Seventy percent alcohol, 140% proof, a little goes a long way when it comes to a tipple of traditional Italian Nocino (Walnut Liqueur)!
Best made under the full moon of San Giovanni (June 24), Nocino is the nifty waste-not-want-not Italian solution to utilizing a backyard walnut tree - though just before the nuts fully ripen.
An intriguing invitation came in the e-mail a couple weeks back for a first (hopefully) annual Nocino party here in Petaluma, CA. "Bring Jar(s), equivalent amount of vodka, a Julia Child dish to share and a sense of humor!" said the jaunty note.
"No Julia, no entry." Now that was the line that separated the serious foodies from friends who have issues with spatulas, butter and a phobia for anything involving the ardent Ms. Child's labor of love.
The night before the big walnut bash it appeared that an Arctic front had fallen prey on Petaluma, blanketing the valley with a thick, coastal layer of misty, cold fog.
"Bring a coat," instructed our optimistic hostess with a fire pit for back up, a truckload of mason jars, outdoor big screen and black and white movies.
The show went on and dreary late-June weather subsided into a remarkably still, reasonably warm(ish) Sonoma County summer's night, made all the more manageable with crackling logs on a perky, square, portable fire pit and a taste-test or two of last year's trial nocino sampler.
Arriving late from a prior commitment, I'd missed the initial magnificent line up of pot-luck Julia dishes, but plentiful platters offered up an incredible array of stuffed mushrooms, Bouillabasse, Crepes with gruyere, mushrooms and Buerre sauce, oysters and French cheeses, not to mention the most outrageous chocolate mousse and my impossibly dense interpretation of Child's decadent Queen of Sheba Chocolate Cake.
Wine flowed as fully-feasted nocino makers settled under the sprawling, freshly picked walnut tree for talk of summer camping trips, even more inventive cook-offs -trading tales of cultural journeys to this particular spot on this particular evening.
Hats off to the hostess whose birthday it is in a few days. With two little kids to juggle on an extended solo-stint at parenting (Coast Guard induced) she is without a shadow of doubt, the most outstanding bon-vivant in a bountiful region of competitive home (and pro) cooks. If Julia Child were alive and kicking and had happened upon this little moon-lit party in a backyard in Petaluma, she would have whooped with the sheer pleasure of it all.
Fancy your hand at a batch of backyard Nocino? Here's a recipe for what you'll need to do:
Gather:
- 1 1/2 liters of vodka
- 30 shelled nuts (greenish - not quite ripe)
- 3 cups of fine sugar
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 10 cloves
- l pint water
- The rind of a Meyer lemon, cut into strips
- Mason Jar(s)
Once the nuts have fully steeped take a taste of your nocino. If it's way too strong for your taste dilute with spring water. Line a funnel with filter paper and strain the nocino into bottles. Cork and age it for six months or more in a cool dark place.
Mel's Nocino recipe is her own private treasure and I've not attempted to replicate it too closely here. Check out her blog A Mouse in the Pantry for at some point when she has finished clearing up her backyard (toddler on hip), I am sure she'll post on the grand Nocino night herself!
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