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FOOD TIP OF THE DAY: Date Hors d’Oeuvres

February 20, 2008 at 8:16 am · Filed under Fruits, Nuts & Seeds, Recipes, Tip Of The Day


Gourmet dates from Dateland.com. From
left to right, counterclockwise: Medjool
dates, Khadrawy dates, Halawi dates and
Honey dates. Photo courtesy Dateland.com.

   For quick hors d’ouevre that are also perfect for tea parties, after-dinner petit four plates or a little something with a cup of coffee instead of a cookie, fill dried dates with rich, creamy mascarpone cheese and dip the cheese end into chopped pistachio nuts.

If there are any leftovers (not likely), they make great breakfast treats and midday snacks. Kids love them, too (they’ll also enjoy them stuffed with peanut butter).

Dates are the oldest fruit cultivated crop by man. Dates are mentioned more than 50 times in the Bible. In Biblical times, the fruit was considered sacred.

More than 30 varieties are grown today. The most famous to Americans is the Medjool date, considered to be the finest variety grown. In ancient times, they were grown exclusively for royalty. Succulent and velvety, Medjool dates are fragile in nature and must be harvested by hand. They can cost 50% more than other varieties, so most people enjoy them for eating only, not for cooking or baking.
 

Other familiar varieties include:

  • Halawi dates, medium sized and soft golden brown, are originally from Iraq. They have a rich, creamy sweet flavor and a caramel-like texture. “Halawi” means sweet in Arabic.
  • Honey dates are a soft, creamy-textured and sweet-tasting variety that “melt in your mouth.” They are used for snacking and cooking.
  • Khadrawy dates are small and dark-mahogany-colored with a dry, flaky skin. Originally from Iraq, they have a high moisture content and less sugar, with a mild flavor.
  • Thoori dates, originally from Algeria, are dry with a hard flesh and a chewy, nutty flavor. They are used for snacking, baking and cooking.
     
    Today, we know that dates are a healthy sweet snack alternative: low in fat and sodium, high in fiber and magnesium, more potassium then bananas, rich in iron and cholesterol-free. Yes, they have sugar, but it’s natural sugar (sucrose and its natural derivatives, glucose and fructose), not refined sugar.

    Dates are grown in the U.S. The Arizona climate is similar to many areas of the Middle East where dates are cultivated; and southern California also has a welcoming climate.

    You can buy quality domestic dates from Dateland.com. Stuff them with our favorite mascarpone, from Mozzarella Fresca.

    Find more ideas in the Hors D’Oeuvre Section and Gourmet Snacks Section of THE NIBBLE.
      

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    GOURMET GIVEAWAY: Win Gourmet Honey Mustards

    February 20, 2008 at 7:23 am · Filed under Contest, Honey-Sugar-Syrup, Kosher Nibbles

    Like honey? Then you’ll want to try these three our gourmet honey mustard dips from award-winning specialty food producer Robert Rothschild. There’s Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip, Blackberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip, Honey Chipotle Pretzel Dip and for “dessert,” a Raspberry Chocolate Pretzel Dip. Also included is a book of exciting recipes, in case you’d like to do more with your honey mustards than dip pretzels. (The dips are certified kosher.) Take the quiz and you’ll find out fun facts about honey. Take the quiz here—you don’t have to answer correctly to win. If you’re a trivia lover, all of the quizzes from our prior Gourmet Giveaways are available for your enjoyment.   Honey Mustard
    You could this set of gourmet honey mustards/dips—correct answers not required.
     

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    TODAY IN FOOD: It’s National Chocolate Mint Day

    February 19, 2008 at 8:06 pm · Filed under Food Holidays, Kosher Nibbles, Special Sweets


    [1] Chocolate Chip Mint ice cream cone (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).


    [2] A cup of mint tea with a piece of chocolate (photo © Lindt).

    Green Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
    [3] Thin mint cookies. Here’s the recipe from The Food Charlatan.

    		  

    February 19th is National Chocolate Mint Day.

    What is it with these government bodies that are holiday-granters? Didn’t they notice that last week, February 11th, was Peppermint Patty Day (the food, not Charlie Brown’s gal pal)?

    We love chocolate and peppermint…but why pile up all the wealth in the space of 8 days? Nevertheless, we’ll respond with recommendations for the best chocolate mint yummies:

  • Mint hot chocolate. Smash the stems of a few sprigs of fresh mint, and add them to the hot chocolate as it cooks. Strain before serving, and add a fresh sprig to garnish. If you don’t have fresh mint to infuse in the milk when you heat it, use a few drops of peppermint oil. You can stir your cocoa with a peppermint stick, too.
  • Mint chocolate sauce: Try Robert Lambert’s fabulous Mojito Mint Chocolate Sauce on vanilla ice cream, pound cake, or straight from the jar on a spoon. For a stronger mint infusion, try the Mint Chocolate Sauce from The King’s Cupboard.
  • Ice cream: Try mint chocolate chip ice cream from an artisan creamery, like Boulder Ice Cream Company or its Colorado neighbor, Spotted Dog Creamery.
  • Chocolate bars: Try the indulgent, layered Mint Symphony chocolate bar from Coco’s Chocolate Dreams. That’s dark chocolate with fudge mint shortbread and mint butter cookies and…be sure to order more than one. Or, try a straight but fabulous chocolate mint chocolate bar from Divine Chocolate, and support a great Fair Trade co-op of small cacao bean farmers in Africa.
  • Chocolate bark: heck out our favorite chocolate peppermint barks.
  • Cookies: Try the great chocolate mint cookies from Sugar Flower Bakery. You’ll never eat another Girl Scout cookie again.
  • Whoopie pies: Go retro with Chocolate Mint Whoopie Pies from Wicked Whoopie Pies.
  • Mint Lava Cake: Bake up this recipe for a Chocolate Mint Lava Cake.
  • Chocolate mint soufflé: Bake up a ready-to-heat-and-eat Chocolate Mint Soufflé from Heavenly Soufflé, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week (it’s heavenly and kosher, too).
  • Bonbons: Have a box of bonbons filled with handmade mint ganache, from John & Kira’s.
  • Chocolate coins: Enjoy the delicious Dark Chocolate Mint Coins from Lake Champlain Chocolates (also kosher).
  • Holland mints: Try our favorite Holland Mints from Marich. They’re not only pretty, they’re kosher, too.
  • Candy favorites: Chocolate Peppermint Patties and Mint Meltaways.
  • Fudge: Another temptation is the chocolate mint fudge from our favorite fudge maker, John Kelly Fudge (a NIBBLE Top Pick OF The Week, and kosher).

    •  
    There’s a lot more out there.

    But we’ll end with a calorie-free option:

  • Tea: A calorie-free option is Once Upon a Tea, the caffeine-free blend of loose tea made of rooibos tea mixed with chocolate nibs, mint and vanilla. It’s from Serendiptea.

    •  
     
    Hmm, maybe it’s not so bad having these back-to-back chocolate mint celebrations. We think we’ll celebrate with a Chocolate Mint Martini.
     
     
     

    CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

     

     
      

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Gourmet Pot Luck

    February 19, 2008 at 7:12 pm · Filed under Desserts, Entertaining, Special Sweets, Tip Of The Day

    Invite food-loving friends to a fun, “pot luck” brunch, cocktails or coffee klatsch. Ask everyone to bring a favorite specialty food or beverage appropriate to the occasion, that the other guests would enjoy tasting. They’ll also need to bring the accoutrement(s) required to serve their food (e.g., bread or crackers for spreads, crudités for dips and dressings). For brunch, for example, guests might bring quince preserves, sun-dried tomato peanut butter, Swedish flatbread and guava nectar—foods most guests haven’t experienced. Or, they could bring their favorite brand of artisan sausage. Set the foods on a sideboard, cart or other “tasting bar” along with cards that indicate who chose them and where they can be purchased. We’d probably pick something from our Top Pick Of The Week foods—the 52 best products we taste each year. You can have the Top Picks emailed to you, or sent via RSS.   Wine Cellar SorbetsWe’d bring Wine Cellar Sorbets, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. We find them irresistible.
     

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    NEWS: Guide Michelin Says The Best Food City In The World Is NOT Paris

    February 19, 2008 at 7:01 pm · Filed under Food Holidays & More, Restaurants

    Tokyo - Shibuy
    The best restaurant city in the world has no Eiffel Tower. Photo of Tokyo by Yoichiro Nishimura | SXC.    		   Zut alors! By a huge margin, Guide Michelin, the French-owned restaurant-rating bible, has declared the finest food city in the world to be not Paris, not New York, not San Francisco…but Tokyo. Gastrotourists, get ready. It’s more than twice as long a flight, but if you want to eat the best, head east. Way east. Seven out of 10 foreign tourists in Japan say the food is the primary reason for their visit. But only a portion of the cuisine is Japanese. Michelin’s rating system is taken so seriously (and the stars are so good for business) that chefs spend their entire careers and fortunes chasing three Michelin stars. One of France’s most famous chefs, Bernard Loiseau of La Côte d’Or restaurant (in the Côte-d’Or region of Burgundy), committed suicide in 2005 following a downgrade by the Gault Millau guide and believing he was about to lose his third Michelin star (which, sadly, proved to be an erroneous supposition; the restaurant still has its three stars).
    Tokyo has eight three-star restaurants. Five of them serve Japanese cuisine, three are French. You won’t be surprised if you watch Iron Chef, but one and two stars were bestowed on restaurants that serve Chinese, Italian, Spanish and steakhouse cuisine. The commonality with the top spots in Paris and New York is that you must reserve a month in advance and expect to pay a minimum of $200 per person. Do the math and you won’t be surprised why Tokyo has the most Michelin-starred restaurants. Michelin counted 160,000 restaurants in Tokyo (191 Michelin stars), compared with about 20,000 in Paris (98 Michelin stars) and 23,000 in New York (54 Michelin stars). Read the full story in the Washington Post.

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