Nova Crisp Grain Free Cassava Chips

Another of my favorite products from the 2021 Fancy Food Show is Nova Crisp Cassava Crisps. I have been eating (almost entirely but not quite) gluten-free for two years now and find myself craving crispy things all the time. I love potato chips, but there are only so many chips this gal can eat! I already love cassava, and use cassava flour in baking all the time, so when I found these chips...wow! I was so excited! Nova Crisps are gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO, vegan, and air-popped, not fried. And they taste so good.

They are indeed crisp, and have a cool dish-shape, which  makes them the perfect vehicle for dips and
toppings. I've even used them to make mini ice-cream sandwiches! (I recommend the Sea Salt flavor for this...not sure the Maui onion, BBQ, or Vegan White Cheddar would work.) 

I've also used Nova Crisp Cassava Crisps on a charcuterie plate, as they are great with cheese, cured meats, and whathaveyou, but my favorite application has been as a vehicle to get things like tuna or egg salad into my mouth. 

I call these little guys, "Banh Mi Bites" because the flavors and textures reminded me a bit of one of my all-time favorite sandwiches, the Vietnamese banh mi. The tuna is spicy, with the natural fishiness of the fish standing in for fish sauce; the broccoli slaw provides a similar texture to the customary pickled carrot and daikon. You could probably use plain tuna mixed with mayo with added lime juice, garlic, and a bit of sugar to mimic the flavors of Vietnam's favorite dipping sauce, nuoc cham. Add fish sauce, too, if you want more umami, and hot sauce or a slice of fresh jalapeno for heat. A little diced cucumber wouldn't be out of place on these, either. 

Banh Mi Bites

1 pouch Starkist Tuna Creations Bold Red Curry with Coconut, Thai Chili, or Sriracha style

handful broccoli slaw or cole slaw mix

mayonnaise

lime juice

salt

cilantro

cherry tomatoes

8 - 10 Nova Crisp Cassava Crisps, sea salt or Maui onion flavor

Put the tuna in a bowl and add the broccoli slaw mix. Stir in a teaspoon of mayo or so to make the mixture creamy and season with lime juice and a pinch of salt. Throw in a little chopped cilantro if you like. Mound the mixture onto the Nova Crisps, garnishing with a quarter of a cherry tomato and a little cilantro. 

Serves 1.

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Parsnip Hummus

Once again the end of the month showed up and that meant another stitch-n-bitch get-together with friends. Regular Minxeats readers know that I like to make both something dippy and something sweet for the ladies. Dippy, because it keeps the hands relatively clean, and knitters need clean hands. Sweet, because we all seem to have a sweet tooth.

This month's dippy component was homemade hummus, as it often is. I wanted to try something really different this time and leave out the beans completely. I had a bag of parsnips without a purpose in the fridge, so decided to use them. They were already hummus-hued, so why not?

It's best to par-cook the parsnips until they are quite soft, so the food processor doesn't have a hard time breaking them down (especially if  you use a Cuisinart mini-prep, like me). Parnips are denser and dryer than beans, so you'll need to use a bit of water to help in the processing, as well.

The resulting texture is much smoother than a hummus made with beans, but the flavor was somehow quite hummus-y. I was too lazy to cut up vegetables so I served it with Wild California brand Twice Baked Apricot Ginger Crisps. I had picked up a bag at the fancy food show in July and was waiting for the perfect occasion to serve them. Parsnip hummus seemed to be it. The light sweetness of the crisps worked well with the light sweetness of the hummus. The chips are also quite nice on their own, or eaten with cheese. If you've tried the Trader Joe's brand of crackers with fruit bits in them, then you already have an idea of what the Wild California ones are like.

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of hummus. We put a dent in it, but we absolutely demolished the bag of crisps.

Parsnip Hummus

1 lb parsnips
Extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons almond butter
Lemon Juice
Garlic powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Harissa powder or cayenne

Peel the parsnips and cut into chunks. Put into a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until parsnips are very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain parsnips, but reserve some of the cooking water.

Allow parsnips to cool to room temperature and put them into the bowl of a food processor with a few tablespoons of cooking water and a glug of olive oil. Process to a fairly smooth texture, adding a few more spoonsful of water or olive oil, if needed, to move things along. The consistency should be thick, not runny. Add the almond butter and process until completely incorporated. Season with a fair amount of lemon juice, plus garlic powder and cumin to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon each). Salt and pepper, of course, also to taste, and if you want a bit of heat, add a bit of harissa powder or cayenne.

Scrape into a bowl and drizzle on some olive oil. Serve with crudite of your choice, crackers, pita, whatever.



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