I needed to make an autumnal salad with hazelnuts and recent herbs. This, I believed, can be a easy matter. Mais non, mes amis. I made the error of beginning with hazelnuts nonetheless of their peels. Figured it could straightforward to blanch the nuts and take away the peels. I used to be mistaken. It took me half an hour to rub the peels off simply 20 hazelnuts, and the job was imperfect, with cussed bits clinging on. Then I roasted the nuts, and so they burned…
Salade d’herbes aux noisettes / Natural salad with hazelnuts
To not be defeated, I attempted once more the following day, this time with success. The answer was to purchase hazelnuts that had already been blanched. I watched carefully as they toasted and took them out after they had turned a lightweight golden brown, having fun with the scrumptious aroma of roasting hazelnuts that wafted via my kitchen.
The remaining was, pardon the blended metaphor, a chunk of cake. The leaves of varied recent herbs are stripped from their stems — cilantro, basil, parsley, dill, mint, tarragon, chervil, in no matter mixture you favor. The herbs and hazelnuts are scattered over a mattress of tender leaves, then sprinkled with salt and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
The result’s a salad that’s simply made and might go together with absolutely anything. You possibly can serve it as a primary course, maybe with cured ham corresponding to prosciutto alongside. You possibly can embellish it with grapes, bits of dates or pear, crumbled roquefort, goat cheese, and so on. Or you possibly can serve it as a facet salad with roasted meats, poultry, fish or veggies.
I’ve all the time loved hazelnuts, however I grew notably keen on them after discovering a hazelnut bush on the property of my newly acquired nation cottage in Burgundy. This was again in 1999. For the following twenty years, the native squirrels and I waged a battle royal yearly to see who may get the hazelnuts first. Typically they gained, as I solely went down there on weekends, however usually sufficient I used to be in a position to gather a small basketful that lasted proper via the winter. I by no means tried to blanch the hazelnuts, nevertheless.
Having blanched almonds many occasions and simply slipped off their peels, I used to be stunned this week by how laborious it was to do the identical with hazelnuts. If I hadn’t managed to search out some that have been already peeled, this recipe (as such) would by no means have made it onto the web site. So — what to do should you can not discover pre-peeled hazelnuts? I’d recommend substituting walnuts. It’s a unique taste, however can be good nonetheless. And simply as autumnal!
Blissful cooking.
