If you fancy a light supper, then prepare some nice snacks. Home-made focaccia really is worth trying and will definitely impress the guest(s). Below you’ll find the recipe for focaccia that I made and also some of the other snacks I’ve tried over time and which have been favorites in the house.
Focaccia
I combined these two recipes. Was quite pleased with the end result… but if you have any further tips to keep in mind when making focaccia, do let me know.
350 g flour
200 ml warm water
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
7 g dry yeast
0.5 tsp salt
In case the yeast needs to be activated, stir together lukewarm water and yeast in bowl and let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. (otherwise mix yeast with other dry ingredients and then add all the wet ingredients).
Add activated yeast to flour, oil, and salt and mix with your hands until a dough forms. Knead dough until soft, smooth, and sticky, 3 to 4 minutes.
Then transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and turn it to coat with oil. Let rise, covered, at warm room temperature, until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I was in a rush and placed the bowl to the oven (50 C), to speed up the rising. I doubt it is the proper way, but…worked well.
When the dough has doubled, press it evenly into a generously oiled baking pan. Let it rise again, covered with a kitchen towel, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Then cover focaccia with some seasoning. I chose sea salt, black olives, fresh rosemary leaves and of course olive oil. Before drizzling the dough with olive oil, press the olives into the dough, making shallow indentation. Oil will then pool in indentations. Sprinkle sea salt evenly over focaccia and bake in middle of 200 degrees C oven until golden, about 30 minutes.
Serve warm!
Tomato-bruschettas
fresh baguette or ciabatta
a couple of tomatoes
chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper
olive oil
crushed garlic
Place tomatoes into hot water for a couple of minutes. Remove from water, peel the tomatoes and clean from the seeds. Chop the flesh.
Mix tomatoes with basil, salt, pepper and garlic. If there are some garlic non-lovers among the guests, you might want to divide the mixture in two and add garlic to just one part of the mixture. But it’s better with garlic, that’s for sure.
Slice the bread and brush each slice with olive oil. If you are a garlic lover, brush the slices with garlic as well. Then place the bread into oven (200 degrees C) for a couple of minutes, to achieve some crispness. Don’t over-bake though, you don’t want your bruschettas to be hard to bite.
When the slices are out from the oven, cover them with the tomato-basil mix and serve.
Rice croquettes
I first wanted to make Gorgonzola Bamboloni which I have already made once (see the picture here). But as I had some leftover rice in the fridge, I decided to look for a recipe where I could use it up. Gourmet site offered a recipe for rice croquettes which I liked, so I went for it (btw, you can find thousands of other delicious recipes there).
It’s very simple and foolproof recipe, and you can play around with it any way you want: in addition to cheese and ham, you might want to add some chopped vegetables or your favorite seasoning (e.g. curry powder) to the rice. I had some mushrooms at hand, so I decided to chop them in the mix as well, together with the cheese and ham. You’ll get about 10 croquettes from the amounts showed below (depending on how big you’ll make them).
250 g boiled rice
100 g chopped ham and the same amount grated cheese, also add a couple of chopped mushrooms
2 tablespoon grated Parmesan
2 eggs
oil and breadcrumbs
Mix the rice with ham, cheeses (and mushrooms or other vegetables, if you are using them). Season with salt and pepper in case the rice was not seasoned before (feel free to add some other seasoning as well). Add one lightly beaten egg and mix.
Put remaining egg (lightly beaten) and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls.
Heat 3-4 cm oil in a skillet over high heat.
Dampen your hands and form croquettes from the rice mixture. Lightly coat with egg, then with breadcrumbs. Prepare all the croquettes before you’ll start frying them.
Fry croquettes in hot oil about 3-4 minutes, turning occasionally. When golden, place them on kitchen paper towel and pat dry. Best when warm (not hot!).
Asparagus with bacon
I guess this recipe need little introduction. Just wrap the bacon slices around asparagus and broil in the oven at 200 degrees C until the bacon is cooked. Don’t over-bake it though – the asparagus should remain crispy, then it is easier to eat the snack.
Instead of bacon, you might want to try wrapping prosciutto or smoked salmon around asparagus – the end-result should be just as tasty!
