Tag: crostini

Two types of crostini to start a dinner party

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

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Last Friday a few of my girl friends came over for dinner and while waiting for everyone to arrive we had some bubbly, this sparkling wine from Loire, and crisps. When most people had arrived I brought out two types of crostini, still casually sitting on the sofas.

One of the toppings were suppose to be the same as on Toast Öjeby, a mixture of crayfish, sharp cheese, dill, cumin and honey, but as Waitrose and Sainsbury’s both failed to deliver crayfish, I made the same mixture with coldwater prawns instead. And parsley instead of dill as I hadn’t bought enough (yep, it was one of those weeks). Substituting the crayfish with prawns worked well flavour wise but it didn’t look as pretty. As one of my friends is not that keen on shellfish I also served a bunch of crostini topped with homemade gravadlax (cured salmon) and dill cream cheese.

Crostini with gravadlax crostini and dill cream cheese, makes 30

500 g salmon fillet

2 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp chopped dill

1 large baguette

olive oil

150 g cream cheese

1 handful dill, finely chopped

1 tsp dijon mustard

a dash of honey

salt and pepper

Start 48 hours before serving. Remove the skin from the salmon. Mix sugar, salt and dill and pat it onto the fish. Place in a small dish and cover with cling. Refrigerate for 48 hours. 

Before serving, make the crostini by slicing the baguette thinly, placing the slices on parchment paper on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in 200C oven until crisp and golden, approx 10-15 minutes. Leave to cool.

Pat the salmon dry with kitchen towel and slice thinly. Mix cream cheese with dill, honey and mustard. Season. Divide the salmon slices on the crostini, place a teaspoon sized dollop of dilly cream cheese on top, season and serve. 

Smooth chicken liver mousse with red wine and thyme

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

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I had a little gathering on the first Sunday of Advent treating my friends to some traditional Swedish Christmas treats as well as some other things. We started off with this heavenly smooth chicken liver mousse served with crispy crostinis. It went down really well and I am very pleased with the flavour combination of liver, red wine and thyme.

Even if you are not a serious charcuterie or offal fan, a chicken liver mousse is always a good place to start. Chicken liver is very mild in flavour compared to calf’s or lamb’s liver. And the other ingredients in this mousse don’t really enhance the liver flavour; it mere complements it.

To make the crostinis, all you need is a day-old baguette and some oil. Slice the baguette in 5 mm thick slices slightly on the diagonal and place on a baking tray. Drizzle with a nice olive or rapeseed oil, place in 200C oven until crisp and golden brown; it takes about 15 minutes.

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Chicken liver mousse with red wine and thyme, 1 batch

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 tbsp oil for frying

450 g chicken livers (about 350 g once tubes/tendons removed), roughly chopped

1tbsp butter + 1 tbsp butter

50 ml red wine

1 anchovy

1/2 tsk dried thyme

salt and pepper

65 ml double cream

Fry the onions in the oil on low heat until translucent, add the garlic and fry for another minute.

Turn the heat up and add 1 tbsp butter and the liver. Fry until the liver pieces are cooked all the way around but pink in the middle. Add the anchovy (whole), more butter, red wine and thyme. Fry while stirring until half the liquid has evaporated. Add salt and pepper. 

Remove from heat and pour into a food processor. Add the cream and mix until as smooth as possible. Season to taste with salt, pepper and maybe a pinch of sugar. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve, into the serving container. The mixture is a  bit liquid at this stage but it will set in the fridge. Refridgerate for several hours (about 4-5) for the mousse to set and the flavours to develop.