Tomato Bruschetta

Bruschetta is very easy and simple to make and if I have friends over and my meals are kind of Italian I always like to serve these because it's not expensive to make and just delicious. You can have it as a simple starter or as a side dish. Either way, your guest will love them!

The tomato mixture can easily be made earlier that day so you won't have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen when your guests arrive.

Duration: 15 minutes

What you need for 4 to 6 persons:

• 5 (Roma) tomatoes
• 1 small red onion
• Some fresh basil leaves
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 to 2 ts balsamic vinegar
• 1 Ciabatta bread
• 3 to 4 tbs olive oil
• Salt & pepper

What you do: 

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees of Celsius.
2. In a small bowl mix the regular olive oil with one crushed garlic and some salt and pepper and set aside.
3. Remove the seeds/pulp from the tomatoes and peel the red onion. Finely chop the tomatoes and red onion and put in a bowl with 2 garlic cloves, the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
4. Slice the ciabatta bread and brush lightly with the olive oil - garlic mixture. Put the on your griddle (covered with grease proof paper) and bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the oven until their golden brown and crunchy. Put them on a large, beautiful plate and put the tomato mixture on top. Finish with some freshly torn basil leaves and serve this colorful dish to your guests.

Bon appétit! 

 

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Rosemary Thyme Potatoes (out of the oven)

I don't eat a lot of potatoes, but if I do then I almost always make these delicious potatoes out of the oven! They are so good and I thought, with Christmas coming up that it is finally time to post the recipe. It makes a perfect side dish and everybody who I ever served these potatoes absolutely love them! As a bonus your house will smell fantastic and very homey! It's perfect with chicken or a nice piece of meal for Christmas. But you can also serve them with, for example, chicken burgers.

I had these potatoes yesterday when my grandmother came to visit me and served them with Chicken from the Oven. The recipe for the chicken will follow later today!

Duration: 45 minutes (mostly waiting!)

The ingredients for 4 persons (for one just divide everything by four):

• 1 kg potatoes with skin
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 ts dried oregano
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 ts sea salt

What you do:

1. Preheat your oven to 225 degrees of Celsius.
2. Clean the potatoes under cold running water and halve them (don't remove the skin!). Cook them in a pan with boiling water (all potatoes need to be under water) and some salt for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the olive oil with the oregano, thyme leaves, rosemary leaves (finely chopped), the garlic (sliced) and the sea salt in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Pour the potatoes and let them evaporate. Mix with the olive oil mixture until everything is evenly covered. Put them on a griddle covered with grease proof paper and place them in the oven for about 25 minutes. Make sure you stir them once a while! When they are golden brown they are done and ready to be served!

Enjoy!

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Colorful Beetroot Salad (V)

I really like to vary in my vegetables but as most people you can get stuck in buying the same vegetables every week. So at first I had the rule that every week I needed to buy a vegetable that I've never bought or eaten before. This work perfect for me when I started eating healthy but now I'm at the point that I've tried almost every vegetable. But there are vegetables that I don't eat very often for no particular reason. Beetroots are one of these vegetables so I try to eat them once every month. And this beetroot salad is one of my favorite recipes. You may think once a month isn't that much, but every week I need to incorporate a vegetable in my meals that I don't eat that often and for me this works perfect!

The ingredients for the salad:

• 3 pre-cooked beetroots
• Couple of radishes
• 1/2 yellow pepper
• 1/3 cucumber
• handful of cherry tomatoes in different colors!
• some feta cheese
• some fresh basil leaves
• 2 spring onions

Ingredients for the dressing:

• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• Pepper & Himalayan sea salt

What you do:

1. Just cut up all the vegetables and mix them in a bowl.
2. Then mix the ingredients for the dressing and sprinkle over the salad. Top it off with some fresh basil leaves and crumbled feta cheese.

Variation tips: You can use any colorful vegetable you have left in your refrigerator or pantry. You can add carrots, pumpkin, corn, green pepper, sweet pepper etc. The feta cheese can be substituted for cottage cheese or pecorino. 

Enjoy!