"Nutella" news and stories

• New York coffee, long relegated to the B-list, is now emerging as a first-run star.
• Meanwhile, those 2007 wines are elusive, says vintner Aubert de Villaine: "They are like women." Ooh la la.
• Strip House is gaining respect with age. (We're talking steak, folks -- not the other kind of stripping.)
• Feeling too poor for steak? Head to the East Village for a roundup of cheap and tasty spots.
• And for dessert, this chocolate pudding recipe confirms what everyone already knows: Nutella rules.

Peer into the cupboards of even those cooks that claim they never eat anything they didn't make from scratch and you'll probably find a jar of Nutella. There's something about this creamy hazelnut-chocolate spread that sparks an adoration usually reserved for the family dog, or maybe even one's children.

Sadly, it's almost a whole year until the next World Nutella Day (February 5) -- its founders claim Nutella is "a way of life" -- but blogger Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy keeps the love going by sharing a simple ice cream recipe from Frenchwoman, blogger, and fellow Nutella devotee, Clotilde Dusoulier. Nutella plus milk plus an ice-cream maker, it seems, is a very quick ticket to paradise.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

• A brief background on bloodsuckers, plus "a bloody fete Dracula would thirst for" -- creative fanger foods, pun intended.
• When left home alone with the task of feeding trick-or-treaters, one columnist came to discover the marvelous match of red wine and chocolate.
• Bacon banter has finally leveled out a bit, but isn't going anywhere anytime soon. However, a recent local event preceding April's Baconfest Chicago wowed porcine appreciators, with dishes like the pumpkin-bacon-waffle with pomegranate-glazed pork belly.
• More than "junk food with a European pedigree," Nutella is a "vaguely wholesome" snack with an interesting background -- and can be made at home from scratch.
• The Festival of Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer takes place November 7, and pays tribute to a worthy beer trend on the rise.
• A gallery of ten "superfoods" we should be consuming more of, from avocados and beets to chia seeds and dandelion greens.
• Recipes: Comforting Chicken Pot Pie with Drop Biscuits ("the gustatory equivalent of curling up with your favorite blanket"); the luscious Vanilla Ice Cream with Bourbon Walnuts and Caramel; Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork and Spicy Slaw "warms up a Halloween party;" Sheila Lukins' Banana Cake.

Nutella brioche pudding. Photo: No Recipes.

Sweet bread pudding tends to be delicious, and this one looks to be no exception -- a fair assumption considering it's made with bananas, milk, cream, eggs, Nutella -- Nutella! -- and not just any old bread, but brioche. But what if we said it also smelled like roses? Marc from No Recipes added three tablespoons of rose water to the recipe because ... why not?

Though he pulled this bread pudding together from scraps in his kitchen, Marc writes that the result was "swaths of buttery brioche crust enrobed in a fragrant chocolaty custard, holding bits of tender sweet fruit in its folds." We couldn't have said it better ourselves -- unless, of course, we'd had a chance to taste it.

[Via No Recipes]

Ah, the rich velvety taste of hazelnuts and chocolate! What started as a small Italian company, from the 1940s, has become a world sensation. Indeed, yesterday blogs around the world celebrated World Nutella Day. Based on Piedmontese Gianduja, a chocolate containing about 50 percent almond and hazelnut paste, Nutella was created by Pietro Ferrero in his small patisserie in Alba.

World Nutella Day falls just before Valentine's Day, just in time for people to purchase a bottle and concoct a delicious Nutella-based cake. In fact, World Nutella Day even has it's own website with recipes that range from breads, cakes, and ice creams to savory dishes, like pizza. It turns out that you can have a three course meal with nutella! Check out some of our favorite recipes below:

• Banana and Nutella Crepe
• Butternut Squash Ravioli with Nutella Sauce
• Creme au Nutella and Macarons - This gorgeously seductive dessert is certain to increase your taste for love this Valentine's Day.
  
• Super Simple Nutella Ice Cream
• Nutella Champagne Shooter - Okay, the title of this recipe is misleading. This is an exquisite cocktail made with chocolate and hazelnut liqueurs, and a sparkle of Champagne (no Nutella). It's more of a tribute to Nutella worthy of making the list.
• Nutella Espreso
• Coffee Macarons with Nutella Cream
• Nutella Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
• Creamy Nutella Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Hazelnuts
• Cinnamon Nutella Cake

There are also a whole bunch of delicious nutella-based treats in our Flickr pool. What are some of your favorites?