Ina Garten-Inspired Rosemary Cashews

Compiled by Igor Kukolj, Editor. Nobody here has cooked this — how these are made.

This takes fifteen minutes and there is exactly one thing to get right.

The seasoning has to go on while the nuts are still hot from the oven. Warm nuts have oil at the surface; rosemary's flavour compounds are oil-soluble, and they dissolve into that film and stay there. Let the nuts cool first and the same chopped rosemary and sugar simply sit on dry surfaces, then fall off into the bottom of the bowl on the way to the table.

Have the butter melted and the rosemary chopped before the nuts come out. This part is not leisurely.

Chop the rosemary far finer than you want to

Rosemary is a tough, resinous leaf, and a coarse piece is a woody splinter in the middle of a cashew. Strip the needles and chop until it is almost a powder. You need the surface area anyway — that is how the oils get out.

The brown sugar is doing a job

It is not there to make the nuts sweet. In a small quantity it balances the salt and the resin of the rosemary, and it caramelises very slightly against the hot nuts, which is what makes them tacky enough for the seasoning to stick. Leave it out and the coating slides off.

Any nut, same rule

Almonds, pecans and walnuts all work, and all of them want the same treatment: roasted, then seasoned hot. Pecans and walnuts have more surface oil and take about two minutes less in the oven.

Storing

A week in an airtight jar at room temperature. They soften if the kitchen is humid — five minutes at 150°C crisps them again. Serve them warm if you can; it is a noticeably better thing.