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


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.

RECIPE: Winter Sangria

January 6, 2012 at 7:31 am · Filed under Cocktails & Spirits, Recipes

Looking for a group beverage for the weekend?

Sandeman, the world’s leading Port producer, has created a hearty winter sangria.

This Winter Spice Sangria recipe celebrates the flavors and colors of the season: fragrant cinnamon and clementines plus tart cranberries, which complement the rich red-fruit flavors in Sandeman Founders Reserve. The ruby Port is available just about everywhere Port is sold, but should you be unable to find it, substitute another ruby port.

Port is also delicious served alone at the end of the meal, with the cheese course or accompanying a rich chocolate dessert or chocolate candy.

It’s easy to mix up a pitcher:
 
 
SANDEMAN WINTER SPICE SANGRIA

Ingredients

  • 1 bottle of Sandeman Founders Reserve Porto
    		•   
    Whip up a pitcher of winter sangria. Photo
    courtesy Sandeman.
  • 4 ounces cinnamon schnapps (Goldschläger is relatively easy to find)
  • 3 clementines, quartered or sliced
  • 6 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
  • 18 ounces sparkling clementine juice or soda (if you can’t find it, substitute orange soda)
  • 6 ounces cranberry juice
  • 4 cinnamon sticks
  • Ground allspice to taste

    •  
    Preparation

    1. Combine Port, cinnamon schnapps, clementine pieces, cranberries, cranberry juice and cinnamon sticks in a large pitcher. Cover tightly and place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

    2. Right before serving, add sparkling clementine juice/soda and sprinkle allspice on top, to taste.
     
     
    PORT vs. PORTO & TYPES OF PORT

    Port in English, Porto in Portuguese, and sometimes written as Oporto, combining the article (“the Porto”), is the second largest city in Portugal. Located along the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal, Porto was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Port wine is produced in the region.

    Port is made in several expressions: Crusted, Colheita, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), Ruby, Single Quinta, Tawny, Vintage, Vintage Character and White. Here’s an explanation of each type of Port.

      

    Comments off

    TIP OF THE DAY: Why & How To Use Miso Paste

    January 5, 2012 at 8:48 am · Filed under International Foods, Salts-Seasonings-Herbs-Spices, Tip Of The Day

    White Miso
    [1] Miso paste with American label (photo courtesy Nagano).


    [2] Miso paste in Japanese packaging (photo courtesy Nagano).

    Miso Paste
    [3] Miso paste (photo courtesy Steamy Kitchen)

    		   Challenge yourself in the kitchen this year by trying a new ingredient each month. To start the year off, here’s a suggestion from our consulting chef, Johnny Gnall: miso paste.

    Miso, a thick paste most often made from fermented soybeans,* is a traditional Japanese seasoning with which most Western cooks are unfamiliar.

    If you’ve eaten at a Japanese restaurant, you’ve likely enjoyed a bowl of miso soup. If you make fish recipes, you may have tried a variation of the exquisite miso-glazed cod that chef Nobu Matsuhisa made so popular in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

    But miso rarely finds its way into American home kitchens. This is a shame, because it is a versatile and complex ingredient that can add depth and flavor across the culinary spectrum.

    Savory and salty, miso paste is low in calories and fat yet rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, making it an important part of Japanese cuisine. This healthy ingredient was a favorite of the Samurai, the noble warrior class that existed from the 12th century until pre-industrial times.

    It endures as a common ingredient in Japanese dishes, from pickled foods, sauces and spreads to the dish Americans know best, misoshiru or miso soup.

    But miso can be an important culinary tool beyond Japanese cuisine. Chef Johnny often uses it simply to add umami to dishes that would otherwise lack that certain something.
     
     
    MISO & UMAMI

    The most common characteristic of miso, and arguably its defining attribute, is that elusive fifth taste: umami.

    Umami refers to that taste in foods that is often described as a “brothiness” or earthiness on the palate. Mushrooms and meat are the best-known ambassadors of umami. Here’s more to help you understand umami.

    Despite the difficulty one may have in describing it, umami plays an important role in cooking. Often you taste something and notice it lacks “strength” or seems “flat.” That absent quality you can’t seem to put your finger on is, quite often, umami.
     
    The umami in miso can play an important role in perking up just about any world cuisine, requiring only cooks who are bold enough to try it.

    ________________

    *In addition to soybeans, rice and barley can be used. Salt and the fungus kojikin complete the recipe.

     

    TYPES OF MISO

    Miso is available in different forms or flavors, such as red or white miso paste.

    The differences depend on exactly which ingredients were used in its fermentation (such as rice or barley), the amounts of such ingredients, and how long they were fermented. Red miso paste, for example, is often fermented for a year or longer, whereas white miso paste is fermented for a much shorter period.
     
     
    HOW TO USE MISO PASTE

    You can make your own homemade miso soup, of course, but try it in American recipes. The beauty of miso is its versatility. It can be the star, providing its own unique flavor out front, or it can be one of many ingredients, lending that umami quality to a dish in need.

  • Add miso paste to create a delicious marinade.
  • Add a spoonful to enhance a vinaigrette or other salad dressing.
  • Add some to a stir-fry.
  • Use it to enhance a sauce instead of salt, MSG or our mother’s favorite flavor enhancer, Kitchen Bouquet Sauce, a blend of vegetable stock, salt and parsley.
  • Try it as a spread on canapés, or for a salty snack.
  • Use it to top fresh pickled vegetables.
  • Toss with pasta. Add your own favorite ingredients, or try anchovies, sautéed bell peppers and chopped green onions.
  • Even simple steamed or blanched vegetables can get a shot of flavor from miso: Add a tablespoon of miso paste to some stock (or even water), whisk to blend, and add your veggies to cook for a minute or two.

    •  
     
    JUST DO IT!

    The flavor and umami from miso can be unbelievably satisfying, which makes it a great tool to have on hand. Yes, its sodium levels can be high; but compared with salt, you get far more flavor and complexity with less overall sodium, as well as bonus healthy minerals, beneficial bacteria and protein. You’ll even pick up some antioxidants.

    So the next time you are at the grocery store, head to the international foods aisle and locate the miso paste. There may be several varieties to choose from; choose any one to start. Different brands and types will have different levels of salty and/or sweet.

    Then, add it to anything you feel could use a boost of umami flavor and won’t hurt from a bit of saltiness.

    Get to know miso as more than just the soup you eat before the sushi. It may just be the secret ingredient you’ve been looking for: You just may become mad for miso—and that’s a good thing.

    		   Miso Soup Garnishes
    [4] Miso soup with tofu and garnishes (photo courtesy Sun Basket).

    Miso-Glazed Salmon With Edamame
    [5] Miso soup with tofu and garnishes (photo courtesy Sun Basket).

    Shrimp With Miso Grits
    [6] Shrimp with miso grits (photo courtesy Silk Road Tavern [closed]).

     

      

    Comments off

    RECIPE: 7 Tips To Make Healthier Mashed Potatoes

    January 4, 2012 at 11:29 am · Filed under Low Calorie, Recipes, Vegetables-Salads-Herbs


    Healthier mashed potatoes. Photo courtesy
    U.S. Potato Board.

    		   To eat better in the new year, here’s an alternative for healthier mashed potatoes. Use one or all of the tips; play around with different variations to see what you like best:

  • Use half boiled or steamed potatoes, half steamed cauliflower. The recipe is also known as cauliflower mashed potatoes. Mashed cauliflower looks like mashed potatoes, and is a mom’s trick to get kids (and reluctant adults) to eat their veggies. Sneak it into your mashed potatoes and save calories (plain boiled potatoes have 136 calories per cup, cauliflower just 25 calories). You’ll also get a better blend of nutrients: Both foods are rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C; potatoes are also rich in potassium and vitamin B6. Cauliflower offers a richer nutrient profile including manganese, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, potassium, protein, riboflavin, thiamin and vitamins B6, B9 (folate) and K.
  • Keep the skin on the potatoes. The skin contains approximately half of a potato’s total dietary fiber and nutrients. The fiber is an important addition to your recommended daily intake of 42g of fiber (here’s why), and fiber makes you feel fuller.
    		•
     

  • Reduce the butter. Use whipped butter instead of solid butter sticks: It contains more air and thus fewer calories. We use half butter and half basil olive oil. Any flavored or regular olive oil will do, but use extra virgin olive oil—the better the oil, the better the taste.
  • Use nonfat milk. Instead of whole milk or half and half, use nonfat milk. We use the Skim Plus Milk from Farmland Dairies, which is 0% fat but as rich as 2% milk because extra milk protein is added, thickening the milk and concentrating the flavor. (It’s therefore more expensive, but well worth it). Each regional dairy has a different name for this type of product, and it’s not necessarily the most logically descriptive. For example, another brand in our area, Tuscan Dairy Farms, calls its concentrated nonfat milk “Over The Moon.” If you can’t find this type of milk, ask your grocer to point out the “extra rich nonfat milk.”
  • Replace sour cream with fat-free sour cream or nonfat Greek yogurt. We don’t ordinarily use sour cream in our mashed potatoes, but know quite a few people who do. We tested the recipe with both fat-free sour cream and nonfat Greek yogurt. We preferred the yogurt.
  • Use sea salt instead of regular table salt. They have the same basic nutritional value, but sea salt has a better flavor and texture. It’s also a natural product, produced through evaporation of seawater with little processing, so the trace minerals and elements from the water remain (providing the flavor and color). Table salt is mined from underground salt deposits, then heavily processed to eliminate all the minerals.
  • Add fresh herbs for flavor. We love to snip fresh herbs into our mashed potatoes. Basil, chives and parsley are personal favorites—singly or together. They bring such sprightly flavor notes that no one will notice that far fewer creamy fats—butter, sour cream and/or whole milk—are there. A grind of fresh pepper completes the new recipe.

    •  
    Please share your own tips and tricks.

      

    Comments off



    © Copyright 2005-2026 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. All images are copyrighted to their respective owners.