What’s Hot in Food and Cooking: Viral Food Trends

by | Sep 1, 2022 | Regular Feature

More often than not the hot food trends on social media don’t fit into a kosher diet, but some of this past year’s biggest crazes do. To top it off they are super easy and really hard to botch. Here are a few that we have tried and think you will enjoy as much as we did!

TikTok ‘Healthy’ Cola

This one went into the skeptical bin for a long time before one of our staff tried it. It is super simple to make. Fill an 8oz glass with ice cubes. Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar over the cubes. Fill the glass with any lime or lemon flavored seltzer (any plain fizzy water works) stir and you have a no sugar cola drink. It isn’t Coke or Pepsi but it is a close cousin.

Viral Feta & Grape Tomato Pasta

What could be better than an easy, but looks like it was difficult, pasta sauce? This sauce is great over pasta shapes, ravioli, tortellini or plain spaghetti; in a pinch you can even use 4 packages of ramen noodles. This can be made simple or you can doctor it up and make it a little fancier. Here is a basic recipe followed by a list of optional mix-ins.

 

Ingredients:

2 pints grape tomatoes, washed 

8 ounce block feta cheese (you can substitute Halloumi cheese or a block of cream cheese)

1 or 2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 handful of fresh basil leaves chopped

1 small onion minced

½ cup olive oil 

Salt, pepper and red pepper flakes

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°. 
  2. In a large ovenproof casserole dish, combine tomatoes, minced onion, garlic, and all but one tablespoon of oil. Season with salt and red pepper flakes and toss to combine. 
  3. Place feta into the center of the tomato mixture and drizzle with remaining one tablespoon of oil.
  4. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until tomatoes are bursting and the feta is golden on top.
  5. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. 
  6. Reserve ½ cup pasta water before draining.
  7. Add the cooked drained pasta and ½ cup of reserved pasta water to the casserole dish and stir to combine. 
  8. Garnish with chopped herbs or grated parmesan cheese.

Extra Mix-ins: Chopped mushrooms, diced fresh tomatoes, diced olives, capers, diced roasted peppers, sauteed veggies, whatever you like with pasta.

Grated Egg Avocado Toast

While avocado toast itself is nothing new, this new trend to grate a hard boiled egg over the avocado is skyrocketing. What a healthy balance of a meal as well! Basically toast the bread of your choice. Mash ½ an avocado per slice. Season with salt & pepper. Then using a microplane or a very fine grater, grate a whole hard boiled egg over the avocado. Re-season and yumm!

Revival of the Dump Cake

The kitchen staple of many a good home chef’s kitchen in the 1950s and 1960s is making a revival. Most of the recipes use less than 5 ingredients and you can really let your imagination go to town. All you need is a 9” x 13“ cake pan, a regular sized boxed cake mix, two 15 oz cans of fruit or pie filling and a stick of unsalted butter/vegan butter. Other seasonings can be added, such as cinnamon or vanilla, but they are optional. Here is one dump cake that is a family favorite.

Ingredients:

2 cans of sliced peaches in heavy syrup

1 yellow boxed cake mix

Ground cinnamon

1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 stick of butter or vegan butter (some recipes like to use 2 sticks)

Directions:

  1. Oil a 9” x 13” cake pan
  2. Pour the peaches and all of the syrup into the pan.
  3. Sprinkle with cinnamon
  4. Add the vanilla extract and give the pan a swirl to get the vanilla flavoring all around.
  5. Pour the cake mix evenly over the peaches and press down. DO NOT MIX.
  6. Cut the butter into enough slices to evenly lay over the surface of the cake mix and bake in an oven that is preheated to 350F until the cake is golden and bubbly.
  7. Eat hot over vanilla ice cream or with whipped cream.

Dirty Diet Coke

There is another cola trend: This delicious drink is for those of you that don’t want to go to the local coffee shop. It also may not sound good but if you are a fan of ice cream sodas this one’s for you. Fill a tall glass with ice cubes. Pour in enough Diet Coke to almost fill the glass.Squeeze the juice of 1 lime into the glass. Add ¼ cup or so of caramel flavored or plain coffee creamer. Stir gently. Sip through a straw and enjoy.

Creamy Lemon Pasta

This is another pasta dish that seems to be taking over the web. Simple, minimal ingredients and actually very satisfying. Perfect for those nights when you don’t feel like cooking or need a quick side dish. The following recipe serves 2.

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil 

3 tablespoons butter

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

A few stalks of flat leaf parsley – leaves chopped, 1 stem set aside 

8 to 10 ounces cooked al dente pasta

¼ cup or a bit more pasta water

¼ cup heavy cream

Ground black pepper 

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Cook the pasta of your choice until it is al dente.
  2. While the pasta is cooking in a large skillet, heat the olive oil and the butter.
  3. Once the butter has melted add the garlic, lemon juice and zest. Toss in one stem from the flat leaf parsley.
  4. When the garlic becomes fragrant, remove the stem of the parsley
  5. Remove from heat and add in the drained al dente pasta and the reserved pasta water. Return to heat.
  6. Using tongs mix the pasta with the sauce.
  7. Add the heavy cream and mix well.
  8. Plate and top each serving with freshly ground black pepper, chopped flat leaf parsley and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

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