It’s Restaurant Week in Washington, DC – a chance to get out and try all those places you’ve been eager to visit since they first opened … three years ago. Yeah, I don’t get out much.
On Wednesday, I was so excited to visit Zengo, a DC outpost of acclaimed chef Richard Sandoval. The meal was amazing. It’s a Latin / Asian fusion restaurant – think sushi and ceviche, sake sangria, and empanadas and edamame. My dining companions and I all loved our appetizers and our entrees, but let’s talk about dessert.
Specifically, let’s talk about MY dessert – which, of course, featured chocolate.
Here’s the menu listing that first caught my attention:
MEXICAN CHOCOLATE TARTE
~ cocoa nibs / cinnamon whip / chili ancho anglaise
Uh, yeah. I’ll try that one please.
It was delicious. I’d go back again just for that signature dessert.
Now, regular readers of this blog know that chocolate and spice are twice as nice (and a really big trend right now). I happened to be dining with not-so-regular readers of the blog and because it’s hard to shut me up when it comes to chocolate (and candy and gum and a whole bunch of other topics) they got an earful I’m sorry to say.
BUT, what I mainly told them about were cacao nibs because, as you can see in the picture of my excellent dessert, the tarte was covered with these pieces of nutty deliciousness.
Cacao nibs are the most intense and pure form of chocolate. So pure, in fact, that they barely even taste like the chocolate sweets we all know.
Chocolate comes from the cacao, or cocoa, tree. These trees grow in a very small region of the world and require lots of care and attention. The fruit of the tree is a cocoa pod. These pods look like footballs, only skinnier, and they can be all shades of yellow, orange and red. Inside the pod is a white pulp that covers the cocoa bean. To make chocolate the beans are fermented, roasted, and cracked (or winnowed). At the very center of the bean is the cacao nib – the source of all things chocolate.
Usually the nibs are ground into a smooth liquid state as the first step in making eating chocolate, but the nibs can actually be enjoyed on their own. At NCA we like to sprinkle them on salads, and Jacques Torres taught us how to make a lovely salmon with cacao nibs. In fact, you can even watch a video of Jacques and his beautiful wife, Hasty, discussing the dish on our Web site.
So I was very pleased to see them adorn the top of my dessert last night. They add a wonderful crunch and are versatile enough to be used in sweet and savory dishes. You can often find them in gourmet speciality stores or, to save yourself the hassle of running around town, you can buy them on Amazon (really, what CAN’T you buy on Amazon?).
Here are my top suggestions for quick ways to incorporate cacao nibs into your cooking:
- Use them to decorate the top of a serving of chocolate mousse or chocolate parfait
- Sprinkle them into a green salad with mandarin oranges, red onions and a light vinaigrette
- Add them to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe
- Add a small amount to your homemade or store-bought trail mix
