All the entries for the Egg, Buttermilk, Honey and Date Paper Chef (#7)

We got a slight preponderance of sweet entries this time around, but a fair few savory ones and some real surprises are mixed right in there. We also had our fastest ever entry – Friday night the entry was made, eaten and posted. Once again (this is almost a Paper Chef tradition) we had the inaugral entry in someone’s blog be an entry. We also got an entry from an imprisoned cat with revenge on its mind and a very late entry thrown into confusion by the unexpected arrival of an ex-lover (and a lot of suggestive side comments). I don’t envy Julie of A Finger in Every Pie, our judge this time, one little bit. She’s got her work cut out for her…

Not too surprisingly, given the mejdool date requirement, many of the entries had a middle eastern flair to them. And it is no longer any surprise that all of these entries are overflowing with culinary creativity.

To recap, this month’s randomly chosen ingredients were: buttermilk, mejdool dates and honey and the topical/seasonal ingredient was egg – with the usual disclaimers about not being able to use the correct ingredients and substituting all applying.

We start with our quick out of the gate entry. Jennifer of Taste Everything Once had waffles on the brain and brought us delicious-looking Buttermilk Waffles with Honey-Date Butter.

Next up is an entry directly inspired by the previous one but that bears almost no relationship to it whatsoever: McAuliflower of Brownie Points brings us Mango Lassi Layered with Honey Date Ice Cream. But the best part by far is that the recipe also involves poison oak (somewhat indirectly). You’ll have to go read it to find out what that’s all about!

We jump from poisonous plants to poisonous thoughts (about creamy delights). A previously unsuspected resident of Belly Timber, the Cat, described in detail a devious torture inflicted upon it by its jailers: a Date and Salmon berry Parfait.

Sylvie, of Soul Fusion Kitchen, concocted a scrumptious and rich-looking Date Nut Pudding With Honeyed Whipped Cream based on a recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook – a cookbook that has won itself a coveted place on the staple cookbooks shelf in my house.

Cats reappeared at our next stop. Kimberly of Music and Cats made Honey bran muffins with dates and pecans for breakfast since she is avoiding desserts. I suspect her cats got to share…

At this point I would like to take a moment to pause and commiserate with Daffy who has finals and couldn’t make it this time around. Good luck, Daffy!

After that brief interlude (we need to prepare ourselves) we turn to Sarah of the delicious life who managed to bring up being tied up (something about an ex-lover) but then also admitted that it was her first time (I guess she meant taking part in Paper Chef) and that it wasn’t all that orgasmic. The Feta Souffle with Walnuts, Dates and Feisty Greens certainly sounds like a bit of alright to me…

The Kitchen Queens over at Something’s cooking created a dish that balanced on the cusp. Is it savory…is it sweet…is it…well, they said it was savory. Buttermilk scones with dates, honey and Danish blue.

Lady X at Experiment in Writing did us the honor of devoting her inaugral post to her Paper Chef entry. I think this is now the third time that has happened and I am really grateful that the Paper Chef has provided that little extra push to get started. And, in common with other first-timers, she has gone straight into the deep end with her Honey Pecan-Topped Date Fool with Buttermilk Donuts.

Rachael at Fresh Approach Cooking was another first time entrant (not her first blog posting though). At first I thought her Chicken Sausages with Dates and Honey were chicken sausages somehow cooked along with some date and honey. But I got with the program – these are forcemeat sausages made with chicken, dates, honey and a host of other yummy ingredients. I couldn’t figure out how to get picture and post in one entry, so here is the picture.

Carolyn, whose 18th C Cuisine site is one of the most fascinating sites out there, was, of course, let down by the 21st century technology needed to record her creation… Buttermilk & Honey Sorbet with Date Crunch Topping.

Lynette, of Lex Culinaria, another Paper Chef favorite, went all out with her Morroccan buttermilk chicken with date and toasted almond stuffing. Even though she, too, had issues with her digital camera, her one picture shows just what a delicious main course she made.

Melissa of Traveler’s Lunchbox brought in our main educational moment. I’d never heard of a socca before, but she made us a Seafood Socca with Date-Orange Salad, Spiced Honey Sauce and Crème Fraiche.

One more aside here – you will have noticed that my writeups are getting shorter and less interesting (and you thought that was impossible!) I’ve been at it for a couple of hours now and it’s late, but I’m near the end and it is a lot of fun to go look at all these wonderful dishes.

Brenda at Culinary Fool specializes in interesting twists to the basic idea and so she made us one and three quarters dishes – A Moroccan Spiced Chicken Cobbler and A Berry Cobbler.

Lyle at Crocodile Caucus passed along (and posted) a recipe from a co-worker. What a nice guy! Shame the co-worker is unnamed…but her recipe is: Date Muffins with Honey Butter.

Robyn, of Food Chronicles, is another first-time entrant. And she really came up with a great idea. Tempura Fried Dates. The moment you hear it you know they are good.

Viv, over at Seattle Bon Vivant, has started to get into a bad habit. She turns her entries in at what she thinks is the last minute. Hah! I’m almost always up after midnight…Anyway, her Buttermilk Banana Bread looks scrumptious.

I think that’s 16 entries. If I’ve missed you, email me on owenl1998 at yahoo dot com and I’ll add you in right away.