Nutella Nuggets

This recipe won second place in Dallas Morning News' Christmas cookie contest. I whipped it up as a snack for Rose's pals when they had been laboring long and hard making a video with their interpretation of Julius Caesar for English class. The plate of cookies didn't last long.

I had been wondering how they would turn out with simply Nutella, crumbs, and an egg to hold it all together. They were delicious little bites and the powdered sugar really wasn't needed at all. Rich, chewy, intense chocolate and nut flavors ... mmmm, so very good.

Looking this over I see that I totally missed the "wait 20 minutes" step. Darn! Guess I'll just hafta make them again!

1 cup Nutella spread
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 large egg
Powdered sugar

With a mixer or in a food processor, mix Nutella, crumbs and egg. Form into 1-inch balls and place 1-1/2-inches apart on a greased cookie sheet or Silpat. Let rest 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake 8 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack. Before removing, dust heavily with powdered sugar. Makes 3 dozen.

Food Words: Egg and Yolk

Egg comes from an Indo-European root meaning "bird."

The brusque-sounding yolk is rich in overtones of light and life. It comes from the Old English for "yellow," whose Greek cousin meant "yellow-green," the color of new plant growth. Both the Old English and the Greek derive ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning "to gleam, to glimmer." The same root gave us glow and gold.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Peanut Butter Frosting

Boy, oh boy ,was this a delicious cake! Again, as noted over on HC, our cake was round not square but otherwise this is a remarkably good representation of it.

First up, is the frosting which is from The Cake Mix Doctor. Although I don't use the cake recipes since they are based on boxed mixes, her frosting recipes are superb. This frosting is less sweet than many and the peanut aroma fills the air, luring you to want to cut a piece every time you walk by.

I'll post the chocolate cake recipe soon but if you've gotta have it before then, of course, this works with any chocolate cake you want to make.

Makes 3 cups, enough to frost a 2- or 3-layer cake or the top of a 13x19-inch sheet cake.

1 cup creamy peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (I never sift)
3-4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Place the peanut butter and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is well combined, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting lightens and is fluffy, 1 minutes more. Blend in up to 1 tablespoon milk if the frosting seems too stiff.

Use at once to frost a cake of choice.

Label of the Week

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B-16 and Foie Gras

In reference to the Chicago city council's ban of foie gras, Cathy Ward fires a salvo which has Pope Benedict's commentary attached (as then-Cardinal Ratzinger). My comments about his comments were made at her place.

Foie Gras: Yes or No?

The Chicago City Council recently banned foie gras. Apparently they did not approve because it was considered animal cruelty to produce the livers. This alone left me stunned. They picked out a particular food and banned it? What about regular chickens? They live short, miserable lives in a tiny cage. How about veal? I'm surprised they didn't toss that in with the foie gras.

Culinary Roundtable is a new podcast produced by the Culinary Podcast Network. The first episode featured a group of food writers and podcasters discussing the pros and cons of the foie gras ban. They started out with people on both sides of the issue who then had a lively (but polite) discussion. I found it very interesting and am really looking forward to their next topic in a couple of weeks.

Personally, on the foie gras issue I'd have to see some more scientific evidence about how cruel it actually is before believing it (listen to the podcast for thoughts on how the French ever discovered "large livered" geese in the first place). On the personal freedoms front, I already disapprove of public bans on smoking so you can guess where I come down on the foie gras ban.

Food Words: Custard, Cream, Flan

The nomenclature of egg-milk mixtures has always been loose. The English "custard" began as "croustade" in medieval times, and meant dishes served in a crust — thus, for egg-milk combinations, usually baked and unstirred, and so solid. Early English creams could be either liquid or solid, as could the French cremes. Those congealed past the point of creaminess became known as cremes prises, or "set creams."

Flan, a French word, comes from the late Latin for "flat cake."

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Midweek Joke

Thanks to Alex for this one!

A Blonde is overweight, so her doctor puts her on a diet.

He tells her, "I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, and repeat the procedure for two weeks. The next time I see you, you'll have lost at least five pounds."

When the Blonde returns, she's lost nearly 20 pounds.

"Why, that's amazing!" the doctor says. "Did you follow my instructions?"

The Blonde nods and answers, "I'll tell you, though, I thought I was going to drop dead that third day."

"From hunger, you mean?" asks the doctor.

"No," replied the Blonde, "From skipping."

The Exotic Chicken

For a barnyard commoner, the chicken has a surprisingly exotic background. Its immediate ancestor were jungle fowl native to tropical and subtropical Southeast Asia and India. The chicken more or less as we know it was probably domesticated in Southeast Asia before 7,700 BC, which is when larger-than-wild bones date from in Chinese finds far north of the jungle fowl's current range. By 1,500 BC chickens had found their way to Sumer and Egypt and they arrived around 800 BC in Greece, where they became known as "Persian birds," and where quail were the primary source of eggs.

On Food and Cooking:
The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Just a Little Art

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Halibut or Other Steaks Simmered in Soy Sauce

I rarely buy halibut as it is so expensive but luckily The Central Market was discounting $10 which basically cut my cost in half.

Once I got this rare treasure home I didn't know what to do with it. Certainly I didn't want to take a chance on ruining it. Mark Bittman had the answer in How to Cook Everything with this simple but delicious recipe which pleased everyone in our house ... no easy feat!

This recipe is best with mild-flavored steaks: cod, grouper, halibut, monkfish, and tilefish.

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
1 or 2 halibut steaks, a total of about 1-1/2 pounds
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon peeled and minced or grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, or water (I used chicken stock)
1/4 cup minced scallions

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the oil and raise the heat to high; cook the fish for 60 to 90 seconds on each side, just until it begins to brown.

Turn the heat to medium-low. Sprinkle garlic and ginger around the fish, then drizzle the sesame oil over it. Add soy sauce and stock or water to skillet, raise heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and cover.

Cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and, with the fish still in the liquid, raise heat to high and reduce liquid by about half (this should only take one minute or two).

Serve the fish over rice, with some of the sauce spooned over and garnished with scallions.