Conference turris::cooks

    Pine nuts, or pinoli, are a very common (and very pricey) nut for use
    in Italian recipes.  Is there an Italian grocer near you?  Where are
    you located?
    Sarah

    I've found them and both DeMoulas Market Basket and Victory Markets. In
    the baking section, I think (strangely enough).
    
    Sarah is right, they're expensive. Check with your local grocery,
    you'll find them!
    
    beth

Not so strange to find pignoli nuts in the baking section...there's an
Italian cookie that's chock full of them, yummy!!

Laura

    I saw them at Super Stop and Shop with the Dried Fruits.  
    
    

    We drove by a place in Phoenix while on vacation -- a little place on
    the side of the road selling them for like $2.99/lbs.  Wish we had
    stopped!
    
    Rgds,
    marcia
    

    For $2.99 a pound, you should have stopped - buy a BUNCH of them and
    freeze them!
    
    Arund east-central Mass., most grocery stores have them someplace,
    although you may have to look for them (assuming you don't have the
    time, like I don't, to visit a "gourmet" store very often).  The local
    stores hide them with things like jars of preserved grape leaves, in
    the "miscellaneous ethnic food" area.  They tend to come in small,
    tall, skinny jars (like olive jars).  They sure are good!
    
    /Charlotte

    Thanks to everyone.  That's a big help.  I usually shop in a wholesale
    place in NH but they don't carry them, and I've tried Shaws Market but
    I'll try those others.  I think I'll ask an experienced person for
    them rather than trying to find them.  Sounds like they have "slippery"
    locations, and I guess I expect them to jump off the shelves!
    
    
    

    They sell them in bulk at Bread and Circus in Cambridge, Brookline,
    Newton, etc.  (Or at least they do at the one I go to in Cambridge.) 
    Cheaper that way since they are amazingly expensive.
    
    Of course, now I have 6 oz of pine nuts at home, which I bought to make
    Kibbeh, and decided I didn't *want* kibbeh, and now don't know what to
    do with them. Any suggestions?
    
    D!

    Make pesto.

ditto on the pesto!

Olive oil, fresh basil, fresh ground pepper, garlic, and romano cheese, and
off you go!!

Plenty of pesto recipes in here - most call for mixing the basil, oil, pignoli,
and garlic FIRST, and once blended, then add your grated cheese.

NEVER use anything but fresh basil in your pesto... 

Paul

	Baba ganoush.  The recipe I have calls for topping it with
	1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts.  Great dip.

    does anyone have a good recipe for that special (Italian specialty)
    christmas sauce that is made with pinole's and capers?  Some people use
    fish in the sauce, it is a meatless sauce.
    

    Joyce Chen's in Acton, MA also has pine nuts.

    Major mental block:                        
    
    What's the Italian word for the rolled steak that you put in the
    sauce???
    
    Ummm, errrr...   (gosh, this is painful!  I can't remember the name)
    
    You take thinly sliced sirloin, spread it with pounded out/creamed salt
    pork, then roll up with pignoli and raisins.  Tie with string and then
    put it in your sauce which has already been cooking.
    
    Awesome.
    
    Rgds,
    marcia (who's happy she married an Italian!)
           (well all right... he's half Italian)
    
    

    Re: note 3705.15:
    
    Braciola
    
    -Sue Ann

    
    for west coasters - swap meets have them for $10/lb
    
    

    An interesting note ---
    
    While on vacation in Arizona recently, we saw families on the Navajo
    reservation collecting the pine nuts from the pinon pine trees along
    the highway. They get paid in bulk for them in nearby cities, and lots
    of restaurants used pine nuts in their recipes.
    
    I had never heard of the things before -- but they were delicious.
    Are they the same ones discussed in previous notes?
    
    Karen

    response to 3705.18
    
    Pignoli or pine nuts found in gourmet and health food stoors/shelves
    are from Italy.  They are expensive, even more so after a forest fire
    that destroyed most of Italy's pine forest in 1990/1.
    
    I prefer the SW pinyon nut; there are harvested in October and sold
    everywhere. In many parts of the SW only Native Americans are allowed to
    harvest pinyons from the National park areas. 
    
    My pinyon recipe
    
    			Point Sublime Stew
    created during a thunderstorm while camping the Grand Canyon 1992
    
    chicken breasts filets chopped into 1" chunks (no skin/bones)
    bottle of Italian dressing 
    can of chopped tomatoes
    1 c. rice
    1/2 c. pinyon nuts (cleaned with no skins)
    optional  zucchini cut into chunks
    
    Marinate the chicken already chopped in the salad dressing in a plastic
    ziplock bag.  (This is great for campers)  Let marinate 24 hours at
    least.
    
    Put all chicken, dressing and tomatoes in a pan simmer for 1/2 hour.
    Add rice.  10 minutes before done sprinkle pinyons and lay zucchini on
    top to steam while covered.
    
    Very tangy and unusual combinations of textures.
         

  >>  are from Italy.  They are expensive, even more so after a forest fire
  >>  that destroyed most of Italy's pine forest in 1990/1.

	However, recently, the price has dropped dramatically, at least
	around here, in Mass.  Local gourmet food store price went from		
	around 15.00/lb. to around 5.

	Di

	Rep .20  Di


>>>	However, recently, the price has dropped dramatically, at least
	around here, in Mass.  Local gourmet food store price went from		
	around 15.00/lb. to around 5.



	The reason for the price difference is the $5./lb nuts come from
	China in most cases and aren't considered by the "true" foodies
	to be as good as the Italian ones. I can't really taste any great
	difference so I'm quite happy for the price drop.


	-mike