Dukkah with Ricotta and Black Olives

Don't know what to serve for your vegetarian friends during Super Bowl? I have decided to try "Dukkah". It is an Egyptian spice mix consist of nuts and spices. I have decided to combine Dukkah with Ricotta cheese and cured black olives.

Ingredients for Dukkah:
1/2 cup of plain roasted cashews
2 tbsp of sesame seeds
1 tbsp of coriander seeds
1 tbsp of cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp of salt
1/2 tbsp of black pepper

In a dry skillet toast all the seeds and nuts in a separate batches. For the seeds, make sure to stir occasionally so that they won't burned. Combine all ingredients into the food processor and pulse until all the ingredients are roughly chopped. If you don't have food processor, you can also use mortar and pestle.

Toast baguette then spread Ricotta cheese, some chopped cured black olives and sprinkle Dukkah on top. Drizzle olive oil. Serve immediately.

Roasted kabocha with brown sugar and honey sesame cashews

It is squash season! I use Kabocha squash because I just want to experiment with the flavor.

It turn out to be yummy and absolutely delicious with our honey sesame cashews.

Ingredients

1 kabocha squash (you can use any type of squash)

6 tbs of organic brown sugar

2 tbs of honey

1 pack of Nuts+Nuts honey sesame cashew

Olive oil

-Cut kabocha squash in thirds

-Discard seeds of kabocha

-Brush honey on kabocha and sprinkle brown sugar

Try to apply evenly

-Wipe a little bit of olive oil on bottom of baking glass

to prevent squash sticking to bottom of baking glass

-Set oven to 450F

-Put kabocha in the oven for 45 minutes (depending on the size of squash)

-Try to put fork on kabocha and if the fork goes through then it is done

-Sprinkle honey sesame cashews on top

-Put back in oven for 5 minutes

Sea Salt Chocolate Cashew Toffee

I met Kathy aka The Experimental Gourmand when I was vending at New Amsterdam Market. Kathy is passionate about eating, creating and writing about food and local food businesses. You can find her recipes at her blog http://theexperimentalgourmand.blogspot.com
Since Valentine's day is coming up, Kathy was experimenting toffee recipe using Nuts+Nuts cashews and it turned out so yummy. Thank you Kathy!

Prep time: allow 1.5 to 2 hours total with cooling and setting time

Ingredients:

8 oz. salted butter

1 1/3 c. sugar (white or cane)

1 Tbsp. corn syrup

3 Tbsp. water

1 1/3 c. unsalted Nuts+Nuts cashews, cut into halves or quarters

2 pinches sea salt

1 3 oz. bar dark chocolate

1 3 oz. bar milk chocolate

Assembly:

Prepare a baking sheet (you can also use a 13"x9"x2" inch pan) by greasing it liberally with butter. Have the first five ingredients measured out and close at hand, along with a candy thermometer. Clear the children out of the kitchen.

In large saucepan, melt butter. Add sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook on low heat. Bring up to a boil and watch carefully as it changes color. When the mixture reaches the hard-crack stage, about 300 degrees Fahrenheit, turn off the heat and quickly add the cashew nuts, stirring with a wooden spoon to incorporate. Immediately pour entire mixture onto baking sheet and shake to distribute candy evenly. Rub 1 pinch of sea salt between your fingers and sprinkle over candy while still warm. Let cool until hardened.

Remove candy from baking sheet and place on waxed or parchment paper and break into pieces of an inch or two in size. Melt chocolate in double-boiler. Dip one side of the toffee into the chocolate, leaving part of the top of the candy uncovered so that you have part chocolate-part toffee showing. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Rub 1 pinch of sea salt between your fingers and sprinkle over candy while still warm. The sea salt will give an extra zing to the candy. Allow to harden; you can use the freezer to speed up the process. Once the chocolate is firm, have a test piece for yourself!

Kaju Katli (Indian cashew fudge)

A friend of mine have me tried these kaju katli (cashew fudge) since I am always on the look out for any cashew recipes. These kaju katli are really easy to make. I thought to make these since it looks really festive with the silver foil sheets.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup of plain roasted cashews
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of water
pinch of cardamom
silver foils sheets (optional)

- Grind cashews in coffee grinder or food processor.
- To make sugar syrup, combine sugar and water in a pan and put to boil. Once boiled, put crushed cardamom (the black seeds only-see picture above) and put to medium to low heat. It takes about 10 minutes until the liquid thickens and a little bit stringy.
- Pour sugar to cashews and mix well. If it is too liquid, put on a low heat. Stir until consistency is thick and less liquid.
- Pour the mixture to a greased plate and leave until it hardened about 1 hour.
- Once mixture is hardened, put silver foil sheets carefully on top of the kaju katli mixture. These sheets are so thin that they tend to fly away. You can buy these silver foil in Indian grocery store. If you live in NYC, you can buy it at Kalutsyan on Lexington Avenue.
- Cut diagonally the fudge into diamond shapes.

Shaved brussels sprouts salad with red onion, lemon, pecorino and cashews

I absolutely do not like brussel sprouts especially when it is eaten raw. But a friend of mine made a special birthday dinner recently and made me this yummy salad. It is absolutely delicious. I can't even tell that it is made out of brussel sprouts. He added the crunch with sweet salty cashews. He got the recipe fromhttp://www.food52.com.
Ingredients:
1/2 small read onion
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp honey
1 tsp whole grain mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cups Brussels sprouts
1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano
1 pack of chopped Nuts+Nuts sweet salty cashews
Salt and pepper

- Soak onion slices in a small bowl of cold water for 20 minutes
- In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, honey, mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified. Set aside.
- Trim all of the Brussels sprouts, cutting off any bruised outer leaves and slicing off a good portion of the hard root end. Using a mandoline, shave the sprouts one at a time. When you're done, use your fingers to gently separate the leaves so that the shredded sprouts resemble a very fine slaw.
-Put the sprouts in a serving bowl and toss gently with the onion (which you've now drained) and the dressing. Mix in the pecorino. Serve immediately.

We did it!

Thank you everyone who has donated to our September fundraising to find cure for Lupus. We have exceeded our goal! Please check out our fundraising page www.firstgiving.com/nutsplusnuts

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own cells. It can affect various parts of the body, especially skin, joints, kidneys, blood cells, heart and lungs.

Anyone can get Lupus but most often it affects women. There are about 2 millions Americans that are diagnosed with Lupus. And still there is no cure for this disease. To find out more about Lupus, visit SLE Lupus Foundation website http://www.lupusny.org/

Sweet and salty craving

Banana fritters or known as "pisang goreng" in Indonesia is your typical street food snack. The traditional way to cook this is to batter the banana then deep fried them. This is my healthier version. You can also drizzle honey on top.

Serve 2
Ingredients:
1 ripe banana/plaintain
2 tbs of grated cheese
1 tbs of grated dark/milk chocolate
Chopped lightly salted cashews
1 tbs of butter

-Sauteed banana with butter until banana is soft.
-Grate chocolate bar and cheese
-Sprinkle with cheese, chocolate and chopped cashews