The Depository

As our good friends MGDub and Laurel have moved away from Beantown on to bigger and better things, Adam and I have become the depository for their stash of leftover food. We're still working through the various frozen food items from MGDub, but we did polish off the delicious Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches she left behind. Laurel dropped off boxes upon boxes of food and pantry items last Saturday before she left town on Sunday. As much as I enjoyed the loot from MGDub, Laurel's stash was the motherload. We had a blast going through the edible remnants of Laurel's life here in Boston. Not much of a surprise, but Laurel's pantry was that of a master baker and a foodie. I inherited her entire pantry of baking supplies which included pounds of chocolate, bags of powdered sugar, a variety of nuts and even food coloring. I haven't even finished cataloging the lot of goods, but last weekend, Adam and I enjoyed wrapping up all of our random leftovers in her Vietnamese spring roll wrappers and I made a huge vat of curry. This morning, I used her collection of nuts to make brittle. For a decadent touch, I melted her dark chocolate to top off the already buttery brittle. I'm already missing MGDub and Laurel, but they're still very close to my heart and tummy as I work on methodically consume their food.

Brittle...in honor of Laurel's pantry

1.5 cups of assorted nuts
6 Tbs of salted butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda

1. Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish. Line the bottom of of the dish with parchment paper or a silpat. [I had to chisel my brittle out with a knife and hammer because I didn't line the dish.]
2. Scatter nuts in dish
3. Combine butter, sugar and water in a 2 quart pot. Dissolve sugar on medium heat.
4. Once sugar has dissolved, cover pot for 2 minutes.
5. Uncover pot and turn heat up to high and let the mixture cook [without stirring] until the mixture starts to turn golden brown.
6. Immediately remove pot from heat and stir in the baking soda and the vanilla.
7. Quickly pour the mixture over the nuts in the baking dish and spread the mixture over the nuts using a wooden spoon or spatula. Note: The mixture is viscous and may not spread across the entire dish. Just pack in any loose nuts on top of ths mixture if it doesn't spread.
8. Let the brittle cool to room temperature and then break the brittle into small bitesized pieces.
9. [Optional] Melt some chocolate in the microwave and quickly pour on top of brittle. Spread the chocolate over the brittle with a spatula and let cool.