Cooking with walnuts, including salad recipe and storage tips

There are plenty of ways to enjoy walnuts, such as in this penne and chorizo salad, or in a banana loaf. Check out the recipes.

ACCORDING to Roman lore, the gods feasted on walnuts while their lowly subjects subsisted on lesser nuts such as acorns, beechnuts, and chestnuts. Thankfully, these days there are plenty of walnuts for everyone.

Australian walnut growers only produce 7 per cent of the walnuts we eat. They are grown in Victoria around Rutherglen, Myrtleford and Bright, in Central and South Gippsland, and in the Dandenong Ranges and around Mount Macedon, as well as in other states.

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Rich in polyunsaturated fats, omega oils and vitamins, Australian studies suggest that the nutritional value of walnuts, especially the “good” oils, may help people manage their diet better in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes. Here’s a simple salad with plenty of walnut crunch.

PENNE & CHORIZO SALAD WITH WALNUTS

Serves 4

300g penne pasta

Salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small red chilli, seeds removed, finely sliced

2 chorizo sausages

100g blue cheese, crumbled

100g walnut pieces (toasted for preference, see note below), roughly chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cider vinegar (or lemon juice)

Parsley leaves for garnish

Picture: Dannika Bonser

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and thoroughly rinse under cold water. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the sliced chilli, and then set aside. Over medium heat with about 1 teaspoon oil, cook the chorizo sausages, taking care to brown them evenly and cook through. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes before slicing through on a slight horizontal angle.

Put the cooked penne pasta and sliced chorizo into a large bowl. Crumble in the blue cheese and walnut pieces and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and the cider vinegar. Toss to coat everything with the dressing.

Leave for 30 minutes in the fridge for the flavours to blend. Check the dressing and add more oil and vinegar if necessary, but don’t wet the salad to the point of the cheese “dissolving”. Just before serving, garnish with flat-leaf parsley. Serve as an entree, or a main course with crusty bread.

Variations: Use feta cheese instead of, or mixed with, blue cheese. Use other sausage varieties as desired. Toss through fresh baby spinach leaves or rocket leaves just before serving. Sparingly use a light cream dressing flavoured with lemon juice. I serve this at room temperature, but you could easily serve it warm.

STORING WALNUTS

KEEP shelled walnuts tightly sealed and refrigerated or store in your freezer for up to one year. In-shell walnuts will remain fresh for several months when stored in a cool, dry place. Do not shell until ready to use. Take special care when storing walnuts with other foods as they sometimes can absorb odours of other foods, such as citrus or fish. Like all nuts, walnuts can quickly turn rancid due to their high oil content if not stored properly.

TOASTED WALNUTS

WHEN it comes to cooking with walnuts, I like to toast them first because it brings about an incredible change in the flavour.

Technically, cooking the nut crisps the edges and brings out the flavour through browning reactions, but that dry description doesn’t do the reality justice.

The difference between an untoasted walnut and a toasted one is like the difference between an almost-ripe peach and a perfectly ripe one.

This toasting naturally occurs during the baking of biscuits and breads so the raw nut is fine for those. For other recipes, though, the full flavour of the walnuts will only develop if you toast them first. Bake them at 150C for about 10 minutes, check frequently.

BANANA & WALNUT LOAF

THIS cake is light and moist, with the natural sweetness of sticky bananas and the warm toastiness of nuts. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Grease a standard loaf tin with some butter and line the base with baking paper, and then grease this as well.

In a large bowl, mix together the 100g softened butter, 120g caster sugar and 1 beaten egg, and then slowly mix in 225g plain flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Mash 4 very ripe the bananas and mix them into the batter with 85g chopped walnuts and 50ml milk.

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack before removing from the tin. The loaf can be wrapped in plastic wrap film and kept for up to two days, or frozen for up to one month. Serve warm in thick slices with vanilla ice cream and a simple chocolate sauce. Makes 8-10 slices.