Nothing like a stuffed date to make your day, unless it’s a stuffed date DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE! Decadent. Delightful. Divine.
Ingredients
3 ounces dark chocolate – about ½ cup chocolate chips or similar
1 tsp coconut oil
24 dates – medjool or other
½ cup almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
¼ cup almond butter
Directions
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Cut lengthwise slit in each date and remove pit. Remove date crown.
Fill each date with about ½ tsp almond butter and chopped almonds and press closed.
Make a double boiler using a small pot with about an inch of water. Place a small bowl over the pot and make sure the bottom isn’t touching the water. Add chocolate and coconut oil to bowl.
Bring water to a simmer and let chocolate melt slowly while you stir it constantly.
Using a toothpick, lower dates into chocolate and spoon chocolate over exposed part to fully coat. Shake off excess chocolate and place on baking sheet.
Let dates set 5 minutes on counter then put in freezer for 10 minutes.
If you’re wondering how to get more wine and chocolate into your savory creations, here’s a recipe including a creative sauce using both. When it comes to savory dishes, chocolate is a bit player that helps pull all the flavors together instead of the star of the show. You want to use just enough to balance the other ingredients.
Ingredients
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 medium white onion – ½ minced and ½ sliced into rings
½ medium red pepper, diced
2 cups water
1 tsp Better than Bouillon
1 cup green lentils, well rinsed
4 garlic cloves, minced – divided in half
1 bay leaf
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cocoa powder
¼ tsp chili powder
1/3 cup red wine
½ cup ketchup
1 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce – vegan if desired
1/8 tsp liquid smoke, or smoked paprika
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Salt/pepper to taste
4 – 6 hamburger buns
4 – 6 leaves lettuce
Directions
To a small saucepan, add 2 Tbsp olive oil, minced onion and red pepper. Cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add water, 2 cloves minced garlic, bay leaf, Better than Bouillon and lentils. Bring to a low boil, stir. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes, or until tender. Set aside to drain, removing bay leaf.
Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 cloves minced garlic, cumin, cocoa powder and chili powder and stir for 1 minute.
Add red wine and simmer 2 minutes. Whisk in ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire and liquid smoke/smoked paprika and simmer 2 minutes more.
Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar and vinegar and let cool slightly. Add sauce to lentils to achieve desired “sloppiness.” Serve scoops of sauced lentils onto toasted burger buns, garnished with lettuce leaves and sliced onion.
Puntarelle is the most interesting-looking member of the chicory family – think escarole, endive, radicchio – but with long pointy leaves encircling hollow, pointed tubes with a bitter but pleasant flavor Italians call amarognolo (ah-mahr-own-YOlo).
The tubes are traditionally sliced thinly and enjoyed raw as a salad with an anchovy-based dressing similar to what you’d put on a Caesar salad. This version was inspired by a recipe from a San Francisco firehouse. If you want to make your puntarelle salad “alla California,” use the optional avocado and lemon for a simple, guac-like base to top with the salad.
No puntarelle? Thinly-sliced endive is a good substitute.
Ingredients
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3-4 cloves garlic
1.5 oz jar anchovy filets in oil
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup olive oil
Salt/pepper to taste
1 head puntarelle (about 1 lb)
½ lemon
Optional: 1 avocado, ½ lemon
Directions
Cut bottom off puntarelle and remove large (more bitter) outer leaves to be used for something cooked like a soup or sauté.
Take a small tube and, slicing from the open end towards the pointy top, cut into thin ribbons that are held together by the top. Alternately, julienne tubes into separate strips.
Place puntarelle strips in a bowl with cold water, some ice cubes, and the ½ lemon (squeeze slight to release juice into water). Let rest for an hour, taste for bitterness. If you want less bitterness, change water and continue soaking for another ½ hour. This will also cause the cut tubes/strips to curl.
While puntarelle soaks, make dressing: Add lemon juice, Dijon, vinegar, Worcestershire, garlic, anchovy filets and their oil, Parmesan and olive oil to a blender and blend until creamy. Adjust taste with salt/pepper.
Drain puntarelle and dry in a salad spinner
Optional avocado layer: Mash avocado with juice from ½ lemon and salt/pepper to taste. Thinly spread a dollop of mashed avocado onto serving plates. Top with dressed puntarelle divided into equal portions.
For a vegan version, sub 1 Tbsp chopped capers for anchovies and use a vegan Worcestershire sauce. To maintain texture, stir capers into blended dressing right before adding to puntarelle.
Time to meet your new favorite dipper of choice! Usually avos are the dip, but in this tasty plot twist they become the dipper. Did you have that on your bingo card?
Easy to make in an oven or air fryer.
Ingredients
3 avocados, refrigerated for about an hour before cutting to preserve consistency
1 cup chickpea flour, divided
½ cup water
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp white miso
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of cayenne
Pinch of ground cumin
1 cup breadcrumbs
Oil to coat air fryer basket (if using air fryer)
1 cup mayonnaise – regular or vegan
Hot sauce to taste – we like kimchi sriracha
Directions
Preheat oven/air fryer to 425°. If using an oven, line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix mayo and hot sauce to taste and set aside in fridge.
Slice avocadoes in half. Remove pits and slice each half into quarters. Remove skin and slice each piece in half again. (This way each avocado will yield about 16 pieces.)
In a small bowl, add miso to water and dissolve as completely as possible. Combine ¼ cup chickpea flour with water – it should be like pancake batter, not too thin.
In another bowl, add garlic powder, salt, smoked paprika, cayenne and cumin to remaining chickpea flour. Whisk to combine.
Put breadcrumbs in a third bowl. If using an air fryer, spray tray/basket with oil.
Put one avocado slice in chickpea flour, then lightly onto a fork and into the batter. Make sure the slice is completely covered – the curvy part may take a little more effort. Lift the slice out of the batter and turn it side to side so excess drips off.
Lower slice into breadcrumbs so it’s covered. Press gently so breadcrumbs stick to the slice and place it on the sheet pan or into air fryer tray/basket. Repeat with remaining slices and place next to each other with about an inch of space in between.
If using an oven, bake avocado fries 15 minutes and then flip over to bake another 15 minutes or until golden brown. If using an air fryer, fry for about 12-14 minutes and then check for golden brown doneness. Fries should feel crispy when done, not soggy.
The name translates into “five spices (tempering),” so it could also be called Indian 5-Spice. Be careful when you add it to hot oil as mustard seeds tend to splutter.
Great in a recipe for dal or to flavor basmati rice, or anywhere you’d use just toasted cumin seeds.
Ingredients
3 Tbsp cumin seeds
2 Tbsp brown mustard seeds
2 Tbsp fennel seeds
2 Tbsp nigella seeds
1 ½ Tbsp fenugreek seeds
Directions
Combine ingredients in an airtight container or glass jar.
To use: Once oil you’re using in a recipe is hot, add panch pooran to the pan. Roast for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until lightly toasted and smell is aromatic and not yet burnt.
