Friday I'm in Love... with Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack

Like any good Boston girl, I love my ice cream. It's not uncommon around here to find people lined up for ice cream on a cold winter's night. I also love desserts that are both salty and sweet, so when I heard that Ben & Jerry's had come out with a flavor in honor of Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Show that involved potato chips and salted caramel, I searched high and low to find it.

(Truth be told, I'm more of a Craig Ferguson fan than Jimmy, but Craig doesn't have his own ice cream flavor...yet. This is my favorite clip from the Late Late Show.)

Supermarket after supermarket didn't have Late Night Snack on the shelves, but I eventually found some and dug right in. The ice cream base itself is a premium vanilla, flecked with Fair Trade vanilla beans, and is sweet and smooth. The caramel runs in ribbons throughout, and its saltiness is more pronounced when eaten with only a small amount of the ice cream. And the chocolate-covered potato chip clusters? Crispy and salty (although the caramel is saltier), but not all-together what I was expecting.

These clusters are more like rice crispies - airy and crackly - than like real potato chips. So after a slight disappointment in not finding real chips, I started to get into the texture of these clusters.

Final verdict? I'm hoping this flavor doesn't go away anytime soon. Much like its sibling, Chubby Hubby (vanilla malt ice cream with fudge and peanut butter and chocolate-covered peanut butter-filled pretzels), Late Night Snack appeals to those of us who like a little savory with the sweet. Unlike Chubby Hubby, where the pretzels are a bite in themselves, Late Night Snack's potato chip clusters are just the right size to enjoy in conjunction with the rest of the ingredients.

Cilantro Lime Dip

I read the other day that Cape Cod Potato Chips were turning 30 this July, and almost immediately, I found myself craving potato chips. Just call me Pavlov's dog.

I grew up going to Cape Cod every summer with my family, and for the longest time, Cape Cod Potato Chips were something we ate down there, or back home while remembering our vacations - and I assumed it was only a local thing. I don't know when it clicked that this brand has a wider appeal, but it was well before my favorite exchange from last summer's True Blood:

Sookie: Sorry. I'm usually good at placing people's accents, but yours I can't get a handle on. Where are you from?
Maryann: Cape Cod. Best potato chips in the world.

I nearly doubled over laughing when I heard that. Either that writer was from Massachusetts, or these chips have a wider audience.

I've been to the factory a few times, and my nephew and nieces now think a summer isn't complete without a visit. Frankly, there's not much to see - much less than other factories that have made it almost a tourist attraction - but if you're in the neighborhood of Hyannis, it's worth a stop. The "tour" won't take more than 10 minutes, and you can try a few of the newer flavors at the small shop at the end. Last summer, I bought this canvas tote that is now my favorite shopping bag, and someone comments on it every time I carry it. Oh, and the best part of seeing the factory? The air around it smells heavenly from the frying potatoes. At least, it's nice when you visit - I'm not sure I'd want to come home smelling like that every day.

My favorite of the Cape Cod line of potato chips (actually, my favorite potato chip anywhere) is the Robust Russet (it used to be called the Dark Russet, which made a little more sense). The chips almost look burned, but they're not, it's just the sugars in the particular type of potato. They're a touch sweet, and plenty salty, and I love the ones that have curled up on themselves in the frying process.

I usually eat my Dark Russets by themselves, but this craving called for dip.

Cilantro Lime Dip
2 cups Greek yogurt (fat-free is fine)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 lime, juiced and zested (use 2 if they're small)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 scallions, greens only, chopped
Cayenne
Salt

Combine yogurt, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, garlic, and scallions in a bowl and mix to combine. Add cayenne and salt to taste. Refrigerate for at least one hour for flavors to meld.

Potato Chip Cookies

I spent the last weekend in March at a fantastic non-food-related event and came home with a desire to bake. Strange? Not if you've met me.

PAX East (the East Coast offshoot of Seattle-based PAX) was host to 50,000 gamers (video games, tabletop games, board games, pretty much anything and everything) at the Hynes Convention Center, and for three days, I was surrounded by fellow geeks (in fact, I found myself on the "casual" gamer end of the spectrum amongst this group). I took some embroidery with me to keep me occupied while we waited in lines (I don't have a Nintendo DS, which seemed like the most common thing people were using in line, so this kept me busy).

On Saturday morning, while waiting in line for a panel with Foxtrot author Bill Amend, a guy walked through the crowd with a bag filled with little tin-foil-wrapped goodies, taking donations for Child's Play and handing out cookies. He was part of what I later learned is called the Cookie Brigade. I handed him a donation and he asked what I wanted.

"Chocolate chip, oatmeal, sugar, experimental..." he said.

"Experimental? Sure, why not," I told him, and while my friend dug into a serviceable chocolate chip cookie, I quickly unwrapped a golden cookie studded with little flecks of what looked like corn flakes.

But those were no corn flakes. Instead, they added a nice crunch to an otherwise crumbly shortbread and a healthy dose of salt to something that was fairly sweet.

"Potato chip cookie!" I called out, and there were "oooh"s of interest from those around me.

So a few days after the con ended (I needed some time to recuperate!), I started searching for potato chip cookie recipes. Most of what I found included pecans, but the one I had included no nuts, and frankly, was better for the omission. I jury-rigged my recipe from the ones I found to be more like the one I ate at PAX, and I'm convinced that this is pretty close to that cookie.

I used Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt potato chips because, despite saying "lightly salted" on the bag, they are one of the saltiest chips out there (they're also not greasy, which is a plus). They are my second favorite potato chips, but my favorite (Cape Cod Potato Chip's Robust Russet) are very dark in color and I thought they would look burnt in the cookies. This is a great way to use up the chip crumbs at the bottom of the bag, so feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

These cookies are great with just the chips, but they're even better with a little bit of chopped chocolate. I tried them with both milk and dark chocolate, and I think I liked the milk better.

Potato Chip Cookies
2 sticks salted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips
1/2 cup chopped chocolate (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream together butter and powdered sugar. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Add flour and and mix until completely combined. Add crushed potato chips and chocolate and mix until incorporated. Roll dough into walnut-sized balls (use your best Ralph Wiggum voice to say "These cookies give my hands ouchies!") and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a baking rack before serving; store in an airtight container.

Addictive Roasted Parsnips

I fell in love with parsnips last fall and haven't been able to get enough of them since. A relative of the carrot, parsnips are sweet like their cousins but are not quite as enjoyable raw. They're perfect roasted or in soups and were probably introduced to many people (myself included) via Terra Chips.

So as much as I love chopping parsnips into cubes and roasting, I wanted something a little more crunchy this time. Something a little more sweet and starchy, like what you find in that Terra Chips bag, but - you know - a little less fried.

Due to crowding on my roasting pan, some slices ended up very crispy while others were cooked through but not crunchy at all. I actually ended up liking this better than if they had been uniformly crispy. This would serve better as a side dish than a snack, especially alongside the turkey this Thursday.


Addictive Roasted Parsnips
1 pound parsnips (the fatter the better)
3 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
1/2 Tbsp kosher salt
1/2 Tbsp Penzey's Tsardust Memories (or a blend of salt, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, and marjoram)

Preheat oven to 400°.

Using a carrot peeler, peel off skin of parsnips and discard. Peel the rest of the parsnips into strips using the peeler (you will be left with a small stub that is too hard to peel). In a large bowl, toss parsnip strips with the rest of the ingredients until coated. Arrange strips on a foil-lined baking sheet in a thin and even layer. Roast for about 30 minutes, tossing the parsnips occasionally to ensure uniform browning. Remove from oven when most of the strips are at least golden on the edges and they are all cooked all the way through.

Tons of great products at Expo East

Last week, I had the great opportunity to attend Expo East, a natural products showcase at the Boston Convention Center. The convention center is a truly huge space, and for this show, it was packed with thousands of booths offering natural health and beauty products, vitamin supplements, and natural foods. Guess what area I focused on?

I loved getting the chance to talk to producers and hear why they were passionate about their products. There was a strong showing of vendors from New England, and I especially enjoyed talking with them - many of them were clearly very excited to be presenting to the more than 26,000 attendees.

Some of my favorites:

White Mountain Kettle Corn makes quite possibly the best Kettle Corn I've ever had. It was very well balanced between sweet and salty. I find that kettle corn is often too sweet, but this product had plenty of salt too. Plus, it's local (not too far from Manchester, NH) and a terribly addictive snack. I loved talking to White Mountain's president, the charming Priscilla Dube, who told me how the company began as a retirement project for her and her husband. What a delicious retirement!

Putney Pasta's booth was much like it's packaging - bright, vibrant, and inviting. When I think of frozen ravioli, I think of the rather bland ones I ate as a kid, but these have changed my perception of frozen ravioli. The pasta was not too dense, and the fillings were bursting with flavor. They were also sampling their new skillet meals (complete with meat and sauce), and while I've ragged on some frozen meals before, these were delicious and tasted homemade. Considering how hectic my life can be sometimes, I think these would be great to keep on hand. Plus, it's another (fairly) local company, from Brattleboro, VT.

Baji's offers Indian-inspired convenience food. Their papadums come in four flavors (cilantro, mango chutney, yogurt dill, and tandoori). Flavors like these are hard to find in snack foods, and these crispy little snacks really fill a void in the market. Their microwaveable rice meals offer a quick, filling, and healthy meal (with real veggies!) in no time - I'll definitely be giving these a try on my days when I have about 10 minutes for lunch. Plus, Baji's was the most local of my favs - they're in Sudbury, MA!

Sunbutter is a terrific alternative to peanut butter (for those who can't have pb or want something a little different). The texture is great, not at all grainy like some pb-alternatives can be. If you're paying enough attention, the flavor is definitely sunflower seeds, but not so much that it's distracting. I enjoyed this product a lot, and while it's not going to replace peanut butter for me, it would be a great option for changing things up every once in a while.

Harvard Common Press was on hand showing off some of their cookbook selection (their other focus is on parenting books). They have tons of beautiful and creative cookbooks for kitchen inspiration. I was actually in the bookstore just a couple of days ago and saw their Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies - it's a great concept and is well-executed, and knowing my passion for cookies (especially at Christmas time), I'm sure this one will end up on my shelf sometime soon.

There were also quite a few companies offering a different kind of dried fruit - crispy! I really enjoyed Bare Fruit, Danielle Snacks, Crispy Green, and Just Tomatoes. Sometimes I crave something crunchy and the only things on hand are not the most healthy choices. But crispy fruit (and veggies, in the case of Danielle and Just Tomatoes) are a fantastic alternative that sates the urge for crispiness while providing good-for-you food. (Plus, Danielle is also another local company!)

Surplus Bagel Chips

I enjoy bagels, but only when they're fresh. If they start getting old, or if they've been frozen, the texture loses a lot of integrity, leaving me with no desire to eat them. So when there's a whole dozen on hand, past the point when I'll eat them by themselves, I feel the need to get a little creative.

Making bagel chips is the prime way to use the leftover bagels, transforming them into a snack that I will eat. Plain or savory bagels are great to serve with a fresh dip, like this delicious hummus-like Rosemary-Lemon White Bean dip from Mark Bittman. My favorite bagel, rosemary olive oil, is an especially good pair for this dip. Sweeter bagels, like cinnamon raisin, are great with a little peanut butter. (For sweeter bagels, use melted butter instead of olive oil, and hold the salt). Either way, bagel chips are easy to make and even easier to eat.

Bagel Chips
bagels, as many as you have on hand
olive oil
kosher or sea salt

Preheat oven to 300°. Slice bagels into 1/8-inch pieces, making sure they a consistant thickness. Brush one side of each slice and lay on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until chips are brown and no longer soft to the touch. Cool on a wire cooling rack before serving.

The Fireplace, Brookline

I met up with a couple of my high school friends last weekend for an impromptu lunch. There aren't so many places that offer brunch on Saturdays, though, so we ended up at the Fireplace in Washington Square in Brookline. I live close by, but I've heard not such good things about the dinners there, so I was a little hesitant to try it. The more I researched, though, the more it seemed that brunch was enjoyable there, and I decided that would be fine.

First off, I have to say how entertaining our waiter was. He was joking around with us the whole time, and we made him laugh as much as he made us laugh. Also, the space was very nice with lots of natural light from the big windows. We had a corner booth that was nice and comfortable.

For my meal, I had a hard time deciding on what I wanted. I settled on the beet and orange salad over Boston lettuce with goat cheese, parsnip chips, and citrus vinaigrette. I'll admit, it was the parsnip chips that pushed me in this dish's favor. When it arrived, I was surprised at the vast expanse of beet. While everything tasted good, there were just way too many beets on the dish, overpowering everything else. There's a lot of potential with this dish, but the balance issues just threw me off. (Don't worry, the parsnip chips were delicious.)

The brunch menu has lots of other good-looking treats, so I'm sure I'll give it a try again... but not for beets.

Cheap Eats: Angela's Cafe

Being as it's Cinco de Mayo, everyone in the city is going to be trying to grab some Mexican food and cervezas tonight. Most of the options are less than ideal, however. For truly great and authentic Mexican (no beer yet, though, but they're working on it), head to Angela's Cafe in East Boston.

Angela's is a small storefront that focuses on food from the Puebla region of Mexico, but it also offers American fare for the less adventurous. Puebla is a focal point of cuisine in Mexico, and Angela herself is in the kitchen, cooking traditional recipes like her amazing mole poblana. This authentic mole combines chocolate, chilis, and a vast blend of spices to form a sauce with a rich and deep flavor. The mole is very good on the enchiladas ($10.95), three corn tortillas stuffed with a mix of vegetables or shredded chicken. Many dishes, including the enchiladas, are served with standard rice and black beans, but the taste is anything but standard. The beans are especially delicious, with so much more flavor that you'll find at other Mexican restaurants.


Another standout on the menu is the freshly made guacamole ($8.95). Served in a pig-shaped molcajete, the guacamole is packed with flavorful cilantro and tomatoes. It is served with house-made tortilla chips that are thicker and flakier than usual. Nine dollars may seem a little steep for guacamole, but once you taste it, you won't mind the extra cost.

Angela's Cafe is located at 131 Lexington Street in East Boston and is accessible via the T at the Airport station on the Blue line.

Originally posted on Bostonist.

Nachooooooo!

What is it about tortilla chips and cheese that make nachos the perfect food? It's something beyond the crunch and the grease and the salt... although those are all really good reasons. Nachos are definitely a case of "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts".

Chicken and Tomatilla Nachos

• 1 chicken breast
  
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
  
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  
• 1/4 tsp ancho chili pepper
  
• pinch of salt
  
• tortilla chips
  
• Trader Joe's tomatilla salsa
  
• shredded cheese (I used a combo of cheddar, mozzarella, and Jack... make sure there's some Jack in there)
  
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
  

In a small pot, boil chicken for 10-15 minutes, until cooked through. Allow to cool on a cutting board, then shred with two forks. Heat oil in a pan and add chicken and cayenne, ancho, and salt. Stir to make sure the spices are covering the chicken.

Preheat oven to 350°. In a glass or ceramic baking dish, put down a layer of tortilla chips. Sprinkle lightly with salsa, then chicken, then cheese. Repeat until the dish is filled (my dish took 3 layers). Bake about 10 minutes, until top begins to brown. Scatter sliced scallion on top before devouring...I mean, serving.

Speaking of culinary battle cries... Nachooooo!

Kettle Chips Fire and Spice Tasting

For the 4th year, Kettle Chips has taken a unique path to developing and marketing new flavors. They have developed 5 new flavors, but only one will go into widescale production and be available in markets. Tasting kits can be purchased on their website, and voting also takes place online.

This year's potato chip throwdown was titled Fire and Spice, with all the flavors focusing on some sort of hot pepper or other spicy ingredient. From mild to spicy (at least, according to the tasting guide), they are Wicked Hot Sauce, Mango Chili, Jalapeno Salsa Fresca, Orange Ginger Wasabi, and Death Valley Chipotle.


Wicked Hot Sauce - A fairly mild heat, but with lots of vinegary kick. Just tasting a couple chips doesn't do much, but I'm sure this is the kind of heat that would sneak up on you after eating much of the bag.

Mango Chili - Sweet and sassy. The heat is not overwhelming, but the sugar sure is. Kettle Chips has a bad habit of adding too much sugar to their sweeter flavors (Spicy Thai, anyone?), and this chip suffers from it. If the sugar and spice were more balanced out, this would be a nice snack. As it is, the mango flavor doesn't get to come out; it just tastes like sweet.

Jalapeno Salsa Fresca - So awesome. This is the most well-balanced blend of spices in the bunch. The jalapeno does not overwhelm the fresh salsa taste, but you can tell there's some heat there. It kind of reminds me of the salsa-flavored Doritos I used to buy. It's like potato chips and salsa (come on, I'm not the only one who does that), but without the mess of dripping tomatoes everywhere.

Orange Ginger Wasabi - These taste just like the little peas available at asian markets, only they're easier on the teeth (I'm always sure I'm going to break a tooth on one of those peas...). I honestly didn't taste much ginger or orange, which is why this chip doesn't rate higher for me - if it's advertised, I want to taste it. The wasabi is very strong, so it's definitely not something you could eat a whole bag of.

Death Valley Chipotle - Man, you can smell the chipotle as soon as you open the bag. These bright red chips pack a smoky punch. The only thing stronger than the smoke is the heat. They're like a really spicy barbeque chip. I definitely couldn't eat more than a couple (hey, a new way to diet!).

So overall, my pick for winner was the Jalapeno Salsa Fresca. I could eat those until the cows come home. The Wicked Hot Sauce (for all it's name is worth) was the weakest of the bunch, and I didn't think it was really in league with the other flavors. For the rest, they would be good to snack on only a few, but I wouldn't be able to eat a whole bunch of them.

Tasting packs are still available through the Kettle Chips website, and this seems to be something they do every year now (as evidenced by a hilarious tasting of ethnic flavors at my family's Christmas party last year). Has anyone else given these a try? What are your thoughts?