Summer was officially over Monday, but it lingers here in Arizona for quite some time to come!  This is a gorgeous and refreshing summer salad.  No need to heat the kitchen, just fire up the grill. I serve this with a cold and crisp Rosé wine and slices of warm crusty French Bread.  Oh darn, I just realized that you will need to turn on the oven to toast the hazelnuts, oops!  Well, the reason I forgot is that when I bring home a package of hazelnuts, I immediately toast the entire bag and then store them in the freezer and just pull out the prepped nuts when needed, you can do the same and you’ll be ready to go for the next recipe that calls for them too because hazelnuts are almost always used toasted and skinned.

To toast and skin the Hazelnuts: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place hazelnuts (also known as filberts) in a single layer of a baking sheet. Toast in the middle of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly colored and the skins begin to blister.  Remove from the oven and immediately wrap the nuts in an old (but clean) kitchen town and allow to steam for 2 or 3 minutes. Rub the nuts in the towel for a minute or two creating a lot of friction between the nuts and the towel, to remove the loose skins.  All of the skins won’t come off, so don’t worry.  Carefully pick out the nuts and set them aside. Shake the towel outside or over a trashcan, be careful or those little skin bits will be all over the kitchen. You will want to use an old towel because the skins will stain the towel, so just wash it and use it the next time you are preparing hazelnuts. [Read more →]