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Wednesday 20 February 2008

Nutty Spice



This evening I arrived home to find the kitchen floor covered in food. At first I thought the cat had tried to fix her own dinner, but soon realised that the shelves in the pantry had collapsed, spilling its contents everywhere. A pain in the arse, but once I finished sweeping up the pesky bits of quinoa and risotto rice, I discovered that I had about ten almost-finished packets of assorted nuts. Instead of throwing them back into the bowels of the pantry never to be seen again, I chucked them all into a baking tray and made the best of a very nutty situation.

What you need
About 280-300 grams of mixed nuts, unsalted (I used raw cashews, brazil nuts, raw peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts
half a teaspoon each of smoked paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander, chili powder (less or more depending on how much heat you can take)
1 very big pinch of sea salt (or 2 if you love salt)
3 tablespoons of olive oil

The do
Heat oven to 200 degrees C. Grab a deepish metal baking tray, throw in the nuts, then the spices then the oil. Shake the tray around until the nuts are evenly coated in the oil and spices. Roast in the oven for around 10 minutes or less, toss them every couple of minutes so they roast evenly. They burn very quickly so don't get distracted like I did. When they are slightly browned they're done. Empty tray onto some kitchen paper to cool completely then store in a airtight jar.

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