Recipe Box: Pick a Pickled Pepper

Or carrots.  Or fennel.  Or grapes. On Monday night, I rushed home with vinegar in hand to prepare for the 18 Reasons Jam It event as well as create some down-home gifts for my relatives in Philadelphia.  It's Turkey Time people, and nothing says "thank you" on Thanksgiving like a jar of pickles.  Am I right?  I know I am.

Let me tell you this - sodium-free pickling is not only possible, it is easy and can be even more thrilling than your typically transformed cucumber.  Without salt, you become more creative with your seasonings and spices.  And if you are a nervous to create your own pickling blend, lucky for us, salt-free pickling spices already exist in cute little pre-packaged packages (available at your local Whole Foods).

So put your pot on the stove and get ready to infuse some veggies with sweet and sour tang.  Here are three zippy recipes for mind-blowing treats that can be equally impressive as an appetizer or as an accompaniment in salads, side dishes, and main courses.

Pickled Fennel 
"Licorice never tasted so good" - Me

1.  Take two bulbs of fennel, cut off stems, and slice in to crescent shaped spears

2.  Stuff fennel slices, some of the soft fennel fronds from the stem (packs extra flavor), three cloves of garlic, and two dried chili peppers into a small mason jar

3. Zest one orange and place in the mason jar with fennel

4.  Heat 2 cups of white wine vinegar, 1/2 a cup of sugar, juice from one orange, and a teaspoon of black peppercorns in a pot.  Remove from heat once it begins boiling

5.  Carefully (it's hot!) fill the mason jar with heated pickling liquid (step 4).  The heat tends to reduce the size of the fennel almost immediately, so if you have left over slices, stuff more into the jar

6.  For added punch, slice fresh ginger and put in jar as well.  Once lid is closed, shake it up, allow to cool, and stick it in the fridge.  In two days, it will be ready for munching.

Pickled Grapes 
"Not jam, not wine, just plain delicious" - Me 


As a quick disclaimer: I stole this recipe from Smitten Kitchen who was inspired by Orangette  and tweaked it according to my sodium girl needs.


1.  Pick up some plump, seedless back or red grapes and slice off the belly buttons - the top part where the stem was - of five or six handfuls.  By taking off their tops (get your mind out of the gutter) you will allow the pickling juices to seep into the fruit immediately.

2.  Fill a small mason jar with the grapes, 2 teaspoons of yellow mustard seed, and one stick of cinnamon- or, as in my case, three teaspoons of ground cinnamon because I forgot to buy cinnamon sticks

3.  Heat two cups of white wine or champagne vinegar (how fancy) in a pot with 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns.  Remove from heat once it boils

4.  Let the pickling liquid (step 3) fully cool before filling the mason jar.  This will keep the fruit from becoming too mushy

5.  Shake and shimmy your mason jar and put in refrigerator.  Will be good to go in two days.

BONUS TIP: on my quest to find a good substitute for olives, I realized that a savory grape pickle could do the trick.  I think they could act as a mischievous doppelganger in tapenade and Mediterranean salads, fooling any palate.  I can't wait to test out this theory in the weeks to come.

Pickled Carrots
"Curry in a hurry" - Me

1.  To make this as effortless as possible, buy some pre-washed, pre-peeled carrots.  I went with some beautiful yellow carrots and I think if I had more time, I may have even chosen to go with the more colorful  heirloom variety

2.  Stuff a small mason jar with carrots, three cloves of garlic, teaspoon of freshly sliced ginger, and two dried chili peppers, 1/2 a tablespoon of turmeric, 1/4 tablespoon of curry, and 1 tablespoon of salt-free pickling spices

3.  Heat 2 cups of distilled vinegar,1 cup of water, and 1/2 a cup of sugar.  Remove from heat once it is boiling

4.  Carefully fill jar with pickling liquid, wait until it is cool, and place in the fridge.  Wait 2 days before cracking open and noshing on some healthy and spicy carrot nuggets

Now wasn't that easy?  Just wait until you taste them!

Tips & Tricks, Good Eats, and Recipe Box: This Spud's For You

I think potatoes are (a) utterly delicious and (b) really confusing to spell.  I like them fried, baked, sliced, in soups and stews ... but mostly, I like them fried.  At first, I thought it would be impossible to find low-sodium or sodium-free versions of these beloved potato products - and I took to making my own sweet potato fries at home (which, if I say so myself, was not a bad substitute...recipe below).  But I had completely underestimated the possibilities of no-sodium/low-sodium snacking and in almost 6 years of searching for a salt-free French fry or a sodium-free bag of chips, I've compiled the following list of delicious salt-free options, which even have the salt freaks exclaiming snacking nirvana.'

For A Sit-Down French Fry Fix:

Hop into Frjtz - a Belgium fry and mussel palace located in the Mission and Hayes Valley.  Just ask the incredibly accommodating staff (yes, they know me by name) to hold the salt on your LARGE cone of fries.  Don't hesitate to explain your reason for salt shaker resistance - the more they understand your situation, the more serious they will take your request.

As for the sauces - for which they are famous - they are all heavy in sodium content.  So to be absolutely safe, ask for a wedge of lime to give it a zest of flavor.  Or douse the fries in pepper.  I've even recently seen malt vinegar available at the condiments counter - that has a nice kick too.  And if you're really craving something more substantive, I have been known to bring my own bottle of low-sodium mustard in my purse.  Don't be embarrassed.  It's totally cool and the people staring are just jealous. But if you're not up for social defiance, you can eat them sauce free.  These fries are so perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside that they don't need any cover up.  They are natural beauties.

Added tip:  If you attempt ordering French fries at other restaurants, and I do, just remember to ask if they cut them fresh or if they come from a bag.  If they come from a bag (i.e. frozen) they most likely have sodium.  Also, make sure the potatoes are not blanched in salt water before being cooked.

For Out-Of-The-Bag Snacking:

My first experience with no-salt/low-sodium snacking was with Kettle Chips unsalted, proud spuds.

In 2007, during a crisp fall afternoon and a mostly unproductive work day, I spent an hour and half crafting a heartfelt letter to the Kettle Chips crew thanking them for their bravery and leadership in the production of a salt-free chip, which had filled a large void in my junk-food junkie soul...and would they be so kind as to create another innovative salt-free chip product to dazzle my taste buds (balsamic vinegar and rosemary anyone?).  The next day, I received a kind response, but no mention of any future salt-free lines and no shipment of a life-time supply of unsalted chips to my door.

While I continue to wait for my free box of Kettle Chips (wink wink), these other brands are also jumping on the salt-free train and making my no-sodium snacking dreams come true.

Utz has unsalted potato chips and no salt BBQ 

Terra Chips has unsalted potato chips, unsalted Hickory BBQ (so delicious!), and unsalted Sweet Potato chips for a totally wild taste experience.

Added tip: When I make my own tuna tartar - yeah, you've got some drool on the side of your lip - I line the plate with salt-free potato chips and use them to transport the dreamy, diced fish from the plate to my mouth. East meets west in a dazzling salt-free appetizer.

For A DIY, At-Home Adventure:

When Super Bowl Season rolls around, grab a few sweet potatoes and follow these instructions:


1.  Turn on oven, preferably to 400 degrees.

2.  Wash and scrub your spuds, but no need to peel.  I think the skin, when crisp, makes them extra delicious.

3.  Cut the sweet potato into fourths and then into thin strips - you want each fry to be about half and inch wide at the most (check out the picture here to get a good idea of size and length).  The thinner they are the crispier they will get.

4.  Put all of your potato sticks on a pre-greased or pre-sprayed baking sheet - you want most of them to be touching the bottom of the sheet so they all cook evenly - and sprinkle olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) and a mixture of the following spices:

For spicy - cumin, paprika, white pepper, and cayenne
For herby - rosemary (fresh or dried), white pepper, ground mustard, a pinch of cayenne
For special - use a flavored olive oil (like orange, avocado, or truffle!)

5.  Toss the potato sticks so they are evenly coated with the oil and spices.

6.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.  Watch the first batch carefully and from then on, you'll know how long it takes.

7.  Repeat until all the potatoes have been cooked and gobbled up - make sure you set a good handful (or ten) aside for yourself.

Recipe Box: Project Bacon

I just bought $15 worth of pork belly from the amazing butchers at Prather Ranch Meat Co. housed in the SF Ferry Building. While it might be easier to braise large chunks of the monster or dice and fry the fatty parcels - I'm going whole hog on this project and spending the next five days curing my very own, sodium-free bacon. With little bit of time, creativity, and advice from meat professionals, it is possible to open culinary doors that seemed permanently closed.

After a brief chat with my bacon Sensei, we devised a salt-free curing plan as follows:

1. In a metal baking dish, set the pork belly (skin/fat side up)

2. Cover with approximately a 1/4 inch thick of the following dry rub mixture: brown sugar, course black pepper, smoked paprika, and some crushed Emerald Cove Organic Nori to help leach out the moisture. Refrigerate.

3. After a few days, drain the meat juices and cover with another coat of the rub. Return to the refrigerator.

4. Apparently it only takes 5 days for a proper cure but letting it sit for longer will produce stronger flavors and the bacon itself will last for two weeks instead of one.

5. As for slicing, I am hoping to take the cured belly to my local butcher, Drewes Bros Meats, to cut it into the familiar long strands.

Stay posted for the end result and the delicious, bacon, hand-made pasta that will enfold!

Recipe Box: Pea Soup

My mom, boy's mom, and I decided to meet for lunch one beautifully sunny afternoon and I wanted to treat them both to something light, bright, and delicious.

I was aiming to fix a meal that was quick to make, full of flavor, and of course, sodium-free. So, I settled on curried egg salad sandwiches and some cold pea soup - my cup of soup, of course, is the one topped with hot red chili flakes - it may have been chilled, but I am always hankering for some heat.

The recipes are simple and the tastes are just complex enough to wake up your palette but there is plenty of room for personal preferences and to make the flavors more robust. They also stay good in the fridge for a few days, so save some room for left-overs.

Curried Egg Salad Sandwiches - A Spicy Celebration on Two Pieces of Bread

Ingredient List:
Half a dozen eggs
1 Container of Creme Fraiche or WholeSoy & Co Plain Yogurt
1 bunch green onions
1/4 lb of currants
Curry Powder, turmeric, white pepper, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin
Ezekiel 4:9 Low-Sodium Bread
Flat leaf parsley (only if you want to really show off)

1. Boil eggs (6 eggs made for approximately 8 sandwiches)
Don't know how to boil eggs? Check this out!

2. Once your eggs have cooled, separate egg yolks from egg whites into two bowls.

3. Add 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche or half a container of WholeSoy & Co Plain Yogurt(25mg of sodium for one container) to your egg yolks and mash together until it becomes a yellow paste. It shouldn't be too gummy or thick - so you can always add more creme fraiche, yogurt, or some olive oil to loosen it a bit more.

4. Add 1 tablespoon of curry powder, 1 tablespoon of turmeric, 2 teaspoons of white pepper and 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika to the egg yolk paste. These are all estimated portions. Taste as you mix ingredients together and add more if you want stronger flavors - also feel free to add in some cumin and cayenne pepper for more spice.

4. Dice egg whites into little cubes.

5. Chop 3 stalks of green onions - the smaller the chop, the better!

6. Mix egg whites, onions, and currants (a few handfuls) with the egg yolk paste. You can also add chopped parsley to put more color and a fresh herb flavor in the mix.

7. Toast your bread
Don't have a toaster? Use the broiler in your oven! Just don't forget to flip the bread, to take out the bread, or turn off the oven - I speak from (in)experience.

8. Spread your egg salad onto the bread and cut into your favorite childhood shape - I prefer the triagonal (diagonal triangles) - but I'm sure a rectangle with the crusts cut off would taste just as a delicious.

9. Enjoy!

Cold Pea Soup - Green Never Looked So Good

Ingredient List:
1 shallot
5 cloves of garlic
1 small white onion
Olive Oil
1 bag of frozen peas (check the label for sodium content)
1 bag of frozen corn (check the label for sodium content)
Herb-Ox No Sodium Chicken Broth
White pepper
Creme Fraiche

1. In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons of oil.

2. Dice shallot, garlic and half of white onion - no need to dice too finely as everything will be blended later on.

3. When oil is hot, add shallot, garlic, and onion to pot and stir until shallot and onion look translucent.

4. Add bag of peas and half a bag of corn to pot. Stir and heat for about 5 minutes.

5. Mix 2 packets of Herb-Ox Low Sodium Chicken Broth with 2 cups of water, throw in pot, and bring to a boil.

6. After it has boiled for a few minutes, remove pot from heat to cool for 5 minutes. If you blend while still hot, your risk some serious splashage, so it is important to cool the soup down a bit before the next step. Patience here will result in less time scrubbing the counters and your face.

7. Transfer soup to blender OR for an incredibly easy and mess-free means of creaming ingredients, use an immersion blender. Possibly my favorite kitchen utensil - I have two.

8. Blend until smooth.
An optional step is to then sieve the soup which will make it incredibly silky in texture, but this is only if you are going for Michelin star perfection.

9. Reheat soup on low until it has reduced about a third - this thickens the soup. Add the white pepper and any other spices at this point.

10. Chill soup in fridge.

11. Ladel into small bowls and top soup with a dollop of creme fraiche.
Other optional crunch worthy toppers include: a few Unsalted Kettle Chips or a handful of Organic Just Peas or Just Corn.

12. Your soup is now ready to serve and ready to disappear.

Recipe Box: Fridge Frittata

First off - go see Food, Inc. I've read the books, I volunteer at the Ferry Building, I shop at Farmer's Markets whenever I can. But this movie, even for the most food-enlightened, is a huge wake up call. We truly are what we eat and our food industry is the cornerstone of our community's and our world's health, social, and environmental issues.

So I have to say, after I left the movie, I was glad to know that my fridge was full of locally produced, seasonal ingredients - all of which needed to be eaten right away if I was going to keep them from ending up in my compost bin. And yes, that was probably the most typical Northern Californian sentence I have ever written - sorry I'm not sorry.

My refrigerator had the following items to work with:

chard (grown from my own potted garden)
heirloom tomatoes (from my monthly Farm Fresh To You delivery- thank you Capay Farms)
potatoes
eggplant
half of a red onion (woopsies...a few weeks old)
one slice of Heidi's Hens no-salt turkey breast
and two eggs

What do you get when you combine all of those ingredients?
A delicious, oven-baked dinner frittata! Here's how:

1. Set oven to 360 degrees.

2. Heat oil in a pan. When hot add diced red onion and cook until translucent. I was low on olive oil and added a few dashes of champagne vinegar to help deglaze the pan and add some extra moisture to cook the onions. When softened and clearer in color, transfer onions to a bowl.

3. Slice one small eggplant into half-inch disks and wrap in paper towels. Find something heavy - I used a cutting board and a potted plant on top - to squish the water out of the eggplants. Most people sprinkle eggplants with salt to get out the extra moisture but this is my sodium-safe trick. It will allow you to brown the little nuggets more easily.

3. Add more oil to pan and reheat. When hot, add diced potatoes and eggplant and sauté until brown (because they are small, this should take about 5-10 min). I added a little curry powder and red wine towards the end to add some extra flavor. When cooked, take out potatoes and eggplant and put in bowl with onions.

4. Add oil to pan again and reheat. Take off stems of chard (keeping them on is also completely OK - they will soften in the oven - just dice more finely to help cooking process) and chop the chard into bite sized bits. Throw into hot pan for 3 min or so. I added some no-sodium mustard and a few dashes of balsamic vinegar towards the end.

5. In an oven safe dish, coat bottom with oil or salt-free (sweet) butter and add the onion, eggplant, potato mixture.

6. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. I added some white pepper, cumin, and a little water and red wine.

7. Pour egg mixture over onion, eggplant, potato-ness.

8. Cover the top of onion, eggplant, potato, and now egg-ness with your softened chard - building a top layer.

9. Slice one heirloom tomato into 1/4 inch or smaller rounds.

10. Put tomato rounds on top of the chard and sprinkle some black pepper on top.

11. Bake in oven for 30 min (or until all egg is cooked).

12. Put under broiler on high for 2-3 minutes to crisp the chard and tomatoes.

13. Invite friends over to marvel your ingenious fridge-spiration...or eat it all yourself. This recipe will feed 2-4 and although the picture is a bit hideous, it is really delicious and works with any veggie combination!

And the next day...I used the leftover eggplant to make EGGPLANT CHILI! Sounds weird but seriously good. I cubed the eggplant - mimicking chunks of meat - and used all my other standard chili ingredients: tomatoes, black beans, peppers, cumin, cayenne pepper, a pinch of oregano, and paprika. After little it simmer for an hour, I topped it off with some arugula and avacado and even used some really old Matzoh crackers for dipping. It tasted chili-tastic and was full of good, healthy things. This seemed a little bit daring but I am glad I tried it and was successful in heroically saving the food in my fridge from going unused and transfered it safely to my belly. All in a day's work.

Tips & Tricks: Blog love and Bready Goods

Before I launch into a much-belated and long-awaited blog post, I wanted to give a quick shout out to Marcia (sounds like "Garcia") Gagliardi, San Francisco's very own Tablehopper. This online maven and frisco foodie always has the skinny on the best bites and dining deals in town. Her e-column is a weekly crash course on the hottest restaurant news in our corner of the world and by regularly perusing her witty and informative musings, you will impress your friends and become the go-to for recommendations. Why the accoclades? Marcia is not only a great food reporter but an awesome person too and after a short email correspondance, gave your very own Sodium Girl a shout-out on her site. Thank you, Marcia! And for all of you looking to spice up your dining habits...take a second to sign up for her newsletter and change your life forever.

So now onto the sodium 411. I have a long laundry list of products, spices, and substitutions that makes eating sodium free a virtual cinch. I have been a bit overwhelmed by the process of compiling (and mostly remembering to include) all of these items...so I've decided, to be more consistant in my blogging and actually provide information that is immediately useful, to post a new Tip & Trick every Friday and slowly, I will reveal all that is good and magical.

Bread and bready goodies. Be well warned that your favorite floury treats tend to be high in sodium. This is not only caused by the actual salt included in most recipes but is also a result of the baking soda (which contains between 100-200 mg of sodium per serving and is commonly known as "sodium bicarbonate"...um, woops!) and baking powder (which also contains between 100-200). Until your favorite bagel shop, cookie spot, and pizza joint start making their goodies without baking powder or baking soda (Noe Valley Bakery, care to give it a shot?), you'll have to bring the bakery to your own kitchen.

But this is easier than it sounds. First, you can always substitute yeast for our two baking culprits - this live ingredient acts as an equally effective leavening agent, producing bubbles in your wet ingredients that expand the mixture. Yeast works very well for pizza and breadmaking. Be warned though, it can produce a somewhat fermented taste (think beer). So for sweeter recipes, the best solution is NO SODIUM baking powder and baking soda. What? This exists? Yeah. it does. And while it used to only exist online, I have actually seen it sold in Whole Foods - which, by the by, apparently publishes awesome dietary-need-based grocery lists for their stores. The two products I use are Hain Pure Foods Sodium Free Baking Powder and Ener-G Calcium Cabonate. And to really blow your mind, they are also gluten free.

Now, let's say you want to make a sandwich or a Toas-Tite and making your own bread sounds too laborious. Lucky news, sodium free bread can be easily found in most grocery stores. Food For Life's Ezekial 4:9 low-sodium sprouted grain bread (which has no sodium in it and is truly godly) is my go-to. And since I know for a fact that I do not hold all the sodium-free answers, check out this neat-o skeat-o website for an expansive list of no and low-sodium bread products and their sodium/serving amounts.

I'm pretty excited about some no-sodium salsas I just discovered on this site! Mexican pizza anyone?

Thanks to signalite1 for an anwesome flickr photo of a delicious baked goodies!