Watermelon thoughts

Watermelon thought #1: The other day as I passed my local market, they were unloading crates and crates of watermelons. But it's only May?!? It's just plain discombobulating--not to mention the shipped-from-a-distance carbon footprint issue. Watermelon is supposed to be for hot summer days when you compete with your sisters to see who can spit the seeds the farthest.

Watermelon thought #2: The Agricultural Research Service arm of the USDA has discovered that the sugars in watermelon juice can be made into ethanol. Of the watermelons that are grown for human consumption, 20 percent of the total U.S. crop--around 800 million pounds--are left in fields because of external blemishes or deformities. Now these cast-off melons might find love as a biofuel.

Watermelon thought #3: Even though I liked watermelon as a kid (probably just so I could spit the seeds), I'm not a big fan as an adult. It's just a big slice of sugar water. However, I've had it in a couple of savory salads where it kinda won me over. On that theory, I tried pairing it with savory things to serve as an appetizer. I was looking for something rich and salty (like cheese) and something tart and crisp (like a pickle) to offset the sweetness of the melon.

Skewered Melon Appetizers
Sweet, tart and savory, all in one bite. Try it with watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe or a mixture of all three

3/4 pound goat gouda, provolone or fontina
About 40 bread & butter pickles, dill pickle chips or pickled jalapeño slices
2 cups melon balls or cubes (1 inch)

1. Cut the cheese into pieces about the same size as the type of pickle you are using.
2. Skewer one piece of cheese, one pickle and one melon ball on a toothpick.

Makes about 40 pieces

Random barley thought: Aren't you glad you don't work for something called the Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative?

Pig lid

Continuing with the theme of faces staring up at you from unexpected places, I like this little silicone pig cooking lid from Japan (where else?). It's only 7 inches across, and it's meant to sit right on top of the ingredients (not cover the pot itself). This keeps the heat in but lets steam escape—through the pig's nostrils (tee-hee).

It's $18 from the MoMA store and I just can't imagine buying one, though I can totally imagine wanting one.

Fun with Food: potato portraits

Lebanese artist Ginou Choueiri paints portraits on potatoes. I love that she leaves in the potato "eyes" as part of the warty nature of the faces. As she explains:

I chose the potato to portray human faces because of the many striking parallels. Not only is their skin porous like ours, but their skin texture and color is very similar, and like us, they come in different sizes, shapes and forms.

The portraits are eerie, and especially so when you see all the potato faces staring up at you from market-style burlap bags.

Coconut-Peanut Chicken

The other day I was thinking about the foods that I didn't like as a child—pistachio ice cream, marzipan, coconut-covered cakes, Hershey bars with almonds—and I began to see a theme. I didn't like nuts when they came in a sweet package. (Now I love everything on that list...well, maybe not marzipan.)

I think it was just the taste disconnect between something that seemed fundamentally savory (nuts) and the sweet environment they were in. You know, like why jam made from tomatoes doesn't quite work.

Anyway, this week's recipe puts one of those ingredients—coconut—back into the savory environment it belongs in, if you ask me. I used it in a coating mixture for chicken tenders that were pounded into a flat strip, like for satay. I used supermarket coconut flakes, which means they were sweetened, but it wasn't a bad counterpoint to the chicken and the salted peanuts (also in the coating).

Coconut-Peanut Chicken
I was wondering what would happen if you took some of the flavors of the peanut sauce used for chicken satay and just applied them right to the chicken. Thus was this recipe born.

2 pounds chicken tenders
1-1/2 cups dry-roasted salted peanuts
1-1/2 cups coconut flakes
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons teriyaki sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Hot sauce, for serving
4 limes, cut into wedges

1. Soak 32 wooden skewers (8 or 10 inch) in water for at least 30 minutes.
2. With the flat side of a meat pounder or the bottom of a small heavy skillet, pound the chicken tenders 1/8 inch thick. Cut the tenders in half lengthwise.
3. In a food processor, pulse the peanuts until they form a fine meal (be careful not to turn them into peanut butter). Add the coconut flakes and pulse to combine.
4. Preheat the broiler. Lightly coat a broiler pan with cooking spray. (Note: You will have to cook the chicken in two batches, so reapply cooking spray if you think the pan needs it.)
5. Put the coconut-peanut mixture in a shallow container long enough to hold the skewered chicken. In another shallow bowl or pie plate, beat the egg whites, teriyaki sauce and sesame oil together. Dip the chicken in the egg white mixture, then thread onto the skewers. Dip the skewered chicken into the coconut-peanut mixture, pressing the mixture onto the chicken.
6. Place on the broiler pan and broil 6 inches from the heat for 3 minutes. Turn the chicken over and broil for 2 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through but not dried out.
7. Serve with hot sauce and lime wedges for squeezing.

Makes 8 servings

Koziol napkin ring

This is a completely self-indulgent post. I saw this napkin ring from a German company called Koziol and I want it. Koziol's kitchen products are mostly mundane gadgets (bottle openers, pancake turners) designed as whimsical creatures, usually animals. I'm a sucker for that. I would buy this if I could figure out where it's sold (other than Germany).

Ever since I lived in France years ago, I've been a fan of the cloth napkin and napkin rings. My son was raised that way. We used our napkins for a week and then they were committed to the laundry. I've found that most other people of my acquaintance find the idea of using a napkin more than once disgusting. They would rather use paper napkins and then throw them away (!?!?!?). On behalf of the environment, I object.

Now, I'm just waiting for someone to tell me that the laundry detergent I use to wash the cloth napkins is as bad as throwing away paper (paper, by the way, that I had to pay $ for just for the privilege of throwing away). But since I just add the cloth napkins to my regular wash, it doesn't really compute.

Sorry, rant over. But this is why I love napkin rings, and I want this one. It comes in 6 colors.

Fashionably dressed wine bottles

I've never quite figured out the wine tote. Where am I going when I'm carrying a bottle of wine like a handbag? Maybe to someone's house for dinner?

Well, I'm sure the reason will come to me, because I really want an excuse to own this Fishnet Wine Tote from Built NY (in Manhattan's SoHo district). This cool looking wine tote carries two bottles (now we're talking) and is made of neoprene, the spongy material wetsuits are made of. It's $17 from Built and it comes in 3 colors: the multi shown here, red and black.