Dayrecipe Food Community

Active time: 35 min Start to finish: 35 min

Makes 2 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 2medium shallots, finely chopped
• 2tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1large garlic clove, minced
• 1/2red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1celery rib, thinly sliced
• 1lb cultivated mussels, scrubbed
• 6oz dried linguine
• 3tablespoons heavy cream
• 3/4teaspoon salt
• 1/4teaspoon black pepper
• 3tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS Cook shallots in butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until shallots are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, bell pepper, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until pepper and celery are just tender, about 4 minutes.

Add mussels and cook over moderately high heat, covered, until they just open, 4 to 6 minutes, checking periodically after 4 minutes and transferring mussels as opened to a bowl. (Discard any unopened mussels after 6 minutes.)

While sauce is cooking, cook linguine in a 6-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup cooking water and drain linguine in a colander.

Add linguine to skillet along with cream, salt, pepper, and 1/3 cup pasta cooking water and bring to a simmer. Add mussels and toss carefully, adding more cooking water if pasta seems dry. Serve immediately, sprinkled with parsley.

The World Health Organization has changed the name of the swine flu to the H1N1 virus. It is also known as Influenza A and it’s something that we should all be aware of. We want all of our readers to stay well and with us.

As we know this H1N1 is spreading like wildfire and is marked as, possibly, the next level 5 worldwide pandemic. In a report by Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor for Reuters “The new virus that has killed as many as 177 people and spread globally is a mongrel that appears to have mixed with another hybrid virus containing swine, bird and human bits, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday”. Influenza viruses mutate constantly and they also swap genetic material with one another promiscuously, especially if an animal or person is infected with two strains at once.

Today the World Health Organization has given us this release:
“The World Health Organization said Friday that 331 cases of H1N1 flu have been confirmed in 11 countries around the world.

Gregory Hartl, a spokesperson for the WHO, said of the confirmed cases there have been 10 deaths — nine in Mexico and one in the United States.

Officials in Hong Kong and Denmark also independently reported cases of H1N1 flu Friday.

In total, here is the breakdown of confirmed cases worldwide from the WHO:

U.S.: 109
Mexico: 156
Austria: 1 case
Canada: 34 cases
Germany: 3 cases
Netherlands: 1 case
New Zealand: 3 cases
Spain: 13 cases
Switzerland: 1 case
United Kingdom: 8 cases
In Hong Kong, officials said the victim was a Mexican citizen who developed a fever Thursday after arriving in the Chinese territory via Shanghai. The patient has reportedly been isolated in hospital and is in stable condition.

Denmark’s Director of the National Centre of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Else Smith, confirmed the country’s first case of H1N1 flu but no other details were immediately available.

WHO on defensive

Meanwhile, the chief epidemiologist in Mexico, where H1N1 flu was first reported, says the WHO responded too slowly to warnings about the health crisis. Dr. Miguel Angel Lezana is calling for an investigation of the WHO, saying his centre alerted the Pan American Health Organization about the problem as early as April 16. Eight days later, the WHO said it was “very, very concerned” about the threat of a pandemic. “It seems it should have been more immediate,” Lezana, director of the National Epidemiology Center, told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

In response, the WHO said Friday that they learned of cases of “suspicious influenza” on April 9 from Mexico.

The WHO said it responded quickly on April 24 when U.S. and Canadian laboratories identified the virus as the H1N1 flu. “We moved into operation within a matter of hours,” WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham told reporters. To stop the spread of the virus, Mexico has ordered a suspension of nonessential federal government and private business activity from May 1-5. The WHO raised its alert level to Phase 5 Wednesday, meaning the probability of a pandemic is “high to certain,” as the virus spreads around the planet.

However, Abraham said Friday that there were no meetings of the emergency committee scheduled for today. The committee can recommend whether to raise the WHO’s pandemic alert level. In Canada, the number of confirmed H1N1 flu cases jumped to 35, with all the cases reportedly mild.

“Probably the number of people we’ve seen confirmed in Canada represents a tip of the iceberg of the number of people who’ve actually seen this virus already,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Neil Rau told CTV’s Canada AM on Friday. The H1N1 flu virus is normally contracted through contact with pigs. However, this strain is spread through human-to-human contact”.

Symptoms include fever, muscle and joint pain, cough, sore throat, eye pain, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue.

Please be aware and if you, anyone in your family, or friends show the above symptoms. See a doctor right away.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 5 hr (includes chilling)

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 1cup sugar
• 1cup water
• 4whole star anise
• 1pineapple (labeled “extra sweet”), trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 1tablespoon unsalted butter, meltedspecial equipment:an ice cream maker

DIRECTIONS Make sorbet:
Bring sugar, water, and star anise to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then reduce heat and simmer syrup 5 minutes. Cool, then discard star anise.

Peel 1 pineapple half, reserving rind, then core and cut into 1-inch chunks.

Squeeze juice from rind with your hands into a blender and add chunks. Purée at high speed until very smooth, about 1 minute. Stir purée into syrup and chill, covered, until very cold, about 4 hours.

Freeze in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour.

Roast pineapple:
Preheat oven to 500°F.

Peel remaining pineapple half but do not core. Trim ends and cut remainder crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Brush some butter on a baking sheet, then arrange pineapple in 1 layer over it and brush with rest of butter.

Roast pineapple slices in middle of oven until undersides are browned (tops will only color slightly), 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and turn slices over. Cool on baking sheet on a rack to room temperature.

Assemble dessert:
Arrange 3 slices of roasted pineapple on each of 4 plates and top with sorbet.

Cooks’ note:
• Sorbet can be made 1 week ahead.

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 10 min

Makes 4 cheese-course servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 2firm-ripe pears
• 3to 4 oz firm blue cheese (about 2/3 cup), crumbled
• 3to 4 soft dried figs, stemmed and finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)

DIRECTIONS Cut each pear lengthwise into 10 (1/8- to 1/4-inch-thick) slices (5 from one side, then 5 more from the opposite side), avoiding core and discarding rounded outermost slices.

Layer 4 pear slices with cheese and fig on each of 4 plates, beginning with largest pear slices, and ending with smallest.

Sprinkle any remaining cheese and fig around napoleons.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 50 min

Makes 6 to 8 (side dish) servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 4(9-inch) headstreviso radicchio
• 1/4cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1cup coarsely gratedsmoked scamorza cheese
  or smoked mozzarella (3 oz)
• 2 1/2tablespoons balsamic vinegar

DIRECTIONS Prepare grill for cooking.

Remove any loose outer leaves .
from radicchio and trim bases, leavingheads intact. Quarter each head lengthwise. Brush radicchio lightly with olive oil and season withsalt and pepper.

Grill radicchio on a rack over moderately hot coals (coals are ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above rack 3 to 4 seconds), covered, turning every 10 minutes, until outer leaves are browned and hearts are tender, 25 to 30 minutes total.

Sprinkle cheese over cut sides of radicchio and grill, uncovered, until cheese begins to melt, about 2 minutes. Transfer radicchio to a platter and drizzle with vinegar.

Cooks’ notes:
• Gas-grill method: Grill radicchio, covered, over moderately high heat away from direct flame as above 20 to25 minutes total.

• Grill-pan method: Grill radicchio in batches, without cheese, in a hot well-seasoned ridged grill pan, covered, over moderate heat. Transfer as grilled, cut sides up, to a baking sheet and keep warm in a 325°F oven. When all batches are grilled, sprinkle cheese over radicchio, then heat in oven until cheese melts.