Macadamia & Pine Nut “Ajo Blanco” w/ Summer Squash
Ajo blanco is usually almonds, and it’s usually a soup. This is neither. I wanted the same bones: bread, garlic, sherry vinegar, a lot of olive oil, but thick enough to pipe, and made with macadamia instead, which is fattier and sweeter.
The squash is shaved raw and stood up in ribbons around it, which sounds fussier than it is. Grapes are the traditional ajo blanco garnish, so they stay.
PREP TIME: 1 hour (plus chilling)
COOK TIME: 45 min (45 min to boil the macadamia nuts, 25 min for confit garlic to be done simultaneously)
Ingredients (4 servings, makes 2 rings)
Macadamia Ajo Blanco Cream:
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup olive oil (for the confit, this becomes your emulsion oil)
1 cup (135g) raw unsalted macadamia nuts (roasted works but boils for longer)
⅓ cup (50g) raw pine nuts
1-2 slices of sourdough, crusts removed
⅔ cup cold water, plus more to adjust
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
Shaved Squash:
2 medium yellow squash
2 medium green zucchini
Handful of green grapes, halved
flaky sea salt
Aleppo pepper
Sourdough toast for serving
Step 1: Macadamia Ajo Blanco Cream
Put the garlic cloves in a small pot with the olive oil. Set it over the lowest heat your stove will hold — you want the barest lazy bubble, never a fry. Cook 20-25 minutes until the cloves are completely soft and give no resistance to a knife tip. Cool in the oil. This is now garlic oil, and it’s doing double duty as your emulsion fat, so don’t pour it out.
Tear the sourdough into pieces, cover with cold water, and let it go completely soft. Squeeze it out hard in your hands. You want damp, not wet.
Cover the macadamias generously with water and bring to a bare simmer. If your nuts are roasted (mine were), this takes much longer than you’d expect — 45 minutes to an hour. They should be really soft, almost Mashable all the way through. Drain and discard the cooking water.
Into a high-speed blender: the drained macadamias, the raw pine nuts, the squeezed bread, the confit cloves, the cold water, sherry vinegar, and salt. Blend on high for a full 3-4 minutes. Blending everything while it’s still hot is what gets you glass-smooth instead of grainy. It will look thin at this stage. That’s correct — the oil tightens it.
With the blender on medium, stream in the garlic confit oil in three stages, pausing between each to look at it. Stop the moment it turns glossy and thick. Macadamia is fatty enough that it goes greasy faster than almond would, so err on the side of less.
Push it through a fine mesh sieve, scraping the underside with a ladle.
Chill until fully cold. It stiffens considerably. Test it in a piping bag before you commit: it should hold a shape without cracking. Too stiff, beat in cold water a teaspoon at a time. Too loose, give it another hour.
Step 2: Shaved Squash
Shave the squash and zucchini lengthwise on a mandoline into long, thin ribbons.
Salt the yellow squash ribbons lightly and let them sit 5 minutes. They’ll release water. Blot them well — this is the difference between a composed plate and a puddle.
Blanch the zucchini for 15 seconds in boiling water, then strain and shock in an ice bath. This helps lock in that vibrant green color.
Step 3: Plating
Pipe the cream into the center of the plate in a ring mold.
Fold the ribbons of squash around the ring mold, alternating between yellow squash and green zucchini.
Tuck the halved grapes cut side up into the gaps between ribbons.
Scatter the toasted pine nuts and torn mint over everything.
Finish with flaky salt, aleppo pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil right before serving for that glossy finish.
Excellent spooned thick onto crunchy toasted sourdough, with the squash and grapes piled on top — gorgeous as an appetizer but sustaining enough for a meal. Enjoy!
