Bree: I got you the honey mustard dressing. The ranch looked just a little bit suspect.
Rex: Bree, are we gonna talk about what I said?
Bree: If you think that I’m gonna discuss the dissolution of my marriage in a place where the restrooms are labeled Chicks and Dudes, you’re out of your mind!
Rex: What’s in this?
Bree: What do mean, “What’s in this?” It’s salad.
Rex: With onions? You put onions in my salad!
Bree: No I didn’t! Oh wait…
Rex collapses on the floor.

–Desperate Housewives – Episode 01.01 – Pilot

A salad is a vegetarian’s or a vegan’s best friend. I love them! They are so fresh and crisp! When prepared correctly, without pale nutrition-less vegetables (like Iceberg Lettuce), but with deep rich color, they add elegance to the meal.

Ironically, while the actual salad is great for us vegetarians and vegans, we have to be wary of the toppings. Sometimes they are “a little bit suspect” in a vegetarian or vegan sort of way. Often, food establishments serve their salads laden with bacon shavings, chicken strips, milk-based dressings, or even dressings with anchovies. Like Pasta alla Puttanesca, which I covered in my last post, some dressings unexpectedly have anchovies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mary Alice: Susan had met the enemy and she was a slut.
Mike: What’s this?
Edie: Sausage puttanesca. Just something I threw together.
Mike:That’s great. I’d invite you both in, but I was sort of in the middle of something.

–Desperate Housewives – Episode 01.01 – Pilot

It turns out that Bree isn’t the only cook on Wisteria Lane! When watching this episode, I’ve always wondered about this sausage puttanesca. After a bit of research, I found an interesting correlation (and a great recipe). Apparently, puttanesca is an Italian pasta sauce. Surprisingly, the word “puttanesca” was derived from “puttana” (Italian) or “puta” (Spanish Vulgar) which means prostitute, whore, slut, etc. The writers for Desperate Housewives are so cleaver! They had Edie, who by Mary Alice’s judgment was a slut, serve Mike whore sauce. The symbolism!

The connection between “women of easy virtue” and pasta sauce comes from Naples. Prostitutes made this slightly spicy sauce with pasta for two reasons. 1) It enticed male customers as they set it on the windowsill. 2) It was the quickest and cheapest thing to make between “clients.” Like Edie said, its just something they “threw together.”

Read the rest of this entry »

If Bree is the epitome of the perfect housewife, then the perfect housewife must also be a religious, conservative protestant. In the first episode of the second season (Next), we discovered that she attends the First Methodist Church of Fairview. I’m surprised that they never mentioned anything about her cooking the communion bread, she seems like the perfect character for that task!

In most Christian churches, you find loaves of fresh baked bread made for communion. In other churches like the Seventh-day Adventist Church, they don’t consume real wine or orthodox bread in their communion service. “SDAs” actually drink a Welch’s-type grape juice and eat unleavened bread. The juice is commonplace, but what on earth is unleavened bread? This special type of bread dates back to the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan.When they fled from Egypt, the Israelites didn’t have enough time to let the bread rise. So, God told them not to add leavening, which is yeast, to the dough. Hence the unleavened bread. Basically, this bread is absent of any rising agents like yeast or backing powder. Essentially, it is flat bread.

Occasions for Making this Recipe
Unleavened bread is a perfect complement to any gourmet soup, especially one that is tomato based. I also make this bread every time I see my sister because she always asks for it. Feel free to use it for your gourmet meals, church service, or as a tasty snack!

Read the rest of this entry »