A Jersey Girl in Portland

Fish sauce, Cashew & Treacle Brittle

Before I launch into the super delicious fish sauce treacle candy I made, some background.

Last weekend, my friend Max was making golden syrup for a batch of moon cakes she was baking.  Well, golden syrup is (apparently) easy to burn 'cause she burned it.  Twice.  Oops.

Rather than toss the now-solid syrup, I melted the syrup in a double boiler and added butter and

Fish sauce brittle on the left, Maldon sea salt on the right

topped it with Maldon salt -- wow --  it was a tasty (if really hard) caramel.

I got to thinking about making candy and decided to make a nut brittle.  I didn't have agave nectar or corn syrup so I substituted molasses.  Instant treacle!

Topping it with fish sauce is just guiding the lily of a perfectly delightful, somewhat earthy, treacle brittle.  Fish sauce adds a funky, salty, umami start to the candy experience and the nuts keep the fish sauce from getting sticky.

A second variation I made uses gray sea salt from Normandy. Both are delicious but I really prefer the fish sauce interpretation.

Two things before I begin. 

You will need an accurate thermometer.  I prefer a candy thermometer because it clips efficiently on the side of the pot, but an instant read analog thermometer will do (but don't you dare pay $10 for it! Go to a restaurant supply store, they should cost less than $5).

It is a hard brittle (read - teeth can be broken). Adding a small amount of baking soda at the end does aerate the syrup -- and soften the finished product, but it dulls the glossy color

Fish sauce Cashew Treacle Brittle

1.5 c sugar

.5 cup molasses

.5 cup butter plus some additional to grease parchment paper

.25 cup water

1.5 c freshly roasted cashews* (Finely chop 3 Tbsp of cashews to top the fish sauce)

2-4 Tbsp fish sauce (I prefer Red Boat)

.5 teaspoon baking soda

Cut butter into pieces. Set aside. Cover a cookie sheet or sheet tray with parchment paper.  Grease the parchment paper with butter.

Heat the sugar, molasses & water in a heavy sauce pot stirring occasionally until the sugar melts. Add the butter and stir. Place a candy thermometer in the hot sugar. 

It will take a sold 15 minutes to attain the proper temperature, 270 degrees.  Keep an eye on it and stir or swirl every few moments. 

Add the nuts as the sugar approaches soft crack, (soft crack, 270 - 290 degrees). Stir firmly.

OPTIONAL: When it reaches temp, remove from heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.  This addition adds tiny bubbles to the syrup and softens the final product. I consider it optional as I like hard brittle.

Quickly dump the hot syrup onto the buttered parchment and spread it with a spatula (ideally greased -- if you remember).  Immediately sprinkle fish sauce on the hot syrup and top with chopped cashews. 

Sel gris on the top half, fish sauce and pulverized cashews on the lower half

Sidebar -- topping the brittle with fish sauce makes the surface tacky.  The chopped cashews absorb the excess fish sauce creating a clean-hands candy.

Variation -- I have also done a version topped with sel gris or gray salt that I picked up in Paris years ago. It's from Normandy.

Cool completely and break up with a knife or your clean, dry hands.  Wrap individual pieces in wax paper.

Bon Appetit!

xoxo

Nancy

 

* How to Roast Cashews: toss with a small amount of olive oil or coconut oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. For this recipe, I didn't add salt but I do salt them if I'm roasting them for a snack. Oh, and for snacking, I add a spring of rosemary for the last five minutes that the nuts cook.

 

 

Plum-tastic Plum-licious Fall

Scored 22 pounds of Italian plums for $30 at the Woodstock farmers market on Sunday.  We dehydrated 2/3rds of them, froze three pounds, and made chutney with the rest. I used a spicy plum chutney recipe from the interwebs (Nigel Slater's hot sweet plum chutney) and switched it up a bit. 

WOW it's great! The chili flakes fade into the background but the onions stay frisky and the color is stunning.  I used Braggs Organic apple cider vinegar and switched from the malt vinegar in the recipe to red wine vin. 

Although I'm not fond of recipes, here's the recipe for my take on...

Hot Sweet Plum Chutney 

3.5 pounds of plums, halved and pitted

1.5 pounds of yellow onions, medium dice

2 cups white raisins

2 cups sugar (turbinado if you have it)

1 heaping teaspoon chili flakes

2 heaping teaspoons salt

2 Tbsps yellow mustard seeds

2 cups apple cider vinegar (Braggs if you have it)

1 cup red wine vinegar

3 cinnamon sticks

Put two small plates in the freezer.

Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottom pot and bring to a boil, watching carefully (to prevent scorching). Reduce to a simmer and cook for one hour, uncovered, stirring occasionally. 

Check the consistency by spooning some on a super chilled plate.  Run your finger through the chutney.  If the two sides of chutney stay parted like the Red Sea in the Chuck Heston classic, Ten Commandments, it's done.  If the sides meet (killing all the Roman soldiers), it needs to cook more. Give it another 15 minutes and check it again (hence the two chilled plates).

Spoon the chutney into sterile jars, cap with sterile lids, and process in a simmering water bath for 20 minutes.

I'm going to put it on a cheese plate with goat cheese.... so good.

Peace + Love

Nancy

 

Make Chickpea Fries. Faire des Panisse.

Although I still mourn the demise of Lucky Peach magazine (published from 2011 to 2017, the magazine changed everything about how a food magazine is produced, it's content and most strikingly, the design), and cried the day I found out it was folding, I'm warming up to Saveur. It's the quarterly food magazine that the Lucky Peach peeps used to fulfill pre-paid subscriptions. 

All cooking magazines have an audience. Saveur has an international flavor with a lot of short pieces about interesting things culinary.

Saveur is earning my love with quality reporting and beautifully photographed recipies. Like this: panisse-provence-best-french-snack (go on, click on it!)

I love chickpea fries! They are moist and cake-like in the middle with a bit of crunch and durability that stands up to the sauciest of dips.

My bad ass new stove.

And, tho I've been to France a couple of times, I've never heard of them.

The recipe highlights chickpea flour and comes from the capitol of Provence, Marseilles where it's street food. It's believed to have traveled from NW Italy to Marseilles.

With it I made a super-quick yogurt, herb, salt, cream & olive oil dipping sauce.

Panisse

Recipe-ish:

2:1 water to chickpea flour, 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of OO per 2 cups of chickpea flour.

Bring water (4 c), butter (1 Tbsp) and oil (1 Tbsp) to a boil. Add SIFTED chickpea flour (2 c) and stir, using first a whisk, then a spoon or silicone spatula until thick. About 5 minutes. The batter will seize up like play-doh.

Line a lasagna pan or a 9 x 9 square pan with parchment.

Spread the dough evenly with an offset spatula or a bench scraper or anything that will smooth the dough.

The dough is sticky and elastic and will fight you.  I use a second square dish to weigh down the dough.

Refrigerate for as long as possible.  Minimum two hours, ideally overnight.

Cut the panisse into batons and fry using any high heat oil like canola, avocado or grapeseed.  I used a combination of avocado oil and grapeseed oil. The oil should come half-way up the side of the baton.

Fry until they're just turning golden brown.  They should be crisp on the outside and cake-y inside.

Sprinkle generously with flake salt and serve with a dipping sauce or chutney. Go crazy.

I've also made panisse with chickpea/fava flour and they do have a hint of fava flavor. Still delicious.

I like to trim the batons and use the trim for croutons.  So good...

Enjoy!

Nancy  #mahkitchen