Roasted red pepper & walnut dip with crostini #143

Dips are always appreciated and a great go to food for when you´re want something simple that easily can be eaten in front of the TV but don´t go for anything ready made.

Roasted red pepper & walnut dip with crostini

red peppers

vegetable oil

olive oil

garlic

walnuts

bread

parsley

salt, pepper

smoked paprika powder

Brush the red peppers with the vegetable oil and roast on high heat in the oven for about ten minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then de seed and peel the peppers. Blend the peppers with olive oil, walnuts, garlic and parsley until it´s a rough paste. Remove from the blender and season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika powder. 

Slice the bread and roast in a pan with a little bit of olive oil and salt. Add the pepper dip to the crostini and decorate with a walnut on each crostini.

Brussel sprouts with hazelnuts, lemon & butter #141

Brussel sprouts are a great vegetable as long as you won´t do what your grandmother did and boil the crap out of them for an hour or so. I got my hands on some purple brussel sprouts for this recipe, they have the same color as the normal ones but look so much better, especially if they are the main attraction for a dish. If you can´t find them then just use the normal green ones.

Brussel sprouts with hazelnuts, lemon & butter

brussel sprouts

lemon

butter

hazelnuts

salt, pepper

olive oil

Remove the skin from the hazelnuts if you haven´t bought peeled ones, all you need to do is boil them for a few seconds and then you can easily remove the skin which will crumble and go soft from the boiling. Then roast them with a little bit of salt and olive oil until golden.

Cut away leafs from the brussel sprouts until you have about a handful for each serving. Rinse in cold water. Cut lemons in half and fry in butter on medium temperature until golden, this will not only look good but also flavor the butter and give the lemon a little bit of sweeter taste. Serve one half lemon for each portion. Add a little bit of extra butter and turn up the heat after you removed the lemons. Add the brussel sprouts to the butter and fry for a few seconds. You want them to be warm but almost completely raw. This gives them a great texture and remove the raw cabbage taste.

Serve immediately with the lemon and hazelnuts, add the butter that is left in the pan on top of the brussel leafs. Good luck.

Grilled pear with brie & walnuts #127

This is a really great way to serve cheese, I used a fresh slice of pear and grilled it on high heat and then put the Brie cheese on top and let it slowly gratinate in the oven wich makes it taste so much more. The walnuts gives the dish some texture and saltiness that goes great with the cheese. if you think it get´s to rich you can add a few drops of a good vinegar.

Grilled pear with brie & walnuts

fresh pears, firm

walnuts

Brie cheese

parsley

olive oil

Slice the pear and brush it with olive oil. Grill the pear until it´s almost cooked through. Slice the Brie cheese and add a generous slice on top of the grilled pear and put it in the oven for about ten minutes or til the cheese starts to get golden.

Remove from the oven and put on a plate, add the walnuts and a few leafs of parsley and a few extra drops of olive oil.

Cauliflower cream with hazelnuts & truffle vinaigrette #103

This is a bit more of an elegant tapas, what I think makes it so good is the variety in textures and temperature when you are using both cooked, roasted and raw cauliflower. The cream can also be used as a great side for meats as well.

Cauliflower cream with hazelnuts & truffle vinaigrette

cauliflower
cream
peeled hazelnuts
truffle oil or truffles in oil
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper

Cauliflower cream
Break the cauliflower in smaller pieces and let simmer in water with some salt until cooked through. Strain the water and add a little bit of cream and blend until completely smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Raw and roasted cauliflower
Using a knife carefully cut away small pieces of cauliflower, soak them in cold water to keep them crunchy until serving. Then cut one bigger piece and roast it in a pan with olive oil until golden and almost cooked through.

Truffle vinaigrette and hazelnuts
Combine olive oil, truffle oil and some vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Roast the hazelnuts with a few drops of olive oil.

Serving
Arrange all ingredients on a plate, serve the cream and roasted cauliflower warm and the hazelnuts and vinaigrette at room temperature and the raw cauliflower cold.

Roasted pumpkin seeds with salt # 7

Having some pumpkin seeds stoved away in the cabinet is a great resource, especially when you run out of snacks and don´t feel like going to the store. Pan roasting the seeds with some salt make them really tasty and you can additional flavors if you like, why not some chili flakes or smoked salt. Consider this a basic recipe and roast more than you think you´ll need, any leftovers can be used for salads or maybe some other snack night.

Roasted pumpkin seeds with salt

Pumpkin seeds
Olive oil
Salt

Heat a pan and roast the pumpkin seeds for a few minutes, add a few drops of olive oil and season with salt.
These seeds is great served slightly warm but if you get some left over they are great for topping salads or soups.