L ifestyle /C ulture
Nuts for Hazelnuts
F OO D
KERI WHITE | JE FOOD COLUMNIST
WHILE TRAVELING in
Italy this fall, I visited the
Piedmont region in the
country’s northwest part. This
is prime hazelnut country, and
I was lucky enough to tour the
Barroero Farm.

The operation is impressive;
in addition to growing and
supplying hazelnuts for local
businesses and customers,
the family runs a bakery
and confectionery on-site
where they produce gianduja
(chocolate hazelnut spread),
an assortment of cookies and
cakes, hazelnut butter and a
variety of roasted and seasoned
hazelnuts. As a result of the regional
ubiquity of hazelnuts, many
of the restaurants incorporate
them into their dishes, both
savory and sweet.

I took a cooking class at
Trattoria Risorgimento in
Trieso, and the chef featured
hazelnuts in both the main
course and the dessert. Both
were delicious, although I took
exception to the name of the
dessert: chocolate salami is a
hideous handle. I wondered if
perhaps it sounded better in
Italian, but “salame di ciocco-
lato” was just as bad.

However, as Shakespeare
said, “What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose by
any other name would smell
as sweet.” And the dessert
is unquestionably delicious
regardless of its moniker.

HAZELNUT-CRUSTED TROUT
WITH CHICKPEA SAUCE
Serves 4
Chef Goele used local-
ly-sourced salmon trout for
this dish, but any mild fillet
would be fine here —flounder,
white trout, black or striped
bass, snapper, fluke, etc.

The sauce was a delicious
use of chickpeas and made for
a lovely, healthy accompani-
ment to the fish. It would be
wonderful as a dip, a topping
for vegetables or on chicken or
meat (if the latter, kosher diners
can eliminate the cheese).

However, the fish stands
perfectly well on its own, so
if a sauce is not desired, or
you don’t feel like cooking and
Hazelnut-crusted trout with chickpea sauce
20 NOVEMBER 18, 2021
pureeing the chickpeas, let the
fish go it alone.

For the sauce:
1½ cups dried chickpeas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
½ cup grated Parmesan
cheese Salt/pepper to taste
For the fish:
1½ pounds salmon trout
fillets 1 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup crushed hazelnuts
4 leaves sage, finely
chopped Salt/pepper to taste
1 stick butter, melted
For the sauce: Soak the
beans overnight or for 1 hour
in boiled water. Drain them,
and cover them with water.

Add the onion, and simmer for
about 90 minutes until the peas
are soft.

Puree the chickpeas, then
add salt, oil and cheese. If the
sauce is too thick, add some
broth or water. Set the sauce
aside and keep it warm in
preparation for garnishing the
fish. For the fish: Heat your
Photos by Keri White
JEWISH EXPONENT
Chocolate salami
oven to 325 degrees F. Mix the
1 cup dark chocolate chips
breadcrumbs, hazelnuts, sage,
5 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper in a shallow
⅓ cup milk
bowl. Dredge the trout in the
¼ cup cocoa powder
melted butter and then dredge
2 cups crushed plain
it in the breadcrumb mixture
cookies (such as social
to coat. Press gently to ensure
teas, digestive biscuits,
adherence. Place the fish in a
graham crackers)
parchment-lined pan and bake
⅔ cups crushed hazelnuts
it 15-20 minutes until done.

Plate the fillet with warm sauce
Melt the butter and choco-
on the side, and drizzle the late in a large bowl in your
sauce with a bit of olive oil, if microwave on 50% power.

desired. When melted, add the milk
and cocoa powder; stir until
CHOCOLATE SALAMI
smooth. Add the cookies and
nuts, and stir until coated.

Chef used ultra-pasteurized
Transfer the mixture onto
eggs in his version, which a parchment or wax paper
were uncooked. I still have an sheet, and roll it into a log,
aversion to consuming raw pressing firmly to remove all
eggs, even if they are ultra-pas- air pockets. Twist the ends,
teurized, so I have brazenly and refrigerate for 4 hours or
altered his recipe. In this overnight.

version, I omit the eggs and use
Peel off the paper, slice
milk along with dark choco- the log into discs, sprinkle
late. The results are excellent, them with powdered sugar, if
and there is no fear of illness.

desired, and serve. l
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



L ifestyle /C ulture
Susie Essman Talks ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
T E L EVISION
ANDREW LAPIN | JTA.ORG
ON THE WALL of Susie
Essman’s powder room hangs a
giant portrait of herself.

Actually, the portrait is of
Susie Green, Essman’s beloved,
foul-mouthed character on
“Curb Your Enthusiasm,”
HBO’s long-running improvi-
sational sitcom exploring the
social rules that govern all of
our lives, and especially those
of the 1%. It comes from an
episode in the show’s 10th
season, which aired in early
2020 just before the pandemic,
when the infamously misan-
thropic Larry David (the series
creator, who also stars as a
version of himself) has the
artwork commissioned as a gift
for his longtime frenemy.

In the episode, a series of
comic misunderstandings (of
which the “Curb” universe has
a bountiful supply) results in
Susie’s vaguely Kramer-esque
portrait being pelted with
tomatoes and chucked into
the trash. But in real life, an
intact painting exists. And
Essman, a longtime comic
actress and stand-up comedian
who has known David since
the 1980s and, like him, wears
her Jewishness proudly on her
sleeve, snapped it up for herself.

“It’s absolutely one of my
prized possessions,” Essman
said. The Susie painting has made
its way onto tons of bootleg
merchandise online, including
T-shirts and handbags —
“none of which I get a cut”
from, Essman notes. But in
“Curb”’s 11th season, currently
airing Sunday nights on
HBO, Essman says Susie will
get many more big moments
with Larry. For fans of one of
the Jewiest shows on TV, the
prospect of these two antag-
onists going at each other yet
again is a sign that there is still
some joy left in the world.

JTA spoke to Essman —
who noted she is a proud new
bubbe — about the show’s
longevity and Jewishness, as
well as her views on “cancel
culture” in comedy.

JTA: Between “Curb” and
Comedy Central’s “Broad
City,” you’ve really cornered
the market on —
Essman: Jewish mothers.

Where do you draw on your
portrayals from?
Well, I happen to be Jewish,
and I happen to be a mother.

And I’ve had mothers, and I’ve
had many friends, mothers and
aunts and uncles and grand-
mothers. And, you know, I
mean, Jewish mothers are like
all other mothers. Just a little
bit more so.

You’ve known Larry David
since the mid-80s. Young
people today are circulating
memes of him online and
drawing on the show to refer-
ence all kinds of things. Does
that kind of longevity, his and
the show’s, surprise you at all?
You know, I always say
that if we were hanging out
at the bar at “Catch a Rising
Star” in 1986, and I said to a
bunch of the comics hanging
out there that Larry David was
going to be richer and more
successful than any of us,
nobody would have believed
it. And not because he didn’t
have the talent. He always had
the talent. But he never really
seemed to care that much. He
didn’t seem that ambitious, you
know, and he was never one,
still, to pander. He always just
marched to his own drummer.

So yeah, it does surprise me.

Although even back then, we
all knew that he was a brilliant
genius. His writing was so
incredible. His stand-up bits
were so unusual and unlike
anybody else. So in that sense,
it doesn’t surprise me. But it
surprises me knowing Larry
as a person that he’s become so
successful. Do you see a broad range of
fans these days, not just Jews,
after 21 years?
It’s interesting because, you
know, I’ll be on the Upper West
Side of Manhattan at Zabar’s
and people will stop me and
See Curb, Page 26
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