Q). Chef John,
I found this great Italian recipe book, and it has 3 recipes that call
for "tenderthin long noodles", and I don't know where I can find these.
I thought they might mean linguini or vermicelli but they call for these
in other recipes, and egg tagliarini. I hope
you can, once again, be of help to this aspiring cookie,
Barb from Salinas.
George & Barbara
Via e-mail
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A). Hi Barb, this
sounds like fresh pasta to me. Not the dry one but a fresh one. Fresh
pasta is available all over the place. Look for it in the refrigerated
counters. The pastas are all labeled so it should be easy -just follow
the instructions because fresh pasta cooks faster than dried pasta. Good
luck cookie!
Another hot tip - Do
you want the best and purest wild seafood money can buy?
www.vitalchoice.com They will ship anywhere in the world
wild Alaskan seafood products all varieties of wild salmon plus a lot
more.
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Do you like boats? I mean fancy
schmancy boats. Check out Cousin Patrick Mercurio's web site in Monaco
www.mercurioyachts.com and order yours today - yeah
right!
Readers: Had lunch the other day up in the city at the Hog Island
Oyster Co. The chef, Jessie,
is the daughter of an old friend of mine, Hal Bondcutter. Jessie is 26
years old and has real talent. For instance her clam chowder was a bowl
of whole steamed manila clams in a creamy stock of potato, onion and
bacon. Great destination - way to go Jessie
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Q). Dear Chef Pisto,
My daughter is a very finicky eater and one thing she will always eat is
tuna. She eats it pretty much every day and loves it. She's so picky
that I have to pick through the tuna after taking it out of the can to
remove any dark parts which she finds "really gross". Lately I have
heard that it is not advisable to eat tuna every day due to the mercury
content. Should I stop giving her tuna every day? Is there any tuna
brand has less mercury?
Anne Marie
Via e-mail
A). Annie, I feel for you dealing with such a picky eater. There is such
an amazing world of food out there and the finicky are really missing
out. Anyway, this is an interesting and timely question as I recently
learned a great deal about this problem
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while in Alaska. The mercury
problem is particularly bad in larger, older fish. This is why it is
found in higher concentrations in fish like tuna, swordfish and shark. A
friend of mine who ate tuna salad every day, had so much mercury in his
system that the F.B.I. was contacted to be sure someone wasn't poisoning
him. Another young lady I know, who us under 30 years old had her hair
falling out due to mercury. There are some (expensive) brands that claim
to be lower in mercury, usually from smaller albacore tuna, but how can
you be sure? I believe the better answer is to switch to canned salmon
which has many advantages over canned tuna. First of all, no mercury to
worry about and secondly, it is a tremendous source of omega 3 fatty
acid, also found in anchovies and sardines. I
have done some research and found that there is a lot of excellent
canned salmon
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available at the
supermarket, from leading brands such as Bumble Bee. The salmon falls
into three main categories: Pink Salmon, enormously abundant and
inexpensive in Alaska; Sockeye and Atlantic farmed salmon. I don't
recommend the Atlantic. The ones I found, although beautiful in the can
with no bones, skin or scales, usually have added coloring and salt. The
Pink and Sockeye, both from Bumble Bee, look like fresh salmon right out
of the can. The fish skin and bones, which are both edible and highly
nutritious, will definitely be a turn off to your daughter. You can
either spend some time cleaning it up or look for the "skinless and
boneless" type, also available. Now all you have to do is convince her
to eat pink salad instead of white. Mix the salmon the same way you like
your tuna - mayonnaise, celery, salt and pepper, fresh dill - its
delicious! Try a salmon melt - you'll be hooked.
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Q). I
apologize, but I was watching a cooking show about a week ago on you
cooking with sardines, and I did not write the recipes down. Do you
happen to have these written down as I need to eat more of them for the
Omega 3 oils?
Rosemary
Via e-mail
Here is a great one that I cooked with Dr. Weil. It was a great Saturday
night and was a blast having a live audience for the cooking show.
Especially Mr.& Mrs. Goodman (Earthbound Farms) and kids; head farmer
Mark Marino and girlfriend; Tawnee and Mark, who flew up just
for the taping, Ronny A. and
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Dina Eastwood, who is a big fan of
Doctor Weil. And I can't forget to mention that soon to be famous
harmonica and piano player David Clark. New shows coming, I've got
commitments from Drew, Myrna and Dina, so stand by folks! Think
sardines!
Sardine Pasta Recipe
For 4 to 6 people
1 medium onion chopped
6 garlic cloves chopped
a handful of parsley chopped
Sauté in olive oil. After 5 minutes add
1/2 cup pinenuts, 1/2 cup raisins, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. Add 1-28 oz.
can of "6 in 1"
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tomatoes (all crushed up for you). Boil some
water, add salt and put in your pasta (1 lb. of linguine or 1 lb. of
spaghetti). Now add 2-15 oz. oval cans of sardines in tomato sauce and
carefully blend into the sauce.
Brown 2 cups of unseasoned
breadcrumbs in a frying pan. Add salt and pepper, a bit of sugar and a
small amount of extra virgin olive oil. Drain pasta add to the sauce and
serve, topped with the fried breadcrumbs. If you eat this once a week
you will be loaded with Omega -3 in no time. Oh yeah, if you want to add
cheese, use some grated Romano.
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