Makes about 4 cups (500 g)
This recipe comes from Sue Raasch, a former cooking student who
has a pecan orchard right outside her house in Texas. She made us all
laugh with her stories of Texas and of pecans, and the minute she
returned home she sent me not only a host of her favorite recipes but
also a box of her favorite pecans.
I chose this recipe to represent Sue and pecans. So delicious, so
tempting, it is almost too sinful to print. Honestly, these seasoned nuts,
which I like to serve as an apéritif, push even the most righteous into
decline, for it is impossible to eat just one. They are crisp, they are
sweet, they are salty, and they are simply delicious. They will keep, but
I doubt that there will ever be, anywhere, any to store.
INGREDIENTS
- 1/3 cup (65 g) vanilla sugar (Chapter Breakfast)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, preferably from Vietnam
- 1 large egg white
- Pinch of sea salt
- 3 cups (350 g) pecans
- 1 cup (150 g) almonds, coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup (30 g) sesame seeds
- ¼ teaspoon fleur de sel
PREPARATION
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg white with the sea salt just until the egg white foams.
- Add the nuts and sesame seeds and stir to coat.
- Add the cinnamon sugar mixture and toss with the nuts until they are thoroughly coated.
- Sprinkle with the fleur de sel.
- Turn the nuts out onto a jelly-roll pan and toast in the center of the oven until they are golden and smell like heaven, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove the nuts from the oven and let them cool on the pan. They will cool into clumps.
- To serve, break up the clumps.
- These nuts will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. They can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
Note: Stay nearby as these toast, for they can turn the burn corner very quickly.
