the sometimes dry material we are learning is turned into exciting real life situations through all sorts of discussions!

Example? To refrigerate eggs or not. Ok, so maybe you never thought about it, but apparently this is different the world over! Our class is made up of various nationalities, enabling us to do an in class survey immediately. In American supermarkets eggs are in the chilled section and American consumers usually keep their eggs in the fridge. Here in Europe few people put eggs in the fridge. Even in tropical Latin American countries not everyone refrigerates eggs. But what is the reasoning behind all this? Is it purely a cultural issue or is there a scientific explanation? I mean, seriously, I won't be able to sleep tonight without figuring out this dilemma! Luckily our professor is able to provide us with some essential information.

Aha! So you want to know the answer now too, do you? I told you this is intriguing stuff! Ok then, here goes! Eggs do not need to be refrigerated and there is no health risk to storing them outside of the fridge (sorry FDA!). However, it does make them last longer if they are refrigerated. On the other hand, as I'm convinced that science can only overruled by one woman, let's see what my grandmother's opinion is on the matter. She always use to say that only the freshest eggs would do for her cooking. Anything else ran the risk of ruining the result and with the number of hours she would spend in the kitchen, that simply wasn't worth the try. It's not just about how much love you put in a dish, it's also about how much love you put in your grocery shopping.

So, thanks to my class mates and my old grannie, I am able to sleep tonight. I'm already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow. Unrefrigerated, poached eggs on toast! With an espresso of course!

Real chicken soup (no, that's not Campbell's!)

Chicken soup the way we do it in the old country.
Nothing goes to waste. In fact, are you crazy? Throwing the stuff
away that adds the most flavour?! Don't be scared of that chicken
head and feet: it's all part of it, as is chicken breast fillet.

First we enjoy the stock with beautiful handmade pasta

And some more...

Then the Italians teach us foreigners a little trick:
add a splash of red wine to the broth

What can I say? Italians looove chicks!

To eat not too much, not too little, but just enough

I'm in Italy: the land of the good, the tasty and the plenty. If I was an actress who had to put on a lot of weight within a very short period of time I would definitely come here. There's not one moment in the day that one cannot eat in this country. Where ever you go, whatever you do, there is always food involved. And you know what? I love it! I've been here for just one month and my obsession with food has increased to the point that there are few moments in the day that I don't think about food. It's like a mad, all consuming love affair. 


But like passionate love, there comes a moment when you snap out of the warm, fuzzy day dream that has been dominating your life lately. I mean, you love being around the object of your affection, but really, you need a moment for yourself. Call it a breather. Before you overdose, you must lay off the excess and administer the right medicine in the appropriate dosage. But how do you go about it? Do you do it the tough way and go cold turkey? Or do you try to manage the situation by tempering your obsession?

I have to say it is kind of a luxury problem. Never in history did we have so much food so readily available as we do now. And what do we really need to do for it? It's not exactly like we are ploughing the land for twelve hours to then go home and take care of our six children. When my grandparents were young they had meat once a week and they would go out of their minds when it was someone's birthday and they could have cake. Only my great grand father was allowed to have a breakfast of several eggs, strong coffee and a shot of eau de vie. But this man was built like a giant with hands the size of shovels. It kinda makes sense when you think about it. 

I don't eat meat every day either. However, the reason for that is not that I can't afford it. In between such luxuries as holidays, seasonal clothes shopping and expensive tuition fees I am still able to find sufficient financial resources to eat well. I choose to eat animal protein in limited quantities because I believe it's healthier for a human being like myself to eat mostly vegetables, legumes and fruit. In Italy I'm in the right place as there is loads of fresh produce and the peasant kitchen is all about making do with what you have and that definitely isn't steak every night! 

So what is a girl to do when she's invited to a dinner with almost exclusively Italians? It's nothing special really, just four courses with the very best ingredients and lots of love added to it. The only thing is that the second course is served twice, for who's interested, which means everybody. Don't get me wrong, I love a good pasta, but after one plate I've had more than enough and I'm already struggling with the main (which is also a considerably large portion). And here you can't cheat with salad either, as it is served as a separate course. Even gelato doesn't come in size small, so I generally eat half and hope that my grandmother will forgive me for throwing away food. What would my grandmother do in my place? A trip down memory lane teaches me that she was one of the worst perpetrators of force feeding in my childhood. Food is a gift and must be cherished!!! 

Right... I wish she was here so I could show her the excess of food that's available these days. It wouldn't matter anyway. She lived through the war, she knew what it's like to go hungry and she was a trooper. You can't explain gluttony to a veteran like her. Just to get things straight, I'm not into diets or weight loss. A real woman eats and has curves. Full stop. What I'm philosophising about is whether we actually NEED to EAT so much. Which leaves me with one option really. Defend myself at the table for the remainder of my stay in Italy. Because I'm just going to do it my way. I will eat, oh yes Siree!!! Just not too much, not too little, but enough.

How OrganicSassy fell in love with food

My passion is Food. Real Food. Honest Food. Food is what defines us as human beings, as cultures, as identities. I believe quality Food is not only a primary life need; it is our birth right. Food is about flavour, best enjoyed in its unadulterated form. An Italian saying I whole heartedly agree with is: “Good food brings you a little bit closer to God”. Who that god might be can be left entirely to personal interpretation, but the point is that Food adds an extra dimension to life which I would not want to forgo in any case. I have been in love with Food all my life, even though Food and I got off to a rough start.

Food and I met on a cold winters day in 1980 in the picturesque city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I was born with an allergy to artificial food additives causing a nasty skin rash (eczema). Not exactly a great way to fall in love with Food, but my Hungarian mother, who is from the countryside, always cooked everything fresh and from scratch. However, when I would eat elsewhere (processed foods are extremely popular in the Netherlands) I would have a terrible outbreak of eczema within hours. Several visits to the hospital taught us what we already suspected; Food was playing a dirty trick on me!

During the holidays we usually went to my grandparents in Hungary, where all summer I took great joy and pride in harvesting fresh fruit and vegetables for the lunch and dinner table. My grandmother cooked on an old fashioned stove for which we had to chop wood. She would trade her fresh produce for a live chicken from the neighbour and dissect it in front of my eyes. Nothing in her kitchen went to waste and everything she made was delicious. Including offal that is. This wasn't just a big adventure for me, it also taught me the true flavour and true value of Food.

Back in the Netherlands I would ask my mother why Food there tasted so differently compared to the Food in Hungary. Chicken was tasteless, tomatoes were watery and sour, milk wasn't creamy. I missed the fresh produce, so I started my own little vegetable patch, every week digging out the carrots to see how much they had grown and carefully putting them back in the soil afterwards. Eventually I started questioning why and how the food industry could be allowed to sell products that were harmful to our health and wellbeing. No one could answer my questions. 

When I was eleven years old I read Anita Roddick's book about The Body Shop and I decided that I wanted to do work through which I could give back to the earth, animals and the community. Not much later, during my adolescence, I read about philosophy, history and politics. I never joined or supported any particular political movement, but I strongly believe that altruism and a strong social safety net should be the cornerstones of a civilised society. I convinced my family and friends to choose fair trade and organic products wherever possible. They did back then and still do now.

Not surprisingly, I got into the kitchen at a very young age and never really got out. I love growing Food, shopping for Food and the process of preparing Food to share with others. However, I didn’t become a chef as life had a different scenario in store for me. It all started with Slow Food and reading Michael Pollan's books. They gave me answers but also created more questions. I had to DO SOMETHING! Two years ago I started my own business in food marketing focusing on the niche market of local organic and artisanal Food. Today I am in Italy where I study at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. My love affair with Food was built to last...