Lawrence Adrian - Pip & Nut the nut butter cookbook

Publishing Director: Sarah Lavelle Creative Director: Helen Lewis Design Concept: B&B Studio www.bandb-studio.co.uk Senior Designer: Nicola Ellis Assistant Designer: Gemma Hayden Editorial Assistant: Harriet Butt Photographer: Adrian Lawrence Food Stylist: Emily Kydd Prop Stylist: Luis Peral-Aranda Production Director: Vincent Smith Production Controller: Emily Noto First published in 2016 by Quadrille Publishing Limited Pentagon House 5254 Southwark Street London SE1 1UN www.quadrille.co.uk Quadrille is an imprint of Hardie Grant www.hardiegrant.com.au Text 2016 Pippa Murray Photography 2016 Adrian Lawrence The rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. eISBN: 978 178713 018 0 CONTENTS Hi! My names Pip and Im the founder of Pip & Nut. The observant readers amongst you may have guessed that Pip & Nut make nut butter. Not just any nut butter, mind.

Our nut butter is 100% natural, free of nasty things like palm oil and sugars, and tastes bloomin amazing. What started a few years ago as just a twinkle in my eye, a few bags of nuts and a pretty swish blender in my kitchen in North London, has grown into a brand that is now being stocked in lots of shops around the UK and Ireland, and has now given me the opportunity to write this recipe book. But what spurred me to start Pip & Nut? Well, it came about through my combined love of two things: running and nut butter. Bit random, I know, so let me explain the connection. I spend a large amount of my free time running, sometimes short runs, other times marathons, and I like eating nut butter as my post-run reward. Not only do I love the stuff, but the fact that it is high in protein means that its pretty good at giving me a bit more energy to help me run that little bit faster.

Or at least thats my excuse. However, when looking at the products available to me in supermarkets I noticed many had palm oils and sugars in there. Not being that happy about this, I decided it was time to bring something better to the table. Literally. I got my blender out, played around with different nuts and flavours and started taking my kitchen-table experiments to markets at weekends. Lots of samples and satisfied customers later, I decided to take the plunge and scale up to get the products to more people.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Whilst Pip & Nut is a company that sets out, first and foremost, to bring you delicious nut butter (youre welcome), the founding principles behind our company go a little bit deeper than that. Were big believers that food, and in particular healthy food, should never, ever be boring. You shouldnt feel like youve made a sacrifice by choosing a healthier option. Food should be a joy to make and then eat. Thats why Im super-proud of this book.

It stands for the fact that from a healthy product nut butter you can create incredibly tasty dishes. Some of these recipes you could say are pretty good, while others youd probably class as a bit naughty; but you can safely say that youll never describe them as bland. And yes, whilst nut butter as an ingredient is healthy its just nuts, after all there are a few key things I hope you notice when flicking through this book: that nut butter is really versatile and that you can have a lot of fun experimenting with it; that theres more to nut butter than just spreading some on a slice of plain white toast for breakfast; that actually you can pep up your morning smoothie before work, add it to your weekend baking or use it to give your evening meal a boost. So what are you waiting for? Get cracking (I had to get a nut pun in there somewhere. Itll be the only one I promise!).

ITS THE NUTS Its not often that nuts get attention.

Perhaps its because their more colourful friends fruit take all the limelight. But seeing as this is a nut butter cookbook, we didnt think we could start without giving you the low-down on nuts. So, bananas, mangoes, apples, raspberries: move aside. Its time to talk nuts.There are a lot of different types of nuts out there and also lots of nuts that are masquerading as seeds. Below youll find a run through of the key nuts that crop up in this book, a bit of information about the nutritional benefits behind them and a fact for you to share with your friends down the pub. Theyll be impressed.

Well, kind of.Without making things too complicated weve asterisked the ones that claim they are a nut but are actually a seed or legume!

ALMONDS Where are they grown? The fact that over 80% of the worlds almonds come from sunny California means theyre a pretty big deal out there. So big theyve got their very own association, Almond Board of California. Fancy! Almonds are harvested once a year in California, and if you ever want to go and see something really beautiful, then head to Cali in February to March, when youll see Sacramento covered in light pink and white blossoms, the first stage of the cycle of almond crops. Bees then get busy pollinating the trees to kick-start the growth of the crop. Six months later these almonds will be ready to be shaken from their trees and harvested. Whats so special about them? People get excited about almonds because they are packed with lots of minerals, like magnesium, and vitamins, like vitamin B2, which make your hair shiny and nails strong.

They also contain naturally high levels of protein. This, coupled with their popularity in almond oil and milk, makes them the UKs second favourite nut. Nice. Fact! 40% of the worlds almonds are bought by chocolate manufacturers surprised? Blame it on all those Valentines Day assortments.

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BRAZIL NUTS* Where are they grown? Funnily enough you can find Brazil nuts growing in Brazil. But Brazil isnt the worlds biggest producer of Brazil nuts that would be Bolivia, which produces about 50% of the worlds supply.

Bolivia nuts doesnt have quite the same ring to it though. Whats so special about them? Its no small feat to grow these nuts. They grow near the tops of 150-foot trees in hard casings similar to coconuts. Each case has 20 to 30 nuts snuggled inside, arranged like the segments of an orange. Brazil nut trees are quite particular, too. Fact! The cases fall off the trees when ripe, and are easily heavy enough to kill a person.

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CASHEW NUTS* Where are they grown? The cashew tree is native to Brazils Amazon rainforest.

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CASHEW NUTS*