March 17, 2011 10:33 am

Dish of the Day: The Olive Bar

Dizzying with choices, the olive bar can incite minor panic attacks when trying to assemble a chic but quick nibble plate. Here is a primer for the un-initiated.

Olives are a fruit that grow on trees and have been cultivated since ancient times. They are either green or black depending upon ripeness; green ones are not ripe and black ones are. Bitter and inedible straight from the tree, they must be fermented/brined or cured to become palatable. Green olives have to be soaked in lye before brining while black olives can just be brined.

Manzanilla: A meaty Spanish green olive that is often stuffed and fabulous on an antipasto platter.

Cerignola: Presented in both the green and black variety, the black is sweeter and the green is milder and earthier in flavor. These make great eating olives, right out of hand.

Kalamata: A purple-black briney Greek olive that makes for great tapenade.

Nicoise: A French olive that is small, with an even smaller pit, and is brownish purple, and lovely in salads.

Gaeta: A nutty, small, brownish black olive that is challenging to pit but well worth it when chopped into a chutney with dried fruit, toasted nuts, and a soft cheese.

Sicilian Colossals: Giant green olives with a very tart flavor that comes out nicely when paired with sweeter olives.

Oil Cured: Black wrinkly olives with a meaty texture and a salty bite. They are awesome when chopped, sprinkled on hard ricotta with some fig preserves, and baked just until melted.

Tip: Learn how to create Vermouth Soaked Olives, perfect for martinis, and Roasted Honeybell Orange Olives for appetizers. Both recipes are made by Nancy R. Sobel.

Photo credit: Aeysha's Kitchen

— Written by Nancy R. Sobel

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March 28, 2011 10:51 am

Dessert of the Day: Lazy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Slacking and baking don't commonly go together but when the goal is to impress with a crispy (at the edges) and chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and you don't want to wait, here are some techniques and a recipe to produce a cookie that no one will believe that you practically did it while you were sleeping.

Traditionally, butter is just softened and then creamed with sugar, eggs, and vanilla before the dry ingredients are mixed in. I couldn't be bothered to wait to soften butter so I got out a saucepan, melted the butter (over LOW heat) and poured the butter into my trusty stand-up mixer, creamed in the rest of the wet ingredients, and incorporated my dry ingredients. Most importantly, the chocolate chips and cacao nibs were mixed in last. Using a mixer is totally optional but I used one because it was easier and this recipe is not about hard work.
White whole wheat flour and molasses and barley malt syrup spike the cookie with heartiness and the addition of a banana gives them a wholesome sweetness, without being cloying. They just sweet enough but the chocolate chips give them a boost!

Tip 1: Melt the butter over LOW heat; you do not want to cook your egg.

Tip 2: Combine all of your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well so you don't end up with a chunk of salt

Tip 3: Use kosher or coarse grain sea salt. If you use conventional or fine grain salt you may want to scale back a bit so they are not too salty.

Tip 4: If you dont have barley malt syrup (found in Whole Foods or other natural food stores), just use all molasses.

Tip 5: Flatten your cookies to produce a crispier cookie.

Tip 6: Half the amount of chocolate chips and add some dried fruit and/or toasted nuts/coconut.

Tip: Make Nancy's Lazy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies at home.

Photo credit: cooking.com

— Written by Nancy R. Sobel

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Tags : Nancy R. Sobel, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies