Lecithin

Lecithin is a substance that offers numerous health benefits such as decreasing cholesterol, promoting cardiovascular health, restoring damaged livers and improving the brain’s memory function and others. It is naturally found in foods such as egg yolk, fish, grains, legumes, peanuts, soybeans, wheat germ, and yeast. Lecithin is also sold in capsules as a dietary supplement and in powder, grain, or liquid. For these applications, it is extracted from eggs or soybeans.

Lecithin has many uses in food preparation. It can be used as an emulsifier. For example, it keeps cocoa and cocoa butter in a candy bar from separating. Lecithin is also added to many margarines and butter substitutes as an anti-spattering agent for shallow frying.



Chefs and home cooks can use emulsifying properties of lecithin in various liquid preparations, such as sauces or soups, to improve the consistency and texture. For example, lecithin is excellent as a substitute for egg yolk in making emulsions such as the horseradish emulsion that I made recently.



I have used lecithin in my Carrot Wolfberry Super Soup to make the soup very silky and smooth. I've also added it to the gravy I made for Thanksgiving dinner.



In this recipe for hot chocolate, I added lecithin to whipped cream to help me make the cream stable to be able to "write" the letters on top of the hot chocolate.



I've added lecithin to smoothies for both health benefits and to improve the consistency of the smoothie.



Finally, lecithin can be used to make culinary foams. Just the right small amount of lecithin is required to make a good air foam.



Here are some of the foams that I have posted about:

Rhubarb "Sushi" with Mint Mousse and Foam

POM Nectarine Frozen Foam

Grilled Scallops with Flower Foam

Strawberry Oat Basil Smoothie with a Duo of Foams

Seared Bay Scallops with Fennel Pollen Air

Powdered lecithin makes the best foam but that can be hard to find, so granules can be used as well. Flavored lecithin granules were particularly great with the smoothies or the whipped cream, while unflavored granules were used for other preparations.



Liquid lecithin might be good to use in baking but for making emulsions and foams, it's not a good choice because (at least in my personal experience) it just sticks to the immersion blender. I get soy liquid and flavored lecithin granules at Wegmans and unflavored soy lecithin granules at Whole Foods. Powdered lecithin can be found online, e.g. here.

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5 Star Makeover Reminder: This month's 5 Star Makeover Challenge is to create a Compound Butter with a twist! You can make this compound butter with a butter substitute or real butter if preferred. Please check the original announcement for more details.

Pastelitos

For this week's stop of the 2010 Culinary Tour Around the World, Cuba, I made Cuban pastries known as pastelitos, or "little pies". These are baked puff pastry-style treats with savory or sweet fillings. The savory filling is typically a picadillo-style beef, but can also sometimes include chicken or ham and cheese. The sweet fillings include various fruit pulp fillings, cream cheese, guava, or both sweetened cream cheese and guava which is the filling of my choice for today's recipe.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 sheets puff pastry or homemade pastry
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Guava paste or jelly (I used guava jelly)


Directions:

Prepare simple syrup by bringing water and sugar to boil in a small pot and then simmering until sugar dissolves. Cool the syrup.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Whisk the egg. Place half into a small bowl and mix with a tablespoon of water to make an egg wash. Beat the other half of the egg with cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

Cut one sheet of puff pastry into 9 squares. On each of the squares place a 1 teaspoon of guava jelly and 1 teaspoon of cream cheese. Cut the other sheet into 9 squares. Cover the squares with the filling and seal the edges with a fork. Brush with egg wash.

Bake for 12 minutes. Take out of the oven and brush with syrup, then bake for 3-5 minutes more or until golden brown.

Penne with Boniato, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Four Cheese Rosa Sauce

As part of Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I had an opportunity to try the new sauces from Bertolli: Arrabbiata, the spicy tomato and red pepper sauce, and Four Cheese Rosa, creamy pink sauce. The Four Cheese Rosa, made with tomatoes, fresh cream, Romano, Aged Asiago, Parmesan and Ricotta cheeses, was our favorite. We especially loved this sauce in the simple pasta dish combining boniatos (white sweet potatoes) and Shiitake mushrooms. The combination of the sauce, white sweet potatoes, and shiitake was fantastic, resulting in complex earthy flavors, reminiscent of truffle cream sauce.



Ingredients: (4 servings)

1 large boniato (white sweet potato), peeled, sliced into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 cup onions, chopped
8 ounces Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
Salt, pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups cooked Penne pasta
1 cup Bertolli Four Cheese Rosa Sauce
3-4 sweet piquante pepper, thinly sliced (optional)

Directions:

Arrange boniato, onions, and mushrooms in a baking pan. Sprinkle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast on 400°F for about 20 minutes or until cooked through. Add pasta and sauce and bake for a few minutes just before serving until the pasta and sauce are heated through. Serve and garnish with sweet piquante pepper if desired.