Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Nuts about filberts ... er, hazelnuts

Call them what you want ... the flavor's all that counts

By Jan Roberts-Dominguez
Herald Columnist

 I wouldn't blame a Pacific Northwest newcomer for not appreciating hazelnuts. They're an acquired taste. Not as extreme a project as sushi or single-malt Scotch, of course.

But speaking as a relative newcomer (I've only been here 28 years) it took me a while to enjoy the unique, sweet yet smoky flavor.

All of my grower friends are going to grumble at me for saying that. Maybe they're missing out on a great advertising campaign: "Northwest hazelnuts! Like the people and the weather ... they'll grow on you."

Of course, now I love them. I mean, really love them. Especially when paired with foods that complement their character. Chocolate and hazelnuts is a classic combo. And when you throw raspberries into that mix, the experience can be dynamic.

Hazelnuts also merge beautifully with various cheeses, especially blue cheese and feta, as well as grilled salmon and other roasted meats.

And topping a balsamic vinaigrette-based green salad with chopped hazelnuts makes most diners whistle a happy tune.

Toasting heightens the experience for me. Even just a light bronzing will add depth to a hazelnut's flavor profile.

In fact, lightly toasted hazelnuts, garnished with a dusting of popcorn salt, are the perfect snack food. Serve them when you're pouring wine for friends and notice how well they complement our regional pinots and chardonnays.

By the way, even though hazelnuts is the preferred name internationally, around here they've always been called filberts. Growers laughingly say that they raise filberts and sell hazelnuts.

One of our local treasures, Homer Twedt, wouldn't remember this, but he introduced me to the filb-, er, hazelnut industry when I first hit town back in the late '80s.

I was in graduate school at Oregon State, and on this particular week, was researching a paper. I discovered that Twedt would be the farmer most likely to provide strong background for my topic: Oregon hazelnuts. He was one of many growers in the area.

When I arrived at his north Corvallis farm, he asked me if I'd ever seen a filbert tree close up. I hadn't.

"Well, let's go for a ride, then," he said.

It was late August and the nuts had swollen to full size. As we bumped along between the rows of trees in his orchard, the gnarled old branches were bending down to scrape the roof of the truck. Although a good 27 feet separated the trunks, a dusty-green canopy filtered the afternoon sun.

Grass-green nuts in clusters of two or three punctuated the dimness, and for the first time I understood the derivative of the word filbert, or "full beard." The outer husk is a frilly green leaf, truly beardlike in appearance.

In years to come, I would experience the harvest phase as well. It comes on anywhere from late September to early October.

Unlike most other fruits and vegetables that are plucked from plants, vines and trees, hazelnuts are scooped off the ground. And so, once the nuts have fallen free of their frilly green husks, the race is on to capture as many of them as possible before the crop is consumed by squirrels and mud.

Timing is everything.

In a perfect world, all of the nuts would have fallen before the growers get out to harvest. But if the weather turns so bad that it becomes impossible to move the heavy equipment through the orchards, all would be lost.

Once the majority of the crop is down, the carpet of nuts is swept into long, tidy rows. Then a tractor with the harvester in tow runs through, sucking up everything in its path, spewing dirt and debris out the bottom while the nuts are carried up a metal conveyor to topple into a large wooden tote.

It's a gritty job and, at the end of each day, both people and machines are cloaked in dust and grime.

The "first pick," as it's called, will be the bulk of the harvest. But as autumn winds rattle the rest of the crop from the trees, growers always hope to get back through the orchard for a second pick as well.

Roast rack of lamb with hazelnut hollandaise



4 racks of lamb, 6 to 8 chops each (see note)



6 large egg yolks



2 tablespoons water



2 cups clarified butter, melted (see note)



Juice of 2-3 lemons, or to taste



Salt



Pinch cayenne pepper



2-3 tablespoons hazelnut oil



1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts (see "how to toast a hazelnut")

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

To make the sauce, combine the egg yolks and water in a stainless-steel bowl. Fill a saute pan with 1 to 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer. Set the bowl of egg yolks in the simmering water. Whisk the yolks until they begin to thicken, removing the bowl from the simmering water occasionally to prevent the yolks from scrambling. When the yolks look like thick cream, remove the bowl from the heat. Lift the whisk from the bowl. If the drop falls and stands on the surface briefly, the eggs are ready. Again, do not let the eggs overheat.

Slowly drizzle the hot melted butter into the yolks in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly. Add the lemon juice to taste. Season taste with salt and cayenne pepper. Beat in enough of the hazelnut oil to make a smooth and glossy sauce. Set the hollandaise sauce over a pan of warm water until ready to use.

To roast the lamb, position a roasting rack inside a shallow pan. Place the lamb on the rack and roast for 15 to 20 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reads 135 to 140 degrees for medium-rare.

To serve, cut each rack in half; 3 or 4 little chops should be plenty for each person. Top the halved racks with the hazelnut hollandaise and garnish with the chopped hazelnuts.

Note: Ask your meat cutter to French or trim the lamb.

Makes eight servings.

Recipe from "Oregon's Cuisine of the Rain," by Karen Brooks



Chef Pattie Hill of the Bread and Ink Cafe in Portland, Ore., created this elegant brunch side dish.

It would make a great offering to serve at a tea alongside little tea sandwiches. It also makes a wonderful ending to a meal, along with a glass of port, of course!



Pears stuffed with blue cheese and hazelnuts



1 bunch watercress



1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature



4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature



8 ounces blue cheese, at room temperature



1/2 cup heavy cream



1 cup chopped toasted and skinned hazelnuts (see "how to toast a hazelnut")



1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper



2 tablespoons pear brandy



2 quarts water



Juice of 1 large lemon



8 ripe but firm and unblemished Comice or Bartlett pears

Discard the stems from the watercress sprigs and pat the leaves dry. Measure 1/4 cup leaves; chop them finely and set aside. Chill the remaining whole leaves until serving time.

Place the butter, cream cheese and blue cheese in a mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer set on low speed, beat until creamy. Slowly beat in enough of the cream to lighten the mixture. Add the hazelnuts, pepper, pear brandy and chopped watercress. Mix until just blended. Set aside. If preparing ahead of time, refrigerate until ready to use, then bring to room temperature.

Fill a large bowl with water and add a few tablespoons of lemon juice. Cut the pears in half lengthwise. Cut off a quarter-size slice from the rounded side of each pear half so the pear halves will sit firmly on a plate when served. With a melon ball scooper, scoop out the core and enough of the center to make a small well. As each pear is cut, drop it into the water and let it stand until ready to fill.

To serve, make a bed of the chilled watercress leaves on a serving platter or small individual plates. Spoon an equal amount of the mousse into each pear well. Arrange the pears atop the watercress and serve immediately.

The pears may be stuffed in advance, but be sure to bring them to room temperature before serving.

Makes eight servings.

Recipe from "Oregon's Cuisine of the Rain," by Karen Brooks.



These are a wonderful treat to make during the holidays -- both as gifts and to have on hand. And they're super-easy to make.

Roasted filberts are covered with a light, subtle, buttery, syrupy glaze and roasted a second time.

Once cooled, the nuts don't clump together the way a caramely coating would. They acquire a hard, dry, unsticky side coating, which enhances the natural flavor and aroma within the hazelnut rather than overpowering it.

I've been serving them, along with a glass of wine, to drop-in-friends this month and they've been a big hit.



Glazed hazelnuts



4 cups shelled hazelnuts



1 tablespoon butter



4 tablespoons light Karo syrup

Place hazelnuts on a jelly roll pan and toast in a 350 degree oven just until they turn a very pale golden brown and the outer papery skins are beginning to crack and separate from the nut. Remove from oven and let cool. Pour into a large terry cloth towel and either fold it over or place another towel on top. Rub vigorously back and forth through the towel to peel away the skins. This can be done several days ahead and the nuts stored in an airtight container.

When ready to candy the hazelnuts, preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Place the 1 tablespoon of butter in the center of a jelly roll pan (or any baking sheet with sides), and put the pan in the oven to melt the butter. When the butter has melted, mix in the Karo syrup, then add the skinned filberts. Sprinkle lightly with salt and using a wide spatula, stir the nuts around in the syrup-butter mixture to evenly coat the nuts and spread them into a flat layer in the pan.

Begin roasting the nuts, stirring about every 5 to 7 minutes so they stay evenly coated with the syrup as it cooks.

In preparation for cooling the nuts, spread a large sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper on the counter. Then, when the nuts are a lovely golden brown, remove from oven and pour them out onto the paper to cool, quickly spreading them apart so they don't touch each other during cooking. It's not a tragedy if some stick together; they break apart very easily after cooling.

Store them in an airtight container.

A jar of this stardust powder, made by pulverizing a brittle confection of toasted hazelnuts, is culinary money in the bank.

It keeps for months at room temperature, even longer in the freezer, always ready to enhance desserts and pastries.



Hazelnut praline powder



1 cup whole hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (see "how to toast a hazelnut")



3/4 cup sugar



3 tablespoons light corn syrup



3 tablespoons water



1/4 teaspoon salt, optional

Butter a cookie sheet lightly. Spread the toasted nuts on it and place them in a 250 degree oven to warm through. Leave them for 10 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice. Turn off the oven, open the door and leave the pan in it.

Combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a small heavy saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat; after boiling starts, wipe down with a wet pastry brush any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan. Boil the syrup until it begins to turn a light caramel color; it will register between 320 and 340 on a candy-jelly thermometer. Remove from heat and quickly add the salt, if you are using it, and the warmed nuts. Stir the mixture quickly, as it tends to harden up fast. Then pour it onto the buttered cookie sheet that held the nuts; spread it out with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Cool the brittle completely, then break it into small pieces. Working in batches, grind it to a fairly fine powder in a food processor or blender. Store the praline powder in an airtight container. It will keep several months at room temperature, or at least two years in freezer.

Yields about 2 cups.

From "Fancy Pantry" by Helen Witty

Jan Roberts-Dominguez is a Corvallis, Ore., food writer, cookbook author and artist. E-mail to janrd@proaxis.com.

How to toast and skin a hazelnut

Hazelnuts develop a particularly wonderful flavor when toasted. Here’s how: spread them on a shallow baking pan or cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 7 or 8 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice during the process. Be careful not to let them become more than slightly gold inside (break a sample to check). Remove the nuts from the oven and let cool at room temperature. At this point, you may want to remove the papery skin, even though it isn’t absolutely necessary. To do so, tumble them out onto a towel, cover with another towel, and rub back and forth until the skins shed away from the nuts.

Storing shelled hazelnuts
Like most nuts, filberts keep for long periods of time without suffering in quality, especially chilled. Place the nuts in air-tight plastic bags or containers. They will last for two years or more in the freezer at 27 degrees or lower; or about nine months under refrigeration, preferably at 35 degrees.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA