THE BEGINNING

Once I had a big box designed to hold recipes, with categories already assigned like meat, poultry, pastry, etc. As I collected recipes torn from magazines or begged from friends, I stuck them in the box in the appropriate category until the box so bulged with shreds of paper that it could hold no more and I still couldn't find that recipe for bloody marys that was essential to my coming brunch. So on a whim, I decided to copy out one category, like soup, to relieve the pressure. Although it took a while to type all those soup recipes, I was pleased with the result and continued on to other categories until many months later, the box was, voila, empty. Assembling all those typed pages led to my first two homemade cookbooks, "Phil's Favorite Food, Volumes I and II," which I gave as Christmas gifts to a very few friends. Over the years since, I've continued to collect recipes and created two more cookbooks, "Phil's Blue Plate Special Cookbook" and just recently, "Phil's Brunch Cookbook." Many of my friends have asked for numerous recipes from these efforts and even asked to buy one or more of the cookbooks. Making them in quantity is just not practical (and would be far too expensive) so I decided to create this blog where I can share recipes of general interest, like meatloaf, one of my favorite foods. I'll post here several times a week, or whenever I feel like it, depending on how popular the blog becomes. And I'll give hints about the preparation or describe how I got the recipe, whatever I think might be interesting or helpful. So here's the first recipe.

Bar Nuts

These are great nuts to serve with cocktails. They're easy to make and everyone goes crazy for them. I've probably shared this recipe more than any other. And I sometimes take it for a hostess gift. I usually make a quadruple recipe. The recipe was adapted from the Union Square Cafe in New York City.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put 1 1/2 cups each shelled unsalted cashews, pecans and walnuts onto a large baking sheet and toast them in the oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss with 6 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves, 1 to 2 teaspoons of cayenne (the hot stuff; use it to your taste but no more than the 2 teaspoons), 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of coarse salt (like Kosher) and 3 tablespoons of melted butter.

While the nuts are becoming golden, I toss together the rosemary, the salt, brown sugar and cayenne, mixing the ingredients with my fingers. Then I add the nuts and pour the melted butter over them. Toss thoroughly.