Objective: To find a local nut substitute to go in a 100 Mile Diet beet salad for my mom's dinner.
Background: My mom has been part of a gourmet dinner club, for, like, 35 years. Every year each couple hosts and cooks a 'gourmet' dinner. Does anyone say 'gourmet' anymore? I suppose if it started now, it would be called the 'foodie' dinner or something.
Anyway, this year her theme is 100 Mile dinner. We had talked about how there are lots of colourful local beets available right now. She wants to do a variation on the classic beets-blue/goat cheese/walnut combo. The are some very good local cheeses available but what about nuts?
Nuts, according to Wikipedia, are large oily seeds. I don't know that any of the nuts we commonly think of can be grown here, and I am not sure if they are - I don't think so. But what about the seeds that are commonly found within 100 miles - gain seeds like oat, wheat, and rye.
In salads, nuts add a crunchy, meaty (as in, like, satisfying) texture, and a depth of flavour. I want to try to see if I can create some of those qualities with local grains. I am going to toast 'em, roast em, poof them, sesame snackify them, cluster them, season them, to see if they can be a tasty addition to our salad.
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