Breath of the Wild #14: Sauteed Nuts

Ingredients: Any Nut

Description: "These sauteed tree seeds are the perfect snack for the busy adventurer on the go!"

I really deliberated on what nuts to use for this... but you know whats big and impressive and sautees really well? Chestnuts! Good thing its right after christmas, when they're a bit easier to find.

I'm cooking them in butter with a bit of salt and sugar and a tiny bit of thyme from my planter. These already came pre-cooked and shelled so im really just heating them up a bit and crisping the edges.

*****

They're so good! I am biased because I really like chestnuts. They're a little bit like sweet potato, kinda mushy and starchy and surprisingly sweet. The added salt and thyme made a very subtle difference that only enhanced the natural flavour if anything, i think the butter made the most difference. Really i didn't do much, we could have eaten them straight from the packet, but hot and buttery makes them even better. Are they a good snack for on the go? Well yeah, obviously.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #21: PB, B&B

PB, B&B stands for "Peanut butter, banana & bacon." A bold combination of sweet and savoury.

Grilled up some bacon. Smells good.

Sliced up one banana, its a fairly long one so thats plenty of banana.

It says to toast some white bread, ill give it a nice light toast.

Gotta stir up this big tub of natural peanut butter like its a can of paint! I think it is generously slathered.

And now it says to "build layers until the sandwich is a hunk a burnin' peanut-butter love" ok dude. So like 2 layers?

Yeah i'd say its hunky. Then it says "hit the gym youll need to work this one off" yeah ill just get on the treadmind your own business machine how about that.

**

Honestly? Not that great. I feel like I'm eating MASCULINE CULTURE: THE SANDWICH. It's the ladbible of sandwiches. Its sugary, but not sweet. It's salty, but not savoury. It's dense, sticky, cloying and unrewarding. It's got that forced baconification fetish applied to the beigest of foods. Like chicken & waffles with neither syrup not hot sauce.
Also I got curious and measured the calories on a website, it should be about 700-800 calories. So calm down.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #13: Nut-wich

 Ooh its just in time for NUTTING SEASON. Heh. hehe.

This one's a bit of a choose your own adventure. It's like, pick a high beta-carotene fruit/veg, pick a nut, and maybe a bit of honey. I thought sweet potato + hazelnut sounded fun, so I got just that. Plus for some reason I had "crusty roll" written on my shopping list even though it says toasted bread. Whatever.

I peel and slice the sweet potato...

In my mind that would help it cook way faster, but honestly it kinda made it a bit dry and tough so in retrospect maybe i should have steamed or microwaved it.

Anyway once its soft enough, we will salvage it with some butter and a glob of honey for extra sweetness. it doesnt have to be a smooth mash anyway, in fact it says "lightly mash"

Nice chunky mash. Good orange.

Then as it gently implies, we can fold the nuts in at the end, so we dont have to try to "mash" them. Pre-chopped roasted nuts are quite handy here.

Because its a bit of a dry mix i decided to spread a bit of extra butter on the lightly toasted halves of the roll, and then lastly we just sprinkle it with more nuts!

****

I feel like it would make a great breakfast food as its midly sweet and stodgy, like a danish pastry. I dunno if it is, but it tastes kinda healthy because its a bit fibrous and chunky and satisfies some kind of mineral craving. Who doesnt love a big mouthful of warm buttery nut and so forth.
Get it? like the sex word.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #5: Open-Faced Toasted Almond Sandwich

Had a bit of a virus over the weekend (i did that previous recipe before) and im mostly better, my tastebuds are a bit nerfed. Maybe thats a good thing, come again? almond and cheese was it?

Spared no effort getting just the right things for this. Proper fresh sage, fresh lemon, toasted almond flakes, olive oil, and proper parmesan, none of that grana padano stuff im always buying instead. For the crusty bread though, well actually i still have the heels of that loaf in the freezer. Ok that one sounds less impressive. But i think it'll work well!

Almond flakes, sage, lemon juice, and a bit of grated lemon zest from the outside. I don't know how much olive oil to put in this, ill just start with a little bit and add more if i end up with dry powder instead of a paste.

hard to really puree this stuff as it sticks to the sides eagerly, but I think this is fine? it just needs to be spreadable?

This smells really nice already, maybe this will be a good 'un. Well, we still gotta add a cheese that smells like toe jam.

Fancy fancy cheese! Yes i have a cheese flaker. This is probably enough, its a strong flavour.

wow its transformed a bit under the grill! hopefully i haven't overdone it. I like a crispy top though. Im having both slices because.. im hungery.

****

A fun and imaginative pairing that I think really works! Mine did come out a bit dry though, i think I should have used more oil. I didn't really get any hints on proportions. I dunno if i'd make this again, but maybe thats just because the ingredients arent something i typically have to hand...  if someone wants something a bit unique though i think it'd be as easy crowd pleaser... cut it into smaller slices and it'd be a great canape!

Stardew Valley #58: Roasted Hazelnuts

Ingredients: Hazelnut

Item Description: The roasting process creates a rich forest flavor.

The only non-roasted hazelnuts I could find were these shelled and blanched ones. Saves us a lot of time, not much else to do than season them up and roast them?

I drizzle on some olive oil, add salt, paprika, cayenne pepper and thyme.

Then I pop the lid on this plastic bowl and shake em up!

Then they're ready to get roasted in the oven until they... reach a "rich forest flavour" I guess?

**

I let them get pretty brown to match the sprite, and they dont look burned but... i think they are over-roasted, they taste a little bitter and dusty... they taste like burned popcorn. That said, they're kinda moreish somehow. Easy to snack on, with the oily salty seasoning and all. But a store bought trail mix is like, way better.