Bringing Michael Pollan's "Food Rules" to your table

Fresh cut shoestring fries

The key to making these oven-baked fries crispy is to cut them as thinly as possible

One sweet potato
3 medium potatoes
2 T olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Peel potatoes or just give them a good scrub if they’re thin skinned. (Sweet potato will have to be peeled).

Slice them as thinly as possible and toss in a bowl with oil and salt and pepper.

Spread in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. (Oil the sheet lightly if you don’t have parchment paper).

Bake at 450 for about half an hour (or until they’re crisp to your liking), moving them around the baking sheet every 10 minutes or so.

Remove from oven and serve at once.


Great variation:
In addition to the salt and pepper toss with ¼ t Chili powder and ¼ t oregano.



Quinoa salad with peppers and peas
This grain cooks quickly, has a wonderful texture and is especially nutritious. This recipe works well with rice, barley and bulgar too.

1 ½ cups quinoa
3 cups water or broth
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 cup frozen peas, boiled for one minute
2 T (or to taste) of whatever fresh herb you have on hand.

Dressing:
Juice & zest of one lemon
5 T olive oil
1 T honey or maple syrup
Sea salt & pepper

Put quinoa and water in a medium pot. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and cook until water is absorbed (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Scrape into a bowl.

Meanwhile, scrub the pepper well before dicing.
Add the pepper and peas to the quinoa and toss with dressing (you won’t need the whole batch).

Season with salt and pepper.

Variations:
Shave red cabbage overtop before serving (very pretty).
Add finely diced mango instead of the peas and use lime juice in the dressing
Add chopped baby spinach or arugula



Speedy salmon burgers
My kids devour these like they're cookies.

1 lb raw salmon or trout
1 large potato, boiled and mashed
1 egg, beaten
½ cup panko or dry breadcrumbs
1 T plain yogurt
Salt & pepper
3 T fresh herbs (Chives, dill or tarragon) or 1 t dried
Good squeeze of lemon

Chop the fish and mix with remaining ingredients.
Form into 3” mini burgers and fry in oil until cooked, flipping halfway through.

Variation:
Works with other fish too.
Try patting in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) before frying.