If pistachios had a voice, it would undoubtedly be the warm and captivating timbres
of Gian Gomeshi, host of CBC Radio’s weekday morning show “Q.”
Sounding like the name of a mischievous zodiac sign and rhyming with mustachio, I dare you to say Pistachios
without smiling!
No wonder in Iran, they’re known as the “smiling” nut, in China as the “happy”
nut and in my kitchen, as the friendly “go-to” nut; performing cheerfully in salads,
vegetarian strudels, fish marinades, pesto, crumb toppings, cheese stuffings for meat
dishes or best of all…with bananas in ice cream!
Aside from being one of the most delicious and colourful little characters
in the culinary nut circuit, pistachios are highly nutritious, huge on fiber
and fat friendly too! They are an excellent source of copper, manganese,
vitamin B6 and a good source of phosphorus and thiamin. A 30 g serving of about
49 pistachio nuts contains the same amount of fiber as one serving of oatmeal
and almost 90% of the fat in pistachios is the healthy mono-and polyunsaturated
fats. If you enjoy snacking on the little morsels, why not re-enact
Prove the Pistachio
Principle? This experiment concluded that participants ate at a slower pace
when they snacked on pistachios contained in-shells. Removing the shells slowed
down their snacking tempo and they ate 41% less than those who snacked on the
naked, ready-to-eat versions. Take it a step further and keep the leftover
shells in sight for your next pistachio snack-sitting and you are very likely
to eat even fewer pistachios than before.
According to archeologists and historians, we humans
have been nutty for pistachios for over 9,000 years, with the earliest evidence
of this dating back to 6750 BC at a dig site at Jarmo in North-Eastern Iraq. Emperor Vitellius piqued the tastebuds of Rome
in the first century A.D. when he introduced to pistachios to Apicius—a famous Jamie
Oliver-style chef at the time—who included the nuts in recipes recorded on
tablets in his classic, ancient cookbooks. Word has it; Queen Sheba was quite
piggish for pistachios and insisted that the entire pistachio harvest for the
region be reserved for just her. Due to pistachios high nutritional value and
long storage life, early traders, explorers and travelers carried pistachios to
snack on while traversing the ancient Silk Road that connected China to the
West. Pistachios also carry the
distinction of being one of only three nuts mentioned in the Bible, with walnuts
and almonds being the other two. In Genesis 43:11, father Jacob
recommends that his sons “Put some of the best products of the land in your
bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey,
some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds.” All of these
items were products of trees which could still grow and provide produce in
spite of food famines.
The
pistachio as we know it today was first grown in Western Asia. It is related to
the mango fruit and the spice sumac and was originally grown in cooler parts of
Iran and Iraq. By way of Iran from Syria, their cultivation spread throughout
the Mediterranean region. Today, pistachios grow in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey,
Greece, Tunisia, Pakistan, Egypt, Italy, and Afghanistan and also in the state
of California in the US, where there is a Pistachio Commission dedicated to preserving, protecting and growing her preciousness!
I
like to keep shell-removed whole and chopped pistachios in a Ziploc bag in my
refrigerator freezer ready to add to a variety of recipes. Tip:
The Bulk Barn carries shell-on and shell-removed pistachios.
Here are a few ideas and recipes to help win you over to my Happy Nut society!
Add chopped pistachios to:
· bread
crumb coatings for chicken
·
goat cheese and chopped apricots
for a pork tenderloin stuffing
·
oatmeal fruit crisp toppings (like apple
crisp)
·
to your favourite fruit pie recipe
·
salads (toasted) with cranberries
and feta cheese, drizzled with a maple-raspberry vinaigrette
·
quinoa or couscous with currants
or raisins and a pinch of cinnamon
·
pasta dishes, toasted and
sprinkled on top as a garnish-instead of pine nuts
·
vegetarian dishes such as
Mediterranean strudels or lasagnas
·
pesto or any recipe that calls for pine nuts
· your
hot oatmeal porridge in the morning!
Salmon with Maple-Nut
Crust
1 large tail
piece of salmon
1/4 cup maple
syrup
1 tsp curry
powder
1 tsp Dijon
mustard
1/2 cup
chopped shelled and chopped pistachios or almonds or pecans.
Line a rimmed cookie sheet with tin foil. Wash and
dry salmon with paper towel and place skin side down on the sheet. Sprinkle
salmon with salt and pepper. Mix together syrup, curry and mustard. Chop up or
crush nuts. Preheat oven to 425F. Spoon half of maple syrup mixture over
fillets then sprinkle with nuts. Spoon remaining maple mixture over nuts. Cover
the areas of the sheet that don't have fish on them with tin foil pieces. This
keeps the oil from splattering and burning. Bake in centre of oven at 425F for
35 min.
Maple Syrup-Pistachio Baklava
(Note: have everything prepared before you unwrap
the phyllo pastry from the pkg)
1
1/2 cups pistachios or walnuts, finely chopped
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp t cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 pkg phyllo dough (in pastry section of frozen foods) thawed
1 c melted butter
2 1/4 c pure maple syrup, heated
¼ cup water
1 ½ tsp lemon juice
1 ½ tsp lemon or orange rind grated
2 tbsp chopped nuts
Combine
nuts, sugar, and spices. Brush a 9x13" baking pan with butter.
Lay thawed pastry on table or large, work surface. Cover sheets to be worked
with a plastic bag and damp towel until you’re ready to use them. Cut all
sheets from the pkg in half width wise. Set aside 10 to work with and
cover remaining pastry. Brush a sheet of pastry with butter and then layer in
pan, do this with 10 sheets. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the nut mixture.
Butter and layer 7 more sheets in pan, top with 1/3 nut mixture. Butter
and layer 7 more sheets and rest of nuts. Top with 16 more buttered
phyllo sheets and brush with remaining butter. Important: With a very
sharp, serrated knife, score and cut through the layers of pastry into 1
1/2" squares. (It will crumble to pieces if you cut it after it’s
baked.) Bake at 350F for 15 min, then 325F for another 30-35 min, or until a
rich golden brown. (Keep an eye on the edges for burning.) During the
last 20 minutes of baking, in a saucepan mix together syrup, water, lemon and
rind. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and let simmer for 10-15 min,
stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. When baklava is done, immediately pour
the very warm syrup mixture evenly over top. Sprinkle 2 tbsp chopped nuts
overtop. Cool in the pan for at least 4
hours and enjoy!
This is one of my favourite Shortbread recipes which I adapted from a recipe I found in a very old cookbook in the amazing Vancouver Public Library--where they have a whole section devoted to cookbooks Yes, I was in heaven! I think the orange zest and pistachio combination in this recipe gives these Shortbreads a little mystery zing.
Pistachio Shortbread
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp butter
- 1 egg
- 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
- (1/4 cup dark chocolate chopped-optional)
- egg yolk (lightly beaten) for glazing before baking
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla, orange zest and mix well. Stir in flour and knead by hand until dough comes together. Add in pistachios by hand, with chocolate (if using chocolate). Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll dough into 1/2 inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Alternatively, you may roll the dough into inch balls, then flatten with a fork to create a criss-cross, plaid pattern. Brush with a little egg yolk and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Bake 8-12 minutes on a parchment lined flat baking sheet on the middle rack in the oven preheated to 350F. Watch carefully and DO NOT let them brown. Allow to cool on rack.
Other optional additions include: blanched almonds, dried cranberries, dark chocolate chips or chocolate mint chips.
For some reason, when I hear George Harrison's tune "Here Comes the Sun" I am reminded of maple syrup season in the Ottawa Valley. The early morning sun is creeping over the horizon, zigzagging its way through a hilly grove of maple trees standing in a bed of melting snow. A hollow pinging sound echoes throughout the forest as maple sap drips from tree trunks into large aluminum pails. Alas, winter is over and it's maple syrup season. Time for a batch of my East-meets-West Maple Baklava!
