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.

Porcini mushroom risotto with Parmesan & thyme #181

Porcini or cepe mushrooms are one of my absolute favorites and when the season is right you can find loads of them here in Sweden. Whenever I get my hands on fresh forest mushrooms I go with a classic recipe like pasta, risotto, a mushroom toast or serve them as a side for meat dishes but I almost always keep the additional flavors classic. This time that meant Parmesan cheese and thyme with mushrooms in a creamy risotto. 

Porcini mushroom risotto with Parmesan & thyme

arborio rice

fresh porcini mushrooms (the recipe of course works fine with other mushrooms as well)

garlic

shallot onion

dry white wine

olive oil

Parmesan cheese

fresh thyme

butter

chicken or vegetable stock

salt, pepper

Select the best looking mushrooms and set aside, these will be used for decoration later. Chop remaining mushrooms into cubes. Finely dice the garlic and shallot onion. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic to a pot or sautese with some olive oil. Cook the mix in the oil until it is soft on low heat, season with salt and pepper. Add the rice and let it cook for a few minutes then add a bit of white wine and let it reduce until almost dry.

Add the stock a little bit at the time and keep stirring while the rice cooks, when the rice is almost cooked through add grated Parmesan cheese, a few leafs of thyme and a bit of butter and set aside. Roast the sliced mushrooms in a pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir the risotto and season if necessary, if it get´s to dry add a bit of water. Add the risotto to a plate and the add the sliced fried mushrooms, shave some Parmesan on top and a more leafs of thyme. Serve!

Spinach salad with capers, Parmesan cheese and radishes #169

This is one of my absolute favorite salads, mostly because the first time I made it was using vegetables that I grew myself. After living in an apartment for years and not having the luxury of being blessed with a garden me and my family decided to move to a house in a smaller town. This blessed us with a garden and it was one of the first things I started working on (even though there were load of other more important things to do) and about a month or two later i pulled my first radishes and baby spinach out of the land and went for a treasure hunt in my fridge. 

I came across some left over capers and I always try to have some Parmesan at hand so I combined it all and dressed it with only olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. One of the greatest salads I´ve ever come up with. And it´s not only memories that make it great, I´ve done many times after using both home grown and bought ingredients and it great every time, so go make some!

Spinach salad with capers, Parmesan cheese and radishes

baby leaf spinach

radishes

Parmesan cheese

capers

olive oil

red wine vinegar

salt

pepper

Rinse the spinach and radishes, slice the radishes as thin as you can. Dress the spinach with olive oil and vinegar. Plate the spinach and put the sliced radishes on top. Shave some Parmesan on top and add the capers. Season with salt and pepper and add a few extra drops of olive oil.

Crostini with Parma ham, sun dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese #168

Easy to do, easy to enjoy, making crostini is a good way of serving great snacks that everyone will appreciate without spending the entire day in the kitchen. This is simply what it looks like, roasted slices of bread with Parma ham, good Italian sun dried tomatoes and some Parmesan cheese.

Crostini with Parma ham, sun dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese

baguette
Parma ham
Parmesan cheese
sun dried tomatoes
olive oil

Slice the baguette and roast the slices in olive oil until golden and crisp. Add Parma ham, a piece of tomato and grate some Parmesan on top. Serve!

Caesar salad #157

It´s time for a classic, few salads can beat a classic Caesar salad and it´s it works really good served as a starter or tapas dish. Usually I do it as a side dish to grilled meats during the summer but now it was time to let this classic get all the attention. Instead of croutons I used a fresh white bread and sliced it a thin as I could using a normal kitchen knife, then roasting it in a pan with a little bit of butter. This make the croutons a little less hard to chew on and I prefer them that way for this dish. Besides that just make the bacon crispy, get great cheese and romaine lettuce. I got my hands on some really small ones that was perfect for this serving size, if you can´t find small ones then get normal size and just cut them up in smaller pieces.

Caesar salad

romaine lettuce

Parmesan cheese

bacon

white bread

butter

Dressing

2 anchovy fillets

1 egg yolk

1 clove of garlic

1/2 cup neutral oil, I use rapeseed oil

lemon juice, salt, pepper

water

2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese 

Using a blender mix egg yolk, anchovy and garlic, then slowly add the oil until the dressing thickens. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, then add the Parmesan cheese. If the dressing gets to thick then thin it with a few drops of water.

Wash and cut the lettuce if necessary, slice the bread thin and roast until golden in a frying pan. Fry the bacon until it´s crisp. Combine the lettuce with the dressing and then arrange lettuce, crouton slices, bacon and some extra Parmesan cheese on a plate, serve. Good luck.

Super Bowl recipes! 10 great classics!

Almost time for Super Bowl and it´s time to make some great tasting stuff that goes great with football, this time I will focus on some in my opinion classics like burgers, chicken wings and ribs!

I´ve put together a list of my favourites and below each photo below there is a link to the recipe in case you´ll need it. Most dishes are simple classics so if you´re just looking for some inspiration then you´ll found the right place.

If you´re only looking for some great tasting snacks to enjoy during the game then check out my previous post: 10 great Super Bowl snacks!

OK here we go....

Sliders, who doesn´t love sliders? Serving sliders is a great idea since your guests won´t be too full not to be able to enjoy all the other great stuff you will be serving. I prefer the with classic toppings like lettuce, cheese and tomato.

Sliders!

Crab claws are great to serve since you won´t need to worry about serving them hot, this recipe with a classic aioli and some salt is all that you´ll need.

Crab claws with aioli and salt.

Grilled corn on the cob (how else would you grill them?) with a generous amount of butter, herbs and chili is a barbecue classic and fits great for the Super Bowl.

Grilled corn on the cob with chili and parsley.

A meatball sandwich with loads of Parmesan cheese can be wrong, either serve them like this or just serve bread on the side with the meatballs still in the sauce, this will keep the meatballs warm for longer and your guests can make their own sandwiches.

Meatball sandwich with Parmesan and herbs.

Well it´s salad time, don´t worry since these iceberg wedges are getting a good splash of dressing and some blue cheese on the side you will still like it.

Iceberg lettuce with blue cheese.

You didn´t think I would leave out the chicken wings did you?

Fried chicken wings with Sriracha sauce.

Or the ribs?

Ribs with lettuce and tomatillo and chipotle sauce.

Tortilla bread packed with ham and cheese are a great snack that is easy to prepare.

Tortilla bread with cheese and serrano ham.

I love fries, especially home made and if you try this recipe I´m sure you will to, besides what else are you serving up with those sliders?

French fries with truffle mayonnaise.

Last one, home made onion rings deep fried with Japanese Panko. Crunchy and great tasting.

Onion rings.

Carpaccio of beef with arugula and balsamic vinegar #149

Carpaccio is one of my favorite classics that I always tend to go back to in one way or the other. I´ve made a lot of different toppings but I always seems to be going back to the classics which in my case is plenty of good olive oil, arugula, Parmigginano-Reggiano and a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Carpaccio is said to have been invented in the fifties at Harrys Bar in Venice, Italy and according to Wikipedia it was usually served with lemon, olive oil, Parmesan and can be topped with arugula so I guess this is not to far from the original. Also if you´re not that into balsamic vinegar replace it with lemon as stated by Wikipedia since this is really good as well.

As for the meat I always use beef tenderloin, you can use other cuts as well but I prefer the tenderloin. If you like you can also sear the meat before slicing and serving to give it a bit of grilled flavor. There are two ways of slicing the meat, one you can do as I did and simply just slice it as thin as you can and lightly press it using the blade of the knife to get it a bit thinner.

In restaurants you usually prepare the meat and then freeze it and slice it frozen or semi-frozen on an electric slicer. This will give you the opportunity to serve it thinner sliced but since most people don´t have an good electric slicer at home you´ll have to settle for the hand cut version. Another technique is to cut a bit thicker piece and then place it between to sheets of plastic film and pound it with a flat meat tenderizer. This is quite time consuming and you have to have a very stable surface to pound on to get a good result.

Although my recipe is quite classic the term Carpaccio has during the last ten to twenty years transformed into meaning more the technique of serving something very thinly sliced than the actual dish of sliced meat. So when you read Carpaccio on a menu next time it´s not a wild guess that it might be followed by something other than beef tenderloin. If you have been following my blog you might have seen that I do like this technique for other stuff just as everybody else, if not check out my other Carpaccios using the links below.

Cod carpaccio with capers and red onion
Tuna carpaccio with capers and cress
Beet carpaccio with deep fried capers and arugula

Alright, lots of talk on carpaccio, on with the recipe!

Carpaccio of beef with arugula and balsamic vinegar

fresh beef tenderloin
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Parmesan cheese (Parmiggiano-Reggiano)
arugula
salt
pepper

Trim off any excess meat of the tenderloin and slice it as thin as you can using a sharp knife, you can make the slices a bit thinner if you use the blade of the knife and press each slice a little bit extra. Put the slices directly on the plate you´re serving on and add olive oil and the vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and then add the arugula and grate an generous amount of Parmesan on top. Good luck!

New Years recipe ideas for meat lovers

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is part five in this series and for this post I will focus on all you meatlovers out there.

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

New Years menu for meat lovers

Appetizers - for the appetizer we have some seared beef, duck breast, bacon with potatoes and Italian breasola, all to get your hands on a lot of different great tasting meats.

Duck breast with apples and mustard

Potatoes with bacon and sour cream
Breasola with Parmesan cheese, arugula and pumpkin seeds
Beef with dijon mustard and red onion

Starter

Whipped ricotta cheese with proscuitto, figs and truffle honey

After indulging in a few different meats as appetizers it´s time to move on to some Italian ham with figs, honey and truffles. The ricotta is actually the star of this dish but it would be nothing without the ham.

Main course

Slow cooked leg of lamb with potato cream
Onion rings

The main course is a bit heavier, but slow cooked meats are great tasting and always appreciated plus you´ll get a great chance to open up that old heavy red wine that´s been sitting in the cellar for a while. Some onion rings on the side completes it.

New Years recipe ideas when you´re not on a budget

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is part four in this series and for this post I will focus when you have an unlimited budget and want to treat yourself and your guests to something extra.

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

New Years menu when you´re not on a budget

Appetizers - these three appetizers can more or less be eaten using your hands and of course you will be serving loads of Champagne on the side.

Duck liver paté with rosehip jam and bread
Grilled asparagus with Parmesan cheese
Grissini with Parma ham and cream cheese

Starter

Tuna tartar with avocado and chives

Tuna is always appreciated and I love the freshness and elegance of this recipe, since the budget is not an issue get the best tuna you can find.

Main course

Lobster tail with caper aioli
Linguine with truffles cream and Parmesan

Combine these two recipes but instead but skip the caper aioli for the lobster and you can serve the lobster warm instead of cold.

Linguine with truffles, cream and Parmesan #145

Classic, super rich and great tasting is all the description this pasta dish needs. It´s super simple to make and since it´s so rich I prefer so serve it as a small tapas or appetizer because otherwise you won´t be able to eat much else. Buy the kind of truffles that your wallet can afford, I used summer truffles that are sliced and marinated in black truffle oil that I think taste great. If you´re rich then go for fresh black or white truffles and if you´re on a budget then go for just the oil.

However try not to switch from real Italian Parmiggiano-Reggiano to something cheaper because that will take loads of flavor out of the dish.

Linguine with truffles, cream and Parmesan

dried linguine pasta

cream

olive oil

Parmesan cheese (Parmiggiano-Reggiano)

garlic

truffles in truffle oil (or whatever truffles you choose)

salt, pepper

Boil the pasta in salted water, meanwhile peel and slice the garlic thin and cook on medium heat in olive oil without getting brown, add salt, pepper and cream and bring to a boil and let reduce for a few minutes. I usually do this in a frying pan that you can add the cooked pasta to. Add grated Parmesan to the sauce and let it melt. 

Remove the pasta from it´s  water when it´s a few minutes away from being done and add the pasta to the sauce. Add truffles and combine the pasta with the sauce, check the taste and add salt, pepper and truffles if necessary. The pasta will get done from being hot in the truffle sauce within a few minutes. Serve immediately with some extra Parmesan on top.