Nibbles & Sips

Fun with food and beverages: recipes and opinions about what, how, and why we eat.

Random Appetites: The 2-Bite Rule

Nibbles

I feel almost certain I’ve mentioned this once before, but it relates to recent events so maybe it’s worth going over once more.

Passed hors d’oevres or buffet foods should not exceed 2 bites-worth when ample table seating is not available.

This past Friday Todd and I attended the Florida Wine Festival. The event was very well-attended and certainly worth the price of admission for a few hours entertainment (and lets not forget the “endless glass of wine”). The catering was handled by Klassic Katering who, make no mistake, offered a variety of nibbles that were quite tasty. It was rather novel, actually, to see a “Slider Station” (you know, those little mini-burgers, served up with sauteed onions and your choice of sauces), entire chicken tenderloins (in teriyaki sauce, if I’m not mistaken) and trios of shrimp on sugar cane skewers. Do you know why it was novel? Because it violates the 2-bite rule.

Picture it, if you’ve never attended this sort of event: You’re walking around with a big ol’ wine glass (very nice, large-bowled tasting glasses that, if they had the little tulip-lip, would match my pinot noir glasses exactly) in one hand and a plate of something in the other. There are very few tables scattered about, certainly not enough for everyone to have even a bit of elbow room, and you’re faced with how to eat the morsels you’ve selected.

Now, generally, I’m pretty good at balancing my small plate on top of my wine glass and going from there but these plates were especially slippery and wouldn’t cooperate with my usual v.o. (victuali operandi). So, instead, I turn the fingers of one hand into a multi-level stacking system, hooking the stemware between two digits and the plate (along with napkin and program) on the others, balanced precariously with my thumb. At this point I’m grateful for the large glasses only because it alleviates the potential of spilling my wine.

The mini burgers are cute and tasty, but messy to eat and since this is a glorified cocktail reception and not a tailgate party, it’s more like 3 or 4 bites to your average consumer. The chicken (stretched out on a skewer for even cooking and “easy handling”) is only secured at each end and, about halfway consumed, loses it’s grip on the bamboo portion in my hand, bounces off my chest and hits the ground. How unfortunate. Finally, the shrimp. Now, I love the trend of using sugar cane skewers for seafood, it’s truly wonderful, but when you have to (one-handed, remember?) scoot the shrimp off the sugar cane and still have to divest the crustation of it’s remaining tail, eating this dish becomes a bit of a production!

So, how to fix it? Leave the sliders for more informal gatherings and serve up more varieties of meatballs, always a hit and easily a single munch each. Serve the chicken in cut-up chunks with plenty of toothpicks. (Forks were provided, and did come in handy, but it was still a lot to juggle as presented.) The shrimp, while cumbersome, really only needed to have the tails removed prior to serving, then it’s a more simple matter of scooting them off the sugar cane with your teeth (though I’d probably reduce the portion to 2 shrimp per skewer).

Other things I would have appreciated seeing would have been better signage on the dips and items in unmanned chafing dishes, just to know what it was supposed to be, before putting it on my plate or in my mouth!

Really, though, we did enjoy ourselves at the event, those few minor critiques aside, and do not regret the ticket purchase at all. We tasted a very yummy Argentinian Malbec that I’ll have to find some of because the spicy notes were really fun and a beautiful Grant Burge, 10 year oak aged Port ( looked tawny but tasted more like ruby) that totally made up for [Premiere Beverage] running out of Pinot Noir in the first hour or so of the event.

One final hors d’oevres tip: when dishing up dips and spreads put the chips, crackers, etc. on the plate first and then add the schmear to them… it certainly beats chasing a bit of artichoke or seafood dip around that tiny little plate!

Random Appetites: Slainte!

Nibbles

Happy St Patrick’s Day, folks! The day where even if you’re not Irish, you are!

When you think Irish food, most people think of corned beef and cabbage. Did you know, though, that this is only eaten in 2 counties (Dublin and Cork) and more a modern association at that? Be that as  it may, it still tastes awfully good so you might as well indulge whenever you’ve got a reason. And, according to a recent Iron Chef America episode, if you’ve got a pressure cooker you can have a very tender corned beef brisket in about an hour! (So there’s still time if you didn’t set up the slow-cooker this morning–my preferred way of “roasting” a brisket with a minimum of fuss.)

An unfortunate trend in many places, on St Patrick’s Day, is to serve unnaturally green beverages. If you want to drink beer today, avoid the cheap, food-colored stuff and have a Guinness or Killian’s Red or something that’s at least remotely Irish and tasty. If mixed drinks are your bag, have a good shot of Bailey’s over ice as you toast your neighbors “Slainte!” (pronounced, at least so I’ve heard, SLAN-tah and means “[to your] good health”) But please, for the love of Mike, stay away from the green creme de menthe!

Random Appetites: Sources of Inspiration

Nibbles

While some people are true wizards in the kitchen, throwing random ingredients together and, more times than not, ending up with food that is edible and yummy. But even those people–most of ’em, I’m convinced–had to start off with training wheels: a few good cookbooks.

Now, I can do my fair share of positive-outcome experiments (though, as Todd can attest, more than once he’s come over for dinner and I’ve said: Just in case, there’s always pizza!) but I also have a _huge_ collection of cook books that I pull ideas out of regularly. Sure, Culinary School helped with the collection a lot but I actually had a good starter set going before then. My rate of acquisition may have slowed in the last few years but those stained and wrinkled pages stand out from the others with barely-cracked spines. Here are some of the books that I reach for when I don’t feel like cooking solo.

The Kitchen Companion Great all-purpose kitchen reference book. This one has basic recipes for a lot of simple things and base mixes you can do yourself but the thing I love the most is the amount of charts in this book! For each cooking method and each type of food that can be subjected to it you have charts showing how long it will take to cook, what temperatures it should be done at and so one and so forth. It’s a gem of a book and out of print, but used copies are pretty easy to find.

Marcella Cucina Authentic Italian cuisine and the source of my most favorite Risotto recipe ever. This is one of those cookbooks that can also be read cover to cover because the little anecdotes make it read like a foodie novel of her travels through the Italian regions of food.

The New Orleans Cookbook and River Road Recipes: The Textbook of Louisiana Cuisine are where I turn when I want some home-style comfort food. The latter is a Junior League cookbook so features the names of all the contributors or and some duplicates versions of the same dish and always heavy on the butter and cream. The former includes touches of culture notes and a few stories here and there, but is a good city guide to New Orleans food.

The Cake Bible Dude. This woman (Rose Levy Beranbaum) wrote her thesis on the science and chemistry of yellow cake; talk about hardcore baking! The recipes are great and the techniques so precise (down to how many seconds you need to beat each addition of egg or flour) that, if you follow them, you can’t make a bad cake. I especially like her “Chocolate Bread” (which is really a perfect chocolate pound cake).

Martha Stewart’s Menus for Entertaining Say what you (or I) want about to woman, herself, this book is one I reach for when I need a little nudge about party menus. I don’t think I’ve ever used a full menu of hers all at once, but the balance she strikes between the various elements is a good jumping-off point and the food photography is stunning. That’s enough for me.

Random Appetites: Pasta-rific

Nibbles

A recent Italian dinner reminded me of the following anecdote:

On one of many blind dates in my younger years I was taken to a chain restuarant infamous for servings various types of pasta from a variety of different cultures. Basically, you chose your style and then among a choice of actual pastas, depending on your order. I ordered the Pasta Florentine [florentine means spinach, no matter where you are] and requested farfalle for the pasta. “I’m sorry, we don’t have farfalle,” the waitress replied. I thought this was odd since it was pictured on the menu, but gamely I asked what pastas they did have. “Spaghetti, fetuccini, penne, bowtie and rotini.” With my best attempt at a raised eyebrow I ordered the “bowtie” and shuddered at what restaurants weren’t teaching their staff.

In case you don’t see the problem with the above exchange, farfalle is the correct term for the pinched rectangles with the ruffly edges that are also known as bow-tie pasta. The fact that the server didn’t know this is, to me, just as ridiculous as the (possible urban legend) McDonald’s employee not knowing that half a dozen nuggets is the same as a 6-pack.

What reminded me of this was dinner Sunday night: we found (thank you, Google) a family-owned Italian place with a fairly broad menu not too far from our hotel and gave it a whirl. On the menu were some unknowns: bucatini (which feels like a thick spaghetti but is really a tube, there’s a tiny hole in the middle) and tortelachi ( large tortelini–makes sense if you think about it). Thankfully, though, our servers had no issues with the menu and the food was excellent. I’ll be doing a proper write-up about it at some point in the future.

Until then, if you’re curious about pasta names and shapes, check out this handy page from the National Pasta Association.

Random Appetites: Travelling Food

Nibbles

Happy Fat Tuesday to all the revelers among us: Laissez les bon temps roulez! (let the good times roll, for the uninitiated)

(And, now, back to our regularly scheduled Random Appetites)

Seems like I spend an inordinate amount of time in my car–I’m sure many of you can relate. And even though my commute is a short one (around 20 minutes to work, less if the students are on break), the road trips have become quite regular occurences and, among other things, road trips mean travelling snacks.

It all started when I was a kid and we’d take trips back home to visit family over the holidays. The boys (my younger brothers) would be tucked into the back seat with toys to keep them occupied for as much of 6 hours was possible and a bag of simple, non-messy snacks to keep the tummies from grumbling. Just after high school I was diagnosed as hypoglycemic so travelling with food became more of a necessity than a perk. And then there’s those trips home where the sun makes you sleepy and the only thing you can do, once blasting the a/c and the radio have stopped working, is chew to stay awake–travelling food to the rescue.

When choosing foods for interstate foraging it’s best to follow a few, simple guidelines:

  • Avoid those that need refrigeration; you never know when the cooler will get wedged closed, spring a leak, or just be too difficult to get into while at top speeds,
  • Packages must be easy to open so as not to cause impediment that you’d have to explain to a state trooper or your insurance company,
  • Must be edible with only the use of hands–no cutlery allowed.

I prefer, also, to keep things on the dry side (easier to brush off crumbs than spills) and as self-contained as possible (to avoid those crumbs in the first place).

In the canvas bag that holds the snacks for the next road trip are the following supplies:

  • 3 types of organic granola bars–the Cascadian Farms bars are just too yummy and the fact that they avoid all those convoluted chemicals can’t be a bad thing
  • dried fruit (apricots, pineapple, cranberries)–can be high in sugar but it’s at least fruit that won’t spoil if left in the car for a few hours
  • packets of trail mix–good for protein
  • baked pita chips
  • Oreos (what, I need chocolate in there somewhere!)

The cookies, admittedly, are more for destination snacking when the post-con sweet-tooth hits. The rest are prime examples of road snacks.