arugula rugelach

[topaz]

arugula rugelach, originally uploaded by qwrrty.

Last weekend omegabeth and I attended dervishspin's "Snooty Foods" party. Challenged to come up with the snootiest, snobbiest, elitest, most exclusivest snotty food we could imagine, we invented arugula rugelach: arugula (and a little spinach), blended into a pesto with garlic, olive oil, walnuts and asiago cheese, and rolled up in little wedges of rugelach pastry made according to the King Arthur cookbook recipe.

Oh my heavens these things were good. A professional chef in attendance pronounced them the best dish he'd had in a long time, and begged us for the recipe. They disappeared faster than most everything else on the table.

A special shout-out goes to coraline for coming up with the name and inspiring me to actually try to make these work!

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

The missus has been making pesto with arugula and walnuts for a few years now. It's fantastic.

Also, "arugula rugelach" almost sounds like a palindrome.

[alanj]

"X blended into a pesto with garlic, olive oil, walnuts, and asiago cheese, and rolled up in little wedges of pastry" would work really well for many values of X, probably including some not generally considered edible.

But arugula adds to the theme if nothing else. ;)

[antoniseb.livejournal.com]

Allow me to add an independent voice proclaiming that they were fantastically diet-bustingly even-kids-like-them good.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

We were pleasantly surprised by just how well the filling worked -- Beth was skeptical. I pointed out that we could make it with any combination of spinach and arugula and basil, and technically we really only needed a token amount of arugula to justify using the name. But the sharp flavor of the arugula really made it work as a substitute for basil.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that arugula officially increases the snootiness of any food by a factor of 5.

Also, how could you not bring "arugula rugelach" to a Snooty Foodie party?

(It was theories like this that led beth to tell me I was being geeky, not snooty, but whatever.)

[malefica-v.livejournal.com]

Being proud of being geeky is definitely one version of "snooty" - everyone wins!

[bitty.livejournal.com]

arugelach

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the concept excels by taking "snooty" ingredients and bundling them into a recently-snoot-colonized (Yuppified?) old world 'ethnic' food.

[hradzka.livejournal.com]

In addition to sounding yummy, "arugala rugelach" sounds like the last name of the dude in the belltower from the B-movie BIG MAN ON CAMPUS.

"What's your name?"

"Bob."

"What's your full name?"

"Bob Maloogaloogaloogaloogalooga. One 'Malooga,' four 'looga's."

[lady-mishegas.livejournal.com]

Nom nom nom nom nom!

[coraline]

you're welcome!

i'm currently working on "alveoli ravioli" (apparently it's illegal to sell lung tissue for meat in the US?) and "taro farro".

[omegabeth.livejournal.com]

goat cheese! you forgot the goat cheese!

Must be raw milk cheese

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

exactly

references?

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

I do not believe lung tissue is illegal in the US.
Do you have a link for that?

legality of 'lights' consumption in U.S. Re: references?

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

not the OP, but:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/dining/24hagg.html
http://www.offalgood.com/press/air-tran-go-magazine-flys-with-offal

Sorry I couldn't beat it out of the FDA's web site. (yeah, I was surprised too; I didn't know it was either.)

Re: legality of 'lights' consumption in U.S. Re: references?

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/food/2010/01/25/2010-01-25_haggis_a_scottish_staple_thats_been_banned_here_may_soon_reappear_on_american_ta.html

Looks like the ban on it was strictly on haggis imported from Scotland..
This is sheep lung, I am pretty sure beef lung and domestic sheep lung is completely legal.
Still looking, though. Illegal foods fascinate and irritate me.

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

(shrugs) The "imported versus domestically produced" animal parts is not an uncommon distinction...so you're probably right.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

"Aioli ravioli" was my other suggestion -- I thought we could fill them with little pockets of potato and aioli -- but Beth nixed the ravioli as way too much work for the time frame that we had. I may yet try to do that for another occasion, not being adventurous enough to try alveoli :-)

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

I was totally going to write this, but instead I'll note that these are [arrrr!] also suitable for Talk Like A Pirate Day gatherings.

[khedron.livejournal.com]

yes!

Re: references?

[coraline]

uninformed rumors on the internet!
(scroll down to the mention of "haggis".)

i'm not sure this makes me any more likely to MAKE alveoli ravioli, but it's nice to know it's not necessarily impossible/illegal :)

[sine.livejournal.com]

"arugula rugelach" is my new favorite phrase to say. it's even better than "normal gerbil."

[lcohen]

i volunteer to sample all attempts at aioli ravioli. but i'm just helpful that way.