Tag Archives: Snacks to serve with drinks

Rainbow Pan Con Tomate (Spanish style grilled bread with tomato)

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I discovered pan con tomate in 2013 on a trip to Barcelona. I was blown away by how 5 simple ingredients (bread, tomato, olive oil, salt, and garlic) could combine to create such a joyful bite.

A Catalan specialty, pan con tomate starts with toasted or grilled bread which gets rubbed with a clove of garlic. This is followed by a ripe tomato, cut in half and roughly rubbed over the surface of the toasted bread until all you are left holding in your hand is the skin of the tomato. It’s finished with a drizzle of fruity olive oil and a generous sprinkling of flaky sea salt.

Although it has been 10 years since I first tried it, it is one of my most vivid culinary memories. The crunch on the outside surface of the warm bread and the yeasty scent assaulted my senses. The center of the bread, so chewy, was filled with little nooks and crannies. These little air pockets were bursting with the sweet and fragrant tomato essence and the fruity nutty olive oil. The little crystals of sea salt on top just melted on my tongue. How could something so simple be so good?

During that week in Barcelona I sampled many versions of pan con tomate and came home inspired to recreate it in my kitchen. Over the past decade I have learned a few tips and tricks for a successful version.

  • Do not attempt to make this unless it is the height of summer tomato season. Search out the ripest tomatoes you can find. I found some beautiful/ugly heirloom tomatoes at my market and bought them in every hue I could find.
  • While the traditional way is to rub the bread with the tomato, I found that grating the tomato on the large holes of a box grater made a raw sauce that the bread can really soak up.
  •  The bread component is just as important as the tomato. You need to use a bread with an open crumb structure (i.e.: lots of air pockets and nooks and crannies) on the interior of the bread, so that the tomato pulp and olive oil have somewhere to soak into. Ciabatta is an ideal candidate. I used Ace Bakery’s Ciabatta loaf. It’s readily available in many supermarkets now.
  • Deeply toast or grill the bread. Crunch is important to stand up to the raw tomato sauce. Don’t skip the garlic.
  • This is the time to break out the fancy bottle of extra virgin olive oil. it makes a big difference.
  • Use a flaky sea salt, such as Maldon. You need the crunch of the salt crystals.

It’s fun to do a rainbow version of this dish. Grate each colour of tomato separately and bring them to the table in little bowls. Grill and rub garlic on the bread for your guests and let them top the toasts themselves with whatever colour tomato they desire. A pretty bottle of olive oil and a tiny dish of sea salt make for a fun presentation.

Click here to print recipe for Rainbow Pan Con Tomate.

Rhubarb and Ricotta Tartine

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year…rhubarb season! I know it’s a polarizing ingredient, but I can’t seem to get enough of it. I must confess, I’m a rhubarb hoarder. I buy way more than I can possibly consume, and I freeze it so that I will have rhubarb all winter long. 

How to freeze rhubarb: Wash the stalks and cut into 1-2 inch lengths. Line a baking sheet with parchment and arrange the cut rhubarb in a single layer. Place baking sheet in freezer until rhubarb is solidly frozen, a few hours. Transfer rhubarb to a freezer zip-loc bag.

How to use frozen rhubarb: Preheat oven to 350°F. Take equal parts of frozen rhubarb and frozen strawberries and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with 2-3 Tablespoons of sugar and roast for 20 minutes, until all soft and jammy. Mash with a fork of potato masher and transfer to a jar for storage. I like to mix it into my morning yogurt or use it as a filling for pastries, like strawberry-rhubarb hand pies. It keeps in the fridge for about 10 days. 

Difference between field-grown and hot-house rhubarb: The first rhubarb to hit the market in spring is hot-house rhubarb. Hot-house rhubarb is pink in colour while field- grown is red, streaked with green. The hot house rhubarb retains that gorgeous pink colour after cooking while the field-grown turns a dull brownish colour after cooking. The final difference is the texture. Hot-house is silkier, and less stringy than the field-grown.

Tartine is defined as an open faced sandwich, usually on toasted bread. It has come to mean “fancy toast”, as made popular by the charming Carrie Baird, one of my favourite cheftestants on Top Chef. And if you’ve been following me for a while, you know that fancy is how we roll around here.

Today’s tartine is homemade ricotta spread onto toasted crusty bread, topped with gently roasted rhubarb. If you have never made your own ricotta, I urge you to give it a whirl. Watching milk, salt and lemon, transform into ricotta cheese is pure culinary alchemy. If you are a food nerd like me, you will find the process quite thrilling. Of course store-bought ricotta can be used. I suggest whisking it with a few tablespoons of heavy cream to get a silkier texture.

Watch this video to see how this tartine comes together:

This tartine would be delicious to serve with cocktails or with a salad for a light lunch. If I were going to have it for breakfast, I’d leave out the pickled onions and arugula and add some fresh mint. It’s eminently customizable.

Click here to print recipe for Rhubarb and Ricotta Tartine.

Labneh with Dukkah Topping

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Move over hummus, there’s a new dip in town. Bold statement, I know, but hear me out. Labneh is essentially yogurt strained past the point of even Greek yogurt, until it is ultra-thick. Middle Eastern in origin, it is often referred to as yogurt cheese. Lush and creamy, the texture is somewhere between cream cheese and fresh chevre.

If there is a Middle Eastern store in your area, you can probably buy labneh. If not, it’s easy to make your own. Mix whole milk (5%) plain yogurt (not Greek) with some salt, and strain it in cheesecloth for 24-48 hours.

Labneh is so versatile. You can spread it on toast, drizzle with honey and toasted hazelnuts and have it for breakfast. It’s a great substitute for mayo as a sandwich spread. Check out these other delicious creative ideas to use labneh.

My favourite way to eat labneh is as a dip. I love textural contrast in my food, so I topped this lush creamy dip with crunchy dukkah.

Dukkah is a Middle Eastern nut and spice mix. The first time I had it was at Mahane Yehuda Market  (The Shuk) in Jerusalem. Vendors there sell small paper cones filled with dukkah, along with strips of grilled pita bread.  You dip the bread into the vendor’s bowl of olive oil, dunk it into the cone of dukkah and then joyfully crunch and munch your way to a very happy place. (Obviously, this was before the pandemic! No one would dip their pita into a communal bowl of olive oil these days.)

The name dukkah originates from the Egyptian word “dakka,” which means “to crush,” which is what you do to many of the ingredients that go into the mix. There really is no classic recipe for dukkah. Just follow the basic ratio of 1 cup nuts: 1/2 cup sesame seeds: 4 tablespoons spices: 1 teaspoon kosher salt.

This dukkah combination was inspired by a recipe in the Summer 2020 issue of the LCBO magazine, Food & Drink. Almonds, walnuts, and pistachios provide the crunch while fennel seed, cumin, coriander and sumac provide the spice notes. Go wild and create your own custom Dukkah mix.

You will only need about 1/4-1/2 cup of dukkah to sprinkle over the labneh. Save the extra in the freezer and use it to coat fish or chicken for baking.

Warmed pita bread cut into wedges makes the perfect dipping companion. If you live in Ottawa, you need to buy Thyme and Again’s spiced pita chips (pictured here). They are addictive.

Add a bowl of salted nuts and some marinated olives and you have a perfect snack to serve with drinks.

Click here to print recipe for Labneh-with-Dukkah-ToppingDownload

Muhamarra (Red Pepper, Walnut and Pomegranate Dip)

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dip with beerI don’t often remember my dreams, but last night’s was so vivid that I feel compelled to tell you about it. In my dream, I led a protest march at the McGregor sock factory. We all carried signs, designed by me, that read, “We demand equal rights for all toes.” I was so confused when I woke up. I avoid confrontation at all cost, so I can’t for the life of me, figure out how I came to be leading a protest. If anyone is skilled in dream analysis, please enlighten me.

Clearly I don’t have answers to all the world’s injustices, but I can suggest a great new dip for Super Bowl Sunday. Small steps folks!

I first had this dip a few weeks ago at Fairouz, a Lebanese restaurant in Ottawa. When I moved to Ottawa over 25 years ago, it was one of the only great ethnic restaurants in town. We went often, but never on a Saturday night, as that was when they featured live music and belly dancers. Watching them always made me uncomfortable. Sadly, they closed their doors in 2005, and I really missed it.

When I heard that they had reopened, I was thrilled. Fairouz 2.0, as I call it, is just as delicious, but with a fresh modern twist on Middle Eastern food. Luckily we went with a bunch of friends, because we wanted to try almost everything on the grazing section of the menu. Our favourite was the muhamarra dip. Much easier to make than it is to pronounce. I googled the pronunciation and heard it pronounced like this, this and this.

Of course I quizzed our waiter about how to make this dip. All I could get out of him was red peppers, walnuts and pomegranate molasses. I came home, did a little research and got to work creating. Almost all the recipes I found used some sort of binder, usually breadcrumbs. The go-to spices were commonly cumin and some sort of hot red peppers. Since Aleppo pepper is sadly unavailable, I went with a dried Turkish red pepper called Maras (or sometimes Marash).  I buy mine at Damas, a Middle Eastern supermarket in Ottawa. You can easily find it on Amazon as well. Pomegranate molasses (the syrup of boiled pomegranate juice), is also readily available at Middle Eastern supermarkets. Dip ingredientsMost recipes called for roasting and peeling fresh red peppers, but I was feeling a bit lazy, so I just used jarred roasted red peppers. Some brands are heavy on the vinegar, so taste the peppers first and rinse them if they taste too vinegary. Measure out all your ingredients and then start processing.

I garnished the finished dip with extra drizzles of olive oil and pomegranate molasses. A scatter of fresh pomegranate seeds and chopped toasted walnuts add a welcome crunch. Fresh mint sprigs look pretty. You can serve it with pita chips or warmed fresh pita. I used whole wheat mini pitas. on black plate

Click here to print recipe for Muhhammara.

ready to dip

 

 

Slice and Bake Cheese Sables

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with wineSome mammals develop an extra layer of insulation to keep them toasty during the winter. For mammals with fur, this extra layer consists of a thicker or longer winter coat of their fur. When spring and summer roll around they naturally shed that extra layer. Other mammals, like me for instance, pack on a cookie layer to keep them warm during the polar vortex. Sadly, that extra layer does not magically shed when bathing suit season rolls around.

 In order to help me shed my cookie layer I declared my kitchen a bake-free zone during the month of January. But, as anyone who knows me can attest, I can get a little cranky if I go too long without baking. I was having some friends over for drinks this week so I thought I would break my rule and bake some savoury cheese sables. (Sable is what the French refer to when talking about crumbly butter cookies) It didn’t really feel like cheating since these cookies are sugar free!

I came across a recipe for Cheese Sables with Rosemary Salt in the January 2015 issue of Food and Wine Magazine. The dough came together very quickly and I rolled it into a log and chilled it. Slice and bake cookies make me very happy. slicingThey are topped with some rosemary salt as soon as they come out of the oven.adding rosemary salt While they looked quite beautiful, when I picked up a cooled biscuit to taste, it fell apart in my hands. I am not quite sure what I did wrong. Perhaps it is nature’s way of telling me that until I shed my cookie layer, and I need to lay off all biscuits, be they sweet or savoury!with rosemaryI carefully transferred them to a platter and served them anyways. They were messy but still quite delicious. If anyone has any ideas about what went wrong, let me know. I have a few suspicions. I used Manchego Cheese instead of the Parmesan called for in the recipe, so perhaps that was a factor. I also baked them while on holiday in Florida, on a very humid day, so perhaps that was what caused them to crumble.

Click here to print recipe for Slice and Bake Cheese Sables with Rosemary Salt.

Avocado Toasts

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I’m about to confess something that may get me drummed out of the tribe. I’m sick of eating humus! Truthfully, I have only myself to blame for this unfortunate state of events. I have been eating humus with carrot and celery sticks  for lunch everyday for the past year. Seriously, everyday! I know, you must be wondering, how is that possible? She’s a food blogger, she must create all kinds of wonderful lunches, each day more imaginative and fantastic than the last. But the sad truth is that I get into a rut, it’s just easy, plus it’s healthy and fairly low cal and so then I feel justified later in the day to indulge in my daily aperitivo!

I confess my boring lunch habit not so you will feel sorry for me, but as a way of sharing with you the discovery of a fantastic and simple appetizer to serve with drinks when company comes to visit.

Every summer for the past 26 years we have been gathering at our cottage with my husband’s University housemates and their spouses. Over the years our numbers have swelled as everyone started having kids. We had our annual get together this past weekend. It was just a small group of 15 this year as several members had other commitments. Each family is responsible for one meal over the weekend. It’s fantastic because it means that I am not in the kitchen the entire weekend cooking for everyone and I can enjoy my company instead of resent them!

As I began to plan what to serve my guests with drinks before dinner, I ruled out the usual suspects: humus and pita (sick of humus, see above!), tortilla chips and salsa (too predictable), a big bowl of pistachios or peanuts (nut allergies). As I was reading my July issue of Bon Appetit magazine, the photo on the editor’s letter page stopped me cold. It was just simply grilled bread topped with ripe avocado, sea salt, olive oil and red pepper flakes. I have to say that since Editor-in-Chief  Adam Rapoport took over at the helm of Bon Appetit, I have really started to enjoy reading this magazine once again. He has injected it with a fresh modern vibe and it just inspires me to cook everything on the pages. I still miss Gourmet (a moment of silence please!), but Bon Appetit is really doing a great job to partially fill the void.

The beauty of these avocado toasts is in their simplicity. The key is to gather together the very best ingredients for this dish. There is no real cooking or recipe involved here. Think of yourself as an orchestra leader, bringing together some gifted musicians. Each on their own, sounds quite nice. Together, they create a beautiful harmony. Look for good Artisan bread that has an “open crumb structure” (that’s baker speak for bread with lots of holes – more holes means more crusty spots to give added crunch and crevices for the olive oil to drip into).

A big fat clove of fresh garlic gets rubbed onto just grilled bread.

The avocados should be perfectly ripe, so buy them a few days ahead so they have time to ripen to perfection.

Table salt need not apply for the job of topping these crostini. Pull out the Maldon Sea Salt or some Fleur de Sel. The large crystals of salt will give added crunch and provide a perfect counterpoint to the bland creamy avocado. Pull out that expensive bottle of fruity, slightly bitter olive oil that you have been saving for a special occasion. The nooks and crannies of the grilled Artisan bread will soak it up. Finally, a very light sprinkling of red pepper flakes to wake up the taste buds.

These Avocado Toasts will have your friends and family toasting you!!