[Lifestyle] Nigel Slater’s recipes for roast roots, and hazelnut cookies

[HiTLeR]

Nutty flavours add a toasty warmth to kitchen treats, both savoury and sweet

 

 

The hazelnuts clatter into the warm, shallow pan and I start to toast them over a low heat. The browning seems to take forever at first, but I resist turning up the heat and continue to watch carefully, shaking the pan from time to time. Precious, plump little nuts, hazelnuts are expensive, and I really mustn’t allow them to burn again. Like cooking chickpeas from scratch, I burn hazelnuts as regularly as day turns to night. The alternative is to roast them in the oven, but I would rather have them close at hand, where I can keep an eye on their progress from white to biscuit brown.

 

The skinned nuts are getting a toasting to intensify their flavour. The difference between a raw nut and one you have lovingly bronzed over a low heat is astonishing and even more so when coated in dark chocolate or ground for a biscuit or cookie, which is I what I am doing today. The cookies are a much-needed treat; a batch of tiny round discs sandwiched together with a buttercream made from a paste of the nuts and sugar. And before that, there are roasted autumn vegetables with a nutty flavoured dressing of tahini and yogurt.

 

Roast roots with tahini

Sweet vegetables – beetroots, carrots and pumpkins – served with a sesame and yogurt dressing. They work cold, too, though I would save the dressing until you are ready

 

to eat. Serves 4
beetroots 650g
carrots 400g
pumpkin 600g
olive oil 6 tbsp
za’atar 2 tsp

For the dressing:
natural yogurt 125g
tahini 2 tbsp
lemon juice 1-2 tbsp

 

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Scrub the beetroots and carrots. Cut the carrots in half lengthways and each beetroot into thick wedges, and drop them into a large mixing bowl. Peel the pumpkin, remove the fibres and seeds, then cut into wedges and add to the bowl.

 

Pour the olive oil over the vegetables and the za’atar and add a grinding of pepper and salt. Toss all the vegetables together so they are well coated with the oil and spice mix, then transfer to a roasting tin. Bake for 45-60 minutes, turning them over halfway through. Test the vegetables with a metal skewer after about 40 minutes. They are ready when it goes through the flesh easily.

 

While the roots are roasting, make the dressing. Mix the yogurt, tahini and lemon juice, beating in 1 tbsp or so of water if it won’t fall easily from the spoon.

When the roots are thoroughly tender and lightly browned, serve them with the tahini dressing.