THE NIBBLE

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s National Garlic Day

Nibble Editors — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:12:14 +0000

April 19th is National Garlic Day, and we’re celebrating with three of our favorite garlic products:

- Garlic Pepper Jelly from Aloha From Oregon, a savory jelly that’s great on frankfurters and everything else (and a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week)

-Garlic Aïoli from Restaurant Lulu, a garlic mayonnaise that’s perfect for for seafood, sandwiches or dipping those frites, (and another NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week), and

- Garlic Valley Farms Garlic Juice, which jazzes up any dish (and wasn’t named a Top Pick Of The Week only because our Top Pick selections have always been a bit more glamorous than a spray-on garlic juice—but it’s amazing on salads, pizza, pasta, fish, eggs, anything)

Find more of our favorite jazzer-uppers in the Condiments Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.

You won’t believe how good it is!

TIP OF THE DAY: Zippier Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipes

Nibble Editors — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:27:52 +0000

Today is a holiday you can really sink your teeth into: Grilled Cheese Day! In fact, April is also Grilled Cheese Month—a much tastier concept than Taxes Are Due Month. Grilled cheese sandwiches are one of our favorite comfort foods—for lunch, light supper or snacks (you can cut them in quarters for casual hors d’oeuvres, too). Ask at your cheese counter for a tastier alternatives to American cheese, and test to find your favorites. We love smoked mozzarella and Jarlsberg, a Swiss-type cheese from Norway; and we find that making our sandwiches in a panini press in the best method. Otherwise, a frying pan will do just fine. Assemble the sandwiches and butter the outsides with softened butter. Fry: When the bottom slices are golden brown (2 to 3 minutes), flip them over, press down with a spatula and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. We like tomatoes on our sandwiches: We first sprinkle them with oregano or marinate them briefly in a vinaigrette for added flavor.		Tuscan-style grilled cheese combines Fontina, mozzarella and grilled vegetables.
But don’t stop there. We have a dozen gourmet grilled cheese recipes for you, along with tips on making the perfect grilled cheese sandwiches. Read the full article and pick your favorite recipes. We’ve been making two a day for lunch at THE NIBBLE offices, and the voting is intense. (HINT: If you love blue cheese, the two blue cheese recipes are a slam dunk…except for the sweet mascarpone and dulce de leche recipe. Testing and voting is HARD WORK!) Get the gang together and make all 12, for one heck of a grilled cheese-a-thon. When you’re done, you can fnd more sandwich recipes in the Bread Products section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s National Chocolate Caramel Day

Nibble Editors — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:15:31 +0000

Celebrate with Béquet‘s Salt Chocolate Caramels, shown here with Espresso and Mocha.		Today is National Chocolate Caramel Day. No arm twisting needed! While the traditional caramel flavoring is vanilla, the buttery bites have been variously flavored with chocolate, coffee, maple, lemon, habañero—whatever appeals to the imagination of the candy maker and palate of the buyer (and, let us tell you—the habañero caramels from Cowgirl Chocolates are the bomb—and a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week). We went crazy for caramels last summer and nibbled on every one we could find, culminating in a review of our favorite caramels. People keep sending us more to taste, but we haven’t yet found any that we want to add to the list. Quality caramels are made with sugar and brown sugar, butter, heavy cream and the best flavorings (sea salt versus ordinary salt, the best maple or chocolate flavor, etc.). Like anything else, you can’t scrimp on the quality of your ingredients. It needs to be real vanilla, the freshest butter, etc., etc., etc.
Caramel is sugar that is melted into a syrup and cooked until the sugar crystals turn into a dark amber liquid. In this form, it can be used to coat nuts (that’s what pralines are) and popcorn (called “toffee popcorn”). Whisk in some butter, remove it from the heat and add cream, and you have a delicious caramel sauce. Cook those ingredients to what is known as the “firm ball” stage (245°F), and you get buttery, chewy caramel candy. Keep cooking the caramel to the “hard-crack” stage (290°F) and you’ll get crunchy toffee. Read about more of our favorite caramels in the Old-Fashioned Candy Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s Oatmeal Cookie Day

Nibble Editors — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:03:00 +0000

We like oatmeal cookies, so we need no excuse to bake up a batch to celebrate Oatmeal Cookie Day. Our favorite variations are oatmeal chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin, where we substitute dried cherries for half of the raisins. But other people (specialty food companies, to be specific) have done a darn good job of baking their own variations on the oatmeal cookie. Here are some of our favorites:- Try the oatmeal cookies from Najla’s Kosher Gone Chunky. They arrive frozen, to be baked up whenever you need one or more. We must admit, they were so good, we ate the frozen dough from the freezer.

Wicked Whoopies’ Oatmeal Whoopie Pie: creme sandwiched in-between two crunchy, cinnamon-flavored oatmeal cookie.

- The makers of our favorite chocolate chip cookies, Levain Bakery, also make an oatmeal raisin cookie—huge, moist and delicious.

- Yee hah, these spicy Ancho Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Sparx are good.

- If you need a sugar-free oatmeal cookie, Curious Cookie has good ones.

- And if you want a whoopie pie made with two oatmeal cookies and a creamy filling between them, Wicked Whoopie Pies will oblige (photo above). Find more of our favorite cookies in the Cookie Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s Coconut Torte Day

Nibble Editors — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:28:47 +0000

March 13th, Coconut Torte Day, begs the question: What is a torte? Is it just a pretentious word for cake, something to make you think the torte is more special than an everyday cake? Nein, mein freund. While torte is the German word for what the British (and Americans) call cake and the French call gâteau, they don’t refer to identical confections. Different cooking traditions led to different styles of baking. British cakes and German tortes (and Italian tortas) are generally hardier creations than delicate French gâteaux. The French, those keen culinarians, went for light, rich, layered affairs stuffed with custard, whipped cream or butter cream, frosted, and decorated with fresh fruit—oh la la, but very perishable. While British culinary tradition created sturdier, longer-lasting pound cakes and fruit cakes, tortes are rich, dense cakes made with many eggs and little or no flour, using ground nuts (and sometimes breadcrumbs) for texture. A torte is thus easily recognizable because it’s much shorter than a cake, one layer and often no more than 2-1/2 inches high (there’s not much, if any, flour to rise). And it’s wider than a cake—10 to 12 inches in diameter compared to an 8-to-9-inch cake. That’s to compensate for the height, so each short wedge will be a good portion.		We love coconut, but with no time to bake a coconut torte, we’re having an all-chocolate Empire Torte with coconut ice cream.
“Flourless chocolate cakes” are actually tortes. Some are made with neither flour nor nuts, but just chocolate, sugar, eggs and flavorings, like our favorite Empire Torte, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. It comes in four flavors: Original plus Caramel, Orange and Raspberry. There’s no coconut, but you can have a scoop of coconut ice cream or sorbet on the side, and celebrate Coconut Torte Day in high style. For more cakes, tortes and gateaux, visit the Gourmet Cakes Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s National Baked Scallops Day

Nibble Editors — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:11:54 +0000

We love scallops, so National Baked Scallops Day isn’t a hard day for us to fit in to our eating schedule. Scallops are found in all the world’s oceans. They are a member of the oyster family, Ostreida, and have the familiar central adductor muscle that attaches their two shells. The adductor muscle of scallops is larger and more developed than that of oysters, because the little dudes are active swimmers. Not just content to hang around at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be scooped up, they exercise their inner Michael Phelps (or does Michael Phelps exercise his inner scallop?) by rapidly opening and closing their shells. Another fun fact: Scallops are hermaphrodites, and switch sexes. Both sexes produce roe. So, here’s an example in the animal kingdom where dads can give birth (if you call expelling your roe into the water, where it is fertilized by by some other scallop’s expelled spermatozoa, and then sinks to the bottom of the ocean to hatch, giving birth).		Bake me tonight.
Scallops were traditionally caught by dredging (dragging) the seabed, but scuba divers now catch the quality ones—hence the term “diver scallops” or “dayboat scallops” (the divers go out just for the day) on menus of better restaurants. If you saw or read “The Perfect Storm,” you understand that seafood can spend two or more weeks on ice in the hold of a boat before getting to port. Diver scallops get to market quickly, and thus are so much are fresher and tastier. Now, onto baked scallops: Perhaps the most famous baked scallop dish is Coquilles Saint-Jacques, translated as Saint James’s scallops, a rich mixture of butter, cream, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese, baked in a scallop shell. The scallop shell is the emblem of Saint James the Greater. The saint’s association with the scallop shell is based on a legend that he once rescued a knight covered in scallops, or alternatively, that while his remains were being transported to Spain from Jerusalem, the horse of a knight fell into the water and emerged covered in scallop shells. As a result, Medieval Christians making the pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, often wore a scallop shell symbol on their clothing. You can easily find a delicious recipe for Coquilles Saint-Jacques online (we use the one from Mastering The Art Of French Cookin g by Julia Child. It’s easy to make—pick up the ingredients and enjoy it tonight. You can buy the scallop shells in any cookware store (including chain stores), and they’re useful for serving other foods, from desserts to hors d’oeuvres (olives, for example). And of course, you can serve the dish on any plate—scallop shells not required!

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s Oatmeal-Nut Waffles Day

Nibble Editors — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:17:58 +0000

Who thought this one up, you might ask? Why not Blackberry Waffles Day, or Milk Chocolate Chip Waffles Day? We’re guessing that Oatmeal-Nut Waffles Day is the work of nutritionists at the Whole Grain Council or some other group supporting oats—and they’re not wrong. We need three portions of whole grains daily, and oatmeal waffles are a good start. As for the nuts, while they are high in calories and fat, they contain the good, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (omega-3s), which have all been shown to lower LDL cholesterol. Waffles are a great way to limit portions (unlike, say, eating an entire bowl of mixed nuts). Almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts are approved by the FDA, since they contain less than 4g of saturated fats per 50g. Walnuts are your best bet—they are more heart-healthy than olive oil and have bone-healthy alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an essential omega-3 fatty acid). But if you must have pecan waffles, we understand. Here’s a recipe:

You can serve your waffles with Equinox Maple Flakes, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (oatmeal)
- 1/2 cup coarsely-chopped nuts
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1-1/2 cups whole milk
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preparation

1. In large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, nuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

2. In small mixing bowl, mix the eggs, milk, butter and brown sugar. Add this to the flour mixture, stirring until blended.
3. Pour the batter onto grids a preheated, lightly greased waffle iron. Close the lid quickly, and do not open during baking.
4. Use a fork to remove the finished waffle. Top with syrup or fresh fruit and/or yogurt.
Learn more about waffles in the Cereals, Pancakes & Waffles Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s National Crabmeat Day

Nibble Editors — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:26:52 +0000

The whitest, biggest chunks of crab—known as Jumbo Lump crabmeat—are also the priciest.		How can you celebrate National Crabmeat Day and still have change to spare? Here’s the secret: Those pretty puffs of lump white crabmeat on the buffet are up to three times the price of the darker body crabmeat. But the darker meat is actually tastier. If you’re mixing the crab into a salad for sandwiches (think crab rolls, like lobster rolls, or serve it on brioche, as a crabmeat BLT) or to stuff eggs or omelet, save money—and enjoy crab more often—by using dark crabmeat. Also celebrate National Crabmeat Day by: - Learning about the different types of crab and crabmeat, and what you should look for when you purchase canned crab. - Read our review of Miller’s Select, our favorite brand of crabmeat (it’s shelf-stable too, no refrigeration required). - Make one of these crabmeat recipes. - Buy this nifty little crab cookbook: Crab: Buying, Cooking, Cracking, by Andrea Froncillo and Jennifer Jeffrey.

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s National Cereal Day

Nibble Editors — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:28:17 +0000

Does National Cereal Day sound like nothing to get worked up over…because you enjoy that bowl of Cheerios 365 days a year? Are you bummed that it isn’t National Bacon Cheeseburger Day or National Apple Pie À La Mode Day? Show a little love, please! Cereals are wild grasses, subsequently cultivated. Their edible grains, or seeds, are staple crops throughout the world (that means that the crops are grown in greater quantities, and provide more energy calories, than other crops). In some developing nations, grain constitutes almost the entire diet. But, here’s a happier factoid: Cereal takes its name from Ceres, the Roman goddess of harvest and agriculture. (The Greek goddess equivalent is Demeter.)		Amber waves of grain. Note the grains, or seeds, at the top of the stalk. Edible kernels are inside the husks.
Corn, wheat and rice account for 87% of cereals grown worldwide—wheat in temperate regions, rice in tropical regions, corn in the Americas and Africa. Many grains are grown for livestock and for specific human uses—barley (for beer and other malted foods), millet, oats, rye and sorghum (used to make a sweetener). Buckwheat and quinoa (an incredibly high-protein, nutritious grain), both food crops, are not true grasses, but “psuedocereals.”- Read about some of our favorite grain-based foods in the Breads Section and Cereals Section of THE NIBBLE.com. - Read our feature about whole grain cereals.

TODAY IN FOOD: It’s National Pound Cake Day

Nibble Editors — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:52:16 +0000

Bake a pound cake today. For inspiration, here’s one from Cakes By Jane.		A pound cake is a loaf cake made with one pound each of butter, flour, sugar and eggs (that’s about eight eggs), plus flavoring. Vanilla or lemon are the classic flavors, but quite a few variations have evolved through the years—adding sour cream, cream cheese and chocolate to the batter, as well as every flavoring under the sun. (Cakes By Jane makes twelve yummy pound cake flavors with a cream cheese batter, and we are dying to try the Key Lime.) The British pound cake is actually a fruit cake containing currants, raisins, sultanas (golden raisins) and glacé cherries. Pound cakes were the traditional wedding cakes. Since the ingredients are so simple, it’s hard to make a bad pound cake—just use the freshest eggs and butter you can find, real vanilla extract, and don’t over-bake.
Pound cakes are so easy to make—why not whip one up tonight to celebrate National Pound Cake Day? While a plain piece of pound cake is a joy, some added whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or the full monte—a pound cake hot fudge sundae—makes the occasion even more joyous. Discover other delightful cakes and recipes in the Cakes Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.