Where to Eat Out | Eat Well | Eat Healthy This Week

It’s Week 2 of my Healthy Eats Here! letter, which goes out to buyers of my sustainable dining guide. (If you’re looking for clean meat, organic dairy and/or local produce when dining out, Healthy Eats Here! is THE guide. And it’s packed into a portable e-form to boot!)

I’m posting the newsletter here, omitting a few restaurant names out of respect for those who have purchased the guide. But I’d still like you to know about some of the nifty people who are bringing real food that’s been raised right to tables across the country.

This week, we spotlight the magnificent Amy Chaplin of NYC’s Angelica Kitchen. (The NYT just swooned over Angelica’s newest release: a vegan nut brittle.) Check out our accompanying podcast here ~ it’s only about 15 minutes long, and is chock full of fun info on good grub in NYC. Enjoy!

For more on Amy & Angelica — and to get the buzz on good grub this week – read on.

This Week’s Recipe:
I tasted millet for the first time in my life about 15 years ago at Angelica Kitchen. That meal revolutionized how I thought about grains.

Here is one of the more humble (but incredibly tasty!) recipes from the restaurant’s cookbook:

millet, angelica-style

adapted from:

The Angelica Home Kitchen: recipes and rabble rousings from an organic vegan restaurant

Yield: 3-4 servings
Cooking time: 1hr

1 cup whole-grain millet
1/2 c fresh carrot juice
(Or omit it and the cinnamon stick and substitute water with either a sprig of thyme or rosemary.)
1/2 c finely diced onion
1 T olive oil
1 bay leaf
1/2 stick cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt
1 c water

*First, we preheat the oven to 350 F. Yes, the oven. We’re going to toast the grains to make them even tastier.

*Next, rinse the millet in several changes of cold water. Use a strainer.

*Time to toast: spread the drained millet on a cookie sheet. Toast it in the oven for about 15 minutes.

*While it’s toasting, combine the oil, onion, bay leaf, cinnamon (or alternative herbs) and salt in a 2-quart oven-proof saucepan with a tightly fitting lid. I like my Le Creuset. You want the onions to soften, so cook them over a medium flame for 5-8 minutes. Don’t let them brown.

*Stir the toasted millet into the onion mixture, keeping the oven on.

*Now add the carrot juice, water (and herbs, if using) and raise the heat to high.

*Bring it to a boil.

*Cover the pot and stick it in the oven for 25-30 minutes, checking to make sure all the liquid has been absorbed.

*After removing the pot from the oven, discard the cinnamon stick and bay leaf and fluff the millet with a fork.

*Serve hot, warm or cold.

* Dream of Angelica Kitchen…

For more healthy recipes, visit:
www.HollyHickman.com

Welcome to good grub.

Sustainable Supper Buzz
Near You:

Southeast:
(Name sent to buyers), an organic eatery featured in the guide, is hosting a wine dinner tonight featuring Organic & Biodynamic vino.
Don’t miss it!

Northeast:
If this isn’t a reason to love this place, I don’t know what is: Every Saturday, the restaurant (name sent to buyers) will take off half the check when you bring in a senior citizen for brunch. (Advanced reservations necessary.)

More regions and restaurants next week…

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Want to see
more than 200 restaurants serving
up high-quality food? Clean Meats,
Local Produce and Organic Ingredients?
Click HERE to learn more about the
country’s ONLY grassfed restaurant guide,
HEALTHY EATS HERE!
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This Week’s Spotlight:
Chef Amy Chaplin of Angelica Kitchen, NYC

The Queen of Quinoa is one of my favorite chefs because she is one of the most instantly likeable people you’ll ever meet. She’s warm, grounded, beautiful in every way, and besides being a black-belt chef, she’s a lyrical and poetic writer. Check out her blog, Coconut and Quinoa.

I interviewed Chef Amy this past summer at the restaurant, after I’d eaten the lunch pictured up top. We talked about flavor, beautiful food and the culture of the eatery, a place which has fed everyone from Sting to East Village scamps. Angelica was a beacon for me during some tumultuous years in NYC; it is a place that — though it sounds hokey — really does nourish both the body and soul. You’ll see why when you meet Amy.

Click HERE to listen to her thoughts on cooking, eating, and the poetry of rutabaga. (OK, so that’s my take on it.) Oh, and that musician at the beginning of the podcast is from the group Casa de Chihuaha. No word on his stance on rutabaga.

Until next week, I bid you happy and healthy eating!

~ Holly

Addendum: I’m submitting this to Food Renegade’s fabulous Fight Back Friday — if for alliterative reasons than nothing else. ; ) Find similar posts here.

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