Herbed, Spiced & Candied Nuts

Mixed nuts seem to have greatly increased in price over the last couple of years.  The brand name nuts cost a premium, and lower cost nuts seem bland.  In general, within the entire price range of cocktail nuts, they are too stale, soft, salty, flat, flavorless, oily, or just have far too many peanuts in the mix.

I looked up several recipes online for making home roasted nuts, and many were tasty, but not quite what I was looking for.  Often, the recipes were a bit too spiced, overpowering the taste of the nut mixture.  After a bit of playing with recipes, I came up with this mixture which is subtly herbed, spiced, and lightly candied.

Making your own toasted nuts, with raw ingredients, is not as expensive as buying premium brand prepared nuts, but is a bit more costly than buying the generic brands.  Raw nuts are available in bulk at most premium and specialty grocers, and the quality, crispness, and flavor of homemade roasted nuts are superior than any of the store bought brands.  These are fantastic with a glass of wine, and are a pleasant treat for entertaining.

Cooking tip: If you do not like peanuts, substitute raw pumpkin seeds.

Herbed, Spiced & Candied Nuts

Skill level:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Makes: 3 cups

Ingredients

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped thyme

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup of raw almonds

1 cup of raw cashews

1/2 cup of raw peanuts

1/2 cup of raw hazelnuts

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, combine the corn syrup, rosemary, thyme, cayenne, water, salt, and pepper.
   
   
3. Add the nuts to the candy spice mixture. Stir gently with a rubber scraper to coat all of the nuts.
   
   
   
   
4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
5. Spread the coated nuts in roughly a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
   
   
6. Place nuts into the preheated oven, and cook for 7 minutes.
7. Remove nuts from the oven.
8. Using a spatula, stir the nuts, as the nuts on the outside edges of the baking sheet tend to brown quickly.
   
   
9. Place the nuts back into the oven for another 8 to 13 minutes, until cashews have reached a deep golden brown color.
   
   
10. Remove nuts from the oven, and allow to cool completely.
11. When nuts are completely cooled, break nuts apart with your hands, and place in an air tight container.

Tabbouleh!

After some really heavy meals last week, I want to come into the holiday season eating healthy, and I will try to eat mainly vegan or vegetarian until Thanksgiving. While this may sound like a challenge, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian cuisines offer many flavorful vegetable dishes.  

I chop my parsley in a food processor. 

It only requires a few pulses to have

roughly chopped herbs.

Tonight I am serving Tabbouleh (Arabic: تبولة‎ tabūlah), which is a seasoned salad originating from the mountain regions of Syria, and Lebanon. It is popular throughout the Middle East, with countless regional variations. Traditionally, tabbouleh is made of herbs (usually parsley) and bulgar.  This variation uses barley.

Tabbouleh

Skill level: 

Ingredients

1/4 cup barley

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion

2 Roma tomatoes

1 cup finely chopped cucumber

1 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

fresh ground pepper (10 turns, or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup finely chopped mint

juice from 1/2 lemon

Preparation

1. Boil water, and add barley.  Boil for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender.

2. Drain barley, and rinse thoroughly with cold water.
3. combine all ingredients in a bowl, and stir to combine.

4. Chill for at least one hour to allow flavors to combine.

Tabbouleh, served with hummus garnished with olive oil and paprika, sliced and toasted pita bread, and olive orzo salad.

Fall Canning; TOMATOES!

Last week, my sister and I went to my mom's house to can tomatoes.  This was my second year doing it, and tomatoes are outstandingly easy to preserve.  

Canned tomatoes can be used to make marinara (and other tomato based sauces), make a great addition to stews and soups, can be used to make marinades for beef, pork and chicken, and can be a great addition to casseroles.  Best of all, they lack the chemical additives found in store brands.

Canned Tomatoes

Skill level: 

Yields roughly 16 quarts. (This will vary, based on tomato variety, meatiness, and water content.)

Ingredients

1 case of "meaty" tomatoes (typically, we use Roma)

Salt

Preparation

1. Boil water in a large pot.
2. When the water comes to a full boil, add 6 to 10 tomatoes.  Allow tomatoes to remain in the water until the skins split, usually, this will occur in 3 to 5 minutes. (Too many tomatoes will cool the water too much, and tomatoes will not split nicely).

3. Remove tomatoes from the pot, and immerse in very cold water. (We usually just fill the kitchen sink with cold water.)

4. Peel the skins off of the tomatoes, and cut any stem attachments and blemishes from the tomatoes.

5. Stuff tomato meats into quart jars, leaving a bit over 1/2 inch from the top of the jars. (If using pint jars, the same stuffing method applies).
6. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the top of each quart hat. (If using pint jars, reduce to salt to 1/2 teaspoon.)

7. Put filled jars in a warming oven, or hot water bath, to keep jars from breaking while canning.
8. Repeat steps 5 through 7, until all tomatoes are used.
9. Check each jar to make sure the openings are clean, and free of ant tomato bits, and grains of salt.  A clean opening is critical for a good seal.
10. Figure out how many jars will fit in your pressure cooker. (In our case, it was 6.)
11. Based on how many jars can fit in your pressure cooker, work in batches, and put enough jar lids in boiling water as one batch in the pressure cooker will yield. Boiling the lids softens the rubber seal on the lid, allowing for an easy seal.  Allow to remain in the boiling water for a couple of minutes.
12. Using tongs, place a lid on each jar going into the pressure cooker.
13. Put jars in a pressure cooker.  As pressure cookers vary, follow the instructions which come with the pressure cooker. (The one we used would hold six jars, allow to boil for 10 minutes, place the lid on the cooker, allow it to come to pressure, and then pressure cook for 10 minutes, and allow to cool completely, remove the lid, and transfer the jars to cooling area.)

14. Repeat steps 11 though 13, until all jars have been cooked and canned.
15. Allow jars to cool completely to room temperature.  On occasion, some jars are not 100% sealed when they come out of the cooker, and will seal, and create a vacuum in the jars as they cool.
16. Test the lids for seal. Immediately use, or discard any jars that are not sealed. 

Perfect Fluffy Rice; like the "Bend & Snap," it works every time!

I love rice, from the sticky Asian rices, to wild rice, to fluffy white rice. Unfortunately, I have always had difficulty with making fluffy white rice.  I usually buy rice in bulk, and when buying white rice, I love both the basmatti and jasmine varieties.  The directions always state to rinse the rice before cooking to remove the starches.  No matter mow many times I pre-rinse the rice, I seem to end up with a sticky overcooked mess. I really hate overcooked rice, and for years, it seemed that I was cursed when trying to make fluffy rice.

After some experimenting, I came up with this method of cooking fluffy, and slightly al dente, white rice. Like the bend and snap, it works every time!

Perfect Fluffy Rice

Skill level:

Ingredients

1 cup long grain white rice 

4 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons butter, margarine, or olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Preparation

1. Put the rice, and 4 cups of water, and 1 teaspoon of salt  in a pan with a lid. 
2. Bring the rice and water to a boil.
3. When rice mix comes to a boil, reduce the heat (maintaining a rolling boil) and cook for 9 minutes.
4. Remove the rice from heat.  (The water in the rice mixture will be milky with the rice starches, which is the cause of gummy and sticky rice).  

5. Pour the rice into a colander, and rinse thoroughly with cold water.  Rinse until the water flows clear, and the rice is completely cold.  This usually takes about 3 to 4 minutes.

6. Rinse any residue from the pan used for boiling the rice.
7. Put the remaining 1/4 cup of water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and butter in the pan.  
8. Bring the butter and water mixture to a boil.

9. When mixture is boiling, add 1/2 of the rice, and stir so that the rice gets coated. Repeat with remaining rice.

10. When the rice is all back in the pan, reduce the heat to just past the low setting, and put the lid on the pan.  This will rewarm the rice, and the liquid will absorb completely within 5 minutes.

11. Fluff with a fork, and serve.

Home Made Crostini Crackers

One of my favorite snack items are Crostini crackers. They are simple, flavorful, and accompany everything from dips to spreads very well. (I love these with hummus). In addition, there are many varieties available featuring herbs, cheeses, seeds, olives, etc. They are truly a versatile little item, and I usually have a bag on hand.

With grocery prices soaring, especially on "specialty items." The last bag I bought was nearly five dollars, for a 7.5 ounce bag! This seemed outrageous, as the ingredients are simple, and relatively inexpensive. I decided it was time to figure out how to make my own. After a couple of attempts to replicate the store bought Crostini crackers, I created this recipe. The flavor resemblance is extremely close, and, in fact, I almost think mine are better, as they are fresh, and have not sat in packaging, on a shelf, or had to endure long warehousing and transportation to the grocery store.

Best of all, this recipe makes a tub full. As my time is my own, and ingredients are cheap, it costs far less than the grocery store, for significantly more crackers.   

Home Made Crostini Crackers

Skill level:

(I gave this and "advanced" rating, because the dough can be fragile when rolled, otherwise this is an extremely easy recipe)

Ingredients

2 teaspoons yeast

3/4 cup warm water

2 cups flour

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Additional Flour

Dried herbs (optional)

Preparation

1. In a bowl, combine yeast, water, and 1/4 cup of the flour. Using a whisk, stir together until combined.

2. Allow the yeast mixture to sit for 20 minutes. It will expand and become "fluffy" looking.

3. Using a stand mixer, fitted with the standard stirring attachment, add remaining flour, olive oil, and salt. Blend on medium slow setting for 4 to 5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. When done, the dough will be ribbony, stretchy, and quite sticky.
   
4. Put a small mound of flour onto a clean surface, and speed it out until you have a 6 to 8 inch circle of flour.

5. Scrape dough from bowl, on top of the flour pile.
   
6. Gently kneed the dough in the flour, 10 to 15 times, until dough is no longer incredibly sticky. Kneading time is minimal, as you do want the dough to remain soft and stretchy.

7. Divide dough into 2 parts,
8. Optional: Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of dried herbs onto one of the dough mounds, and gently kneed another 20 to 25 times, until herbs are combined into the dough. (In the pictures, I used a mixture rosemary and oregano leaves). 


9. Round both dough clumps into nice rounds.

10. Loosely wrap dough balls in plastic wrap. 

11. Allow to sit for 1 hour. Dough will rise slightly, and wrap will tighten around the dough.

12. Take 2 cookie sheets, and cut 2 pieces of baking parchment to the size of the baking sheet.
13. Take one ball of the dough, and roll out very thin, on a lightly floured surface. Make sure to roll the dough nearly to the size of your baking sheets.  (I try to leave 1 1/2 to 2 inch borders).

14. Place one piece of parchment on top of the dough.

15. As the dough is very thin and fragile, carefully roll dough and parchment around a rolling pin, and transfer (parchment side down) onto one of the baking sheets.
    
16. Repeat steps 13 through 15 with the remaining dough ball.
17. Use a fork, and poke random holes all over the rolled dough.  The crackers will puff while baking, the random holes keep the crackers from becoming completely hollow.

18. Using a pizza cutter, cut the rolled dough into 1 1/4 wide strips.  (I found that using a knife does not work well, as the dough is thin and sticky).

19. Again, using a pizza cutter, cut the strips into 2 1/2 wide pieces.

20. Place the first baking sheet with the cut strips into a 425 degree oven. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, until the crostini begin to brown and puff up a bit. 

21. Remove from oven, and turn all of the crostinis over, braking apart any that may have stuck together.

22. Bake again for another 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly browned.

23. Remove from the oven.
24. Repeat steps 20 through 23, with the remaining cut dough.
25. When both batches are complete, reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees.
26. Pile all of the crostini onto one baking sheet, and allow to dry and crisp in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

27. Remove "dried" crostini from the oven, and transfer to a cooling rack.
28. Allow to cool completely, as part of the crispness is achieved while the crackers cool.
29. Store in an air tight container, until ready to serve.