a green’n milky hors d’oeuvre

as y’all probably have gathered by now … i do love a good starter! one can make a meal out of them and preparation time is usually quick and easy (no four hours of marinating and slow cooking here).

courgettes are wonderful, especially when only grilled so they remain crunchy – and a homemade pesto complements them greatly.

GRILLED COURGETTE WITH BUFFALO MOZZARELLA AND PESTO

ingredients:

• 1 small courgette (the small and young ones of light green colour are so much tastier)
• 1 buffalo mozzarella
• a handful of fresh basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbsp pine nuts (lightly toasted for better flavour)
• olive oil
• sea salt
• chili flakes
• splash of dry vermouth

slice the courgette in thin slices (about 3-5mm in size) and put them in an ovenproof dish. sprinkle with sea salt and splash some vermouth and a good quality olive oil over them (greek olive oil is heaven, as it is fruity but smooth in taste). put under the grill and grill them for about 10-15 minutes until slightly browned.

while they are in the oven, rip the mozzarella apart in as much slices as you have pieces of courgette and set aside. it is adamant that you use buffalo mozzarella, as the texture and taste (it is milky and pungent) is superiour to mozzarella made from cow’s milk.

put the basil leaves, the pine nuts, the quartered garlic cloves and a pinch of seas salt in a food processor and add as much olive oil to have it slightly covered. quickly blend it together, it should stay quite liquidy and coarse (you can add more oil if you like). season with some more salt and a pinch of chili flakes if needed.

when the courgette slices are done (they should still be firm), take them out of the oven and let them cool slightly in the dish. add a piece of mozzarella to each slice (it will slightly melt … heaven indeed!) and garnish with the pesto on top. add some more chili flakes for colour and dig in.

you can serve it hot(ish) to lukewarm, but it should still be eaten warm. with a nice glass of chardonnay or a dry muscat, it brings some mediterranian feeling to your table 🙂

summer food part II – red & juicy

red and juicy. no, not strawberries. tomatoes! when i was a kid, i used to dislike fresh tomatoes as their pips had this jello juice around … but nowadays i find a fresh and ripe tomatoe quite irresitible!

when it is hot in summer, one does not crave hot food but rather something full of flavour and light. i am partial to the italian classic of tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, but i like it with a twist:

grilled tomatoes with basil and buffalo mozzarella

now as this is the finished product, one can hardly see the tomatoes underneath, hence here is a photo before the topping:

the jist is to cut up the tomatoes, drizzle them with some pepper, fleur de sel and a good quality olive oil and put them under the grill (in an ovenproof dish) and grill them on low to medium heat for about 30 minutes. they don’t need to brown much (as they might go bitter when too black on top) but then should dry slightly and get a much richer taste that way.

once out of the oven (i added some pine nuts for the last couple of minutes under the grill to have them slightly toasted too), let it cool slightly so the tomatoes are warm rather than piping hot before adding the hand torn buffalo mozzarella (you really need the buffalo variety here as it is more tangy than the usual mozzarella), hand torn basil leaves and a couple of fresh tomatoe dices. add some chili flakes (for looks!!!) and drizzle some more good quality olive oil on top (if you are adventurous use truffle oil for an extra kick) and serve immediately. it is a great starter or a light main course. and it is yummy!

a word on the olive oil: while usually i prefer greek olive oil (as it is usually less sharp in taste, with a more mellow flavour), for this dish i find a nice and strong italian olive oil works wonders and lifts it on cloud 9 for tastebuds. i used this variety (obviously extra vergine and cold pressed), even though i normally go organic: