TUESDAY NIGHT GREAT TASTE WAS LIVE AT GREEN BUILDING SUPPLY

WITH GUESTS  ALURA ANDERSON, COLLEEN BELL, AND DAN GORMAN

MENU:  VEGAN NO QUESO DIP, CHICKPEA TOFU, SALAD GREENS WITH VEGAN RANCH, LIVE FERMENTED PICKLES AND KRAUT, AND FIG DESSERTS!

There was a lot going on at the GREAT TASTE LIVE show Tuesday, and it was all vegan.  

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I love real maple syrup and maple sugar, and, what's crazy is most consumers, perhaps as high as 7 out of 10, have only tasted the artificial brands that are on every store shelf, and served in most "restaurants."  As our guest and maple syrup maker Ethan West pointed out during our discussion, some manufacturers and eating spots mix a bit of real maple syrup into their corn syrup and artificially-flavored product.  Buyer beware because they can say with a straight face that it contains "real" maple syrup.  CLICK READ MORE!

Last Saturday Fairfield was a destination on an unusual road tour.  The group comprised Rick Polito, Editor-in-Chief of the Nutrition Business Journal, Bethany Davis, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Foodstate/Megafood, Alan Lewis, Director of Government Affairs and Food and Agriculture Policy at Natural Grocers, and organic aronia berry farmer Andrew Pitz of Sawmill Hollow farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa. They are currently on a five-day trek from western Iowa to Baltimore, MD, probing the complicated relationships between farmers, producers, the natural products industry, and the US government's agricultural policies. Read the article about their experiences in Fairfield here, and listen to my interview with the group, when they stopped by the KRUU studio to chat.  CLICK READ MORE!

It was a fresh cheeselovers paradise at the LIVE Great Taste show Tuesday night.

Green Building Supply hosted the regular first Tuesday of the month broadcast, and Sabita Sawhney demonstrated how to make paneer simply and quickly at home.  But, since she loves to feed everyone, Sabita also prepared marinated paneer, paneer pakoras, paneer parathas, and coriander/mint chutney.  Rose and cardamom lassi with a touch of coconut sugar was on the beverage menu.

This week's show is a rebroadcast of the "DOSA" show Sabita did at GBS on a previous GREAT TASTE LIVE.

Sabita will be LIVE on Tuesday, September 5 at GBS for the "PANEER" show.  We hope to see you there at 7:00 pm.

Chef Sabita Sawhney was my special guest chef.  She made amazing dosas, sambar, and coconut chutney, plus plain and potato paratha.  Make certain to have a pen or pencil nearby when you listen.  Sabita does not cook with recipes, but I tried to coax as much information out of her as possible.

Listen to the "Dosa" show this week broadcast on Wednesday at 7:00 pm and again on Friday at 7:00 am.  Next week's LIVE show at GBS will air on KRUU at 7:00 pm Wednesday, September 6, and Friday at 7:00 am, September 8.

Why is it that most of the authors I talk with are usually from California or live on the East Coast?  That's something to think about, but this week is the exception.  I get to chat with Shelly Westerhausen, a life-long Midwesterner, and the author of Vegetarian Heartland.  Check out one of the recipes from her book below.

In the second half of the show, I visit with Emily Kaiser Thelin, author of the moving and intimate biography of Paula Wolfert.  Wolfert is someone I have admired for years, and Thelin's biography illuminates the amazing career of this often overlooked and prolific contributor to our modern cooking scene.

Can you ever get enough soup?  Whether it's cold or hot outside, I can always eat soup.  It must stem from my grandmother's chicken soup, which enthralls my childhood memories, and is, of course, associated with love.  French onion soup at Famous-Barr, a local department store chain in St. Louis, is another of my touchstone soup memories.

Today I will go out of my way looking for a spot that is known for its great bowls of steamy delights.  Some of my most satisfying experiences, outside of our home, are definitely bowls of ramen and pho.  My first guest, Andrea Nguyen, has written a primer on pho that will appeal to pho novices, as well as, those more nuanced pho eaters.  Enjoy listening, preferably while you down a bowl of pho.

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One of the dishes I really wanted to make Tuesday night at the LIVE show at GBS was a miso butter skillet corn.  Luckily, the sweet corn was ready at the MUM student farm, and it was delicious.  All you need to do is strip the kernals off the cob, put them in a skillet with a little water, and cook for 2-4 minutes to your kernal texture preference.  Drain the remaining water, stir in the miso butter, and enjoy.  The recipe for the miso butter is at the end of this post.

Kris Johnson, the farm manager, Dan Harvey, the assistant manager, and several of the students in the Regenerative Agriculture certificate program, joined us for an inspiring discussion about the future of food and farming.  Look for the farm's stand at the Saturday Farmer's Market.

Jeffrey Roberts teaches the history and culture of food, and is the president of Cow Creek Creative Ventures, a company working to address the need for more sustainable agricultural solutions.  In his new book, Salted & Cured, he recounts the stories of chefs, entrepreneurs, craftspeople, immigrant butchers, and others who have and continue to develop the culture of meat preservation.  It's a fascinating read, full of history and colorful characters, who are participating in culinary practices that originated thousands of years ago.

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Kathy DuBois, GT's former co-host, assumed command in the GBS kitchen during Tuesday evening's LIVE Great Taste show.  On last week's Great Taste I spoke with Deborah Madison, and on the LIVE show Kathy, along with her assistant Christi Welsh, used recipes from several of Deborah's books to make carrot soup with spicy butter, baked ricotta, zucchini with mint and other herbs, and a roasted beet salad.  Many of the ingredients were picked or dug from the Sustainable Living Department's student garden within a few hours of showtime.  

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