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


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.

RECIPE: Tilapia With Gingered Rhubarb Sauce

March 7, 2010 at 8:32 am · Filed under Fish-Seafood-Caviar, Recipes, Salts-Seasonings-Herbs-Spices

tilapia-rhubarb-230

Fish and rhubarb? Absolutely! Photo
courtesy McCormick.

 The eighth of McCormick’s 2010 flavor trends is a pairing of roasted ginger & rhubarb

  • Ginger is a wonderfully pungent spice with a long history of cultivation. In China, where the plant originated, as well as in other Asian countries, the spice is used in a multitude of both savory and sweet dishes, is eaten raw or pickled and is made into candy. In the U.S., ginger is especially associated with holiday baking, thanks to the western tradition of making gingerbread cookies at Christmas. Crystallized ginger is another favorite baking item—as well as a candy. Ginger makes a soothing tea (by itself, with boiling water, or by adding raw slices to your favorite tea). Ginger is high in antioxidants, and as such, is one of the Seven Super Spices.
  • Rhubarb is actually a vegetable, not a fruit. The giveaway might be that it looks like red celery stalks with cabbage-like leafy tops (some can be dark green like spinach or kale). By the time it gets to market, the leaves have been cut off, and we only see the red stalks. (Another giveaway: fruits carry their seeds inside; vegetable seeds scatter in the wind. You see seeds in an apple, avocado, cucumber and tomato, but not in broccoli, carrots or lettuce. Lacking sweetness doesn’t make it a fruit.)
  • Also native to Asia, rhubarb has long been used in Chinese medicine. As anyone knows who has cooked a sweet recipe with rhubarb, it needs copious amounts of sugar to offset its natural bitterness; thus, its use as a food in the West didn’t come into play until sugar became widely available in the 17th century (sugar cane also originated in Asia). But since then, what a joy! Stewed rhubarb is a delight, as is a rhubarb or strawberry-rhubarb pie or crumble. We make a wicked rhubarb ice cream every summer, but this was our first experience with a savory rhubarb recipe.
  • Tilapia are a large fresh water fish, and the third most important fish in aquaculture (fish farming) after carp and salmon. Originally from Africa, tilapia are now farmed worldwide. They are sometimes called St. Peter’s fish after a story in the New Testament in which the apostle Peter caught a fish with a shekel (Israeli coin) in its mouth (though the Bible does not name the species of fish).
 ginger-rhubarb-230

Fresh rhubarb and powdered ginger. Photo
courtesy McCormick.
Recipe: When combined with roasted ginger, the tilapia in this recipe for Hot & Sour Tilapia with Gingered Rhubarb Sauce is enveloped in exciting layers of spicy and sour, with warming notes and a powerful tang. Prep time for this dish is 20 minutes, followed by about 8 minutes of cooking time.

 

 

Comments off

GIFT: Chicken Soup & The Fixings

March 7, 2010 at 8:07 am · Filed under Giftable, Recipes, Soups

Sick friends, stressed students, new parents and others who need a pick-me-up would be very happy to receive a shipment of chicken soup.

Chicken soup is great comfort food for whomever needs a Spoonful of Comfort—which is the name of one of the two chicken soup gifts we tried recently (the other, not surprisingly, is Grandma’s Chicken Soup).

We enjoyed both soups, plus all the fixings: noodles, matzo balls, challah and cookies.

Is chicken soup really the “Jewish penicillin” that cures colds and flus? See the article!

You’ll also learn the different types of chicken soup: chicken broth, chicken bouillon, chicken consommé and more.

 

 two-jars-230

Get well, get through exams/new baby,
get a good bowl of chicken soup. Photo courtesy SpoonfulOfComfort.com.

 

Comments off

TIP OF THE DAY: Herb Pots

March 6, 2010 at 8:59 am · Filed under Tip Of The Day

whiteflowerfarm-mixed-herbs-230

It won’t fit on the windowsill, but a French
herb pot from WhiteflowerFarm.com
organizes five different herbs.

 If you don’t have a window herb box (or pots of herbs), it’s time! Once you start snipping fresh herbs, everything you serve will taste better.

We fill flowerpots with basil, chives, rosemary, thyme and tarragon. The plants are beautiful, fragrant and easy-to-grow (rosemary is hardy and can grow into quite a large household plant, and spawn cuttings for all of your friends). We snip fresh herbs into eggs, salads, on pizzas and sandwiches, use the fresh leaves as garnishes for everything—even sorbet.

You can grow your own herb pots from seed, or invest more and buy small pots of herbs that will quickly grow to meet your cooking needs.

This is the beginning of a week of fresh herb ideas. For more flavor ideas, click here to visit our Salts & Seasonings Section.

Comments off



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