Nuts 'n' Bolts

Click on the image here for Norval's parents' version of this which is only slightly different; I think Gary's is a modified version of that. So this is story by Gary, recipe by Norval's parents.

Gift-Giving Season: Give Out Homemade Bits 'n' Bites (Nuts And Bolts)

By Home Chef Gary Phillipe Brooks

A decade or two ago, discussions with friends often focused on real estate, even among those who weren’t currently in the market. These days, conversations tend toward downsizing and a smaller ecological footprint.

This trend can complicate gift giving when people repeatedly say they don’t want “any more stuff.”

Of course with family members and close friends, tickets and gift certificates remain popular choices. Tickets for Neptune, the Music Room, or Cecilia Concerts go down well with my friends; the latter are held in the Maritime Conservatory of Music’s Lilian Piercey Auditorium, which is a gem of a space with great acoustics that deserves to be better known. And restaurant gift certificates are certainly popular with members of my family — particularly if they come from DaMaurizio, Edna, or Stories at Haliburton House Inn.

But what do you do if you want to bring something to friends with whom you don’t usually exchange gifts? I’ve found that food you make yourself really fits the bill. People like the fact that it’s something you’ve made rather than bought, and it’s not so expensive as to be embarrassing if they don’t have anything to give in return. For the past decade or so, at this time of the year, we’ve been making ‘Nuts and Bolts’ and antipasto to bring to people’s houses.

There are numerous recipes for Nuts and Bolts, all variations on the same theme. It’s important to get the flavour right but, for me, perfectly satisfying Nuts and Bolts is chock full of nuts: roasted almonds, Brazil nuts (crucial), cashews, hazelnuts (also called filberts), and peanuts, all in abundance. As a result, really good Nuts and Bolts are not cheap to make, but, ah, such a satisfying snack.

In preparation for making this recipe, I usually take a trip to the Bulk Barn where you can get all the main ingredients you might not have in your own kitchen. And Dollarama usually has Christmas boxes shaped like houses that make great gift containers for the Nuts and Bolts.

Note: Although these snacks may taste bland when first prepared, the flavours develop over the first 24 hours; you can add more salt then if you want.

The exact proportions don’t seem to matter too much in this recipe, and there’s no problem about doubling the amounts if you want to.