Vegetarian bbq

Vegetarian bbq variations are not completely hopeless. When I first started experimenting with barbecuing vegetables, it was not that good, but over the years, I've learned some tricks. My favo at the moment is grilled courgette (zucchini). The good news is that I don't have to use the actual grill everytime I want a smoky courgette on my plate. I frequently use a grill pan for grilling vegetables and tofu. Little effort gives sometimes great results. All you need is the grill pan and some marinade/grill oil. The rest is upon your own taste and imagination.

 

Grilled courgette&tofu with goat brie cheese

courgette

tofu natural

goat brie cheese

olive oil + grill oil or a favorite marinade

Slice the courgette and the tofu. Marinate tofu for a while and grill it in the grill pan for about 2 minutes on each side. Brush the courgette with the marinade (or olive/grill oil) and grill on each side. Place a slice of the goat brie on each courgette a minute before it's done, it will melt slightly. Make "sandwiches" with goat brie in the middle. Serve with sallad or what ever you prefer. 

What is your favorite bbq food?

Sheep cheese crostini

Small, tasteful toasts. No wonder that there are a zillion recipes on crostinis, they simply have the potential.
I can never find the Slovak product of sheep cheese called "bryndza" here but I shouldn't complain, a Greek sheep cheese is always available. I'm so longing for a plate of bryndzove halusky, Slovak traditional dish, but I know I can forget about it until I'm reunited with my family in Slovakia. Or, I can make friends with the Greek sheep cheese instead :)

 Sheep cheese&cherry tomatoes crostini

Ingredients:
baguette
olive oil
(crushed garlic)
cherry tomatoes
dried basil or oregano
sheep cheese

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Choose the same program you use for making pizza.
2. Slice the baguette. Place on a baking sheet.
3. Brush the crostinis with olive oil and a little bit of chrushed garlic.
4. Cut the cherry tomatoes and place on the bread. Sprinkle some basil or oregano on the tomatoes.
5. Top with the sheep cheese and bake for about 6 minutes, until the crostinis are lightly brown. Cool before serving.

My time for cooking (and other pleasant things) has shrunk drastically but I still have to and want to cook. More than ever I'm looking for easy and quick solutions (that are not dull). Thanks to my food blogger friends I'm never left with a dilemma about "what to cook". It's actually more about "what to cook first??" So today I chose to try this recipe. I can totally recommend, if you like surprising tastes. We do!:)

Bake easy - bake muffins :)

I'm visiting a friend this evening and even though I was told not to bring anything, I made these muffins. They make a great appetizer or a snack. I can even imagine having these instead of bread to a soup or sallad. I didn't follow any recipe this time, just used igredients that I think work well together. The muffins turned out just as I expected them which made me glad and even more keen on further experimenting in kitchen :) Yes, I know, to bake muffins is one of the easiest things to do but on the other hand, the most rewarding!

Feta&sundried tomatoes muffins with rosemary and lemon zest

Ingredients: (makes about 12 medium size muffins)
3,5 dl all purpose flour
1,5 dl spelt grain (can be replaced by same amount of oatmeal, or just use 5 dl flour)
1 tea spoon sea salt
1,5 table spoon baking powder
1 tea spoon dried rosemary
1,5 dl milk
1 dl oil (can use olive oil if you like)
2 eggs
feta cheese cubed
sundried tomatoes
lemon zest of 1 lemon

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix flour, spelt grain, salt, baking powder and rosemary in a bowl.
3. Beat the eggs lightly in another bowl, add milk and oil.
4. Pour the egg and milk mix into the flour mix and work carefully into a dough.
5. Add the feta, sundried tomatoes cut into pieces and lemon zest.
6. Spoon the dough into a muffin baking pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes. If you are not using paper muffin containers, butter and flour the baking sheet first.

Have a great weekend everyone!