Walnuts: Eat ‘Em While They’re New
Because walnuts do not perish like tomatoes or peaches, we tend to regard them as a year-around item. And indeed they are a food capable of providing winter sustenance or standing in as a casual ending to a winter’s meal.
However, a fresh fall walnut is truly a delicacy, worlds removed from the same nut even a month later. Inside the shell, papery, straw-colored skins cover ivory-colored flesh whose taste is still mild, almost milky. A month or two later the skins will begin to darken; the meat will grow more rigid and less delicate, the flavor more pronounced and nutty. As the months pass, the nuts will go on darkening and start to dry, while the oil within begins its natural movement toward rancidity.
By summer they’re not so appealing. But by then it’s hot, and oil-rich nuts in general aren’t as appealing to eat as when it’s cool. Then it’s fall and we’re ready for nuts again.
Incidentally, walnuts keep best in their protective shell. If they are already shelled, storing them in the freezer or refrigerator will greatly slow down their general deterioration. But shelled or not, a new-crop walnut is new for just a month or so.
New-crop walnuts make a good base for sauces. A thick sauce of ground walnuts flavored with fennel seeds makes a smooth and subtle garnish for grilled eggplant or a dip with raw fennel and other late-summer vegetables.
A thinner bechamel-based sauce, using ground walnuts made even paler by soaking the walnuts in very hot water, then peeling the tannic skins, makes a rich pairing with cannelloni filled with assertive-tasting greens. (The same sauce made with older nuts will take on a decidedly pinkish hue from the skins.) This is a bit of work, but fun to do at least once a year.
New-crop walnuts are also good in baked goods that feature nuts, such as a walnut torte, a walnut custard based on pureed, strained walnuts and walnut cookies. They could also be featured with great success in walnut breads.
And, of course, eating new-crop walnuts out of hand is a direct and perfectly good way to enjoy them. Crack the shells so that they’re easy to open and put them out in a basket to enjoy with a glass of wine or for an informal dessert.
Three fresh fruits that are ripe at the same time the nuts come on--the fall crop of figs, quince and pears--are wonderful with walnuts. All have a soft, rich, succulent quality that is superb. Crisp apples make a nice counterpoint.
That combination of walnuts and fruits would also be grand with all kinds of cheeses--a soft, mild goat cheese, rich triple-creams, delicate homemade ricotta or cream cheeses (with a drizzle of honey, perhaps), the more assertive ricotta salata or virtually any of the blues.
Add seasonal greens to make a hearty salad. Generally, foods pair best with those foods that are in season at the same time. Thus new-crop walnuts are especially good with fennel, beets, eggplant, the first fall chicories ( frisee , escarole, radicchio and endive) and other strongly flavored greens.
All these foods fit harmoniously together in many ways: walnuts with pears, endive and Gorgonzola cheese; roasted beets with arugula, walnuts, apples and walnut vinaigrette; shaved fennel with walnuts, figs and frisee ; baked quince with lightly roasted walnuts, poached pears with walnut cookies, grilled fennel with walnut sauce and fennel seeds--the list could go on.
It’s an immensely enjoyable season, but a brief one, coming just before winter squash and the root vegetables take the stage.
CANNELLONI WITH GREENS AND WALNUT SAUCE
3 pounds chard or mixed greens with stems
Salt
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 eggs
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
Ground nutmeg
Pepper
Lemon juice
Egg Pasta
Walnut Sauce
Additional grated Parmesan cheese
Bring large pot of water to boil. Cut leaves away from thick center stems of chard and wash well. (Save chard stems to cook separately or for soup stock.) If using mixture of greens, cook separately--some will take longer than others. When water comes to boil, add salt to taste and cook greens until tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
Drain greens in colander. Press out as much moisture as possible with hands or back of wooden spoon. Set greens on cutting board and chop finely. Place in bowl and add ricotta, grated cheeses, garlic, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, eggs and lemon zest. Mix well. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Bring water to boil, then add salt. Drop Egg Pasta squares (cannelloni), several at time, into boiling water. Pasta will fall to bottom, then rise to surface. When pasta returns to surface, remove with slotted spoon and drop into bowl of cold water. Once cooled, drain and place squares on towel to dry.
Fill cannelloni by placing 3 to 4 tablespoons of chard mixture along 1 end of each square of pasta. Loosely roll or fold pasta around filling.
Place cannelloni, seam-side up, next to each other in generously buttered 13x9-inch baking dish. Cover with 1/2 of Walnut Sauce. Bake at 375 degrees 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes.
Stir 1 tablespoon parsley into remaining Walnut Sauce. Make pool of sauce on bottom of each serving plate and set cannelloni on top, or pour sauce over cannelloni. Sprinkle over remaining 1 tablespoon parsley. Serve with additional grated Parmesan cheese. Makes 8 servings.
Each serving contains about:
330 calories; 768 mg sodium; 177 mg cholesterol; 18 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 22 grams protein; 1.50 grams fiber.
Note: Instead of 1/2 cup each Parmesan and Romano cheeses, use 1 cup Parmesan cheese.
Walnut Sauce
3 cups milk
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 small bay leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
Salt
White pepper
Ground nutmeg
Combine milk with walnuts, garlic and bay leaves in saucepan and place over medium-high heat. When milk is near boiling, remove from heat and set aside for flavors to steep.
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour to make roux. Gently cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly colored.
Remove bay leaves and garlic cloves from milk. Add milk all at once to roux and stir with whisk. Season to taste with salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Slowly simmer sauce, stirring frequently, about 25 minutes. Makes 2 cups.
Egg Pasta
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Dash salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon olive oil
Combine flour and salt in bowl. Make well in middle and add egg and olive oil. Using fingers, lightly and gradually work egg into flour so that it is completely distributed throughout. When well combined, press mixture together to form dough.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and begin to knead. If dough is too dry, add drops of water, few at time, to moisten dough to come together. Knead dough about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place dough in plastic food bag or wrap in plastic wrap. Let stand at least 1/2 hour, preferably 1 hour, before rolling out.
To make cannelloni, roll dough out to thinnest setting and cut final strip into 4-inch squares. Most pasta machines will roll sheet 6 inches wide. Cannelloni can be made that wide, but smaller shape is easier to handle and better fits most baking dishes.
Note: Double recipe of Egg Pasta will make little more dough than needed, but you can cut extra dough into noodles and set them aside to dry for future use.
GRILLED VEGETABLES WITH WALNUT SAUCE
6 long Japanese eggplants, each cut in 3 slices lengthwise
2 heads fennel, cut in 1/4-inch slices
Olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 cup walnut meats
1 small clove garlic
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 cup boiling water, about
2 to 3 teaspoons walnut or virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
Brush eggplants and sliced fresh fennel lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Grill over medium heat until done (5 minutes per side for eggplant, 5 to 7 minutes per side for fennel). Remove to tray and keep at room temperature.
Combine walnuts, garlic and bread crumbs in food processor and process briefly until texture of fine crumbs. While processing, gradually pour in about 3/4 cup of water. Stop and scrape down sides. Then add remaining water if needed for medium consistency. For thinner sauce add more water. Stir in oil and fennel seeds. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over grilled vegetables. Makes 6 servings.
Each serving contains about:
205 calories; 75 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 1.43 grams fiber.
WALNUT NUGGET COOKIES
1 cup walnut meats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon walnut oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light-brown sugar, packed
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Vanilla sugar or powdered sugar
Chop nuts by hand or in food processor until like coarse sand. If using food processor, do not process too long.
Cream butter and walnut oil until smooth. Gradually add granulated and brown sugars and salt, beating until well blended. Add vanilla. Stir in walnuts. Work in flour, little at time, until mixed.
Divide dough into 2 pieces. On lightly floured board, roughly shape each piece into log. Wrap each log in plastic wrap. Shape dough with hands to make squarish log about 1/2 inch across each side. Refrigerate until hardened, about 30 minutes, or freeze.
Cut logs into thin squares and set on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned on top, about 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully remove with spatula to cooling rack. Cookies will become firm upon cooling. Dust with vanilla sugar. Store in covered container. Makes about 40 cookies.
Each cookie contains about:
66 calories; 7 mg sodium; 6 mg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.15 gram fiber.
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