What to do with Pine Nuts?

[Karen M]

I finally broke down and bought the big bag of pine nuts at Costco. I don't know what else to do with them except Pesto. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[chiligirl]

I love pine nuts! I use them in all sorts of pasta dishes...just lightly toast them in the toaster oven and sprinkle on top. I've also sprinkled them on top of salads.

One of my favorite side dishes especially this time of year is to toast them and then add them to some warmed up olive oil in a small saucepan on the stove. Then pour the olive oil and pine nuts over freshly steamed asparagus. Yum!

[Vanessa]

www.foodtv.com/terms/obsessionpinenuts/0,2776,,00.html (http://www.foodtv.com/terms/obsessionpinenuts/0,2776,,00.html)
The above link is from foodtv and has info, history and recipes for pine nuts

[Gail]

Hmmm.

Unless I'm hallucinating (always a possibility) I believe I posted a recipe for pilaf a day or two ago which uses pine nuts. Good stuff. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[woodsl]

I love pine nuts too. I toast mine in a skillet on the stove. I don't use any oil; I just toast them in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until they are lightly brown, stirring occasionally. I use them in salads (they are great on the strawberry/goat cheese salad that was the subject of a thread earlier today). And, I agree with chiligirl, they are great in pasta, especially pasta with sun-dried tomatoes in it.

[This message has been edited by woodsl (edited 04-24-2001).]

[foodiedelite]

Pine nuts are awesome. A little hard to find and expensive in this area.

I used some last weekend in a lettuce wrap
(similiar to the lettuce wraps you get at
PF Chang's Restaurant, for those of you familiar with this chain). It's a spicy minced chicken with water chestnuts and then I sprinkled toasted pine nuts on top.

Also good in tuna salad. Put the tuna salad in a pita and top of pine nuts. Yum!

[emptyspool]

Interestingly my husband and I went to lunch at a middle eastern restuarant we go to quite often. I ordered Lebanese iced tea and it was delicious served with pine nuts floating on top of the tea. I have never seen anything like this and it was wonderful

[erinyyc]

I love toasted pine nuts on my salads and of course pesto. I also have a favorite scallop linguine recipe that uses whole wheat pasta, basil, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, scallops and pine nuts. If you would like the recipe I will post it (not a CL recipe, but still light).
Erin http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Karen M]

erinyyc, please post your recipe. Sounds delicous! Thanks to everyone else for all the great ideas, too.

[valchemist]

Gail, I think you might have been hallucinating. Or I could be the one who is hallucinating. I went back to the orzo thread to get a recipe I posted that uses pine nuts. You had posted a pilaf recipe there, but the recipe didn't have pine nuts. Unless you posted a different pilaf recipe elsewhere. You could always quick run back to that thread and add in a few pine nuts to the ingredient list. I am sure they would go great with that pilaf recipe. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif Anyway, here is the recipe that I went back to get. I am planning to make it on Friday, so that is why I thought of it when I saw this thread.

Cheesy Eggplant-Orzo Casserole

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : August ‘97 Casseroles
Vegetarian

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes -- packed without oil, chopped
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups diced peeled eggplant (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 1/2 cups diced onion
1 cup diced red bell pepper
4 garlic cloves -- minced
1 cup diced tomato
3 cups cooked orzo (about 1 1/2 cups uncooked
rice-shaped pasta)
1 1/2 cups fat-free Ricotta cheese
1 cup tomato juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 (8-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts

Preheat oven to 350º.

Combine sun-dried tomatoes and boiling water in a small bowl; cover and let stand 10 minutes or until soft. Drain, and set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, onion, bell pepper, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add diced tomato; cook 2 minutes. Add sun-dried tomatoes, orzo, and next 4 ingredients (orzo through tomato sauce); stir well. Spoon orzo mixture into a 13 × 9-inch baking dish. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, and pine nuts; sprinkle crumb topping over orzo mixture. Cover and bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups

Source:
"Cooking Light, August 1997, p.126"
Copyright:
"© Cooking Light"

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 298 Calories; 8g Fat (23.6% calories from fat); 16g Protein; 42g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 11mg Cholesterol; 445mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : Try dolloping the Ricotta cheese on top of the eggplant instead of mixing it with the tomato sauce. It's like eating little pillows of cheese.

[MrsReber]

What about cookies? I love pingnoli cookies - but I obviously can't spell it. Someone help me here- they're an Italian cookie made with pine nuts on top and I believe almond paste. So very good, but very expensive in the bakery. Good thing or I'd eat alot more of them!

[lorilei]

In Tunisia, it's traditional to serve pine nuts in tea as well -- it is a particularly nice contrast in mint tea, both hot AND cold. During my time there, we "drank" our pine nuts almost every day!!

I use ground pine nuts as a crust for chicken dishes and as a crunchy addition to lamb and rice dishes. When I'm in a bind, I also use them in stir-fry (instead of cashews!)

I also love pinenuts on pizza!

[Gail]

Originally posted by valchemist:
Gail, I think you might have been hallucinating. Or I could be the one who is hallucinating. I went back to the orzo thread to get a recipe I posted that uses pine nuts. You had posted a pilaf recipe there, but the recipe didn't have pine nuts. Unless you posted a different pilaf recipe elsewhere. ...

Whew! No hallucinations (this time.) It's on a different thread:
http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/006733.html

...good save, huh? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Julia1Pin]

How about just eat them as a snack http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Gail]

Originally posted by valchemist:
happy to hear that there are no hallucinations...

you are such a prolific poster, gail, that I can't keep track of all your pilaf recipes...

Is that a polite way of telling me I talk too much? http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/contrib/sally/talker.gif

[SusanMac]

I love them as a snack, but they're so expensive, I never do it!

I mix mine with sauteed spinach and a splash of lemon, sesame oil & vinegar. Yum!!

(tea?? I think I'll have to try it because I'm so curious, but sounds so strange to have something crunchy while you're sipping tea)

[JoC]

Have to share a funny story about pine nuts. One year we harvested the pine nuts from the trees in our yard. According to what we read, after you pick them, you need to let them dry in a cool dark place. Well, we picked them, put them in a paper bag and placed them in a closet to "dry." We checked them every few days and tasted one to see if it tasted right. They tasted like they were getting close, so the next time I anxiously checked the bag. As soon as I opened the bag a big swarm of tiny gnat-type bugs flew into my face! Well, the pine nuts had matured but so had those nasty little bugs that were probably in the pine nuts! Yuck--that bag went right in the outside trash. We still had those bugs floating around for days afterwards. Do I need to say we never tried harvesting our pine nuts again?

[valchemist]

happy to hear that there are no hallucinations...

you are such a prolific poster, gail, that I can't keep track of all your pilaf recipes...

[SandyDee]

I love them toasted and tossed with a salad, also tossed in with veggies. I also put them in my stuffing at Christmas time. That has always been a real hit. Mrs. Reber I would love that cookie recipe.

[kima]

Hi Gail. Just wanted to tell you that you definately don't "talk" too much. I love your sense of humour and enjoy your posts very much. I noticed you lived in Chicago. My husband and I were there a few years ago for the Monet exhibit. I LOVED Cicago. Frankly I have not been that impressed with some of the large U.S. cities I have visited but Chicago was awesome- clean (at least downtown) and we felt safe. People were very friendly. Anyway keep up the talking- you are a great contributor to this BB! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Gail]

Originally posted by kima:
Hi Gail. Just wanted to tell you that you definately don't "talk" too much. I love your sense of humour and enjoy your posts very much. I noticed you lived in Chicago. My husband and I were there a few years ago for the Monet exhibit. I LOVED Cicago. Frankly I have not been that impressed with some of the large U.S. cities I have visited but Chicago was awesome- clean (at least downtown) and we felt safe. People were very friendly. Anyway keep up the talking- you are a great contributor to this BB! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Gee, Kima, thanks for your vote of confidence. And although I've visited Chicago and liked it, too, I'm a native Californian-- still living there, as a matter of fact.

Maybe you're giving a thumbs up to some other chatty CLer?

[Lynn B]

One of my favorite "emergency" dinners http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif is to toss cooked angel hair pasta w/ pesto, grated parmesan and toasted pine nuts! mmmmmm!

Pine nuts are also delicious sprinkled on salads (especially spinach salads!)

And do you know that pine nuts can be very successfully frozen?

Lynn

[Ohioan]

Saute some spinach in olive oil with garlic, and then scatter in some pine nuts, olives, and raisins. (If you don't like olives, add a bit of salt instead.)

Cheers,
Phoebe

[Karen M]

You guys were right. The pine nuts were great toasted and mixed with sauted greens. Yum!

[hlao23]

I always put toasted pine nuts on pizza. Yum!

[mudpuppy]

I like em too! In cookies and in pasta dishes. Recently went to a restaurant here in Pittsburgh that changed a dish from alfredo, since I can't eat dairy, and used aiolo (spelling?) with pignoli nuts and crab meat served over angel hair pasta. Yummy!!