Iron Chef February

I eluded previously to the fact that the secret ingredient for my Iron Chef February recipe would be very 'appropriate'. So without further ado....

Iron Chef February

Secret Ingredient: Hearts of Palm

Recipe: Hearts of Palm Fritters with Avacado Dipping Sauce

Get it? "Hearts" of Palm? For Valentine's? Yup, always thinking. That's me.

Well, what the heck are Palm Hearts you may ask? I will tell you! I have no earthly idea. I put in "hearts" into allrecipes.com and that's when I realized there even was such a thing. But through the magic of the Internet I can tell you that Hearts of Palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees (also known as "swamp cabbage"). Living in Florida all these years and I never knew! And I had absolutely no trouble finding this at my local Publix. They even sell three different varieties of this stuff!







Anyway, the hearts look like long tubular water chestnuts and they taste kinda like artichokes, maybe? This recipe is an Emeril Lagasse original, so it wasn't without its prep time. Egg white whipping, folding, sauce making, frying- it had it all. But I was looking for new and different and I found it!



Plus, I don't think I have ever made an actual "fritter" before. I think the key to a good one is folding in egg whites. Makes them light and fluffy. Wouldn't you agree, Jacob?



I have to admit that, for me, the taste of palm hearts got kinda lost in the fritter, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I just tasted more of a fried doughyness with peppery undertones than the taste of the swamp cabbage. But the dipping sauce was pretty good. I love all things avocado, you know :) Overall I would give the recipe 3 out of 5 stars.

Next Month: It will be either some sort of exotic meat or a dessert. Hmmmm, now that I think about it, I'm not sure that exotic meat really has a fighting chance on this one...