MENU
 

 

Chef Tim Says...

Salad in a Jar Construction Kit 08/03/20
Cooking: the real aromatherapy 05/18/20
Get Started Cooking with Stews 01/09/20
Paella 07/16/18
How to make your own shrimp stock 10/09/17
All "Chef Tim Says..." Columns

Dr. Tim Says...

Not So Magic Rice 04/09/18
Leaky Gut Syndrome Quackery 10/02/17
4 ways to protect your brain with diet 07/18/17
Chicken skin: to eat, or not to eat 06/19/17
Change is here 06/12/17
Medical technology 03/27/17
All "Dr. Tim Says..." Columns

 

Dr. Tim Says....

Teaching Wellness

I try to make Dr. Gourmet recipes easier and create just as many that take less cooking time and use less equipment. (This week's Chicken Vindaloo is a good example.) A lot of times those of us who like to cook don't think so much about the amount of equipment we use, because 1. we have it, and 2. the clean up seems worth it. Lately I've been learning just what a challenge it is for those who have limited kitchen equipment.

We are working on a program to build a teaching kitchen at the medical school (pie in the sky, for sure, but now we have The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine). This idea grew out of a Grand Rounds by Dr. David Eisenberg of the Osher Research Center at Harvard Medical School: "Novel Strategies to Address Obesity: What if Medical Schools Partnered with Culinary Schools to Create Teaching Kitchens?"

Dr. Eisenberg is a very cool guy who loves food and understands the link between our country's expanding waistline and the fact that a lot of young people simply don't know how to cook. The idea is that if we teach medical students and physicians how to cook and eat, they'll be more effective with their patients. It's a bit of an uphill push, but there are a lot of people interested.

He also proposes that we not only put teaching kitchens in medical schools but communal kitchens in dorms at our universities and colleges. Interestingly, we have those already at Tulane. As part of a student wellness program for the undergrads at Tulane I've been teaching students about food, nutrition, and last night - how to cook. Last night's class was in one of our dorm's kitchens.

On the one hand I got a taste last night of how much of a challenge it is. For the most part we simply don't teach our kids how to cook today. I started with the basics...

In the kitchen

And then we created four one pot dishes in an hour.

In the kitchen

It was really fun and I think that I learned as much as the students. Thanks to Sarah, Christine, Maxwell, Amanda, Libby, Andrew and Davita. They were great.

You'll be hearing more in the coming year about this and I'd love to hear any thoughts or suggestions. Here are the recipes we cooked:

London Broil with Mushrooms Sauteed in Bourbon (without the bourbon)

Leek Risotto with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds (we added shrimp to this instead of the pumpkin seeds)

Shrimp with Rice Noodles and Peanut Sauce (we used chicken instead of the shrimp and used a bottled peanut sauce)

Here are some other choices for quick and easy one pot meals:

One Skillet Chicken and Black Beans
Curried Chicken
Shrimp Risotto with Peas
Halibut with Lime-Cilantro Salsa

Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS
Dr. Gourmet