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


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TIP OF THE DAY: Hummus Beyond Dipping

We are a huge fan of hummus. We can easily eat one 8-ounce package a day. We often make a meal of hummus and crudités. It’s a nutritious* meal when we don’t want to cook or eat anything more elaborate.

But there’s so much more to do with this versatile spread than dipping vegetables or pita chips, or garnishing falafel. Here are some of the ways we’ve used it. Feel free to add your own!

20+ WAYS TO USE HUMMUS BEYOND DIPPING

Hummus For Breakfast

  • In an omelet with diced tomatoes, olives, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms or other favorite.
  • On a breakfast tostada, topped with sautéed greens and a fried egg.
  • In scrambled eggs or omelets: Stir a spoonful of hummus into the beaten eggs.
  • On an English muffin sandwich with fried, scrambled or hard-boiled eggs and some raw spinach or arugula leaves.
  • On toast or bagels, instead of butter or cream cheese.
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    *Hummus is loaded with vitamins and minerals: calcium, copper, iron, magnesium and zinc; vitamins B6, C, E, folate, K and thiamin (B1); plus 20 essential amino acids. It is low glycemic. Calories are 27 per tablespoon, according to Caloriecount.about.com.

       

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    Serve crunchy hummus cucumber cups with wine or cocktails. Photo courtesy Eat Well Enjoy Life.

     

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    Use hummus on a sandwich instead of mustard or mayo, and check out these 20+ variations on a hummus sandwich.
      Hummus For Lunch Or Dinner

  • As a healthier sandwich spread, instead of mayo (or mix some mayo into the hummus). Check out our 20+ ways to make a hummus sandwich.
  • In tuna, chicken or egg salad instead of mayo.
  • On a turkey burger or veggie burger.
  • On flatbread or pizza, with artichoke hearts, mozzarella or jack cheese, olives or sautéed vegetables—bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, tomatoes. Bake at 425°F for 10 minutes; top with fresh herbs.
  • As a garnish for grilled or roasted fish, lamb, pork, portabello mushrooms or poultry. Alternatively, spread a light coat of garlic hummus, olive oil and sea salt over the protein before cooking.
  • As a sauce for kebabs.
  • In a vegetable pasta salad, instead of mayonnaise.
  • As a sauce for hot pasta: toss with hummus and season with cracked black pepper and fresh chives or parsley.
  • As a salad dressing: Mix with vinegar, and salt and pepper.
  • On a crouton (toast a slice of baguette) with a salad or bowl of soup.
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    Hummus For Appetizers & Snacks

  • On a mixed appetizer plate: Mediterranean inspired with babaganoush, tabbouleh, feta and Greek olives; or with conventional favorites like pickled beets and other pickled vegetables, three bean salad, deviled eggs, etc.
  • In deviled eggs: Mix the yolks with hummus instead of mayo; or stuff them entirely with hummus.
  • As a filling for an avocado half.
  • In stuffed mushrooms and any variety of hors d’oeuvre.
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    Hummus For Dessert

  • Dessert hummus (recipes).
  • Hummus ice cream (recipe).
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    These should keep you in hummus heaven for a while.

      

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    FOOD FUN: Pizza Portraits

    Are you hungering for your portrait in pizza? Commission one from Domenico Crolla.

    A native of Glasgow, Scotland, where his Italian-born father Alfredo had a café, Chef Crolla graduated from the Scottish Hotel School and launched his first restaurant, a pizzeria.

    His next Glasgow restaurant, Italmania, became Scotland’s very first designer pizza emporium. It closed in 2008 to be replaced with a full-service Italian restaurant, Bella Napoli.

    But the thrill of pizza remains, especially in Chef Crolla’s pizza portraits of celebrities from Beyoncé to Andy Warhol (how Andy would have loved that!) He even turned the iconic photo of Prince William, Duchess Kate and baby Prince George into pizza art.

    Don’t think of him as a pizza chef, but as a culinary artist.

     

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    The Pope in pizza. Photo courtesy Domenico Crolla.

     
    When he isn’t creating pizza art or running his restaurants, Chef Crolla judges cooking contests across the globe.

    Discover more at Crolla.com and check out the celebrity pizzas on his Facebook page.
      

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Cooking In Parchment (En Papillote)

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    Proteins and vegetables cook easily and
    mess-free in parchment pouches. Photo
    courtesy PaperChef.
      Many of us use parchment paper to line baking sheets. But if you haven’t yet used that parchment for en papillote cooking, you’re in for a treat: less mess and fewer calories, for starters, along with juicier, moister food.

    Cooking en papillote (pah-pee-YOHT), French for “in parchment,” is a classic technique where food, often in individual portions, is enclosed in a folded pouch and steamed in the oven.

    This simple yet refined culinary tradition works by trapping the moisture from the food in the pouch. It helps the food cook quickly, with little or no added fat, without losing flavor and retaining luscious aromas.

    And there’s no pot or pan to clean. Just dispose of the pouch.

    The technique dates to the early days of cooking food, where people took local foliage—banana leaves, corn husks and grape leaves, for example—and wrapped food in them prior to placing them on the fire. The leaves/husks took the place of pots and pans.

    These days in the U.S., aluminum foil and parchment paper are the wrappings of choice, and the food is placed in the oven (or microwave) along with herbs and/or other seasonings. No special equipment is required. Poultry, seafood and vegetables are popular foods for en papillote cooking.

     

    You’ll immediately discover the joy of infusion. Topping a piece of fish with a slice of lemon or fresh herbs infuses the protein with those flavors. You’ll have fun playing with the flavors of broths, herbs, juices and spices.

    Steaming en papillote (pah-pee-YOHT) requires no special equipment, just the food and a roll of parchment paper or aluminum foil.

  • Parchment can be used with any food, but is especially important when steaming foods with a salt rub or acid (citrus juice, vinegar). Anything but the lightest touch of the latter can cause discoloration or a chemical aroma from reaction with aluminum.
  • Another benefit of parchment is environmental: it decomposes easily in landfill.
  • And if you’re not good at folding paper into pouches, Paper Chef has a solution: parchment bags. Just put the ingredients inside and fold the top to close. (See the photo below.)
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    Why doesn’t the paper bag or folded pocket leak? Parchment baking paper has been treated with an acid and coated with silicone. The result is a liquid-proof, burn-resistant paper (the parchment will brown but not burn, up to 450°F). It’s also nonstick; hence, its popular use as a baking sheet and cake pan liner.

     

    How To Buy Parchment Paper

    You can buy parchment in rolls, bags and individually-cut sheets. Rolls provide the most flexibility for baking sheets as well as pockets.

    What about bleached versus unbleached parchment paper?

    Environmentalists go for unbleached parchment. It’s more expensive, but also more environmentally friendly.

    Bleached parchment uses not only chlorine, but typically employs both chlorine and Quilon®, a cheaper alternative to silicone.

    Quilon is a chemical solution that contains chrome, a heavy metal. When incinerated it becomes toxic and leaves trace elements. It is approved by the FDA and the USDA, but that doesn’t mean it’s environmentally friendly.

    If you have leisure time this weekend, get some parchment and cook en papillote. You can start with these videos from PaperChef.com, which also has plenty of recipes.

     

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    No more need to fold pouches: Just add the ingredients to parchment bags. Photo courtesy PaperChef.

     
      

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    FOOD FUN: Strawberry Cake Pops

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    Strawberry-themed cake pops. You can use
    any flavor of cake that you like. Photo
    courtesy Bella Baker.
     

    February 27th is National Strawberry Day.

    What better activity than to make these luscious strawberry cake pops from Lauryn Cohen of BellaBaker.com.

    If you’ve never made cake pops but think they’d fit in with family and entertaining, there’s a fool-proof appliance to make round balls of cake: the Babycakes Pop Maker.

    There are several cake pops recipe books to help you become an artist. This recipe book has 175 different recipes/designs.

    If you like to decorate, you’ll be set for many hours of food fun.

     

      

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    RECIPE: Strawberry Salsa As A Sauce Or A Salsa

    How about something special for National Strawberry Day (February 27th): strawberry salsa.

    In addition to serving with tortilla chips, strawberry salsa is delicious over grilled chicken, fish or pork.

    This recipes was adapted from TasteOfHome.com. You can customize it by adding other fruits to the strawberries. Mango, grapes, pineapple, pomegranate arils and stone fruits are a few options.

    TIP: Wear disposable gloves when cutting and seeding hot chiles; then clean the cutting board and knife, wash your gloved hands and dispose of the gloves. Accidentally touching your eye with the most minute amount of capsaicin fom the chile is an experience you never want to have.
     
     
    RECIPE: STRAWBERRY SALSA

    Ingredients

  • 1 cup strawberries, chopped
  • 1/4 red onion, chopped
  • 1 jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped
  • 1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice
  • 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (do not substitute)
  • Optional: green, orange, red or yellow bell pepper, diced
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
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    Preparation

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    [1] Strawberry salsa made with optional bell pepper (photo © Taste Of Home).

    Pint Of Strawberries
    [2] Fresh strawberries make delicious salsa (photo © Good Eggs).

     
    1. COMBINE all the ingredients. Refrigerate and let the flavors meld for an hour or more.

    2. SERVE with chips or as a protein garnish.
     
    Variations

  • Chunky Strawberry Salsa With Quartered Cherry Tomatoes Recipe
  • Strawberry Mango Salsa Recipe
  • Strawberry Salsa With Grape Tomatoes & Corn Kernels Recipe
  • Strawberry Salsa With Plum Tomatoes Recipe
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