Tapas on a week-end eve

Tapas is an easy way to serve a meal on a week-end eve.

I served a selection of various Italian meat slices (ham & sausages), matured Cheddar with tomato and chilli jam, fresh seafood salad with mayonnaise, green olives with almonds inside and small tomatoes. All of this was eaten with either whole grain bread or baguette (served on my fantastic olive chopping broad from Greece).

And off cause I used some of my green ceramic collection for this meal (green ceramic plate from Skagen, Studio Arhøj ceramic plate and some Studio Arhøj ceramic bowls)

For this meal we enjoyed gin & rose lemonade together with a glass or two of white wine.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is an excellent dish to serve on hot Summer day, where you do not want to spend time cooking in a warm kitchen. At the same time you can use vegetables being in season, so all in all a win-win situation.

I have found this recipe in the cooking book called "Tapas". I have one modification to the recipe, as I found the taste of tomato to be too low, so I added in some tomato concentrate.

The colour is brownish, and not red, which is due to the fact, that green vegetable in form of green pepper fruit and cucumber is added in as well.

Gazpacho: 3-4 servings

• 1 cucumber - roughly chopped
• 1 green pepper fruit - diseeded and roughly chopped
• 400 g of canned chopped tomatoes
• 1 medium onion - roughly chopped
• 1 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped
• 15 ml lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of tomato concentrate
• salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Clean all the vegetables and chopped them roughly.
2. Place all the ingredients in a blender.
3. Blend everything together.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Store cold in a bowl in the refrigerator for minimum 2 hours.
6. Serve cold, while you enjoy a warm Summer day.

Stuffed courgettes

I located this recipe on stuffed courgettes in the tapas cooking book "Tapas Delicious Snacks from Spain".

I replaced the lamb meat with minced chicken, as it is more difficult to get hold of minced lamb meat in the Danish supermarkets. And instead of yogurt I used thick milk.

Stuffed courgettes:

• 6 small courgettes
• 1 small onion - chopped
• 1 cloves of garlic
• 15 ml olive oil
• 400 g minced chicken meat
• 3 slices of bacon - finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate
• ½ tablespoon of sugar
• 15 ml water
• 1 tomato - chopped
• 150 g thick milk
• 12 mint leaves
• 50 Parmesan cheese - grated
• 1 tablespoon parsley - chopped

1. Cut the ends of the courgettes. Boil them in boiling water for 5 minutes.
2. Cut the courgettes in halves and removed the seeds from the courgettes with a teaspoon.
3. Cook the onion and garlic in hot oil.
4. Add in the minced chicken meat, bacon, salt and pepper.
5. When the meat has changed colour  add in the tomato concentrate, sugar and water.
6. Let everything cook for 15 minutes, while stirring regular.
7. Remove the cooking pot from the heat. Stir in the chopped tomato, thick milk and chopped mint leaves.
8. Fill this meat part into the courgettes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
9. Bake the stuffed courgettes in the middle of the oven at 200'C, until the cheese is melted.

Almond cake

The sweet finishing touch for my birthday Summer tapas was this almond cake served together with orange sauce. The original recipe can be found in the cooking book "Politikens bog om tapas" by Anne Hjernøe.

I made no changes to the original recipe. Another time I think I will be twist the taste by addition of some orange flower water.

Almond cake:

• 250 g butter - melted
• 150 g almond flour - blend almonds with their skin into flour in a blender
• 100 g (cake) flour
• 250 g icing sugar
• organic orange - only the zest
• 6 egg whites

1. Heat up the (conventional) oven to 210'C.
2. Whip almond flour, flour, icing sugar and orange zest together in the mixing bowl on the KitchenAid on speed 1.
3. Add the egg whites one by one, while whipping on speed 2-3.
4. Finally add in the melted butter, while whipping.
5. Fill the cake dough in a round silicone form (diameter 28 cm).
6. Bake the cake at 210'C in the middle of the oven for 25-30 minutes.
7. Cool the cake, before serving it orange sauce or perhaps even vanilla ice cream.

Salted almonds

I have found this recipe on salted almonds on the blog "Maden i mit liv", and I have made no modifications to it.

My birthday guests did their best to eat all these almonds, however I had saved a portion for myself for later indulgence !! The comments to the almonds were, that they were very good and not too salty, which salted almonds sometimes can be.

I will for sure be making these almonds again, perhaps the taste with various herb addition.

Salted almonds:

• 200 g almonds
• 4 tablespoons of sea salt
• 400 g boiling water

1. Start by dissolving the sea salt in the boiling water in a bowl, before the almonds are into this salt solution.
2. Let the almonds soak for 20-25 minutes with a lid covering the bowl.
3. Remove the almonds from the salt solution.
4. Heat up the (conventional) oven to 200'C.
5. Spread the almonds on a baking tray covered with baking paper.
6. Roast the almonds at 200'C for 8-10 minutes, mix around the almonds one or two times during the roasting process.
7. Cool down the almonds, before storing in an airtight container.

Tapas bread

My cousin once gave me two cooking books as birthday gift with focus on tapas. One of these cooking books were "Politikens bog om tapas" written by Anne Hjernøe. It is a great book full of wonderful food pictures, easy understandable recipes and many of the recipe contains additional comments as other ingredients to use instead of and how to twist the individual dish.

These books were of great assistance for me, when I made Summer tapas as birthday menu. This bread is a very white bread without any wholegrain flour instead. I decided to add in some sour dough together with the yeast, so I could lower the level of sour dough living in my refrigerator. However, if you have no sour dough, just use yeast as in the original recipe.


Tapas bread a la Anne Hjernøe: - 3 breads

• 15 g yeast
• 15 g sour dough - optional
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 500 g wheat flour
• 175 g durum flour
• olive oil for bread glazing

1. Stir the yeast, sour dough, salt and honey into the water part.
2. Add in all the flour.
3. Knead the dough for 10 minutes on speed two using stand-alone mixer.
4. Place the dough in bowl, which is sealed with cling film or lid.
5. Raise the bread in the refrigerator night over or minimum 8 hours.
6. Divide the dough into 3 pieces, which is form into flutes and placed a baking tray covered with baking paper. Cover the dough with a tea towel.
7. Raise the flutes at room temperature for 1 hour.
8. Heat up the oven (without fan) to 200'C.
9. Glaze the flutes with olive oil.
10. Bake the bread in the middle of the oven at 200'C for 20-25 minutes.
11. Cold down the flutes, before you slice them.

Easter Tapas - Easter Calendar 2015

Today it is Easter Sunday, which very often is celebrate with a big Easter lunch with friends and family.

Eggs is traditional a key food ingredients in connection with celebration of Easter. So in the simple lunch dish (or tapas dish) you only need two/three ingredients: egg + lumpfish roe + chives !!!

Lumpfish roe (also known as Danish caviar) is in season here in Denmark in February - April.

Easter Tapas: - 2 servings

• 2 eggs
• 50 g of lumpfish roe
• chives

1. Boil the eggs, until they are hard boiled, approx 8 minutes.
2. Remove the egg shell as well as the yolk.
3. Fill the hole from the removed egg yolk with lumpfish roe.
4. Sprinkle chives.
5. Serve.