The Food Diaries

No-cook appetizers for cool summer snacking

When it gets too hot to cook, switch to these bite-sized snacks, bursting with flavour from new season veggies.

Tomato bruschetta: Rub some croutons with a cut clove of garlic, pile on some chopped tomatoes, top with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt and pepper, and a basil leaf garnish.

Tapenade medley: Rub some croutons with a cut clove of garlic, spread on a thin layer of cream cheese or goat’s cheese, add a blob each of green and black tapenade.

Stuffed cherry tomatoes: Cut cherry tomatoes (red and yellow) in half and gut. Fill with cream cheese or crumbled feta. Top with a peppadew pepper.

The Aperitivo Hour - Black olive tapenade

I would categorise this in the “under 5 minutes to prepare” section of my repertoire.

In a food processor place 1 garlic clove (peeled), 3 anchovy fillets (I like the white ones), the juice of 1 lemon and 1 tbs capers. Whizz till finely chopped. Now add 1 cup pitted black olives and 1/4 cup olive oil. Whizz again till it has achieved the desired consistency (either finely chopped or creamy).

You can also use a mortar and pestle instead of the food processor.

Other variations include adding 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, replacing the black olives with green olives, omitting the anchovies for a vegan version.

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RED & YELLOW TOMATO BRUCHETTA >

Olive”tapenade”, creamy basil sauce and chipotle paste

I love having homemade sauces and pastes sitting in the fridge on standby, ready to tart up simple ingredients (pasta, potatoes, vegetables). They take just a few minutes to prepare but can keep quite well in the fridge, especially if you invest in these handy vacuum-sealed containers which keeps foods fresh much longer than normal (herbs keep for 2 weeks, hard cheeses for months - no kidding).

First up is a creamy olive tapenade (sort of like a tapenade, but milder and creamier): In the food processor blitz together 1 cup pitted black olives (I like the wrinkly varieties the best), 1/4 cup ground almonds, three anchovy fillets, 2 garlic cloves (peeled), the juice of 1 lime, 1/4 cup low fat Quark cheese (or 0% Total Greek Yogurt), and a good glug of olive oil. You can easily improvise with the quantities and ingredients (omitting the garlic or anchovies or the cheese or the oil, etc……)

This “tapenade” is great on rye crackers, paired with some goat’s cheese and slivers of grilled pimientos. It also works great stirred into pasta sauces, or served as a dip with crudites.

Next up is the creamy basil sauce: Blitz together a large bunch of fresh basil leaves, 1/4 cup ground almonds, 1/4 cup low fat Quark cheese (or 0% Total Greek Yogurt), the juice of 1 lime, 1 garlic clove, and a good glug of olive oil.

I like to serve this with new season Jersey royals, stirred into pasta sauce, mixed in with salad dressing - the list is endless.

Finally, the easiest of them all: my chipotle paste: just blitz up a can of chipotle in adobo sauce.

I like to add this to anything that needs a bit of a Mexican kick.