What to do with Hearts of Palm

[Deborah]

Have 5 tins of hearts of palm. Other than salads any ideas of what to do with them. Thanks

[Sam Fujisaka]

You might try using them in Asian dishes where bamboo shoots would otherwise be used.

[stacylyn]

Ok, totally NOT low fat (!), but oh, so good:

Hearts of Palm Puree:
Sautee chopped Hearts of Palm with copious amounts of butter and olive oil. Add a few crushed garlic cloves, some salt and fresh pepper (pinch or 2 of cumin is good, too). When tender, add a good amount of heavy cream.......

Puree the whole deal in a food processor or blender and serve.

(I like to call this a "puree of olive oil, butter, and cream w/a bit of hearts of palm"!)

I had this at a restaurant with some Seared Scallops with Bacon and Crispy Spinach. I re-created it at home with much success! Yum!

[morebubbles]

love palm hearts in a salad... Other than that, a friend of mine sent me a recipe (in Spanish) for a palm heart rice dish. Basically, it's cooked rice layered with sliced palm hearts, bechamel sauce and cheese, then baked. He says it's delicious.

[Noice]

Morebubbles:

The recipe sounds very interesting. Would you post the recipe for those of us who read Spanish (or have kind friends who read Spanish)? Thanks.

Noice

[morebubbles]

Noice, Here are the 2 recipes from a Costa Rican friend for rice with palm hearts, exactly as they were given to me (note-Pastora is the name of a woman he knows that makes it):
ARROZ CON PALMITO A LA PASTORA

Primero haces arroz comun y corriente y lo tenes listo.

Luego haces la salsa :
Poner cebolla y chile dulce a sofreir en el sarten, le pones dos o 3 tazas de leche y revolves de vez en cuando, le agregas como dos cucharadas copetonas de queso crema o una cajita pequeña de crema dulce, y seguis revolviendo. luego pones sal y pimienta al
gusto. Para espesar la salsa, le agregas al final, cuando ya la mezcla quiere hervir, unas dos cucharadas rasas de harina (siempre revolviendo, te debe quedar una salsa blanca espesita (thick) pero no demasiado (que pueda chorrear un poco).

Finalmente en un pirex rectangular pones:
-Capa de arroz
-Capa de relleno (trozos de palmito y si queres, maiz dulce u hongos)
-"capa" de salsa
-queso mozarella
Repetir las capas hasta donde te lo permita la altura del pirex. Arriba siempre debe quedar el queso mozarella. Lo metes al horno unos minutos basicamente para que se derrita el queso y ya esta listo !!!

ARROZ CON PALMITO A LA CALI

60 gramos (2 oz) mantequilla
1 cebolla picada fina
2 cubos pollo pequeños
2 1/2 tazas arroz
1 cta. sal
3 tazas agua
1 chile verde picado fino

En una olla cristalizar la cebolla y chile en la mantequilla, luego agregar cubos, arroz, sal y agua caliente. Revolver y dejar evaporar. Tapar y dejar reventar a bajo calor.

SALSA:
115 gramos (4 oz) mantequilla
1 1/2 tazas cebolla picada fina
1 sobre crema deshidratada espárragos
3 tazas leche
2 tazas crema dulce
1 cta. sal
1/4 cta. pimienta
pizca nuez moscada
1/4 cta. tabasco
230 gramos (8 oz) queso mozzarella en cubitos
2 latas palmito (460 9 c/u) tajadeado fino
1 sobre queso parmesano
pelotitas mantequilla

Cristalizar la cebolla en la mantequilla, agregar la crema de espárragos mezclada con la leche y previamente colada. Revolver y agregar crema dulce, sal, pimienta, nuez moscada y tabasco.
Revolver hasta hervir y apartar 1 taza. Al resto agregarle mitad del queso mozzarella y el palmito. Dejar hervir y apartar. En un pyrex rectagular grande de 34 x 22 x 5 cm poner 2 tazas salsa, capa delgada arroz, 2 tazas salsa, resto queso mozzarella, capa arroz, resto salsa, resto de arroz, salsa reservada, queso parmesano y pelotitas de mantequilla. Hornear a 350°F por 25 minutos. No se recomienda congelar. Preferiblemente preparar con anterioridad salsa y arroz. Calentarlos antes de armar la receta en el pyrex y hornear.
Quedará más húmedo. (10 -15 porciones).

[Noice]

Morebubbles:

Thanks for posting! I will keep these in my hip pocket for when we have Costa Ricans over for some good chow.

Noice

[winepersonality]

I suggest you keep them in your cupboard for a rainy day, and use fresh hearts of palm for the recipes posted. The executive chef at our restaurant uses fresh hearts of palm on the menu and they are far superior to any canned product as you can only imagine. It is like comparing any fresh produce item to that which comes in a can~

[pescatarian]

I've never seen fresh hearts of palm. Would love to try them though, since I love them in the can - although never already cut up, they are better whole.

[piccola]

Google for a hearts of palm ceviche. Saw it on a blog recently, looked deelish.

[orangewasabi]

I use canned hearts of palm as a tv snack i.e. eat em right out of the can while sitting on the couch

[pescatarian]

hearts of palm are one of my favourite snacks - by themselves out of the can - I eat at least one can a week like that - often while I'm unpacking the rest of my grocercies so I don't gorge on something else that I just bought, like cheese

That said, the can always gives a recipe to cut them lengthwise and scoop out a bit and mix that with crab and mayo and salt and pepper and fill the scooped out part with the crab mixture - haven't tried it, but it could be good

They are always a good addition to salads, along with beets, baby corn, etc.

[orangewasabi]

LOL, the calorie/joy ratio of HofP rocks! I use them as appetite mgmt too. Another good one is the baby corns that come in a can -- less than 100 calories in a whole can!

[pescatarian]

yup and the canned artichokes rock for that purpose too - although the HofP are my runaway faves - I like the President's Choice ones that are whole (they seem to lose something when they are already cut - you don't get that crunch on the outside and then the creamy inside :)

Oh and I also nibble on pints of grape tomatoes when I'm hungry too.

[orangewasabi]

totally agree, the HofP ARE the most satisfying, and they must be the 'whole' ones -- it's all about the layers.

10-4 on the grape tomatoes, also frozen grapes. I can scarf a pound of fresh ones, but frozen, 5 or so does me fine. Stick em in the freezer on the vine, right from the grocery store (well maybe rinse them first).

[bolivianita]

I love them dipped in ketchup and mayo thats been mixed together.

[pescatarian]

and here I thought I was the only wacky one that does things like that

[bolivianita]

I love the ketchup mayo combo on frenchfries too. In Bolivia they serve "Salsa Golf" with hearts of palm and as far as I can tell its just ketchup and mayo...don't know where the name comes from?

[pescatarian]

I like that combo with fries too as a dip - I also mix ketchup and mayo together with spices for veggies sometimes

[winepersonality]

I will ask the chef where he gets the fresh hearts of palm at work tonight. In fact he did a wonderful dish for valentines last night. I will get the recipe and post it.

[morebubbles]

I look forward to it! Much appreciated. (also the presention please...!)

[CathleenH]

Please do! I haven't had fresh hearts of palm since my days volunteering in rural Guatemala, when little girls came door-to-door selling the hearts of palm thier families had cut that morning... They are extremely perishable - They oxidize and start turning black within hours of harvesting. Is some entrepreneur Fed-Exing them from the source? Are they blackened by the time the chef recieves them? Or shipped with some of the outer layer intact to be peeled away?

I'm so curious!

[winepersonality]

The palm comes from a distributor in Orlando Florida, they buy them directly from the farm in costa rica and they have a shelf life of 2 weeks from the harvest date. They have a website that ships directly to home chefs: www.vivagourmet.com go to the web site and pur hearts of palm into the search box. I am still waiting for Chef to write down the recipe. We have been very busy with Valentines day.

[CathleenH]

Wow! I'm going to try them. I wonder why they don't oxidize? Maybe they're vacuum packed?

Thanks for posting back.

[SuzMiCo]

I make heart of palm salad (I know you said you didn't want to use them in salads, but I figured you meant as an ingredient in a green salad, this is more akin to potato salad).

Sliced hearts of palm mixed with a little plain yogurt or non-fat sour cream, S & P, and lots of fresh dill. It's outstanding and it always disappears REALLY fast.

[bolivianita]

My Dad used to make these when I was a kid. He took palm hearts and sliced tmen into rounds then topped them with parmesan cheese bread crumbs and a dash of paprika and broiled them. I used to love them. I haven't eaten them this way in years.