Tomato Tart

This is one of my mothers favourites to make for a quick and fuss free lunch with a salad.  It's a recipe inspired by Marita van der Vyver's book "summer in Provence". I love easy fuss free recipes like these and the best is that you can play around with the ingredients.  It's like a pizza, just easier.

What you need:
A roll of puff pastry
Basil pesto - a good half a cup at least
Half a cup of parmesan/gruyere {and a few shavings for serving}
Sliced ripe tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
Thinly sliced mozzarella - about 12 slices {you can use more or less depending on how much you like cheese}
Fresh basil leaves

Roll out the puff pastry, and just fold up to make an edge around the outside of the pizza.  You can also make it in a tart dish, it does look a little more rounded off.

Spread with the pesto.

Sprinkle with the parmesan.

Place the tomatoes on the tart in an ordered way to make it look pretty.

Then pack the mozzarella on the top, this is optional.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 20min

Serve with a few parmesan shavings and basil leaves, and a big fresh garden salad on the side.

Guacomole

Nacho’s and Guacamole are probably one of our favourite {easy} snacks to have on week-ends with a glass of wine or two. You can serve the nachos as is, with the Guacamole or make a baked nacho’s platter {depending on how much trouble you want to go through and how hungry you are}

Lots of the Guacamole recipe’s that you’ll find have tomato in, but personally I don’t find that appetizing. I prefer a tomato salsa on the side and I’ll mix it myself thanks!

FYI

Guacamole is an avocado-based sauce that originates with the Aztecs in Mexico.  In addition to its use in Modern Mexican Cuisine, it has also become part of American cuisine as a dip, condiment and salad ingredient.  It is traditionally made by mashing ripe avocados with a mortar and pestle with sea salt.  

What you need:

2 ripe avocado’s {halved, stones removed and peeled}

1/2 red onion {very finely chopped}

1 small fresh chilli {deseeded, unless of course you are brave and chopped very finely}

2 garlic cloves {crushed}

Juice of half a lemon {or a small lime}

Enough ground black pepper and Malden salt {to taste}

Mash the Avocado with a fork in a bowl.  Then add all the other ingredients.  {you might want to only add half of the lime juice and chilli and taste it first}

Serve Nacho’s with Guacamole, Sour cream and Tomato Salsa.

Pear and gorgonzola squares

Pear just goes nicely with blue cheese and we kick-off the year with pear and gorgonzola squares.  Can be served as a starter, or make them bite size and serve it as canapé's. This recipe makes enough squares to serve about 6 people for starters.

What you need:

500g puff pastry {thawed}

2 tablespoons butter

2 pears pealed and thinly sliced

150g blue cheese {gorgonzola or something similar} crumbed

a hand full of walnuts chopped roughly

1 egg {beaten}

To start off cut the pastry into squares, a little bigger than you are planning on making your squares {about 12 cm squares}

Place the squares on a baking sheet, and fold the sides in {about 1cm}.  Then brush the sides with the beaten egg.

Spread the crumbed blue cheese on the inside of the squares, enough to cover the whole square.

Heat the butter in a frying pan at medium heat and fry the pear in the butter until they start getting soft, then place it on top of the blue cheese.

Sprinkle the walnuts over the pears.

Now bake for 10 to 15 min or until the pastry has puffed and browned

Serve as is, or with salad leaves drizzled with vinaigrette.

Bon appetit!

tomato and pesto canape's

These canape's is easiest to make as squares, but if you use a cookie cutter you can make them in any shape of your choice.  For Christmas last year I made stars pastry's, with the red tomato in the middle they looked lovely.

FYI:A canapé (a type of hors d’oeuvre, “apart from the main work”) is a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canap%C3%A9)

What you need:

Puff pastry 

Basil pesto

Rosa tomatoes

Cream cheese

To start make sure the puff pastry is defrosted (if not it won't "puff").

Roll it out slightly and cut into squares about 2cm x 2cm and put on a baking sheet.

Spread the pesto over the squares.

Then cut the tomatoes in half and take the pips out.  Fill the tomato with cream cheese and put it on the pesto covered puff pastry square.

Bake in oven for about 10min @ 180°C or until the puff pastry is puffed and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and place on a platter and serve.

Enjoy!

quick and easy nachos

Nacho's can be served as a snack or a meal, especially when you add meat to the dish.  It can be messy, but it's all worth it :-) so be sure to serve serviettes with your nacho's. 

FYI:

Chef Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya threw together a dish using leftover ingredients he had on hand. In 1943, Anaya was the head cook at the Victory Club in the Mexican city of Coahuila. One day after the restaurant had closed, several American wives from the nearby US military base came in for dinner. Thinking quickly, Anaya cut a few tortillas into triangles and fried them. He then topped these with cheese and jalapenos. And Voila Nachos were born. (http://www.yumsugar.com/Brief-History-My-Beloved-Nachos-763889)

What you need:

1 packet of nacho chips

1 packet of thick tomato pasta sauce

mozzarella cheese (about 200g)

cheddar cheese (about 200g)

jalapeno's (optional)

chicken pieces (optional)

guacamole, sour cream, and salsa (with chilli if you like it hot) for serving

I find these products work nicely :-)

Spread the nacho's in a ovenproof platter

Then pour over the thick tomato pasta sauce

If you want to add chicken, cut the chicken into strips and fry in a pan

Now add the chicken and jalapeno's

and then loads of cheese on the top

Put in the oven under the grill until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Serve with dollops of guacamole, sour cream and a good helping of chilli salsa 

This serves about 4 to 6 people