Tomato bruschetta with Parmesan cheese and dried kalamata olives #184

A good tasting bruschetta is a great go-to dish when you run out of ideas, usually you´ll even find some stuff left over in the fridge that will work which is exactly how this one was made. I had a few tomatoes, a piece of cheese, some salad, dried olives and luckily some fresh bread.

There are only two things that are a bit complicated about this dish, first if you haven´t boiled and peeled tomatoes before that could be a bit tricky if it is your first time and then the olives that I have dried in my oven, it will take a day or two so if you don´t want to spend that much time simply use some good chopped olives instead.

This is how the olives are made, it is also described in my recipe for Burnt cod with grated kalamata olives (link, new window).

The drying of olives is not difficult but it will take a few days, I use fresh Kalamata olives, that is only fermented olives which is way higher in taste and quality so see if you can get your hands on some of those in a good grocery store. Then I simply put them on a plate and let them dry in the oven on low heat (about 50°C / 120F). If you have a dehydrator I´m sure this will work fine to but since I don´t have one myself I really don´t know. This took me four days to dry but I only turned on the oven whenever I was at home and awake. 

Also the olives should not get dried all the way through but only enough to be able to be grated. What I did was to simply grate an olive now and then until they were dry enough. Also if I forgot to mention it, the taste is simply amazing.

Now on with this recipe, and remember get great tomatoes, tasteless ones will give a tasteless dish.

Tomato bruschetta with Parmesan cheese and dried kalamata olives

tomatoes, small

fresh basil

olive oil

dried kalamata olives

a few leafs of salad, arugula or similar

balsamic vinegar

salt, pepper

Parmesan cheese

bread, white

Bring water to a boil and keep it boiling at the highest temperature, bring out a big bowl of ice cold water and add some ice to the water if you have it at hand. Cut a small cross at the tip of every tomato, add the tomatoes a few at a time to the boiling water. Let them cook for only a few seconds, once the skin of the tomato loosens immediately remove the tomato and cool them in the ice water. 

Repeat until all tomatoes are done. Then gently peel the tomatoes and put the in a oven proof tray, season them with a few leafs of chopped basil, olive oil, salt and pepper and let them dry out in the oven on low heat (about 100°C / 212 F), this will give the tomato a more intense flavor and infuse the oil and tomato with the basil.

Slice the bread and roast in a pan with olive oil, remove and place the salad on the toast, then the tomatoes and add some of the oil as well. Grate the Parmesan cheese and the olives on top, serve.

Salsiccia with cannelini beans and fresh basil #96

Salsiccia with cannelini beans and fresh basil

salsiccia
canned cannelini beans
basil
olive oil
salt, pepper
garlic

Fry the salsiccia in a pan on medium heat until cooked through. Remove the salsiccia and chop garlic and add to the pan, slowly roast the garlic in the fat that stays in the pan after it´s been fried. When the garlic starts to brown add the canned beans and a few leafs of basil. Let the beans simmer for about ten minutes. Crush the beans with the backside of a spoon into a rough puré. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice the salsiccia and serve with the beans and a few extra leafs of basil and a few drops of olive oil. Good luck.

Caprese salad #95

For me this is one of the must have dishes for summer, with great tomatoes, high quality buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil you simply can´t go wrong. If you can´t get hold of buffalo mozzarella then I shouldn´t make this dish because it is so dependent on the cheese.

Also use different sizes and shapes of the tomatoes, this make the dish look better and it´s more fun to eat when the tomatoes varies in taste.

Caprese salad

tomatoes, different varieties
fresh basil
buffalo mozzarella
black pepper
salt
olive oil

Cut the tomatoes in different shapes, break the mozzarella into smaller pieces and combine with fresh basil leafs and the tomatoes. Season with salt, black pepper and olive oil. Serve immediately, if you need to make or prepare the salad ahead of time then keep each ingredient separate until serving, otherwise the salad loses it´s freshness and tends to get soggy. Good luck.

Lobster soup with basil cream # 81

This is a classic lobster soup, only served in small portions with some basil cream. I served it without any lobster meat but feel free to add some. Also for the soup you can replace lobster shells with most other seafood shells like shrimp or langoustine.

Lobster soup with basil cream

lobster shells
onion
carrot
tomato puré
bay leaf
garlic
thyme
water
white wine
cream
olive oil
salt, pepper

creme fraiche
basil
salt, pepper

Crush the shells, finely chop the vegetables and gently roast the shells with the vegetables for a few minutes in some olive oil, add wine, tomato puré, bay leaf, thyme and cover with water.

Simmer for about half an hour, turn of the heat and let the stock rest for another hour. Strain the stock and reduce until about half is left, add some cream and reduce until it starts to thicken. Season with salt and pepper.

Finely chop the basil and combine with the creme fraiche, season with salt and pepper.

Broccoli stems with soy & holy basil # 68

Broccoli stems with soy & holy basil

broccoli

japanese soy

honey

holy basil

chili oil

black pepper

fresh ginger

bonito powder (optional)

Cut a stem of a broccoli into a rectangular shape, peel the stalk and the slice it thin using a potato peeler. Combine equal amounts of japanese soy and honey, season with a little bit of bonito powder. 

Peel and cut the ginger into small dices and add to the soy and honey. Marinate the broccoli with a few drops of the soysauce for a few minutes, this will make the stems softer but it will still have a nice crunch.

Arrange the stems on a plate and pour over the soysauce, add black pepper and a few drops of chili oil 

and  holy basil.

Beans marinated with pesto # 28

Pestomarinated beans

Supersimple and works on it´s own or as a side to almost anything, and if you´re feeling lazy just buy some good pesto and precooked beans and mix. If not you´ll need the follwing.

Beans
Water
Chicken stock
Bay leaves
Thyme

Soak the beans in water overnight, discard the water next day and simmer in new water with chicken stock, bay leaves and thyme. When cooked strain the stock (this can be saved and used for soup bases) and season the beans with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Basil
Arugula
Pine nuts
Garlic
Parmesan
Olive oil
Salt, pepper

Blend it all, I use some arugula as well because with only basil I think it sometimes can be a bit to intense, and I also like the hint of pepper the arugula adds.