Avocado and Sun Dried Tomato Bruschetta

This fresh tasting Celia Brooks Brown recipe makes a perfect appetizer, starter or snack for any occasion.

crusty white bread

1 avocado

dried chili to taste (we had some nice apple tree smoked habaneros a friend gave us)

1 tsp cumin seed, toasted and ground

salt

pepper

lime juice

sun dried tomatoes

olive oil

- Peel and mash the avocado, add the spices, season and add the desired amount of lime juice (roughly one lime).

- Drizzle some olive oil on the bread slices, and bake at 180 degrees until crisp.

- Spread a generous layer of the avocado paste on the hot bread and top with a sun dried tomato.

Baba Ghannouj

Baba Ghannouj is best served with freshly baked bread.

2 aubergines

1/4 red onion (finely chopped)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

1 peeled tomato (chopped)

1 tblsp tahini

lemon juice

salt

parsley (finely chopped)

- Half the aubergines lengthwise, Place them the peel side up on an oiled oven dish and grill until soft.

- Scoop the flesh out, mash or blend and add onion, garlic, tomato and tahini. Season to taste with salt and lemon juice and garnish with fresh parsley.

Quesadillas with Quacamole & Fresh Tomato Salsa

This Tex-Mex dish is quick to prepare and makes a nice snack or meal. The dips are also great with tortilla chips or any Tex-Mex food, such as burritos or fajitas.

Quesadilla filling: (makes 3-4)

cheese (grated)

half a small red onion (chopped)

tomato (peeled, de-seeded and diced)

bunch of fresh coriander (coarsely chopped)

fresh chili (finely chopped)

tortilla bread (2 for each quesadilla)

- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

- Heat a dry frying pan on a medium to medium high heat until hot, add a tortilla and cover with the filling. Then add the second on top to form a 'sandwich' and press it down to help the cheese stick the two pieces together. Continue cooking until the tortilla is slightly browned, then turn over and fry the other side.

Quacamole:

2 ripe avocados (peeled and mashed)

1-2 tomatoes (peeled, de-seeded and diced)

half a small red onion (finely chopped)

a small clove of garlic (crushed)

lime juice

salt

pepper

(fresh coriander)

- Mix all the ingredients together. You can keep the avocado stone in the dip until it's served as it prevents the quacamole from turning brown.

Fresh Tomato Salsa:

4-6 tomatoes (peeled, de-seeded and chopped)

1/4 cucumber (de-seeded and chopped)

half a small red onion (finely chopped)

fresh chili (finely chopped)

fresh coriander (chopped)

salt

pepper

lime juice

- Mix all the ingredients together and serve soon after making it as it gets wet quickly.

Aubergine Paté

This recipe is originally from Jamie Oliver. It's very simple and tastes superb. This time we had it as a small appetizer but it makes a great dip to have in larger quantities as well.

1 large aubergine (grilled)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

lemon juice

salt

pepper

- Halve the aubergine lengthwise and grill, skin side up, until the skin has blackened and the insides are soft

- Scoop out the flesh and mash it in a bowl

- Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

Hummus, Tzatziki and Courgette Dip

Dips are perfect party food and great for picnics since you can pre-prepare them and keep them in the fridge until it's time to eat. This time we had a few dips for dinner and served them with some basic veg and homemade bread.

Hummus:

chickpeas & stock

tahini

garlic

lemon juice

salt

(pepper)

- Soak the chick peas over night and boil them. (You can use tinned chickpeas too but I prefer the dried ones)

- Mash the chickpeas well in some of their own stock

- Add crushed garlic, salt and lemon juice (for your own taste)

- Add couple of table spoons of tahini

Tip: The hummus mix should be a bit runny before you add the tahini which thickens it up.

Tzatziki:

thick Greek yoghurt

cucumber

small clove of garlic

mint

(salt and lemon juice)

- Grate some cucumber (you can drain it if necessary to get rid of its juices)

- Stir cucumber into yoghurt

- Add the crushed garlic and mint (fresh mint if available, dried is ok too)

- Salt and lemon juice for taste.

Tips: Be careful with garlic, salt and lemon juice! If the yoghurt is bitter, lemon juice is not needed at all.

Courgette (Zucchini) Dip:

(original recipe from one of Jamie Oliver´s cook books)

plenty of courgettes

olive oil

chili flakes

garlic

lemon juice

salt

pepper

mint

- Chop the courgettes fairly small

- Heat up olive oil in a big pan.

- Add some chili and garlic and fry them for a couple of minutes

- Add the courgettes and fry them in a medium heat until they are soft (add the mint towards the end of this if dried)

- Add salt, pepper (fresh mint) and lemon juice to taste, and add some extra olive oil to loosten the mix if needed.

- Let cool before eating.

Grilled Aubergine Salad

This is a lovely dip-kind of salad that goes extremely well with crispy white bread. We had it with fresh home baked flatbread and some nice greens. The recipe is from a book called New Vegetarian Food ("Kansainvälisiä kasvisherkkuja" in Finnish) by Christine McFadden.

2 aubergines

1 red onion

1,5 dl olive oil

dried chili flakes

cummin seeds

sesame seeds

2 garlic cloves

salt

pepper

30 ml (2 table spoons) lime juice

Yoghurt sauce:

1,5 dl plain yoghurt

good handful of chopped fresh corriander

zest of half a lime

1 garlic clove

salt

pepper

- Slice the aubergine and onion into chuncks. Put into a big bowl.

- Mix the olive oil, chili flakes, cummin seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour on top of the veggies and stir well. Marinade for at least half an hour.

- While the veggies are marinating, mix yoghurt, fresh corriander, grated lime zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Leave to sit.

- Lay the vegetables on a oven tray and grill both sides approximately 5 minutes or until they are slightly browned. Cool them down for a while.

- Mix the grilled vegetables with the yoghurt sauce and let it sit in room temperature for an hour.

Tip: Don´t slice the red onion or garlic too small before grilling since they burn easily!