Baby Foods

Notice something about your foods? Like they're getting smaller?That's because they are. As palates are expanding, dishes are shrinking.Portions are getting tinier and tinier.

The trend may have started with White Castle , the favorite East Coast hamburger chain.They introduced mini hamburgers called sliders.These were small sandwiches that were quarter of  the size of a regular hamburger. The chain sold bags of a dozen by the dozen. They were great for kids because they fit in small hands and weren't overwhelming to eat. It took restaurants and diners a long time to catch on.It's been only the last twenty years that most eateries are now offering them. Now they come in all different styles from pulled pork to chicken to even crab cakes. Sliders are easy to make at home. Just use freshly ground meat such as ground chuck to make a smaller, meatball sized burger. As for the rolls ,King's Hawaiian Rolls are the perfect size for creating these mini marvels. As with regular hamburgers , served with a slice of cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomatoes. The rolls can also be used for making grilled cheese sliders along with mini versions of Sloppy Joes. You could even do a breakfast one with eggs, cheese, and bacon. To get a compact eggs, cook them in them in egg poaching rings for the perfect miniature.

Other dishes are getting smaller. Many restaurants are serving timbales of rice and polenta with a smattering of stew or gravy. Again home chefs can make these at home using timbale molds and cooking the grains into small shapes. They are a perfect way of introducing the kids to more sophisticated tastes without them wasting food. Try polenta timbales in a puddle of chicken cacciatore or pork with mushroom gravy.. Rice timbales can be the perfect base for salmon or sole in lemon butter sauce. Timbales can also be delicately fried baskets of dough, filled with quiche or the onion custard used in the Swabian dish zweibelkugen, onion pie.They can also be filled with spinach and mushrooms for a spin on a classic Julia Child recipe, spinach tart. These make great hors d'ouevre's but an even better main brunch dish, especially with a side of fruit. Fruit itself can be turned into miniature delicacies, thanks to melon ballers and sharp knives. A lemon or orange filled with fruit salad is a fun way to start or end a meal.Apples can be hollowed out too and filled with a mix of minced apple, caramel and crushed walnuts for a tiny but tasty end to a meal.

Baby sized versions of favorite dishes are always a fun and novel way to eat. Try  a plate or  sliders
or an lemon bursting with fruit salad. You'll then realize good things really do come in small packages!!

The Little Rice Book

My cousin and her husband recently gave me a neat little cookbook. It's all about rice and different recipes for it. The books contains every kind of recipe from savory to sweet. All different kinds of rices are also used, from basmati to arborio from long grain to short. For a rice fanatic like myself this book is a dream come true,


The books is simply called Rice and Risotto and was compiled by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen. The author herself has written numerous cookbooks from Jewish to French cuisine along with interesting books on Southern cooking and a slew of recipe books just on desserts. Her paean to rice is amazing. There are my favourites in here, the widely popular Risotto Milanese to the little known peas and arborio dish risi bisi. In between Wolf-Cohen also adds in easy risottos as well as pilafs and gumbos along with rice stuffing. There are Vietnamese dishes that call for rice flour wrappers and Mexican dishes that require rice mixed with broken pasta. Every corner of the globe is covered here with special emphasis on risotto dishes. There are so many of them here ranging from seafood to vegetarian wild mushroom to easy to classic.

Another aspect of the book that's appealed to me. is the variety of the dessert dishes. There are variations on the classic rice pudding, from a sinful dark chocolate one to a a creme brulee type with a glazed top. There's also a flan influenced Spanish style rice pudding that looks heavenly. Other sweet rice treats include rice pancakes, New Orleans fried rice cakes (a take on the famed beignet ) and shortbread made with a combo of rice and wheat flour.

Rice & Risotto is the book to get if you're a rice enthusiasts. There are so many different recipes you'll never get bored with them. They're tasty for any part of lunch or dinner.