Recipe: Selection of easy-tasty and colorful dips!

 

If there`s one thing to know about The Wonderingchef..so moi, is that I like dipping! Ok so now its out there let me tell you why… cos it`s fun! I mean who doesn’t like to dip fresh bread or nachos into tasty and cool dips? Its perfect for movie night, bbq night, wine tasting night, party night, or just nights… Also never over think it, if you got a blender at home, and a few cans of stuff hidden in your kitchen there’s so many things a creative mind can do.

I took the photos a couple of months ago, as I’m working on a project only a few friends know of. I been saving the recipes and pictures, but to be honest with you, they are just too good to stay on a disk, and not be shared. So here they are hope you will enjoy them! The whole 3 dips and 1 salad should take not much more then an hour. If you only pick one, there’s one which literally takes 5 minutes to create!

Note: If you use yogurt, wherever in the world you are, there`s going to be plenty to chose from, however, I really advise you to buy good quality, THICK Greek or Turkish yogurt! Otherwise the dips will end up runny, and that’s not nice. In case there’s no available thick yogurt, press it trough a fine sieve, so it will get rid of excess water!

Be creative with the spices! Don`t have ginger? use coconut milk! Don`t have chili? Use pepper! and so on and on and on…you dip will be tasty anyway:) 

1st zucchini and yogurt salad, with lemon grass (serves 4)

2-3 small zucchinis, or  2 big ones, or 1 very big one

200ml of thick yogurt

handfull of lemon grass..shiffanade

3 cloves of garlic

salt, white pepper

1 onion finely chopped

3 spoons of olive oil.

Slice the zucchini into small-medium cubes, so they will stay chunky after frying. Heat a frying pan, add olive oil, onion and crushed garlic. Add zucchini and fry/brown all sides, until cooked in the middle.season.  Set aside to cool. When cold, mix it with yogurt, and lemon grass! (With mint, or Thai basil, or with some extra chili is fantastic!)

Instant beetroot dip

Here you can use fresh or canned beetroots as well. It doesn`t make any difference. Only the fresh beets you need to cook and peel of course. If you use canned beetroot, get rid of the brine..you don’t need that!

1 medium can of beetroot. or 2-3 fresh ones

3- 4 cloves of garlic

3 spoons of olive oil

handful of fresh thyme leafs

Blend all ingredients together! WOA…I told you it`s instant! (add a bit of honey, and rosemary for an extra twist!)

3: 5 minute mint-chili and yogurt dip!

200 ml of yogurt

handful of fresh mint

2 cloves of garlic

a bit of olive oil

chilies– depending how much you like them, or how strong are the ones you have. Here i really cant tell. I used one, of course i didnt use the seeds, and it was till nice and spicy!

bit of salt.

Blend mint, garlic, salt, and chili together. Most likely you will need to use some olive oil to help your blender. Don`t leave any chunks it should look like a pesto.

Mix with yogurt! (got some nice middle eastern spices at home? use them!)

4:  Roasted Carrot dip with honey, ginger, and corriander

3-4 carrots, thinly sliced

1 onion finely chopped

2 spoons of olive oil

1 spoon of honey

1 spoon of shredded fresh ginger

couple of fresh coriander leafs

Roast carrot on a frying pan, with olive oil, honey and onion. Make sure they are soft!

Blend all ingredients together while still warm!

So now! Dip the bread and enjoy!

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Recipe: Gorgonzola toasts with poached figs

 

 

How about a little snack? Dinner party, wine tasting, bbq, birthday party..these little toasts will serve you well. Easy and will be ready in no-time. Especially now, when figs are in season, you can easily replace the poached figs to some fresh ones with balsamic glaze. For this one I used ciabata bread, but any thick crust dough will be nice, especially french baguettes!

To prepare the poached figs will take some time, depending of course how many you are making, to me 40 pieces were 20 minutes, it also cools fast, and in case you wont be using all, it can be stored up until a month in the fridge!

Ingredients for 10 toasts

10 slices of ciabata bread, or any other bread

50 g of Gorgonzola cheese

20 figs, dried..or fresh ones, which don`t need to be poached

100ml of red wine

100ml of water

2 spoons of sugar

1 spoon of white wine vinegar

little bit of salt

Combine the water, wine, vinegar, sugar and salt in a small sauce pan, add figs, and bring it to boil. Cook until liquid is reduced, and you end up with a thick caramelized. Put it aside to cool.

Spread the gorgonzola on the bread slices, add as thick as you like, depending how much you like the taste of the cheese. Some prefer a bit less, some a bit more. Put it in the oven to 180C for a couple of minutes, until golden brown.

When toasts are ready, add 2-3 figs each, spread some of the caramelized wine jam, on the serving plate!

Enjoy!

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The 90 day diet vol1.

So yes, everybody is dieting, trying to lose wight, watch their figure and eat healthy. There are plenty of diets, some well know some not that much, some are really a struggle some easy to keep. I found (especially in my field of work) that keeping and following a diet, can be difficult during a work week. Sometimes you don’t have time to prepare your stuff, or need to go for a work lunch, or just the local deli doesn`t sell the stuff that you need. And after a while people just give up as “it`s just too much work”

The deal with me was pretty much the same. I tried Atkins diet for a while, it worked, but only for a short amount of time, as to be honest I don’t really like to eat meat that much.  So that was a no go, very low energy diets just made me really tired at work, and I still needed to taste most of the food I made so, again no go. I tried to separate some ingredients, so no meat with carbs and etc, it sort of worked but wasn`t enough.

The 90 day diet is popular in Hungary, so I thought I give it a go. Basically ingredients are divided for 4 days, You only eat one kind of food a day, so lats say fruit or carbs, or high protein, and you repeat the days for 90 days, until your body cleans itself. It sounds hard but it isn’t, basically you can eat anything (almost) just on the right day. Make sure your breakfast is always fruit, and make sure you don`t mix the variety of ingredients.

So I`ve been doing this for a week now, and let me tell you, it`s really good.  I never separated my food this much, and it`s easier then I thought, and even after a couple of days I felt better. Of course it`s a slow weight loss process hence the 90 days, but t does make you healthier.  And I sort of made the promise Im going to start cooking for myself, which after work Im really not in the mood for. So now, it`s a promise im following the diet, also I wanna share the recipes I make and create for the separate days, as food is still good, and maybe I inspire some to do the diet with me.

1st day

High protein day

(Anything which includes, meat, fish, eggs, dairy) so basically an Atkins day (some lettuce or fresh vegetables are allowed, but within reason)

So yes, here’s the meat, which sometimes needs sauce or flavouring, and there are limited amount of things you can use. Ketchup and mustard are quite common, on this day mayo is also allowed.  Note you can still use fresh herbs, a bit of garlic, chili etc. Stay away from fried vegetables like onion, or a ratatoullie. Or sauces containing flour or sugar.

Lunch- Steak marinated to red wine mustard, with eggs and basil

1 beefsteak

2 eggs

2 spoons of red wine mustard

1 spoon of butter

1 spoon of olive oil

fresh basil leafs

salt and pepper for seasoning

A day before (no time 2 hours before is also good, but less doesnt do much as a marinade) Mix the olive oil with the mustard. Slice on the top of the steak, season it with salt and pepper. Marinate it with the mustard-oil mix, and keep it a container, make sure it doesn`t dry out.

Fry it over butter, for your preference, with the egg. Put a couple of basil leafs in the oil, making them crispy. Enjoy!

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Recipe: Citrus zucchini dip with honey!

I love dipping:) any kind of bread or meat into any kind of dip/sauce.  My ultimate favourites are the ones which are yoghurt based. especially tzatziki. And the roast vegetable ones come close second. Most of the time they are very easy to make, and are great apetizers and party food. They also look very nice most of the time, especially if onse make a pretty colourful selection.

On the other hand, I barely eat zucchini dip. Maybe it`s just me, but I don`t usually find any, eggplant or squash for example are lot more pupolar. Even thou zhucchini holds a lot of potential flavourwise. It has a nice fresh taste, and can be perfect for a nice summer bbq. That`s how I got the idea for citrus. I used fresh lemon and zest, and a spice blend, orange pepper. The spice is amazing, and i`m in love with it, so to  say it can really “spice up” some dishes, with an easy move!

The recipe is easy like A-B-C!, and can be ready in about 20 minutes.

Ingredients (3-4 people)

2 zucchini

2 shallots

juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 spoons of honey

1 spoon of orange pepper- if you do`nt have any orange pepper, add some white pepper, and some orange juice.

salt

Slice shallots and zucchini in small cubes. Don`t make them too small, leave them a bit chunky.

Fry over oil, in a frying pan, untill soft. Add lemon juice, zest, honey, and seasoning. Mix well, fry a bit more.

Transfer into a bowl, and blend with food processor, until still warm.

Keep in fridge to cool.

Enjoy!

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