October 2008


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Pine Nut Finalist Number Four

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We’ve had scallops, salmon, and bacon already this week, but did you really think we would get through an Endless Simmer contest with outa word from JoeHoya? Of course not.

JH, looking to atone for his loss in the Spice Master contest, is about to lay some serious pine nut fanciness on your asses. Behold: Pine Nut Butter and Gelee.

The dish is explained in full, with more in-process photos and links, over at JoeHoya’s blog, Capital Spice. But here’s the gist:

Maybe it’s the proximity to creative culinary lights like Jose Andres and Michel Richard who love to put new spins on classic dishes. Maybe it’s an outgrowth of my love of mashups, covers and other songs that reimagine existing tracks to make new (and sometimes better) music. Or maybe it’s my love of puns and homophones.

Whatever the cause, I decided I wanted to approach something familiar in a slightly twisted way as I sat down to contemplate Endless Simmer’s Pine Nut Challenge. When editor BS put out the call for recipes involving pine nuts, I first thought of the variety of nut butters sold at Trader Joe’s: cashew butter, almond butter, even macadamia nut butter. Why shouldn’t pine nuts work, too?…

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in Cheese / Contests / Recipe 3 comments
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Pine Nut Finalist Number Three

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So far this week, we’ve seen pine nuts get the bacon treatment and inventively paired with salmon.

Our third finalist is Matt, who some of you may know as the blogger behind wrightfood. Matt decided to pair his pine nuts with some tasty scallops. If you ask me, scallops are kind of like the bacon of the sea–it’s hard to lose a cooking contest if you’re using them. So this is gonna be interesting. Here’s what Matt has to say for himself:

The pine nuts here are used pretty basically. Not ground, boiled, stewed or set on fire. For me pine nuts add a wonderful textural quality that somewhat gets lost when you grind it up.

Add to that the slight smokey/oily taste that comes from them when they are lightly toasted – and they are just fantastic as they are. I have been known to just toast a few handfuls and eat them as a snack.

So – that is my entry: Pan Seared Scallops, Red Onion Confit, toasted pine nuts and sage oil. Here they were really used as a textural element, and to add a little smokiness to push the confit taste forward a bit.

Full recipe after the j.

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in Contests / Fish / Recipe 4 comments
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A Day of Atonement; A Night of Binge Eating

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Like some Jews, I struggle with religion in a Christian country.  And for the most part, I’ve given up, well, in believing, not feasting.  So if there’s food and family involved, I manage to find a way to participate.  And write about it.

I didn’t really know how to go about pitching a food story for Yom Kippur – the Jewish holiday of FASTING.  But after I googled some, I found The Jew and the Carrot.  It’s a really interesting, funny and culturally aware site about Jews and food; it’s a lot more than lox and begals, covering issues from sustainability to kosher law – and kick ass recipes.

And because those observing, end the day of Yom Kippur in a big, fat feast – I found my food angle.

Due to word count, I had to cut out this section of the interview, but here’s an ES deleted scenes special.

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in Holiday / Trends 1 comments
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Pine Nut Finalist Number Two

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We’re rolling through the best of the best recipes submitted in our Pine Nut Cook-Off this week, and starting Friday, you the readers will crown a pine nut prince or princess.

Lisa kicked it off yesterday with her devilishly rich bacon-wrapped pine nut goodness. Our second finalist is Natalie, who blogs (and puts pine nuts on everything) over at Hot off the Garlic Press. (Great pun name = points in our book).

So…did you know you can include pine nuts in a fish dish? Of course you did! Because pine nuts go with everything! Natalie’s delectable recipe for Herb Grilled Salmon with Seared Heirloom Tomatoes and Toasted Pine Nuts cleverly pairs the big PNs with some grated parm and lemon, to bring out its toasty flavors around a beautiful slab of grilled fish. Full recipe is after the jump.

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in Cheese / Contests / Fish / Recipe 4 comments
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Fried From Eggs

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I was on the bus home from a miserable Monday and in between pages of “The Perfect Meal” chapter of Omnivore’s Dilemma, I thought about my dinner.  80P would be at class, so I was on my own — to put a fried egg on anything I’d want.  And then as I was cooking up my meal, and styling it, and playing the part of the photog, I thought about ES readers.  And just how you all might be sick of seeing me cook something and then put a sunny side up egg over top.  But, I’ll let you decide…

Decide post jump

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in Eggs / Recipe 19 comments
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Pine Nut Finalist Number One

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The moment all you pignoli nuts have been waiting for is finally here:  The results of the Endless Simmer Pine Nut Cooking Contest! Our judges have whittled down the numerous entries, but as usual, we just can’t make up our minds (our our bellies).

So we’re turning it over to you to decide which of our entrants should be crowned the Pine Nut Champion, walk away with a free subscription to La Cucina Italiana magazine, and earn a spot in the Endless Eaters Hall of Fame. We will present the finalists day-by-day and ask you to vote starting later this week.

OK, I’ll stop jabbering on and focus on that tasty photo above that I know you’ve all been drooling over while skimming the last two paragraphs.

Our first finalist is Lisa, the lovely blogger behind Dish-trict. Lisa takes on bacon-wrapped dates, which Brit told us about last week, and kicks them up a serious notch. (Sorry, Brit, but she used pine nuts!)

Lisa starts us out with some biographical info….

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in Bacon / Cheese / Contests / Endless Bacon / Pig / Recipe 11 comments
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