We made these a while ago and they were quite good. They’ll be a little messy if you eat them right away. Have a something to wipe your fingers on near by. Or, depending upon the company you keep, be prepared to lick you(r)* fingers.

If you stash (hee! — three people will get that) them in the fridge for an hour or two after they cool, the residual butter will solidify and they will be less messy.

Curried Macadamia Nuts
Adapted from a recipe found on Food Network
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tsp curry powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 cups roasted, lightly salted macadamia nuts (Trader’s Joe’s brand is good for nuts, for they are lightly salted. If you use another brand, you may want to consider unsalted and add a pinch more salt to the curry butter)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter in a small skillet, then add the curry powder, brown sugar, salt, and cayenne and cook, stirring constantly, until aromatic, about 30 seconds.

Toss the nuts with the curry butter on a baking sheet, spread the nuts in a single layer. Bake until the nuts are hot and shiny, about 10 minutes. All ovens are different, so when you can smell them, give them a peek to make sure they are not burning or anything. Cool to room temperature.

Hmmm…now I want a snack…

* jwa, via email, upon pointing out my typo in the original post:

and so on

** I’d like to point out that in jwa’s email, “impertinence” is spelled wrong. Ha!

I was in New Seasons the other day buying some halibut and as I was walking through the produce sections I saw the cutest thing — garlic tops.

“Oh!” I thought to myself, “need to buy! Cuuute!”

Then I got home and realized I had no idea what to do with them. I did a little online searching and found this page — Mary Jane’s Farm about garlic scapes, which I think are slightly younger versions of my tops but I figured it was close enough.

I made the pesto, using half parm and half feta. I also added some pine nuts. Wow! The garlic! It burns! (But in a good way). I mixed about a tablespoon into a big bowl of hot pasta with some olive oil to start, as it did seem a little strong. But — by the middle of the meal, jwa and I were spreading the extra pesto on bread and mixing more of it into the pasta. So, so good. Just make sure you really like garlic.

Garlic Tops Pesto
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/4 lb scapes (garlic tops)
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Puree the garlic tops and olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Add the Parmesan, feta, lemon juice and pine nuts and process it all until nice and smooth.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on bread, crackers or with pasta (or all of the above).

So what else did we have with our garlic top pesto and pasta? Grilled halibut with this awesome marinade.

Awesome & Simple Halibut Marinade
4 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Let fish marinate in the fridge for about an hour. Salt and pepper liberally, then grill in the ol’ grill pan.

It turned out really nice and moist and was excellent with the side of pasta, tossed with cherry tomatoes, spinach and garlic top pesto.

I even brought out the balsamic glaze and drizzled a little over the fish and pasta to make it all look pretty.

See? Pretty!

***
In wedding news, I made the lodging reservations for most of the honeymoon in Victoria here. It’ll be nice to have a kitchen while we’re there. We’re also going to rent a car and drive up to Tofino for 3-4 days. We’re going to splurge and stay here. So very excited!

Also, I finished making the save the date cards and I should be able to get them in the mail in early/mid June (waiting on vellum envelopes and nifty return address stamp).

This month’s Sugar High Friday 31 is hosted by Seven Spoons and the theme is — “Shades of White.” Fun! Of course, it would have been nice if I had realized that my post was supposed to be up at the beginning of the week but I read the announcement wrong…Hopefully, I can sneak my entry in!

This is a neutral shade and S-I-M-P-L-E to make. Chocolate. Nuts. Assorted flavor whatnots (lavender + orange zest). That is all.

White Chocolate Clusters with Lavender & Orange Zest
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup cashews (edited to add: I used roasted, lightly salted)
1/2 tsp dried lavender
1/2 tsp orange zest

To begin, put the chips, orange zest and lavender in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring between each time, until the chocolate is melted. You could also, of course, use a double-boiler for this.

Add the cashews to the melted chocolate and mix until all the nuts are coated.

Scoop 3-4 cashews out in a cluster. I found using two spoons worked well for this. Drop the clusters on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Let cool for about 15 minutes, then pop into the refrigerator to completely firm up — about 30 more minutes.

Because of the orange zest and Spring weather, I would store these in the fridge. I doubt they will last longer than a few days (because you will eat them all, not because they will go bad).

Thanks again to Seven Spoons for hosting SHF31!

Midnight Fig
Here, finally is my Sugar High Friday#22 entry — only two days late. Not too bad. This month, the theme was — Can you can? Well, no, probably not. But, I can throw a bunch of ingredients into a pot, bring to a boil and store them in my refrigerator for a month. Does that count? I hope so!*

This recipe is based on one from Gourmet magazine. I found it at epicurious.com. One of the things I really like about that site is that the comments have all kinds of helpful hints and ideas. There it was suggested to use orange instead of lemon and to add some cinnamon to the mix. These were excellent suggestions!

My title image are the labels that I made for this SHF. That was the issue that made my entry late. I did the jam last week but procrastinated on painting, scanning and texting the labels until Saturday night — I was working on this until about midnight. And there you go.

Midnight Fig: Fig-Orange Jam with Cinnamon & Sesame Seeds
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 orange — zest it first though)
1/4 cup water
1 lb firm-ripe fresh figs, trimmed and quartered (about 2 pint-sized containers)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
zest of 1 orange
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Simmer the sugar and orange juice, plus the water in a large heavy saucepan, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Next, gently stir in figs, cinnamon and zest, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick and syrupy, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

I think mine took about an hour and 15 minutes. When it’s done, stir in sesame seeds.

The original directions stated that this would keep about a month in the refrigerator. This is also excellent on crackers or slices of baguette, along with some creamy goat cheese.

Also, I’ve discovered that if you slather about two tablespoons of the jam on a pork tenderloin, along with some salt, pepper and fresh thyme leaves and then pan sear it in some olive oil, it is very good.

Finish it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the temperature is about 140-145. Mmmm!

Check out all the SHF entries here. Thanks to Delicious Days for hosting the event!

* Standard Disclaimer: I’d like to state that this is in no way “real” canning or preserving. I didn’t sterlize anything and this went right in the refrigerator like any leftover or homemade sauce.

I love me some scones. jwa is not crazy about them but I don’t care about this fact much. He doesn’t have to eat them. I like to make scones every once in a while and snack on them for breakfast all week. They travel well. They’re already in their own little serving size.

Hmmm, it also appears that I like to combine lemon with different herbs. Oh well, here’s another lemon and add herb here recipe.

You can also, as I do sometimes, use a scone mix — Krusteaz is pretty good — and just add lemon zest and basil to the mix. There’s no shame in that at all!

But sometimes on a Sunday morning it’s relaxing to listen to This American Life and make scones. Wow, I am a dork. Regardless, here’s my standard scone recipe with the addition of the basil and lemon.

Lemon & Basil Scones
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup Sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon
5 tbsp butter, cold, cut into small cubes
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
4-5 medium basil leaves, sliced thinly (chiffonading works well — roll them length-wise tightly and then slice the roll. You should end up with little strips of basil “confetti”)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp milk (if you are feeling truly decadent, use cream or half and half here)
raw sugar for sprinkling (or regular granulated sugar if you are not feeling fancy-pantsy)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Blend together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and basil. Cut in butter until the texture resembles a coarse meal. Alternately, you can use a processor to do this Just pulse until you get small pea-sized lumps. Mix together lemon juice with the milk and add to the scone mixture. Combine until dough just comes together.

On a lightly floured surface, shape dough into a disc shape (w/ about an 8 inch diameter), leaving the center slightly higher. I use a pizza cutter and just slice the disc into eight pieces (just like a pizza). Place scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with remaining tablespoon of milk and sprinkle the tops lightly with some of your sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden on top.

Let cool a few minutes and then eat them all up. Mahahahhaha!

Er, wait, no, just have one and save the rest for breakfast all week. Yeah. That’s what I meant.

I just made 58 of these for a work dinner on December 1. I love cooking but I’m glad that this is done! Oh, uh, I only have 58 because I baked two puffs already and jwa and I ate them to make sure they were okay to serve — they were. I froze the remaining 58.

Acorn Squash, Apple & Sage Puffs:
1 box puff pastry, defrosted
1 granny smith apple, quartered and cored
1 acorn squash
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped sage
1/3 block of cream cheese (the low fat kind works well)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp grated parmesan
salt & pepper to taste
flour for dusting work surface
small dish of water
a 3-inch biscuit cutter

Preheat oven to 425. Carefully halve squash. Rub the olive oil on the squash halves (concentrating on the cut sides). Sprinkle with salt & pepper and roast cut side down for about 30-40 minutes — until tender and caramelized.

When cool enough to handle scoop out flesh into big bowl. Add the sage, cream cheese, garlic and parmesan. Grate two quarters of the apple onto two layered paper towels. Squeeze out extra liquid and the add grated apple to squash mixture. Snack on the other two apple quarters.

Sprinkle flour on your work surface. I found it the easiest to break puff pastry along the perforated lines and roll out each rectangle large enough to fit ten circles on — five rows of two. Fill each circle with about one teaspoon of squash.

With dish of water, wet one edge of a circle with your finger, pull and stretch dough a bit to cover squash. Press down the edges to make a seal. Use a fork to crimp the edges. Repeat with all of the circles of dough. Each full sheet (three rectangles) of puff pastry will yield 30 puffs. A whole box will yield 60. Leftover filling makes a great dip or ravioli filling.

To bake:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange puffs on a baking sheet. Don’t crowd. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden and puffed up. Repeat as necessary to bake as many puffs as desired. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

To freeze:
Arrange uncooked puffs in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cover well with aluminum foil. Put in freezer for one day. Remove and store in freezer bags. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange puffs on a baking sheet. Don’t crowd. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until golden and puffed up. Repeat as necessary to bake as many puffs as desired. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

The Simple Pleasures of Cheese
Cracker snacks are big at our house. Usually, on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, jwa (or I) will suggest some cheese and crackers and maybe a glass (read: bottle) of wine. In fcat, crackers and cheese will probably make an appearance over Thanksgiving as well. What I like to do is pick out a cheddar, have something creamy (goat or brie) and have a cheese with something interesting in it — dill havarti, white cheddar with sage or some kind of other herbed, tasty combination. If I were more a fan of blue cheese, I would probably add one of those types of cheeses to my cheese platter as well.

In the picture above there’s a sharp, aged, Wisconsin cheddar, a dill havarti, port salut (my new favorite creamy cheese) and for fun — a pepper jack. All in all, I am a huge fan of cheese. It’s probably my all-around, favorite food.

Michael Chiarello (who kind of annoys me as a person but not as much as Bobby Flay), offers the following good Cheese Platter tips:

* The crumbly sweetness of biscotti with big cheeses and red wine is a wonderful flavor combination.

* Serve candied almonds or other candied nuts for an accompaniment with a sweet, salty crunch.

* If serving Parmigiano-Reggiano, drizzle with a couple of drops of aged balsamic vinegar to enhance the flavor.

* Set out and arrange cheeses 1 hour before serving, cheeses are best consumed at room temperature.

You can find more of his suggestions here.

In addition, I’ll just add that there’s something about warm brie and fruit, such as a raspberry chutney or even sautéed apples that is so, so good. I also like to add some grapes to my cheese platter, regardless of the type of cheeses. Vive le Fromage!

Well, Mulder, I have a special place in my heart (and stomach) for snacks. Every so often, the urge will hit me to try some new alien form of snackable treat. This was the case the other day — I was bored at work and perusing Epicurious and came across this recipe for Tuna Empanaditas. Puff pastry. Onions. Tuna. Capers. Olives. How could I not be intrigued? Right, there really was no way because I was, in fact, completely intrigued.

So, this last weekend, I decided on a whole Spanish theme, making not only these but some garlic & bread soup and an artichoke and olive dip with flat bread (that, I have decided to rework and serve hot — I will post on that later this month after I alter it a bit). The soup, however, expect this week.

But right now we are discussing the tuna puffs.

Tuna Empanaditas:
1 (6-oz) can light tuna in olive oil (not drained)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped pimiento-stuffed green olives (3 oz, drained)
2 tablespoons drained capers, rinsed and chopped
1 package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 round cookie or biscuit cutter

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Pour oil from tuna into a medium skillet. Add onion to skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes.

Mash tuna in a bowl with a fork, then stir in onion, olives, and capers. Season generously with pepper and very lightly with salt.

Roll out 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch square. Cut out rounds with floured cookie cutter and discard trimmings. I ended up getting 12 empanaditas per rolled out pastry sheet.

Put about 1/2 teaspoon tuna mixture in center of each round. Moisten the edge with a finger dipped in water, then fold dough over to form a half-moon, pinching edges to seal.

Form more empanaditas with remaining rounds, then bake on sheet in middle of oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, make more with remaining pastry sheet and filling. Bake in same manner. Cool empanaditas on baking sheet on a rack about 10 minutes. Serve warm. Mmm!

The snacks are out there. Dork! I am! Whee!

My introduction to hummus came while I was in college at the University of Minnesota. There was a deli — The Mediterranean Deli, to be exact — conveniently located by my dorm and I came to love the hummus there. Creamy, garlicky and really different from any kind of dip I’d ever had before. My friend Terri and I would walk over to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, go get some hummus, go to the liquor store and then hit the video store and we’d be all set for a movie night.

Since first discovering the yumminess of hummus in Minneapolis, I’ve added baba ghanouj, tabouli and other exotic snacks to my palate but hummus remains my favorite. It’s hard to match my memory of The Mediterranean Deli hummus, but I manage to make a fairly tasty version.

Aside from its all-around snackability, another reason I am a big hummus fan is because it can be made in all kinds of different varieties: black olive hummus, roasted red pepper hummus, feta hummus, spinach hummus — the list could go on and on. Below, is one such variation, lightened up a bit and with some crunchy green onions in the supporting role. It incorporates a trick from a hummus recipe in Mediterranean Light by Martha Rose Shulman — mainly cutting down on the olive oil and tahini and adding a little plain non-fat yogurt in addition. Sure, it’s not traditional but it works fairly well in lightening up the texture and lessening the fat content a bit. Give it a try — it’s really good!

Green Onion Hummus
1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 large cloves of garlic
1/4 to 1/2 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
1/2 to 1 tsp salt to taste
3 - 4 green onions, roughly chopped
Garnish: Diced green onion & kalamata olives

Puree the drained chickpeas, tahini, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, lemon juice, green onions, half of the yogurt and garlic in a food processor. Add more yogurt if you want it creamier. Taste and season with the salt. Here is where I might add more lemon juice or garlic if I feel the need. When it’s perfect, transfer to a bowl. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the hummus and garnish with chopped green onions and sliced kalamata olives. Serve with warm pita bread triangles.