snack – Agapi.Style

Garlic and black olive butter

This is a very, very tasty snack or addition to breakfast. I recommend preparing this oil in advance, so that it has time to fill with the flavors of all the ingredients. I recommend serving it with warm bread.

Ingredients:

250 g of good tasty butter,
150 g of Olives (you can use any, but I like it best with the blackest dried). Most importantly, remember that the taste of this snack oil directly depends on the taste and quality of Olives.
1 tsp. ground dry garlic (can be replaced with 1-2 cloves of fresh, passed through a garlic chopper),
2 tsp dried herbs oregano / rosemary,
Salt and pepper to taste.

How to do:

1. soften butter at room temperature.

2. free the olives from the bone, cut arbitrarily without bringing them to the paste.

3. when the butter is soft, mash it with a fork, add the olives, garlic and herbs, mix thoroughly and season with salt / pepper to taste. A lot of salt and pepper is not worth it, because later the olives will give their spice to the oil, keep this point in mind.

4. transfer the butter to an airtight container if you intend to store it, or to a nice serving dish if you plan to serve immediately. his to the table. Send it to the refrigerator to brew for 1-2 hours. When serving, you can sprinkle it with olive oil and garnish with olives.

Roasted/baked chestnuts

Chestnut has a unique aroma and sweet taste. The texture is similar to a nut, but not as fat and high-calorie. You can eat it just like that, make soups out of it (I especially like it in cream soups), desserts (very tasty if there is chocolate or maple syrup in the dish), add it to stews/pilafs/risotto/pasta/casseroles/cutlets/salads. Chestnut flour gives a very unusual taste. In General, an interesting and versatile product.

Immediately important: do not confuse plz horse decorative chestnut and edible!!! In Moscow, you can buy raw edible chestnuts at markets, and there are also some in stores, but more often they are canned.

How to do:

1. Chestnuts iterate, throw too soft (they are most likely spoiled) and with the damage, my (if I have time, I leave them in water for about 30 minutes to peel softened), water is drained, dry fruits to to cut the rind of the they didn’t nothing happened.

2. Cut the skin with a sharp knife on the convex side of the cross or line, as I have in the photo. It is better to cut on the convex side, because then it is easier to clean. You can generally make a line around the entire circumference, then the peel can be opened like a matryoshka doll))) Ideally, do this with a special gadget (for example, thisone), but you can just use a sharp knife. With a knife, it is more convenient to make an incision on the Board, and not on the weight, so as not to get hurt.

The most important thing is to make sure that you cut the skin exactly, but the chestnut itself is not. If the skin is badly cut, the chestnut may explode during heat treatment, and if the flesh itself is strongly cut, it will also fall apart and dry up during cooking.

3. fill the processed chestnuts with water for 15 minutes, or blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes. This step is necessary in order to make the peel later easier to move away, and the kernels themselves become juicier. I recommend salting the water to taste, don’t be afraid to overdo it with salt;)

4. while the chestnuts are soaking, preheat the oven to 180, or a frying pan. It is better to use a thick-bottomed frying pan with a lid of such diameter that the chestnuts are placed on it in 1 layer. It’s not terrible if a few things are in 2 layers, in the process of stirring, all the chestnuts will still be fried.

Spread the chestnuts on the pan with the flat side, so that the maximum amount of the fruit surface is immediately warmed, and the peel opens. Then fry, periodically shaking the pan, over medium heat for 25-40 minutes (the time depends on the size of the chestnuts) until nice brown scorch marks. Check readiness with a toothpick or sharp knife. If it’s easy to enter, it’s done.

For baking, you need either a form with a lid, or a baking sheet on top tightly cover with foil so that the chestnuts do not dry out. Bake for 180C for 40 minutes or until tender.

5. Put hot chestnuts in a container with a lid, or cover with a towel for about 10 minutes. During this time, they will become more saturated taste and slightly cool down, and they can be eaten without burning. The most important thing is to eat warm. After cooling, they become dry and completely not as tasty as warm ones.

It was a basic recipe. You can also add large sea salt + rosemary, cinnamon + maple syrup to the chestnuts, or whatever you fancy. I like to fry them in a frying pan and add spices near the end so that nothing burns.

If you are frying chestnuts for a particular dish, the most important thing is to clean them while they are warm, because as they cool down, the skin will again become tight to them.

Dried plums with garlic and herbs

If you love sun-dried tomatoes, but have never tried sun-dried plums – you urgently need to try them. This is just a bomb, unreal and the coolest snack, especially with cheese and wine.

It is very simple to do, but it takes time (6-7 hours).

Ingredients (for 1 pan):

• 1.3 kg plums (I like to do with blue, you can use any, the main thing – it should be ripe, but firm/fleshy, juicy pulp otherwise evaporated, and will remain a tough skin).
• 1 head of garlic (no need to use if you don’t like or replace with 2 tsp. of dry finely ground garlic),
* Leaves of 2-3 sprigs of thyme + 1 tbsp of dried herbs that you like (oregano, Basil, rosemary, marjoram, hops-suneli, etc.). depending on the chosen spice, the taste of the finished plum will change in the direction of a particular cuisine of the world. My favorite thing is to make a mixture of thyme and Provencal herbs. If you will use only dry spices, put up to 2 tbsp in total.
* 2-3 tbsp olive oil,
• 1 tsp sea salt with a slide,
* 1-2 tbsp sweetener (I have Jerusalem artichoke syrup) – this is optional and depends on the acid of the plum,
* 0.5 tsp ground Cayenne chili-optional.
For storage in a Bank:
• 3 tbsp balsamic, wine or Apple cider vinegar,
• Olive oil.

How to do:

1. wash the Plum, wipe it with a towel (we do not need extra moisture), cut it in half lengthwise and remove the bones, put it in a large bowl. Garlic is cleaned and cut into thin plates.

2. add salt, spices, oil, sweetener to the plums and mix thoroughly. If you use dry garlic, then add it too.

3. Put the oven to warm up to 100 degrees (normal mode, not convection), and at this time spread the plums on a baking sheet with parchment/silicone Mat pulp up. In each slivinu put 1-2 plates of garlic and remove this splendor in the oven for a time of 5 hours. I bake for 7 hours, but after 5 hours I become more alert so as not to over-dry.

4. in the process of baking, please do not go crazy from the flavors and do not drag the plum from the baking tray, and there is a risk that in the end there will be nothing to put in a jar))
Open the door periodically and let off steam. When the plums look like sun-dried tomatoes, it’s done. The flesh should remain slightly moist, and the skin should become wrinkled.

5. transfer The finished plums to a glass jar, tamp them down and fill them with vinegar and oil so that they are all closed. I’m ramming hard so I need less oil. Store in the refrigerator. They are tastier for 2-3 days.

Separately, I want to say about garlic, it caramelizes and turns into garlic chips. You can put it together with plums in a jar, or collect it and use it separately, and cut a couple of fresh cloves to the plums. The taste will be different, try both options.

P.S. it Is also very interesting to make these plums in barbecue sauce or with any other spicy marinade. The principle is similar. In a bowl, mix everything, spread it out and let it stand.

Baked French fries with homemade ketchup

Who doesn’t love French fries? I don’t know, honestly))) That’s just a classic recipe too fatty for me, so I make potatoes in the oven. It turns out with a crispy flavorful crust and tender middle. Not sluggish, not wet, not too dry.

Cool to cook fries in the oven need to know a few nuances. They have happened empirically, and not fail in 99% of cases:

• Selection and preparation of potatoes. Remove the starch.

You need a dense potatoes and a little starch. That is not too young, and the non-starchy varieties. But, I usually don’t bother and buy the potatoes, which like visually, and then just soaked it in the water.

My brush (this is optional), cut into sticks or slices, in water for 20-30 minutes. So any varieties of potatoes, a large part of the starch will be released into the water. Then it was washed, dried on a towel and then baked.

• Cutting.

If you’re a fan of straight crunch, slice the potatoes more thinly. If you like the softer core (like potatoes “country style”)– cut the slices thicker. And try to cut all pieces roughly the same thickness, otherwise the cooking will be uneven. I usually cut into bars with a width of up to 1 cm.

• Oil, salt, spices.

Spread prepared potatoes on a baking sheet with parchment and salt straight drop (it is better then to add salt), vegetable oil literally 1-2 tsp on a baking sheet, just to make the crust more appetizing spices (optional) and mix thoroughly. If oil and salt will be a lot when baking, the potatoes will turn out limp, boiled. All the spices to your taste and color.

I like to add paprika, turmeric, nutmeg, thyme, rosemary, oregano and other Italian herbs, parsley, dill, coriander, chili, chopped onions and garlic. Not simultaneously, of course, and the mood and depending on what potato dish to serve.

• The baking.

Put the potatoes must be strictly in a single layer and preferably not right next to each other, and then again get lethargic sticks, not fries))) Bake in a preheated(!) the oven on the middle shelf to the top and bottom are baked evenly with a fan at 220 °C. the baking Time will be about 20-25 minutes, it depends on oven and size of potato pieces. At the end of baking closely follow her that did not burn.

If your oven bakes unevenly (somewhere hotter, somewhere colder), it can be seen by the color of the potatoes, in the middle of the process just flip the pan 180 degrees. Ready potatoes salt, stir and serve.

Finally, I want to say that sometimes, observing all these details – so sad Spud. At the same time, sometimes not respecting any of my tips – all of it, because in addition to technology much also depends on the type of potato from the oven, and your mood while cooking;)))

As for the ketchup. For the potatoes I use as ketchup – my tomato sauce for the pizza, or the sauce for shakshuka, punched in a blender.

The main sauce base (tomato, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, sweetener), but the flavors you can create the mood. In addition to the spices mentioned in the recipes above, I also like to use cinnamon and cloves. The most important thing is to add the spices when the sauce is already Uvarov not to overdo it.

Corn. How to choose and enjoy.

In corn at the same time 3 important points: choose the right ear, properly cook and delicious served.

1. How to choose.

1.1. First, determine what is in front of us corn. Food or feed.

The cob of feed corn long, color of grains yellow, and they are pretty tough, they are difficult to crush with fingers, the shell they have thick, taste tasteless.

The cob sweet corn food more short and thick, the color of the bean white-yellow-beige, they are soft and full, with pressure from them is juice (it is similar to milk), the taste is sweet.

We need food that is corn, but if you only sell feed, it is also possible to prepare. Below I will describe how both types of corn.

Important. Also comes in multi-colored corn, but it is often used as decor for popcorn or for making flour. I saw this in USA, but she is not ready. And there white corn. To choose it is necessary, by analogy with yellow, but not focusing on the color of the beans. Here’s the corn I cooked, and I will say that the yellow varieties closer to me to taste.

1.2. How to choose a young fresh corn.

Buy only untreated corn. First, without the leaves it dries quickly, without leaves it is not necessary to cook (taste will not be the same) and that on the leaves you can see how long the cobs are collected.

The young corn and bright green succulent leaves, and stigmas (hairs that are sticking out of them) – light, tender and moist.

Definitely need to see how the ear looks like inside. Reveal the leaves to the ground, but not pulling them. The grains should be soft but elastic, equal in size, closely adjacent to each other and without dents and shriveling. The color of the grains should be as bright.

2. How to cook.

Depending on the variety and degree of ripeness, cooking time is very different. Food corn cook for 10-30 minutes, aft 2-3 hours. I recommend when cooking choose one pilot on the cob and occasionally to try to pinpoint readiness. It is important not to overcook the corn, otherwise the grain will become hard. And undercooked corn will also be solid, and even the starch flavor of the beans. In General, when corn will reach the condition, you will this taste is not to be confused;)

The cooking process:

• To cook corn should with leaves and stigmas. I reach for my cobs only the outer couple of leaves, rinse it well and put into a pan. Or you can remove all the leaves and stigmas, but be sure to lay them in a saucepan with the corn (part on the bottom part of the top). They give the corn the right flavour and taste.

• The pot with thick walls, well-kept temperature. Size such that all the bobbins fit in the cooking process were under water. If they at length do not fit, cut them in half.

• Pour the corn will need is boiling water. So it is more delicate. So I put a pot of corn on the stove, pour the boiling water, and over high heat bring water again to a boil, then make a quiet fire and cook it under the lid. If cook feed corn in water, add milk/cream/butter/sweetener. It’s a bit ennobles the taste. Salt when cooking I don’t put, it makes the corn tough. Cooking I wrote above, be sure to taste the corn in the process.

• Once the corn is cooked, turn off the fire. If you don’t plan to eat all the corn at once, then store it in the fridge or in the pot of water, or put part of the broth in a zip package. If you keep it dry, it’ll dry out.

3. How to make corn.

My favorite way is:

Preheat the oven to maximum. RUB finished corn with grated cheese (ideally Parmesan), cheese that has penetrated into all the slits between the grains, spread it on a baking sheet, sprinkle some more cheese on top, you can season with salt/pepper to taste and be sure to sprinkle a pinch of ground Chile pepper. In the oven to melt cheese. Removed, sprinkled with lime juice and enjoy your meal;)

Can do it in a frying pan, quickly fry the corn over high heat on all sides.

The most delicious pumpkin hummus

Spicy and delicious, I love making this hummus in autumn, when pumpkin season. He looks a bit like hummus with caramelized carrots, but still make it in a separate recipe.

Ingredients:

• 300g pumpkin puree (here is the recipe how to do it),

• 300g cooked chickpeas (here are all the ways of cooking the chickpeas),

• Juice of 1 small lemon

• 4 tbsp tahini,

• 3-4 garlic cloves,

• 4-5 tbsp olive oil,

• 2-3 tsp. coriander,

• 1 tsp cumin (tastes better to do with solid, which is ground in the process of making hummus),

• 0.5 tsp. chili pepper

• Salt/pepper to taste

• Water (if needed if the hummus is too thick).

How to do:

1. Prepare pumpkin puree. I usually make lots of puree and freeze it in portions, or cook him pumpkin pancakes, cookies or cheesecake.

2. Cook the chickpeas.

3. Then all in a blender and until smooth. Details about the process of cooking and how delicious hummus to the table, wrote the recipe for classic hummus.

With sweet hummus (with carrots, bell peppers and pumpkin) I love to make this kind of Shawarma: smear the “tanned” side of the pita with hummus, throw mushrooms on top, fried with onions, garlic and soy sauce (or baked with soy sauce and garlic and onion powders), a little goat curd cheese, coriander greens, a little mint and parsley. You can also put a pickled red onion. Wrap tightly and fry in a dry pan. It turns out VERY tasty!!!

Bon appetit!

Baked falafel with yogurt tahini sauce + an important life skill

Falafel is patties of chickpeas. The most delicious falafel a deep-fried, anyway. Frying I eat in the café, a home cook less fatty baked version. It is also delicious, especially until piping hot.

Ingredients for the falafel:

• 250-300g dry chickpeas,

• 1 medium onion,

• 3-4 garlic cloves,

• Bunch fresh cilantro, medium size,

• A bunch of parsley in a medium-size

• 1 tsp ground paprika,

• 1 tsp. ground cumin (cumin),

• 1-2 tsp ground coriander,

• 0.5 tsp. ground red chili peppers

• 1 tsp. black pepper,

• 1 tsp. salt,

• Optional water.

Ingredients for sauce:

• 200-250 ml of Greek yogurt without additives,

• 3 tbsp tahini,

• Juice of half a lemon,

• 1-2 cloves garlic,

• Pinch of cumin and coriander,

• Salt/pepper to taste

• Water to bring the sauce to the consistency of sour cream.

How to make falafel:

1. Wash the chickpeas and soak overnight in clear cold water, or at least for 8 hours. Then drain the water and rinse him well.

2. Garlic and onion peel and rinse with herbs.

3. Now all the ingredients you need to punch in a blender, but not to the cereal. Chickpea should be wet snow grains. But if you punch it all together, the garlic, onions and herbs can also be quite large, and believe me it is not very tasty in the end.

So I came up with the following hack: first punch all the ingredients except the chickpeas until smooth, and then add the chickpeas. I prefer to grind herbs and spices immersion blender. If the mixture is very thick, add a little water. Then add the chickpeas and bring it to the consistency that I described above. Not until the porridge!

Your gram “farsh” ready!

4. Sculpt his balls with a diameter of about 3cm. Can bake, and can the raw Flatline to freeze for the future. Freeze, spread out in a row. Already frozen meatballs can be folded into a container. Or just put in a container, but each layer to lay the oiled baking paper so they don’t stick together.

Bake in well-heated to 180C oven for about 40 minutes. Or 20 minutes at a maximum temperature of oven (I have 240S). I have not decided which way I like more. Try both;)

Falafel must purchase a savory crust, but the inside to remain soft, will not overdry it.

Keep in mind that if you make the meatballs more, they may not topicsa, and if it is less, then dry. Also the cooking time depends on the heat of the oven. Practice a couple of times and you will have a perfect falafel.

Store ready falafel is not recommended, because it loses its flavor. Cooked – eaten. Or that is not eaten immediately in the freezer. When warming up in the oven it is almost as svezhesdelannym)

To make the sauce couldn’t be simpler: all in the blender and bring to smooth consistency. To try spices, add what you need and you’re done.

Falafel served with vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers without peel). Vegetables pour a little sauce to dip the falafel in there. Very tasty!

But most of all I love Shawarma with falafel (recipe here).

The most delicious lobio + detailed instructions on how to cook beans

Lobio is a dish that everyone cooks to your taste. Who loves the cold, who is hot, with or without nuts, with herbs and spices all play as they want. Below is my perfect recipe;)

Ingredients:

• 500g of cooked red beans (about 200-250g dry),

• 3 large onions,

• 3-4 tooth. garlic

• 1 large bunch cilantro or 1 bunch of cilantro and parsley,

• 50-60g of walnuts,

• 2 pieces hot pepper or 1 tsp. adzhika Georgian/Cayenne pepper,

• 3 tbsp wine vinegar,

• 2 tablespoons of utsho-suneli,

• 1 tsp dried Basil,

• 1 tsp. ground coriander,

• 0.5 tsp. dried mint

• Oil for frying

• Salt/pepper to taste.

How to do:

1. Cooking the beans.

Sort out beans, wash and soak for 8-24 hours. The volume of beans after soaking will increase by 1.5-2 times, keep this in mind when choosing containers for soaking. And I do not recommend buying old beans, please see to it that she was not older than 6 months from production date.

After soaking the beans, wash thoroughly, put in a saucepan with a thick bottom, pour the water above beans by about 3 inches and cook on meelena fire. Slow, because if the beans very quickly to boil, the shell can burst, and we do not need it. After boiling, cook the beans for 5 minutes and drain off the first water. This is recommended to avoid problems with the gastrointestinal tract, but rather with the advent of gas after eating legumes. I’ve never done that before, but then I realized that it is not difficult and really helps. Some to 3 water change, but I don’t do)))

Then again fill fool water above beans by about 3 cm, podsalvage water, add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil (it prevents the formation of large amount of foam) and cook on a slow fire until tender. In the process do not stir the beans and don’t close the lid completely. Not need to interfere, so as not to damage the skin and shape of the Bob, and the lid is not close to the beans are kept red. But the color in my experience it depends more on the grade, but the open cap sometimes it really saves a bit.

In General, the beans to cook for 45 minutes to 2.5 hours. The duration of cooking depends on the variety and condition of the beans. Try in the process. Bean should be firm outside and soft inside. If cooking water boils away, add some hot water.

There is an Express method of cooking beans (without soaking). Podgotavlivaya beans for cooking as described above, then bring to the boil, cook for 5 minutes over high heat, then leave for 1-2 hours under the hood to infuse. Then rinse, fill with new water and cook until tender, the duration, again, depends on the variety and the dishes for which it is intended. I after 40 minutes of cooking the beans periodically try.

The beans are ready drain in a colander, broth leave.

Unable to beans as in a conventional broth whole onion, carrot, celery stick, Bay leaf, a few gvozdichek and add any spices to your taste. But it is optional.

And I usually optimize my time and cook a lot of beans (and all legumes), and then just freeze the unused balance together with water from boiling in plastic containers and pull out as needed.

2. While cooking the beans, make a salad lobio.

Rinse the nuts and puree them either in a meat grinder or in a blender. Lay off a little for decoration. Greens finely chop and set aside too little for filing. Peppers are cleaned from veins and seeds and puree them in a blender. Garlic passed through chesnokodavilku or punched together with red pepper. All of this mix and add all the spices and wine vinegar.

3. Towards the end of cooking the beans finely chop the onion and fry it in oil on medium heat until Golden brown, add boiled beans and tormented for 5 more minutes.

4. Put beans and onion in a salad bowl, add the walnut dressing, stir. Try and add salt/pepper to your taste, you can put a little vegetable oil or broth from the beans if they will be dry. A little dry but it should not be, because in my recipe, too much onion and it just gives the sweetness and juiciness to the dish. I like to give lobio stand for 30 minutes – 1 hour at room temperature and then serve, but you can just have.

Smoky roasted red pepper and garlic Hummus

Another hummus recipe in my collection. I was trying to make something new out of my favorite hummus with baked garlic, and it turned out to be an awesome paprika hummus))

The cooking process is exactly the same as the classicone, only the ingredients have changed:

• 200 gr. cooked chickpeas (how to cook chickpeas wrote here),

• 2 baked sweet pepper skinless (take any other than green, he’s bitter),

• 2 heads of roasted garlic (at your wieluniu can add fresh garlic, but for my taste he is going to interfere with its rich aroma),

• 2-3 tbsp tahini,

• 2 tbsp olive oil,

* 3-4 tbsp lemon juice (you can replace half of the juice with apple or wine vinegar)

• * 1 tsp coriander,

* 0.5 tsp cumin,

* 0.5 tsp smoked sweet paprika (without it, too, super tasty, try both options),

• Pinch of cayenne chili pepper,

* Salt/pepper to taste.

How to bake pepper and garlic.

Wash the peppers, get rid of all the excess, cut in half, put the skin up and on the grill mode in the oven until the skin is charred. We take it out, put it in an airtight container, let it cool down and then easily and easily remove the skin.

And I bake garlic like this: my head, cut off a little peel from above perpendicular to the slices, wrap in foil, spread on a baking sheet and bake at 180C for about 30-40 minutes. Then I simply squeeze out the baked garlic cloves through the previously made slices. This garlic is perfectly stored in the refrigerator for a week exactly, that is, you can bake it for several dishes at once.

It is delicious to eat in its purest form with vegetables and pita chips (put the pita in the oven until it crunches and breaks), even tastier with tahini sauce, you can spread it on crispy toast and top with goat cheese and dried tomatoes, in pasta and salad as a sauce, in bowls.

With sweet hummus (with carrots, bell peppers and pumpkin) I love to make such a shawarma: smear the “tanned” side of the pita bread with hummus, throw mushrooms on top, fried with onion, garlic and soy sauce (or baked with soy sauce and garlic and onion powders), a little goat curd cheese, coriander greens, a little mint and parsley. You can also put a pickled red onion. Wrap tightly, fry in a dry pan. It turns out VERY tasty!!!

Avocado hummus

I love hummus and I love guacamole, so I decided to combine them. It turned out so cool, I didn’t even expect it) Not hummus, but tenderness itself!

Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 small ripe (!) avocado

• * 400 g of boiled chickpeas (how to cook chickpeas I wrote here)

• * 2-3 cloves of garlic,

• 2 tbsp tahini,

• 2 tbsp olive / sesame oil,

* Juice of 1 lemon,

• 1 tsp coriander,

* 0.5 tsp cumin,

• Pinch of cayenne chili pepper,

* Salt/pepper to taste.

It is very simple to do: put everything in a blender and beat until smooth, if necessary, adding water or liquid from cooking chickpeas. At the end, taste and add more spices if necessary.

Serve with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. You can use lime or lemon juice instead of vinegar.