I had a nice surprise this week when I was handed a box by the UPS guy. Inside was a bunch of rum cake!

One of the exhibitors that we met at the Fancy Food Show was Island Treasure Gourmet who make a variety of rum cakes. They make Vanilla, Chocolate, Coconut, Banana, Raspberry and Cinnamon Pecan Streusel cakes. Wow!

I might not drink alcohol, but I will happily put it in any baked good and have it baked out. The beauty of alcohol in baked goods is that it keeps them nice and moist and extends their shelf life considerably. I'm not sure of the science for it and so I would be interested to know just how long it will extend the shelf life for. Anyway, for these cakes they use Whaler’s Original Rum which apparently is from a Hawaiian recipe.

I took the bundt cake to a Superbowl party for everyone to enjoy. There is no doubt what you are getting when you cut into these cakes. They are sticky moist with rum syrup, so much so that you almost expect a pool of rum to settle on the cake plate. They are delicious, especially if you add some fruit or other accompaniments.

Island Treasure is not sold in stores in California, so you have to order by phone or online. For those on the east coast, there are a list of stores where you can find them here.

I want to thank Island Treasures for their generosity. We really love your cakes!

On Saturday I attended a Souffle class offered by Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates with Ginger as instructor. The class was held in a penthouse loft across the street from the store. It included three souffles with samplings and tastings of some of her chocolates.

The first was a Classic Souffle from the recipe she did every day at the Chicago Ritz Carlton. This was a base recipe from which you could add flavorings to your liking: raspberry, lemon, chocolate. To top this she made a Creme Anglaise that can also be flavored - today with Grand Marnier.


Our samples came out in small aluminum tins and so they deflated immediately. But she made another two in ramekins to show how they would rise and retain their height better in the ceramic. The ramekins had been greased thickly with butter and then a coating of sugar. This gave a nice crunch to the edges in contrast to the soft, melty center. Then you spooned some of the Creme Anglaise into that and it was heavenly.

Next up were chocolate molten lava cakes - the trendy dessert that all restaurants seem to have these days besides creme brulee. I've made these myself and really the secret is all in the timing of the baking so that you remove them when the outer surfaces are cooked and the interior is still raw. I reminded my friend, Jackie, that this really goes back to the spiel I always give about cooking brownies in metal or glass - they cook from the outside in. (See my brownie post for more on this.)


Our samplings had been made the day before in mini-muffin pans and then just reheated enough to warm them. Tiny morsels so that you wanted more. Luckily I snagged a second.


The final souffle was a semifreddo or frozen Meyer lemon souffle. Ginger again demonstrated the base recipe and then flavored it with lemon juice and zest. This one needed to be frozen overnight and so we were given tiny little cups of mousse-like frozen goodness.


After the souffles we were had three chocolates to taste. The first was a sample of a base milk chocolate to demonstrate the melt point of chocolate in your mouth. The second was one of her Meyer lemon truffles as she explained that it is possible to pair citrus with chocolate. This one is particularly popular in our citrus minded city. The last one I highly recommend. It is a new milk chocolate with crushed Kaffir lime leaves and, I believe she said, caramelized coconut. What a great blend of flavors with the texturing of the coconut. If you haven't been to the shop lately, definitely drop by to try this new flavor.

Ginger then reminded us that the shop also sells baking supplies. You can get quality chocolate, cocoa powder, or vanilla beans from her.

Unlike my posting for the gnocchi class, this time I was very pleased with what I had paid for. Three fabulous souffle tastings plus chocolate from a knowledgeable instructor. Ginger talked non-stop in an informative, fun way and everyone enjoyed her class. Afterwards you got to shop with a 10% discount at the shop.

I'm a little late with posting this because other posts took precedence. I took a gnocchi class a couple of weeks ago and had a rather disappointing experience. But it was really my own fault. I learned that not all gnocchi classes are created equal.

We are blessed in Sacramento to have many opportunities for cooking classes. Most are offered through the Sacramento Food Coop, Whole Foods, or The Learning Exchange. Often the classes are similar, and that's where I went wrong.


The Learning Exchange was having a sale in December and so I loaded up on some classes. I mentioned the one on glass fusing already. This time I had signed up for a gnocchi making class held at East Bay Restaurant Supply. They have a fabulous demonstration kitchen there.

The problem was that I must have been thinking of the class that is held at the Coop instead. The SacFoodies had blogged about a class they had taken where they made three gnocchis - potato, ricotta, and squash. That was what I was expecting - three gnocchis. Instead I discovered we were only making potato gnocchi and, to top it all off, a gorgonzola sage sauce to go with it. I hate gorgonzola. In fact, I pretty much dislike any type of blue, moldy cheese.


So I'm already pretty grumpy that we are only making one gnocchi with a sauce I dislike. I did ask if I could just make some sage butter on the side as I faked a gorgonzola allergy. Two more disappointments were soon on their way.

The teacher was boring. Oh she said that she's got 16 cookbooks out so as to give herself some credibility, but that doesn't help with teaching style. There were long periods of silence as we twiddled our thumbs.


Now I do have a right to be critical here. After all, I've got 13 years of Pampered Chef under my belt and so I know how to give a cooking presentation. I think I'm pretty good at it too. I pepper my shows with a lot of informative tidbits about food along with my demonstration of products. This lady, however, was dull and quiet.

Then I watched as she made the gorgonzola sage sauce with dry sage! The horror! Only the day before I had had to buy fresh sage for a recipe I was doing. It's a basic herb that is readily found in the produce section (except at Thanksgiving and Christmas when it gets wiped out). So my sage butter sauce was on the lame side and probably the gorgonzola one was too.


Anyway, the lesson is that not all cooking classes are created equal. Shankari reminded me too that Coop classes don't charge an additional "material" fee like the Learning Exchange does. I had to pony up $10 at class for the ingredients. That would have been great had there been three types of gnocchi. But $240 (class total) for some potatoes, cream, butter, and gorgonzola?!?!

Just be sure and read your class descriptions thoroughly (and with the attentiveness I lacked) and choose wisely. I won't say that all Learning Exchange cooking classes are bad, but I think the other places are better. Especially since I am friends with a couple of the teachers.

As I said in my post about the Specialty Food Show, I got some samples from different vendors. Today I decided to take two of them to make dinner.


The lamb sausage is from Marcel & Henri. They are an award winning charcuterie based in the Bay Area. Here is a little of their history from The Nibble, which by the way, has a great summary of charcuterie and pates.

Charcutier Henri Lapuyade, founder of Marcel et Henri, started to make French pâtés in the United States in 1960. Beginning with a few recipes from his native France, he opened a small shop on San Francisco’s Russian Hill. Business thrived, his quality became renowned. In 1982 the French government awarded Henri the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole for carrying on the great culinary tradition in the United States, and in 1997 he was promoted to Officier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole.

So based on the above, you know it's gonna be good. The sausage I was given was already cooked but I used it in the recipe anyway.

The gnocchi came from an Italian exhibitor, De Cecco pastas. You would know the blue and yellow boxes of their fine pastas in the grocery stores. The gnocchi were wonderfully packaged with just a slight dusting of meal to keep them separated. The cooked up nicely.

The recipe is from Emeril Lagasse. Emeril's Lamb Sausage Ragout with Portobello Mushrooms Since I don't do mushrooms, they are left out of my version. Even though this ragout is really too chunky to go with gnocchi, I wanted to use the two samples together and it still worked out deliciously. The finished product was a great contrast of the chunky and still slightly crunchy veggies of the ragout with the pillowy softness of the gnocchi. I will definitely make this again.

Lamb Sausage Ragout
* 2 pounds Italian style lamb sausage, (substitute with regular Italian sausage), cut into 1-inch pieces
* Olive oil
* 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
* 1 cup chopped onions
* 1/2 cup chopped celery
* 1/2 cup chopped carrots
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 10 plum tomatoes, halves and pureed in the food processor (about 4 to 5 cups puree)
* 1/2 cup dry red wine
* 1 pound gnocchi
* 1/4 pound Pecorino Foje de Noce

Heat a large Dutch over medium-high heat. Add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Add the sausage and cook just until well browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the crushed red pepper flakes. Add the fresh tomato puree and the red wine and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Bring a large pasta pot of water to a boil. Season with salt. Add the gnocchi and cook according to package directions, or until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain well.

A couple of months ago I mentioned my dad's artwork of fused glass koi on slate. Here is the article from a major koi publication.

My brother had said that we should really learn dad's techniques because otherwise his knowledge would be lost if something should happen to him. I think Paul plans on videotaping him at work to document the process. I decided to take a glass fusing class via The Learning Exchange so I could understand the basics.

The class was taught at Rainbow Glass on Auburn Blvd. They have classes for all kinds of glasswork including stained glass, fusing, blowing glass, glass beads, and more. I did two projects - the picture frame above and the small wall vase below. I liked how the glass melts together into one piece. What I didn't like was the instructor. She was nice and all, but she didn't educate me about glass and the processes. She just taught us a couple of techniques, let us create what we wanted, and that was it. She didn't even go into any explanation of the business and what they offered to try and encourage us to take classes. So she wasn't a good marketer.


Still, I think I might take some more classes. After all, it helps me to learn what my dad does and if I really like it, like he does, I could some day get his equipment.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

In celebration of the Winter Games in Vancouver, we did a Canadian recipe. Here is the basic info:

Nanaimo Bars are a classic Canadian dessert created in none other than Nanaimo, British Colombia. In case you were wondering, it’s pronounced Nah-nye-Moh. These bars have 3 layers: a base containing graham crackers, cocoa, coconut and nuts, a middle custard layer, and a topping of chocolate. They are extremely rich and available almost everywhere across the country.

What particularly interested me was the gluten-free part of the project. I'm getting more interested in going to gluten-free baking. As I said a few posts ago, I dabbled in modeling back in the late 80's. At the time one of the agents had told me to lay off baked goods and wheat products because it added puffiness. Then if you think about people with celiac disease, most are thin. So I'm thinking it might be a beneficial way to go.

Below is the recipe for the Gluten-free Graham Crackers - which turned out to be pretty yummy! I'm saving the rest for future crusts, etc. The only troublesome thing was that the dough is so soft and sticky that it was hard to transfer to the baking sheets. Also, they puffed up quite a bit during baking and erased my fork pricks. Then they deflated a bit until I decided to take them out. You take them out still soft to the touch and then they crisp up hard as they cool. Because I was going to crush them up for the Nanaimo bars I did not bother to make them pretty and square.

The recipe is to put them in a square pan and then cut them into bars. I decided to be a little different and used my Pampered Chef mini-muffin pan and then the rest in a muffin pan. I put in the crust mix and then the custard layer. The custard layer is a pretty small amount so I added another half recipe to have enough for both pans. I then put them into the freezer. This morning I melted the chocolate and dunked the bottoms and drizzled the tops.

How do they taste? These are definitely rich, sweet, decadent desserts. You only need the bite size morsel. The larger muffin cup ones I cut into quarters. I really like the crust but would do more of a cheesecake middle in the future. Still, a nice new treat to try.



Gluten-free Graham Crackers

Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.


Nanaimo Bars

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

I grew up in Saudi Arabia. You may have seen pictures or in movies how the Bedouin eat. They roast a goat and serve it on a platter of rice, sit on the ground, and eat with their right hands (left hand is for toilet). We used to call these 'goat grabs'. So goat is not something unusual for me. Besides, goat is really close to lamb and so if you like lamb, you'll like goat.

This month Mulvaney's Family Dinner was featuring goat. Patrick Mulvaney was thinking in terms of his wife's birthday and that she is a Capricorn. I booked a table for my Dining Galore group and we enjoyed a very tasty meal. The great thing about these monthly dinners is that for $45 (tax/tip included) you get an excellent four course meal, all you can eat, and you can even take leftovers home.


Upon entering the banquet foyer we were confronted with goat carving. One of the chefs was busy taking all the meat off the goat carcasses. While watching, John Bledsoe of Bledsoe Pork came up. Turns out he supplied the goat for the evening. I said I hadn't realized he was now offering goat. He said he doesn't to the public because he barely keeps up with the demand from the restaurants. We chatted for a while about his business and then I said I knew the goat would be as great as his pork always is.

Later I talked to Dan, bartender and family friend, about getting some of the bones for stock. He later came to my table with a bag of bones for me which I directly threw into a crockpot as soon as I got home.

During the cocktail hour there are waiters that come around with appetizers. It's hard to get them as they go quickly. Don't sit at your table and expect to get any. I had to nearly tackle a couple of waiters in order to get a few.


The first course was a chopped salad that featured goat meat chorizo. The sausages must be very thin because the slices were so small. The salad was topped with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette.


The pasta course was made by Mulvaney's Pasta Dave. It was agnolotti filled with a homemade fresh goat cheese ricotta. There were shavings of Pecorino cheese on top and then a light butter sauce with mint and thyme. Everyone loved this course and our Dave took the leftovers home.


The entree was the chili rubbed goat meat served with roasted potatoes and broccoli rabe. It was so very tasty! We did have two minor complaints though. The entree was virtually cold by the time we ate it and the goat meat was really hit and miss. One minute you would have a super tough, fatty piece and the next you would get a tender morsel. But they keep refilling the bowls til you are satisfied. Dan took those leftovers home and I took any ribs and threw them into my bone bag for stock.


The dessert was two part. The first was a pine nut cheese tart. I eat pine nuts in moderation, so eating a tart crammed full of them was not to my liking. I only ate a couple of bites. It was the least favorite thing for all of our table but Sue liked it enough to take the rest (half a pie) home.


The goat milk ice cream was another story. Yumm! I had seconds and thirds of that. They flavored it with just a tinge of caramel. It was so nice and creamy. You should really give goat milk ice cream a try because it has more calcium, less lactose, less cholesterol and fewer allergens than cow's milk. It's also more easily digestible than cow's. This weekend I even went to the Coop and asked that they start stocking it.

Anyway, almost all of us had some goodie bag to take home with us. As I said, my bones went immediately into the crockpot so that I woke up this morning to goat stock aroma in my house. I plan to add veggies and barley for a fabulous soup. But that's another blog entry...

Spamarind = Spam & Tamarind

How did I end up cooking a Spamarind dinner? Think Iron Chef or similar challenges where you are challenged to cook with specific ingredients.

But let's start with the group first. You see, I belong to a gourmet dinner group that has been going for about three years. The group consists of some Sacramento foodies and the object is to have a rotation of six households that host a fine meal for the rest. Our members include a couple of other food bloggers, a couple of leaders of dining groups, and a whole bunch of food lovers.

The first two years we cooked whatever we wanted. This last year we started by pulling ingredients out of a hat, two per household. Most of the ingredients were common enough - tea, ginger, cherry. The most unusual ingredient was mesquite meal. I had the idea to throw in Spam because I had read an article about famous chefs adding dishes with Spam at some of their restaurants. In the end, my teammate, Chris, pulled the Spam and I pulled tamarind. And so our Spamarind dinner was formed.

The requirement was that one or both ingredients had to be in each of the four courses. Luckily our turn was late in the rotation, so I've had over six months of contemplation for this dinner and time to test some of the dishes. Chris was responsible for the entree and I pretty much figured out the rest.

Two diners did have food accomodations. One eats gluten-free and luckily almost everything was so. The other preferred to only eat chicken and so we got her a chicken breast instead of the pork loin. In the end she did try every Spam item and was pleasantly surprised.


Let's start with Spam. The word 'Spam' is supposedly derived from either 'pork shoulder and ham' or 'spiced ham'. Either way, it's a pork meat product that has been shoved into a can since 1937. It became an important staple during World War II because here you had a meat protein packaged in a can that therefore had a long shelf life and was easily transportable. Since then there have been many different Spam products as it has gone in and out of favor. Often there is an increase in popularity during bad economic times. Such is the case now. My coworker went back to his home state of Minnesota this fall and said that the local Spam factory was working 24/7 because of the increase of demand.


Tamarind, our other ingredient, is a tree and the fruit from it is what is used in many dishes throughout the world, most commonly in Asia. It is usually found in a paste form that is a purplish brown in color and the flavor is an acidic sweet/sour.

So the challenge was to see if I could get both ingredients into all four courses. In the end I only skipped tamarind in the soup course and was able to use Spam in all courses!

My thought process was that Spam was just pork. Any recipe that had pork or bacon could surely be substituted with Spam, right? And so my menu was born. (I've opted to link to the recipes as separate pages in order to concentrate on an overview of the dinner here.)

* Chickpea ceviche with tamarind
* Spam lumpia with spicy tamarind dipping sauce
* White bean soup shooters with crumbled Spam
* Pork loin with tamarind BBQ sauce and roasted vegetables with Spam
* Spam truffles and tamarind macarons

I knew this dinner would be a perfect candidate for Foodbuzz's 24-24-24. To make it more interesting for all, I decided to create a scorecard for each diner to record their rating and comments for each item. I asked them to give a 1-5 rating for three categories: taste, appearance, and creativity. Then there was a spot for thoughts/comments. There were ten raters and I did not rate. Also, the chickpea ceviche was a last minute addition and so it wasn't on the rating form.


Chickpea Ceviche with Tamarind

Chris added this contribution and had found the recipe on the internet. We set it out while we were busy getting everything else ready. You can definitely see and taste the Indian influence of this dish. Chris dislikes cilantro and wanted to put it on the side but was outvoted. In the end he admitted that it was much better with the cilantro (after he'd been eating it all week without). I'm not a fan of chickpeas but did enjoy the freshness of it. Not sure I would have called it a ceviche when it's more akin to a salsa. It was served with flatbread.



Spam Lumpia with Spicy Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Taste - 4.5 Appearance - 4.5 Creativity - 4.5

Lumpia is the Filipino version of an eggroll. The difference is that Filipinos put meat in theirs along with vegetables. Most commonly it is a mixture of beef, pork, and shrimp. Vegetables can be anything non-juicy like cabbage, potatoes, peas, etc. At work we had a lumpia fundraiser and I was surprised to find frozen vegetables (you know, the carrot, corn, pea, lima bean combo) in them. I used the Spam and shrimp and then cole slaw mix, water chestnuts, and onion. A couple of my diner comments said that my mixture of meat to vegetables was "well balanced".

I provided both the tamarind sauce and the more commonly known sweet chili sauce. In the end everyone agreed that the tamarind was the better one. I believe it works particularly well with the saltiness of the Spam in the lumpia, which was agreed on by this comment - "The tamarind sauce with lumpia was spicy and rich and added to the salty fried goodness."


White Bean Soup Shooters

Taste - 4 Appearance - 4 Creativity - 4

This recipe I found in Food Network Magazine - even the serving of it as shooters. Again, I substituted Spam for bacon - although I did put in a lot more Spam than would have equaled the called for half strip of bacon. This soup is very flavorful thanks to the saltiness of the Spam and the good amount of fresh sage. It is garnished with a bit of goat cheese. The comments reflected an enjoyment of creaminess and flavor, but said the color was "a little off-putting" and unappetizing.



Pork Loin with Tamarind BBQ Sauce and Roasted Vegetables with Spam

Taste - 4 Appearance - 3.5 Creativity - 4

For our entree Chris chose pork loin and used the tamarind barbecue sauce from Perfect Puree. I prepared the side of roasted vegetables with Spam chunks instead of bacon. All agreed that Chris prepared a beautifully cooked, moist loin, but it needed additional sauce to dress the plate. He had doubled the recipe, but still ended up using it all on the glazing and for the chicken for our one diner. I'm sure our entree score would have gone up if we had more sauce. The pork "looked naked" and we "could have used garnish" were some of the comments.

The roasted vegetables consisted of cubed parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes, and regular potatoes that were tossed in oil. I cubed up the Spam and threw those in there, spread the veggies on a couple of baking sheets, and the roasted at 375 for an hour. I also parboiled a pound of Brussel sprouts, tossed them in oil, and then added them to the roasting pans at the half hour mark. What I heard most was that there needed to be more parsnips and Spam. "Negligible amount of Spam in veggies" and "would have loved more Spam in the vegetables" demonstrate this.


Spam Truffles

Taste - 4.5 Appearance - 5 Creativity - 5

The Spam truffles were the "winner" of the evening. I stole the idea from Garrett over at Vanilla Garlic. He had made bacon truffles and so I just switched the Spam for bacon again. I wanted to do something a little different than just rolling them in cocoa powder and so I used edible gold to decorate them.

There were the great comments like, "Loved em. Texture and gold took it over the top!" and "Wow!" The saltiness of the fried Spam was perfect with the dark chocolate, but it was the chewiness of tiny bits of Spam that threw off people a bit. This comment sums it up: "Taste fabulous. Texture a little weird. Chocolate melts away but the Spam is still in your mouth".



Tamarind Macarons

Taste - 4.5 Appearance - 4.5 Creativity - 4.5

I had made macarons back in December for the Daring Bakers' Challenge. I decided that these light, little cookies would go well beside the Spam truffles. I made a plain macaron cookie and then made a tamarind cream. I whipped up some whipped cream and added some tamarind paste to flavor it. Although I added a full tablespoon, I think it could have used even more. To stabilize the whipped cream I also mixed in some gelatin.

There were many "very good" comments. They weren't my best macarons though. I had made them almost a week in advance and stored them in the fridge. On Friday they were too crispy when I added the filling. I took them out to get a little moisture exposure and they went too far the other way. But the diners were mostly forgiving and enjoyed them as "light and delicate".

I'll sum up this whole Spamarind dinner experience with a quote I took from one of my diner's Facebook posts when she got home.

"Just home from the Spamarind dinner. I was a little scared but the results were fabulous! My favorite, Spam lumpias with a spicy Tamarind dipping sauce. Yummy!"

P.S. Foodbuzz 24-24-24 has the other 23 participants for January. Check out the other culinary adventures that took place the same time as my Spamarind dinner.

Related to Spamarind Dinner
(Tamarind sauce is the darker sauce. The orangier sauce is sweet chili sauce.)

For our appetizer I wanted to try to conquer both Spam and tamarind in one dish. I accomplished this with making lumpia. One of the ingredients in lumpia is ground pork. Again, a matter of substitution. I chopped up the Spam with my Food Chopper and added that in place of ground pork.


Also note that I shortcut by using cole slaw mix instead of chopping cabbage and carrot myself.

Spam Lumpia

4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bag of cole slaw mix
1 can of Spam
2/3 c cooked shrimp, chopped
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
1/4 c sesame oil
3 T soy sauce
fresh ground black pepper
1 pkg of lumpia wrappers
1 egg, beaten
vegetable oil

Add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil to a hot wok and add garlic. Cook under a minute and toss in onions. Cook until tender. Add in cole slaw mix and tossed vegetables together until well mixed. Cook for about ten minutes.

In a separate skillet, cook the chopped Spam until it is nicely browned. Add chopped shrimp and mix well.


Take meat mixture and add to veggie mixture. Add water chestnuts. Mix them until well incorporated. Turn off heat. Add soy sauce, rest of sesame oil, and black pepper to taste. Mix well.


Line a cookie sheet with paper towels to catch drippings. Set a colander on top and pour cooked mixture into colander. Let it cool and drain completely.

While mixture is cooling, open lumpia wrappers and separating each sheet. It is important that you separate the sheets in advance of wrapping because they stick together and you want to be able to wrap at a constant pace. Place the sheets on a plate and cover with a damp but well wrung out towel.



To wrap, place one wrapper on the table or counter in front of you, with one of the corners pointing at you. Place a tablespoonful of the filling about 2 inches above the corner closest to you, spreading it into a mini log. Fold the corner closest to you over the filling, tucking it snugly against the filling so the corner lays flat. Roll the wrapper once and fold in the left and right corners. Dampen your fingers with some beaten egg and wet the top corner. Continue rolling so that the top corner seals the roll shut.

Pour oil into a fry pan so that you have a 1/2 inch of oil. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. When it is hot enough to make a piece of the wrapper crisp and brown within seconds, it is ready to use.

Fry a few lumpia (do not crowd them) at a time until crisped and browned, turning them with tongs as they cook. Each batch should take about 2 1/2 minutes. Use tongs to transfer the lumpia to paper towels to drain. Repeat to cook all of the lumpia.

Spicy Tamarind Dipping Sauce

# 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
# 1/4 cup tamarind paste (found in Asian markets)
# 1 tablespoon canola oil
# 1 tablespoon fish sauce
# 1-2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
# 1 tablespoon sugar

Mix ingredients together.



Spam

On day two of the Specialty Food Show the NASFT announced what they saw as the top five food trends for 2010. They were: Good-for-you foods, Coconut, Gluten-free, Exotic citrus, Nostalgic foods.

As I said on my previous post, we also saw gluten-free as one of the trends. I've noticed many gluten-free blogs amongst my food blogger counterparts. More and more people are getting food allergies and celiac has been one of the big ones. Apart from that consideration, it made me think back to 20+ years ago when I dabbled in modeling. One of the bookers for sending models to Japan had told me that I needed to cut out eating wheat because it was what added chubbiness to my face. When you think about it, people with celiac allergies are a lot thinner. It makes me think that maybe I need to start looking more into gluten-free baking. After all, I'll never be able to give up my love of baked goods but at the same time, who wouldn't like to lose a few pounds? (As a side note, this month's DB Challenge involves gluten-free baking, so stay tuned for that post at month end.)

The coconut they mention would be mostly in coconut water. There were a lot of exhibits with it, but I wouldn't have said it was a big, new trend. Same with exotic citrus. The only exotic citrus I saw was about three vendors with blood orange juice. That's not indicative of a big trend to me either.

As far as good-for-you foods...well that's a no brainer. There is more and more emphasis on eating healthier, more organic, lower calorie sweeteners, etc. That's why almost one whole building was dedicated to Natural & Organic. The big thing I noticed was a lot of agave and stevia. For those that don't know, both of these are natural sweeteners.


Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose levels and so that's why it is recommended for diabetics. It is 300 times sweeter than sugar and 0 calories! It comes from the plant found in Central and South America.


Agave is a plant also found in Central and South America. Agave has about half the glycemic level and effect on blood glucose than sugar does. Plus, sugar has no other benefits to the body while agave has vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and inulin. Inulin is a fiber that helps moderate blood sugar and enhances calcium absorption.

Anyway, the point is I think that in the next decade you will start seeing a lot of foods moving away from the artificial sweeteners and embracing the natural sweeteners. Boy, the sweetener dish at restaurants is gonna be a rainbow of packets with Extra, Sweet n Low, Splenda, and then add Stevia, and others!

The last NASFT choice confuses me as well. I really didn't see a lot of examples of Nostalgic Food. What exactly were they meaning? Or am I wrong in my thinking it's similar to Comfort Foods? I've actually sent an inquiry to NASFT to clarify what they mean.

The NASFT said that close behind their top five were preserved foods. This would include pickled, cured, and smoked. I would have switched Coconut with Preserved Foods on the list. There were definitely lots of smoked meats, loads of cheeses, and plenty of other examples as well. Look for this food trend to start appearing in more magazines.

NASFT is only one organization though. Sacatomato's Ann was telling me that she heard that gourmet doughnuts were gonna be the new cupcake. Maybe so. If you can think of a food trend that you see as gaining in popularity, please submit a comment.