Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumHelp me pleeeeeze! Walnut bounty. What to do besides gorge myself?
My daughter sends/brings walnuts from OR to me and I use them in baking, cooking, out-of-hand eating, but need new ways of featuring walnuts in my food prep. I know there must be a way to make the really shine.
Does anyone have new/interesting ways with walnuts?
pinto
(106,886 posts)Makes a good add to an appetizer plate with cheese and fruit. Or as a snack. I like them best when the honey has set some so they're simple finger food.
(ed to add)
Good cooked in oatmeal, applesauce or pears. In my family apple, pear, cranberry and walnut salad was a holiday standard. I've added feta or a bleu cheese at home for guests.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)The oils in the nuts will eventually go rancid, but freezing preserves them indefinitely and they will be as good as new once thawed.
GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)They're also a good substitute for pine nuts in pesto. I like to them add to Brussels sprouts when I roast them.
are really good with green beans, and in a sweet potatoes/ brown sugar casserole. I like ground walnut pie crusts too.
Adsos Letter
(19,459 posts)Soak 'em to make a nice walnut stain for your woodworking projects.
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I've always wanted to try this...
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)with, or instead of, bread crumbs.
Add them to home made bread, put them in cereal with the fruit...
Add them to cream soups or sauces-- my favorite Chinese restaurant makes an excellent chicken or shrimp with a coconut sauce and walnuts. I have tried vainly to reproduce it, but my mistakes were still good.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)$8/pound in the store!
japple
(9,773 posts)freely instead of hoarding them in the freezer. In the past, I've been sending her pecans from here (Georgia) but the crop is so poor this year and now the growers are sending about 80% of it to China. I don't know if I can afford them anymore.
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)The Chinese are getting them?
Damn. This global trade doesn't help Americans, that I can see. We send them pecans and our manufacturing jobs, they send us contaminated dog treats.
Warpy
(110,913 posts)I heard a couple of guys who immigrated from Manila complaining in Costco that dried mango was half the price here as it was in its country of origin.
Fire roasted pecans are wonderful, one of my favorite Chinese recipes. Soak pecan halves in boiling water for 20 minutes. Put soaked nut meats on a paper towel on a cookie sheet and dry in a very low oven for 30-45 minutes. It should be a drying process, not a toasting process.
Heat a wok to blast furnace heat, swirl in a little oil, and add the dry nuts. Toss in some Kosher salt and granulated sugar (I prefer turbinado) and stir until the nuts are coated and slightly toasted. They are good hot or cold and fantastic with things like spiced cabbage.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)I'm not a big fan of walnuts in baked goods muffins, cookies, sweet rolls, banana bread, etc. I either like it in candy or this roasted red pepper walnut spread.
A Turkish friend of ours made the roasted pepper walnut spread/dip. I forget what she called it, but it's quite similar to Syrian or Lebanese "Muhammara".
The French also make some good cheese/walnut spreads.
I think you can also make some type of "walnut butter" spread .... but I've never had it.
Warpy
(110,913 posts)These days I buy them at Costco and freeze them. The walnut meats survive freezing very well. Shelled nut meats go rancid practically overnight, so refrigeration or freezing is necessary.