appetizers recipes

RAIN, RAIN, and again more RAIN ! . . .  If it was sunny, I’d be sharing recipes about barbecues, planchas, grilled sausages, roasted vegetables & meats & seafood, fruity pies & desserts, condiments for hotdogs and hamburgers and all that picnic stuff … but it hasn’t stopped raining for weeks...

I like my hummus CHUNKIER (not too smooth & silky) and I NEVER ADD WATER … and of course it has to have lots of lemon, garlic, cumin and SCALLIONS. Is it truly a “hummus” ? It doesn’t matter, it’s how we like it ! If I hadn’t prepared and served this version of hummus several times in the past 2 weeks, I...

It took me a while to share this with you … I know. Not because it’s complicated. It’s super simple but I preferred waiting until they were ready, correctly pickled and taste-tested. The verdict :  WONDERFUL, so just do it too ! It’s a pity to waste those last green unripe tomatoes of the season. It was warm here...

Do you know which country consumes the most cheese in the world ? Answer : Greece ! This includes cheeses in baked goods as well as non-baked goods. Each citizen of Greece consumes an average of 30 kg of cheese per year, and 2/3 of that amount is in the form of feta cheese ! I wish Greece all the best for what they’re going through and hope...

Simple is great too so these appetizers require more assembling and less preparing but a little effort will make it tastier ! Once you get the cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls and fresh basil leaves, then you can decide whether you use prosciutto or pancetta or other smoked and cured meats or you may decide to leave aside the cured meat and...

"Are you a genuine APRIL DAY FOOL if you make your own sardines at home ... or just TOTALLY-BANANAS-CRAZY !?" Well, I’m not so sure. I made a small batch, starting with 1 kg of fresh sardines, cleaning them, salt-curing them for several days, then storing them in olive oil. The first time I tried this, I realized that...

Let’s start at the very beginning, A very good place to start, When you read you begin with A-B-C, When you sing you begin with Do-Re-Mi, Dough- (yeah, it's funny) -Re-Mi, The first 3 ingredients just happen to be, Flour, Butter, Water … Flour-Butter-Water-Puff-Pastryyyyy !  …...

YES, 6 KG of UNRIPE GREEN TOMATOES ! I mentioned some time ago that I had received over 5 kg of unripe green tomatoes from a friend … I had more actually, an additional 1 kg of my own cute little unripe green cherry tomatoes from my own garden ! The smallest ones are patiently pickling (recipe appearing soon for that, I’m...

I didn’t have much of a choice, it’s been a zucchini year, so here’s another recipe (a simple one) for a light lunch or dinner ! You can always make a regular omelette and just toss in chopped vegetables and cheese and whatever else makes you happy, but this is an impressive way of making individual omelette bites or parcels and...

With this heat, comes the urge to take it easy, hang out in the garden and perhaps go to the beach, but has your summer vacation already begun or will you have to wait some more ? Why not pretend you’re already on vacation and make some small fish skewers at home, whether with small sardines or with large anchovies. You can either grill them...

What do you mean by : “WHY AM I BOTHERING YOU AGAIN THIS WEEK” ??? & WHY, WY, Y are we THROWING AWAY our VEGETABLE PEELINGS and SKINS ?!? … because we are wasteful & dumb creatures or perhaps just didn’t know any better … we may be forgiven (if we change our ways now). As I was recently...

I know what I said : "EAT LESS RED MEAT, EAT MORE FISH & VEGETABLES !" Well, for your information, these meatballs are 1/3 vegetables so without abandoning meat, we’re still making an effort. Okay, it wasn’t really an effort either. I often want to try out recipes that are “UPLIFTING” reinterpretations...

It’s an INVASION I tell you ! Just when I thought I’d eaten all, dealt with and finished with the apples that my friend brought me from the countryside 10 days ago (about 1,5 kg), then more appeared. As I was typing this recipe, I was kindly delivered another 4,5 kg of country apples from Northern France. Well, it’s my...

Laziness can sometimes be a good motivator to do one thing just so you don’t have to do other things. This was the reason behind making pickled and marinated vegetables ! Sometimes you’re just too lazy or tired or don’t have enough time to ccok up something, and with just a little effort and very little money, you can prepare...

ASPARAGUS ... so weird & funny-looking ! I know I usually use filo dough pastry sheets when I bake but there are more varieties of prepared types of pastry dough out there than you expect ! Brik pastry sheets, usually used in North African countries is round, thicker and sturdier and there is no need to double it up as we do with filo...