Easter-esque Brunchiness

I've been a bit remiss in posting lately. Strange how my real life tends to get in the way of the important things in my life, like food.

I'm going to rewind a bit. Easter feels like it happened ages ago, but I suppose it's really only been about a week. I decided to do a small brunch with a couple of very close friends. I wanted to do something vaguely breakfasty but non-traditional, something sweet and something savory, and most importantly, something that could be prepared quickly because no one wants to get up early on a Sunday morning. I decided to make dishes that could be prepared the night before and assembled the morning of, thus allowing maximum sleeping-inage.

For the first course, I made some fun little fig muffins filled with a gooey honey goat cheese mixture. The recipe called for "white whole wheat flour," a substance which I'd never heard. I was of course very intrigued and went out in search of it. I found it, shockingly, in my little local supermarket, the one affectionately known by Anchorage folks as "The Ghetto Carrs". (It has character. And sometimes no cilantro. Or chicken. But always plenty of white powder and sticky black stuff. At any rate, I digress…)

The white whole wheat flour is made from "albino" wheat and has less "bite" than the normal red varieties. So far the results have been pretty good.

I'm going to experiment with using it as a substitute for plain white flour in various recipes. I used King Arthur brand, which is generally my favorite brand for every type of flour. Some girls have favorite brands of handbags or shoes. I live a slightly-less-glamorous, flour-dusted lifestyle.

The recipe called for either cream cheese or goat cheese for the filling. I decided a mixture would probably be best. I love goat cheese, but it can be quite intense at times. Cutting it with fat free cream cheese also cut the calories quite a bit. I'm pretty sure I'll be using this filling for other purposes: equal parts goat cheese and fat free cream cheese, honey and vanilla to taste plus a pinch of salt. I worked it together with a fork until it was creamy. This would probably be fantastic in a parfait with blueberries, or as a spread for toasted bread.

The muffins were yummy. If I make them again, I'll leave out any added sugar since the sweetness from the figs was nearly overwhelming in itself.

For the "main course" I served little polenta cakes topped with sautéed spinach, Italian sausage and Romano cheese.

I've found, through unfortunate experience, that polenta goes from creamy and smooth to firm and fairly stable when refrigerated overnight.

Thankfully, that knowledge came in handy for the creation of these little polenta cakes. I made the creamy polenta and added a handful of grated Romano cheese and a smidge of white truffle oil. I then poured it into muffin trays, covered them with plastic wrap and let them "stabilize" overnight.

I browned the fresh Italian sausage (from Mr. Prime Beef, pretty much the only real butcher in town), sautéed the spinach and grated the cheese the night before. On Sunday morning, all I had to do was bring everything back up to temperature in the oven, plate the servings and throw them under the broiler for a minute.

The result was very tasty. The polenta cakes were a bit crunchy on the outside without drying out.  There was a nice mixture of textures and flavors.  The cheese provided a touch of saltiness, the sausage gave it a little spicy heat and the polenta mellowed it out with a mild sweetness.

I did, however, notice that strange coating that spinach sometimes leaves on your tongue. By the end of the meal, it was fairly intense, (for myself, at least). I suspect that the others were being polite in not mentioning it, but I think it detracted from the enjoyment of the meal.  It even gave the dryness of the champagne a slightly abrasive quality.  The next day, I decided to do some sleuthing and determine the culprit.

Apparently, the source of that funky texture is oxalic acid. It turns out that oxalic acid is a pretty nasty substance. Thankfully, most of us won't suffer too many problems from it or the resulting oxalates, however certain groups could be susceptible to issues. Anyone that suffers from kidney disorders, gout or rheumatoid arthritis should generally avoid high levels of oxalic acid because it bonds to metals, (calcium, iron, etc…) to form very small but very sharp oxalate crystals which exacerbate those conditions. It also renders those metals useless to our bodies in the same way that many tetracycline and quinolone antibiotics do. It's a process called chelation. The two things bond together and become an entirely different entity. (Never take your antibiotics with dairy or a multi-vitamin! You'll get the benefit of neither the medicine nor the supplement.) Apparently, serving items high in oxalic acid (such as spinach) with dairy products will cause chelation and intensify this pasty film effect. One way to reduce the amount of oxalic acid in spinach is to boil it and change the water 2-3 times while cooking, essentially dumping the oxalic acid (and any fun vitamins or minerals) out with the water. Personally, this sounds like a pretty disrespectful way to treat spinach.

I thought that this website provided a pretty level-headed overview of oxalic acid.

I probably won't change my spinach-eating habits much, however I'll probably avoid cooking it with calcium-rich ingredients, and I might even try to change things up a bit by cooking with other leafy greens that are low in oxalic acid, like the ever-intriguing kale family.

Overall, the brunch was a success, and it led to a few epicurean educational experiences for me, which is always exciting!  Shortly after the dishes were cleaned up from brunch, I started preparing for dinner:  roast rack of lamb with rainbow chard and roasted Peruvian potatoes.  More details (and photos) to follow...