NewTree, a Belgian chocolatier with its American outpost in San Anselmo, introduced its new line of Alpha chocolate bars at the Fancy Food Show. Here's a sweeter way to get your omega 3 fatty acids (mostly through the inclusion of flax seeds) without having to go the route of smelly fish oil. The Piment is a dark chocolate bar with flax, puffed rice, and a serious, lingering chile bite. Look for this soon at local shops that stock New Tree, such as Rainbow Grocery (1745 Folsom).
The night we got the box, we made a spinach gratin with béchamel and Parmigiano-Reggiano, and diced half the squash and sautéed it in butter. Another night, we used the potatoes, half the cabbage, and kale to make colcannon, using a Williams-Sonoma recipe as a rough template. We've found that you can use any kind of cabbage, any kind of kale, substitute celery root for some or all of the potatoes, or substitute onions for the shallots with equally delicious results. The oranges were the best I've had in several years: highly aromatic, heavy with juice, with a great balance of sweet and tart.
I'll most like use the carrots and the rest of the cabbage to make this Gujarati-style warm salad (recipe adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery):
Sablés Gourmet Cookie Dough of Mill Valley has a civilized solution to slice-and-bake cookie dough, elevating it beyond the Pillsbury chocolate chip to more adult flavors such as ginger spiced almond, orange pecan, and vanilla bean. They cook up light and crisp, and would be far easier to pass off as homemade. The dough is available at local Whole Foods branches.
