We used to call them Filberts here in Oregon, but we’ve knuckled under now to the name "hazelnut", their name everywhere outside the Willamette Valley.  However, the world knows no better hazelnuts than those grown here.  Our nuts are larger and more flavorful than those harvested in Turkey, Italy, Spain and Australia…the other regions where hazelnuts are a commercial crop.

Oregon harvests some 50,000 tons per year, which is 99% of the U.S. crop, but only about three percent of the world supply.  Our U.S. dominance apparently will be challenged shortly by Wisconsin orchardists, who planted a substantial number of hazelnut trees last year, following a study by that state’s agricultural authorities.  The 170 members of the Hazelnut Growers of Oregon cooperative have no trouble marketing their output.  A majority of the nuts are purchased by the baking and candy industries, but home use is increasing.  Processors produce hazelnuts in the shell, raw, toasted whole, chopped or sliced and ground into meal as a flour replacement in gourmet baked goods.

Oil providing new revenue

Recently, the production of hazelnut oil has gained Oregon favor.  After the nuts are pressed for their oil, the nut meal remains another valuable product.  Hazelnut oil is rich in both nutrients and flavor, but somewhat pricey.  It provides a superior salad dressing ingredient. 

Speaking of nut processing byproducts, Oregon processors have come up with uses for the shells.  They are slow burned to create tasty smoked products, and ground as the base for (you’d never guess!) cat litter.

You should know of the esteem a Greek physician, Dioscondes, bestowed on hazelnuts.  He touted them as a cure for both baldness and the common cold!

Oregon kitchens are a stage for many uses of hazelnuts beyond the European-born tradition of using them in candy, on sweet rolls and as a cake topping.  Coarse ground or finely chopped hazelnuts make a wonderful coating for fish or poultry to be roasted or sauteed.  Try the following enhancement for trout, a bland fish that needs the help:

  Hazelnut Crusted Trout

 ¾ cup chopped or coarse ground Hazelnuts  ½ cup Bread Crumbs
 3 tbsp. chopped fresh Parsley    2 tbsp. Lemon Juice
 1 tbsp. Lemon Zest (peel)    ¼ lb. unsalted Butter
 Salt & Pepper to taste     2 large Trout
 1 tsp. dry Oregano     3 tbsp. Olive Oil

Mix Bread Crumbs, ½ cup Hazelnuts, Oregano, then add 2 tbsp. Parsley, set aside.  Preheat oven to 350.  Foil-line a baking pan.  Meanwhile, brush skin side of boned, open trout with Oil, turn over and sprinkle flesh side with Salt & Pepper, then press Nut/Crumb/Parlsey/Oregano mixture firmly into flesh side.lay boned trout skin side down and open.  Heat Oil in non-stick frying pan until hot, quickly saute’ opened trout (1 ½ min.) on flesh side.  Transfer Trout, flesh side up, to baking pan, set aside.  Melt Butter in pan used for Trout, allow to brown. Add remainder of Nut mixture, remaining Parsley, Lemon Juice and remainder of Nuts and stir to combine.  Place opened Trout on baking pan, bake in heated oven for 1 ½  minutes.  Remove from oven, transfer fish to warmed platter, drizzle butter sauce in pan over fish, sprinkle with Lemon Zest and serve.

We heartily recommend hazelnuts as a salad ingredient.  Coarsely chop whole raw nut meats, toast in a preheated, 300 oven for 7 minutes.  Meanwhile, blend ¼ cup finely chopped Shallots, 3 tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar, 2 tsp. dry Marjoram, 1 minced clove Garlic, 1 tbsp. Dijon Mustard and 7 tbsp. of Hazelnut Oil.  Add toasted nuts to your greens, toss with the Dressing.

Toasted, chopped hazelnuts are a tasty way to garnish a plate of gently blanched green beans.  Mix the nuts into some melted butter and pour the mixture over the vegetables.  This same form of hazelnuts adds tasty texture to Carbonara or Alfredo pasta sauces. 
 
Our Texas gourmet pen pal, W.C. Mabe, graces this space with a pair of "ways to stave off the winter chill."  Her Fish Chowder is simple and satisfying:

  4 Ling Cod fillets (1 ½ -2 lbs.) 4 slices chopped smoky Bacon
  1 large Onion, chopped  4 chopped stalks Celery
  4 chopped Russet Potatoes  12 oz. evaporated Milk
  12 oz. Chicken Stock   fresh Parsley

 Saute’ Bacon ‘til it just begins to brown, stir in Onion and cook 5 minutes more,  then add Celery, Potatoes and Chicken Stock.  Add enough water to cover the  potatoes by a half inch, salt & pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, turn down to  simmer uncovered until potatoes are cooked very well and water has reduced to  well below the top of the potatoes.  Be sure to stir often.  When the water has  cooked away to about a cup or so, add the can of milk.  Bring back to a boil and  lay the fish filets atop the chowder, reduce to a simmer and cover.  Cook slowly  for 5 minutes more.  Right before serving take a spoon and break the filets into  large chunks and stir them into the chowder.  Garnish with chopped Parsley and
 lots of fresh ground black Pepper.

    Oysters Augratin w/Fettucini
 
1 pint fresh shucked Oysters  4 slices toasted French Bread
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese ½ cup softened Butter
2 chopped cloves Garlic  3 fresh Basil leaves
cooked Fettucini pasta
 
 Heavily butter an 11/7" baking dish.  Heat oven to 450.  Process French Bread  with Parmesan in a food processor, remove and set aside.  Process Butter, Garlic and Basil until well blended.  Put the Oysters in the dish, top with Bread cumbs.   Melt a couple tablespoons of butter mixture and drizzle over the Oysters.  Bake  for 15 minutes or until Bread crumbs start to brown.  Serve over cooked Pasta.

Pot Lickin’s…check out the web site Stained Apron to view customers from the waitperson’s point of view, and enjoy some amusing dining anecdotes…insist your wine purveyor find you some 100% Cabernet Franc, one of the planet’s best kept red wine varietal secrets…have you tried the new green version of Tabasco, made with Jalapeno peppers and slightly milder than the original?…if you don’t soak your fryer parts overnight in buttermilk before frying, then you don’t know the ultimate in that staple food of the deep south.

(C) 2002 Oregon Magazine