Hazelnut & Fig Biscotti

If you asked me what is your favorite nut I would say hands down a freshly roasted and skinned hazelnut ! However, they are a bit time consuming to do. So what is nice is that Trader Joes sells roasted and skinned hazelnuts. In a pinch they work really well.

This recipe is from Juliene Jones of Vergennes Laundry up in Vermont. I used mission figs in the recipe. I find they are softer then the Calimyrna figs. They are also easier to find in the market. This recipe has a lot of butter in it and is richer then a normal Biscotti recipe. In addition, because of the high nut content I would freeze some for later use.

2 1/2 cups of roughly chopped toasted and skinned hazelnuts
14 ounces of mission figs chopped into small cubes
1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup of sugar
3 1/2 cups of AP Flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer until smooth. Add your eggs in and mix until well incorporated. Now add your flour and baking powder. Then mix in your nuts and figs. Divide dough into two. On a piece of parchment shape two logs that are two inches thick. Bake each log in a 325 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cool and slice into one inch slices. Bake the slices for 18 minutes more. They will be a lovely light brown!

What is kind of interesting is the Celts thought that hazelnuts would concentrated wisdom and poetic inspiration. There is an ancient tale that nine hazel trees grew around a sacred pool, dropping nuts into the water to be eaten by some salmon (a fish revered by Druids).

When they ate the hazelnuts they absorbed the wisdom.The number of bright spots on the salmon were said to indicate how many nuts they had eaten. I may know how many pounds I have gained by how many of these really good cookies I have eaten.

Sauerkraut or Choucroute

Well it is October and with really fresh cabbage at one dollar a head I thought I would make some sauerkraut. But not just any kind of sauerkraut. I thought I would add some parsnips and some spices. To get started you will need a crock.

Getting a sauerkraut pot can be expensive. The pot is not the expensive part. It is the shipping.. The pot is very heavy. Ace Hardware is the best place to buy them. You can order them online and then pick them up at the store. The company that makes them is an old USA company named the Ohio Stoneware Company. They combined older stoneware companies about fifty years ago. It is an interest story about stoneware in the USA. You can go to their website and read their story.

You can pickle all kinds of vegetables. It takes two to three weeks for them to be pickled. You can only pickle when the temperature is cooler. The crock needs to be in a cool place at 60 to 65 degrees. So a cool basement is the best place. Because of the salt content the product will not spoil. It just becomes this wonderful tang. After the three weeks you will need to can the kraut or refrigerate. I used red cabbage. But you can make the traditional with just plain old green. After this I will be pickling some rutabaga. It is my understanding that it becomes this wonderful rich and sweet condiment.

To get started one large head is about 24 cups shredded. This will reduce to about one half after completion. Reduce the amount of salt by percentage based on how many cups of vegetables. So for 24 cups add 1/4 cup plus one tablespoon of best quality salt to the vegetables. Now pound and stir the salt into the vegetables. You will now add your spices. This is very much up to you. I added two tablespoons of roasted whole coriander seeds, one tablespoon of roasted fennel seeds, one teaspoon of red pepper flakes and a few juniper berries.  Place into the crock and cover with lid. Let sit for 18 hours. After this the vegetables will have given out their juices.

Now make a brine of four and one half cups of water and three tablespoons of salt. Heat until the salt has dissolved. Cool and add to the crock. Add your weights. Bubbles will appear as it starts to ferment. This is a good thing. Acid is forming. Check every couple of days that the brine is covering the vegetables and skim off any foam. When the bubbles stop and the tang is there the kraut is done. At this point you will refrigerate or process by canning for 15 minutes.

Have fun by trying all kinds of vegetables or even make kimchi. I will share my adventures with fermentation soon.

Happy Octoberfest !