Poke' is worth leaving your desk for

Usually, when I have a healthy discovery I cannot wait to spread the word. But there are certain instances where I hesitate, there’s an inclination to be greedy. I had that “I’m not sure if I should spread the word” thought as I ate my lunch on Friday.

For weeks Carolyn has been talking about poke’, poke’ poke” but I didn’t get it. I thought it looked like tartare. What was all the fuss about? Carolyn said, “it’s like a sashimi bowl”.  I looked Wisefish Poke’ up online and grew increasingly curious. The concept originated in Hawaii and seemed to be some hybrid of a make your own salad and the rice/quinoa bowl craze. There’s raw fish, a choice of sauces and other add-ins. I hear poke’ (poh-kay) is already “the thing” in LA.

I was in Chelsea on Friday and decided to hit Wisefish poke’ for lunch. My favorite nutritionist (the RD formerly known as One Smart Brownie,) couldn’t meet so I poke’-ed solo.  Wisefish had some suggestion combinations, the “Heat Wave” sounded good but given the choice I always make my own. My poke’ consisted of:

Zucchini noodles (brown or white rice are also options)

Salmon

Spicy shoyu (all sauces are GF)

Jalapenos

Hikjiki

Scallions

Cucumbers

Avocado

Sesame seeds

After I paid ($16 this included an unsweetened matcha ginger tea), I made my way to the window seating and of course snapped some pics of my poke’ It was definitely pretty but I still didn’t know what I was in for. Sometimes I make my own salad and it’s fantastic, other times it's too spicy or contains combinations that taste weird together.

Not this time. This was mind-blowingly good. It was super flavorful but not overpowering.  I was fantasizing about eating this lunch every day. Part of me didn’t want this dream lunch it to end but when it did I was surprisingly satisfied.

I’m not sure if you caught (pun…) this article on lunch in the New York Times yesterday. “Failure to Lunch” revealed that 62% of professionals eat lunch at their desks. This statistic sounds a little sad but there’s an upside. When we eat lunch alone, we tend to eat less. I’m curious if this holds true for meals consumed alone at home or dinnertime. My guess would be alone is not always a good thing.  The article disputed the notion that having a “desk lunch” leads to more productivity. Just because you’re not getting up doesn’t mean you’re working (Facebook trolling isn’t work).  I strongly believe, when possible, get yourself outside. This is important for your mood and energy.  Maybe, now that you have the lure of something new for lunch, you’ll step away from your desk.

Have you heard of or tried poke’? What’s your typical lunch? Do you eat it at your desk?

I can get you to like sardines

Special Sardine Salad, see below

Three whopping years ago, I attempted to like sardines. I psyched myself up and tried them and even concluded, “I would give sardines a second date.” I must apologize to sardines because I didn’t revisit them. I felt I had faced a food fear and frankly fear and eating aren’t two things I enjoy at the same time. I have total respect for sardines, their impressive omega 3 content, low mercury and B vitamin offerings. Maybe the initial timing wasn't right. More recently, I got together with some friends to cook and one of the recipes was a sardine salad. It wasn’t just a run of the mill green salad with sardines but baby arugula with orange and fennel, other delicious additions and sardines. We were in good hands with chef and author Myra Kornfield who I have known and worshipped for years.

We all loved the special sardine salad but joked that we didn’t whip out the mandolin for our weekday lunches. Was there a way to enjoy sardines simply? Myra digested the challenge and then scurried around the kitchen. “Have you tried sardines mashed with avocado?” My fear was instantly extinguished, replaced with curiosity. “You can also do this with mackerel.” My food phobias were getting crossed off the list at rapid speed. Myra combined the sardines with avocado, juice from ½ lemon and some good quality salt. It wasn’t just fine; it was delicious.

Sardine Mash

1 tin of Vital Choice Sardines, no need to use oil that remains in can

½ ripe avocado, cubed

juice from ½ lemon

few pinches Himalayan or Celtic salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, mash with a fork. Eat as is or over greens.

I ordered both sardines and mackerel from Vital Choice. Full disclosure, when I made my own “mash” I wimped out and used only ½ tin with ½ avocado. Once I ate them in my own home, without sardine support and still liked them, ding dong sardine-o-phobia is gone. 

Have you tried sardines or mackerel? How do you prepare them? Any foods you want to like because of nutritional value but don't? 

Cooking Fish Sans Smell

Ichthyophobia is the fear of fish. This applies to eating fish or seeing dead fish. Galeophobia is the fear of sharks. I propose urban pescephobia the extreme fear of cooking fish in small apartments due to the potentially intense, traumatizing and lingering odor. Eating fish provides omega 3’s, an excellent source of lean protein and, in my opinion, assistance with the weight loss process.  However, it’s hard to convince a cooking pescephobe to “get back in the water” after they’ve experienced days of eau du fish. There’s no coincidence that fishy has 2 meanings. One meaning is “suggestive of fish” and the other “suspicious”.  In addition to cracking a kitchen window or using the exhaust on your stove here are some ideas to help conquer your fish cooking fears.

My two preferred ways to minimize odors when cooking fish are to steam fish or cook en papilliote (hows that for a fancy term). I have a calphalon steamer that sits fits into a pot and gets covered. For "en papilliote" I like to make parcels of fish and vegetables with a drizzle of white wine and cook in parchment paper.  I asked a few cooking friends for their suggestions:

Jenna Helwig from Rosaberry and our recent Cooking Company post offered this advice:

“I love roasting fish in the oven instead of cooking it on the stovetop. That really cuts down on the fishy smell, and it's so simple. Line a pan with parchment paper, drizzle the fish with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 400 until just cooked through. Spritz with lemon after it comes out of the oven.”

Julie Negrin, author of Easy Meals to Cook With Kids suggests “two cooking techniques that usually don't cause as much of a "fishy" smell are steaming in bamboo steamers - Asian style and poaching.” Jennifer Clair  of homecookingny points out that the type of fish can make a difference.  “Lean fish cuts down the amount of fish oils in the air which make odors stick around longer. Salmon trout swordfish out, tilapia tuna and cod in.”

Some other ideas:

• Place a dish of white vinegar next to the stove. The vinegar will evaporate taking odor with it.

• In the “if you can’t beat it mask it” category, a few cinnamon sticks in water boiled in the stove seems to be a popular remedy.

• Salt crusting is a method of cooking fish (the salt is not consumed in case you’re a sodium-phobe too) that is rather odorless.

 On one of the boards, a commenter enthusiastically wrote, “I learned from Alton Brown that frying fish in Crisco produces no odors.” This to me is replacing one problem with another and not Foodtrainers-approved but pretty funny. 

Do you suffer from urban pescephobia? Does this exist in the suburbs too? Any tips or techniques you use to mitigate fishiness?  Are you going to try to conquer your fear?