Watch out, fabulous entrée recipe coming out! Ok, there are a lot of weird ingredients involved but they can easily be replaced. Kumatoes are a brown kind of tomatoes. They taste a little sweeter than regular tomatoes but f you can’t find any, you’ll be fine with tomatoes. Same story for the purple basil, any fresh basil leaves would do the trick

It’s fresh, tasty and full of vitamins. Perfect for spring time!

Preparation time: 15 minutes    –   Cooking time: 2 minutes

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

7 oz (200 g) of cooked shrimps
4 oz (120 g) of fresh baby spinach leaves
8 green asparagus
2 tomatoes kumato

Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar (you can also use balsamiq if you like)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of crushed cilantro seeds
10 to 15 purple basil leaves
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Fill 2/3 of a large pan with water, add some salt and get it to a boil.

2/ Wash and dry spinach leaves thoroughly. Pinch off the stems.

3/ Pour asparagus into boiling water and leave them in for 2 minutes.

4/ Peel shrimps. Set aside.

5/ Rinse and dry tomatoes kumato. Take off the hard part curving with a knife. Slice them.

6/ In 4 individual plates, share out spinach leaves, kumato slices and shrimps. Top each plate with 2 asparagus.

7/ Rinse and dry purple basil leaves. Cut them into thin stripes with scissors dropping some on each plate.

8/ Prepare vinaigrette: In a small bowl, pour vinegar, oil and honey. Stir energetically until vinaigrette is homogeneous. Add crushed cilantro seeds, salt and pepper and stir again.

9/ Sprinkle a pinch of salt and dash vinaigrette on top of each plate. Serve right away.

Appetizer spoons are great for an « apéritif dinatoire » when your guests are only going to eat finger food. But they’re also perfect as an elaborated amuse-bouche to be served before a nice meal. We’re in the middle of holiday season, it’s a perfect time to share with you this delicious coconut ceviche recipe. Believe me, it would make a great appetizer for your Christmas or New year’s eve dinner.

Ceviche is a Peruvian dish in which citrus marinade contributes to « cook » the fish. That’s why the indicated marinating time can vary depending on your tastes. If you like eating raw fish, then you won’t let it marinate for long. On the contrary, if raw fish doesn’t appeal you at all, you can even prepare it the day before so it marinates overnight and gets a harder consistence.

Preparation time: 10 mn – Marinating time: 15 to 30 minutes

Ingredients (for 10 to 15 spoons)

1/2 lbs (225 g) of white fish fillets (sole, bass, hake, cod etc.)
1 lemon
1 lime
5 tablespoons of thick coconut milk
1 tablespoon of small chive
1 tablespoon of cilantro
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
1 teaspoon of grated coconut (optional)
Salt

Instructions

1/ Rinse fish fillets and dry them with kitchen paper. Take bones away and dice them (size around 1 square inch).

2/ Rinse and chop small chives and cilantro.

3/ Rinse lime and lemon and grate their zest (optional: you can keep some for decoration, you’ll grate the rest over the spoons before serving them).

4/ In a soup plate, combine fish, lemon and lime zest, small chives, cilantro and a pinch of salt.

5/ Squeeze lime and lemon and add juice to the fish mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 15 minutes (depending on how raw you want to serve it).

6/ Combine in a bowl coconut milk and turmeric.

7/ Fill spoons with ceviche (leaving lemon juice in the marinating plate) and coconut sauce.  Top with grated zests, ginger and coconut (optional).

Here is an original and very tasty winter soup recipe. I’m sure you’ll love the slight cumin flavor and the lime marinated mushrooms… I use dried chickpeas because they taste better (in my humble opinion) and are more nutritional than canned ones but they definitely ask for more organization You’ll need to soak them overnight before cooking your soup. So if you don’t have time, go for canned chickpeas and reduce considerably cooking time.

Preparation time : 30 mn (+1 night soaking of dried chickpeas) – Cooking time : 2 h

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

2/3 lbs (310 g) of chickpeas
1 large onion
1 bay leaf
10 to 12 cups (2, 5 to 3 l) of water
1 cup (25cl) of sour cream (crème fraiche)
1 pinch of cumin powder

Marinated mushrooms

1/2 lbs (310 g) of portobello mushrooms
3/8 of cup (10 cl) of olive oil
1 lime
1 tablespoon of fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 pinch of red chilli powder

Toasted bread

4 bread slices
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1/ Rinse chickpeas until water comes out clear, then soak them in about 12 cups of water overnight. (Add cooking salt and a tablespoon of baking soda to it: it helps soften the cheakpeas).

2/ Peel and slice mushrooms. (When cleaning mushrooms you should try to avoid using water, they would get soaked and loose taste). Combine olive oil, cilantro and chilli pepper.

3/ Clean lime, grate zest and squeeze it. Add zest and juice to marinade. Add salt and pepper. Pour mushrooms in marinade and set aside.

4/ Get water to a boil. Peel and slice onion. Pour onion slices, bay leaf and chickpeas into boiling water. Cover (leaving some air coming out so it doesn’t boil over) and leave until chickpeas are tender.

5/ Mix it in a food mixer; add creme fraiche and season with cumin, salt and pepper. (Try it and add seasoning if needed).

6/ Peel garlic clove. Heat olive oil in a frying pan, add the whole garlic clove. Get the garlic all around the pan so the oil gets garlic flavour. Add bread slices cut in half. Leave 1 or 2 minutes on each side.

7/ Serve chickpea soup adding marinated mushrooms on top with bread on side.

Enjoy!

Here is a fantastic recipe if you want to impress your guests but have little time to spend in the kitchen. Warm or cold, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it either way

Preparation Time : 10 mn

Ingredients (for 4 to 6 servings):

1 lbs (16 oz/450g) of carrots
2 oranges
1 onion
1 cup (250 ml) of chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup (125 ml) of fresh cream (crème fraiche you can replace it by Quark or fromage blanc)
3 tablespoons of cilantro leaves
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper

Instructions:

1/ Peel and heat carrots in a large saucepan half filled with water.

2/ Squeeze oranges and cut onion. Set aside some cilantro leaves for decoration.

3/ When carrots are done, mix them with onion, cilantro, orange juice and stock.

5/ Add salt, pepper and cream.

6/ Leave in fridge for 30 mn if you’d like to enjoy it cold or heat slowly if you’re on the mood for a warm soup.

7/ Decorate with cilantro right before serving.