Blanching almonds

phyllo puddingI made this delicious creamy phyllo, raisin and nut pudding (“om Ali” ((This name always makes me end up singing… “Come on Eileen”!)) ) for a friend’s birthday dinner on Saturday. This dish is awesome because:

  1. It is a pudding.
  2. It uses orange blossom water ((If you live in the Boston area, you can buy this at Christina’s Spice & Specialty Foods in Inman Square.)), which smells beautiful. Your house will smell like orange blossom water as the pudding bakes, and, really, this is worth it even if you don’t get to eat (all) the pudding.

Beforehand, I was standing in Trader Joe’s, looking for blanched almonds for the pudding, but they didn’t sell any. After a quick poke, the helpful TJ’s employee told me I could blanch my own. So I left the store with a bag of whole, unsalted, raw almonds.

Blanching them was very simple, but a little tedious. One minute under boiling water, and the skins come off with some tugging. (I followed these instructions.) It was slow-going; I think it took me almost 15 minutes to do 1/4 cup of almonds.

blanching almonds blanching almonds
blanching almonds blanching almonds

November 13, 2007. food. No Comments.

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