"nutmeg" news and stories

According to canada.com, it seems that a simple typo in a Swedish magazine led to four people being poisoned. See, a recipe for apple cake was posted, and "Instead of calling for two pinches of nutmeg, it said 20 nutmeg nuts were needed." The error was spotted after printing, letters were sent to subscribers, and inserts were added to store issues. But these warnings didn't reach everyone. One group of people still tried out this horrifically over-nutmegged recipe, and the four suffered poisoning symptoms like dizziness and headaches.

How can anyone choose to make that recipe and not question that amount, or not be turned off by it? One sniff of nutmeg is hint enough that it's way too strong to imagine 20 nuts in one cake. So, even if you don't come to the conclusion that there was a typo, one would think that the recipe would just seem, well, gross. I can only imagine that those who ate it have taste buds that don't measure sickening amounts of nutmeg.

Once in a while you come across the type of recipe that you never would have thought of before. That's how I feel about this recipe for Brandied Grapes, from one of my favorite food blogs, Noshtalgia.

I'm not a big fan of brandy as a drink, but the marinating of grapes overnight in brandy (and also cinnamon and nutmeg) certainly intrigues me. Oh, and did I mention you serve it with sour cream on the side? I can't even begin to image what this tastes like. Full recipe after the jump.

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My parents had Thanksgiving dinner with some old friends this year and after the meal was over, my mom called me to rave about the Brussels Sprouts that Lucy, the friends' daughter, had made. Lucy has two young sons and had made these sprouts in the hopes that her boys would eat them. She put a lot of effort into them, removing each leaf from every small sprout head in order to get a kid-friendly consistency. When she gave my mom the recipe, she stressed that one does not have to go to such labor-intensive lengths in order to make this dish.

The way we did it last night was to chop 2 pounds of sprouts into eighths (quarter them and then halve the quarters), which took some time but was worth it in terms of cooking speed. In a large skillet, I sauteed four thinly sliced leeks (they were fairly small leeks, total yield was about 1 1/2 cups) and two chopped shallots in a couple teaspoons of olive oil. Then the chopped sprouts went in, along with a sprig's worth of minced rosemary. When the started to get a little dry, I added about half a cup of chicken stock (there happened to be some around, otherwise I would have used water). Cover until soft. At the very end, add 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 a cup of cream or half and half. Lastly add salt and pepper to taste.

They were so good and while they felt a little decadent, they weren't overwhelmingly rich. I think these are going to end up on the table come Christmas dinner.

My family is intensely passionate about quality maple syrup. There's none of that fake, cloyingly sweet pancake syrup in our houses. Only dark, grade B, deeply flavored maple. It's best bought in bulk from a local health food store, although Trader Joe's brand does in a pinch. I love using it to sweeten oatmeal and also have an oatmeal cookie recipe that incorporates it. On those occasions when my sweet tooth beckons and there isn't a bit of chocolate in the house, a small spoonful of maple syrup sates the sugar need nicely.

Knowing a little about this maple obsession of mine will help you understand why I am now totally fixated on the recipe Deb posted on Smitten Kitchen yesterday. She baked up a Nutmeg-Maple Cream Pie (and let's not get me started on my love of freshly ground nutmeg. I use it in nearly everything) that she dug out of the New York Times archive. She chose to bake it in a tart pan instead of a pie pan, which makes it look elegant as well as delicious. This is one that's going in the Must Make file for the very near future.

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Mmmm...apples. They remind me so much of fall (even though they're available year-round). It hasn't been very fall-like this week in my neck of the woods - it was almost 90 yesterday! - but any recipe that gets me in the mind-set for autumn is something I have to post about.

It's from the Cooking For 2 blog and it's a recipe for Fried Apples. Pretty easy, actually. I'm not really a fan of hot apple pie (I prefer ice cold apple pie), but I'm willing to give this a shot. Full recipe after the jump.