Hazelnut

  Hazelnut sherry zabaglione Total time: About 15 minutes Servings: 2 4 egg yolks 6 tablespoons sugar, more or less as desired 1/4 cup dry sherry, preferably oloroso 1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur 1. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until combined and frothy. Whisk in the sherry and the hazelnut liqueur. 2. Set the bowl over a large pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

Looking for a winning rugelach recipe? Former Test Kitchen director Donna Deane came up with these for a holiday story we ran a few years ago. And we still haven't been able to forget them.... Her recipe makes the most wonderfully flaky pastry dough, which you can wrap around your choice of fillings, including chocolate-hazelnut, cherry-almond and apricot. Tempted yet? The festive cookies are one of the favorite holiday cookie recipes we've collected in our updated "Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookies" e-book.

  NOTE: Master Class columns are intended for ambitious home cooks, and some of the recipes may call for special ingredients or equipment. When that is the case, we will provide an alternative method for the main element of the dish so it can be prepared even without this ingredient or equipment. Lemon hazelnut vinaigrette Total time: 10 minutes Servings: This makes 1¼ cups vinaigrette Note: This recipe requires xanthan gum, as well as a fine mesh strainer.

A mixture of ground nuts -- such as hazelnut and almonds -- sugar and liquid (egg whites and perhaps a liqueur), nut pastes are frequently added to baked cakes, tarts and pastries for added richness and flavor. Although prepared almond and hazelnut pastes (and marzipan, a sweetened almond paste) can be found at many gourmet markets and specialty stores, they can easily be made at home. Continue reading below for recipes for homemade pastes, including the hazelnut paste we used when adapting Valerie Confections' hazelnut-orange tea cakes , pictured at left, for our Culinary SOS column (they take a little time, but these amazing little cakes are well worth the effort!

  Total time: 1½ hours plus cooling time for the cake Servings: 12 to 16 Note: This recipe calls for a 10-inch angel food cake pan (preferably a pan with a removable insert). Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 2 cups (8 ounces)

  Total time: 20 minutes Servings: 4 Note: If good strawberries aren't available, substitute bananas or other seasonal fruit. 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup whole milk 1 cup rolled oats (not quick-cook) 2 cups water 1/4 teaspoon vanilla Pinch of sugar, unless using store-bought Nutella Pinch of salt 1/3 cup hazelnut-chocolate spread (or Nutella) 1/2 cup hulled, sliced strawberries 1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skins removed, coarsely chopped or broken up 4 teaspoons shaved dark chocolate 1. In a blender, in a food processor or by hand, whip the cream until it begins to thicken.

A mixture of ground nuts -- such as hazelnut and almonds -- sugar and liquid (egg whites and perhaps a liqueur), nut pastes are frequently added to baked cakes, tarts and pastries for added richness and flavor. Although prepared almond and hazelnut pastes (and marzipan, a sweetened almond paste) can be found at many gourmet markets and specialty stores, they can easily be made at home. Continue reading below for recipes for homemade pastes, including the hazelnut paste we used when adapting Valerie Confections' hazelnut-orange tea cakes , pictured at left, for our Culinary SOS column (they take a little time, but these amazing little cakes are well worth the effort!

  Dear SOS: The hazelnut red pepper pesto that accompanies the salmon at Thyme restaurant in Santa Monica is addictive. I've made a lot of pestos, but this is different than anything I've tasted ? tangy and, well, just scrumptious! Anything you can do to bring this delicious pesto into our homes? Aline Smithson Los Angeles Dear Aline: Roasted red peppers are a perfect smoky base for this rustic sauce, brightened with a little lemon and dotted with fresh chopped chives.

Looking for a winning rugelach recipe? Former Test Kitchen director Donna Deane came up with these for a holiday story we ran a few years ago. And we still haven't been able to forget them.... Her recipe makes the most wonderfully flaky pastry dough, which you can wrap around your choice of fillings, including chocolate-hazelnut, cherry-almond and apricot. Tempted yet? The festive cookies are one of the favorite holiday cookie recipes we've collected in our updated "Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookies" e-book.

For some reason, people feel compelled to make lists this time of year. Christmas wish lists. Top 10 films of the year. Best new restaurants. Weirdest websites. Things that occurred to us while we waited for the light to change. New Year's resolutions. We at the Food section aren't immune, which is why we're happy to present our annual Best Recipes List. Each of the hundreds of recipes we publish annually is tested in The Times' kitchen. They come from chefs well-known and obscure, from our staff writers and far-flung contributors, from new cookbooks we're reviewing and from historical archives.

When you come across a recipe that calls for peeled hazelnuts, have no fear. You don't need to spend the better part of the afternoon whittling away at each one to remove those stubborn skins. Roast the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet for about 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven. When the skins have darkened and the nuts are fragrant, place the nuts on a large kitchen towel that you've dampened slightly. Rub the skins off of the hazelnuts using the towel. The steam from the nuts will loosen the skins, and they should crumble off easily.

Tony Millionaire spends his nights in the garage. That's where you'll find him, in a space built just wide enough for a Model T, bent over his drawing table until 4 a.m., a beer never far from his fingertips. The wife and kids can hear him in there, listening to talk radio or laughing and shouting, with the occasional crash when things are not going well. He is happy this way, a cartoonist left to his own whims and solitude at his 1926 home in Pasadena, drawing his weekly "Maakies" comic strip about a hard-drinking, suicidal crow or his ongoing series of portraits of the famous and infamous for publications such as the Believer and New York Magazine.

Total time: 40 minutes Servings: Makes 18 to 20 clusters Note: Cooking sugar to make these nuts is hot and can be dangerous, so take care. The sugar also hardens quickly, so you will have to work fast. You will have more nuts than you need to serve with the cake. Serve them as part of a candy selection, snack on them or chop them up and serve them atop gelato. The candies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to one week. Nonstick cooking spray 3/4 cup peeled hazelnuts 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup water Tempered dark chocolate 1. Line two baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper and have a rubber spatula and cooking spray nearby.

  Grilled Russian kale with yogurt dressing and toasted hazelnuts Total time: 25 minutes Servings: 4 Note: Adapted from Travis Lett of Gjelina. Lett suggests Russian kale from Coleman Farm or Flora Bella Farm. Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here.

  Total time: 1½ hours plus cooling time for the cake Servings: 12 to 16 Note: This recipe calls for a 10-inch angel food cake pan (preferably a pan with a removable insert). Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 2 cups (8 ounces)

  NOTE: Master Class columns are intended for ambitious home cooks, and some of the recipes may call for special ingredients or equipment. When that is the case, we will provide an alternative method for the main element of the dish so it can be prepared even without this ingredient or equipment. Lemon hazelnut vinaigrette Total time: 10 minutes Servings: This makes 1¼ cups vinaigrette Note: This recipe requires xanthan gum, as well as a fine mesh strainer.

Cookie recipe: A recipe in the Feb. 11 Food section for hazelnut-chocolate Linzer cookies did not include a step for adding the ground hazelnuts. They should be added to the cookie dough along with the flours.

Dear SOS: My mouth waters thinking about La Mort au Chocolat served at Les Anges and I've got to have the recipe no matter what. Can you help? --DONNA Dear Donna: The recipe, which we regard as a Food Section treasure, is safely guarded in our file and ready for circulation upon request. Thanks for asking. You will see at a glance that the project could literally mean la mort au chocolat for the timid.

  NOTE: Master Class columns are intended for ambitious home cooks, and some of the recipes may call for special ingredients or equipment. When that is the case, we will provide an alternative method for the main element of the dish so it can be prepared even without this ingredient or equipment. Meyer lemon-cured salmon with spring vegetables Total time: 1 hour, plus overnight curing and tempering times Servings: 4 Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try any of chef Thomas Keller's recipes for the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, please share your photos of the finished dish so we can showcase them on our food blog and occasionally in print.

I've always loved Passover, ever since I was a little girl. Long before I understood it as the Festival of Freedom that celebrates the ancient Israelites' exodus from slavery in Egypt, to me it was the holiday of difference. Indeed, it was — and still is — a time to join together for a ritual meal called a Seder, at which we ask ourselves: "Why is this night different from all other nights?" One answer could be: because everything tastes like matzo. But that doesn't have to be true.