Cooking with nuts is an easy way to add richness and depth (as well as a satisfying crunch) to any dish, making it no surprise that nuts figure so heavily in holiday recipes.

Many home chefs balk at the idea of removing almond skins in order to blanch almonds, but chef Aaron Joseph Bear Robe, of recently-closed Parkdale hotspot Keriwa Cafe, assures us that the process is as simple as blanching a vegetable, and incredibly worthwhile. When asked what dish he most likes to include blanched almonds in, the chef replies "everything," with a laugh, and goes on to describe the nuts chopped in a kale sauté, or spiced and made into a crumble over roasted yams.

To easily blanch and peel almonds, chef Robe first drops almonds into a pot of boiling water. After a few minutes, the skin should peel away easily when tested. He then strains the almonds, lets them cool a bit, and begins to peel the lot of them. He recommends extra hands for this part of the task in particular, since peeling almonds one by one can be time consuming.

Once peeled, the almonds can be eaten as is, added to a recipe, or lightly toasted on a tray in the oven to deepen their flavour and remove any leftover moisture. Robe recommends keeping blanched almonds in the fridge, and using them within a few days of being peeled. 

Every week, we reveal a quick kitchen tip from a Toronto chef to help make cooking at home a little bit easier. Chef Tip appears on Wednesdays.