Читать книгу A Girl and Her Pig - April Bloomfield - Страница 34

ROASTED PEANUTS WITH ROSEMARY AND GARLIC

At the Breslin, we serve snacks like scrumpets, which are breaded and deep-fried shreds of fatty lamb, and boiled peanuts fried in pork fat. But at The John Dory, I wanted the bar snacks to be a bit lighter, more appropriate as preludes to platters of oysters and bowls of razor clam ceviche. So I came up with these salty, roasty peanuts tumbled with slightly crispy rosemary and sweet, soft cloves of garlic, rustic in their papery skins. It’s a nice thing to set out at a party or to nibble on while watching a movie.

makes about 450g

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

12 skin-on garlic cloves

6 tablespoons rosemary leaves

450g salted skin-on roasted peanuts, preferably small Spanish peanuts

1 tablespoon Maldon or another flaky sea salt, or more to taste

5 or so dried pequin chillies or pinches of red pepper flakes

Heat the olive oil in a wide pan with high sides over medium-high heat until it just begins to smoke. Add the garlic cloves, adjust the heat if necessary to cook them at a steady sizzle, and cook, tipping the pan occasionally so the oil pools and almost covers the cloves, until the garlic has some golden brown spots and the skins begin to split and blister, about 5 minutes.

Push the garlic to one side of the pan, put the rosemary in the oil next to the garlic, and add the peanuts to the space remaining in the pan. Turn the heat down to medium and let the rosemary sizzle in the oil for a minute, stirring it a little, then stir it together with the peanuts and garlic. Let them all quietly and steadily sizzle together – you’re infusing the flavours of the garlic and rosemary into the peanuts, cooking the garlic more so it’ll be soft and creamy, and reinvigorating the roasted peanuts – stirring and tossing the peanuts often, so they all get to spend some time against the bottom of the pan, about 5 minutes. About a minute before that, sprinkle on the salt, crumble in the chillies, and stir well.

Take the pan off the heat and let the peanuts carry on cooking gently in the hot pan, stirring now and then, until they’ve cooled a bit. Have a taste, and stir in a little more salt or crumbled chillies if you fancy it. Serve warm or at room temperature.