Fantasy Top Chef

Yes, I’m a day late.  But last night I was assisting in the teaching of a class with Jasper Mirabile at the Kansas City Culinary Institute.  We made a ton of ziti.  It was great for dinner after class.  And lunch today.

But without furhter ado, we have some business to take care of:

The fantasy Top Chef standings:

Me: 22
Michele: 19
Josh: 14
Debbie: 13
Karen: 13
Colleen: 11
Elise: 8

Elise doesn’t talk to me anymore.  *Sigh* 

Oh, and word to the wise…if you ever get into a league with Michele, don’t talk trash with her.  She’s a pro.  I was duly impressed.

Also, for my fantasy top chef knockout pool I had Robin.  Yay me!  Still it in.

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Here is the part of the post where I talk about food lessons from the show.  What did I take from last night’s episode?  Vegetarian food rocks! 

Well that, and apparently for all the time I was vegetarian I was subhuman.  Thanks Eli!  At least I know you’re going home to parent’s house soon.  (Kidding…)

Anyway, like Robin, I was made a little giddy by the prospect of all that awesome veggie produce in the walk-in.  Especially all the mushrooms.  I love mushrooms.  And eggplant.  I feel I could have created a dish with all that that might have made Natalie Portman smile.  But, there was something that caught me.  There was no tofu in that walk in.  No seitan and probably no vital wheat gluten.  No tempeh.  No Match Meat.  WTF???

I actually sat there for a minute, thinking about what I would make and I panicked.  I had no idea what to do with out my meat replacers.  How could I possible make vegetarian cuisine without my meat replacers???

Then I calmed down and started thinking like a Voltaggio (kidding.  Technically I should say I was thinking like Kevin during lent)…and some ideas started flowing.  Had I been standing in CraftSteak, I’m pretty sure my menu would have looked like this: a trio of ravioli, one mushroom, one pea, and one eggplant out of homemade pasta and serve them on a bed of alfredo and red pepper marinara.  Maybe a side of balsamic roasted carrots.  I think I could have made a happy vegetarian or two with that menu.

Recipe for Homemade Pasta
Mushroom andEggplant Filling
Pea Filling
Alreado Sauce
Homemade Pasta Sauce

Maybe I’ll make it one day.  Natalie, call me?

The Climate Will Affect Our Food Supply

It’s Blog Action Day.  Are you ready to make a difference?

This year, bloggers from around the world and standing up to say now is the time to do something about the climate.  I know, it’s a weird thing for a food blog to be talking about, but I’m a locavore and slow food guy for a reason.   I know changes in the environment will affect the amount of food we have to eat in the coming years.

But what does that really mean?  Affect food supply? 

How about the end of the apple?  In her post Blog Action Day: Saving Apple Pie, FreshNewEngland argues (quite convincly) that the changing temperatures are affecting apple production.

Go ahead.  Click it.  I can wait.

I’d never really thought about it like that before, but she’s right.  Climate change is changing the length of growing seasons everywhere, including New England, Minnesota, and Missouri where the best apples in the world are grown.  Ergo climate change = no apple pie. 

And as we all know apple pie is the true non-partisan issue.  Who doesn’t love apple pie?

Living in Kansas, I am around farmers all the time.  My family were farmers and I know the climate here in the Midwest (always weird) is getting more unstable.  However, that article suddenly made the government euphemism “loss of food security” actually mean something. 

More greenhouse gas = less apples and maple syrup.  Oh my!

But it’s not just apple pie

Even worse, it only took a Google search for me to realize what else climate change means to my state.

According to a NASA-GISS, Columbia University, Florida State University study, one of most credible models about the environment in the coming years shows that rainfall will significantly decrease across both Kansas and Oklahoma.  That’s bad, m’kay?  While a lot of agriculture has shifted to California, Kansas is still the bread basket of United States.  We grow a lot of wheat, soy, and corn that feed thousands of people every day.  And we grow cows.  Holstein cattle are raised by factory farms and artisan ranchers which supply the nation a bunch of delicious meat.

And that’s just the large scale production.  There are also small and medium farms growing fresh produce all across this great state which feed many local families and are sold to restaurants and homes all across the region.

All of that is threatened.  All of it.  If rainfall decreases while greenhouse gases increase (which according to estimates is a certainty if we don’t make a change soon…), both meat, according to the University of Maryland, and crops, accoding to NASA, will be harder to grow and farms harder to maintain if we cannot reverse climate change soon.  So in other words, if you like fresh bread or if you like your K.C. Strip, the time to act is now.  Do something about it.

Here are fifteen things you can do to make a difference.  (Scroll down to the bottom.)  You can also download my eBook Greening Your Diet which talks about food choices and recipes you can make to help the environment.  You don’t need to make huge change.  All it takes is all of us making small changes and one hundred years from now your grandkids won’t be having to ration their meat.  Or their water.  Or their food.

Think about it.  If not, there might not be as much food to enjoy.

Fantasy Top Chef

Top Chef comes on in less than 1 hour!

My pick for tonight’s strikeout pool is Laurine!  I’ll be back in about 2 hours with Fantasy Top Chef updates as well as tips on how to cook like the top chefs.

And while you’re waiting, don’t forget to check out TNSmackdown‘s live blogging!