Recipe: Pretzels with Mascarpone Honey Dip

Hideaki discovered a wonderful tsumami (drinking snack) recipe just in time for holiday indulging: pretzels with mascarpone honey dip. It's as simple as it is delicious, and the recipe—although it hardly needs one—can be found at the bottom of the post.

He found the recipe in a magazine I'd bought for him, a men's magazine called Pen, with a headline this month of "Otoko no Ryori Kyoshitsu" (Cooking School for Men), and I'd bought it hoping to inspire him to cook a bit more.

The same day I bought him the magazine we got a catalogue in the mail from Hiraki, a bargain-priced shoe company known especially for their 380 yen sneakers. Needless to say I'm a loyal customer so I immediately sat down to read the catalogue while Hideaki flipped through his new magazine.

Once he was done with the cooking feature, he was reminded of why he never buys men's magazines: the rest of the rag was full of ridiculous looking, overpriced clothes, accessories and gadgets. He was especially tickled by the trekking boots shown above (in the middle of the picture, next to the suitcases), which sell for 367,500 yen (just over $4200 Canadian). Now, I've heard that extremely high quality shoes can last a lifetime, and that some people are happy to pay thousands for hand made shoes, and I get that. But we find it hilarious that this magazine thinks there are people out there who consider it reasonable to pay four thousand dollars for shoes to wear while out in the wilderness, which is full of mud and dirt and jagged rocks and streams and such. Maybe there are a few, but more likely than not none of these shoes will ever trod on anything grittier than a Tokyo sidewalk.

Just for fun, we calculated that you could buy 185 pairs of similar looking shoes from Hiraki (or 2041 pairs of their cheapest 180 yen sneakers, shown above at top left). Which really sums up what I think of pricey designer goods: are they better than the cheap crap that regular people buy? Probably. 185 times better? Not a chance.

So back to the recipe. It didn't look especially promising to me, mostly because I thought I didn't like mascarpone cheese. It turns out that I simply don't like what mascarpone tends to be used for: gooey, sweet desserts. Not that this recipe isn't gooey and sweet, but it has the genius edition of salty and crunchy, thanks to the pretzels, and that really brings it to a different level. The magazine says it goes well with Belgian beer (by which I think they a mean dark and rich brew like Chimay) and it does indeed, although I prefer it with dessert wine (Sauternes would be perfect but the Peter Lehmann Botrytis Semillon that I picked up for about 2000 yen at Kaldi is nice too).

Just four ingredients are needed: mascarpone cheese, walnuts, honey, and pretzels. Mascarpone is fairly popular in Japan and can be found in most larger supermarkets and import shops like Seijo Ishii. The supermarket kind comes in a small container that is perfect for a generous serving for 2 to 4 people, the larger container found at Kaldi and Costco will make a few servings. Pretzels are a little harder to find, but Kaldi, import shops, or—if you don't mind buying a 6 pound bag—Costco should have them. Quantities aren't given in the recipe, as you can use whatever proportions suit you. I like lots of nuts and just a drizzle of honey, but you might want more or less of either.

Pretzels with Mascarpone Honey Dip

Walnuts, whole if possible
Mascarpone cheese
Honey
Pretzels

Toast walnuts: heat walnuts in a dry pan (not nonstick) on medium, stirring often, for a few minutes. When golden brown, remove from pan and let cool. Nuts can also be toasted in oven or microwave, click here for instructions. Toasting is optional so skip it if you're in a hurry, but it's worth doing.

When nuts have cooled, chop or crush them into small pieces. The funnest way to crush them is to find a heavy glass or small bowl that is comfortable to hold.

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With the walnuts in a flat-bottomed bowl, crush them with the bottom of the glass, giving the nuts a stir occasionally to ensure that they are crushed evenly. Stop when the nuts are about half a centimetre, or of whatever size you like.

Mix the mascarpone with the nuts. If I'm going to use up all the cheese at once I usually just do mix right in the mascarpone container (the Japanese supermarket type comes in the perfect size for this) but this time I'm only using half, so I'm mixing in a bowl.

When mixed, spoon it into a pretty bowl and drizzle with honey. Serve with pretzels.

Comments

[sooshi]

This looks so delicious, I'm going to try this! :)

[Cindy]

How about making Warm Spinach Mascarpone dip with the leftovers?

http://blogs.discovery.com/tlc-steamy-kitchen/2009/12/warm-spinach-mascarpone-dip.html

[hope chest]

I haven't tried mascarpone with honey. I just make the plain mascarpone dip for my dishes. Thanks for sharing! This is new!

[Margo]

*drool* ... I don't like marscapone either, but after reading this post, I will give it a try!

[jeffrey bonasia]

mascarpone with honey....hmmm.. I loved it... I also spreaded some Patan ghee on it and the taste was woowwwww....

[xbox 360 casque]

Looks like trying once! I recently got pineapple flavoured honey. I am eager to try this. Thanks for posting.

[AS]

That mascarpone looks delicious :9. Very simple to boot ^^. I wouldn't want to pay for such expensive shoes that are supposed to be for heavy outdoor use either lol. Just need to wear my skate shoes to get me through anywhere.

[S Lloyd]

I will try it.
Thanks for the post

[M]

Going to try this out at a football party tomorrow ^0^ Thanks!! Love your blog!

[Ms B.]

Come back! We miss you!

[Brooke]

I completely agree with you on the designer clothes! I don't see the point in paying £100 for a t-shirt that is thinner than the £15 ones from somewhere else, just because it's got a label. :)

Also, that dip looks lovely. I adore marscapone, and could quite happily eat it with a spoon out of the container!