pecans

pecan parcels (apricots stuffed with pecans and pancetta) / albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

| Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

apricot parcels with pancetta and pecans / IMG_1084

sweet, salty, soft, crunchy: the best of all worlds

It is stone fruit season! There are plums (prugne) and apricots (albicocche) and then plumcots, pluots and apriums.

More than a century ago, horticulturalist Luther Burbank bred the plumcot with a 50-50 plum and apricot split. However, it was Floyd Zaiger who revolutionized the fruit and made it widely available.

Zaiger bred the plumcot with a plum to create the pluot — three-fifths plum and two-fifths apricot — and coined the trademarked moniker. While the plumcot is a simple plum and apricot cross, pluots and apriums (70 percent apricot and 30 percent plum) are the result of intricate crossbreeding over several generations.

… the fruit are crossbred naturally. Zaiger performs no genetic modification and accelerates the natural selection process through hand pollination.1

IMG_1090Some time ago, I won the London The Cookbook2 by Cara Frost-Sharratt from a giveaway on the Bookclub Cookbook website3: "Part recipe collection and part travel guide, the book… features 50 recipes from London’s best restaurants…" and food producers. The pages dedicated to Crown & Queue Meats4 include a recipe for Cobnut parcels5 that I bookmarked immediately for the future stone fruit season.

The recipe calls for cobnuts "a variety of hazelnut that are usually in season from August to September when you can buy them fresh, still in their husks"2,6. It also calls for damsons or greengages or Victoria plums7. I would not let the fact that I could not find any of those ingredients in my corner of the world deter me from trying the recipe.

IMG_1093

I visited several East Bay farmers' market, talked to farmers and ran tests. I could not find a plum or pluot variety available this time of the year with a stone that can be easily removed, so I tried using apricot, aprium and plumcot, all with success. And I chose pecans to take the place of cobnuts, because I love pecans and they go well with apricots and also because the process to peel hazelnuts (nocciole) is not a favorite activity.

The photo gallery (click on any thumbnail to see a larger version, then scroll using left and right arrows) includes images of the preparatory steps: 1) two of the fruit varieties I tried; 2) thinly sliced pancetta; 3) fruit ready to be stuffed; 4) fruit filled with pecan mix; 5) parcels ready to go into the oven.

Once you have the ingredients, the dish is easy to prepare and takes a short time to cook in the oven. The result is a delicious combination of sweet fruit softened by cooking, savory and fat pancetta, crunchy pecans. 

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Pecan parcels (apricots stuffed with pecans and pancetta)

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 4 large apricots or apriums or plumcots, possibly organic, ripe, but with firm flesh
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
  • 1/2 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary needles
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
  • 1 ounce / 30 g pecans, lightly toasted in a dry skillet or in the oven, cooled and minced
  • A squeeze of lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon / 15 g unsalted butter, melted
  • Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 ounces / 55 g pancetta thinly sliced

Note 1: the parcels' flavor and texture depend on the fruit used. Apricots and apriums are sweeter than plumcots. Apriums' texture is close to that of apricots. Plumcots' skin is closer to that of plums. Embrace those differences: try different varieties of fruit, including, if you find them, plum varieties whose stone comes away easily. The original recipe calls for damsons, greengages or Victoria plums.

Note 2: I use what we call pancetta arrotolata (rolled). I ask the butcher to cut it thin. In Italy we also have pancetta tesa (flat). The original recipe calls for Crown & Queue's Black-pepper Cured Pork Belly, which from the photo of the dish in the cookbook looks like pancetta tesa. You won't need the whole quantity, but once you have it you can use in other dishes. Pancetta is so good!

Heat the oven to 350 F / 177 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Rinse the fruit, cut in half and remove the stone. (The original recipe calls for cutting a small circle off the bottom, so the plums will sit flat when placed with their stone holes up, but I did not find that necessary with the fruit I used.)

In a small bowl or ramekin, combine the ginger, rosemary, garlic and pecans. Add the lemon juice and butter, and season lightly with salt and pepper (bear in mind that the pancetta will contribute its seasoning to the dish). Stir well. 

Spoon the mixture into the fruit's stone holes to form small mounds. Carefully lay slices of pancetta over each fruit half. Place the resulting parcels on the lined baking sheet.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the pancetta begins to soften and melt and the stuffing is hot (8-10 minutes).

Increase the oven temperature to 425 F / 218 C and if possible switch to broil. Continue to cook the parcels until the pancetta begins to crisp and the fruit begins to sizzle.

Serve warm.

apricot parcels with pancetta and pecans / DSC_8350

sun on a plate: apricot on the left, plumcot on the right
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

It is an appetizer, but honestly, I have eaten it as dessert.

1 Pluots And Apriums: The Best Of Both Parents
2 London The Cookbook on the publisher's website
3 The Book Club Cookbook website and Facebook page
4 Crown & Queue Meats website
5 The original recipe
6 Here and here you can read more about cobnuts and see other recipes that include them
7 Damsons, greengages and Victoria plums

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

or launch the albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

LogoLiberoThis is my introduction to the "turf" (meat) appetizers installment of Menu Lib(e)ro the current game played by the notorious Abbecedario gang (Italian, European e world). I am the host for the next two weeks. The overall aim of the game is to create a menu with recipes from cookbooks we own.

Contribute a cookbook-inspired recipe for a meat appetizer (other than the one I prepared) and follow the instructions in this post. Add the link to your post in a comment below.

apricot, pancetta, pecans, appetizer

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Newrule

albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

apricot parcels with pancetta and pecans / IMG_1084

una delizia

Evviva la stagione di albicocche, prugne, pesche e affini!

IMG_1090Dal libro London The Cookbook1 di Cara Frost-Sharratt, ecco la mia versione della ricetta per Cobnut parcels2 adattata agli ingredienti che ho a disposizione: noci pecan invece di cobnut (un tipo di nocciole) e albicocche, aprium (ibrido 70% albicocca e 30% prugna) o plumcot (ibrido 50% albicocca e 50% prugna), invece di prugne damson o greengage o Victori.aa

IMG_1093

La galleria di foto (cliccate su un thumbnail per ingrandire l'immagine e poi usate i tasti con le frecce a destra e sinistra per cambiare immagine) mostra i passaggi preparatori: 1) due dei tipi di frutta che ho utilizzato; 2) pancetta tagliata sottile; 3) frutta pronta per il ripieno; 4) frutta ripiena col misto di noci pecan; 5) i pacchetti pronti per essere infornati.

Una volta che avete gli ingredienti, questo antipasto è facile e veloce da preparare. Il risultato è un connubio di frutta dolce, pancetta saporita e noci pecan croccanti: rendo l'idea?

Ingredienti (per 4 persone):

  • 4 albicocche grandi oppure aprium o plumcot (se le trovate in Italia), possibilmente bio, mature, ma con la polpa soda
  • 1/2 cucchiaino di radice di zenzero fresca grattugiata
  • 1/2 cucchiaino di aghi di rosmarino tritati finemente
  • 1 spicchio d'aglio, sbucciato e tritato finemente
  • 30 g noci pecan, tostate leggermente in una padellina a secco o in forno, lasciate intiepidire e tritate finemente
  • Una spruzzata di succo di limone fresco
  • 15 g di burro non salato, fuso
  • Sale fino e pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.
  • 55 g pancetta tagliata sottile

Nota 1: albicocche e aprium sono più dolci di plumcot. La polpa dell'aprium è simile a quella dell'albicocca. La buccia del plumcot è simile a quella della prugna. Utilizzate diversi tipi di frutta e otterrete un piatto diverso. La ricetta originale è realizzata con prugne damson, greengage o Victoria.

Nota 2: La ricetta originale utilizza Crown & Queue's Black-pepper Cured Pork Belly3. Io ho usato della pancetta arrotolata tagliata sottile perché non ho trovato della pancetta tesa (Vi ricordo che non abito in Italia).

Scaldate il forno a 177 C. Foderate una placca da forno con un tappetino da forno di silicone o con carta da forno.

Lavate la frutta, tagliatela a metà e togliete il nocciolo. (La ricetta originale suggerusce di tagliare un piccolo disco sul fondo in modo che le prugne si mantengano in posizione con la parte concava rivolta verso l'alto: questo passaggio non è necessario col tipo di frutta che ho utilizzato io.)

In una ciotolina unite lo zenzero, il rosmarino, l'aglio e le noci pecan. Aggiungete il succo di limone e il burro fuso e condite con un pochino di sale e pepe (tenete presente che la pancetta contribuisce questi condimenti al piatto). Mescolate bene. 

Riempite l'incavo della frutta con il misto di noci formando una collinetta. Depositate fettine di pancetta sopra ogni pezzo di frutta. Trasferite i "pacchetti" sulla placca da forno preparata in precedenza e infornate.

Cuocete fino a quando la pancetta comincia ad ammorbidirsi e il suo grasso a sciogliersi e il ripieno è ben caldo (8-10 minuti).

aumentate la temperatura del forno a 218 C e se possibile accendete il grill. Continuate a cuocere i pacchetti fino a quando la pancetta comincia a imbrunire ai bordi e la frutta a sfrigolare.

Servite i pacchetti caldi.

apricot parcels with pancetta and pecans / DSC_8350

sole sul piatto: albicocca a sinistra, plumcot a destra
(tovaglietta di La FABBRICA del LINO)

È un antipasto, ma onestamente io l'ho mangiato anche come dessert.

1 London The Cookbook sul sito web della casa editrice
2 La ricetta originale
3 Crown & Queue Meats: il sito web

LogoLiberoQuesto è il post introduttivo della puntata antipasti di terra (carne) del Menu Lib(e)ro, il gioco attualmente in corso ad opera della nota banda dell'Abbecedario (italiano, europeo e mondiale). Io ospito da oggi e per due settimane. Lo scopo del gioco è creare un menu con ricette dai libri di cucina che possediamo.

Contribuite una ricetta per antipasto di carne diversa da quella mia e seguite le istruzioni in questo post. Mettete poi il link al vostro post in un commento qui sotto.

FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

noci pecan ricoperte di cioccolato / chocolate-covered pecans

| Simona

chocolate-covered pecans on the half-shell
For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, an autobiography with recipes at the end of each chapter. One of the recipe pages is titled Bread and Chocolate and it starts thus:

This is a simple trick familiar to every French child. There’s something surprisingly right about chocolate and bread together, all that dark, rich sweetness against the chewy, salty crumb. It’s one of my favorite snacks.

I am Italian and grew up eating bread and chocolate (pane e cioccolato) as a snack. My home town, Perugia, is also the home of Perugina, a world-famous chocolate factory. However, I think that my upbringing is similar to that of many others in the chocolate-producing parts of Europe. In other words, I have known the pleasure of eating bread and chocolate for as long as I can remember. And I wrote about it some time ago, in an article titled Bread, Chocolate and Happiness:

The next time you look for a tasty snack or want to pamper yourself — or just because — break a piece of your favorite chocolate and cut a piece of freshly-baked, unflavored, good quality bread (maybe baked in your own oven), sit down and focus your attention on the flavors and sensations in your mouth, the contrast between the smooth chocolate and the bread textures (crunchy crust, soft crumb), the way both soften in your mouth and one melts, the meeting of the twine brought about by considerate chewing, the gingerly sojourn in your mouth that allows all taste buds to get their share of the flavors, the slow-motion swallowing that sends parting thoughts tinged with sweetness. A marriage of human bread and godly chocolate was celebrated in your mouth.

Inspired by the theme of chocolate, I decided I would try to do something I had had in mind for a while. Two events combined to direct my actions. First, an appreciation for chocolate-covered pecans, a kind of nut with which I became familiar only after moving to California. Second, in doing some research for an article on chocolate making, I ran across this piece by Shirley Corriher about chocolate tempering. Tempering chocolate is something I was apprehensive about doing at home, mostly because it uses a quantity of chocolate that goes beyond what I want to deal with in one session. In any case, the article explains how to avoid tempering chocolate if you start with tempered chocolate. (Another article from the same author is here: you want to focus on the paragraph titled A Radical Shortcut to Tempering.)

Armed with the information in the article, some good chocolate and pecans, I got down to work. I did not look at any recipe, because I knew what I wanted: simply toasted nuts covered in bittersweet chocolate.

Ingredients:

  • good quality chocolate that you know is already tempered (like bars made for eating): I use about 2/3 chocolate with 70% cocoa content and 1/3 chocolate with 60% cocoa content; I suggest to start with 3-3.5 oz. (85-100 g) of chocolate
  • pecan halves
  • cacao nibs (granella di fave di cacao), optional

Toast pecans in a 350 F (175-180 C) oven. The amount of time it takes depends on the oven and on the size of the pecans. In my experience, there is a fine line between not toasted enough and burnt, so every time I toast a batch, I keep a close watch. I set the timer for 10 minutes, and follow the progress very closely, adding time as needed. Let the pecans cool while you prepare the chocolate.

Melt chocolate according to the instructions in the article (see also quote below). You'll need a good thermometer that gives you the required accuracy: I have such a thermometer, which I need for cheese making. It is very important that you chop the chocolate finely: this will take a bit of time. I place chocolate in a small non-reactive metal bowl placed over a pan with steaming (not boiling) water. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water and that no water gets into the chocolate. Melt as directed, checking the temperature regularly:

Stir constantly until about two-thirds of the chocolate is melted. Take the bowl from the heat and continue stirring until all the chocolate is melted. For dark chocolate, you want the whole mass to end up at 89 to 91 F (87 to 98 for milk and white). As long as you haven't exceeded 92 F, your beta crystals should be fine…

If you use this shortcut method, you should still test the chocolate on parchment or waxed paper to make sure that the chocolate sets up hard and shiny.

Verify that your chocolate is indeed in temper. Smear a thin layer onto a piece of parchment or waxed paper, then wait five minutes and try to peel the chocolate from the paper. If it peels easily and the chocolate is shiny, not blotchy, you're fine. [source]

Prepare a tray (like a baking sheet) lined with parchment paper. When ready, toss some of the pecans into the chocolate, stir to coat well and then use a fork to pick them up one at a time (if you want individual chocolate-covered pecans), or at the same time shape them into small clusters of 2-3 nuts. Deposit pecans on the parchment paper.

As you add the pecans and stir to coat them, the temperature of the chocolate decreases and the consistency is no longer nice and fluid, so you'll need to warm up the chocolate slightly before you cover the next batch of nuts. Again, make sure the temperature remains within the limit of temper.

When you are left with a small quantity of chocolate in the bowl, covering pecans becomes difficult, so you can toss into the chocolate cacao nibs: stir, shape with a spoon and deposit on the lined sheet (see the morsel on the far right in the photo).

Trinidad State Beach
I have already made three batches of chocolate-covered pecans and the only problem I have encountered is controlling consumption. I found the oyster half-shell while walking on the beach and I thought it would work well as a small bowl.

Cookthebookslogowithborder2This is my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

 

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

noci pecan ricoperte di cioccolato

or launch the noci pecan ricoperte di cioccolato audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

pecan, chocolate