Saturday, October 31, 2009

Pine Nut Mayonnaise



Last night when my hubby was ready to leave work he called and said he needed a substantial dinner because he felt like he hadn’t eaten enough. That is the reason made the broccoli and “cheese” potato with avocado. Dan doesn’t often say he needs extra food so I knew I needed to pile on the calories. Last night’s dinner was a good cold weather comfort meal that we both enjoyed but it was definitely heavier than most of my recipes.

After dinner I was looking through Charlie Trotter’s book “Raw” and saw a recipe for pine nut mayonnaise. It looked interesting so I tossed a ½ cup of pine nuts into filtered water before I went to bed so I could try the recipe in the morning.

When I tasted the recipe as given in the book it was a little too plain for me so I added a few additional flavors to the sauce. Here is the pine nut mayonnaise recipe I modified from the book “Raw”.

Pine Nut Mayonnaise
Makes approximately 1 cup – 16 tablespoons

Ingredients:

½ cup raw pine nuts, soaked overnight and well drained
¼ cup water
½ lemon juiced and zested
1 pinch dry mustard (scant 1/8 teaspoon)
1 pinch kosher salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Combine everything in your blender and process until smooth. Pour into a jar and refrigerate until needed. The pine nut mayonnaise will thicken in the refrigerator as it chills.

Nutritional Information (per tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 44.19
Calories From Fat (89%) - 39.13

Total Fat - 4.59g
Saturated Fat - 0.44g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 15.05mg
Potassium - 30.77mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.95g
Fiber - 0.33g
Sugar - 0.16g
Protein - 0.62g

Comments:

I have been exploring a lot of raw salad dressings so mayonnaise was the natural progression. Pine nuts make a very mild body for the mayonnaise. My only complaint is that the sauce is a little too thin even after it has been thoroughly chilled. Not terribly thin, but a bit off the mark. Next time I may add another tablespoon of olive oil to see if that thickens the sauce. Overall this was easier than I expected and turned out more like mayonnaise than I thought it would. It has more lemon flavor than traditional mayonnaise, but since I love lemon that is a good thing in my opinion.

If you are looking for a cooked reduced fat mayonnaise I posted a recipe that can be found here. It results in a much thicker sauce than this that is more like traditional mayonnaise. There is a full fat mayonnaise that tastes like the store brought refrigerated brand, which I posted here. I have made both of these versions many times with good results.

I hope everyone has a nice day.

12 comments:

  1. This sounds great! And pine nuts are very high in protein, so your hubby likely got the boost he needed. :)

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  2. Ricki,

    Thanks! :) It tastes and looks much more like mayo than I expected. I am going to try some minor changes but overall I was quite pleased.

    Alicia

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  3. That's a great idea...somehow it seems like it would taste more like mayo than with almonds like the stuff I made last week. There are so many new things to try...I don't have a clue how people could think veganism is boring; I think people miss out by just eating the status quo stuff and not exploring all the new and interesting ways to prepare food.

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  4. Rose,

    I hate to admit I used to be one of those people that thought veganism was boring. I also thought a plate had to have animal protein. Now I know the error of my ways. None of my omni friends believe me when I say that my cooking has vastly improved since cooking vegan, but it is true.

    I agree that most people eat the same food over and over again and don't explore new things. That was the way my mom cooked. Boring!

    Alicia

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  5. Oh my goodness, that sounds like a great idea. I've never liked mayo in my food because I always think it's not healthy to eat this stuff. I LOVE pinenuts and all the ingredients in this recipe so I'd love to give this a try. I believe it will be one of my best salad dressings, Yay!!! Thanks for sharing, Alicia.:)

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  6. Oraphan,

    I feel like this is more healthy than traditional may as well. Since reading "Eat for Health" and "Life Over Cancer" I prefer to get my fat from seeds and nuts rather than oils. I hope you like it. Please let me know how the recipe works for you.

    Alicia

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  7. This looks good Alicia~! The last batch of almond mayo I made- I used the squeeze bottle method with the olive oil- it was so thick! but it was good. I also added horseradish- yummy!

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  8. Debra,

    I am glad using the squeeze bottle to add the olive oil worked for you. Thanks for letting me know.

    Wow, your kids will eat horseradish mayo. They have much more sophisticated palates than I did when I was young.

    Alicia

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  9. Since we started a lowfat, mostly vegan diet to lower my husband's cholesterol, he has lost more than enough weight and has been having trouble maintaining it. He eats until he's full and doesn't want to add snacks (like I do), so I'm thinking of buying some protein powder. Do you have any thoughts on this?

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  10. Laura,

    We had trouble keeping weight on my husband, which sounds like the problem you are having. I am not a fan of soy protein isolate, which is the main ingredient in most protein powders. I have read studies that linked the consumption of soy protein isolate (not whole soy) to increases in a few different cancer cell lines so we stay away from it.

    Instead I include an apple and walnut butter in my husband's lunch everyday (he loves them and they are calorie dense). Additionally if he starts dropping weight I add an evening smoothie for him before bed. He finds it easier to drink his calories than eat them. He says I am always feeding him and that he gets tired of chewing before he gets full. Check out the banana, peanut butter and chocolate smoothie I posted on August 8. My husband loves that one so it is the one I normally make in the evenings. If your husband doesn't like peanut butter and banana try making any smoothie and add nut butter, oatmeal and flaxseed to it. They will increase the protein and calories.

    If you need more ideas let me know. We have been at this for a while so I have tried many different things.

    Alicia

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  11. Thanks. I saw many other kinds of protein powder at the store yesterday (hemp, whey, pea, rice) and bought a rice-based one with cocoa. But I don't know when he would eat it, since he's full after dinner until he goes to bed. Yesterday he ate his sandwich before lunch and then went to the cafeteria for a turkey sandwich! I think he needs some sort of mid-morning snack, although he doesn't like to take one. His apple is eaten in the afternoon...maybe I could get him to add walnut butter. We cut out all peanut butter because it was too tempting to have around.

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  12. Laura,

    Please let me know what you think of the rice protein powder. I would also be curious to here what else is in it. Which brand did you buy? I would add the protein powder to smoothies, oatmeal, and soups and sauces (if it is mild enough in flavor).

    It does sound like the hubby needs a mid morning snack. How about raw veggies and hummus (maybe with some protein powder added in)? I also like a banana with a bit of nut butter. Another option is to feed him a bigger breakfast. I try to make certain mine drinks 600 calories worth of smoothie in the morning. It seems to keep him full until lunch. So he can have his lunch at noon and then his snack around 4pm and dinner at about 7pm. He has gotten good at telling me when he needs more to eat. However, I do monitor his weight like a hawk and add extra calories in the form of hummus, nut butter, and cashew salad dressings, hempseeds and smoothies when I see it dropping.

    We cut out nut butters for a while but as soon as my hubby was losing too much weight we added them back for him. It did bring a stop to his rapid weight loss (which was a good thing).

    How is your husband's cholesterol now? My husband's went from a total of 280 to 155 in a few months. It stays in the 150 zone most of the time now. A few years ago I read that people with a total cholesterol of 150 or lower are almost assured of not having a heart attack.

    Let me know if you need any other suggestions. I have been trying many things to combat the too much weight loss problem at our house for a while.

    Alicia

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