Wednesday, July 20, 2011

ItalEastern Cuisine.


 Because Manwich is for pansies.  
Pahahahaha.

Saw these in the freezer at Oryana the other day -- they made me lawl so hard.  Naan is just ridiculously delicious.  For those of you who don't know, naan is a type of flatbread served in the Middle East.  I'm a big  
 fan of Mideastern cuisine, and I love pairing it with hummus.  Or raita (a delicious, savory cucumber yogurt that is usually served with uber-spicy foods, like curry), if I have time to make some.  I need to share my Americanized raita recipe with you all sometime...

OH HAI, my latest butter recipe would be pretty dandy slathered on a piece of naan, too!  Whipped up my first batch of  savory nut butter the other day.  Seeing as nearly all of my nut butters are so sweet that they could probably be topped with whipped cream and eaten for dessert, this was quite a change of pace.  My inspiration came from a big bag of pine nuts and a container of basil I found in the spice cupboard.  Seeing the two sitting next to each other gave me an idea...so I busted out the food processor and, five minutes later, I had a batch of savory, melt-in-your-mouth creamy, completely un-photogenic (I know, I know -- it looks like I stuck the end of the spatula into a hairball.  Ick.) pine nut butter!  Like peanut butter, this stuff is packed with protein and unsaturated fat ("good" fat).  I think it would be good on toasted sliced of white bread with some fresh tomato (hm, maybe a bruschetta imposter?), as an appetizer before a fancy-shmancy Italian dinner.

Pesto Butter

You'll Need:.
3/4 cup pine nuts
 1 Heaping 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 Heaping 1/4 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried basil (but if you absolutely love the heck out of basil, you could probably add a tsp or two more)
*Optional* Oil for toasting pine nuts -- they're lovely toasted, but they're nommy raw as well!

Pour pine nuts into food processor and blllllennnnd...until butter forms.  This should take 2-3 minutes.  Then add seasonings and blend again, this time for 10-15 seconds.  Aaaand that's all, folks!



No comments:

Post a Comment