New Year's Party

It's that time of the year again and the CC is hosting his annual party again after a hiatus of a year.

Four cheeses from Bobolink Dairy
Baguette
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Chilli-topped Parmesan Biscuits
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Candied Walnuts with Rosemary and Lavender
Almond-stuffed Medjool Dates sautéed with Lavender & Sea-Salt
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Champagne

Happy New Year!

Radicchio Salad

Simplicity itself, and the perfect way to brighten up a winter's day.


Ingredients

1 head radicchio
1 orange (split into two)
1/2 cup walnuts
1 Meyer lemon
3 tbsp walnut oil
3 sprigs mint
gorgonzola (diced)

sea salt
pepper

Recipe

Wash the radicchio, and slice into thin slices.

Roast the walnuts at 350°F for about 10 minutes. Cool.

Split half the orange into slices. Slice each into half.

Juice the lemon, the other half of the orange, and make a vinaigrette with the walnut oil, sea salt and pepper. Mince the mint, and mix with the vinaigrette.

Toss all the ingredients together.

Arugula, Walnuts, Duck Salami

Ravioli with Walnut-Garlic Pesto

Years ago, the CC had made the walnut sauce from another cookbook (which he will not reveal) and he was all, like, "what's the fuss about? this sucks!"

Turns out if you skip a few key steps, and a few key ingredients, the thing sucks. Well, who could've guessed that, right?

Many many many moons later, the CC decided to revisit this Ligurian classic from a different recipe (which involves a teeny-tiny bit more work and features a lot more ingredients,) and he's in love!

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
1/2 cup stale bread

salt
black pepper

Recipe

Pour boiling water over the walnuts. Yep, this is the key step actually. Soak for 30 minutes.

Fish the walnuts out. Soak the bread in the walnut liquid until soft.

Blend the walnuts, parm, garlic, bread, salt and pepper to a smooth sauce. You can add more of the walnut liquid to get the thing going.

PS :- The dish about clearly has chopped parsley and black pepper but there's nothing more there. Full disclosure, folks, full disclosure!

Hors d'oeuvres for Hee-Haw!

If you're really pressed for time and/or are lazy, just roast some walnuts, pulse them lightly in a food processor, buy a goat-cheese log, roll the log in afore-pulsed walnuts and serve with crackers.

Yep, that's a lot of instructions but that's as close as the CC comes to "fast food".

Arugula, Walnut, Orange and Feta Salad

You may make substitutions but please respect the perfect blend of sweet, salty, sour and bitter, and the textural variation.

Ingredients

2 cups arugula (washed)
1 orange (peeled, diced into half-slices)
1 cup walnuts (roasted)
1 red onion (sliced very thin into semi-rounds)

feta (crumbled)

1 orange (juiced)
1/8 cup olive oil
1/16 cup balsamic vinegar
black pepper

Recipe

Whip the juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and black pepper into a vinaigrette. (You don't need salt because the feta is salty enough.)

Mix together. Serve.

Strozzapreti with walnuts and gorgonzola

Strozzapreti (literally: priest-chokers) are a Neapolitan specialty consisting short lengths of pasta rolled like a twisted towel.


Traditionally, they are served with a meat sauce (presumably that's why the priest choked) but this is a delightful way of enjoying them.

Ingredients

2 cups strozzapreti

1 cup walnuts (roasted)
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
2 cloves garlic (chopped coarsely)

1/2 cup parsley (chopped loosely)
1/3 cup gorgonzola (lightly crumbled)

extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Recipe

Cook the pasta al dente.

Meanwhile, pulse the walnuts, garlic and parmesan in a food processor along with some olive oil.

Put it in a bowl along with the parsley, salt and pepper. Add the pasta and toss it all together. Then add the gorgonzola and toss again. (If you coat the gorgonzola with the walnut mixture to make it less sticky, you can do this in one step.)

The Happy Threesome

This trio may be clichéd but it works: walnuts, stilton, pears.

In the modern culinary world, this trio is really like watching your great-aunt put on the latest hip flower-laced jeans and rappin' it out with Fitty Cent.

Which is embarassing.

However, your great-aunt was alive before Fitty so it's important to know why she's the way she is.

It's the sweet-salt combo plus the crunchy-velvety combo. Texture matters so do the taste buds.

Sweet are the pears and salty is the stilton. Crunchy is the texture of the walnuts, and differently crunchy are the pears; velvety is the stilton which blends beautifully with the equally velvety texture of the chewed walnuts and pears.

What's most important to note is that humans may have evolved but their palates haven't. We still love the same things our two-thousand year old ancestors did.

That still means sweet, salt and fat, mes amis, and rappin' it out with your great-aunt.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Walnuts

Well, the CC was never fond of brussel sprouts until he actually figured out how to make them well.

Well, the chief problem with cooking anything of the brassica family is that overcooking will make it smell bad, taste like nothing, and flabby to boot.

No taste; bad smell; no texture. How much worse can it get?

Moral? Don't overcook.

There's a simple way to handle it. Boil some water, and when it has come to a boil, dunk them, and cook for no more than 3 mins. Cool; cut each in half; then roast them.

Verdict? Very gobblicious.

Ingredients

1 lb brussel sprouts
balsamic vinegar (we used a fig vinegar)
walnuts (coarsely broken/chopped)
salt and pepper

Recipe

Boil the brussel sprouts as above. Cut them in half.

Lay them in a baking pan. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. (Alternately, you can mix them with the above in a bowl, and then lay them out.)

Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, and chopped walnuts.

Roast at 425°F for about 20 mins. Check if they have caramelized. If not, roast for another 5 mins or so.

Farmers' Market Sweep (Part 2)

The recipe for your delectable pleasure:

Ingredients

Pesto

basil leaves
spring garlic
walnuts (yep! it's more traditional)
olive oil
salt

peeled fava beans (prepped as described here.)

linguini or spaghetti (cooked al dente)

Recipe

Should be obvious but here goes nothing.

Grind the pesto.

Mix. Serve. Slurp. Enjoy.