I think I’m going to take a bit of a break … not sure how long though so I’ll leave you with a quick candy recipe post. This will give anyone reading a chance to catch up on earlier posts which they may have missed (hint) and give ME a chance to come up with some ideas for what to make during my two months of summer break.
POSSIBLE projects are mostly rehashes of things I haven’t made in ages … like cannoli shells, potstickers, pastas (I’ve been meaning to try a beet puree for colouring), yaki onigiri. (I may add more ideas here as they come to me. Right now I’m too hungry to think clearly.)
I had a brittle craving a while ago, but the only nuts in the house were pine nuts from my freezer, so that’s what I went with. Not cheap to make compared to something like a peanut brittle, but OH SO GOOD.
Pine Nut Brittle
A very simple basic brittle recipe using equal amounts by weight of sugar and nuts (100 g /1/2 cup sugar, 100 gm/1 cup pine nuts, 1 tsp butter, a pinch of baking soda, a pinch of sea salt and a few finely minced fresh rosemary leaves).
I made a second batch in which I doubled the sugar and halved the nuts. It was good too and more economical on the nuts if that’s a concern. Here’s a picture of the two versions for comparison. At least I could spread out the 2nd batch of brittle more thinly on the sheet.
Meal Round-up
Breakfast of sourdough starter pancakes topped with macerated strawberries and maple syrup, eggs over easy and LOTS of bacon.
Various chicken dishes: a disappointing chicken kebab recipe which was transformed into a chicken shawarma wrap, a couple of ways to serve leftover shredded chicken mole
Leftover pea-meal bacon roast, mac and cheese and peas … all from the freezer
Potato salad with hardboiled eggs with my home made blender mayonnaise.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 
Enjoy your break. I have made brittle before but never with pine nuts. I’d love to make this! But the situation is that pine nuts are so very expensive here – a small bag costs around $10.00! xx
Costco sells 1 or 2 kg bags … for about $18, I think. It’s been quite a while and my memory is iffy. But I thought it was a good deal. 🙂
They are $27 now! I haven’t bought them in ages and I refuse to buy the Chinese pine nuts because they can cause a weird metal/tin taste that doesn’t go away (probably some pesticide they shouldn’t be using!). Absolutely LOVE brittle!
That’s outrageous. Oh well, there’s always peanut brittle, or sesame seed brittle or almond brittle.
Have you ever tried walnut or pecan brittle? How pricey are macadamia nuts, I wonder? 🙂
Well I love pine nuts and everything here looks delish!! I didn’t know about the Chinese pine nuts but there seems to be more and more concern over many of the products.
I have no idea where Costco sources their pine nuts but they were plump and fresh. And a LOT cheaper than the little bags I’ve been buying in the past.
And I forgot to say, I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll come back with – don’t stay away too long!!
Thank you. I’m doing a bit of experimenting but nothing I feel like posting/sharing, yet.
I made beet(root) coloured pasta a few days ago and some yaki onigiri yesterday with left over sushi rice. I’m trying to figure out if I can make sushi pizza at home but both my attempts at the rice patty were big fails.
Well, we all learn more from the fails than the successes! 🙂 Looking forward to seeing that sushi pizza if you perfect it…:) Of course, if you’re like me, you can only do one thing for so long before you table it for later…
I’m definitely going to table it. No sense wasting my last cup of sushi rice right now … especially as I have no idea what my next step should be. I think I’ll just go back to the AYCE sushi place and let them cook it for me.
If only the waitresses spoke enough English that I could try to pump them for information. 🙂
🙂
It seems that your break was shorter than what has become my normal number of days between posts 🙂 Sushi pizza??? Either I’ve missed one of your restaurant photographs or I’ve forgotten… I’m looking forward to seeing you copy that.
Yes, I got bored pretty quickly as I’m at home with nothing much to do. So I played with what I had available.
As to the sushi pizza … if you look at the ‘all you can eat sushi’ posts you’ll see the pictures of a fried sushi rice patty topped with spicy mayo, raw salmon or eel, shredded cucumber and tobiko. I don’t know how they get the patty to hold together and be golden and crispy on the outside and soft and creamy inside.
https://aboleyn01.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/all-you-can-eat-sushi/