For rich, nutty flavor, top your salad with Parmesan Pine Nut Crumble. It’s a great salad garnish and it’s addictive alone. Who needs crackers when there’s toasted pine nuts wrapped in melted cheese cooling on the counter? Wash it down with a glass of red wine, or white wine, or a dry martini. Heavenly. I make this crisp in big batches; otherwise, it’s gone by the time the salad is prepared. It can be baked in the oven, as described in this pasta salad recipe, or, for a quicker preparation, make it on the stove.
First, roughly chop about a cup of pine nuts.
Toss the chopped pine nuts in a non-stick pan over medium high heat.
When the pine nuts begin to brown, add a rounded cup of shredded or grated parmesan cheese to the pan, sprinkling it over the pine nuts in an even layer. Toss the ingredients together, maintaining a medium to medium high heat.
The nut-cheese mixture might take on the appearance of a bad batch of Rice Krispy treats. Don’t worry! Keep turning the mixture so that it browns but doesn’t burn.
Let the parmesan pine nut combination attain a nice brown color. When it cools, it will become crisp and crumbly.
Allow the parmesan pine nut crisp to cool completely before adding to a salad. It goes wonderfully on Pasta Salad with Bitter Greens, as shown above, or with red leaf lettuce, spinach, or arugula, tossed with a light coating of Pesto Pear Vinaigrette.