Bring on the Nuts
Tree nuts are an excellent source of monounsaturated fatty acids, which can help reduce cholesterol levels. Whenever you can replace saturated fats like butter with monounsaturated fatty acids, you have a net health gain.
Pounded nuts are the foundation of many sauces in many cultures. Let's explore a few as alternatives to familiar butter and cream sauces.
From Greece
Skordalia: A mortar-pounded sauce of stale bread, almonds or walnuts, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice or wine vinegar. Some versions include yogurt.
Serve with: Grilled or baked fish or chicken; cooked beets; grilled vegetables; fried squid; steamed mussels.
From Turkey
Tarator: A creamy sauce of pounded almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts, with bread, garlic, water, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil.
Serve with: Poached, grilled, or fried fish or shellfish; steamed or grilled vegetables.
From Spain
Spain's recipe repertoire includes several different nut-thickened sauces. Romesco, based on mild red chiles, is usually (although not always) served on the side. A picada is usually stirred in near the end as a final seasoning. Dishes cooked en pepitoria or en almendras (literally, in almonds) are usually simmered in the sauce for awhile. Although most of these sauces are traditionally made in a mortar, a blender works well, too.
Romesco: A thick, creamy pounded sauce of dried chiles, pimiento, almonds and/or hazelnuts, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and wine vinegar.
Serve with: Grilled, baked, poached or fried fish; grilled shrimp; steamed crab, clams, or mussels.
Pepitoria: A thick sauce of ground almonds, fried garlic, bread, spices, and hard-cooked egg.
Use with chicken, rabbit, meatballs.
Picada: A pounded mixture of nuts, bread, saffron, garlic, parsley, and spices stirred into a brothy sauce near the end to thicken and season it.
Use with: Saucy preparations of meatballs, chicken, fish, shrimp, squid.
From Mexico
Everyone knows mole, but many mistakenly think that chocolate is this sauce's signature taste. In fact, many Mexican moles contain no chocolate, but they almost always contain toasted and ground nuts or seeds, such as almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, or sesame seeds. In Rick Bayless's mole verde Queretano (green mole from Queretaro), chicken breasts are baked in a thick sauce of poblano chiles, tomatillos, almonds, peanuts, raisins, herbs, and spices. The recipe calls for almost no added fat.