Do you think this looks yummy?.... question...what are anise seeds and shallots..please?

Question

Ingredients
1 12-inch Italian bread shell (such as Boboli)
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced (3 cups)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. anise seeds
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese or Gruy�re cheese (4 oz.)
Honey (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place bread shell on pizza pan. Bake 8 minutes or until hot. In large skillet cook shallots in hot oil for 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in apples. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until apples are crisp-tender. Stir in walnuts, 2 tablespoons honey, anise seeds, and dash ground black pepper. Spoon apple mixture evenly over bread shell. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 to 8 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Drizzle with additional honey. To serve, cut in wedges. Makes 16 appetizer servings.

Answer 1

Shallots are in the onion family, the taste like a cross between garlic and an onion. They actually look like small onions.

Anise seeds are very small seeds that taste a bit like licorice. They are available in the spice aisle of any grocery store. If you've ever eaten Italian sausage, you've probably tasted Anise seeds.

Yes the recipe does sound good!!

Answer 2

Hi, Anise seeds are commonly found in Dark Rye Bread. I really like them in breads, but in nothing else. Shallots are to me, just another type of onion, but milder. Recipe doesn't sound appealing to me but all the ingredients are edible so I would try a bite if someone made it because separately, all the ingredients taste good.
Have you ever made this simple dip?
I avocado, skin and pit removed, equal amount of mayonnaise added, 1teaspoon garlic and 1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice.
Blend together in a food processor. High Fat content but great on veggies. Lemon juice adds flavor and maintains color.

Answer 3

Similar to onions, but unlike onions where each plant normally forms a single bulb, shallots form clusters of offsets, rather in the manner of garlic.

Shallots are extensively cultivated and much used in cookery, in addition to being pickled. Finely sliced deep-fried shallots are used as a condiment in French and Asian cuisine. Shallots tend to be considerably more expensive than onions, especially in the United States where they are almost exclusively imported from France.

Shallots are not scallions..scallions are often referred to as spring onions and have long green stems with a very small bulb at the end

Anise is an aromatic herb in the parsley family and is sometimes used in liqueurs

There is such a mix of disparite flavors in this recipe I'm not certain I would like it, but please let us know how it turned out!

Answer 4

It certainly is different. that is for sure. Is this written on the same page or did you turn the page and perhaps the pages are stuck together. I just can't seem to hmmm, think that this is something I would like. Honey, licorice flavor, onions, apples and walnuts and cheese. Perhaps you should try this on the family first before serving to company.

Are you pregnant perhaps? Then it might make sense.

I hope I am not insulting you, it just sounds, well, like the pages in a recipe book got stuck together.

Answer 5

The combination of apples and shallots (an onion/garlic like vegetable) in combination with honey and swiss cheese sounds gross. Anise is a spice that smells like the old fashioned black licorice. I sincerely hope you like the taste but I'd have a barf bag handy.

Answer 6

Shallots look like smallish onions and have a taste somewhere between onion and garlic. They are not cheap. But in New Orleans I think they call scallions "shallots."

Anise seed is a seed tastes like licorice. It's nasty.

Answer 7

It does look interesting.
Shallots are very similar to green onions, but come in clusters of small bulbs and have a distinctively different flavor and smell.

Aniseed is a member of the parsley family, and related to caraway, dill, cumin, and fennel. Aniseeds have a distinctive licorice-like flavor and have been used for medicinal purposes throughout history, especially as a digestive aid. The seeds are also used whole or crushed as a flavoring in various foods. You can usually get them where you purchase other spices.

Answer 8

http://www.culinarycafe.com/Spices_Herbs/aniseseed.jpg .... Anise Seeds

http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/images/shallot.gif ... Shallots

Answer 9

Shallots are a mild variety of wild green onion.

Answer 10

it looks kinda unusual. I dont think this would go under senior citizens, unless your a cannibal. lol.
but aniseeds are a seed from an anise plant, and taste licoriche. They are used in european deserts, and middle eastern cooking. shallots are like onions, and are used in meditteranean cooking.