A&M: This is more a concept than a prototypical recipe—which is one of the reasons we like it so much. By adding a mere suspicion of sugar to her recipe for roasted salted almonds, Lauren has come up with a clever twist on a traditional technique. She wrote that these are “perfect at cocktail hour, along with a stiff drink.” We wholeheartedly agree—cheers!
1 pound shelled whole almonds
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Heat the oven to 350°F. Toss the almonds in the olive oil, salt, and sugar until well coated. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Photography by Sarah Shatz
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
The amount of sugar is just enough to ease the saltiness without actually making the nuts taste sweet.
Try the same technique with peanuts, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts—whatever you have on hand. And if you want a little heat, add a pinch of cayenne.
ABOUT THE COOK
Lauren Shockey is a food writer who lives in New York City. Amanda has known Lauren since she was in college, when she worked as Amanda’s intern at the New York Times. Lauren recently returned from a year living and cooking abroad, which inspired her first memoir, Four Kitchens. Here’s her website: www.laurenshockey.com.
Her favorite entertaining tip: “Always have more wine/bubbly than you think you need. If for some reason dinner’s a flop, just keep pouring and no one will know the difference later!”
BEHIND THE SCENES
By Week 3, we could see that the site was filling up with more great recipes than we could recognize through the contests. Thus, the Wildcard Winner was born. Whenever we came across a fantastic-sounding recipe, we’d try it out, and if it was truly excellent, we’d award it a trophy. We saw this as our opportunity to hand-pick some hidden gems throughout the course of the year.