MOJO'S FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Toxic Red Tide Could Fuel a Blue Win in Florida, This Cornell food researcher has had 13 papers retracted, Home cooks have been fighting for the right to sell their goods, Corn is the cornerstone of Iowa's agricultural economy & more. 30SEP18

September 30, 2018 Toxic Red Tide Could Fuel a Blue Win in Florida “Hey hey, ho ho, Red Tide Rick has got to go.” (Mother Jones) This Cornell food researcher has had 13 papers retracted. How were they published in the first place? (Mother Jones) Home cooks have been fighting for the right to sell their goods. Now, in California, they can! (SF Chronicle) Corn is the cornerstone of Iowa's agricultural economy. But now the state faces drinking water shortages due to fertilizer runoff.  (Yale Environment 360) Restaurants don't actually have to use organic products when they claim they do. Pret a Manger is the latest front in the labeling battle, this time over calling their products "natural." (The Guardian) Nutrition is complicated—here's the math explaining why.   NEW FROM BITE PODCAST The part of North Carolina with the most poultry and hog farms doesn't seem very well suited to animal farming—it's prone to severe flooding and hurricane damage. But there's a reason that livestock companies like it. Find out why on this episode of Bite. Hear it on Bite, episode 67: "The Shocking Reason Why Millions of Animals Drowned in North Carolina"   WHAT'S COOKING You see a beautiful butternut squash on sale, but it doesn't quite feel like soup weather yet. What do you do with it? A few weeks ago, one of my favorite vegetables began to appear at farm stands: butternut squash. The trouble was, the idea of whipping up—much less eating—a butternut squash soup on a 100+ degree day had all the appeal of sporting a down parka at a swimming hole. At a recent Sunday farmers market, I broke down and bought one of the squashes anyway, desperate for new flavors. I decided to combine that one butternut squash with a little slab of bacon and spaghetti. To bring the sweet smokiness of the squash/bacon combination to the fore, I deployed an old Mark Bittman trick: I used half the amount of spaghetti that a typical recipe would call for. If you want to feed more people, you could get away with using a full pound of pasta. Just add additional lashings of olive oil and cheese to ramp up flavor. Spaghetti With Butternut Squash, Bacon, and Chickpeas (Yields three generous portions.) Extra-virgin olive oil 6 oz. bacon, preferably from pastured hogs, diced into quarter-inch bits 1 large butternut squash, cut into half-inch chunks Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 8 oz. spaghetti 4 cloves garlic, mashed flat, peeled, and finely chopped A pinch or two, to taste, of crushed chili flakes 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained (cannellini beans would also work well) A wedge of Parmesan, grano padano, or other hard cheese 1 bunch parsley, chopped Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a large, oven-proof skillet—one big enough to hold the squash in one layer—over a medium flame. Add barely enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet. When it’s hot, add the bacon and cook, stirring often, until brown and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the heat on. Add the squash to the hot pan and gently toss until it’s sizzling and coated in fat. (If there isn’t enough fat left in the pan from cooking the bacon, add a bit of olive oil.) Add a small pinch of salt—go easy, because bacon is salty—and a generous grinding of pepper. Toss the squash one more time to make sure the pieces are laid out more or less in one layer. Place the pan in the heated oven. Cook, tossing occasionally, until the squash is tender and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, get the pasta going. When the squash is done, take the pan out of the oven and mix in the chopped garlic and crushed chili flakes. Let it sizzle for a minute or two, as the pan’s residual heat cooks the garlic. Now add the drained beans, a ladle of pasta water, the cooked bacon, a good grating of cheese, and toss it all together. When the pasta is done, drain it and combine with the squash mixture. Add the chopped parsley, and toss until well combined. Taste for seasoning, adding salt, pepper, and chili flakes as needed. If the dish seems a little dry, add a glug of olive oil. Pass around the block of cheese and the grater as you serve. This dish goes well with a sturdy red wine—maybe one from France’s Rhône region. Hungry for more food news? Follow Mother Jones Food on Twitter and Facebook, and find all of our food stories at www.motherjones.com Did someone forward this to you? Click here to sign up to get more Food for Thought in your inbox!

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