I am a seafood fanatic and a vanilla-aholic , so when I came across a recipe for a Mahi Mahi in a Vanilla Cream Sauce it was all I thought about for DAYS!  We had our Executive Chef play around with this idea and put our Rodelle Vanilla Beans and Extract to this recipe for you to enjoy.  We added a some dried cranberries and love, and viola a creation that is an experience instead of just a meal!

Mahi Mahi In Vanilla Bean Cream Sauce

Ingredients

4 fillets of sea bass, mahi mahi or cod (1-1/4 lb total)

2 tsp olive oil

1 shallot, sliced thin

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Vanilla bean split and scraped

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

1TBLS dried cranberries sliced

Salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Lightly coat the Mahi in oil and salt and pepper

2. Grill Mahi for 4-6 minutes on each side

3. Meanwhile, lightly sauté shallots for 1 minute, adding a half-teaspoon of olive oil.

4. Add vanilla extract, chicken stock and wine.

5.  Stir to combine. Slowly mix in cream, salt and pepper; cook for a few minutes until the sauce is reduced by half.

6. Place fish over a bed if greens or rice, and generously spoon cream sauce over the fish.

Peanut Butter Wonder

Here at Rodelle we have an obsession with using vanilla in as many ways as humanly possible.    We want to always impress our ideas upon all the members of our team as well as the every food  loving person on the globe…..we may not have made the leap to enforce a mandatory Vanilla obsession on the world, but we have managed to conquer executive chef Cherylynn Barber.  She is a master pastry chef, culinary genius, and all around as delightful as her mesmerizing cookery.  She is not only a remarkable chef she also happens to love our products!

We did an interview with Cherylynn in our test kitchen as we marveled at her ability to whip up the most incredible cake I have ever had the pleasure of being in the same room with this Vanilla Peanut Butter Wonder (as I like to call it) has 3 layers of the most amazing Vanilla, Chocolate, and Peanut Butter combination your mouth will ever experience.  Cherylynn had all of our Rodelle team melting at the taste of this culinary delight.

Cherylynn has just opened a new meal preparation service and bakery called, Simple Suppers n Sweets, in Loveland CO.  It is a unique service that provides quality home cooked meals and sweets in a quick efficient way.

To enjoy some of Cherylynn’s remarkable recipes sign up for our monthly newsletter and you too can collect all of our featured recipes.  This month is Cherylynn’s Vanilla Peanut Butter Wonder.

Cherylynn Quick Facts

Education: Le Cordon Bleu in CA

Favorite Ingredients:  Vanilla & Cocoa

Years Cooking:  20 Year

Craziest Item Cooked:  Gwen Stefani’s 100% Pink Wedding Cake.

Vanilla Roasted Baby Back Ribs just in time for all the summer festivities.

As summer heats up, so does our menu!  Today we have ourselves an awe inspiring recipe that is sure to knock the sandals right off all those that are lucky enough to experience this joy.
These savory Baby Back Ribs are initially made in the oven with a low and slow cook method that ensures moisture and optimal vanilla flavor infusion. You can cook them the day before your festivities, and throw them on the grill sealed in foil to heat on the day of.  This way you can spend time with your guests or family instead of sweatin in the kitchen.

Ribs made with a spice combination and a hint of vanilla taste and aroma are reason enough to consider your evening a success!  Enjoy!

Having a dinner party this weekend and need an easy and light dessert?

We have just the thing! Grilled cinnamon & vanilla pears are a great addendum to a refreshing springtime meal.

Prep – 15 min | Grill time – 20 min | Difficulty – Easy | Yields – 6 servings

Ingredients
5-7 ripe pears
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp apple juice
3 tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tsp RODELLE VANILLA EXTRACT
1 tsp candied ginger

Method

Preheat grill for medium heat or oven to 375 degrees

• Place all ingredients, except pears, in a small saucepan
• Simmer until butter and brown sugar have melted together
• Peel pears
• Using aluminum foil, wrap pears individually and place on grill or oven on a baking sheet
• Cook 15-20 minutes over direct medium heat; baste continually with sauce throughout the cooking process until pears are tender yet firm. If you are using the oven, cook for 45 minutes to 1 Hour
• Remove from heat and serve with vanilla ice cream
• Using remaining sauce, pour over pears and ice cream

Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

Prep – 10 min | Total time – 35 min | Difficulty – Easy | Yields – 4-1/2 cup servings

ingredients

1lb. tomatillos, husked and rinsed

1 small red onion, cut into ½” slices

2 jalapeno peppers

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp cider vinegar

2 tsp dark brown sugar

1 tbsp RODELLE VANILLA EXTRACT

1 tbsp granulated garlic

2 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

directions

1. Preheat grill.

2. Grill tomatillos, onion slices, jalapenos, turning occasionally until soft and slightly charred; 10-15 minutes.

3. Remove vegetables and allow to cool.

4. Peel, seed, and stem jalapenos.

5. Place tomatillos, onions, jalapenos, lime juice, vinegar, brown sugar, RODELLE VANILLA EXTRACT, salt in a food processor.

6. Pulse until the mixture is well blended, but still slightly chunky.

7. Serve warm or chilled with steak, chicken or mild white fish.

Here’s what you will need to serve 8 dinner or 4 large salads:

• 3 vanilla beans, split and scraped
• 4 cups light olive oil
• 1 log goat cheese, about 10 ounces
• 10 oz of fruit: we used strawberries but debated about cranberries
• 1 cup chopped toasted pecans or walnuts
• 10 oz arugula leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a small saucepan over low heat, heat vanilla beans and olive oil very slowly until hot and vanilla is aromatic. Cool, strain, and store refrigerated. This only takes about 15 minutes. If you would like a stronger vanilla presence, let sit for several hours or overnight

Carefully roll goat cheese in chopped nuts to coat, pressing nuts into cheese so that they adhere. Using either dental floss or a knife dipped in warm water, divide goat cheese log into 8 medallions. Set aside until ready to assemble the salads.

In a large bowl, mix arugula with fruit and left over nuts along with your desired amount of vanilla bean oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish each serving with a few nut-crusted goat cheese medallions.

Enjoy and let us know how this recipe worked for you or if you have any suggestions!

Chef Valerie Vanderpool, owner of Zest in Indianapolis is not only one of the funniest , hippest ladies but a truly innovate and amazing chef. We caught up with Val on a sleepy Thursday just after lunch when crawling under the desk seemed like the only way to work off a food coma. Not surprisingly, she woke me right up with her great humor and a screaming desire to try one of Zest’s signature cocktails or rather spirit, Hibiscus Flower Jello shot with some bubbly- and of course a shot of Rodelle Organic Vanilla.

This is a mostly verbatim chat with Val:

Rodelle:  How do you feel about the use of vanilla in sweet and savory
dishes?

Val:  I am a huge fan of taking things traditionally sweet and making them savory. I always try to use sweet in savory and vice versa.

R: What is your favorite dish where you can really taste the vanilla?
V: Crème Brule French Toast, of course

R: What food trends are you seeing and how are you incorporating them in to your menu?
V: Biggest on the face of the earth right now are local, sustainable, healthful- one of things we have done to go in that direction is to have a vegetarian special that are very well thought out- buy local whenever we can. Grandma food- meatloaf, mac n’ cheese, home made ice cream, kraft beers, boutiquey booze and wine

R:  How would you describe your venue and food?
V: Down home goes uptown
R: I knew this

R: What inspires you?
V: All kinds of stuff: color, pictures, smells, art. speaking with other chefs, talking to the customers and clients because they tell me what they like.  I will see colors together and make them into a dessert

R: What are your favorite Websites?
V: Grubbstreet from menupages.com- all about NY city food community,
tastingtable.com- restaurants, ingredients, recipes; Starchefs.com;  My #1- epicurious.com.- it is my go to

R:  Favorite ingredient
V:  Good salt, kosher, French sea gray sea salt, black and smoke finishing salt.
R:  Why?
V:  Because it compliments every single flavor, you can’t cook without  it and brings up flavor in every single dish

R: What is the craziest thing you have ever made?
V: Wild Hibiscus Jello Shots

R:  What’s in it?
V:  Wild Hibiscus flower, pomegranate juice, Cava Avinyo Brut
R: And hello, vanilla!
V:  and dump it in girl!

We thank Valerie for her insight and quick wit. Visit her at ZestExcitingFoodCreations.com or ask her anything on Twitter at @zestindy.

Let us know what inspires your cooking and please share your favorite recipes with us for a chance to be featured on RodelleVanilla.com!

Ciao!

Well, in case you haven’t, here’s a quick synopsis: concerned family members and professional cleaning crews invade a home that has allowed to be overrun by….STUFF.  There is no other word that best describes the massive piles that have been allowed to gather in the house of some unfortunate, overwhelmed, and often indignant, individual.  Industrial cleaning supplies, shovels, dust masks and quick prayers to not find the final resting place of the house cat that disappeared last decade, are all necessary preparations for the big CLEAN OUT.

While I do have a mild reputation as a clean fanatic (with two dogs you HAVE to be and anyway what, may I ask, is wrong with liking gleaming baseboards??), I have a confession to make.  After all, the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?  Okay, here goes: I, Laura, am a spice and herb hoarder.

What?  It’s a real thing!  While I may not collect piles and piles of paper that line the narrow aisles that become the only way to navigate through the house like most hoarders do, I do have a cupboard in my kitchen that is both a secret joy and a guilty secret. In that cupboard lives my out-of-control spice and herb collection.  Not only do I have the standard extended spice rack, but every time I stumble across a different or unusual ingredient in a new recipe, I run out and by a small container of it.  Who wouldn’t want their very own container of urfa biber, right?  The problem is that not only will I buy an ingredient that I know I will use very rarely, but several months later I may buy the exact same ingredient, forgetting that it is already waiting for me at home.  This also happens with ingredients that I use all the time. I’ll go to the store and completely forget that I bought cinnamon sticks just last week.  Eventually, this yields a cabinet that is fit to burst.

But now, it’s time for spring cleaning!  I’m ready to fling open those cupboard doors, chase the proverbial dust bunnies out and clean and organize the cute little bottles!  But considering my propensity for collecting, it is very likely that some of these products are a few (or more) years old.  So, the first item of business is to see which of them are still good and which may have expired.

While some jars have expiration dates on them, it turns out those small printed numbers may not be the best indicator.  I researched several different places and these were some general guidelines that I found for knowing when to keep or throw out spices:

·      Many spices don’t expire, but they do go stale.  They’ll lose their color and their potency will fade.

·      Spices will stay fresh far longer if they are stored in an airtight container and kept in a cool, dry place.  The refrigerator or freezer is not an ideal place by the way, because of condensation and moisture.

·      Ground spices generally last around two years when stored properly, although I would begin checking around a year and a half.  Shake some out into the palm of your hand and if there is little or no scent, toss them.

·      Whole spices (like peppercorn and cloves) will last much longer (up to four or five years).  When their scent and color begins to fade, use them up or replace them.

While these are some good general rules, I, of course, wondered about my favorite flavoring, vanilla.  Vanilla beans can last up to 5 years when they’re stored properly.  Now, if you notice white fuzzy stuff on the beans, this is not an immediate “throwout” signal, because this white fuzzy might be vanillin, which is actually desirable.  Pure vanilla extract, on the other hand, can last pretty much indefinitely.  Although there is often an expiration on the bottle, when stored properly, vanilla actually improves with age (like a good wine).  My suggestion is that if you have questionable vanilla beans or one you think will be unusable within a few months, go through the process of making your own vanilla extract from them.  It’s not only fun and delicious, but it also extends the life of your investments.

Yes, I’m a hoarder and while it won’t require a dust mask or a crane, going through my spice cupboard will be an onerous task.  Still, at least I have a gauge for whether or not to keep something and I have the reassurance that my vanilla will always be useable!

When was the last time you cleaned out your cupboard?

~Laura

Thanks to Quintanaroo, vintagecat and brixton for the pictures!

When I just hear the word macaroon, I can feel my tongue trying to oust tough, chewy bits of shredded coconut from my teeth as an intense sugar high begins coursing through my veins. I’ve never liked macaroons. I’ve never liked shredded coconut. Maybe I’ve never liked shredded coconut because of macaroons. That seems possible because I recently began adding unsweetened coconut flakes to my oatmeal. Go figure.

Here’s the thing. All the macaroon posts I’ve seen lately show pictures of pretty pastel colored hamburger-like sandwich cookies. I’ve routinely rejected reading these posts because I automatically think: over-the-top-sugary-coconut-ick. I also find the color of these mini confections to be off-putting in the same way that pink, green and yellow marshmallow Easter treats shaped like bunnies, eggs and chicks inspire a gag reflex.

But once NPR got on board with the macaroon, I felt a higher responsibility to all my fans (hi, Mom and Dad), to pause for a wee sec and acknowledge that these little pink and yellow hamburgers cookies are a different variety of macaroon all together. Because they are. Really.

First, I was surprised to learn macaroons are an almond meringue cookie hailing from France (although they most likely traveled to France by way of Italian monks). Almonds! Meringue!

Second, I did not know that cooking macaroons inspired deep trepidation in many a baker. As I quickly learned while reading David Lebovitz’s online macaroon thesis, the baking of macaroons is not a walk in the park.

Third, as with all things French, there are as many opinions about the proper way to make macaroons as there are comments on a Pioneer Woman blog post.

Hmm. What could a girl do but test her kitchen mettle and commit to making a batch of macaroons? I mean, I owe it to the French, really, to admit my naivety and honor a dessert tradition that has been embraced by Starbucks and every other fancy food baker in the country. After reviewing many a macaroon recipe, I chose to follow the one Mr. Lebovitz shared for French Chocolate Macaroons because of its relative simplicity (and because his macaroons weren’t pink). Still, I had to trek down to Michaels to buy a piping bag and tip and then pop next door to Vitamin Cottage where happily I found almond meal. The next morning, I woke early and got to work.

As indicated above, points of contention abound when it comes to how one makes macaroons, starting with whether or not you should keep your egg whites at room temperature or in the refrigerator, for one, two, or three days prior to the big day. I left my eggs out on the counter for almost 24 hours. I took a departure from all recipe instructions by using a hand-held rotary beater for beating my eggs into stiff peaks. This instrument has become my favorite tool for working with eggs. Using the beater is fast and strangely satisfying.

Other technique arguments involve how long you should mix the meringue with the almond meal and whether or not (and for how long) you should leave the piped macaroon batter out to dry before baking. The point of all this fuss is that you want to produce the right conditions for the development of the little rim that appears at the base of the macaroon as its baking. This rim, otherwise known as “the feet,” makes or breaks your macaroon. The other concern is that you don’t want your macaroons to crackle on top. They must be smooth. Appearance is everything, right?

I thank the stars above that with little effort and no fuss, I made a batch of macaroons that came out nearly perfectly. Actually, the 30 small rounds that I piped onto a double-layer baking sheet came out perfectly. The 14 or so rounds that I piped onto my thin pizza pan however, came out with no feet and cracked tops. I attribute this in part to the pan, but more to the fact that after I piped the rounds, I piped more batter on top of the original round because I had run out of space and figured I could just make them bigger. Wrong.

I made Mr. Lebovitz’s chocolate ganache filling (and added pure vanilla extract), sandwiched the macaroon cookies together and then waited the suggested one day before sampling (OK – I ate a few of the cracked cookies once they had cooled – they were crispy and sweet). Nothing like a burst of chocolate almond sugary goodness (that doesn’t stick in your teeth). I impressed myself and then wondered, would I make these again? Once I found these beautiful photos of other macaroons made without food coloring, I got kind of wistful just thinking about re-creating them. Only time will tell.

Always wanted to make macaroons but never found the gumption? Go for it! Then, tell me about it here.

Enjoy!

Carol

Thanks to Ricoeurian for the pastel colored macaroon photo.

The best gift in the world?  Easy….food. (You had to know that one was coming!)  Seriously, how could anything beat the gift of food?  After all, diamonds may last forever but twinkies will outlast a nuclear holocaust.  Food fulfills all the requirements for the perfect gift: it’s handmade, thoughtful and easily customized for each intended recipient.  It’s part of our culture to bake or cook for any major event or life change.  Anniversary dinners, a box of chocolates for a breakup and mourning dishes –these are all examples of the ways in which we use food to recognize important life events.

So why do we give food as a gift? Well, because it sustains us and our relationships with each other, physically, socially, emotionally and culturally. But more specifically, it is often a practical offering or tangible notice of something major happening.  When families lose someone they love, it is custom to give them a casserole or some other dish.  While there is often nothing we can do to help them emotionally during this time, we can help to ease their minds over what to make for dinner.  Conversely and strangely relatedly, when a baby is born, we want to acknowledge and share in the joy of the new parents. Giving them food lets them know we’re thinking about them, while allowing them to begin to set up their routine without having to worry about putting together the next meal. These types of practices have been in place for many centuries, as can be seen from the Jewish tradition of food gifting for Purim and the Chinese New Year tradition of giving blessed or lucky foods to friends.

By this time in my life, I’ve got my equation figured out for which life event warrants what type of food.  Gift of choice for a new job or promotion? Definitely flavored specialty bread.  An engagement notice? Needs a cake. A pregnancy? Definitely a batch of cupcakes. Now, if I have to bribe someone….cookies. Finally, for that special time when you need to bring a hostess gift or send a chic thank you present, I send whole vanilla beans.  They’re pretty, fragrant and elegant. What more could you possibly want?

As you can see, food makes our social worlds go round. So what recipes do you use when you are gifting family or friends?

Thanks to MarcinMoga, SlamEye and Melanie_Hughes for the photos!

~Laura