Pizza Bites

Snowman shaped pizza bites. 

I was looking for a fun appetizer to bring to a Christmas party, and saw a Christmas tree version of this on Pinterest. I`ve changed the recipe a bit to make it easier (lots of kids around), but here`s the original link.

What you need:

 Pizza dough - I just used store bought this time
Italian blend seasoning - or any pizza seasonings you enjoy
Cream cheese - about 115-150 g depending on how much dough you have
Mozzarella or pizza blend cheese - 1 cup, or about 150 g
(You may want to use the entire 200 g container and the entire bag of cheese for the XL dough)
Pizza sauce - I just used one from a jar this time.
Melted butter for brushing over the top
Finely minced garlic - about 1 tsp
Basil for garnishing the top - I used dried, but fresh would be great.

First roll out your dough and slice it into squares. Mine were a bit on the small side, you want them probably to be at least 1.5 x 1.5 inches.

Mix your cheeses together.

Sprinkle the Italian seasoning (or oregano, etc) on your dough. Place a small ball of the cheese in the middle of the dough.

Add a dollop of pizza sauce - a tiny bit goes a long way!

Fold over the corners until you have something resembling a ball. Place it seem side down on either a baking tray or a shaped pan. Don`t squish them together, put put them next to each other.

Put in the oven at 230 C for 12-15 minutes. Until the top is a golden brown.

Just before the pizza finishes cooking, melt some butter and add your finely minced garlic. Brush it over the top of the pizza balls and then sprinkle with basil.

Enjoy!

Hummus

Ok, technically, this one isn`t from me. My husband made it. It is the most fantastic hummus. When he doesn`t have time, I buy it from the store - along with store bought pita - and it`s fine. It`s not great, but I`ll eat it. Yesterday, my husband made the hummus, and I made pita from scratch. I don`t know if it was the combination or what, but it was fantastic. I really don`t want to go back to store bought now.

Normally, he uses smoked garlic, but I couldn`t find any this time, so we used the regular garlic. Experiment to see which you like best!

What you need:

1 can of chickpeas (remove 3 or 4 for garnishing if desired)

1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup Tahini (I get mine at Sihlcity)
1/4 cup greek yogurt
4 large (5-6 small) cloves garlic (try smoked if you can find it)
5-6 fresh mint leaves
3 sprigs parsley



Make sure you stir the tahini very well as it tends to separate into  oil on top and paste on the bottom. This may take a few minutes.

Use a garlic press for your garlic.

Put all the ingredients into a food processor (we just have a little one so make one batch at a time). Blend well.

If your mixture is too thick, then add additional lemon juice to your mixture. Do not add above 1/4 cup of extra lemon juice, instead switch to water if you find it necessary. The hummus should be thick - you just don`t want it to be solid :-) It needs to be able to stick to pita or veggies.

The blending will take about 6-8 minutes to reach a smooth consistency. Stop occasionally to check the consistency and mix with a spoon to insure that all the parts are well incorporated.

Once fully blended, pour into a serving bowl, add a few tablespoons of olive oil over the top (don`t mix in), add your extra chickpeas and maybe a sprig of mint or parsley.

Watch it all disappear quickly!

Smoked Salmon Sushi Squares

Last week, I went out one evening with some friends for dinner, so decided to surprise my hubby with a special sushi dinner. He thought it was fantastic. It was really quite simple, though some of the prep work took a while, it wasn`t the kind that you have to stand in the kitchen and watch over, so it was easy to do other things. The total time was probably about 15 minutes of creating the dish. 

If you`d like to use something other than salmon, you can make with pretty much anything flat (or that is squish-able). 

What you need: 

500 g sushi rice

3 Tbls rice vinegar

1 Tbls sugar

1/3 cup of mayonnaise

1 tsp liquid hot sauce (I used Thai hot chili sauce from Migros, but the original recipe calls for Sriracha)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 bag of rucola, I found some mixed with wasabi leaves (Coop)

1 package of smoked salmon

1 green onion (scallion)

soy sauce for dipping

plastic wrap

square baking dish, or something to create one

a heavy book

First cook your sushi rice so that it can cool. Once cooked, add the rice vinegar and sugar and mix well. Let cool. 

Next, find something square, or a small rectangular pan. I used a small baking dish with a box of raclette potatoes taking up the other half to create the size I wanted.  Lay a piece of plastic wrap in each direction, leaving enough excess so that you can cover the sushi when complete. 

Once the rice is cool, press half of it on to the bottom of your plastic wrapped dish. 

Mix together the mayonnaise, sesame oil and hot sauce, and then spread half on the rice. 

Next, layer on some leaves and then cover with salmon. 

Repeat the process again, so that you have 2 layers of everything. Fold the plastic wrap up over the sushi and lay a heavy book or two on top. Press for at least an hour and then slice into small squares. After each cut, wipe your knife clean with a damp paper towel to clean it and make it easier to cut neatly. 

Thinly slice a green onion and sprinkle on top of your cut sushi. Serve with soy sauce. Enjoy!

This recipe came from My Japanese Table

Super simple Tzatziki

With the holidays, lots of rich or fatty food is eaten. So the 23rd, we decided to eat something simple and healthy. Hummus, tzatziki, pita and veggies. I will post the hummus recipe later on, but here is my version of the dip. Great for kids too!

What you need

2 containers of natural Greek yogurts (300 g)
1-2 finely minced garlic cloves
1 Tbsp of dried dill, or a bit less if using fresh
1 cucumber, peeled and grated

Some recipes call for adding water, but If you don't remove the seeds from the cucumber, you have plenty of water.






Put the yogurt in a large bowl.

Mince the garlic and add one clove, reserve the second.

Using the large side of a cheese grater, grateful the cucumber over the bowl. Mix well.

Add the dill and mix again. Take a bite, and if you like it, you are done. Or you can slowly add the second clove. You may need a little more dill to suit your taste.

Enjoy on pita, maybe add some feta. Or use as a dressing. Also great with gyros.

Queso (Tex-Mex cheese dip)

We went to the US for a visit and  had to have all of our old favorites.  One of them (well a few of them) was going to a Mexican Restaurant that we had been to a few years before. We had an incredible queso dip for an appetizer, and of course I had to try and recreate it.

I actually spent quite a bit of time researching this one.  There are a few mays to make queso, and almost all of them involve cheeses that are not readily available here. I started off with the desire to find a good monterry jack substitute.  While researching, I did learn that the Cheese Man occasionally carries it, but that you need to contact him. He is at the Zürich HB and the Viadukt. I then took all the suggestions of cheeses that were available in the supermarkets and tried them with a cheddar base.  I tried both the British yellow-white cheddar and the more Americanized orange cheddar (available from Migros Brunaupark or Jelmoli on the Bahnhofstrasse).

Here are the types of cheese that I tried:
Manchego
Asiago
Gouda
Edam
St Paulin
Cheddar - Cathedral City
Cheddar - rot

I thought about trying the Iberico as well, but didn`t quite get around to it. The cheeses that work in the best combination to make a creamy, tasty queso are the Manchego, Asiago and Cathedral City Cheddar.

The main thing you need to do when making the queso, is have a good base. If you have a recipe for cream sauce that you love, you are basically there and just need the cheese and a few other things to make a fabulous queso.

Feel free to use whatever kind of peppers you prefer. I used the skinny, long red ones available at Migros as I did not want to use the jarred jalapenos, or travel to El Maiz (though they do ship, and it is fairly quick). My husband and I disagree on spiciness, so the first time I made this, I used one pepper, and this time (the better version of the recipe), I used 3. He thought it was perfect, and I think 2 would be. So take into consideration how spicy you want it to be. If it ends up too hot, add some more cheese.

The one other important piece of information you need to know, is make sure you do this on a low heat. I have a range from 1-9, and I stayed at about a 3. Depending on your range, you may need to adjust as we have one burner that gets super hot. I avoided that one. Also, you need to whisk constantly towards the end.

What you need:
2 Tbls butter
1/4 to 1/3 cup of flour
250 ml of whole milk.

With the following, feel free to add a bit more, or a bit less depending on your likes and dislikes, but keep in mind, if you add too much, it will be like salsa cheese, or too little and it will be cheese soup :-)

1/2 cup of diced onion
2 or more hot peppers (I used one the first time, for a very mild flavor and 3 this time for a stronger flavor. I think at least 2 should be added to get at least a hint of spice).
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup or more of cilantro, depending on how much you like it (I used an entire bag from Migros)
2 large diced tomatoes, or a drained can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup of sour cream, optional (this does thin it out a little bit, creme fraiche would be a little thicker)
200g of Manchego cheese
200g of Asiago cheese
200g of Cathedral City Cheddar cheese (the cheeses all came in packages really close to that amount).

First, put your butter in a large pan and start to melt it over low heat. Add the diced onions and peppers and cook for about 5-10 minutes. I used this time to grate my cheese.  You do not want to buy pre-shredded as I read that there is something added to it that makes it not melt as well (I don`t know for sure as I haven`t tried it, but thought I would throw that out there for you).

Add the garlic and stir.

Add the flour and then whisk the mixture till the flour is evenly mixed in.

Add the milk and whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened. Probably another 5 minutes.

Roughly chop the cilantro, and add it, along with the diced tomatoes.

Very slowly, add the cheese. About 1/4 cup at a time, and mix until it has melted before adding more.  This can take another 10-15 minutes.  After adding all your cheese, if you feel that it is too runny, slowly add flour a teaspoon at a time and wait about 3 minutes in between adding more, or you may find you have something to eat with a fork.

Add the sour cream last. (the photo with sour cream looks more orange as that was my first batch and I added a can of diced tomatoes. If you use fresh, the queso is a lot lighter)

Don`t forget the chips.  I have yet to find decent tortilla chips (or at least something without seasoning on them already), so you have a few options.
Buy the really good ones from El Maiz or Jelmoli
Buy a box of the crunchy taco shells and break them up, or
Make your own.

Making your own is very simple. All you need are flour tortillas and some vegetable oil. Heat the oil in a pan until it is very hot. Cut your tortillas into triangles (like a pizza) and put them in the pan. If you have let the oil get very very hot, you only need to cook them on one side. After they brown and bubble up, lay them on a paper towel to blot some of the grease. Sprinkle with sea salt, as desired.

These are the homemade tortillas, which taste a lot better than store bought if you have the time (see flour tortilla link above)

These are with tortillas I had found in France

Your final option is just to heat up flour tortillas and dip them in the hot queso. Simple and yummy.

I hope you enjoy, and feel free to try your own cheese combinations. Let me know if you come up with something fantastic!

The only thing that could have made this better would be a frozen Swirl or Margarita, but until I get a blender, I guess I will have to pass...

Adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker

Pork Steamed Buns

A few weeks ago, I went to Germany, to Singen, and I found refrigerated steamed buns. I was so excited. So I bought some and then they sat in the fridge for a few days while I tried to figure out what to make. I had found some pork on sale, so decided to use that, and had remembered a recipe for steamed buns with pork.  Well, apparently not for boneless pork chops, but since that is pretty much all I will buy here as it is less expensive than other pork cuts, I went with it.  I have a feeling the crispy pork belly would have been fantastic, but I was pleased with this as well.

I also discovered steamed buns in Konstanz yesterday, so was thrilled with that...now to make breakfast steamed buns...after I buy a new steamer as mine decided it had had enough just recently. I hear the New Asia Market in Wiedikon has steamed buns as well, but have not made it over there yet to check.  The Asia store in HB has not on the times I have visited (though they do have lots of other good things).


If you can not find steamed buns, or want to make your own, I love the taste of the buns that I made earlier. Check out the recipe here.  I still need to perfect my closing (mine were filled), but they do taste great.

What you need:

 Steamed buns, either bought or made with the recipe above
Pork, about 500 g

For the marinade:
1 1/2 Tbls soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1/4 tsp white pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar


hoisin sauce, enough to spread on all the buns
thinly sliced cucumber
thinly slice scallions
koriander for garnishing


Mix the marinade ingredients together and put in a bowl.

Make slices in the pork. Brush the marinade onto the pork, making sure to get it into the slices.

Surround with foil and let sit for 30 minutes

Put in the oven at 200 C for about 40 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. Once you have removed the pork, slice into thin strips.

Prepare your steamer: put enough water in a large pan so that it will not touch the bottom of the buns. Place the buns on top of a piece of parchment paper so they do not stick.  Once the water starts to boil, cook about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the bun.

Spread some hoisin sauce, pork slices, scallions and cucumber. Add a cilantro leaf (or two).  Enjoy!

Salad with mustard dressing and shrimp

Last night we had another wonderful cooking class.  Going into it I thought (yet again) that there would not be a lot I would be interested in (seafood and spicy things I do not like and the menu included both), but of course, yet again, I did enjoy everything (avoiding the shrimp though).  If you are in Thalwil, I definitely recommend stopping in and grabbing a bite to eat!  I will post the other dishes in a separate post as it is time to wake the baby!

He will be hosting a wine and cheese tasting sometime in October which unfortunately I will be unable to attend as I will be on vacation (yay), so hopefully someone will take good notes for me and I will be able to review some of the wines...doing my own research of course!

First course was the salad with Black Tiger Shrimp and a mustard dressing

What you need:

1/2 of a large red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed and minced
1/4 cup of chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper
Olive oil, about 1/2 cup
Basalmico, about 1/4 cup
Mustard. 1/3 cup
various greens
Black Tiger shrimp
White wine, about 2 Tbls




Make your salad with whichever greens you choose

Dice the red bell pepper very finely. Also dice the chives. Crush the garlic and chop finely as well.

Put in a bowl and add the mustard and pepper. Mix.

Add the balsamico and olive oil. You may need a little more oil to get the consistency you want

For the shrimp, make sure you have a very hot pan and add some olive oil. Lay the shrimp in. Saute.

When they are almost done, add some garlic so that it does not have time to burn

When they are done, add a little bit of white wine

Top your salad with the dressing and then add the shrimp.