Eva's Kitchen - Eva Longoria Parker [2]
As for produce, this awareness extends to the people who grow and harvest our food. I do a lot of advocacy work for the rights of farm workers because I care deeply about how we treat the people who feed us, the citizens of the best-fed nation in the world. The United States is the most prolific agricultural producer on the planet, and it is on the backs of these workers that we maintain that status. There is a simple way that you can help: Buy organic produce. Switching over to even a minimal amount of organic produce means that you are supporting producers whose workers do not handle and inhale the powerful pesticides that conventional farms use regularly. Farm workers should not be exposed to these poisons, and the fact of the matter is you shouldn’t ingest this stuff, either. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group produces a list of the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that have the most pesticides. They’ve dubbed the worst of these “the dirty dozen.” Even if you choose to buy organic versions of just a few of these, you’ll be making a difference. We can send the people who produce our food effective messages by where and how we spend our money, so I carefully choose which producers or production methods to support. It’s not hard—just check out Resources for information on EWG and other great organizations. The more we customers demand conscientiously grown food, the more available and the cheaper it will become.
Ultimately, there are few places I’d rather be than my kitchen. I’m rarely alone there; my kitchen has long been the go-to place for friends and family alike. It is a place to which I benevolently—or, if you ask my family, at times maniacally—single-handedly run. (Unless, of course, we’re making enchiladas, which go much faster with many hands—most often my sisters’, aunts’, and mom’s.) Every friend or family member who stops by makes a personal request for one or another of my dishes. In fact, my two restaurants, Beso in Hollywood and Las Vegas, are a direct result of this phenomenon: cooking with love for family and friends. I’ve always been passionate about cooking for those I care about. But my kitchen is only so big, so it was a natural next step to open a restaurant. (My first idea was to start a first-rate taco stand, a proper taqueria, but when I met Chef Todd English and our visions and sensibilities blended, Beso was born.) And now I have written this book to share with you the joy I feel and the delicious food I love to make when I’m in the kitchen. Just as Aunt Elsa always did for me, I’ll begin with a few tips and guidelines.
my pantry
SALT
I use coarse, kosher salt for all my savory cooking. Its big grains stick well to the food without soaking in, so you can use less of it and still get a good, salty taste. I use finer table salt for all my baking, when you want the salt to blend right in.
LEMONS AND LIMES
I grew up surrounded by citrus trees, and I love to use lots of lemons and limes in my cooking. I prefer the small lemons I can get when I’m at my Texas and California homes, so you’ll see throughout that I call for small lemons, which each yield about 2 tablespoons of juice. If your lemons are larger and produce more juice, simply use fewer of them. I give both the number of lemons and the amount of juice I intend you to use in each case. Similarly, the limes I use give 2 tablespoons of juice; again, use more or fewer limes if yours yield a different amount.
SHORTENING AND BUTTER
Many of the dishes I grew up eating and preparing were made with lard or shortening, two fats that are not as popular as they once were. Although lard gives incomparable flavor and flaky texture to pie crusts, I simply