Thursday, March 28

Six sweet and savory recipes from the star chef of Pistachio


It never ceases to amaze us that there are chefs specialized in products as specific as chestnuts or, on the occasion of this World Day, pistachios. But in some of the events of the Spanish Cuisine Selection we have come across the tables with pistachios covered in chocolate from Charles Torresthe chef of The Caprice of the Torreslocated in Villacañas, Toledo.

This restless, curious chef, member of the Board of Directors of the Hospitality Association of Toledo and advisor to Grupo Abrasador (an important producer of Toledo meat), It stands out for its signature cuisine with a strong traditional base, but with elegant avant-garde touches, as you can see in its proposals.

But why did you take to cooking pistachios? Well, because, first, she took to cultivating them. Carlos Torres belongs to the second generation of a family dedicated to the countryside in Castilla La Mancha.

With his brother Jose Angel Torres, decided to follow the tradition of their parents and grandparents, who farmed cereals, vineyards and olive trees, but, after a suitability study in the area, they transformed their land into new ecological pistachio plantations. On their website they give you recipes like arebut here he gives us some exclusively for the readers of eldiario.es:

Pickled pistachio salad

  • To make the pistachio marinade, put plenty of oil in a frying pan and add half a white onion cut into julienne strips, poach and add 250 g of raw pistachios and a little white wine, a bay leaf and dill.
  • Once the alcohol has evaporated, remove from heat and add a tablespoon of rice vinegar.
  • Dice four raf-type tomatoes and half a julienne red onion, arrange on a plate with four sweet peppers and pour over the slightly warm pistachio marinade, finish with a little flake salt and enjoy.

Green garlic pickled pistachio and anchovy recipe

  • Put 100 g of peeled pistachios in a blender glass.
  • Once finely ground, add 250 ml of water and continue grinding for six minutes. At the end, adjust the salt and vinegar and emulsify with just the right amount of olive oil, about 0.50 cl, before serving.
  • Serve in a Martini glass. In the bottom part, place 80 g of chopped pickles and two chopped anchovies. Then, serve the ajoverde to fill three thirds of the glass.

Salmon au gratin with pistachio mayonnaise and paprika potato



  • To make the broken potato, grate three cooked potatoes with a fine grater, put a little oil in a pan to toast the paprika. Once toasted, add the potato and rectify salt, pepper, thyme and oregano.
  • For the pistachio mayonnaise, put 100 g of pistachios in a blender; once ground, add a tablespoon of honey and then a splash of sunflower oil until the texture is that of a cream. Mix to taste with a quality mayonnaise.
  • Preheat the oven to 220ºC, place four salmon supremes on a tray with the skin facing down with a little oil on the bottom, sprinkle with salt and cover with the mayonnaise.
  • Take out of the oven when it has taken on a gratin color (approximately eight minutes). Place a bit of broken potato on top and enjoy.

pistachio potato

  • Peel and grate four boiled potatoes (new potato is ideal), add 200 ml of pistachio paste (see salmon recipe) and season with salt and place in four round stainless steel moulds, six cm in diameter.
  • Once the molds are full, heat in the oven, remove from the oven and, in the upper part, make a small hole with a spoon to place the finely cut Iberian ham and an egg yolk (save the whites for any other preparation).
  • Return to the oven to brown the yolk a little, remove from the oven and place on a plate with the help of a spatula and remove the moulds.

Artichokes with egg, ham and pistachio parmentier

  • For the pistachio parmentier, heat four peeled and chopped potatoes and add 300 g of cream to cook.
  • Then, change to a blender glass and add 100 ml of pistachio paste, cream cheese, blend and rectify salt, pepper and oregano.
  • Chop 12 cooked artichokes and sauté them in a frying pan over a high heat so that they brown a little, remove from the heat and add 80 g of slices of Iberian ham.
  • Fry eight eggs in good olive oil.
  • Assembly: place the parmentier on the base of a deep plate, add the artichokes and the ham and then the two eggs on top. Finish with a little flake salt.

pistachio brownies

  • Preheat the oven to 140ºC, line the inside of a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
  • In a bowl, mix 300 g of sugar with eight eggs and set aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, grind 100g fresh (unroasted) peeled pistachios until small pieces remain.
  • On the other hand, heat 500 g of butter and 280 g of white chocolate coating (it is recommended to do it in a bain-marie so that it does not burn).
  • Add the butter and chocolate to the mixing bowl and mix with the pistachios at low speed.
  • Mix them with the eggs and sugar by hand, stir until everything is mixed well, pour onto the oven tray approximately three centimeters high, bake for 40 minutes and set aside.
  • At the time of serving, heat a piece in the microwave for 30 seconds, accompany with a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream and hot white chocolate sauce.

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