Glorious nuts

Photo: marion van Dijk
A pantry without nuts is like a fridge without white wine chilling. A pantry needs a range of nuts: almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, walnuts, cashews, and pecans, for starters.

A small supply of each, frequently replenished, or nuts in their shells harvested from your own trees or from a local source you can trust.

The nuts must always be stored in a cool, dark place and, if shelled, in airtight containers.

Once shelled, they are best stored with their skins on. Unfortunately, nuts easily become rancid, particularly pecans and walnuts, so beware of any sold in packages with their skins removed and stored for any length of time.

There are a number of producers in the Nelson-Marlborough region, so with little effort you can find suppliers of almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts and more.

In culinary terms, a nut is a large oily kernel found in a shell. Normally, nuts come from trees, but peanuts, for instance, come from a legume.

What you might not know is that research in the 1990s clearly told us that nuts are incredibly good for us. A Californian study declared that those who eat nuts daily are 60 per cent less likely to have a heart attack than those who eat them less than once a month, and further research identified that regular nut-eating showed benefits relating to strokes, diabetes, dementia and gallstones.

The more often nuts are eaten the better, and it seems that nuts generally, rather than a specific variety, are the key, so try them all.

Nuts contain low levels of saturated fats and high levels of unsaturated fats, and they are also a good source of fibre, vitamin E, folic acid, copper and magnesium, and the best dietary source of manganese.

Toasting or roasting nuts brings out the essential oils and aromatics and makes them taste wonderful. Always toast them unless you are using them for baking. Place them in a roasting dish at 180 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes (less for pine nuts - they are smaller and paler, so burn easily). When they turn golden, remove them from the oven and cool before using.

You can also slow-roast them, at 150C for about 25 minutes. Peanuts are particularly good prepared this way.

Some people dry roast nuts in a pan, but they toast less uniformly using this method.

Apparently, Kiwis do not consume as many nuts as they could, and although some people (between one in 100 and one in 200) are allergic to them, for the rest of us the culinary opportunities they offer are vast and splendid. We should be adventurous and try as many different nuts as possible in different combinations in different dishes.
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Try simple things like this:

* Mix in a food processor some hazelnuts, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, a clove or two of garlic, plenty of black pepper mixed with some local extra-virgin olive oil and use this as a topping for some baked fish like hoki. Smother the fish with the topping and then put in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. You can also use almonds or pine nuts and the taste will change - but equally delicious.

* Toast a few nuts and sprinkle them on top of vegetables or legumes. Try lentils with goat cheese, extra virgin olive oil and toasted pine nuts; mix toasted peanuts with a salad of red cabbage, celery and red onions; mix cashews and chicken, walnuts with celery and roasted red peppers, slivered almonds with beans or peas - the list goes on.

* Use ground almonds in cakes and biscuits - they produce a moist, delicious and gluten-free alternative to cooking with flour.

Nuts are not cheap: almonds retail for $27 a kilogram, hazelnuts for $32/kg, and pine nuts for a whopping $104/kg - no wonder when you realise how complex they are to harvest. Pine nuts are either from the European stone pine tree, Pinus pinea, or the Korean pine, Pinus koraiensis. The trees produce cones that contain the nuts. Each cone can hold 50 to 100 nuts and when they are ready the nuts fall from the cones. The shell is extremely tough and the nuts are extracted commercially by using rollers. It is labour intensive, hence the price.

To familiarise yourself with the unique tastes of each nut, make nut butter. You can use this recipe with any nut.

NUT BUTTER

1 cup of nuts, shelled and toasted
1 Tbsp of oil
1/2 tsp salt

Place the nuts in a food processor, or use a mortar and pestle. Grind for several minutes until they form a paste, then slowly add the oil while still grinding. Season with salt and store in the refrigerator. Use oil to match the nut - for instance, a delicate oil for a delicate nut.

Here is a recipe for romesco sauce that uses lots of nuts. I generally use hazelnuts, but you can alternate the nuts and hence the flavours will change.

In the middle of winter, this sauce can be used to liven up a drab day and can be used as an accompaniment with fish, meat or vegetable dishes. It is equally divine with any of them.

ROMESCO SAUCE

2 red peppers
2 red chillis
4 tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup of toasted hazelnuts with the skins removed (see recipe)
1 1/2 cups of coriander or parsley
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Slice the tomatoes in half and slow roast them in a moderate oven (150C) until they are soft and tender - about 45 minutes.

Roast the hazelnuts in the oven with the tomatoes until they are golden. Cool and remove the skins by rubbing the nuts in your hands.

Roast the red peppers by placing directly over a gas flame until they are charred all over. Peel immediately in cold running water (some people like to put the peppers in a plastic bag for 10 minutes as an alternative method). Break apart and get rid of the seeds and membranes. Set aside.

Do the same with the chillis - char quickly as the skins are thinner than the red pepper and they will disintegrate easily.

Cook the garlic until golden in the olive oil. Cool the oil and garlic.

Combine all the ingredients with the herbs in a food processor. Add the oil and garlic and season to taste.

This is my all-time favourite cake and is loved by many people who have tried it. It ages really well if it ever gets the opportunity and is simple to make.

Photo: Marion van Dijk
LIL'S CHOCOLATE DATE AND ALMOND TORTE
250g of almonds
250g of dates, pitted and sliced
250g of good-dark cooking chocolate
125g of caster sugar
6-7 egg whites

Chop the dates, almonds and chocolate into small chunks and then food-process in batches. The mixture should not be over mixed, but should still have a slight texture.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, adding the caster sugar. Fold the chocolate, date and almond mixture into the egg whites.

Fold into a 25cm springform pan that has been lined with two pieces of baking paper. Bake at 180C for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven until completely cold.

Serve the cake with lots of whipped cream piled on top, shave chocolate over the cream and top with some slivered, toasted almonds.