My father is one those people, you may know the kind, that will not eat anything that is bad for him unless absolutely necessary (i.e. a daughter guilting him into eating a cupcake by saying that she baked it especially for him). My mother swings the other way, she loves sweets and butter although she is attempting to curb it by removing the icing from the cupcake before eating it.
The only things that my father will voluntarily eat without the added persuasion of guilt is these particular nuts and Portuguese custard tarts. Indeed, I gave him a huge jar of these for his birthday and he happily polished them off in no time. Nigella is right, once you start eating these spicy, aromatic toasted nuts you will find resistance is useless…even for a disciplined eater like my father.
The Union Square Cafe’s Bar Nuts
More picking food, and ludicrously easy to make. You might think that nuts, untampered with, are perfect picking food as they are, and up to a point you’d be right. But try these, modestly adapted from the recipe for spiced nuts served at the Union Square Café in New York and you’ll truly know what perfection is.
- 500g assorted unsalted nuts, including: peeled peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans and whole unpeeled almonds
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary (from 2 x 8cm sprigs)
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I’ve also used smoked paprika and it is delicious although less spicy)
- 2 teaspoons dark muscavado sugar
- 2 teaspoons Maldon salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas mark 4.
2. Toss the nuts in a large bowl to combine and spread them out on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven till they become light golden brown, about 10 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, combine the rosemary, cayenne, muscovado sugar, salt and melted butter.
4. Thoroughly toss the toasted nuts with the spiced butter and serve warm. And once you eat these, you will never want to stop.
Recipe adapted from Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson
