Marcus Carey’s On the Marc: Call him nutty,
but give him pecans with his salad anytime

I love nuts. But, judging by my rather eclectic choices in comedians, artists and some of my friends, you might get the wrong impression. I’m talking about those little nuggets of food picked from a shell and served in oh so many delicious ways.

My wife likes raw almonds. They are okay and I have read lots of reports on how good they are for you, but if I’m going to eat almonds I prefer to roll them around in a hot skillet for a few minutes and lightly toast them. I probably kill off some of the nutrients, but considering that I would probably not eat any of the nutrients if they weren’t toasted, I think it’s a fair compromise.

I’ve always had a special place on my list of favorite foods for peanuts, but there is one abuse to which they are often put which renders them inedible according to my tastes. I do not like boiled peanuts. Maybe I’ve never had the “good ones,” some might argue, but that’s OK. I’ve seen Andrew Zimmern proclaim raw entrails from slimy critters dug out of rotted vegetation to be “good ones” and have no interest in acquiring that taste either.

But the main reason for today’s article about nuts isn’t to hype the benefits of almonds or to reveal my love for the lowly peanut, it is to give a big public thanks to who ever invented that wonderful salad with all the weird leaves in it, things that look like flower petals, little dried cranberries, lightly tossed in dressing and hidden among all the greenery meaty chunks of pecans.

I would probably never sit out a bowl of pecans for a day of football. In fact, I can’t think of a time when I ever went to the store thinking, “Gee, we’re out of pecans.” But when I sit down in a restaurant and see one of those salads on the menu with maybe pine nuts, mandarin oranges and crumbled blue cheese, I am often tempted. But if the list of ingredients includes pecans, slam the menu grandpa, the searching is done.

I’ve seen pecans in those wooden bowls at Christmas, filled with Brazil nuts and a mixture of other tough shells which always inspires people to grab those chrome little cracking tools and a knurled nut pick and try their best to get a nugget of goodness to enjoy before dinner. What usually happens instead is that frustration, a blood blister and a cuss word or two usually come out before the nut does.

But when it comes to pecans, the shell usually cracks easier than the rest and the meat is right there where it needs to be. Perhaps some early experience with those wooden bowls of rock hard evil things gave me an appreciation for pecans, but nothing did it like the first time I had them in a salad.

I admit, I like good food. It doesn’t have to be the expensive kind, or served with a trail of waiters in tuxedos carrying every dish on a separate tray, just give me something that tastes good and doesn’t come from the guts of a jungle dwelling bat like creature and I’m a happy boy. But if you really want to get me smiling, serve up a fresh salad with all the sweetness and crispy goodness of the one I mentioned above, toss in some pecans and I promise, I won’t be offended if you call me nutty.

Marcus Carey is a Northern Kentucky lawyer with 32 years experience. He is also a farmer, talk radio host and public speaker who loves history and politics. He is a prolific and accomplished writer whose blog, BluegrassBulletin.com is “dedicated to honest and respectful comment on the political and cultural issues of our time.” He writes a daily commentary for KyForward.