Mmmm....butter.

This may sound heretical coming from a health coach, but I honestly can't imagine my life without butter. Maybe it's because I am ancestrally descended from family farmers or maybe it's just that it tastes incredibly good...but regardless of the reason, butter is one of my can't-live-without-it-absolutely-worth-it foods. (Incidentally, I encourage all of my clients to know what theirs are...those foods that make life worth living. Any meal plan that doesn't include them isn't going to last long!)

It's hard to argue a nutritional case for butter vs. healthier fats and oils. It is one of the most calorically dense foods on the planet and is extremely high in saturated fat so this is simply not health food. But in terms of its contribution to food ENJOYMENT? Off the charts. And to me, that matters.

To be fair, I do most of my cooking in super-healthy olive or canola oil and often use an excellent, fruity, extra virgin olive oil as a dipping condiment for a really good crusty bread or on popcorn. So when I do choose to use butter, it's in a place where flavor really matters and where no other cooking fat will do the same job. For certain things...only butter will do. Here are a few examples.

Buttered Toast

I often have high-fiber wheat toast for breakfast, maybe with cottage cheese or Greek yogurt and fresh fruit. I COULD eat that toast plain and dry...but my morning joy skyrockets if I spread it with a little pure, salted butter (my mainstay for pure butter flavor is Land O Lakes). In any case where the flavor of the butter will really stand out, quality matters. You really do get what you pay for. Store brands or discounted butters have a much higher water content and far less butter flavor than their high quality counterparts. My advice is to buy the best butter you can afford and use it sparingly. And remember that butter stores beautifully in the freezer for months, so stock up when your favorite is on sale and rest assured that the quality won't suffer when you move it from the freezer to the refrigerator or table.

Browned Butter

In the summer, one of our favorite meals is flank steak or salmon served with grilled asparagus, peppers and onions and boiled red-skinned potatoes swirled in browned butter and a little sea salt. Add a salad of sliced heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers and you have summer on a plate as far as I'm concerned. The healthfulness of everything else in the meal makes room for the fat and calories in the butter and if you keep portion sizes reasonable, there's no reason this dish can't fit into a healthful diet. Browning butter (the French call it beurre noisette) is so simple...you simply heat butter over medium heat until it foams (swirling the pan or stirring periodically). Once the foam rises and then falls, it's done! As you swirl the pan a bit you will see browned bits in the butter (these are the milkfat solids and salt that have browned). Remove the pan from the heat immediately as the butter will keep cooking even in the hot pan and you don't wan to overly brown it or the flavor will become bitter. Browned butter tastes completely different than plain melted butter. It's a bit sweeter, far more complex, and even a bit nutty. It is AMAZING on boiled potatoes, steamed vegetables, or a simple mild fish (like sole, flounder, or tilapia). Try it and trust me, you'll be a convert.

Compound Butter

I discovered this technique in a cooking class I took in college and am still amazed by the transformative power a compound butter can have on a dish. The technique is pretty simple. You simply soften some butter and then mix in anything you can think of! One of my stand-by combinations is chopped shallots and fresh thyme with sea salt and black pepper but you can experiment with any herb or flavor combination that appeals to you. Once the extras are mixed in thoroughly, you reshape the butter (i.e. press into a ramekin, roll into a log in waxed paper, form into an elaborate rosette - just kidding) and chill. It keeps well in the refrigerator so making it once will set you up for a while. As the butter melts into whatever you put it on, all of those complex flavors do too. Yum. I love to use this on a crusty whole grain bread or melted on a piece of salmon, chicken or steak as it comes off the grill. You can stir it into pasta or rice or top steamed vegetables with a dab for a flavor boost. I also do a sweet variation of this with a honey, vanilla, walnuts, and cinnamon (or toasted pecans, brown sugar, and a splash of rum) that can be used on pancakes, waffles, or even toasted bagels. This makes a brunch or breakfast party that much more special.

Margarine

I'll wrap this up with a word about margarine. I know a lot of people have bought into the health marketing claims on margarine packaging and use it in everything from baking to sauteeing to flavoring foods. While there are certain health situations where margarine is likely the only butter-flavored alternative available (dairy sensitivities, lactose intolerance, high cholesterol issues), if I had those conditions, I think I'd convert to to healthful oils like olive or canola before I'd convert to margarine for most uses (except maybe baking). And if you don't suffer from one of these conditions and have stopped using butter because you think margarine is healthier, I'd encourage you to do a bit of homework on the nutritional value of margarine (Marion Nestle's Book "What to Eat" is a good source), then try butter again and let your taste buds be your guide.

Steel Cut Oats on a Snowy Morning

We woke up to snow last Monday and it was scheduled to fall all day! While I don’t always take the time to make steel cut oats for breakfast, it’s one of my winter favorites. I got up early and put a pot on the stove before everyone else woke up. I added a little vanilla and cinnamon to the oats as they cooked and I chopped up some roasted almonds and got out pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried cherries, fresh blueberries and fresh strawberries for toppings. In 25 minutes, we had a pot of winter warmth ready for us. This is every bit as easy to make as regular oatmeal…it just takes a little longer to cook.

What I should do more often is to make this the night before in our crockpot so it is ready for us in the morning! I found this recipe on recipezaar.

If you’ve never had steel cut oats, they are simply oats left pretty close to their natural form. The whole oat kernel is cut into two or three pieces using steel discs. They are a better source of fiber than rolled oats, but take longer to cook. They taste a little chewier and nuttier than rolled oats.

By contrast, rolled oats have the bran mostly removed and are rolled flat to make them easier to cook. With the bran removed, they have less fiber than steel-cut oats.

Quick-cooking and instant oats are rolled oats that have been cut into smaller pieces and rolled thinner to cook even more quickly. They are an easy source for preparing many oatmeal dishes. But the kind found in packets often has a lot of added sugar! I’d rather get my sugar from my dessert than my breakfast.

So…if you’re waking up to snow and cold today or have a little extra time one weekend, try steel cut oats for breakfast and let me know what you think!

A Trip Down (Food) Memory Lane

“When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It’s also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be.”

– Molly Wizenberg, from A Homemade Life

In this quote, Molly Wizenberg expresses a sentiment I’ve long held – that food transcends the moment. For me, this is a beautiful thing, like when the smell of celery and onions sautéing in butter takes me back to my mother’s kitchen in Pennsylvania on the Sunday afternoons of my childhood when she made homemade stuffing for roast chicken. In fact, I remember my childhood in large part through the flavors and smells of the foods that were most often present. Roast chicken or turkey, mashed potatoes, buttered noodles, broiled trout caught by my dad, spaghetti with tomato meat sauce, crown roast of pork, hand-ground cranberry relish, char-grilled steaks, baked potatoes with crisp outer crusts, fresh-picked corn on the cob slathered with butter, heirloom tomatoes and butter lettuce and cucumbers and scallions from our backyard garden.

Beyond all of that, my mother’s baking is legendary. There is no one in our hometown that doesn’t know and love her sweet creations. Cinnamon rolls, chocolate layer cakes, apple crumb pie, lemon meringue pie, custard filled cream puffs, monkey bread, pumpkin bread stuffed with raisins and chocolate chips and walnuts, glazed almond poppyseed bread, and the best chocolate chip cookies you have ever tasted. I inherited these recipes and the techniques to produce them the way I imagine some women inherit china or silver.

I was raised in the kitchen and it seems a love for food is simply in my blood. My mom was a foodie before the term was coined. She had the accessories to prove it, too: a microwave before anyone else in town, a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, a crepe maker, a fondue pot, a citrus juicer, an interchangeable grill, griddle and burner tray for her Jenn-Air stove (now that’s just cool!), a wooden butcher’s block cart with a full set of Wusthof knives. To me these things were just the accoutrements of a normal kitchen. Amid them, and the aromas and flavors they produced in the hands of a truly talented cook, my foodie self was born.

My husband often teases me about my ridiculous food memory. I can tell you what we ate on nearly every date we ever had, recall with excruciating detail every successful and failed kitchen experiment we’ve undertaken (Exhibit A – “Broccoli Joshua Trees” from our definitely failed grilled vegetable kebob effort when we were dating!). I speak with reverence about special restaurant meals both during and after eating them. I can tell you about the first time I had branzino (Le Cirque, NYC, December 2003), raclette (outdoor patio of Restaurant Caleche, Chamonix Switzerland, June 2001), pork tenderloin (kitchen of the Waldorf Astoria, NYC, February 1995) or wood-grilled California pizza with edible flowers (Café Pesto, Kona, Hawaii, June 1993) the way some people recount first kisses.

I tell people that I love everything about food…learning about it, talking about it, shopping for it, displaying it, cooking it, and especially eating it. I love food that is freshly sourced and prepared well, and for the last number of years that has also meant I enjoy healthful foods the most. For years I had healthy meals OR indulgent meals…but never both at the same time. Yet there is something deeply satisfying about knowing that the delicious food you are putting into your mouth is actually good for your body too.

As I launch this blog, it feels a bit like coming home to the kitchen table and recounting a bygone meal with my mom. I hope this is a place where you can do the same as we develop a community who will cherish the opportunity to talk about food and health and life together. I’ll have ideas to share and I look forward to learning from you as well as we explore food that is decadently healthful.