With the recent conclusion of his popular cooking column, The Minimalist, Mark Bittman has announced he will now write a regular blog for the Times' online commentary, The Opinionator; his first post is here. In a nutshell, these are the issues he will be dealing with: "If you cook, you think about what goes into your mouth; you shop more carefully; you begin to think about where the food you’re shopping for came from, and how it was produced; you begin to think about what you’re throwing out, and how you might use it instead of waste it; and so on." If you read this blog, you're probably interested in all this, so you will want to keep up on what Bittman has to say. Unfamiliar with his story? Check out his latest book, Food Matters, where he tells of his transition to VB46 (vegan before 6pm), which helped him lose 35 pounds, lower his cholesterol and blood sugar, cure his sleep apnea and painful knees, and gain a new consciousness of the politics of food. He's a big proponent of shifting the ratio of meat to vegetables on our plates, but he loves good food and does not have a Spartan approach to life. He believes in wine and dessert and the abolition of CAFOs.
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My dear friend Jamie asked me to post a few recipes for some "regular old vegetables," the kind she picks up at the grocery store and wants to whip up on a weeknight. There's no shame in throwing carrots, green beans and broccoli in your basket, but try to get them from the farmers market, or at least buy organic. The quality and flavor are just that much better. I'm still exhausted from writing yesterday's post about fats, so I'm not going to drone on too much. Just letting you know that a few of my favorite "common vegetable" recipes follow, including some quickies pulled right from one of Mark Bittman's articles in the Times, where he lists 101 salads, or 101 things to do with chicken. (Don't you adore Mark? Didn't he almost save that On the Road show from being completely mired down in Mario & Gwyneth's repellent self-love?)
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