Already Planning Your 2017 Holiday Parties? Try Cooking With Bugs.

Already missing the holidays and looking forward to 2017's festivities? It's never too early to start planning for next year, and get a leg up on your cooking game -- or should we say, get some legs up on it. Don't freak out, BUG OUT (literally). We invited Chef PV, host of Buggin' Out, to our live studio kitchen to prepare iconic holiday dishes with insects, guaranteed to pique your appetite and make your skin crawl all at once. Mealworm latkes or cricket roast with gravy, anyone? Watch the video and check out the recipes below to see how it's done. 

Mealworm Latkes

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 tablespoon Just Mayo
  • 1 tablespoon horseradish mustard
  • 1 tablespoon yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon five-spice powder
  • ¼ teaspoon Sriracha
  • 2 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, grated
  • 1 cup sunchokes, grated
  • ¼ cup red onion
  • 2 eggs, whisked
  • ½ tablespoon minced rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose cricket flour
  • 1 cup mealworms
  • 1 teaspoon Himilayan pink salt
  • Olive oil, to coat baking sheet
  • Chives, chopped
DIRECTIONS:
Latke Sauce Instructions:
  • ​​​​​​Whisk Just Mayo, horseradish mustard, yogurt, maple syrup, five-spice powder, and Sriracha together in mixing bowl and set aside in fridge.

Mealworm Latkes Instructions:
  • Place an olive-oiled baking sheet into oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
  • Line a large mixing bowl with a lint-free kitchen towel and add the potatoes, sunchokes and red onion to the bowl.
  • Wring excess liquid from the grated ingredients.
  • Release wrung ingredients into a dry, large mixing bowl.
  • Add egg, rosemary and cricket flour to grated ingredients and combine.
  • Stir in mealworms and himalayan pink salt.
  • Remove baking sheet from oven, drop batter in the desired size onto baking pan and return to oven for 6 minutes.
  • Flip Latkes and cook for 6 more minutes on the other side.
  • Serve on a plate with sauce and chives.

Gingersect Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • ⅓ cup honeyworms
  • 6 tablespoons honey
  • 1 cup all-purpose cricket flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoon five-spice powder
  • 2 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped
  • ⅓ cup cream cheese, whipped
  • 3 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 egg
  • ⅛ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS:
  • In a small mixing bowl, mix 1 tablespoon honey with the honeyworms and set aside.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Whisk together cricket flour, baking powder, baking soda, five-spice powder and ginger in a large mixing bowl.  Set Aside.
  • Combine cream cheese, coconut oil, maple syrup, egg and salt until creamy and smooth.
  • Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix until evenly incorporated.
  • Measure enough dough for desired size and roll into a ball.
  • Put powdered sugar on a plate and roll dough balls to thoroughly cover, puncture middle with your thumb and fill with the honeyworms.
  • Place on a baking tray and put into the oven for 14-20 minutes.
  • Remove tray with cookies and sift powdered sugar over cookies and let cool about 5-10 minutes.

Grinch Bug Nog

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cup cashew milk, unsweetened
  • 2 tablespoons mini white chocolate baking chips
  • ⅛ teaspoon green food coloring
  • 3 tablespoons critter bitters 
  • Whipped cream, for topping
DIRECTIONS:
  • Heat cashew milk and chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat until chocolate is melted.
  • Remove from heat and whisk in green food coloring until well combined.
  • Add critter bitters, whisk a little and pour into a mug.
  • Top with whipped cream.

Cricket Roast with Gravy

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ cup red onion, minced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • ½ cup portobello mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 1 cup carrot, grated
  • 1 cup crickets, thawed
  • 1 ½ cups kidney beans, cooked in salted rosemary water
  • 1 ½ cups green lentils, cooked in salted cinnamon apple cider vinegar water
  • 2 tablespoons tamari
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, packed
  • 6 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 cup cricket flour
  • 1 cup hemp milk
  • 1 cup kidney bean water or any broth/stock
  • 1 cup Yukon Gold potatoes, grated
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup crickets
  • 2 tablespoons tamari
  • Pomegranate seeds, to garnish
  • Thyme leaves, to garnish
DIRECTIONS:
Cricket Roast Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 375°F, grease a loaf tin with olive oil and line with foil paper.
  • Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic on medium-high heat until soft.
  • Add the mushroom, carrot and crickets and cook for another 5-7 minutes and remove from heat.
  • Transfer ingredients from pan into large mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and combine thoroughly with your hands or a masher.
  • Don't over-mash, just enough so that the mixture comes together.
  • Transfer the mixture into the loaf tin and cook for 40-50 minutes until the outside develops a crust and the inside is firm.
  • Serve with chirp gravy.

Chirp Gravy Instructions:
  • ​​​​​​Bring ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, reduce to a simmer and cook  8-10 minutes.
  • Transfer gravy to a blender and blend ingredients until smooth.
  • Heat olive oil in a pan over high heat and sauté crickets for 5-10 minutes until desired crispiness.
  • Add 1 tablespoon tamari, cook 1 minute more, then add gravy to pan and reduce to low for 5 minutes.
  • Finish with 1 tablespoon tamari and serve over cricket roast with pomegranate seeds & thyme leaves.

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