Cold asparagus in vinaigrette with
mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. Photo
courtesy California Asparagus Commission.

No matter what the vegetable, you can toss it with a little olive oil and some vinegar or a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. If you can combine more than one vegetable, so much the better. Variety is the spice of life!

Speaking of spice, add any fresh herbs you may have at hand, or peruse the spice cabinet for red pepper flakes, sesame seeds and other favorites.

Add a bit of chopped green onion or whatever else is in the fridge. If you there’s an apple or orange, chop it and add it, or garnish with nuts, raisins or other dried fruits.

Got cheese? Sprinkle some on.

No one will think they’re getting “leftovers.”

Find more vegetable ideas in our Gourmet Vegetables section.

We compared Charlie’s Truffled Popcorn to 479° Black Truffle & White Cheddar Popcorn, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

If you’re a truffle fan, you’ll want to read the review—not just to see the differences in the popcorn (both are delish) but to understand that not all “black Périgord truffles” are created equal.

After many years of attempts, scientists finally succeeded in cultivating the fab $1,500-a-pound fungi, which grow wild in France’s Périgord region, elsewhere.

But just as the same variety of wine grapes, coffee beans and other agricultural products have the distinct flavors of the areas in which they’re grown, so does Tuber melanosporum, the black Périgord truffle.

Read the details in the full review.
 
 
MAKE YOUR OWN TRUFFLE POPCORN

All you need are popcorn, truffle oil and truffle salt.

Toss the popcorn with a small amount of truffle oil (it’s typically potent).

Then, salt it to taste with the truffle salt.
 
 

A dusting of the truffle oil and truffle salt makes Charlie’s Truffled Popcorn an extra-luxurious snack (photo by Jerry Deutsch | © THE NIBBLE).

Gourmet cheese steak. Photo courtesy
Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery.

The recipe, courtesy of Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery, uses the Creamery’s Coupole cheese. If you can’t find Coupole, substitute a similar goat cheese. If you’re not a goat cheese fan, try Camembert or Baby Brie.

Grilled New York Strip Steaks With Coupole
& Fig Demi-Glaze

Ingredients
– ½ cup fig jam or spread
– ¾ cup Port wine
– 1 cup unsalted beef broth
– 4 New York strip steaks or sirloin steaks
– Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
– 1 Coupole or other dome or pyramid goat cheese

What’s the difference between a strip steak and a New York strip steak?

New York strip steak, New York steak, boneless strip steak, Kansas City strip, shell steak and top loin are all the same piece of meat!

Learn your cuts of beef in our Beef Glossary, one of THE NIBBLE’s most popular articles.

Also check out our Lamb Glossary and Pork Glossary.

Repurpose that basket into a crudité server: Fill it with your favorite sliced raw vegetables and whole veggies—baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and radishes, for example—along with the dip.

Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, suggests three creamy dips:

• Quark and Fresh Tarragon Dip with Champagne vinegar and Dijon mustard
• Mascarpone and Ancho Chili Dip with cilantro, lime juice and molasses
• Fromage Blanc Greek Dip with cucumber, dill and garlic

Get the recipes.

One dip in the basket is fine and leaves more room for veggies. But it’s always nice to offer veggie-lovers a choice of two. Make one low-calorie, based on nonfat yogurt.

Turn a pretty basket into a crudité-and-dip
holder. Photo courtesy Vermont Butter &
Cheese Creamery.

Three of the 12 flavor finalists. Vote early,
vote often.

Dunkin’ Donuts has announced the 12 finalists in the second annual “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest from among 90,000 entries. The winner will receive a $12,000 grand prize and have his or her donut creation sold in participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants nationwide.

You can vote for your favorite flavor online through May 3rd at DunkinDonuts.com.

O.K.—our entry did not make the finals, but when we see how creative these entrants are, there are no sour grapes. So pick your favorite and vote:

• “Cop Cake,” a cake donut with chocolate icing, topped with white sprinkles and chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (Chris Schinnerer, Clackamas, OR)
• “Full Moon,” a cheesecake kreme-filled donut with white icing, topped with shredded coconut and Hershey’s Vanilla shavings (Pat Cooper, Ponte Verde Beach, FL)
• “I Like You a Latte,” a chocolate cake donut with maple icing, topped with white and chocolate sprinkles (Rosemary Burian, Joliet, IL)
• “Let Freedom ‘Ring’,” a blueberry cake donut with white icing, topped with red and blue sprinkles (Jack Turchetta, Cranston, RI)
• “Mango Fandango,” a berry mango-filled glazed donut, topped with pink and orange sprinkles (Rachel Llanes, Miami, FL)
• “Monkey-See Monkey-Donut,” a bananas foster-filled donut with chocolate icing, topped with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup shavings (Rachel Davis, Sharon, MA)
• “Mornin’ Paper,” a chocolate butter kreme-filled donut with white icing, topped with chocolate sprinkles (Catherine Kunkle, Pittsburgh, PA)

Learn the history of the donut in our Pastry Glossary.

• “Much A Do About Nut Things,” a chocolate cake donut with peanut butter icing, topped with shredded coconut and chopped roasted almonds (Stefanie Schwalb, New York, NY)
• “Nut N’ Fancy,” a peanut butter-filled donut with chocolate icing, topped with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup shavings and whole Reese’s Pieces candies (Lisa Burns, Medford, NJ)
• “Pumpkin to Pie-n For,” a pumpkin cake donut with maple icing, topped with Hershey’s Cinnamon Chips shavings and graham cracker crunch (Kelly Rice, Orlando, FL)
• “S’morgasbord,” a marshmallow-filled donut with chocolate icing, topped with graham cracker crunch (Chris Wiley, Medford, MA)
• “Snack-o-Lantern,” a pumpkin cake donut with maple icing, topped with Hershey’s Cinnamon Chips shavings (Jennifer Hayes, Hardwick, MA)

You can see the current leaders when you vote. So get that vote in!

Check out the history of the donut in our Pastry Glossary.