All blog posts tagged with side dishes & dips
Alfresco Friday - Hommus
Summer is the season for picnics and BBQ’s, dropping around at friend’s houses and having guests at your own. The weather is beautiful, the days are longer, and when the sun does go down its still gorgeous sitting outside with a glass of wine and enjoying the mild evening.
With all of this relaxing my thoughts inevitably turn to food. There is nothing quite like packing a hamper and escaping for the day, or throwing some gourmet tidbits in a basket and watching the sun go down with a bottle of champagne.
With this in mind I am going to create a simple “mini menu” every week to try and tempt everyone into loading up the picnic basket, and taking advantage of those extra hours of light at the end of each day.
For the first week of “Alfresco” the dish I wanted to start with was hommus. Now I know its not the most awe inspiring dip, but a homemade hommus is delicious and so much nicer than the commercial product. It is also an item which gets included in my picnic basket very regularly.
I make my hommus in either the food processor or with a stick blender so it is extremely quick to make. In fact, it takes me less time to make hommus, than it does to look for a park at the supermarket, and run in and buy a tub.
Ingredients:
1 x 440gm can chick pea
½ cup tahini
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
pinch of salt
2 garlic cloves
Garnish:
¼ t/s sumac
1 t/s olive oil (garlic infused)
1 t/s chopped continental parsley
Method:
Place all the dip ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. If necessary scrape down the sides and re process.
Garnish with a little oil, sumac and parsley and serve with Lebanese bread.
The recipe makes about 550gms, which is double the amount contained in a commercial tub.
Sweet Caramelised Onion
I have been meaning to put this recipe on the website for a little while. Everytime I serve these caramelised onions I always get asked how they are done. It is a very simple dish once you know how, and the addition of sugar and brandy really makes a difference. If you don't have brandy don't worry, I have used port and on one occasion bourban, it was still fantastic.
I cook this dish when I make the Bruschetta dish we were served at the Degustation dinner, or when I want to give bangers and mash a lift.
Ingredients:
6 Onions sliced into rings
1 ½ T/s Olive Oil
1 ½ T/s Butter
1 ½ T/s Sugar
3 T/s Brandy
salt to taste
Method:
Melt butter in saucepan with oil, onion, and sugar. Stir until coated with oil.
Cover and sweat on a low heat for 20 minutes stirring regularly.
Uncover pan and continue to cook and stir until caramelised, approx 15 minutes. Deglaze with Brandy and cook over a low heat until evaporated. Enjoy!!
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I wish I had you for my mum when I was 5!
That cake would have been the talk of the town for the rest of the year - fantastic job.
A lot of your blogs will be interactively design and style that visitor share data to read your blog.
Thank you so much, it is going to be a wonderful surprise for my Mum, I wish everyone a great day with your own special people, those who helped you become who you are today.
Mum definitely deserves the hamper, because she is an amazing woman that has brought up 3 kids through tough times. She is the best mum a son could ask for.
She's had it tough, working hard
deserving much more than just a card
So let's raise a glass and toast her true
The best person in the world - Mum, that's you!
Thanks for the info on Rasa Malaysia's book. I used to visit her website for recipes but some time ago, igot a new PC and forgot to bookmark it!
You're too modest Julie! You did a great job with the cake! :D
Yellow strawberries and cream is just perfect for mum as a reward for putting up with two kids who were a pain in the bum.
I would have loved to have seen those martini glasses! Hope Miss A had a lovely time celebrating turning 5 :D
It shouldn't. It should go to me as whilst trying to make sure my mum, step-mum, MIL, Step-MIL, 3 x Grandmas are spoilt on Mother's Day, I always seem to get forgotten!
My poor old mum is battling to care for my step dad who has advanced Parkinsons. My real dad who has had a stroke still expects her to be there for him, my bro is going bankrupt and she lives two states away from her only gransdon. Her life has little joy- JUst wish for one thing nice to happen to her. We all love our mums, good luck to you all!
Perfect place to relax and forget about all the troubles we have in the city and just unwind ~ can't wait to go to somewhere like this hehe
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