Category: Starters

Chèvretoast with fresh figs

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

Sometimes simple things are the best, like on a Tuesday evening when you’re having your old housemate over for dinner. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just plain nice and tasty. That is when you make a chèvretoast. There isn’t much cooking involved, but the result is still really nice.

Chèvretoast with figs, serves 2

2 slices of nice bread

2, 1 cm thick slices of chèvre

2 figs, quartered

olive oil

1 clove of garlic

black pepper

crema di balsamico

Put the bread slices on a baking sheet and pour a little olive oil on each. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the edge against the bread and the oil. Toast the bread in 200C until it is crispy. Place the chèvre on top of the bread slices, and place the quartered figs on top. Sprinkle over some black pepper and bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is soft. Plate, coil over some crema di balsamico and enjoy!

‘Plock’ as a starter

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

Remember the Swedish word plock? Basically serving different bits as a meal or a starter, not quite tapas but something similar. I like to eat plock a lot and think it is a good way to clear out the fridge as well. This is what we had before the lamb on Sunday:

From the top:

Somerset gold -Christopher’s new favourite

Prosciutto, served with crema di balsamico – yum!

Ossau-Iraty – my new favourite cheese

Small chorizos

Matured Gouda with cumin – from Borough Market

 

Jerusalem artichoke soup

Published on by Hanna4 Comments

This is my absolute favourite soup! I have fond memories of it as well. I started working as a waitress part-time at a small hotel in the countryside in the south of Sweden when I was at University in Lund. The hotel was a small manor house, really old and therefore very cold. In the winter it was freezing in the kitchen because it had so many outer walls. The chefs were really nice though, sometimes they made us the yummiest hot chocolate made of chocolate and cream, or Jerusalem artichoke soup with chopped schallots, which we ate gathered by the stove to get our body temperatures up. It wasn’t this cold in the restaurant, so the guests were fine actually.

This recipe is to serve the soup as a starter, but it’s great as a light supper as well, just make a little bit more, serve it with bread and maybe throw in some crispy bacon or some prawns in the soup, and maybe a dollop of creme fraiche. Enjoy!

Jerusalem artichoke soup, 2 portions

5 or so Jerusalem artichokes

100-150 ml cream

vegetable stock

chopped schallots

Peel the artichokes and cut them into equally sized pieces. Cover just, with water in a pan, sprinkle in some salt, bring to a boil and cook until very tender. Pour out some of the remaining water, and puree the rest with a stick blender. If this is too thick you can always add some of the water again, but it is difficult to make the soup thicker once it is liquidized. Pour in the cream, some stock, salt and white pepper and adjust the thickness with some of the remaining water if necessary. Bring to a boil again. Serve in bowls with some chopped schallots.

Baked camembert

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

I eat this a lot. Maybe too often, but it is so good I just can’t help it… 🙂 Usually I serve it with some other finger foods and some nice bread.

Baked camembert, as a starter for 4 or as a lighter supper served with other bits for 2-3 people

Take a large camembert, preferably one in a wooden box, remove the wrapping and place it into the bottom half of the wooden box. Score the top with a knife, and put in 200C oven for about 20 minutes until the cheese is all runny and yummy. I sometimes put a splash of white wine and some pressed garlic into the grooves but I honestly don’t notice much of a difference with or without it. The most important thing is to choose a good piece of cheese. Serve with some nice fresh bread, maybe salami and gherkins.

 

Finger food platter

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

In Sweden we like to eat plockmat, lots of different little bits for dinner with some nice bread with it. After our big lunch out on Sunday we couldn’t really think much about food that afternoon, we were too full, so I improvised a plock plate even though the fridge was quite empty. This is the result:

Plock plate, 3 portions

1 packet Swedish smoked sausages (or Frankfurters)

12 crustades (you find them at Waitrose and they are actually imported from Sweden)

Swedish cream cheese with girolles (or use brie)

Strawberries

Small gherkins or cornichons

Fru the sausages in some butter and cut them into pieces. Put a bit of cheese into each crustade, pu them into a 200C oven for about 5 minutes until the cheese has melted and the crustades are a bit browner (but not too brown). If you used brie, put a small dollop of jam (apricot, gooseberry, pear, fig…) into the crustades when they come out of the oven. Put everything on a plate together with the strawberries and gherkins. Serve with bread and balsamico glaze (for the sausages). We also had a baked camembert, which will get its own post.

Parma parcels, fresh figs and crema di balsamico

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

I love to eat tapas-style food, without it having to be Spanish food at all. Sharing plates of food with friends makes me happy!

This is a recipe I found in a Swedish cookbook by Monika Ahlberg. It is dead simple but very tasty. As Malin said: “It tastes very advanced.”

Parma parcels with sundried tomatoes with fresh figs and crema di balsamico

1 packet parma ham

100-150 g cream cheese

5-8 sundried (or even better: sunblush) tomatoes in oil

a few fresh figs

balsamic glaze (crema di balsamico)

Chop the tomatoes roughly and mix with the cheese. Place a dollop of the cheese on every parma slice and fold into small parcels. Place these randomly on a plate. Cut the figs into wedges and place on the same plate. Drizzle balsamic glaze over the plate, serve with bread.

In the original recipe Monika place black olives on the plate as well. I do that sometimes, or it works just as well with pimiento olives, or like here, completely without.

Toast Skagen

Published on by Hanna7 Comments

As mentioned in this recipe, this type of prawn cocktail is a common Swedish starter. This is how I make mine.

The reason why I prefer this version compared to the Marie Rose sauce is that this one feels fresher, and doesn’t have that sour vinegary taste to it. See which one you prefer.

Toast Skagen, 4 portions

200 grams peeled icelandic prawns (preferrably big ones)

1/2  bunch of dill

1/2 lemon

150 ml creme fraiche

3-4 tbsp mayonnaise (preferrably Hellman’s)

4 medium slices of white bread

butter

4-8 little gem lettuce leaves (depending on size)

Mix the mayonnaise with the creme fraiche, squeeze in the lemon juice, add the dill, chopped, and the prawns whole. Season with salt and white pepper. Cut the edges off the bread and fry gently until golden in the butter. Let cool a little. Place the bread slices on a plate each, put one or two lettuce leaves on top and divide the mayonnaise on top and if you want, decorate it with a slice of lemon and some dill.

If you don’t want to fry the bread, you can toast it and spread a little butter on it instead, but I think the bread is crispier this way.

Simple but delicious!