New & Improved Spiced Nuts

1 lb nuts (I used almonds, pecans, cashews, and walnuts)
1 egg white
1 Tbsp apple cider (I used Trader Joe’s spiced cider)
1 tsp table salt

1/2 cup white sugar
1.5 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg

butter or cooking spray, to prepare the pan

Heat oven to 300. Prepare a sheet pan with a bit of butter or cooking spray. (I used a smallish nonstick roasting pan.)

Whisk together the egg white, apple cider, and salt. Mix in the nuts and stir to coat thoroughly. Drain in a colander for 5 minutes. Combine the sugar and spices and mix with the drained nuts. Spread in pan. Roast for 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Let cool and break apart any clumped together nuts.


I made four pounds of spiced nuts last night during D&D for our company holiday potluck. It turned out that four pounds is more than I thought. I had them in a large Pyrex bowl, but it was overflowing. So I grabbed my big ol’ cast iron French oven (not a Dutch oven, heavens no, Le Creuset wouldn’t want to sully their name so) and mixed them up in there. I used a pound each of pecans, almonds, cashews, and walnuts. It’s basically the Peppered Pecans recipe made without the butter, and using the “coat in egg white and liquid then drain for five minutes before baking” method I got from the Orange-Cardamom Spiced Nuts. So they’re very crunchy, which was the only problem I had with the Pecans recipe.

The party is tomorrow. My coworkers better like them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a killer meal. Dad made a kosher turkey for the first time. We’ve brined birds before, but my folks aren’t keen on the texture (I think they’re nuts, but whatever). My dad was annoyed at the amount of feathers he had to pull out, but after butterflying it and stuffing a bunch of heavily herbed butter under the skin, we all agreed that it was the most delicious turkey we had eaten. I think we may continue with kosher birds in the future.

I made the chipotle-maple sweet potatoes. I need to revise this recipe. I made it with less cream this time, and I think it turned out for the better. Mom made Death By Broccoli; she cubed the cheese instead of shredding it-easier! She also made crazy delicious creamed onions, mashed potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. I should post the recipe for those onions. They’re from Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home, except Mom roasted the onions first, instead of parboiling them. The roasting added a incredible layer of flavor. Delicious Maillard reaction!

J brought green bean casserole (using a Cook’s Illustrated recipe), and Barbara May brought cranberry sauce and both pumpkin and apple-cranberry pies. I had half a slice of the apple-cranberry. I wanted to eat more but I was too stuffed!

Mom also made rutabagas and butternut squash, but I didn’t partake. Same goes for Dad’s gravy. I’m just not super-big on gravy; the turkey was juicy enough without it (plus I was using the cream from the onions on everything, it was so good).

How was your Turkey Day?

Orange-Cardamom Spiced Nuts

(Cribbed badly from Cook’s Country)

1 egg white
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp orange zest
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 lb nuts (almonds or pistachios work best)
Heat your oven to 300. Coat a large baking sheet with nonstick spray. Whisk together the egg white, juice, zest, vanilla, and salt. Coat the nuts in the mixture, then drain in a colander for 5 minutes. Combine the sugar, cardamom, and pepper. Toss with the nuts, then spread on the baking sheet. Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Cool, continuing to stir every 15-3o minutes. They’ll probably be sticking together and need to be broken apart once cool.

Zed was making chili for a potluck, and bought masses of blue cheese. He only ended up using half of what he bought, so I was trying to find ways to use the rest of it. (There are still three 8-ounce containers in our fridge.) I sort of made this up on the fly, I guess? It’s pretty tasty, but SUPER-RICH.

Any ideas on what I can do with the rest?

Pasta with Chipotle-Blue Cheese Sauce

1/4 onion, chopped fine
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp AP flour
1 cup milk
salt
pinch ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground chipotle pepper (more if you like)
6 oz. blue cheese
6 oz. some kind of shapey pasta (two servings-ish)

Cook pasta. While water is coming to a boil and pasta is cooking, make the sauce.

Melt the butter and oil together over medium-high heat. Add the onion and some salt. Cook, stirring fairly constantly, until the onion browns a bit. Add the flour and stir constantly until the flour melts and the whole thing turns a medium brownish. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly (at this point, if you’re me, you also nearly steam-burn yourself). Lower the heat to medium and bring back up to a boil, still stirring constantly. Add the chipotle and nutmeg. As the sauce thickens, add the blue cheese and stir until integrated. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Keep over extremely low heat while the pasta finishes cooking. Drain pasta and stir into sauce. Serve immediately (heated bowls would be best to keep the sauce at its best).