All posts filed under: Summer

Middle Eastern Spiced Warm Salad of Butternut Squash

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  When the weather gets warmer, I always start craving salads. Warm salads, cooked salads, raw salads, it doesn’t matter what kind of salad, I just have to make them. Putting a salad together is so therapeutic for me, you have to taste the ingredients in your head and with your eyes as you assemble the dish. If it looks good, it will no doubt taste good too.   Preparing a summer salad is an excuse to combine tons of ingredients and incorporate them all onto one dish. As the longer evenings appear, I naturally want to eat outside in the garden, and a generous portion of an exciting salad is just the ticket for Alfresco dining. This dish combines the sweet flavour of the butternut squash with tart goats cheese mixed in a beautiful spice infusion. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Serves 4 1 small butternut squash or ½ of a large one 100g soft goats cheese 250g chickpeas, cooked 4-5 cherry tomatoes a handful coriander ½ a lemon, juice of Spice Mix 1 tsp cumin seeds 4 …

Beech and Wild Garlic Canapés

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Walking my dog this morning, I was greeted by the beautiful sight of the beech tress bursting into leaf. Finally! Growing up in Denmark, I have come to associate the mark of spring with the sight of fresh beech leaves lightly decorating the tall trees in the forests. I was also thrilled to see that the entire forest flour was covered by the beautiful snow white flowers of the wild garlic. They are extremely pretty incorporated into a salad, or stuck in a vase at home, if you dont mind the faint smell of garlic..Or make them into this great recipe I have adapted a super simple recipe from Anette Eckman’s ‘Naturens Spisekammer’ that uses new beech leaves filled with cheese, as a little spring snack. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 24 new beech leaves 200g soft cream cheese 4 wild garlic leaves 1 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli oil a pinch of salt and pepper ____________________________________________________________________________________ Pick your beech leaves and wild garlic leaves the day you intend to eat them. Wash and pat them dry. Finly chop …

Homemade Egyptian Hummus

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I eat humus all year round in large quantities. And nothing can beat a homemade version, especially made during the summer, when you can serve it outdoors on a hot day. Alongside carrot sticks, I like to serve homegrown beetroot sticks, they are fresh and crunchy and often much sweeter than carrots.  The best humus I ever tasted was lovingly prepared by my good friend Marie, who has spent a lot of time in Egypt and has come back with some great authentic recipes. She explained the importance of serving the humus correctly, flattened out on the serving dish then drizzled with olive oil and accompanied by big shiny olives. ________________________________________________________________________________ 150g dried organic chickpeas or one 400g tin of organic ready made 2 tbsp tahini paste 2 large cloves of garlic ½ tsp cumin seeds, lightly toasted ½ tsp chilli powder half a lemon, squeezed 2 tbsp olive oil A good pinch of salt ___________________________________________________________________________________ Rinse the chick peas in a colander and leave to soak in a bowl of fresh water overnight, or …