i Lead Recipes

I frequently use parsley sauce to either accompany poached salmon or for my kids’ favourite dish, chicken in parsley sauce. My parsley sauce is not like that you find in some restaurants – a white sauce containing a few sprigs of parsley. To me parsley sauce has to be green – that means lots of parsley, enough for you to be able to taste it. Much of the parsley available in supermarkets is pre-packed in cellophane and is not even a handful, but occasionally they have these huge bunches, and when they do I always snap one up. But here’s the tip. Remove all the leaves from the stalks and chop them in a food processor until they are finely chopped (or to the size that suits you) then pack them into a plastic container and dump them into the deep freeze. They will keep for a long time (weeks, if not months) and you can spoon them out as and when you need to use them.

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Brazil nuts are 18% protein, 13% carbohydrates, and 69% fat. The saturated fat content of Brazil nuts is among the highest of all nuts, surpassing even macadamia nuts, and the nuts are pressed for their oil. Because of the resulting rich taste, Brazil nuts can often substitute for macadamia nuts or even coconut in recipes. Also due to their high fat content, shelled Brazil nuts soon become rancid. Nutritionally, Brazil nuts are a good source of magnesium and thiamine, and are perhaps the richest dietary source of selenium, although the amount of selenium within batches of nuts varies greatly. Recent research suggests that proper selenium intake is correlated with a reduced risk of both breast cancer as well as prostate cancer. This has led some commentators to recommend the consumption of Brazil nuts as a protective measure. These findings are inconclusive, however; other investigations into the effects of selenium on prostate cancer were inconclusive.

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The cashew nut is a popular snack, and its rich flavour means that it is often eaten on its own, lightly salted or sugared. Cashew nuts are sold covered in chocolate, but due to their higher price compared to peanuts and almonds are not as common in candy, except from higher quality manufacturers. Cashew nuts also factor in Thai cuisine and Chinese cuisine generally in whole form, and in Indian cuisine often ground into sauces such as shahi korma and also used as garnish in Indian sweets and desserts. The cashew nut can also be used in cheese alternatives for vegans, typically in homemade cheese recipes

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Produced from the same tree as the cashew nut, the cashew apple is a false fruit. What appears to be the fruit of the cashew tree is an oval or pear-shaped accessory fruit or false fruit that develops from the receptacle of the cashew flower. Called the cashew apple, better known in Central America as “jocote de marañón”, it ripens into a yellow and/or red structure about 5–11 cm long. It is edible, and has a strong “sweet” smell and a sweet taste. The pulp of the cashew apple is very juicy, but the skin is fragile, making it unsuitable for transport. It is often used as a flavour in agua fresca. A cashew apple fruit juice is produced commercially in South America.

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Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree, from which chocolate is made. (The word “cocoa” is simply a corruption of “cacao”.) “Cocoa” can often also refer to the drink commonly known as hot chocolate; to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa butter from the dark, bitter cocoa solids; or to a mixture of cocoa powder and cocoa butter. A cacao pod has a rough leathery rind about 3 cm thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pod). It is filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp called ‘baba de cacao’ in South America, enclosing 30 to 50 large almond-like seeds (beans) that are fairly soft and pinkish or purplish in colour.

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