Tag Archives: starter

Spicy Aubergine Dip

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151105 Aubergine Dip-9260

 

Spicy and lemony, a great dip that goes with almost anything. I like to serve it with sugar snaps or other cut up raw vegetables.

 

Ingredients

3 medium sized aubergines
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Juice from 1 large lemon (or a bit more)
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Chilli flakes
1 tbsp olive oil

  1. Oven at 180C
  2. Prick the aubergines with a fork. Bake for about 30 minutes until soft.
  3. Halve the aubergine lengthways and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Puree with a handheld blender.
  4. Add the lemon juice, tahini, olive oil and salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
  5. Add some chilli flakes, stir and spoon into serving bowl. Sprinkle some extra chilli flakes on top. You may also want to add a few drops of olive oil on top as decoration.

 

Potato Cake with Salmon and Caviar

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151014 potato cake starter DSC_8936

This potato cake, with smoked salmon and caviar, is a wonderful starter to a light meal or a can be a hearty lunch if served with bacon and cranberry sauce (see photo below).

Serves 6

6 large potatoes, finely grated
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp of butter

6 slices of smoked salmon
50g lumpfish caviar
Crème fraiche
Red onion, chopped (optional)

In a fryingpan, melt some butter and add 1/6th of the grated potato forming a thin potato cake. Fry for 5-6 minutes per side, until golden brown. Fry 1-2 cakes at the time.
Serve with salmon, crème fraiche and caviar.

Or, for a lunch, serve with bacon and cranberry sauce.

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Stuffed Aubergine with Roasted Balsamic Red Pepper Sauce

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151007 Stuffed Augergine w Roasted balsamic Red Pepper Sauce-8992

Serves 4
Stuffed aubergine:
3 small aubergines
1 small courgettes (as “skinny” as possible)
5-6 large mushrooms
3 medium size tomatoes
(Concerning the size of the vegetables above, they should fit into the aubergine you’ll be serving in – see photo).
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parsley, chopped

Red Pepper Sauce:
2 Red Peppers, in pieces
4 medium size tomatoes, in pieces
1 red onion, in pieces
1 garlic clove, crushed
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3-5 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

1 cucumber (or an extra aubergine) to serve the sauce in.

Sauce:

  1. Oven at 200C
  2. Place all vegetables in oven proof shallow dish, drizzle with oil and vinegar. Season.
  3. Rost in oven for 45 min, until soft
  4. Let cool slightly, then, using handheld blender, mix in a saucepan
  5. Reheat and serve

Vegetables:

  1. Oven at 150C
  2. Slice the 2 aubergines lengthwise. Cut crisscross in the flesh, drizzle with oil and sprinkle some salt on top. Bake in oven with skin side down for 40 min. Carve the flesh out of the aubergine taking care not to damage the skin.
  3. Chop the carved out flesh and sauté in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Slice the courgettes and mushrooms. Saute in a pan.
  5. Slice the tomatoes.
  6. Assembly the stuffed aubergines by placing some aubergine flesh in the bottom of the empty aubergine skin, then layer the slices of courgette, mushroom and tomato on top. Bake in 150C oven for about 25 minutes.

Assembly on a plate:

  1. Place the stuffed aubergines on a plate, decorate with some chopped parsley.
  2. From a cucumber (or an aubergine), cut thick slices and remove seeds and some of the flesh, leaving a large hollow ring. Place on the plate.
  3. Spoon some of the sauce into the cucumber ring. Pour the remaining sauce into serving saucer.

Red Pepper Soup

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0930 Red pepper soup DSC_8820

A mild soup, full of flavour. To be served as a starter, or, with some fresh bread (please see our potato bread), as a lunch.

Serves 4
2 red peppers, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 tbsp butter
Ground paprika
200 ml white wine
200 ml Greek yoghurt
salt and pepper

some double cream for decorations

  1. In a pan, fry the peppers and onion in the butter until soft.
  2. Add the ground paprika and wine
  3. Simmer for 10 minutes, add the yoghurt and re-heat
  4. Using a hand held blender, mix the soup into a smooth texture
  5. Season with salt and pepper
  6. Pour into serving plates.
  7. With a spoon, place small droplets of cream in the soup. Use a sharp knife to swiftly cut through the droplets thus creating heart shapes.

Aubergine Rolls with Chanterelles and Pine Nuts

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Stuffed Aubergine Rolls DSC_8334

These Aubergine Rolls are easy to make and can be filled with many different kinds of stuffing. They may be served hot or cold.

Serves 4

2 aubergines
Olive oil to fry in

Chanterells
Pine nuts, toasted (in oven or in a dry pan) for the stuffing
Pine nuts, toasted, for decorations
Crème Fraiche
Salt and pepper

  1. Slice the aubergines quite thin (5 mm)
  2. Fry in oil until golden brown
  3. To absorb some of the oil, place on paper towels
  4. In a separate pan, fry the chanterelles
  5. Add some crème fraiche and let cook for a 1-2 minutes.
  6. Season
  7. Add the pine nuts to the chanterelle mix.
  8. At one end of an aubergine slice, place a small spoonful of chanterelle mix, then roll it up. Do the same for all the slices.
  9. Serve on plates and decorate with pine nuts.

Cognac and Cheese Tartlets

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09 Cognac and Cheese PieDSC_8408

 

This is an absolutely amazing pie! It may not look the part but it is one of my very best dishes. Lots of cheese and butter and with a few drops of Cognac to give the pie a little sharpness in the taste. Hope you will enjoy this as much as my guests and myself usually do.

Serves 4

Crust:
100 ml buckwheat flour
100 ml gluten free flour mix (not self-rising)
2 tbsp Chia seeds
200 ml matured cheese (gruyere or maybe cheddar)
150 g butter
2 tbsp cold water

Filling:
300 ml single cream
3 eggs
200 ml matured cheese (gruyere or maybe cheddar)
2 tablespoons of Cognac
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce:
200 ml Sour Crème
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp honey
1/2 garlic clove, crushed

 

  1. Combine the ingredients for the crust. Let stand for 20 minutes to let the Chia seeds gel.
  2. Heat oven to 225C
  3. Press into one large pie dish. Or use 4 individual pie molds. Place in a freezer for 15 minutes or refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  4. Bake the pie crust in the oven for about 15 minutes.
  5. Mix the filling and pour into the pre-baked crust. Bake in the oven for another 20-25 minutes.
  6. Combine the ingredients for the sauce.

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Russian Buckwheat Blini

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Russian Buckwheat Blini 0503

Amazingly good and traditionally gluten free. The Russian kitchen does not use wheat flower in this dish but uses buckwheat instead, which makes for richer blini with a fuller taste. Buckwheat does not, inspite of its name, contain any wheat. It is actually a relative to rhubarb.

Serves 4

50 g butter
15 g fresh yeast (or 5 g dry yeast)
75 ml milk
75 ml cream
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
100 ml buckwheat flour
50 ml corn starch
salt

Butter to fry in

50 g Lumpfish Caviar
200 ml crème fraiche
½ red onion, finely chopped

  1. Melt the butter and let cool.
  2. In a bowl, combine yeast, milk, cream, egg yolk and the melted butter.
  3. Combine the flour and corn starch with some salt and add to cream mixture.
  4. Let stand, rise, in warm place for about 90 minutes.
  5. Whisk the egg white into stiff foam and fold into the cream mixture just before frying.
  6. Using a spoon, drop small amounts of batter to a heated pan and flatten them slightly with the spoon.
  7. Turn once when gold brown.

Serve with the onion, crème fraiche and lumpfish caviar.

Fresh and Fruity Vegetable Starter

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0902 fresh and fruity vegetable starter-8254

This starter takes a while to prepare since everything must be cut into really fine pieces. Quite time consuming but definitely worth it! The flavours will come out much stronger and also mix better with eachother.

Serve as part of a dinner with:
Main course – Chilli Crab Cakes and Rosemary Courgette Spaghetti
Dessert – Sweet and Sour Sauce with Strawberries and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Serves 4

3 large tomatoes, discard seeds and chop
½ medium size cucumber, discard seeds and chop
½ large red onion, chopped
3 sundried tomatoes, chopped
½ ripe mango, chopped
1 tbsp parsley, chopped

3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil

Season with ground coriander, salt and pepper
(OPTIONAL – Smoked Salmon Slices)

  • Mix all finely chopped ingredients together
  • Season
  • Add the oil and juice

Serving options:

  • In a glass
  • Using a ring mold, shape on the serving plate
  • Fill a rolled up slice of smoked salmon.

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Smoked Salmon Salad with Lime

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Smoked salmon sallad 7234

In this crunchy salad, the salmon gives a salty, smoked flavour without dominating the dish. For some extra colour and sweetness, you may add a few, diced strawberries.

Serve as part of a menu together with
Main: Wild Rice with Chanterelles and Chorizo
Dessert: Strawberry Coconut Dessert Soup

Serves 4

150g smoked salmon
2 celery stalks
1 yellow pepper
½ green pepper
2 small avocados
50 ml fresh limejuice
Salt, pepper and a little chili pepper

Parsley to decorate

  1. Cut up the salmon and the vegetables in small pieces of equal size.
  2. Add the limejuice and spices to taste.
  3. Can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge.
  4. Decorate with parsley

Crackers with Glazed Onion and Blue Cheese

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photo 2

Most of this starter can be prepared a day ahead. Serve it as a starter or mingling food, depending on your mood.

Serve with:
Main course: Chicken and Aubergine skewers with Dukkah and Sallad
Dessert: Warm Mango with Ginger and Honey

Yields one tray of cracker and 6 servings of topping

crackers:
80 ml sunflower seeds
50 ml linseed
50 ml sesame seeds
50 ml pumpkin seeds
200 ml cornflour
250 ml boiling water
50 ml olive oil
sea salt

topping:
3 red onions, peeled and each divided into 8 sections
2 shallots, peeled and each divided into 6 sections
olive oil for frying
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
75 g blue cheese of your choice
sea salt and pepper

1. Start off making the crackers: Heat the oven to 150 degrees. Mix the seeds with cornflour. Add boiling water and olive oil and mix well. Spread out on a baking sheet on a baking tray and make sure to spread it out to make it as thin as possible. Sprinkle sea salt on top. Bake in the oven for 1 hour.
2. Now prepare the glazed onions: Fry the onions in a generous amount of oil in a pan on medium heat for about 15 minutes to soften the onion without burning it. Add the vinegar and sugar, mix and fry for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Until here you can prepare a day ahead.
3. On the day of serving: Heat the oven to 225 degrees. Break the cracker into pieces. Divide onion mixture over the crackers and add pieces of cheese on top of the onion. Gratinate in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve as it is or with a salad.

Pan-Fried Goat’s Cheese, Hazelnuts, Honey Dressing and Thyme

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Goat cheese starter

If you prefer, feel free to grill the goat’s cheese instead!

Serve as part of a menu with:
– Main course: Black cod
– Dessert: Rosemary panna cotta

Serves 4 people

200 g goat’s cheese, with skin on
olive oil for pan-frying
150 g whole skinned hazelnuts
50 ml olive oil
50 ml clear honey
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
8 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
salt and pepper

1. Start off by roasting the hazelnuts in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, taking them out after half the time and stirring them. They are done when they have an even golden colour.
2. For the dressing, mix honey, olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Add the hazelnuts to the dressing and mix.
3. Cut even slices of the goats cheese, about 1 cm in thickness. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a pan with olive oil and quickly fry the cheese for 2 minutes on each side to give colour.
4. Put the goat’s cheese on a plate, add hazelnuts with the dressing and sprinkle some thyme leaves on top.

Avocado Gazpacho

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Avocado Gazpacho 7343

A very festive starter for a summer day, pleasing to both the eye and the palate. The Tabasco sauce is decorative but also quite hot so use with care. This recipe is best made a day in advance. The citrus juice prevents discolouring. To be served chilled.

Serve as part of a menu with
Main Course: Seafood Quinotto
Dessert: Duo Choco Mousse with Cassis Syrup

Serves 6:

4 avocados, stone and peel removed
1 small lime, juice
1 small lemon, juice
½ garlic clove (when used in a cold recipe the garlic taste comes out much stronger), crushed
1 green chili, deseeded, in pieces
2 yellow tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, cut into pieces
3 salad onions
fresh coriander
100-120 ml cold chicken broth
crab tails
olive oil
Tabasco
Black pepper

  1. Place the avocado pulp, lime juice, lemon juice, garlic, chili, tomatoes, cucumber, onions and fresh coriander leaves (save some leaves for the garnish) into a blender and puree until smooth.
  2. Gradually add the chicken broth until you have desired gazpacho consistency, thick but not too thick.
  3. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for several hours.
  4. Before serving, pour into small (the soup is quite rich) bowls. Place crayfish tails on top, some drops of olive oil and Tabasco, a few coriander leaves and some freshly ground black pepper.

Summer Salad with Basil and Walnut Dressing

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Sallad m basilika sas
A light and fruity summer salad with a beautiful, creamy dressing. Please choose small strawberries with lots of sweetness and taste.

Serve as part of a menu with:
– Main course: Caribbean Corn fed Chicken with Avocado Wild Rice and Red Pepper Vinaigrette
– Dessert: Chocolate Rum Cake with Chocolate Crème Anglaise

Serves 4

10-15 mini asparagus
2 avocados, in quartered and sliced
2 spring onions, chopped
10-15 halved cherry tomatoes
10-15 quartered small strawberries
5-8 walnuts in pieces
8 gem lettuce (2 on each plate)

Dressing:
25 g walnuts
20 g basil leaves
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon
4 tbsp crème fraiche
Salt and pepper

  1. Mix all salad ingredients, except the lettuce, in a bowl.
  2. Mix the dressing in a blender until smooth.
  3. On a serving plate, place two pieces of lettuce, put the salad on top and drizzle with the dressing.

Seared Scallops with Butternut Squash Puré, Balsamic Vinegar and Roasted Pistachio

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scallop

 

I love the textures of this starter. The crunchiness from the pistachios and the creaminess from the puré make a beautiful contrast that complement the scallop. Try to find a good quality balsamic vinegar! The older the better!

Serve as part of a menu with:
– Main course: Venison with Smokey Bean Puré and Sauce Poivrade
– Dessert: Daim Cake

Serves 8

500 g butternut squash
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp crème fraiche
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp tabasco
juice of 1/4 lime

8 scallops with their shell
balsamic vinegar, preferably of 10 years of age
2 tbsp pistachios, roasted and roughly chopped
salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 225 degrees.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half and scrape out the seeds. Put the squash with the cut side facing down on a tray with baking paper. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the squash is soft. Take out and let cool.
3. Carve out the meat from the squash using a spoon and mix with butter, crème fraiche, ginger, tabasco and lime in a food processor until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.
4. Remove the scallops from the shells by running a small, sharp knife along the bottom of the shell. Clean the scallops and separate them from the roe. Put the shells in a pot with boiling water and leave for a minute to disinfect. Take out and clean the shells properly.
5. Season the scallops and roe with salt and pepper. Heat a pan with some butter. Sear the scallops and roe about 1 minute on each side.
6. For the plating, place a spoon of the puré in each shell and place a scallop with its roe on top. Drip some balsamic vinegar around the scallop and scatter the chopped pistachios above.

 

Green Pea Soup with Horseradish

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2005 Green Pea Soup -7199

Pea soup may not sound too exciting but this dish is always very popular with my dinner guests. The vermouth is crucial and it really needs to be Noilly Prat. The horseradish makes the soup a bit spicy.

Let the Baked Fillet of Hake with Gremolata follow this Pea Soup, and for a dessert I recommend the Roasted Fruit with White Chocolate.

Serves 8 as a starter

1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
500 g frozen green peas
800 ml chicken broth
50 ml Noilly Prat vermouth
200 ml crème fraiche
Black pepper
50 ml whipping cream
50 ml sour cream
Fresh horseradish, finely grated, to taste
(can be substituted with a mix of sour cream and wasabi paste)

  1. Sauté the onion in butter.
  2. Add the peas, the chicken broth and Noilly Prat.
  3. Let simmer for a few minutes. Then puree with hand mixer so it becomes a smooth soup.
  4. Add the crème fraiche. Bring to a boil and let simmer for a few minutes. Take off the heat.
  5. Whip the cream, add sour cream and grated horseradish.
  6. Serve in small bowl with a dollop of horseradish mix on top.