Tag Archives: Olive Oil

Appetizer, Balsamic vinegar, Basil, BBQ, Breads, Crostini, Eggplant, Food, Garlic, Mint, Olive Oil, Open Faced Sandwiches, Pane siciliano, Pepper, Salt, Sandwiches

Grilled Eggplant Crostini Appetizer

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Inspired by Jamie Oliver’s book “Jamie’s Italy” this is one of our favorite appetizers so far this year. It also looks beautiful. The crunchy toasted pane siciliano bread and the smoothness of the eggplant (or Aubergine as we call it in Denmark), goes very well together and fills your mouth with flavor and adventure. Eggplant seems to be largely a forgotten vegetable in the US, at least in SoCal (Southern California), and really it’s a wonderful ingredient in many dishes. People, wake up and smell the eggplant!

Grilled Eggplant Appetizer
Grilled Eggplant Appetizer

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Balsamic vinegar, Basil, Breads, Cheeses, Closed sandwiches, Food, Mozzarella, Olive Oil, Panini, Paniniing, Pepper, Salt, Sandwiches, Sourdough, Tomato

Caprese Panini Sandwich

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We love caprese salads so much we had Phil’s BBQ change their menu and serve it at our wedding (They did a great job too). So, it should come as no surprise that we had to try and turn the art of the caprese into a sandwich. A panini sandwich to be exact. It has all the classic ingredients: Mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For the bread we went with our own homemade pesto-sourdough bread, but any regular sourdough will do just fine.

Caprese Panini Sandwich
Caprese Panini Sandwich
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Baguette, Breads, Cheeses, Fava bean spread, Food, Lemon, Mint, Olive Oil, Parmesan, Parsley, Sandwiches

Fava Bean Crostini Appetizer

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This recipe originally comes from Jamie Oliver, from his book “Jamie’s Italy“. We recently bought it and very quickly fell in love with his down-to-earth simple taste foods. Absolutely gorgeous. This is how we made our fava bean crostini, which turned out beautifully. In the background, you’ll notice some other crostinis which were also inspired by Jamie and which we will write about in future posts.

Fava Bean Appetizer
Fava Bean Appetizer
Grinding fava beans to paste in stone mortar
Grinding fava beans to paste in stone mortar

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Appetizer, Avocado, Baguette, Breads, Cilantro, Food, Fruits, Herbs, Olive Oil, Salt

Appetizer of Avocado With Lemon/Olive Oil/Cilantro Dressing

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Wendie bought these avocados for a salad, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to toast some bread and make a few avocado appetizers. Some would call them mini sandwiches. They’re dead simple and very refreshing when the weather is hot and you have a Sunday evening on the patio with a glass of red wine and Clapton and Bob playing in the background.

Salted Avocado With Lemon Appetizer
Appetizer of Avocado With Lemon/Olive Oil/Cilantro Marinade

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Balsamic vinegar, BBQ, Breads, Carne Asada, Cheeses, Feta, Food, Italian salsa verde, Meats, Micro greens (lemony), Olive Oil, Olive-Rosemary Load, Open Faced Sandwiches, Pesto, Radish, Rosemary-Garlic bread, Rosemary-Olive bread, Rustic white bread, Sandwich Styles, Sandwiches, Sourdough

Sandwich With Carne Asada, Cucumber, Feta, Cherry Vinegar And Radishes

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Living close to Mexico means there is a constant influx of great Mexican cuisine. Carne Asada is one of those things that are very popular in San Diego, and it is essentially a long slice of skirt of flank steak, usually marinated or rubbed, and then grilled. It is fantastic when done right. Wendie got us a couple of these steaks, and of course I had to go make a sandwich out of them. I opted to add some ‘green stuff’ from the local farmers market on the bread. We call it ‘green stuff’ because we don’t really know what it is, but the guy that sells it swears by it. It tastes a bit like spicy tabbouleh without the couscous. In any case, substitute with pesto and all shall be well. The greens on top are called “micro greens’ and are also from the farmers market. These taste very lemony, and I wish we had more precise name for them, but alas, ‘micro greens’ it is.

Sandwich With Carne Asada, Cucumber, Feta, Cherry Vinegar, And Radishes
Sandwich With Carne Asada, Cucumber, Feta, Cherry Vinegar, And Radishes

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BBQ, Beef ribs, Breads, Cheeses, Closed sandwiches, Food, Olive Oil, Panini, Sandwich Styles, Sandwiches, Soft white bread, Sourdough, Stored danish smelly cheese, Tarragon

Phil’s BBQ Beef Rib Panini Sandwich

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We just got married, and we were very saddened by the Icelandic cloud of ash that kept several of our Danish friends from attending our wedding. But everything can be a blessing in disguise. We didn’t tell our caterer, Phil’s BBQ, so we ended up with extra beef ribs in the freezer. While we miss our friends, at least we have ribs. And as the old saying goes, “if life gives you ribs, make rib sandwiches.” And so here we are, summer just started, and this wonderful panini (thank you Scott and Choo for that wonderful machine!!) is our first and most basic beef rib sandwich. Yum.

Phil's BBQ Beef Rib Panini
Phil's BBQ Beef Rib Panini

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Breads, Bulgur, Cucumber, Food, Garlic, Grains, Ingredients, Italian salsa verde, Lemon, Meats, Olive Oil, Onion, Open Faced Sandwiches, Parsley, Pine nuts, Pork roast, Roasted pine nuts, Rustic white bread, Salsa Verde, Sandwich Styles, Sandwiches, Tomato

Roasted Pork Sandwich With Tabouleh Salad, Italian Salsa Verde And Swiss Chard Side Dish

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This sandwich is an imprompty improvisation made from ingredients we found around the house. The roast pork is from the night before as is the tabouleh. The Italian Salsa Verde is from our wedding, where is was both served for dinner and given as a gift to the guests. The Swiss chard is from our vegetable garden, and the roasted garlic- well let us just say we make sure never to run out of roasted garlic.

Roasted Pork Sandwich With Tabouleh Salad, Italian Salsa Verde And Swiss Chard Side Dish
Roasted Pork Sandwich With Tabouleh Salad, Italian Salsa Verde And Swiss Chard Side Dish

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Basil, Cheeses, Food, Herbs, Olive Oil, Parmesan, Pesto, Pine nuts, Roasted pine nuts

Fresh Basil Pesto

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Pesto is a wonderful spread or topping for sandwiches and appetizer, in addition to its obvious uses in pasta. It’s very easy to make yourself, and when our sweet basil plant starts to grow out of hand we always have a use for the basil. If you live near a well stocked grocery store (We have Trader Joe’s here in California), look for a bag of basil and try this yourself if you don’t have the plants.

Pesto Recipe

  • 3 cups of rinsed fresh basil leaves.
  • 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
  • 3/4 cup of olive oil
  • 1/2 cup of pine nuts
  • 3 garlic cloves

Start by placing the garlic cloves in  a food processor. Pulse a few times until the pieces are as small as they can get. Add the basil and pine nuts, and pulse again. Add the olive oil slowly while running the food processor, and finally add the cheese.

Tip: The Simply Recipies blog has excellent advice for freezing fresh pesto, plus a slightly different version. In general don’t sweat the exact measurements, but try and taste it and adjust. The quality of the basil can vary over the course of the year, or from region to region, so you may need to add more or less cheese and olive oil.

Baking, Bell Pepper, Breads, Cheeses, Chicken, Cumin powder, Fennel, Food, Garlic, Herbs, Honey, Meats, Olive Oil, Olives, Onion, Paprika, Parmesan, Pecorino romano, Pizza, Pizza dough, Pizza Sauce, Salt, Smoked paprika, Spices, Tomato, Vegetables

Pizza Recipe: Green peppers, Tomatoes, Olives, Parmesan/Pecorino Romano Cheese, Grilled Chicken

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One of the pizzas from Wendie’s surprise birthday party, this one has some grilled chicken (with a very nice spice blend including smoked paprika), two cheeses, olives, tomatoes, green peppers and onions. The dough is a pizza dough with honey I sort-of invented (based loosely on our Lavash crackers recipe), and the tomato sauce has a wide range of spices, most noticeably a hint of fennel.  We had 13 guests and I made a total of 9 pizzas and I was stunned that there were almost no leftovers. I really had expects to fill the freezer too, but at least everyone had a great time. Next time I’ll make more!

Pizza: Green peppers, Tomatoes, Olives, Parmasan/Pecorino Romano Cheese, Grilled Chicken
Pizza: Green peppers, Tomatoes, Olives, Parmesan/Pecorino Romano Cheese, Grilled Chicken

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Baking, Food, Honey, Ingredients, Pizza, Pizza dough, Salt

Pizza Dough With Honey

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Pizza Dough With Honey Recipe

Total time: 2 hours (including rising).

Will make enough dough for 4 pizzas.  The remaining dough can be frozen until your next pizza craving demands satisfaction. This is a variation of the basic pizza dough in that we have added honey and a little more yeast and salt. This makes the dough just a little sweet, and more tasty, which can be a fun variation when making homemade pizzas. Continue reading Pizza Dough With Honey →