Buttery, salty, pistachios with a little heat and a kiss of sweet are the perfect salad toppers! They’re also pretty ridiculously delicious as a snack while just marathoning something under a fluffy blanket.
The other day knew it was time to clean out the freezer, because random packages of things kept leaping out on my feet.
*“Ow! Frozen pawpaw puree on my pinky toe!”
*“Ooof! Bing cherries on my big toe!”
*“Ugh! Blanched onions on my ankle!”
*Note: All of those exclamations came with a heavy dose of expletives, that I won’t post here.
(Oh, did I mention how much a frozen pound of chicken breasts hurts when it lands on your feet?
YOWZA!)
Now, I had two options.
One was eminently reasonable, which was to start wearing shoes around the house.
The other was to cull my treasures from the kitchen freezer, and to bring them downstairs to the chest freezer.
So, as I filled a large bag with my frozen treats getting ready for transport, I discovered a very expensive and very pretty bag of pistachios that I’d bought last fall.
I also ran across a beautiful little brick of blue cheese from California that Jedd bought me for my birthday.
So, a big fun salad seemed to be calling out to be assembled.
I had some gorgeous greens, and an empty stomach.
It was spicy and sweet brown butter pistachio salad topper time!
Brown Butter Pistachio Salad Toppers
Yield: ½ cup seasoned pistachios
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon salted butter
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon cayenne
½ cup shelled pistachios
Instructions:
Heat butter, brown sugar, and cayenne in a small frying pan over medium heat.
When the butter is melted but not foaming, add the pistachios to the pan and stir well for 2 minutes.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve on your favorite green salad, hopefully with blue cheese, onions, and a lemon vinaigrette!
Brown Butter Pistachio Salad Toppers
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 cup pistachios
Instructions
- Heat butter, brown sugar, and cayenne in a small frying panover medium heat.
- When the butter is melted but not foaming, add the pistachios to the pan and stir well for 2 minutes.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Serve on your favorite green salad, hopefully with blue cheese, onions, and a lemon vinaigrette!