Nutty, but nice! 17 fantastic almond recipes, from apricot tarts to lamb tagines
The flavour of an almond is particular, but subtle – almost bland. That’s not to say that almonds don’t make an important taste and textural contribution; not least on the side of a Magnum. Lightly toasted, they become an integral part of a simple pudding, such as Nigel Slater’s strawberry granola parfait.
Almonds are also processed into versions of common staples, including milk and flour, although they are too expensive to be everyday replacements – by weight, almond flour costs six times as much as wheat flour. At the moment, however, almonds are undergoing a bit of a price collapse, thanks to coronavirus and trade restrictions coinciding with a bumper US crop (about 80% of the world’s almonds come from California). In a bid to take advantage of this window of opportunity, here are 17 delicious ways to make use of this autumn’s unusually affordable almonds.
A note before beginning: for culinary purposes, almonds are sold in an array of states – whole, roasted, raw, flaked, blanched, ground. If you haven’t got exactly what the recipe requires, don’t panic – you may be able to transform your almonds from one state to another. Blanched almonds are just whole almonds that have been briefly boiled and cooled so they can be slipped from their skins. You can also grind your own blanched almonds in a food processor, but go easy – if you take it a step too far, you’ll end up with almond butter.
Frangipane – or franginpani in Italian – is an almond pastry cream used in all kinds of puddings, including this fig and almond tart from Fergus Henderson’s and Felicity Cloake’s perfect apricot tart. While it has its own name, frangipane isn’t quite its own thing – you wouldn’t, for example, order a bowl of it. It’s really a subset of ingredients – butter, sugar, eggs, flour and ground almonds, beaten together – occupying a hazy transitional tier somewhere between pastry and filling. Frangipane freezes well, so you can make double the amount and be ready for next time.
Almonds are also a common ingredient for cakes. This “absolutely” almond cake, from The Honeybuns Gluten-Free Baking Book, uses ground almonds, chopped almonds, almond extract and marzipan, which is made of almonds. You don’t get more absolutely almond than that. Incidentally, if you want to make your own marzipan, you can. This easy recipe for vanilla marzipan covers the basics.
Rachel Roddy’s chocolate and almond cake is simple to the point that something seems to be missing: there is no flour in the ingredients list, nor butter – just almonds, sugar, dark chocolate, milk and five eggs. If the combination of luxury and parsimony appeals to you, by all means try this used orange and almond cake, which is made from, among other things, the spent halves of two juiced oranges.
If, like me, you have never been entirely clear about the difference between macarons and macaroons, Nigel Slater’s recipe for macaroons will make the distinction plain. These are the crinkly topped, chewy sort, and Slater’s version actually contains more pistachios than almonds. As a child, this was the only kind I knew, and for a long time I thought the other spelling was just a crossword puzzle variant. But the garishly coloured, meringue-based macaron you find in patisseries also contains ground almonds, and a homemade version is well within the grasp of the patient baker. One tip: finely ground almonds are often not quite fine enough to produce such delicate stuff. Sieve the almonds first to get rid of any big bits.
Ruby Tandoh’s black olive and almond biscuits are just the thing for cheese – thin, savoury and an elegant charcoal grey.
Along with savoury biscuits, almonds play a starring role in a good many savoury dishes, with this lamb tagine with raisins and honey and Allegra McEvedy’s cauliflower and almond soup being cases in point. This has also got to be one of the 17 best ways to use up cauliflower – it couldn’t be simpler, as long as you’ve got the relevant spices to hand. Even if you haven’t, no one is going to criticise your soup for a lack of fenugreek.
Normally I would consider white, cold soup to be a hard sell, but ajo blanco is an Andalusian tradition also known as white gazpacho, a bracing-sounding blend of almonds, garlic, cucumber, tart apple and stale bread. David Atherton recommends freezing the whole, blanched almonds first.
Picada is another Iberian tradition, a thickening almond sauce usually added toward the end of cooking, or used as a garnish. As with many traditions, it’s hard to find much consistency – or even two identical examples – when it comes to recipes. Most, but not all, include a fundamental trinity of pulverised almonds, bread and garlic. For his clams with picada, Rick Stein fries the bread before combining it with parsley, garlic, olive oil, almonds and pine nuts. Nigel Slater’s squid and chorizo with picada adds dill and lemon, but excludes the bread and olive oil. Meanwhile, Claudia Roden’s lobster hotpot deploys a picada containing cognac and grated chocolate. Even if these variations are not interchangeable, they do offer you a sense of leeway.
Finally, there is pesto. We think of pesto as an inviolable mixture of garlic, pine nuts, pecorino, olive oil and basil, but that is actually the formula for pesto alla genovese; other regions, as Rachel Roddy points out, have their own versions. Pesto alla trapanese consists of almonds, garlic, oil, basil and tomatoes. The measurements are a rough guideline – the exact proportions must ultimately come down to a matter of taste – but pesto alla trapanese is definitely an alternative worth knowing about, since even the most expensive almonds will always be cheaper than bloody pine nuts.
