THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.





PRODUCT: Champagne For New Year’s Eve

Krug-bucket

Krug Champagne, our favorite. We toast
every new year with it.

Haven’t picked a celebration bubbly yet?

Here are our Champagne and sparkling wine recommendations from a few years ago. We’re tasting them all tonight to update the article.

  • Krug is still our favorite (but pricey).
  • In addition to tête de cuvee bottle in the article, we also love the vintage or nonvintage Pol Roger and Bollinger Champagnes, which have a higher concentration of Pinot Noir and are more robust.
  • If you like your bubbly on the more delicate side, Taittinger, a blanc de blanc (only Chardonnay grapes, instead of a combination of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir), is a perennial favorite, too.
  • For great taste on a budget, we’re fans of [yellow tail] sparkling wine, called [yellow tail] Bubbles, and the [yellow tail] Bubbles Rosé, a beautiful rose color as well.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us at THE NIBBLE. We’ll be nibbling hard for you in 2010.

Comments off

TIP OF THE DAY: Champagne Gift

Tomorrow is National Champagne Day (appropriately, it’s New Year’s Eve).

Most people bring a bottle of Champagne as a gift to New Year’s Eve parties. Add a book about Champagne, and your gift will be remembered long after the bubbles are gone.

See one of our favorite books on Champagne.

sugardaddys-champagne-230

Photo courtesy Sugardaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties.

Comments off

CONTEST: Do You Have A Great Strawberry Recipe?

Layout 1

Florida winter strawberries. Photo courtesy
Florida Strawberry Growers Association.

Home cooks and culinary professionals can compete for cash in the first “Florida Strawberries—A Taste of Summer All Winter Long Recipe Contest,” sponsored by the Florida Strawberry Growers Association and “Taste of the South Magazine.”

The entry categories are Starters or Salsas; Salads; Sweets and Best Photo. A total of $6,000 in cash prizes will be awarded.

  • Upload your recipe by February 28, 2010 and see the contest rules.Florida is the major U.S. supplier of strawberries from November through early spring. For those who want to buy foods with fewer carbon miles and purchase domestic rather than imported produce, each carton of Florida-grown strawberries has geographic identification noting where the product was grown.
Strawberries are not only nutritious; they’re one of our favorite diet foods. Eight strawberries contain more vitamin C than one orange. A one-cup serving (about 8 to 10 medium-sized berries) contains 45 calories and has no fat, cholesterol or sodium.

So, even if you don’t enter the contest, make strawberries part of your healthy “New Year’s Resolutions” diet.

Comments off

RECIPE: Chocolate Mice Cookies For New Year’s Eve

Hickory Dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
As twelve bells rang,
The mousie sprang,
Hickory Dickory dock.

But no one will be springing away from these yummy chocolate “surprise” mice cookies, no matter what hour of the day or evening you serve them (we’re waiting for the clock to strike twelve on New Year’s Eve). These mousies are filled with Cholives, olive-shaped chocolates with chocolate ganache centers (perfect for chocolate martinis, glamorous garnish or simply indulgent popping).

If you can’t get your hands on Cholives before New Year’s Eve, you can substitute. Miniature Easter egg shapes work as well; Hershey’s Kisses will work, but they’re not of the quality of Cholives. We haven’t tried Dove Promises in this recipe—they’re square rather than oval—but they’re filled with delicious soft centers, just like Cholives. As long as you mound the dough correctly, your choice of chocolate should work.

 

chocolive-mouse-230

A sweet way to start the New Year—or any
day of the year! Photo by Lisa Leick.

This recipe was adapted by Cholives from Cookies, Brownies & Bars, Classic Pillsbury Cookbooks, 1991 (you can find copies on Amazon).

Cholive-Filled Chocolate Mice

INGREDIENTS

– 3/4 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup butter, softened
– 1/2 cup shortening
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
– 1 egg
– 2-1/4 cup unbleached flour
– 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 3 dozen Cholives (or Kisses or other chocolate)
– White, silver or colored nonpareils (tiny sugar balls) or miniature chocolate chips, for eyes
– Chocolate or black string licorice, for tails, cut into 2-inch pieces

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 325ºF. In large bowl, beat sugar, butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well.
2. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Stir in flour, cocoa and baking powder; mix well.
3. Shape dough into 1-1/2-inch balls. Push Cholive into ball and roll gently in hands until Cholive is covered in dough.
4. To form Cholive-filled mouse, pinch one end of ball to form nose. For ears, make two tiny balls of dough and flatten slightly; gently press into dough on upper front of each mouse body. For eyes, press 2 nonpareils into dough below ears.
5. Place shaped cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 325ºF for 8-13 minutes or until set.
6. Remove from oven. Immediately insert piece of licorice “tail” into the rounded end of each cookie.
7. Remove from cookie sheets.

Makes 3 dozen chocolate mice. Recipe can also be adapted to make Chocolate Cats and Chocolate Dogs.

 

Comments off

TIP OF THE DAY: Go Nuts For Fresh Nutmeg

peugeot-nutmeg-grinder-230

This Peugeot nutmeg grinder is top-
of-the-line, but may be more ginder
than you need.

Just as freshly-ground pepper bears no resemblance to the bland, pre-ground powder, freshly-ground nutmeg is a vibrant spice that perks up sweet and savory dishes alike.

We use it to flavor apples and other seasonal fruits (pies, compotes, sautéed sliced fruit), to make cookies and pastries and in custards. We love it in egg dishes and vegetable purées. It’s our favorite seasoning with spinach in any form, and on pasta with broccoli rabe.

For beverages, use nutmeg in addition to (or instead of) cinnamon on hot chocolate, coffee, cappuccino, mulled cider, warm milk, cold milk, chocolate milk and of course, eggnog.

While some cooks grate the whole nutmeg against a fine plane kitchen grater, we value our skin and use a nutmeg grinder (nutmeg mill)—it’s the same principle as a peppermill, but it accommodates the much larger nutmeg, which is the size of an unshelled hazelnut.

If you’ve had the nutmeg for several years, you can check the quality by piercing it with a needle. If the skin pierces slightly and a drop of oil flows out, the nut is still fresh. If the skin won’t pierce, it’s dried out. By the way, mace is the milder-tasting dried hull of nutmeg—the part you peel off to get to the nut, and nutmeg is the nut of a tree fruit.

Comments off

The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures
RSS
Follow by Email


© Copyright 2005-2024 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. All images are copyrighted to their respective owners.