Simple Chopped Walnuts for Topping

Walnuts are one of those ingredients that look humble until you start paying attention to them. The nut is the wrinkled, brain-shaped seed of a walnut tree, and it has been eaten for a very long time across Persia, the Mediterranean and parts of Asia. Its oil is rich and slightly bitter, which is why a little goes a long way in a dish. When you chop walnuts yourself, you get to decide how fine they are, and that choice changes the whole experience. Fine crumbs melt into a porridge or a batter. Bigger pieces give you something to bite into on top of a salad.

The one thing I'd suggest is to chop them just before you need them. Walnuts hold a lot of natural oil, and once they are cut, more surface is exposed to air. That is when they start to taste a little paint-like and stale, especially if they have been sitting around for a week. If you are making a batch for the week ahead, keep the chopped pieces in a sealed jar in the fridge and give them a sniff before you use them. Whole walnuts keep better than chopped ones, so if you have the choice, buy them whole and chop as you go.

A quick tip from my own kitchen: toast them for a few minutes in a dry pan before you chop, and they will smell nutty and taste deeper. Let them cool first, or the chopping board gets sticky with oil. A cheap rocking knife works better than a food processor for this, because a processor can turn them to paste in a heartbeat if you look away.

For serving, walnuts love sweetness and sharpness together. They sit well on bitter greens with a squeeze of lemon, on a bowl of warm oats with a spoon of plain yoghurt, or stirred through a grain bowl with roasted vegetables. They also sit nicely next to fruit. If you want a bigger idea, try the Juicy Plum Salad with Toasted Walnuts or the Creamy Oat Bran Porridge with Prunes, where a sprinkle of chopped walnut does a lot of the work. For something warm and savoury, the Kale and Red Pepper Quinoa Bowl takes a handful of walnut pieces very happily.