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Friday-style, clementines with spiced nuts and a cold beer.
It’s Friday, people, and even your clementines want to loosen up a bit. Kick back after work and enjoy them with some spiced nuts and a crisp lager. I’m having mine with an ice cold Coors Light, but I am sure a fancier beer would work as well, if that’s the kind of Friday you have in mind.
The combo is an aromatic overload sure to blast away any weekday woes and usher you into a fine, relaxing holiday weekend.
Cheers!
Do you have a huge bowl of clementines sitting on your counter? I do.
Maybe it’s because you can only buy them in a five pound bag (brilliant, btw). But I’m not complaining. I love the clementines—they look like nature’s Christmas ornaments, smell like winter sunshine, taste refreshing and clean, and are probably the only thing I have eaten all December that does not include refined sugar and/or white flour.
So bring it on, clementines. All five pounds of you. Here comes the Clementine Countdown. I am going to post a different way to enjoy clementines every day until Christmas. And I haven’t thought of all of them yet, so let me know if you have some good ideas.
Here goes!
Clementine Countdown 10: With Hot Cocoa as an afternoon snack. I work in a place that has an endless fountain of free hot cocoa, so this was a natural choice for my first post. Today I enjoyed the cocoa in my favorite new mug from Laguna Vintage Pottery.
“It starts out like Peking duck, then transitions into some sort of holiday cookie.” That’s what my friend said when he tasted my Chinese five spice candied nuts.
I should probably just stop here—leave you with the duck-cookie reference and dive right in to the recipe. I mean, you kind of have to try them after a statement like that, right?
But it took an emotional village to make these spiced nuts, and since it’s the holidays and a nice time to reflect on how lucky we are, I’ll tell you a bit more.
I was feeling discouraged about blogging for the holidays. Not only had every other blogger already posted the best cookie recipe ever or the most thoughtful and unique gift guide, but it’s also been so freaking dark that I never seem to be in my home when a photo might come out even remotely attractive. I had no ideas, and it was dark.
But I can be dramatic, and in reality, I was spending a lot of time with some pretty perfect friends and family, complaining about how my mind had gone dark instead of cooking. And after a rant similar to the paragraph above, a dear friend said, “Why don’t you make some interesting spiced nuts?”
I really couldn’t argue.
So I started hunting down the whole spices I would need to make Chinese five spice candied nuts. Fennel seeds and cloves from my spice drawer, check. Cinnamon stick and Sichuan peppercorns from the grocery store down the street, check. Then, of course, I didn't think I was going to find star anise (not to be confused with regular old anise seed), when I found it at my favorite food source of all, my mom’s house.
They’re really fantastic. Great with a sharp, soft cheese as a snack, or after dinner with dark chocolate. Or anytime you walk by the kitchen.
Chinese Five Spice Candied Nuts
1 t Sichuan pepper
½ t cloves
1 T fennel seeds
3 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick
4 T unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 # raw nuts (I used walnuts, pepitas and almonds)
2 t kosher salt
- Put the pepper, cloves and fennel in a large dry frying pan and cook over medium heat until they begin to smell, about 3 minutes
- Pour the spices into a mortar and pestle and let them cool.
- Grate 2 t from the cinnamon stick.
- Add the star anise to the mortar and pestle until all the pieces have broken down. Stir in the cinnamon.
- Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat. Add the nuts and sugar and stir to coat. Add 2 T of the Five Spice mixture. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the sugar is melted and it begins to smoke.
- Remove from the heat, salt, and continue stirring for a minute or two until it begins to harden.
- Pour the nuts onto a sheet of parchment to cool.
Because my parents know me so well (and because I am not a subtle hinter), they recently returned from three weeks in Italy with a bag full of cured meats, just for me. Nice work, parents.
A dark, meaty, almost hamburgery salami; a darling little wild boar sausage; a hard fennel salami, to name a few. And a big hunk of Italian Speck.
The speck is strong, fatty, difficult to slice, and a special treat. It is very good sliced thinly with rosé. However, my favorite way to eat the speck—a fact which I have learned retrospectively—is pan fried with greens. I think I have eaten speck with greens at least six times in the last two weeks. On pasta, with white beans, under eggs, with garlic, and alone, speck with greens has officially entered my repertoire as a simple, front running, fall favorite.
A happy companion of the many tasty root vegetables that are still around this time of year is their tops. I bring home turnips, beets and radishes from the farmers' market, and I end up with a pile of yummy greens. Greens with which to eat my speck.
Tonight, because it’s Sunday, I’m tired, and I still remember declaring yesterday that I would never eat again after a Thanksgiving weekend full of pie-based gluttony, I will have speck and greens alone. Perhaps I'll add a shave or two of Parmigiano Reggiano.
Tomorrow, maybe I'll deep fry it.
Did I mention that I bought the most amazing pair of cowboy boots last month? Well, I did. My friend from Uruguay calls them Texan boots, which I love. And the folks in Texas who sold them to me called them western boots. “Is this your first pair of western boots?” they asked. I think it showed. No matter what you call them, they’re quite sassy, and I intend to enjoy them for a long, long, time.
Much like the cookies I made this weekend. They’re a variation on a recipe for Cowboy Cookies that I have been enjoying for as long as I can remember. But no matter what you call them, they’re my definition of cookie—and quite a good one, I’d say. I’ve added dried cherries, and swapped pecans for the traditional walnuts. They’re salty and sweet, and wonderful.
Unfortunately, since it’s a snow day here in Seattle and I am the only one around, I am eating more than my fair share. I can attest first hand that they’re nice with coffee at breakfast, as well as after lunch with tea. Time to pack some up and distribute them around the neighborhood before they become dinner and midnight snack.
Cowgirl Cookies (aka Cowboy, Western, or Texan Cookies)
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
½ t baking powder
2 cups oats
1 cup pecans
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 cup dried cherries
- Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla.
- Mix the flour, soda, salt and powder in a separate bowl. Mix in to the dough.
- Add the oats. Stir in the nuts, coconut, chocolate, and cherries.
- Spoon balls of dough onto a cookie sheet. I use a mini ice cream scoop.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15 – 18 minutes, until the edges are golden and the middle is still soft.
- Hoot and holler like a real cowgirl.
When the produce man told me they were like Oreo Cookies, I knew I had to try them. Turns out, I am pretty sure he meant that they look like Oreo Cookies—or more accurately—cookies and cream ice cream. My mom and I were enjoying a girls' trip to Maui, and we were giddy with all the fresh, local fruits: papaya, pineapple, little bananas, passion fruit. I thought we needed to try these Oreo Cookie flowers too.
But even though I thought I was buying one of my favorite junk foods disguised as fruit, and that turned out not to be that case, I still enjoyed my first ever dragon fruit. Inside, dragon fruit have a similar taste and texture to a kiwi (and they look like cookies and cream ice cream). Outside, they’re gorgeous: red or yellow with green tips and a tropical flower-like look.
We chopped ours up with avocado, red pepper, white onion, and sour tangerine juice and ate it with grilled steak. Then we had the leftovers on cottage cheese for breakfast. Tasty.
They’re also popular in juices and cocktails. "Just add rum” is a pretty good recipe for many things, don't you think?
Any organization that gives away local sugar pumpkins as a door gift is fine by me. And if that’s not enough, Seattle Tilth also teaches kids and adults about organic gardening, hosts classes on how to raise city chickens, and helps refugees turn their farming skills into a living. I am thrilled that Seattle Tilth is part of my community.
I am also thrilled with the sugar pumpkin they gave me.
As part of my post-Halloween, jelly candy overdose, I wanted to make something full of vegetables. And to use my pumpkin. After much cookbook perusing, I chose to tweak Suzanne Goin’s recipe for Farro with Kabocha Squash and Cavalo Nero from Sunday Suppers at Luques. I made some substitutions and omissions, not because I thought it was a particularly good idea, but that’s what I had in the house.
And oh my goodness, this was a yummy one. I cook with kale (cavalo nero) a lot, and I have never done to kale what Goin suggested I do. I cooked the heck out of it and it was amazing. I may very well become addicted to it.
Seattle Tilth does so much for me and the greater Seattle area. Including help me feed my addictions.
Farro with Pumpkin and Kale
Adapted from Farro with Kabocha Squash and Cavalo Nero, Sunday Suppers at Luques, Suzanne Goin
3 cups fresh sugar pumpkin, peeled and diced
¾ cup olive oil
1 T plus 2 t dried thyme
1 # lacinato kale
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 chilies de arbol
1 cup sliced onion plus ½ onion cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 ½ cups farro
¼ cup red wine
½ cup shallot, sliced
Kosher salt and pepper
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil with lots of salt.
- Toss the pumpkin with 2 T olive oil, 1 t thyme, ¾ t salt and some pepper. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, until soft.
- Blanch the kale in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and squeeze out the extra water.
- Heat ¼ cup oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the rosemary sprig and one of the chilies, crumbled. Cook for about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium low, add the sliced onion and ½ t salt, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the sliced garlic. Cook for about 7 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to brown.
- Add the kale plus 2 T oil, and stir to coat the kale with oil and onions. Add ½ t salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until the kale is a little crispy and almost black. Remove the rosemary and the chili.
- While the kale is cooking, heat a medium sauce pan for 2 minutes, add ¼ cup oil, the onion wedges, the remaining chili crumbled, and the bay leaf. Cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the farro, 1 T thyme, and 2 t salt, and stir. Add the wine and 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the farro is tender. Drain and remove the vegetables, bay leaf and chili.
- Heat a large frying pan for 2 minutes, add 2 T oil, ½ t salt and the sliced shallots. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the kale mixture, the pumpkin and the farro and cook until everything is heated through. Serve immediately or keep it warm in the oven.
