Butternut Squash Party Dip

This squash dip is a perfect idea for all kind of fall parties. It can be made either from squash, which will be slightly sweeter and more intensive in color, or from a Halloween pumpkin.

The recipe is very simple but very healthy and the really worth sharing. First, the squash is baked then puréed in a food processor with all the additional ingredients. This particular one is made from butternut squash. I made it on the spicy side, by adding red chili pepper. I finished it with nigella (black onion) seeds that add an extra taste, which contrasts nicely with the orange squash.

The dip can be served just with pita bread but it tastes even better with sea salt or whole wheat crunchy pita bread chips.



Butternut Squash Dip
(Serves 6–8)

Ingredients:
2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and cut into cubes,
4 tbsp Greek yogurt,
1 tbsp lemon juice,
1 tsp paprika,
1 garlic clove.
1 tsp red chili pepper,
2 tbsp olive oil,
1 tbsp nigella seeds,
sea salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Place squash cubes on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and rub with olive oil. Bake for 20–30 minutes until soft. Cool.



3.Place the squash in a food processor, add garlic, lemon juice, yogurt, and paprika, and pulse until all the ingredients are blended. Taste and season more if needed.
4. Transfer the dip into a medium bowl. Add chili pepper, mix, and smooth the top.
5. Sprinkle with nigella seeds or extra chili flakes and serve.

Party Snacks--To Welcome New Year

It's party time. Many days off, half days, and plenty time to meet family and friends. An excellent opportunity to relax, enjoy company, and have fun in these not so funny times.

So, without talking too much, I would like to share some ideas for party snacks that are easy to make and are great, especially for cocktail-style parties.

If you are lucky like me to have special tiny party dishes, which I got from Belgium, they are wonderful to serve individual single-bite portions, if not, larger serving plates would do as well.

Recently I have been making these simple snacks very often and because of their variety, they are likely to satisfy everyone.

Party Snacks

1. Use small ready-made phyllo shells and fill them up with pâté. Decorate with spicy red pepper and capers.

2. Cut slices of small Japanese or kirby cucumbers, top with slices of good quality smoked salmon, finish with wasabi mayonnaise, or crème fraîche, and chives or dill.

3. Wrap squares of persimmons in pieces of prosciutto or Serrano ham.

And here are other party snack ideas that I have already shared on my blog:

Party Ideas--Delicious Icebreakers

Bell Pepper Rolls--For Party Dinners

Crispy Artichoke Roulade--A Wine Party Snack

Festive Potato Wedges--Thanksgiving Snacks and More

Spicy Pecan Cookies--Something out of Nothing

Crispy Mushroom Crostini--Party Alternative to Crunchy Veggies

Blue Cheese and Pear Snacks for Wine Lovers

Blue Cheese and Pear Snacks for Wine Lovers

A friend has been asking me for a long time to share this recipe but, to be honest, I have been very reluctant to do that. It is one of the dishes from my "all-time favorite" list and one that I often serve to my guests. Most of the people who try this snack love it and ask for the recipe, but sharing it with them makes it impossible to serve it next time I have them over, since they learn how to do that and often use that recipe themselves.

My close and a very candid friend, who took home and reproduced some of my culinary secrets asked once: "Please do not make that dish for us anymore. I have been cooking it so often that we are tired of it." That is the only downside of having a culinary blog and sharing it with people we know. But, the big upside of it has been that it makes me feel great to be able to influence other people's culinary habits.

So I quietly hope I can interest with this recipe my anonymous readers in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Indonesia, and Russia but not so much in Washington DC. Let's hope they are all on vacation.

This simple snack is excellent served before dinner, or just as a party snack in itself when we meet people for drinks and finger food. Since summer creates many opportunities for meeting friends and family in a very informal atmosphere, it is a perfect time to let others enjoy this dish, its taste and simplicity.

When you look at it, it seems that you can recognize all the ingredients, but in fact there is a hidden one, which people cannot distinguish and which makes these petite sandwiches taste mysterious. You should guess.

Blue Cheese and Pear Baguette Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1/2 baguette, a day-old baguette works the best,
1 soft pear,
1/2 pound of any hard blue cheese--it can be Bleu d'Auvergne or Stilton,
1/2 stick of butter,
1/2 cup of walnuts.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Cut the entire baguette in 1/4 inch thick slices and spread butter on them.
3. Peel off the pear, remove seeds and cut in quarters, then slice them across diagonally into thin slices.
4. Arrange the baguette on the baking tin buttered side up, and put a slice of pear on each piece.
5. Cover pear slices with slices of blue cheese and top with halves of walnuts.
6. Bake for that between 20-30 minutes, until cheese melts slightly, walnuts get roasted and the baguette turns gold.
7. Serve warm with wine.

This snack tastes wonderfully with red wine, but on a hot sunny evening it is goes particularly well with a glass of cold Vouvray or Sancerre.

Baked Feta from Alzace

I got this recipe last winter from a friend of mine, who got it from her family living in Alsace. That is how recipes travel around the world. The moment I heard about this dish I knew it would be one of my favorites. I made some modifications to it, since the original recipe was too generous with oil, but still please do not be surprised with its amount, as feta during baking also releases its own fat. You are supposed to dip a piece of bread in the oil and eat it together with feta.

It is a simple, delicious accompaniment to a glass of red wine, as an aperitif or a dinner appetizer.

I also added extra spices that are worth trying. Instead of herbs I put sometimes just sesame seeds and always a sprinkle of chili flakes and pepper.

It is another recipe that I share because many people after trying it, ask me how to prepare it. I make it in a big oven-proof dish and serve on small aperitif plates, or bake it in small ramekins, and serve directly from them.



Feta baked with herbs
Serves 6-8 people.

Ingredients:
1 pound Feta cheese,
1 tbsp Herbs de Provence, but just oregano or sesame seeds will do as well,
12 garlic cloves,
1 tsp chili pepper flakes,
freshly ground pepper,
1 cup good quality Extra Virgin olive oil.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Cut feta in slices about 1/4 inch thick and spread them in an oven proof dish or put them in small dishes or ramekins, if used.
3. Put garlic cloves around feta slices.
4. Sprinkle it with herbs and, lightly, with chili flakes and pepper.
5. Pour olive oil on feta; it should cover it almost entirely.
6. Bake until feta is gold and garlic soft which should take about 25-30 minutes.
7. Serve warm with a baguette, any white bread, or Middle Eastern bread.



It was a hit during the World Cup final!

A Tea Party? But the English Way Only--with Salmon Sandwiches

In Poland, where I was born, a tea party would be about a glass of black tea with a slice of lemon in it, served with various kinds of cakes and sweets.

In America--we all know--it is a political rather than a culinary affair.

I was surprised to learn that in England a tea party was all about sandwiches. A long time ago, when I lived in London, I was invited to a tea party. I ate there most delicious sandwiches, which were served with a cup of tea in a Victorian style china.

Every time I visit London I cannot resist buying a big triangle of a toast bread sandwich, with salmon spread or hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise spread, looking for that familiar taste that is just a nostalgia impossible to resurrect.



It reminds me a story that an old French lady told me about an unforgettable coffee aroma she remembered from the maternity ward. No coffee smelled ever again the same to her anywhere else in the world. It was not so much about the coffee but this one special moment that made it so exceptional.

London then was my first longer foreign adventure. For the first time in my life I was living there on my own, working, learning a new language, discovering the western world, different cultures and ethnic food. Over there I saw for the first time ever a Rolls Royce and a Ferrari, and hand-made Oxford shoes. I bought there my first cashmere sweater. I fell there in love with the Indian cuisine and tried for the first time in my life kiwi, mango, and avocado.

For all these reasons it was unforgettable time in my life and because of all these memories I love to visit London as often as I can. I love to see and discover how much the city has changed and become more sophisticated than when I landed there for the first time twenty years ago.

A couple of years later, when I moved from London to Geneva, I met a Portuguese friend Romy who used to live in London as well. She invited me once for a lunch and prepared for us simple sandwiches and tea. I put a piece of the soft triangle in my mouth and yes, I tasted again this sandwich from the English tea party I was guest once.

It was all about this smooth salmon spread--spicy from the mustard, crunchy from the cucumber, and aromatic from dill and spring onion.

I do not make it as often these days and put it rather on slices of baguette than toast bread, but every time I do it, it tastes equally delicious, especially with a glass of white wine or a cup of tea.



I often prepare it for my guests and serve with aperitifs. Here is the recipe I got from Romy. I treasure it and have been using ever since.

Salmon Spread

Ingredients:
250 g smoked salmon,
1 tbsp butter,
2 tsp oil,
1 tbsp lemon juice,
1/4 cup light cream,
1/2 tbsp coarse mustard,
2 spring onions cut in small pieces,
1 tsp chopped dill,
salt,pepper.

Preparation:
1. Put salmon in a food processor.
2. Run the machine on pulse until the salmon is cut into small pieces.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients and let the blender work until everything turns into a smooth paste.
4. Scoop the paste out from the blender, spread over bread and serve decorated with cucumber slices.



Useful tip.
I sometimes serve salmon made this way as a starter before dinner. I use then a little bit of spread, and decorate with slices of smoked salmon, cut cucumber and dill.

My secret.
In London I always finish up this sandwich feast with a whole bar of mint Aero chocolate. So yummy and so English.