A Summer Appetizer

Zucchini and Ricotta Dip

　
We visited our "parallel life" friends on fathers day; they are also a Scottish/Northern Irish couple, living in the US. In fact, they are our surrogate American family; we often spend holidays together where most other US extended families are together. Our similar backgrounds are very comforting at times and Jayne and I both love our food. I've had many a good recipe and tip from her.

Anyway, they were hosting us for lunch, so I offered cookies and a dip. Quite honestly my cookies were not my best effort, but uncharacteristically I think I did a better job of the savory part of the offering.

We're in zucchini/ courgette season here. I know a lot of people get fed up of the bounty of zucchini over the summer but I never tire of them. In their simplest form they bring me right back to my summer holidays as a child on the campsites of France. They must have been cheaper and more available in France, as that's my first memory of them; cooked in butter on the portable camping stove.

So I decided zucchinis were to be featured in the dip along with the ricotta I seemed to have bought in a job lot last week. A quick search for inspiration and Martha Stewart came up with an idea. I added garlic and lemon a simple, creamy but refreshing dip resulted.

Add this one to your summer repertoire.

Zucchini and Ricotta Dip

based on a Martha Stewart recipe http://www.marthastewart.com/335071/creamy-zucchini-and-ricotta-spread

Ingredients

2 medium zucchini
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely or minced
2 teaspoons of chopped thyme (I used lemon thyme)
3 lemons, zested
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

1. Grate the zucchini using a box grater or food processor
2. Heat the oil on medium high in a large pan and fry the zucchini and garlic
3. Add the thyme after a few minutes and cook until the zucchini is soft and just beginning to brown in parts
4. Take off the heat and cool
5. When cool, add the ricotta, lemon zest and juice and season.

Serve with pita chips or any other substantial chip. It's delicious with a Margarita too...

Enjoy!

a couple of tasty appetizers

Pea and Basil Crostini



It's 5pm; I love nothing better than sitting my children down to eat together at the kitchen island while my husband (and guests) relax with a drink and an appetizer. I'm not a "sit down at the table" type for appetizers; I like us to hang around our kitchen island sharing the drinks, food and chat.

Then we pack the kids off to bed; mine go super early, then sit down dinner without them. Bliss...
So in that vein, I'd like to share a couple of my recent appetizers. We had invited a bunch of friends to dinner a couple of weekends ago but babysitters and circumstances meant we ended up having "date night" at home together. I had planned a nice meal nevertheless, and it all started with a little pea and basil crostini. So incredibly simple and yet immensely tasty. I love bread in any way shape or form so a crostini appeals to me endlessly.

Sundried tomato and Artichoke Crostini



Staying in that mode, we had friends to stay with us over the Easter weekend, so another excuse for a bread topped appetizer. I trotted out one of my tried and true creations; based on a whole living recipe. Sundried tomato and artichoke spread. It has feta and toasted pine nuts in it which combined with the other ingredients in the food processor make for a completely delicious crostini.

Sorry I'm only getting around to writing these up today; it's been a very busy time here and I'm heading home to Ireland with the kids on wednesday. Watch this space for inspiring menus from our visit; the last time we visited home, my creative cooking got a major boost by having a break from cooking everyday. We stay with family when we're at home and most are excellent cooks, so I find it very inspiring for my own cooking.

The kids and I will be over there for almost a month and my husband will bring up the rear in a couple of weeks time. Then we'll all head to Scotland to see his family and attend his sister's wedding. All good! I hope to post some interesting bits, here and there, from our travels and give a few plugs for my favorite eateries along the way.

In the meantime try these out.

I make my costini with whatever bread I have on hand. I tend to buy and freeze french breads and ciabattas with these in mind. Then I slice the bread approx 1/2 thick, brush a little olive oil on both sides and toast in a 350°F oven for 20 minutes, turning the toasts over halfway.

Pea and Basil Crostini



Pea and Basil Crostini (a big hit with my kids)




Ingredients

1 bag of frozen peas

a handful of basil (or mint) leaves

a small glug of olive oil (approx 2 teaspoons)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a small pot of water to the boil and cook the peas for approx 2 minutes
2. Drain the peas and place in the food processor with the basil and olive oil
3. Pulse until almost smooth
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Smear on the crostinis

Sundried Tomato and Artichoke Crostini

(based on a whole living recipe: http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/sun-dried-tomato-and-artichoke-dip?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/best-snacks-for-work)

Sundried tomato and Artichoke Crostini

Ingredients

1 9 oz box of frozen artichokes (defrosted)

1/2 cup low fat feta

1 garlic clove

the zest of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (oil packed)

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/2 cup basil leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place everything except the pine nuts in the food processor and pulse until still a bit lumpy; it's nice the be able to distinguish the different ingredients in each bite.
2. Stir in the pine nuts and season.
3. Smear on the crostini

I have made this a day ahead of time for a party and it worked out perfectly

Enjoy!!!



A little bit of visiting Irish appetizer and an apperitif



Hi everyone, this is kat ate that's cousin and friend, visiting the U S of A all the way from Northern Ireland (best place in the world for anyone who's never visited and that's not just because I'm paid to say that - check it out for yourself http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/). 

Anyway, with a little coercion, I've persuaded kat to allow me to guest blog (am very excited) and share with you all my pre dinner concoctions from last night (a specified pre-trip kat instruction - no such thing as a free holiday anymore). 

I'd also like to take the opportunity to introduce you to Delia Smith - the godmother of British celebrity chefs - all great recipes start with a touch of Delia and in my experience following her recipes you can never go wrong.  My version of Frijolemole is based on one of Delia's recipes; its a variation on a hummus type dip and in the spirit of "kat ate that" I have:

a) tried to be healthy-ish (go easy on the chips); and,
b) improvised (which to be fair wasn't actually by choice; "she" didn't buy me all my ingredients)

So here goes....

My Frijolemole

based on (http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/exotic/mexican/frijolemole.html),

Ingredients

1 tin chickpeas/ garbanzo beans (440g)

1 medium white onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

juice of 1 lime

1 fresh chilli

a few drops of tobasco sauce

fresh chopped coriander (cilantro for you American readers)

2 tablespoons soured cream (low fat

salt and pepper

1 red pepper finely diced

Directions

1. Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil for about 10 minutes until soft (do not brown)
2. Drain the tin of chickpeas and put in the food processor with some salt and pepper
3. Add the fried onion and garlic and the juice of the lime and blend to a smoothish paste (yesterday I added a splash of milk and a drizzle of olive oil while blending to soften)
4. Empty the puree into a bowl and add the chilli, tobasco, coriander, sour cream and salt and pepper to taste
5. Finally add the red pepper (the original recipe does not include red pepper but adds a chopped fresh tomato and 3 spring onions - however, as I said kat didn't shop properly so I improvised with a red pepper which actually was very tasty)

Serve with warm pitta bread (for health) and corn chips (for tastiness) - de-licious!

And then flavour with........

Boozeberry Fizz



Last week at home I was introduced to Boozeberries Irish Liquer - I will never look back and therefore feel is my duty to convert as many boozeberries virgins as possible - http://www.boozeberries.com/.

I (kindly) brought a bottle of the wild cranberry flavour with me under my oxter*. Last night we combined it with prosecco to create a (new to me) taste sensation (Joyce, you'd love it!).  Clearly, no recipe required.

Enjoy!

* colloquial Northern Irish for armpit

Scottish Oatcakes

More on the snacks theme;
I am beyond excited! I've just made real oatcakes and they're delicious! Ahhh, oatcakes, strong cheddar and a good chutney or pepper jelly or oatcakes, smoked salmon, a squeeze of lemon juice and fresh cracked black pepper, ahh, oatcakes and pate. A glass of your favorite red wine and you have a perfect appetizer, snack, lunch, dinner. Need I go on? Probably yes, if you're not British or haven't spent much time there.

Oatcakes are robust crunchy crackers made, quite simply, of oats, wholegrain flour, water, butter and baking soda. Traditionally, actually, they are made with lard but I just can't bring myself to do that. They are not sweet, although as I was researching recipes I did find sweetened versions. For me though, the taste has always been a savoury one. Don't expect a the sweetness of a wheat thin, or you'll be sorely dissapointed.

As long as I've lived in the US, I've had visitors from home bring over some oatcakes; it's the food from home that I miss most. I have intended on baking them for years, but procrastination sometimes gets the better of me.

In explanation, my husband is Scottish and I lived in Scotland for about 7 years. I also spent many a summer in Scotland as a child and my Mum's sister and family have lived there all my life. Have I justified my connection yet?

A word about this recipe; I based it on one from a website called undiscoveredscotland

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usrecipes/oatcakes/index.html

and the recipe calls for medium oats. If my memory serves me right, these are a little smaller than the typical old fashioned rolled oats in the US stores. So I pulsed mine in the processor about 10-15 times. Here's what they looked like after pulsing:

Scottish Oatcakes

Yields approx 24



Ingredients

2 1/2 cups/ 8oz/ 230g medium oatmeal

1 3/4 cups/ 8oz/ 230g wholewheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons/ 1/4 cup/ 2 oz butter (melted)

1 1/2 cup 50ml boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 °F/ 200°C
2. Line a cookie sheet/ baking tray with parchment paper
3. Melt the butter over a low heat, in a small pan
4. With clean hands, mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl
5. Add the butter and boiling water and stir together until a dough forms
6. Firmly form the dough into a 4 balls, before rolling, so it did not crack too much upon rolling.
7. Roll out each ball to 1/2cm/ 1/4" thick, on a surface with oatmeal scattered on top (as you would with flour when rolling cookie dough)
8. Cut out the shapes and place on the tray.
9. Re-form the off cuts and roll out into cookies also. I hand shaped some of mine at the end to get the most of my dough.
10. Bake for approx 20 minutes or until golden and and crisp
11. Cool on a wire rack.

 

In a word, these are exceptionally easy and therapeutic to make. Any rustic recipe like this is a great one for the kids to help; the rolling out and shape cutting is all fun, although if I'm in a time pinch next time I intend to just roll into a circle and cut wedges instead of circles. Less scraps to deal with that way.

Crack open the wine, get out the cheese and Enjoy!





Warm Crab Dip

It's the end of a long week in this house. The snow and ice have been endlessly annoying and have cramped our social life significantly, but, as promised, the crab dip is here. The kids are perched in front of the latest Disney movie and I have a moment to write up.

I first made this, ridiculously simple, dip for Thanksgiving, when I trotted out a bunch of appetizers during the course of the day, prior to the main event. It was well received by all and so I hit repeat for Christmas. If I remember correctly, even most of the kids ate it too.

The base recipe is from epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Crab-Dip-360830

however I healthied it up a little more by substituting some low fat (or in my case 0% fat) greek yogurt instead of some of the mayo. I do not like a lot of mayo in my food so will generally cut it with some plain yogurt, low fat sour cream, lemon juice or vinegar depending on what I'm making. I changed up the herbs and used roasted peppers instead of fresh.

All in all, a tasty, easy and somewhat healthy dip.

Warm Crab Dip

Ingredients

6 oz/ 170g fresh (or canned) crab meat, well drained

1/2 cup/ 75g diced red pepper (I use roasted sometimes)

1/2 cup/ 25 g finely chopped fresh parsley or basil

1/4 cup/ 60 ml mayonnaise

1/4 cup/ 60 ml reduced fat greek yogurt or sour cream

4 oz/ 115g low fat cream cheese

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1/4 cup/ 25 g breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F/ 220°C/ gas mark 7
2. Mix together all the ingredients except for the breadcrumbs and lemon zest.
3. Taste and season or add more hot sauce as necessary
4. Mix the breadcrumbs and lemon zest together.
5. Transfer to a small baking dish or 2 medium sized ramekins and sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture on top
6. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden on top
7. Serve warm with dippers such as crudites, pita chips, rye toasts or crostinis.

Enjoy!

Super Bowl Food: Chili and Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip

If there is one main theme of my blog, it would be that tasty food can pretty much always be pulled together without a special trip to the store.

On that note; I promised game day food this week and I shall deliver. However, Trader Joes were all out of sundried tomatoes (very rarely will I write anything negative about that store) so slight change of plan. I am serving spinach artichoke dip instead of the artichoke sundried tomato spread.

I love the concept of the flavors in spinach artichoke dip, but the traditional recipes are just too heavy and fat laden for me to enjoy. I've been making this version for a few years; Ellie Kreiger from the Food Network provided the base recipe; I usually like her approach to healthier eating.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/warm-spinach-and-artichoke-dip-recipe/index.html

However, it did need a little more cheese, greek yogurt and a touch of nutmeg to make it feel a bit less "healthy". It's a fine balance, after all it's still gotta taste good!

My other offering for today's Game Day planning is Chili. It's largely based on one of Jamie Oliver's versions that pulled of the Food network site years ago; the recipe is no longer listed. Anyway, I added a few more veggies, less chili pepper and I used ground turkey this time. The original uses ground chuck.

I always get asked about the chili when someone else tastes it and I think it's due to unusual ingredients and method; it's got a cinnamon stick and sundried tomatoes in it and he recommends you cut up your veggies etc in the food processor. Altogether this gives a smoother texture, which I like and an interesting depth of flavor. I also added more veggies and wine; notice the theme? I believe one cancels the other out, but it's a step in the right direction!

The Chili is freezable for about 3 months; I usually make a double batch (see photo) and feeze in family sized portions.

Spinach and Artichoke dip



My 2 year old digging in

This yields a lot; enough for 10-12

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or minced
1 (9 oz/ 255g) package of frozen artichokes, defrosted
1 (10 oz/ 283g) package of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of excess liquid
1 cup/ 250ml reduced fat or non fat sour cream or greek yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup/ 4 oz/ 115g reduced fat cream cheese
4 oz/ 115g shredded/ grated part skim mozzarella (or whatever good melting cheese you have)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F/ 190°C
2. Saute the onions, over a medium heat, for approx 4-5 mins. Add the garlic and cook for a further 3-4 mins.
3. While the onions are cooling, put the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the onions and pulse a further 4-5 times to mix.
4. Transfer to a lightly greased baking dish (I used 4 large ramekins, or you could use one large 8" square baking dish)
5. Bake for 15/20 mins until heated through but not browning on top.

This is delicious served with pita chips, or carrot sticks.

Enjoy!



Kat's Chili

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 medium onions

2 garlic cloves

olive oil

1/2 lb/ 225g carrots (washed not peeled)

2 teasponns chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

sea salt and pepper

1 lb/ 455 g ground chuck (I used ground turkey this time)

7 oz/ 200g sundried tomatoes in olive oil

1 fresh red chile, deseeded (optional, swap in milder chile or omit)

2 (14oz/ 400g ) cans chopped tomatoes

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 glass red wine

2 (14oz/ 400g) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed well

Directions

1. Place the onions and garlic and carrots in the food processor and chop.
2. Using a deep heavy pan or dutch oven, fry up the onions, garlic and carrots in some olive oil until softened.
3. Stir in the chili powder and cumin and cook for a further 2 mins.
4. Add the meat and break up well. Cook until lightly browned
5. Food process the sundried tomatoes (without the oil) and chile and add to the pan
6. Add the tomatoes, cinnamon stick and wine.
7. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour before adding the beans.
8. Simmer for a further 1/2 hour then allow to sit and develop more flavor.
9. Test and season as necessary at the end; depending on your tomatoes and beans, there may already be enough salt without adding more.

Enjoy with the usual toppings, rice, cornbread, tacos etc etc etc!

Kat's Super Bowl Food





I don't know the first thing about football, in fact as far as I'm aware they play with a spherical ball, right? Ok, actually I'm equally clueless about soccer. However, I always get a little pulse race as the Super Bowl nears. Why? The food of course! I love an excuse to research what is traditionally eaten, try out new recipes or roll out old favorites.

So, in honor of traditional game day food, I'm going to post a series of my favorites this week.

Guacamole
Hot Crab Dip
Sundried Tomato and Artichoke Spread
Jamie Oliver's Chili
　
First is my guacamole; I'm sure everyone has made guacamole, but it's one of my signature recipes. Anyone who has ever hung out with us for any length of time will have had a bowl of it placed before them.
My youngest adores it and just last week, after 4 years of exposure and refusal, my 4-year old declared it "deeelishuusss".

For me it's all about the texture. I do not like smooth guacamole; it should have a few lumps in it, but the avocados should be sufficiently ripe to give easily when pressed gently. I buy the bags of avocados from Trader Joe's, let them ripen in the fruit bowl, then move to the fridge to keep for a few days until I use them all.

Also, you've got to taste and change it as needed. Sometimes, I have an extra juicy lime, a very strong onion or a bland pepper, so add more or less to suit your palate.

Kat's Guac

Ingredients
　
2 avocados
1 lime
1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped finely
1/4 medium onion, chopped finely
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

1. Halve the avocados, take out stone, slice and chop the flesh whilst still in the avocado skin, then scoop out the chopped flesh with a dessert spoon.
2. Mash the flesh gently with a potato masher.
3. Halve the lime and squeeze the juice over the avocado, add the onion and pepper.
4. Stir everything together until it is 50% smooth, 50% small lumps.
5. Taste and then add salt and pepper as needed.
6. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

A great one to get the kids involved in making.
Watch this space for the rest of my Super Bowl series this week.

Enjoy!