Revisiting the index card of fatherly wisdom

I read a good "personal history" essay by Yiyun Li ("Make My House Your Inn") in one of my hand-me-down issues of the New Yorker. It's a pretty sad piece, reminiscing about her father, who was a tight-lipped Chinese nuclear physicist, so the author didn't know all that much about him. One of the few stories her father told her about his early life was accompanied by his advice to "Always be kind to people. We don't often know what could make a difference to another person's life." From that advice, Li drew two principles she adopted as her default mode: "Be kind. Keep smiling." Reading that brought a smile to my own face, as it is remarkably similar to the sum total of the fatherly wisdom that I conveyed to each of you when you left for college.

*********

Since we went all out on Christmas Eve dinner with everyone's favorite homemade Potato Gnocchi, we went relatively low-key on Christmas day, with a few appetizers, including Pão de Queijo and these roasted dates and almonds, and a Queen of Sheba torte for dessert. I tore this "recipe" ("more what you'd call guidelines") out of the November 2019 issue of bon appétit magazine that we received as part of Dylan's bounty and finally got around to making it this week. Now I'm sorry I waited so long. For about 7 minutes' work, this is a "fantastic" appetizer, to use Brad's description (which is as close to "heavenly" as Brad gets in his praise, I think).

Roasted Dates and Almonds

Adapted from Carla Lalli Music via bon appétit (June 2016 & Nov. 2019)

Time: ~35 minutes (7 minutes active)

You can use regular crushed red pepper flakes for more heat, or something milder but more flavorful like Aleppo or Marash chili pepper flakes, which is what I used. You can substitute thyme sprigs for the rosemary, or leave them out if you don’t have any (same for the orange zest).

120 grams (1 cup) raw almonds

6 to 8 Medjool dates

extra-virgin olive oil

Diamond Crystal kosher salt or flaky sea salt like Maldon

chili pepper flakes, to taste (see note)

wide strips of orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler not a Microplane

rosemary sprigs

a good loaf of crusty bread

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven; heat to 300 degrees.

    2. Place the almonds in a small (8- or 9-inch), ovenproof (cast iron or stainless steel) skillet. Pit the dates and tear them into chunky pieces; add to the skillet. Pour in enough oil to very generously coat the almonds and dates (you want lots of flavorful oil to dip your bread in later). Shower with salt and chili pepper flakes. Add the orange zest and rosemary sprigs, then stir everything together.

    3. Roast, stirring once or twice, until the almonds are deep golden brown, the dates are chewy and caramelized, and the orange zest has curled and started to crisp around the edges, about 30 minutes.

    4. Sprinkle with more salt to taste. Serve promptly, right in the skillet (watch the hot handle), spooning some of everything onto little plates, with the crusty bread for dipping. Serves 4 to 6 as an appetizer.