These recipes are all for snacks to go with drinks. Ones that will keep marauding teenagers at bay whilst you try and get on with cooking the main event. They are also great as very casual starters, normally wolfed down whilst standing around the sink in our kitchen.
They are also a pretty good as a stand-by for a light lunch
Piquillo peppers - Moro cookbook
Ingredients
1 jar of piquillo peppers
1 clove garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Sherry vinegar
Ciabatta or sourdough bread
A really quick recipe that tastes great … whip them out of the jar, tear into three, with a bit of garlic, a few tablespoons of olive oil and a dash of sherry vinegar.. Delicious. It’s a great standby to go with drinks as the jar will keep in the cupboard for ever well not quite but you know what I mean). You need a decent bit of bread to go alongside
Smashed Cannellini beans - River Cafe easy 1
This recipe has converted me to cannellini beans, given I thought that I absoloutely hated them this is no mean feat.
It is cheap, quick and easy and rather remarkably seems to be loved by everyone from Martha (10) up to my Mum (considerably more than 10) and including everyone in-between.
As you can see from the recipe below you can also serve it with salami – It’s particularly good with finnochiona (sp) which you can get from any good Italian deli or from your friendly, local Carluccios
Ingredients
1 tin cannelini beans
Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
juice of half a lemon
Ground black pepper
Ciabatta or sourdough bread
Method
At its most basic you just do the following
Open tin of beans (available at Waitrose) pour into a sieve and rinse.
Put a couple of genorous glugs of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the beans and a clove of garlic that has been crushed with some salt.
Warm the beans through for a few minutes.
Add a few turns of pepper and some lemon juice.
Either crush with a fork or blitz quickly in a blender, the mixture should be a bit loose add some more olive oil if it’s a bit stiff
Serve on good bread or on toasted sliced ciabatta or bruschetta ( The trick by the way is to slice the ciabatta and then bake in a moderate oven (160-170) for about 10 minutes)
Job done ( and it will keep for a couple of days)
Piadine - me
This is a sort of Italian quesadilla, I think its origins lay somewhere around Rome. We first tried making these in Puglia and they are now very much in demand at home particulary on the pre-prandial front.
WARNING: The trick to these is not to overload them with fillings they don’t get better they just get soggy. You have been warned.
Ingredients (makes three or four)
I pack of plain flour wraps or tortillas …or Piadine if you’re in Southern Italy
1 Ball mozzarella
1 bag rocket
1 packet or four to six slices of Parma ham (you can substitute salami or Chorizo if you like but I prefer Parma)
ex virgin Olive oil
fresh basil (optional)
Method
Pre heat oven to approx 160
Cut up mozzarella in to very fine slices
Heat a non stick frying pan.
For each Piadine you need to start by putting a few slices of mozzarella dotted evenly around the wrap.Then put the wrap into the frying pan with no oil whatsoever.
Heat through for about 2 – 3 minutes and transfer to the oven… if you have a flat oven sheet transfer it to that.
You now have to start a little production line. Put the second wrap in the frying pan and repeat the process by the time it is ready to go into the oven the first one will nearly be ready to come out. You can tell if it’s done if the mozzarella is starting to melt but the wrap is still pliable if a little bit crispy.
When it gets to this stage take it out of the oven, add a few rocket leaves, tear some Parma ham on top and drizzle with a little olive oil. Then fold in half (you will have a semi circle) now cut these into small-ish triangles – think little slices of pizza - and they’re ready to go.
Try to keep the Gannets off of them until you have done them all, and then serve.
Fabulous with a glass of Prosecco by the way.
Almonds in Paprika
Yet another another really easy recipe …two 100g packs of almonds into a reasonably hot oven for 20 mins (25 mins was a bit long for my oven) then toss in a teaspoon of olive oil then toss again in the mixture of 1 tsp Spanish sweet paprika and 1 and a half tsp maldon salt. Leave to cool.
They are also a pretty good as a stand-by for a light lunch
Piquillo peppers - Moro cookbook
Ingredients
1 jar of piquillo peppers
1 clove garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Sherry vinegar
Ciabatta or sourdough bread
A really quick recipe that tastes great … whip them out of the jar, tear into three, with a bit of garlic, a few tablespoons of olive oil and a dash of sherry vinegar.. Delicious. It’s a great standby to go with drinks as the jar will keep in the cupboard for ever well not quite but you know what I mean). You need a decent bit of bread to go alongside
Smashed Cannellini beans - River Cafe easy 1
This recipe has converted me to cannellini beans, given I thought that I absoloutely hated them this is no mean feat.
It is cheap, quick and easy and rather remarkably seems to be loved by everyone from Martha (10) up to my Mum (considerably more than 10) and including everyone in-between.
As you can see from the recipe below you can also serve it with salami – It’s particularly good with finnochiona (sp) which you can get from any good Italian deli or from your friendly, local Carluccios
Ingredients
1 tin cannelini beans
Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
juice of half a lemon
Ground black pepper
Ciabatta or sourdough bread
Method
At its most basic you just do the following
Open tin of beans (available at Waitrose) pour into a sieve and rinse.
Put a couple of genorous glugs of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the beans and a clove of garlic that has been crushed with some salt.
Warm the beans through for a few minutes.
Add a few turns of pepper and some lemon juice.
Either crush with a fork or blitz quickly in a blender, the mixture should be a bit loose add some more olive oil if it’s a bit stiff
Serve on good bread or on toasted sliced ciabatta or bruschetta ( The trick by the way is to slice the ciabatta and then bake in a moderate oven (160-170) for about 10 minutes)
Job done ( and it will keep for a couple of days)
Piadine - me
This is a sort of Italian quesadilla, I think its origins lay somewhere around Rome. We first tried making these in Puglia and they are now very much in demand at home particulary on the pre-prandial front.
WARNING: The trick to these is not to overload them with fillings they don’t get better they just get soggy. You have been warned.
Ingredients (makes three or four)
I pack of plain flour wraps or tortillas …or Piadine if you’re in Southern Italy
1 Ball mozzarella
1 bag rocket
1 packet or four to six slices of Parma ham (you can substitute salami or Chorizo if you like but I prefer Parma)
ex virgin Olive oil
fresh basil (optional)
Method
Pre heat oven to approx 160
Cut up mozzarella in to very fine slices
Heat a non stick frying pan.
For each Piadine you need to start by putting a few slices of mozzarella dotted evenly around the wrap.Then put the wrap into the frying pan with no oil whatsoever.
Heat through for about 2 – 3 minutes and transfer to the oven… if you have a flat oven sheet transfer it to that.
You now have to start a little production line. Put the second wrap in the frying pan and repeat the process by the time it is ready to go into the oven the first one will nearly be ready to come out. You can tell if it’s done if the mozzarella is starting to melt but the wrap is still pliable if a little bit crispy.
When it gets to this stage take it out of the oven, add a few rocket leaves, tear some Parma ham on top and drizzle with a little olive oil. Then fold in half (you will have a semi circle) now cut these into small-ish triangles – think little slices of pizza - and they’re ready to go.
Try to keep the Gannets off of them until you have done them all, and then serve.
Fabulous with a glass of Prosecco by the way.
Almonds in Paprika
Yet another another really easy recipe …two 100g packs of almonds into a reasonably hot oven for 20 mins (25 mins was a bit long for my oven) then toss in a teaspoon of olive oil then toss again in the mixture of 1 tsp Spanish sweet paprika and 1 and a half tsp maldon salt. Leave to cool.
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