Snacks

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) cold cream cheese, cubed
• 3 tablespoons whipping cream (35 % M.F.)

Filling:

• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons dried porcini mushrooms, crumbled
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cups combination of shiitake caps, oyster and chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup California walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preparation:

Pastry:

1. Pulse flour and salt in food processor.
2. Add butter and cream cheese, pulse just until dough forms pea-sized pieces. Drizzle cream evenly over dough and pulse until it begins to clump.
3. Remove dough from processor, pat into round (add 1 tablespoon cream if dough does not hold together), wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (up to 2 days).

Filling:

1. Pour boiling water over crumbled porcini mushrooms, let stand 10 minutes.
2. Melt butter in sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add fresh mushrooms and California walnuts to pan, cook 5 minutes.
3. Add wine and porcini mushrooms with water, cook 7 minutes, or until liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat, cool. Stir in cheese. Can be covered and refrigerated up to 2 days.
4. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to ¼ inch thickness. Using 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut 24 circles.
5. Add 1 heaping tablespoon mushroom mixture to centre of 12 circles. Brush edges of pastry with egg, place remaining rounds of dough on top and crimp edges with fork.
6. Slit tops with knife. Arrange 2-inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with egg.
7. Bake in centre of 180° C heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until pastry is golden. Serve warm.

Ingredients:

• 50g wholemeal flour
• 1 tablespoon light muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 25g sunflower spread
• 50g oats
• 25g California walnuts, chopped + extra to serve
• 25g raisins
• 2 tablespoons plain soya yogurt + extra to serve
• ½ tablespoon sunflower oil
• 4 Conference pears, halved and cored

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 200oC,.
   Mix together the flour, sugar and ginger in a bowl, add the sunflower spread and rub in with your fingertip to give coarse breadcrumbs. Stir the oats, Walnuts and raisins. Mix in 2 tablespoons yogurt and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the pears, cut side down for 3-4 minutes until golden and caramelised, transfer to a medium roasting tin, cut side up so that they fit in snuggly. Press on the Walnut crumble mixture. Add 3 tablespoons boiling water to the tin and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and the pears are tender.
3. Serve with extra yogurt and Walnuts sprinkled over.

Ingredients:

• 420g strong white bread flour
• 7g sachet dried fast action yeast
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
• 140g pizza sauce
• 200g grated mozzarella or vegan alternative
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 150g California walnuts
• 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
• Fresh basil leaves to garnish

Preparation:

1. Place the flour, yeast and 1 teaspoon salt into the bowl of a kitchen mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir to combine and mix in the oil and 250ml warm water to make dough. Knead for 10 minutes. Transfer to a large, oiled bowl, cover and prove for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
3. Lightly knead the dough to knock out the air and divide into 2 balls. Roll out each ball to 26cm circle on a floured surface, spread with the pizza sauce leaving a 2cm border round the edges. Sprinkle with cheese followed by the pepper and onion. Bake for 12 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, place the California walnuts and BBQ sauce in a food processor and blend to a mince-like consistency. Scatter over the pizzas and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
5. Scatter over fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of oil to serve.

Cooks tip:

Try adding a pinch of dried chilli flakes.

Ingredients:

• 4 corns on the cob
• 1-2 teaspoon olive oil
• 50g butter, softened
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 25g California walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped coriander

Preparation:

1. Rub the corn with a little oil and place on a BBQ or griddle pan, cook for 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally until slightly charred.
2. Meanwhile, mix the butter, paprika, chilli and walnuts together in a bowl and season.
3. Place the corn on a large sheet of foil, spread over the butter and wrap up the foil to seal. Place back on the BBQ or griddle pan for 5 minutes until the butter has melted.
4. Serve sprinkled with the coriander.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup California walnuts
• ½ cup black eyed beans, cooked (Rajma)
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 green chilli, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon red chilli sauce
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
• ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon coriander, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Peri peri seasoning (optional)

For topping:

• Cheese slices, Mango salsa, walnut, mint leaves

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add in the onions, garlic, green chilli and sauté well for 2-3 minutes on a medium flame.
2. Add in the ketchup, chilli flakes, chilli sauce, chilli powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well and cook for half a minute.
3. Mix in the cooked beans, walnuts and cook for another few minutes. You can put some peri peri seasoning at this step to enhance the flavour.
4. Add the chopped coriander leaves, mix well and remove from flame. Cool the mixture and then blend into a paste. If required, cook the blended mixture a bit to dry it.
5. Now, divide the mixture into equal portions, make kebabs and cook on a tawa till nice and golden brown from both sides. Keep the flame on medium.
6. Remove and top with cheese slice, some mango salsa, walnut and mint leaf. Serve hot with green chutney and enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the hummus:

• 80g California walnuts
• 1 clove of garlic
• 240g boiled chickpeas
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 orange juice
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt pepper

For the wrap:

• 1 handful of fine lettuce leaves or young spinach leaves
• 1 small pepper
• 1 small carrot
• 1/2 cucumber
• 4 wheat tortillas (25 cm diameter)
• 20g chopped California walnuts

Preparation:

1. For the hummus, briefly roast the walnuts in a pan, allow to cool and roughly chop. Peel and chop the garlic. Rinse the lemon, grate half the zest and squeeze out the juice. Finely puree the prepared ingredients with boiled chickpeas and the olive oil in the food processor. Season with salt and pepper.
2. For the wraps, rinse and spin the dry lettuce or spinach leaves. Clean, rinse and finely dice the peppers. Peel and coarsely grate the carrot, peel the cucumber and cut into thin slices.
3. Spread out the wraps and spread hummus on two thirds of each wrap, avoiding the top part of the wrap. Top the wraps evenly with lettuce leaves, vegetables and walnuts. Carefully roll up the wraps tightly from the bottom and wrap in some butter paper or aluminium foil. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Tip: If you like, you can put a few strips of cooked chicken on the wraps.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup California walnut pieces, coarsely chopped
• 140g goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon parsley, minced
• 8 sliced prosciutto
• 10 to 16 spears of asparagus, blanched and cooled
• 18 roasted red pepper strips

Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl, combine walnuts, goat cheese and parsley.
2. Lay 4 slices of prosciutto on a cutting board, slightly overlapping each slice, to form a square shaped layer.
3. Spread half of the walnut mixture evenly across the centre of prosciutto square. Lay 5 to 8 asparagus spears (horizontally) over the mixture and top with 9 strips of red pepper. Carefully pick up the prosciutto ends closest to you and roll firmly into a sushi shaped roll. Repeat these steps with the remaining ingredients.
4. To serve, slice each roll evenly into 8 pieces.

Tip: Goat cheese can be substituted with cream cheese.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup mango chutney
• 4 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce, divided
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 cup toasted and finely chopped California walnuts
• 1 cup rice noodles
• 8 rice paper wraps
• 1 cup bean sprouts, divided
• 1 cup shredded carrot, divided
• 1 cup sugar snap peas, sliced lengthwise, divided
• 8 cilantro sprigs
• 16 mint leaves

Tip: For a heartier roll, add cooked shrimp, shredded chicken or pork.

Preparation:

Toasting walnuts:

1. In large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast walnuts, stirring occasionally, until lightly brown for about 1 to 2 minutes and set aside.

Toasting walnuts:

1. In large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast walnuts, stirring occasionally, until lightly brown for about 1 to 2 minutes and set aside.

Walnut/onion paste:

1. In a large heavy-bottomed pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until caramelized for about 10 minutes.
2. Add mango chutney, 1 tablespoon chilli sauce, fish sauce and cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add walnuts; set aside.
3. In a small sauce pan, bring 3 cups water to a boil and cook rice noodles for 5 to 7 minutes or until al dente.
4. Rinse noodles with cold water and drain. Transfer to a bowl and add remaining chili sauce, stirring to coat noodles.

To assemble the rolls:

1. Fill a medium mixing bowl with 3 to 4 cups hot water. Submerge one sheet of rice paper in hot water until it has softened for about 15 to 30 seconds.
2. Remove and place on a cutting board lined with kitchen towel or damp paper towel. Stretch out rice paper so that there are no folds.
3. Place 1 tablespoon of the noodles in the centre of rice paper and stretch out to form a small rectangle. Top with 2 tablespoon of walnut/onion paste and 1 tablespoon each of bean sprouts, carrots, snap peas, 1 cilantro sprig and 2 mint leaves.
4. Fold bottom end of wrap over the filling and tuck to form a compact log. Fold the ends in and continue to roll into a tight cylinder.
5. Arrange seam side down on platter. Repeat steps to make 8 rolls.
6. Serve immediately.

Ingredients:

• 500g potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ small red onion, finely chopped
• 50g California walnuts, roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
• 50g mature Cheddar, grated
• Chopped chives to serve

Preparation:

1. Place a potato between the handles of 2 wooden spoons and cut down to the handles, 0.5cm apart, repeat with the remaining potatoes. Cook in boiling water for 12-15 minutes until just tender and drain well.
2. Place the potatoes, cut side up, on a large sheet of foil in a single layer, season and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle over the onion, walnuts, thyme and cheese. Wrap the foil up to seal, creating a tent effect. Place on a BBQ or griddle pan for 10-15 minutes until the cheese has melted.
3. Sprinkle with chives to serve.

Ingredients:

• 2 aubergines
• 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
• 50g California walnuts, chopped
• 6 small floured baps/slider buns, halved
• 250g halloumi, sliced into 6
• ½ tablespoon olive oil
• 6 little gem lettuce leaves
• Tomato chutney to serve

Preparation:

1. Place the aubergines on a BBQ or griddle pan and cook for 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally until soft and slightly charred, wrap in foil and set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut the ends off and remove the skin, cut in half and pull apart the flesh. Place in a bowl and mix in the BBQ sauce and walnuts, season.
2. Toast the baps on the BBQ or griddle pan until golden.
3. Brush the halloumi slices with a little oil and BBQ or griddle for 1-2 minutes each side until golden.
4. Place the lettuce on the bap/slider base, top with the pulled aubergine and then the halloumi. Add a spoonful of tomato chutney and the top of the bap/slider to serve.

Cook’s tip: For extra flavour, add some sriracha sauce to the pulled aubergines and brush the baps with a little mayo