Sunday, November 28, 2010

A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

The obsession to recreate the perfect gorgonzola stuffed date has led to a new obsession:

Find as many creative and delicious uses for a 700ml bottle of Kalvert Rose Sirop I purchased from the Indian market down the street last Weds.

I was on the hunt for rose water for the simple syrup in my date recipe (phase II), but they only had cosmetic use rose water.

The suggested use for "NON ALCOHOLIC SWEETENED BEVERAGES" : mix 1 part sirop to 4 parts "chill milk, water or soda"

But why not alcoholic beverages? Vodka rose tonic anyone? With lime?

As a glaze for savory foods? And, might I add, it made a delightful addition to the simple syrup for the dates in place of the rose water! Any other ideas? I have the rose sirop, let's try 'em all!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Thanks for the Date, I had a Lovely Time

It was at a friend's B-day dinner at a fancy restaurant several years back that I became aware of the deliciousness which is the bacon wrapped gorgonzola stuffed date. The perfect combination of salty, savory and sweet. They melted in my mouth. It was love at first taste. I vowed to someday recreate this recipe.

Two things have gotten in the way of realizing said vow:
1. I am lazy
2. I went vegetarian over a year ago. This pretty much puts a damper on bacon wrapped anything (sob- Leslie's prosciutto wrapped asparagus)

But I finally did it. I was invited to a potluck, and realized, "Oh shit. That means I have to cook something). So I decided to compromise and create veggie and non veggie version (I was vastly outnumbered).

I searched the interwebs and found the two most cohesive, legible recipes I could. This one appeared painfully easy, but used paprika as the one and only spice, and I wasn't much into that.
The other seemed a bit fancier, and involved making the gorgonzola into a paste by processing it with almonds, whiched sounded like a fantastic idea. The problem? It involved making a glaze out of reduced sugar & rose water. a) rosewater required specialty store shopping, which I didn't have time for. b) a sugar syrup seemed superfluous as the dates are already so sweet.

Naturally, I combined the two recipes, and experimented with my best judgement.

I used slightly more cheese in the gorgonzola to almond ratio than the grouprecipies.com recipe, and the powdered sugar to taste. And of course, no syrup.

don't forget to use toothpicks to secure your proscioutto/fakin' bacon. This is really mostly important for the veggie bacon, as it doesn't want to stay wrapped. The prosciutto could get away with going pickless.

Also, I ended up cooking the veggie bacon and proscioutto wrapped dates at about 400/425 degrees, for almost 10 minutes (I checked them at 5 and 8 minutes and the cheese wasn't melty, the dates were not bubbly and the bacon did not look crispy)

The result of this experiment in taste?

The veggie bacon needs more cook time than the proscioutto, which ended up a little overcooked, but still plenty edible.
Veggie bacon isn't really known for it's ability to crisp.
I swallow my know-it-all-ness. The syrup was probably more for helping the morsels stick together, and adding moisture. I think in the long run, that's what they needed more of.

But overall, the date experiment was a success. I made instant friends with people and didn't make it across the room without loosing several off the tray to some hungry folks.

Tomorrow: Date experiment #2

I will implement the sauce this time, and make the necessary time adjustments. Also, I will use slivers of tofurky slices in place of the veggie bacon, which had the disturbingly artificial coloring and resembled play-doh food just a bit. Also, I think it will be more similar in thinness to the proscioutto.

Stay tuned, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

image pirated, erm, I mean... borrowed... appropriated! from: http://www.epicurean.com/featured/crispy-bacon-wrapped-stuffed-dates-recipe.html

Update: Experiment part 2!
The second batch of dates were more successful than the first! I avoided overcooking the proscioutto , and the syrup made the bites more succulent, the slightest hint of rose was lovely.

I asked my new culinary guinea pigs, erm, friends, for some honest feedback, and It was agreed that the fake meat was not necessary for the veggie option, as it added in texture, but not so much to the flavor. Not a bad idea at all.