Vessy's day » appetizer

Bruschetta with cottage and fennel

Vessy — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 12:32:08 +0000

There is another super easy and delicious recipe, suitable for many occasions – you can make these bruschettas for a light lunch, serve them as an appetizer for friends over or get them to go for a picnic or a BBQ. You can easily prepare all ingredients in advance, place in a box to go and assemble bruschettas just before you will be having them.

Ingredients:
Bread, thinly sliced (you could grill it, if you prefer)
Spicy ajvar Mama’s
1 fennel bulb, chopped
Asparagus
Cottage cheese
Olive oil
Fresh dill, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper
Basil
Fresh dill for decoration

Cook asparagus in salted boiling water for about 3-5 minutes, depending on how thick are asparagus. Cool immediately in cold water and cut into small pieces.
Meanwhile stir-fry the fennel in a little olive oil until soft. Season with salt and pepper.
Season cottage cheese with olive oil, dill, basil, salt and pepper.
Assemble bruschettas: coat slices of bread with ajvar, put a spoonful of the cheese over the ajvar, sprinkle with fennel and asparagus. Optionally, decorate with fresh dill.

Five cheese stuffed mushooms

Vessy — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 13:47:50 +0000

This recipe is one of my favorite appetizer recipes – it is easy, delicious and looks amazing.

I wouldn;t say it is a quick one, but I guess there is no such thing as an “amazing” dish, which would be ready in a second.

This recipe has other advantages, except the amazing taste – the stuffing mixture could be prepared a day ahead, which will save you a lot of time on the day, you need it.

Ingredients:
About 10 large mushroms
150 grams cottage cheese
50 grams blue cheese, shredded
120 grams mozzarella, shredded
50 grams cream cheese
20 grams parmezan, shredded
50 grams spinach, chopped into small pieces
1 medium onion, chopped into small pieces
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 table spoons olive oil
1 table spoon thyme, finely chopped

Wash the mushrooms and remove the stems (chop up the stems finely).
Place the mushrooms on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and bake on 170 C for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool off. You will notice that the mushrooms are filled with water – excess it.
In a large skillet saute the onion and garlic with the spinach. Once the spinach softens, add the stems, season with pepper and thyme and cook until well done.
Let the spinach and stem mixture cool off.
In a medium bowl mix all types of cheese except the parmesan.
Add the spinach mixture to the cheese mixture and mix well.
Stuff the mushrooms with the mixture, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.
Serve warm or cold with sweet balsamic reduction.

Salmon bites

Vessy — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 10:50:41 +0000

Salmon is one of my favorite types of fish… but I can only eat it raw. The cooked version of salmon is too fishy, oily and heavy for my taste. That is why I prefer to prepare light small appetizers with raw salmon, where I could totally follow my instincts and imagination and add whatever ingredients I think of. These types of appetizers are very easy to prepare, they do not take too much time and the result is always great. If you have some vegetables or bread on hand you are good to go!
The other day I was literally dreaming of salmon. I wanted to have a quick bite to eat and came up with this super easy recipe. I had some freshly baked bread, sun dried tomatoes, fresh green onions and some sour cream or mayonnaise and of course the magic ingredient – salmon!
That’s a great idea for a light, quick dinner on a working day!

Ingredients:
1 baguette (cut into slices)
100 grams (3.5 oz) raw salmon (or smoked) (cut into rectangular pieces about half of the size of the bread slices)
50 grams (1.8 oz) sun dried tomatoes (cut lengthwise into small pieces)
2 table spoons sour cream
Salt and pepper
1/2 tea spoon basil
1 tea spoon mayonnaise
1 table spoon soy sprouts (cut into small pieces)
Green onions (cut into small pieces)

In a small bowl mix the sour cream with the mayonnaise and all of the spices.
Take a piece of the bread. Spread the sour cream on top. Place 2-3 pieces of the tomatoes on top of the sour cream.

Place a piece of the salmon on top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle with green onions and soy sprouts.

Repeat the same for all of your salmon bites.