Jill Fergus

I began cooking as a child and feeding family and friends has always been my passion. My kitchen is a busy one. I love to experiment and embrace the kitchen successes along with the accidents. I love to cook and collaborate with friends. I am seasonally driven (I love the farmer's market!), avoid processed foods and focus on whole and organic (mostly plant-based, but not exclusively) choices. In my home, my family has a variety of eating preferences from plant-based, gluten free, refined sugar free to full on omnivore. My goal is to create dishes to please all, either as is or with minor adjustments to the recipe. Where did "Feed the Swimmers" come from? When my kids began swimming competitively and growing into young adults, I realized, even more, how important nutrition is to performance, growth and overall health and emotional well being. Everyone (including the coach during travel meets) would ask "what are you feeding the swimmers?" This has become my mantra whenever I'm in my kitchen cooking for family and the friends I love.

 

 

Gochugaru Maple Roasted Nuts (Love Nuts)

Gochugaru Maple Roasted Nuts (Love Nuts)

Jill Fergus
Snacks

I first made these nuts for a fundraising event I was cohosting with a group of friends. When they first came out of the oven, I wasn’t convinced I should serve them- I had over cooked them a bit, I was in a rush and wasn’t sure about the smokiness of the gochugaru. As they cooled, something magical happened and all evening long, I was referred to as “the nut lady”. I did some tweaking to the spice mixture and finalized the recipe here  there are sweet, salty, a little spicy and a little smoky. Thisbrecipe does make quite a bit, but I promise, you will be happy about that!

 LOVE NUTS

RECIPE

note: if you are unable to find Korean chili flakes (gochugaru flakes), increase to cayenne pepper by 1 tsp and add 1/2- 1 tsp of smoked paprika) 

bonus: take the spicy sugary crumbles for the bottom of the bowl or storage jar and sprinkle it in warm popcorn!!! 

Ingredients- 

8 oz each, raw: almonds, pecans, cashews, walnuts 4 oz Brazil nuts (optional)

3/4 cup maple syrup

3 Tbs butter

1+ heaping Tbs gochugaru flakes (Korean chili flakes, found at Whole Foods and many grocery stores)

1 tsp ground coriander  

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp Aleppo pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp ground ginger 

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 Tbs flaky sea salt

2 tsp fresh ground pepper, medium/course

Preheat oven to 350F, line two baking sheets with parchment 

1- in a small sauce pan, heat maple syrup and butter until butter melts and edges of syrup just begin to foam.  

2- In a large bowl, combine nuts and pour syrup mixture over and toss to coat.  

3- combine all spices and add to nut mixture and mix well until evenly distributed.  

4-spread nut mixture in a single layer, across the two baking sheets. Scrape out all of the remaining spice mixture and drizzle evenly over the two trays and place one rosemary sprigs on each, coating with some of the mixture.   

5- Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring three times during cooking. Remove and allow to cool. Discard remaining rosemary sprigs. Break up “brittled” chunks and store in an airtight container if not serving immediately.

Enjoy! 

warning: dangerously habit forming.  

 

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