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


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TIP OF THE DAY: Freeze The Cheese

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A wedge of Parmigiano-Romano and a grater. Photo courtesy of UmamiInfo.com.

Buy good Parmesan or other Italian grating cheese from your cheese store, have it grated very finely at the store and keep it in the freezer. It’s instantly usable for pasta, omelets, soups, salads or anything that could use a flavor lift.

Don’t buy pre-grated cheese at the supermarket—it isn’t top-quality cheese, yet you pay a lot more for the service. Of course, the best solution is to keep a wedge of cheese in the fridge to grate as needed—but our frozen cheese convenience really works!

We love mixing grated cheese with leftover rice and a bit of milk and fresh-ground pepper (add cooked mushrooms or or other ingredients if you like) and heating it in the microwave for a mock “risotto.”

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TIP OF THE DAY: Observe & Serve

Look for serving pieces that double as objets d’art. Bowls, cups and sauces, plates, pitchers and trays fall into this category. You can showcase them all year as room decor, then put them to use as needed during special dinners. If you like to collect and have more items than room to display them, rotate pieces on a schedule so family and visitors will enjoy different pieces of your collection.

 

 

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PRODUCT: Sara Snacker’s Chip n’ Etzels

Say you like to snack on cookies. And chips. And pretzels. And chocolate. But you can’t just sit down with bags of all three. What’s a girl to do?

If you’re Sara Snacker (legally, Sara Leand), your entrepreneurial journey began in college, where you built and ran a snack company out of your college dorm room, selling cookies and treats across the campus as well as to local merchants. She had to put the business on hold when it started taking too much time away from her studies (and her roommate kept eating all the supplies—oink, but who can blame her).

After more than a dozen years in the entertainment industry as a television agent and producer (she executive-produced shows for E!, Lifetime and TLC), Ms. Snacker, now a wife and mother, is back in the sweet snacks business. Her first product (more to come in a few weeks) is the thing to grab if you can’t choose among shortbread, potato chips and pretzels and chocolate.

A buttery, crumbly cookie is packed with pieces of crunchy chips and pretzels, then dipped in your choice of white or dark chocolate. That’s the Chip n’ Etzel. (Or is that the Cookie Chip n’ Choc n’ Etzel? We’re not sure, but Chip n’ Etzel, though it sounds different, hits only two of the four snack foods.) It’s a bit sweet, a bit crunchy, and a teeny bit salty.

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The Chip n’ Etzel combines four favorite
snacks in one. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Whatever it is, it’s a soft and lovely treat that’s perfect with coffee, tea, cocoa or a glass of milk. Or nothing at all.

  • Snack on over to SaraSnacker.com: Gift boxes and keepsake tins are available for the holidays. Just don’t go bonkers over the other goodies until we write about them next month.
  • See more of our favorite cookies and cookie recipes in THE NIBBLE’s Cookies Section, including the history of cookies! (OMG, what if they had never been invented????)

 

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RECIPE: Oysters On The Half Shell

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Oysters on the half shell: so delicious,
so low-calorie. Photo courtesy of Carrie
Bailey-Morey.

Heavy cocktail sauces with horseradish are too much for oysters at their prime. We eat great oysters straight from the shell, without even a dab of citrus juice. But for those who like a bit of garnish, here’s a lovely recipe, courtesy of Charleston, South Carolina’s Charleston Grill and Carrie Bailey-Morey, co-owner of Callie’s Charleston Biscuits, who recently enjoyed them there.

Combine to taste:

  • Seeded, finely chopped cucumbers
  • Meyer lemon juice
  • Meyer lemon zest
  • Finely chopped mint

Garnish plate with watercress and edible flowers.

  • For more of Carrie’s favorite things to eat in Charleston, read her blog.
  • Read our review of Callie’s Charleston Biscuits, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week and simply divine. (Mario Batali orders them).

Live in Houston? There’s a free tasting of Callie’s today and tomorrow at Rice Epicurean Markets: San Felipe and Post Oak store Wednesday, October 28th from 2:00-6:00pm and the Westheimer and Wesleyan store Thursday, October 29th from 10:00-3:00 pm. from 10:00-2:00pm.

Live in Chicago? The tastings are on November 5th and 6th at Fox & Obel (we love that store!).

 

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RECIPE: Pumpkin Cupcakes With Pumpkin Cheesecake Frosting

Fall is the time to bake up a pumpkin storm, so let’s add to the list with a delicious pumpkin cupcake with pumpkin cheesecake (cream cheese) frosting.

Created by cupcake blogger Stefani Pollack, the cupcakes are made with healthier graham flour and bits of graham crackers, yielding a far more rich-tasting, graham-y cake with a muffin-like texture—no delicate little cup of fluff.

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Holiday flavors: graham flour (used to make
graham crackers) and pumpkin cheesecake
frosting. Photo courtesy Stefani Pollack |
Cupcake Project.

 

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