Macadamia milk-in a nutshell!

Last week my oldest friend- make that my most long-time friend- came to stay.  She is a vegan, so I was a bit scared as to how to feed her.  It all worked out happily; she is prepared to eat vegetarian if necessary, and Mr Pickings and I are very happy to leave meat out of our diet.  We were both vegetarians for many years in our youth, and still eat vego quite often.  In fact, Mr Pickings always chooses the vego option at restaurants.  I think he thinks it makes them work harder to invent delicious non-meat dishes!
Anyway, I thought it would be very appropriate to make a nut milk while she was here, as she only drinks oat milk or similar beverages.  We took her to the health store up the road, and bought a Spanish hazelnut milk which was absolutely delish.  She said she had never seen it before, and was going to hunt it down when she got back to (freezing cold) Melbourne.
This is a recipe from Al McLeod tv chef, he of the enticing Irish accent, and cute hobbit-like demeanour.  I don't think he likes any one saying that though!

Ingredients:

500g macadamias
400mls water
6-7 tbs extra water

Method:

Roast 150g of the macadamias at 160C for about 15 minutes till they smell delicious and look golden
Leave to cool down for a bit
Shove them (once cooled down) into a food processor or blender with the water and the other 350g of nuts
Whizz away till they form a thick soupy paste
Place the mixture into a container and leave in the fridge overnight
The next day, put it through a fine sieve, scraping the bottom of the sieve to gather the milk
You will be left with dried-out dregs in the sieve and a very thick milk in your bowl
Add the extra water till you get the consistency you require
Use as you would any nut milk/soy milk etc.

I have added a couple of spoonfuls to a pot of chilli for dinner (not while my vegan mate was here); it added a thick and nutty element which was very tasty.   I think I will try making an instant ice-cream with it too a la Nigella Lawson.

I started off with it in the blender but it just didn't seem to be mixing well enough so I poured it into the processor and whizzed away.  This gave a better result.  It really does taste nutty and creamy and healthy. Serve it on cereal or porridge; try it in coffee, or make a delicious milkshake!

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