I just bought 2 pounds of pecans from a friend who received them from a fresh source. I know of all kinds of regular things to do with pecans, but short of making more or bigger dishes that happen to have some pecans in them, what are good things to do with 2 lbs of pecans?
I should mention that I'm vegan, so veg-friendly suggestions particularly welcome.
I'm not sure why the rush. Pecans are not a cheap ingredient where I am, and I actually have to slow myself down from using too many.
A perhaps unusual preparation is to grind your pecans and coat whatever your main is with them as if the pecans were bread crumbs. This could be done with egg plant, for example.
As an omnivore I really enjoy fish coated with ground nuts.
One of my favorite ways to do green beans is to roast them under a broiler with onions and pecans until all ingredients are toasty and golden.
Pecan pie is one of my favorite desserts, and with a replacement for heavy cream my recipe could be made vegan. Google appears to agree that this is a definite option for vegans. Another excellent recipe if you can save your pecans for fall is a pumpkin pie base with a pecan pie topping. Oh. My. Goodness. So decadent. There are many options out there.
I rarely make cookies without pecans. In fact, my ideal cookie is pecans held together by cookie dough. I love pecans in muffins. They also taste good in quick breads - zucchini, banana, and many others. You can also grind the pecans and use them with white or whole wheat flour in a bread recipe.
feel free to edit this list
Also, freeze them in an airtight bag and they'll last for a long time.
This one is hard to answer because you said "I know of all kinds of regular things to do with pecans". I'm second guessing myself wondering if all the things I do are "regular" or not. :)
Seriously though- this shouldn't be a problem and I don't think you should try and waste them all at once just because you have them. As I'm sure you know, most recipes call for a relatively small amount. Pecans stay good frozen for a long time (I've done a year with no noticeable effects).
Stuff I do with Pecans but again they're all normal: Throw in some in cereal and yogurt, brownies, banana bread, pie (very infrequently! That's a bit rich) various salads chopped with a vinaigrette on cooked veggies, Any recipe that calls for walnuts as I never have them.
You can use pretty much any nut in pesto. It'll taste different, but pecan pesto probably wouldn't be bad.
You could try a sweet dish called charoset. Most recipes call for a cup or so of walnuts, but I always use pecans instead, and it comes out great.
One good thing about using freezing pecans is that after you freeze them, you can make pecan nut flour by tossing your pecans into the food processor. Freezing the pecans allows the nuts to not turn into pecan butter when you grind them.
With the pecan nut flour, you can substitute it in lots of baking recipes for a richer flavor. I've found it to be a great additive to vegan recipes to give pie crusts, cakes and cookies a more moist texture. Just replace 1/4 of your regular all purpose flour with the pecan flour.
You can make a great vegan cheesecake with Tofutti (homemade vegan cream cheese), using pecan nut flour in your crust, and topping with toasted pecans and maple syrup.
I'd recommend that until you use them, you may want to consider storing them in the fridge or freezer, since the oils can go rancid, causing an off taste. Particularly with two pounds of them, you may not use them up in time.
My wife makes Mexican Wedding Cookies, from 'The Joy of Vegan Baking'. These are very addictive. Besides the pecans, everything else is a basic pantry item (flour, sugar, vanilla extract, etc).
Fruitcake.
Okay, well, not exactly -- my mom makes what she calls "pecan whisky cake", which is essentially a fruitcake -- nuts, fruit (well, just sultanas aka. golden raisins) and bourbon. Then it's wrapped in cheesecloth and misted every few weeks with more bourbon over the course of 4 months.
(but I'd just toss 'em in the freezer, 2 lbs doesn't take up much space, assuming they're already shelled)
I have 2 big pecan trees in my garden, which supply endless amounts of pecans. So I have a similar "problem". And although pecans can stay tasty when stored in a dry place, they do loose their taste over time (~ after a year, although they're still good for cooking).
Basically, what I like to do with my pecans is just eat them raw (without toasting, without salt, without sugar, just open them up one by one and eat them). Fresh pecans don't need any additions as they taste incredible when fresh.
The fact that you have to peel them one by one, slows down the pace of eating, so by the time you've eaten 6-7 you're pretty full and tired of peeling :)
Also, I just bring a bag of them to work and watch my colleagues enjoy pecans. It's actually became similar to a "water cooler effect" where everybody just hangs around the pecans, eating them and talking while taking a break. Which is much better than eating waffles as we normally do when pecans are not around.