tapas

Time is running and we have already been in lovely perfect Roswell, GA for 3 month today. Compared to the first month we cook a lot now – actually I think that we cook al lot more than anyone else in our neighborhood. I really don’t understand how some people can eat out everyday, and sometimes more than one time each day. That is so different from our culture where people eat at home every day and only go out on special occasions.

Well, as i said we cook a lot more now than we did in the beginning of our new US life, but we still need a lot kitchen supplied to be up to date with our old kitchen back in Denmark. Until we are back at track everything is a little slow – even the blogging. However, I do have some easy recipes that I will try and put up during the next couple of weeks.

This recipe for oven dried tomatoes is one of them and it is one of my absolutely favorites to serve with a good piece of Italian bread and some strong aged cheese 🙂

Ingredients (1 cup)

80 small tomatoes (grapes or cherry), sliced in half

1 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves

1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, slightly chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (+ extra to pour in the jar)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and pour onto a baking tray covered with baking paper. Make sure that the cutting surface of the tomatoes is turning up – otherwise they will bake differently.

Place in a pre-heated 250F degree oven and let bake. Check after 2 hours to see if they have dried enough. If not, check again every 8-10 minutes until they have the wanted texture (I like mine to be a little soft , but every one is different 🙂 ).
Pull out of the oven an leave to cool. Transfer to an air tight jar, e.g. Mason and pour Extra Virgin Olive Oil until all the dried tomatoes are covered. Refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Bon Appétit Friends!

Pesto is one of those things that every one should have in their pantry. For years we bought it in the local super market, then we decided to buy it in the local Italian Deli and now we are making it our selves. It is as easy as boiling an egg and it only takes a few minutes.

This recipe is a pesto with spinach, almonds and parmesan cheese, but you can use all sorts of herbs, nuts and hard cheese.

That we chose to make a version with spinach, was actually because we had bought to much spinach at the local Farmers Market last wednesday and did not know what to use it for. So we decided to google ‘spinach recipes pictures’ and ended up with hundreds of pictures of meals containing spinach, but at that exact time none of it look appealing. Later the same day, we saw another blogger baking a cauliflower salad with basil pesto, and we immediately new what to make of the remaining spinach 🙂

Ingredients (1/2 cup)

2 handfuls spinach

1/2 lemon, juice

1/3 cup quality olive oil

2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

8 almonds, roasted

Salt & Pepper

Rinse the spinach thoroughly in cold water and leave it to dry on some paper towel (if you are in a hurry you can just dap it with paper towel to remove as much water as possible).

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth – it takes approximately 30-40 seconds. If you think that the pesto is a bit to thick and grainy, you can add more olive oil. Add one tsp. at a time, to prevent that it gets to thin.

Transfer to sterilized jar, seal and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Serve as a dressing for raw cut vegetables, with pasta, tapas, or combine with sour cream and use as an alternative the the usual burger dressing.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (2.5 dl)

2 handfuls spinach

0.5 lemon, juice

0.8 dl quality olive oil

2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

8 almonds, roasted

Salt & Pepper

Food on Demant

by Ann & Chris Demant

Oven Dried Tomatoes – perfect for cheese

Spinach and Almond Pesto