For this week’s WHB entry, I finally tried a recipe that I’ve had my eye on for weeks. Aloo Paratha from Veggie Cookbook. Aloo Paratha is an Indian flat bread that is stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes. Aloo=potato Paratha=a type of flatbread. I’ve never attempted any type of Indian bread. I’ve read about lots of different types of breads: roti, chapati, paratha, naan. I’ve even found and watched videos online of how some of them are made. I just hadn’t tried any on my own. Sometimes I feel a little intimidated trying something brand new, especially when I have never seen or tasted something similar. But the great thing about food blogs is that not only will you often find step-by-step photos to help you along, you can usually e-mail the author with any questions or concerns you have about the recipe. How many times have you been looking through a cookbook or magazine, seen a great recipe or photo but then realize that the instructions are somewhat confusing. Haven’t you ever wished that you could just call up the cookbook author and ask for clarification? Well, thanks to the internet, you can often do just that.

Food blogs are especially useful when you want to learn something about a new cuisine that you are completely unfamiliar with. In the last couple of years, I’ve become very interested in South Asian food. We didn’t have Indian restaurants of any kind in my hometown. The only Indian food I had ever really tasted was from fast food places in mall food courts. Sad, I know, but true. But through cookbooks and blogs, I’ve learned a lot about spices and cooking methods and I find myself falling in love with the South Asian cuisine without ever having set foot in an authentic restaurant, much less the Indian subcontinent.

When I first started reading Indian cooking blogs like Padmaja’s Veggie Cookbook, I was dying to try many recipes but found that many of the ingredients were unfamiliar to me and, living here in Sicily, I didn’t even know how to begin to stock my kitchen with the essentials for these types of dishes. But I kept reading, started asking questions, and found that many of the unfamiliar ingredients weren’t unfamiliar at all, they were just being called by different names (for instance, cilantro vs. fresh coriander or haldi vs. turmeric). I also found an international foods store here in Catania that stocks all of the spices and ingredients that I hadn’t been able to find in the Italian stores. I purchased Madhur Jaffrey’s book Indian Cooking which has an excellent basic introduction to Indian spices, seasonings, and flavorings and have since bought another one of her books.

Between the cookbooks, blogs, local international foods store, and The Spice House, I now have a pretty good understanding of the basic ingredients needed to experiment with Indian cooking in my kitchen. I have stocked my pantry with every whole spice I can get my hands on. I was already in the habit of keeping potatoes, onions and garlic on hand at all times but now I also keep a ready supply of fresh coriander, ginger, fresh plain yogurt, and hot chiles. I’ve found that now I am able to try all kinds of new recipes without having to rush to the store to find special ingredients. And I’ve also had fun incorporating new ingredients, spices, and cooking techniques into recipes I create on my own.

So, back to the bread! When I was looking over my list of ‘must-try recipes’ and went back to Veggie Cookbook to re-read the recipe for her Aloo Paratha, I happily realized that I had all the ingredients I needed to finally attempt it. Padmaja gives fairly detailed instructions and provides good photos with the recipe but I was still a little nervous about rolling out the dough. I left a comment on her blog saying that I was finally going to attempt it and she was kind enough to e-mail me with some additional pointers and to let me know that she would be available to answer any questions if I started having problems. It turned out that I didn’t have any problems with the recipe at all but it was nice to know that help was waiting for me if I needed it! This is what sets food blogs apart from traditional cookbooks, cooking shows, and large recipe Web sites!

The stuffed parathas were really tasty! I did end up with too many potatoes but I took care of that problem by just eating the leftovers! Padmaja says her family likes to eat them for breakfast but I ate mine for dinner with some cool and creamy plain yogurt. As these are made with whole wheat flour, they are extra nutritious and filling!

And now I am finally getting to the Weekend Herb Blogging part of this post! The fresh herb that I used in my Aloo Paratha is cilantro, or fresh coriander. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I have always loved cilantro, but for most of my life, my knowledge of the herb was very limited. As far as I knew, cilantro was only used in Mexican food, mainly salsa and guacamole. I had no idea that cilantro is actually referred to as fresh coriander by the rest of the world. I had no idea that it is used extensively in cooking throughout all of Asia. Essentially, I was completely clueless when it came to cilantro, er, fresh coriander.

Another thing I was clueless about is how to store the herb for more than a day without it wilting! Fresh coriander has to be one of the most sensitive herbs I’ve ever dealt with. It seems that even looking at it wrong will cause it to wilt! Well, it turns out, it’s not too difficult to keep a bunch of fresh cilantro healthy and happy for up to a week or even longer if you take care of it. Simply place the roots or stem ends in a jar of water, much like you would place a bunch of flowers in a vase. Then cover the top with an overturned plastic bag. Store it in the fridge, pick off dead leaves as you see them and change the water if it gets murky. Your cilantro will perk right up if it was looking limp and it will be ready to use whenever you need it. The cilantro in this photo has already been in my fridge for over a week!

Believe it or not, this was going to be just a short post with a photo of my stuffed parathas, a link to the recipe, and a quick tip about storing cilantro! This is what happens when I drink a little too much coffee before sitting down to write! And sometimes I just get really excited about the way the internet is changing the way we learn about food and cooking and I just can’t shut up about it! Please remember that if you ever have any questions about a recipe I post or any food-related questions at all, you can leave a comment or e-mail me through my contact form and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible! And of course I also love to receive recipes and tips from you, too!

This week’s Weekend Herb Blogging roundup will be held by Chris at Mele Cotte. If you want to learn more about Weekend Herb Blogging, including who will be hosting WHB in the coming weeks, visit Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Once again, here is the link to the recipe for Aloo Paratha.

You can learn more about cilantro and find some great recipes at Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Other Recipes Using Cilantro:

• Cilantro Caesar Salad with Carne Asada
• Tofu in Coconut Sauce with Ginger and Lemongrass
• Bruschetta Messicana
• Nando’s Chicken Pizza

Around the Web:

• Gobi Paratha from One Hot Stove
• Stuffed Mixed Dal Paratha from The Cook’s Cottage
• Avocado Chapatis from Mahanandi

Hooray! It’s Weekend Herb Blogging time again and this week I’ll be talking about rosemary. And if you keep reading, you’ll even find my recipe for the super yummy rosemary pizza dough I made for lunch today. This week, WHB will be hosted by Kalyn at Kalyn’s Kitchen so don’t forget to head over to her site and see what other herbs are being discussed this week.

What? You still don’t know anything about Weekend Herb Blogging? Go read about it here.

Now, let’s get started!

Here in Sicily, you’ll find rosemary (rosmarino, in Italian) growing all over the place! You’ll see it in gardens growing as a culinary herb, but also in planters and lining sidewalks as decorative shrubs. It can even be trimmed into topiaries and bonsai. Rosemary is native to the Mediterranean region but is a popular culinary herb throughout the world. It pairs well with lamb, chicken, beans, and potatoes and can be added to breads such as focaccia and potato bread. Although some people (like me) can’t get enough of it, it’s important to remember that Rosemary has a very strong flavor and can become easily become overwhelming if you aren’t careful.

According to the World’s Healthiest Foods Web site, Rosemary does more than just add wonderful flavor to foods. It’s also really good for you!

“Rosemary contains substances that are useful for stimulating the immune system, increasing circulation, and improving digestion. Rosemary also contains anti-inflammatory compounds that may make it useful for reducing the severity of asthma attacks. In addition, rosemary has been shown to increase the blood flow to the head and brain, improving concentration.” — WHfoods.org

And if all those health benefits aren’t enough to make you want to start using the herb regularly, here’s another one. According to wikipedia, rosemary has long had a reputation to improve memory: “Rosemary has a very old reputation for improving memory, and has been used as a symbol for remembrance (during weddings, war commemorations and funerals) in Europe, probably as a result of this reputation. Mourners would throw it into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead” (wikipedia).

Since I’ve been living in Sicily, I’ve fallen in love with the pairing of potatoes and rosemary. Next time you think about roasting potatoes, try tossing them with some olive oil, salt, and rosemary. You’ll never want to eat roasted potatoes any other way! I also love the pairing of rosemary and potatoes on pizza. You can use sliced, cooked potatoes, fried potatoes, roasted potatoes, whatever you want! Just make sure they are pre-cooked because pizza doesn’t stay in the oven long enough to cook the potatoes if they start out raw. I like to toss sliced cooked potatoes with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped rosemary before adding them to the pizza. Smoked mozzarella or scamorza cheese is wonderful on a potato pizza but regular mozzarella is great too. You can use tomato sauce or just leave the sauce off and sprinkle with some olive oil.

Other interesting uses for rosemary:

• Use the long stick-like branches as aromatic skewers for kebabs: Strip the leaves from some long branches and thread through cubes of meat and/or vegetables.
• Use a rosemary branch as a basting brush: When grilling chicken, dip the rosemary branch into a mixture of olive oil, salt and pepper and use it to baste the chicken.
• Throw some rosemary sprigs onto the grill to create aromatic smoke.

Today, I was in the mood for a potato pizza and decided to try adding fresh chopped rosemary to the pizza dough for a new twist. It turned out great so I thought I’d share the recipe with you. I call this a whole wheat pizza dough because I use both whole wheat and all purpose flour. My main reason for doing this is because it gives the crust a great flavor. I don’t use 100% whole wheat flour in my pizza dough because I find that it is much harder to work with. But feel free to experiment with a larger percentage of whole wheat flour if you prefer.

Whole Wheat Rosemary Pizza Dough

1 1/2 C. warm water
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. brown sugar
1 C. whole wheat flour
1 package active dry yeast or 2 t. instant yeast
3 C. all-purpose flour plus extra for kneading
1 1/2 t. salt
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed and chopped

• Mix the dough: In a medium bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, yeast, water, oil, and brown sugar. Add all-purpose flour, salt, and rosemary and stir with a wooden spoon until dough starts to come together. Turn the mixture out onto a floured counter or board.

• Knead the dough: using floured hands, knead the dough, adding extra flour as needed, until it is smooth and slightly tacky rather than sticky, about 5 minutes. Form dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Turn ball in the bowl to coat both sides with oil then cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Set bowl in a warm place and let dough rise until doubled (about 45 minutes to an hour).

• Preheat the oven: After dough has been rising for 15 minutes, prepare your oven. Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack and preheat oven and stone to 500 degrees (or as hot as your oven will go). It is best to let oven preheat for one full hour.

• Divide the dough: When dough has doubled, lightly oil a countertop and turn dough out onto it. With oiled hands, gently deflate the dough. Using a knife or dough scraper, divide dough into four equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball then cover pieces with a towel or lightly greased plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 minutes. At this point, you can put each ball of dough in a ziplock sanwich bag and store in the refrigerator for up to three days. When ready to use, bring to room temperature and proceed with the next step.

• Shape the crusts: Lay a piece of parchment paper on the counter to the side of your oiled work surface. Move the balls of dough to the edge of your work surface and keep them covered. Take one ball of dough out and working on the oiled surface, flatten it slightly with the heel of your palm. Then start pushing the dough out from the center using the side of your hand and working in a circle. When the circle is about 5 inches wide, pick it up and transfer it to a piece of parchment paper. Continue working the dough into a circle, pushing outward with the palm of your hand until the crust is about 10 inches wide. You should end up with a small lip all the way around. Cover crust and let rest for 10 minutes. While the first crust is resting, start forming a second one. After the first crust has rested for 10 minutes, add your toppings.

• Bake pizza: Using a pizza peel or the back of a sheet pan, slide pizza and parchment directly onto your preheated pizza stone. Check pizza after 8 minutes. When crust is golden, remove pizza using a peel or slide pizza back onto baking sheet using a large metal spatula.

Now, once you get the dough made, it’s up to you to decide what toppings you want to try. For the pizza I made today I used Tangy Tomato Sauce, sliced, cooked potatoes (that had been seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil), chopped rosemary, and shredded mozzarella. Since my husband is gone right now, I have three more balls of dough in the fridge so I’ll let you know what else I come up with later in the week!

If you think pizza isn’t pizza without some meat, I think the potatoes would go great with some crumbled pork sausage. You might even want to add some sage along with the rosemary. Mmmm…I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it!

I accidentally baked my pizza a couple minutes too long so the cheese got a little over-toasted But guess what? The pizza still tasted great!

What’s your favorite way to use rosemary? What toppings would you use with a rosemary pizza crust? I’d love to hear from you!

Related Recipes:

• Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Pizza
• Tangy Tomato Sauce

Around the Web:

• White Whole Wheat Pizza Dough from 101 Cookbooks
• Perfect Pizza Crust from Baking Bites
• Pizza Dough from Smitten Kitchen
• Potato, Leek, Sausage, and Broccoli Rabe Pizza from Stephen Cooks
• Rosemary Potato Pizza from Toast
• Potato Pizzas from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

For this week’s entry to Weekend Herb Blogging, I’m sticking with the two herbs I’ve used for my previous entries…fresh mint and chives. I didn’t mean to do it but I was looking through my favorite cookbook and was inspired to make a lime and mint vinaigrette to drizzle over the salad I was planning to make for lunch.

I’m sure you’ll forgive me for using these herbs again because this dressing is really good! The original version of the dressing uses only lime juice for the acid but I added some vinegar too because that’s the way I like it! I also substituted chives for scallions because quite frankly, I don’t like raw onions…even the little green ones! But I love the milder flavor of chives. They add a bit of onion flavor but aren’t overpowering. I also used only half the amount of mint that is called for in the original recipe. What I ended up with was a light, refreshing dressing that perfectly complimented the ripe tomatoes that I picked up yesterday at the organic farmer’s market. In addition to tomatoes, my salad contained a mixture of romaine lettuce and baby spinach (also from the organic market), cucumber, and crumbled feta. A nice, simple salad.

It has been hot hot hot here in Sicily and I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of salads coming from me in the next couple of weeks because, besides ice cream, that’s all I feel like eating! My computer is telling me it’s 104 degrees in Catania right now (at noon), and since we’re usually a couple degrees hotter out here where I live, I’m thinking it’s probably gonna get up to at least 106 again, just like it did yesterday. All I can say is that I’m very happy to have air conditioning! Now if only we had a gelato truck circling my neighborhood…

Lime-Mint Dressing

Zest and juice of one lime
1 T. chopped fresh mint (or 1 – 2 t. crushed dried mint)
1 T. chopped fresh chives (or scallions or shallot)
1/4 t. salt (or to taste)
1-2 T. white wine vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)
6 T. light flavored oil (light olive oil, vegetable oil, sunflower oil)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together lime zest and juice, herbs, salt and vinegar.
2. Whisking continuously, add oil in a slow, steady stream.
3. When oil is incorporated, taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
4. Drizzle over cucumbers, tomatoes or your favorite green salad.

Source: Adapted from Deborah Madison’s ‘Lime and Fresh Mint Vinaigrette’ found in the book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

This week, WHB is being hosted by Astrid at Paulchen’s Food Blog. To find out more about Weekend Herb Blogging including information on upcoming hosts, visit this page at Kalyn’s Kitchen.

On another note, this is my 100th post on Pinch My Salt. Between my one year food blogging anniversary and my 100th post, it seems like I should celebrate! Anyone feel like bringing me some champagne? If you bring two bottles, I’ll even share

Related Recipes:

• Cilantro Caesar Salad
• Orange Cranberry Salad with Walnuts and Blue Cheese
• Blood Orange and Green Olive Salad

Around the Web:

• How to Make a Salad Dressing from A Veggie Venture
• Chopped Tomato and Cucumber Salad from Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Cucumber Salad with Mint and Feta from Simply Recipes
• Two Cucumber Salads from Habeas Brulee
• Apple and Lime Salad with Mint from Frugal Cuisine

First of all, I would like to say happy Father’s Day to my Dad! I don’t think he will be reading this online but maybe someone (Kathy, Pauline, I’m talking to you!) will print it out and show it to him. This Web site would not be in existence if it weren’t for my Dad’s influence on my cooking. My willingness (and sometimes compulsion) to experiment with food is definitely something I get from my Dad and if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have started creating my own recipes. I am extremely lucky to have come from a family where both parents were great in the kitchen! Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I love you!

For this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging entry, I made some tzatzki using fresh mint. Mmmmmmm…tzatziki! Have you ever tried it? Can you pronounce it? Tzatziki is a Greek sauce made of thick yogurt and chopped cucumber. I called it a sauce but it’s more like a cross between a sauce and a salad. I guess we could just call it a condiment. It can be served with pita as an appetizer and it’s a standard accompaniment to gyros. But you can really do whatever you want with it. I like to just eat it by the spoonful

I recently received the latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated in the mail and was very happy to find a section dedicated to creating restaurant-style Greek gyros at home. A few days ago, we tried the Cook’s Illustrated version of gyros, which were miniature pan-fried ground lamb or beef patties flavored with onion, garlic, and oregano among other things. Those little patties, while strange looking, were actually very good wrapped in pita with lettuce, tomato and tzatziki. They may not have looked like the stuff that gets cut off a vertical rotisserie at your favorite Greek fast food place, but the flavor and texture were pretty close! But my favorite part of that meal was definitely the tzatziki. After I finished my pita, I stood over the bowl eating spoonfuls of tzatziki until it was gone. I’ve always loved it but for some reason had never made it at home. Well, I just made it again and this time I’m gonna share it with you!

Here’s the original recipe from Cook’s Illustrated (July & August 2007) followed by my own comments and changes.

Tzatziki Sauce

1 C. plain whole-milk yogurt

1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced

3/8 t. salt

1 T. fresh lemon juice

1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed

1 T. finely chopped fresh mint or dill

• Line fine-mesh strainer set over deep container or bowl with 3 paper coffee filters or triple layer of paper towels. Spoon yogurt into lined strainer, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine cucumber, 1/8 t. salt, and lemon juice in colander set over bowl and let stand 30 minutes.
• Discard drained liquid from yogurt. Combine thickened yogurt, drained cucumber, remaining 1/4 t. salt, garlic, and mint in clean bowl.

The first time I made this, I didn’t bother salting and draining the cucumber and it turned out just fine. I did squeeze the chopped cucumber in a wad of paper towels to get some of the moisture out and then I just added the cucumbers and all the salt to the mixture at once as well as the lemon juice. I do suggest taking the time to drain the yogurt unless you can get thick Greek-style yogurt. If you want to double the recipe, try using a double thickness of cheesecloth to line the strainer rather than coffee filters when you drain the yogurt; the coffee filters just aren’t big enough. In fact, I always use cheesecloth when I strain yogurt.

The first time I made this, I didn’t have any fresh mint. I actually killed my mint plant. I’m not sure how I did that because I thought it was nearly impossible to kill it. But I did. So, I used dried mint. Now, the Cook’s Illustrated people say not to use dried mint but Nicole says that dried mint works just fine as long as it’s not 10 years old or something. I thought it was a really good substitute, actually. In today’s version I used a combination of fresh mint (I got a new plant and I plan on watering it this time) and dried dill (I would have used fresh but didn’t have any). That was good. I also added some cayenne pepper. That was also good.

I think that tzatziki is usually flavored with a bit of vinegar but I liked the lemon juice and haven’t tried it with vinegar yet. You can also serve it drizzled with olive oil. This recipe is really flexible so you should experiment and make it your own. If you’re a garlic lover, add more! If you hate garlic, leave it out completely. You could substitute some onion for the garlic or use both. I don’t care what you do, just make some of this soon! It’s a perfect summer snack!

Oh, and I happened to make fresh pita to accompany my tzatziki this time. If you have never made pita at home, you should definitely try it! It’s easier than you might imagine and once you taste it, you’ll never want to eat store-bought pita again! I’ll share my recipe soon!

This week’s edition of WHB will be hosted by Rachel of Rachel’s Bite, so be sure to head over there and check out the other entries!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say Weekend Herb Blogging, head over to Kalyn’s Kitchen to read more about it!

There’s a weekly food blog event that I have been meaning to participate in for quite some time now. It’s called Weekend Herb Blogging and it’s a great way for people who enjoy using fresh herbs to share tips, ideas, information, and recipes with one another. The event, now on it’s 82nd week I believe, was founded by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen and is still hosted there the first weekend of each month. During the other three weeks, the event roams around the food blog community, hosted by different bloggers each week. If you wish to participate, simply write a little something about a fresh herb and/or post a recipe featuring fresh herbs. Put it on your blog sometime during the week (any week, every week) and then e-mail the link to the person who is hosting the event. All of the links are compiled and then posted together at the end of the week by the host. Like all food blog events, it’s a great way to learn something new, find recipes, and also discover new food blogs.

Like many Americans, we didn’t eat a lot of dishes featuring fresh herbs while I was growing up. We always had a garden, ate tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, and both of my parents were great cooks. But for whatever reason, fresh herbs just weren’t a huge part of my early culinary experience. Cilantro is probably the first herb that I remember using on a regular basis but that was only for making fresh salsa. I didn’t even know that cilantro was used for anything other than Mexican food!

Well, I’ve come a long way, and spending a few years in Sicily has certainly helped me discover the joys of using fresh parsley, basil, oregano and rosemary. I’ve also discovered that cilantro is widely used in many different cuisines around the world and I now use it all the time. I am growing several different herbs in my backyard and am always trying to find new ways to use them. I currently have rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, parsley, chives, savory and sage growing in a couple barrel planters in the back. And I generally have fresh cilantro on hand now that I discovered it in an international foods store here (cilantro isn’t a popular herb in Italy so I don’t find it in the open-air markets). But I still have a lot to learn about fresh herbs and I’m looking forward to sharing recipes and learning new things each week from all the other Weekend Herb Bloggers!

The recipe that I am submitting to the event this week is a tuna salad that features two fresh herbs: parsley and chives. My aunt Kathy is the person who turned me on to using fresh herbs in tuna. She likes to put cilantro in hers and so do I but the day I made this, I was fresh out! Parsley has become my go-to herb anytime I want to add a little something extra to a dish, so I threw that in. The chives I added just for the hell of it and the rest of the recipe just came together the way most of my recipes do — from things I happened to have on hand. The great thing about this tuna salad is that it uses very little mayonnaise and, even though I added some feta cheese and pine nuts, I think it’s much better for you than a typical mayo-laden tuna salad. On a whim, I substituted thickened plain yogurt for most of the mayo and it turned out great! I still added a little mayonnaise because I happen to really like it but I think you could leave it out completely and this would still be wonderful.

This tuna salad would be good on bread or in a pita but I’ve discovered that my favorite way to eat this is to scoop it right onto a piece of lettuce, pick it up, and eat it by hand. You can use the small inner leaves of romaine or boston lettuce and make several cute little snacks, or you can fill up a larger piece. And by all means, use a fork if you want to. But I’m warning you, it’s not as much fun

So, here is this week’s recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging, which will be hosted by Pat at Up the Creek without a PatL. Be sure to check her site at the end of the weekend to find out what everyone else submitted! And if you are interested in participating, you can find the official rules at Kalyn’s Kitchen as well as information about who will be hosting the event in upcoming weeks.

Herbed Tuna Salad with Feta and Pine Nuts

6 oz. can of tuna, drained
1/4 C. plain, thick yogurt*
1 T. mayonnaise
1/4 C. crumbled feta cheese
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 T. snipped fresh chives
1 – 2 T. toasted pine nuts**
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
fresh ground black pepper
4 small to medium leaves of romaine lettuce

• In a medium bowl, stir together all the ingredients with a fork.
• Spoon salad into the middle of the lettuce leaves, garnish with extra chopped herbs if desired.
• Enjoy!

* If your yogurt is runny, line a strainer with cheesecloth, pour in one cup of yogurt and let drain over a bowl for half an hour or so. Measure out 1/4 C. of the thickened yogurt and proceed with recipe.

** Toast pine nuts in a small, dry skillet over medium heat. Shake the pan frequently and don’t leave them unattended, they will toast very quickly! When they start to turn a golden brown, remove nuts to a small bowl and let cool.

Update: See all the other Weekend Herb Blogging entries here!

Related Recipes:

• Creamy Blue Cheese Dip with Lemon and Chives
• Cheddar Chive and Sour Cream Omelette
• Sour Cream, Cheddar and Chive Biscuits