After-Work Gourmet by Lisa Messinger

As kids fill their sacks with candy on Halloween, it's fun for adults to find novel ways to satisfy their own sweet tooth. Often, these moves are more sophisticated than just biting into miniature chocolate bars. What's least tricky for busy grown-ups, though, is when the treats are quick and easy, too.

Enter candied nuts. Instead of just popping the crunchy treats as devilish snacks, use them in innovative ways throughout a Halloween dinner party.

Start with a nut-filled orange sachet that is marked with each guest's name in black at each place setting.

An iceberg baby salad, inspired by one of the signature dishes of Blythe Beck of Dallas' Central 214 restaurant in the Hotel Palomar — who's currently starring on Oxygen's new TV series "The Naughty Kitchen with Chef Blythe Beck" — is a great start to the festivities. Sprinkle candied pecans, tomatoes and onions over halves of baby icebergs and top with a spicy bleu cheese dressing.

Giving your side dishes some spark is as easy as steaming or roasting your favorite fall vegetables and sprinkling your favorite candied nuts on top.

For the entree, add a surprise sweet crust to meat, poultry or fish by grinding one or a mixture of candied or butter toffee nuts into the coating.

Dessert can be as simple as selecting a high-quality convenience product and using it to the hilt. The praline almonds burst forth in Dreyer's Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Yogurt Blends Caramel Praline Crunch (known as Edy's brand east of the Rockies). It can be stuffed in between slices of store-bought pound cake or scooped atop shortcakes.

The Carrows chain of family restaurants serves an item called Dream Crepe Combos. To easily emulate, scoop the praline frozen yogurt into the center of a room-temperature buttermilk pancake and roll closed (these can even be thawed store-bought hotcakes). For any of the aforementioned treats, drizzle with hot fudge sauce, top with a dollop of whipped cream and a handful of chopped candied nuts.

ICEBERG BABIES WITH CANDIED PECANS

Dressing:

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1/8 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt, to taste

2 tablespoons bleu cheese

Salad:

1 head baby iceberg lettuce

2 tablespoons chopped candied pecans (see Note)

2 tablespoons diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons diced onions

Yields 2 servings.

In a small bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients, except for bleu cheese.

Add bleu cheese and gently stir. Set aside.

Cut head of baby lettuce in half and remove end. Place each half on a salad serving plate. Add pecans, tomatoes and onions. Pour dressing over lettuce and serve.

Note: Smoked pecans can be substituted.

— Adapted from Oxygen's "The Naughty Kitchen with Chef Blythe Beck."

BUTTER TOFFEE CASHEW-CRUSTED TROUT

Nonstick cooking spray

1/3 cup butter toffee cashews (see Note)

1 1/2 tablespoons plain dry bread crumbs

2 to 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 pound trout fillets with skin, rinsed and patted dry, cut into 4 servings

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 medium lemon, quartered

Yields 4 servings.

Put the upper oven rack about 7 inches from the heating element. Put the lower rack in the lowest position. Preheat the broiler. While it's outside of the oven, generously spray the rack of a broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a food processor, process the butter toffee cashews for 30 seconds, or until the nuts and their candied shells are finely ground. Transfer to a small bowl.

Stir in the bread crumbs and lemon zest.

Lay the fish on a large plate or cutting board. Brush the fish with the oil and sprinkle with the nut mixture. Using your fingertips, press the mixture so it adheres to the fish. Using a spatula, carefully transfer to the broiler rack.

With an oven mitt, place broiler rack on the upper oven rack for 1 minute, watching carefully until the nuts turn not more than golden brown. Carefully and quickly remove the fish to the lower rack. Broil for about 4 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, watching carefully so the nuts don't burn.

Serve with the lemon wedges to squeeze over the fish.

Note: Butter toffee peanuts or shelled pistachios (preferably raw and unsalted) can be substitutes. If using the pistachios, also add 1 tablespoon firmly packed snipped fresh parsley, 1/8 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. If using pistachios, add olive oil in place of canola oil. The pistachios will make the crust green.

— Adapted from "American Heart Association Healthy Family Meals" (Clarkson Potter, $35).

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "Cooks' Books" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM