ISO Black & White Foods

[LEdlund]

My book club just read Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane and the food theme for our discussion is Film Noir, Black and White Food. I'm looking for some creative suggestions. My first thought was a jicama slaw with black sesame seeds. Any others?

[docsconz]

squid ink pasta served side-by-side with fettucine alfredo.

[Larry]

Go to any recipe or "home magazine" site and search halloween menus/recipes. They always seem to have black and white themed foods around that time. I remember a cauwliflower soup drizzled with syrupy balsamic, squid ink pastas, etc.

Dessert is easy, a super dark and dense chocolate layer cake with vanilla ice cream, you can never go wrong with that.

[slbunge]

Actually, there is some historical reason to choosing 'squid ink' as an ingredient. The latin name for cuttlefish is Sepia officinalis and, apparently, the ink from the cuttlefish was originally used as the very deep brown tint for photographic film. Think sepia-toned photographs or movies.

In the US, squid ink is as close as you will get to cuttlefish ink. The color is quite similar but the flavor of cuttlefish ink is more delicate.

The black and white contrast that you will certainly get if you serve squid ink pasta or, better yet, squid ink risotto is the wonderful (temporary) black staining of people's white teeth when they smile.

[FistFullaRoux]

I just saw a Wolfgang Puck episode on FTV, and he featured some white honey from Hawaii. Pretty hard to get ahold of, though.

[Carolyn Tillie]

White risotto with black truffles. Yum.

[Larry]

I just saw a Wolfgang Puck episode on FTV, and he featured some white honey from Hawaii. Pretty hard to get ahold of, though.

You can find it at many gourmet stores these days. I saw it at D&D in New York, and even at a catering shop in Ottawa, Canada.

[Pan]

Don't ignore the obvious: Black and whites. You know, those big cookies that are glazed with half chocolate and half vanilla. When they're done well, they're excellent.

You also might consider some poppyseed bagels if you have the right setup (a big if). Or any other kind of baked thing with poppyseeds - strudel, cookies, or how about hamantashen for the seasonal effect?

[Pan]

Oh, another obvious thing would be any sweet with dark chocolate and flour - marbled cake, pie, cookies of certain descriptions, crepes.

[Jon Tseng]

Poulet demi-deuill (poached chicken with black truffles stuffed under the skin)

what did u say ur budget was again?

J

ps in french cooking "demi-deuil" ("half-mourning") generally denotes black-and-white dishes

[GG Mora]

Be sure and have a bowl of B&W M&Ms on hand.

[LEdlund]

Be sure and have a bowl of B&W M&Ms on hand.

You can get these now?

Thanks for the suggestions..... Jon, We don't really have a budget, but we drink too much wine to truly appreciate anything with black truffles

Pan, I love the poppy seed bagel idea, if nothing else for its ease (I have to go there directly from work). And I had also thought about making Black and Whites.

When I called my local pasta purveyor to make sure they had squid ink pasta, they suggested a salad using chinese black rice. Their recipe sounded a little boring, does anyone have ideas to jazz this up (sticking to the theme of course)?

[ludja]

panna cotta or a coeur a la creme served with a dark chocolate sauce

turkey mole garnished with sesame seeds

pureed black bean soup garnished with sour cream or creme fraiche

James Beard's Spring Onion Sandwhiches: (crustless white bread squares spread with mayo, thin slices of sweet or spring onion between, dip edges in thinned mayo and roll edges in poppyseeds rather than the usual parsley)

If it's possible to have some dishes that are either white or black that would extend the possiblities.

'white' chez panisse-inspired salad: paper thin slices of mushrooms, fennel, season with s&p, evoo, lemon juice and shavings of parmesean.

[Toliver]

From the digest I did of the 2004 March issue of Bon Appetit-

black food: Black Kale, Black Rice, Black Blavod Vodka

And Black & White Russians to drink.

[agnolottigirl]

Sushi--some with white sesame seed some w/ black?

[bigbear]

White pizza with black olives.

[rlibkind]

Everyone's forgetting the classic black and white: Morros y Christianos. Black beans and rice.

[gingerly]

to drink

[Mabelline]

Plain ole hard-boiled eggs. Take out the yolk, restuff with a black olive tapenade, then put them back together and place on nests of that black kale.

[Jake]

Plain ole hard-boiled eggs. Take out the yolk, restuff with a black olive tapenade, then put them back together and place on nests of that black kale.

Or better yet --- caviar!

[LEdlund]

Plain ole hard-boiled eggs. Take out the yolk, restuff with a black olive tapenade, then put them back together and place on nests of that black kale.

I love this idea! Especially since I have all the ingredients in my refrigerator.

[hillvalley]

Plain ole hard-boiled eggs. Take out the yolk, restuff with a black olive tapenade, then put them back together and place on nests of that black kale.

Or better yet --- caviar!

oooohhhhhhhh

[Mabelline]

Yeah, I spent all kinds of time trying to think up a way to use the yolk and make it black, but they all sounded yucky, and then bigbear said the black and white pizza, and olives sounded good. I'd thought about caviar, but that could get pretty pricy to stuff an egg full of, considering how many people you have. Eggs are a good buy right now, what with 90 million munchkins getting ready to dye them.

For caviar, what about some kind of a take on dominoes, with a white rectangular base, and caviar used as the dots?

[KatieLoeb]

How about really dark bittersweet chocolate brownies with a swirl of cream cheese in them?

[mags]

Plain ole hard-boiled eggs. Take out the yolk, restuff with a black olive tapenade, then put them back together and place on nests of that black kale.

Or better yet --- caviar!

Beat me to it.