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| Christmas day Platter at Anands |
Roasted capsicum, roasted tomatoes, caramelised kumera, eggplant, stuffed olives, dolmades, , marinated eye fillet of beef with horseradish cream or mustards, asparagus, proscuitto,
Then of course your favorite cheeses, quince paste, pate, muscatels, fresh dates, grapes and various spreads and dips so, try pesto, baba ganoush, homus or betroot dip
Sliced sourdough baguette, crackers or wafers and grissini and everyone can eat as much or as little as they like...could not be a better way to eat or entertain.
Place whole capsicums on the shelf in the oven bake for 20 minutes or until they look blackish and cooked through.
Place into empty clean plastic shopping bag tie up the ends and leave on the sink to cool
When cool take the skins off …will just fall off under running water…wash away the seeds and stalks
Cut into thin strips drizzle with good quality olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and black pepper Mix a bit and arrange on the platter
pink onions
These are great and so easy, they are fabulous on platters or as an accompaniment to salads etc
Finely slice Spanish onions and place in a large bowl
Add sugar and lemon juice.Just enough lemon juice to make it wet so about 1-2 lemons and about 1 good spoon of castor sugar. Mix
Cover with a tea towel and set aside for a few hours.
Then drain off the juice and mix the onions .They wil have become soft sweet and evenly pink.Add to the platter.
Then drain off the juice and mix the onions .They wil have become soft sweet and evenly pink.Add to the platter.
grilled eggplant
Choose eggplants that are smallish, firm and glossy. Slice thinly into disks and place on a baking tray preferably lined with silicone paper Drizzle with good olive oil, season with cracked pepper and a bit of sea salt Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes in mod oven. Keep checking as the very thin slices may burn easily so remove them first Add to platter
caramelised kumera
Kumera or sweet potato is perfect on a platter. They can be just sliced finely and baked - see eggplant recipe above or sliced very finely and quickly shallow fried as chips, seasoned and served with dips. The sugar content in the Kumera when cooked or browned makes it very caramel and flavoursome for antipasto. Home made kumera chips are best!!
caramelised kumera
roasted tomatoes
ripe red roma tomatoes
olive oil
fresh thyme leaves substitute mixed italian herbs if no fresh thyme available
cracked black pepper
sea salt flakes and pinch of sugar
Mix olive oil, cracked pepper, herbs, salt and sugar, together
Cut Roma tomatoes in half lengthways Place tomatoes on a baking tray on silicon paper. Drizzle mix over the top of the tomatoes
Cook in 160 oven for 20 to 30 mins
To make semi dried tomatoes use the same method.
Cook in oven 20 mins turn oven off and leave tomatoes in there over night. Best done after using the oven for cooking a meal and just pop tomatoes in and leave.
Don’t forget to take them out in the morning
fresh asparagus
The perfect addition to antipasto platters, fresh green lightly cooked asparagus can be used to make proscuitto/asparagus rolls or simply blanched then steeped into iced water, drained and placed on the platter. It doesn't need any extra work or sauces and is on its own superb.
I have a relaxed attitude to quantities when making homus and I experiment to get my own taste whether its more lemon, tahini or more garlic but basically this is what I do:
1 tin of chickpeas
1 dessert spoon tahini or to taste
3 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 lemon
salt
olive oil - add depending on the thickness required and to drizzle over the top.
Grind up the garlic and add everything else Whizz to a fine smooth paste. taste and adjust as needed Season with sea salt, pepper and olive oil.Traditionally olive oil is spread on top and sprinkle of paprika ...suit yourself.
