Sub Categories in Appetizers

Category of: Appetizers

Hummus

November 28, 2019

Homemade hummus is a wonderful thing. I cook the chickpeas in a pressure cooker so they get nice and soft, and that makes the hummus so much more creamier than when using canned beans. Tahini paste adds a unique flavour and texture. Sometimes i make extra and drizzle it over the hummus, it’s delicious. For garnishes i drizzle olive oil over, sprinkle paprika, sesame seeds, dukkah, za’atar, whatever inspire me that day. Enjoy.

Zucchini fritters with spiced yogurt

October 28, 2019

The minute it feels like fall I feel like frying things. Fritters are usually what I turn to and these zucchini fritters with a few variations make an appearance in my kitchen this time of year. The key to making fritters is to drain the vegetables of any residual moisture by squeezing the water out of them using a towel or your hands. It’s best to let the shredded sit for a while, lightly salted... View Article

Green cauliflower hummus

October 4, 2019

  Hummus is one of the universally liked dips and is very easy to make at home. The plain version is my favourite but I do explore adding other flavours and some are quite successful. check here for other hummus recipes on the blog. For this recipe I had beautiful green cauliflower so I cooked, pureed and used some in the hummus mixture. the colour and flavour were very enticing so I am sharing the... View Article

Flatbreads

September 16, 2019

    For me bread is the thing when it comes to food. Without bread I hardly feel like I have eaten and I never serve a meal without it. Usually it would be a good sourdough from a bakery, or a great crusty french baguette, or an epi baguette with the crusty wheat shift style “elbows ready to be pulled apart. I love them all and do not discriminate but occasionally I like to... View Article

Radishes with Nasturtium Butter and Maldon Salt

September 7, 2019

Radishes with butter and salt is a quintessential French thing. The traditional way of serving them is slicing the radishes  in the center, but not through the stem, and sandwich them with a bit of butter that oozes out of the sides. You then dip them in good quality salt that would stick to the butter and you pop them into your moth. there is something about this simple food that is so fresh and... View Article

Sage Pesto

September 5, 2019

Sage pesto Here is an easy recipe for a pesto that doesn’t use basil and goes well with vegetables. Sage grows in my rooftop garden as a perennial that comes back strong and vigorous every year. In fact I had to cut it back early in the season to prevent it from going too wild. I make this pesto much like a basil pesto but changed the core ingredients to sage and pistachios or walnuts... View Article

Black Crisp Breads

August 24, 2019

  I mentioned on my Instagram feed (@oliveoilandlemons) that I became intrigued by activated charcoal as an ingredient to make breads black. The look of the black bread is so dramatic and would make a beautiful background to colourful toppings. In terms of what it is and whether it’s safe to consume I read a couple fo articles but do not claim any particular knowledge of the product so do your own research if you... View Article

Flower and herb Carta di Musica (Sardinian Crisp Bread)

July 28, 2019

This summer my rooftop garden has an abundance of herbs and flowers and I am incorporating them into my food every way I can. I have already pressed them into sheets of pasta and now a similar treatment with this special bread crisps. Carta di Musica means music sheets in Italian. It describes a Sardinian crisp bread rolled so transparent that you could read music sheets through it. I am sure they mean opera music,... View Article

Nasturtium butter and nasturtium salt

July 17, 2019

  This year we have a profusion of nasturtiums growing on our rooftop patio. They are edible (no pesticides here), and peppery flowers and leaves and can be incorporated as garnish or otherwise into food I cook. Here are a couple of simple ideas that are easy to execute and fun to make and serve.   Nasturtium butter Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature 3 tablespoons or so chopped nasturtium flowers About 3... View Article

Sydney Cooking School: DYI Dumpling Cooking Class and Recipe

January 20, 2019

    As soon as we arrived in Sydney (and even before) I was looking for cooking classes teaching Asian cuisine. I was interested in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, whatever I could find. From watching hours of Masterchef Australia I knew that there is a major Asian influence on Australian cooking, likely because of the proximity to South East Asia. From watching the show it seemed like almost everyone knows how to cook Asian food... View Article

Grilled eggplant with sesame oil, herbs and flat bread

November 2, 2018

    Grilling the eggplant over flames gives it a charred smoky flavour that you don’t get by roasting it in the oven. Same thing for the grilled bread. The blackened, caramelized strips on the flatbread are a good accompaniment to this eggplant dish. Having said that, if you do not have access to a grill you can still make this dish successfully roasting the eggplant in the oven and cooking the bread in a... View Article

Radishes with butter and za’atar

August 30, 2018

Radishes and butter is a classic French “thing” but I have never had them with za’atar before. I found this recipe in Alison Roman’s book Dining In from which I have been cooking lately and thought I’d share it here, slightly adapted to my own kitchen. Za’atar is a middle eastern spice blend made with fresh thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, sumac and salt. You can make your own or buy a good za’atar at a middle eastern... View Article