Christmas Baking - Delicious Rosemary and Pine Nut Brittle

I seem to have been surrounded by rosemary and rosemary recipes over the last few days. First, I read a piece on rosemary infused olive oil, then on rosemary sugar syrup – that can be added to the very festive gin fizz, and then I came across this delectable rosemary and pine nut brittle on Food52 (which recently featured this blog, in their "Best of the Blogs" section). 

Perhaps it’s the time of year. The fragrance of rosemary certainly evokes in me Christmassy associations, and the herb is said to symbolise friendship and remembrance. A great friend of ours actually visited yesterday, delivering handfuls of fresh rosemary, cut that morning from her plant.

But I digress, back to the Rosemary and Pine Nut Brittle. Submitted by Ms T, who writes the Still Simmering blog, this recipe was voted best holiday recipe on Food52. There’s no doubt it’s well-deserved. As I read the recipe, and looked at the pictures, my mouth was quite literally watering. And, as it’s got less than five ingredients, all of which happened to already be in my store cupboard, I jumped off my seat and immediately made it.

Recipe:

2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups pine nuts

8 tablespoons (one stick) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon finely ground sea salt (I used Maldon sea salt)

Step 1: Place the sugar in a large, heavy saucepan over high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until sugar begins to melt. Lower the heat to medium, and stir until the sugar is melted. Stop stirring and watch for it to turn a medium caramel colour, this takes a few minutes.

Step 2: Stir in pine nuts and the butter. Allow pine nuts to cook for about two minutes – keep stirring. Stir in half of the rosemary and half of the sea salt.

Step 3: Pour the mixture out onto a sheet pan lined with baking paper. Spread it evenly to the desired thickness with a wooden spoon or stiff rubber spatula – Mine was around 4mm thick. Sprinkle remaining rosemary and salt on top, while the brittle is warm.

Step 4: Allow to cool completely. I’m impatient, so I cooled it in the fridge. After an hour or so it should snap easily.

Warning: this brittle is addictive! Both a positive and negative trait. It’s impossible to stop with just one piece. To avoid too much over indulgence, I put in jars, and made it into Christmas gifts immediately. I have to confess, I then opened one and started nibbling... but at least I tried. 

Damson bread and butter pudding

I had no idea what a damson was until September this year. This ancient and sour plum does not grow in Australia, so I was thrilled when friend’s Randolph and Lalu showed me their damson tree a few weeks ago. That was a big foraging weekend, so the damsons went straight into the freezer, until I figured out what to do with them. 

According to my recently purchased copy of Forgotten Fruits, by Christopher Stocks, damsons likely originated close to the the Syrian city of Damascus. Damsons are too sour to eat raw and therefore often used in cooking and jam making. Historically the juice was also used by the textile industry.

A quick internet search indicates damsons can be used to make damson gin, vodka and beer, and to make jam. But it was a recipe for damson bread and butter pudding that caught my eye. Bread and butter pudding is one of Kristoph’s favourite desserts, so this damson version was potentially a household hit.  

I modified the recipe slightly, here’s my version.

Recipe

100g butter

8 thin slices white loaf, crusts removed

150g fresh or frozen damsons (I used frozen and thawed them over night)

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 vanilla pod

200g caster sugar

400ml single cream

Step 1: Grease and sugar a six-inch by four-inch ovenproof dish.

Step 2: Butter each slice of bread. Cut each in half to make triangles.

Step 3: Remove the damson stones.

Step 4: Layer with the bread, a good sprinkling of sugar, damsons, bread, sugar damsons, etc, until the bread, the damsons, and half of the sugar, are used up. Sprinkle the top with sugar.

Step 5: Beat the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and remaining caster sugar in a bowl. Heat the cream to just before boiling. Pour it over the eggy mixture and stir gently.

Step 6: Pour the eggy mixture over the pudding, and leave to stand for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

 
Step 7: Place the pudding dish in a baking dish filled with water. Cook for 40 minutes until the custard sets.

Serve this warm with cream, or Greek yoghurt. According to Kristoph the damsons are tastier than the usual sultanas in bread and butter pudding. Enjoy!

Do you have any great damson recipes? If so, please leave them in the comments box. I’d love to try them.