Fusion munchies night/ French aperitif

Enjoying the luxury of having a kitchen at the moment (in London you start being grateful when you have one square meter of dry floor to sleep on really), I decided to invite my two lovely new pals Jessica and Susie for a French aperitif.

"A-pee-ree quoi?" I hear you ask.

APERITIF.  It's the official term for that pre-meal we have in France which consists in munching and drinking. I'm sure that's the type of tradition Brits can relate to.
We have aperitif when friends come over, on a Sunday lunch and for any special occasion.

To make this one a little more fun, I asked my international party to make a small dish from their country.

Swedish Jessica made a  potato salad, Susie the Aussie baked a bread, and I for myself made an "aubergine caviar" to celebrate my mediterranean side, and a Frenchier goat cheese and honey tartine.
No "grande cuisine" here, both my dishes require 5 minutes preparation.

Caviar d'aubergines:

I always make this dish from scratch, so the proportions are really approximative.

What you will need:
An aubergine (d'uh!)
A can of chopped tomatoes
Half an onion (thin slices)
Some garlic or garlic powder
One tablespoon of olive oil

1: So the first part of this recipe is cooking the aubergine.
Pre heat the oven at 170 degrees.
Cut both extremities and then you can either slice it or do it my way and fork the aubergine all the way round. Do not skip this step, the aubergine WILL explode in your hands (the biggest fright of me life, true story).
I then brush some olive oil all over it and wrap it in foil.
The cooking should be about an hour.
2:About 10 minutes before the aubergine is ready, gently cook the onions in olive oil, then add the tomatoes and the garlic. Simmer for a bit.
3:When the aubergine is done, take out the flesh with a spoon and mix it to the onions.
4: Done.

I prefer this dish cold, so I always make it the night before and let it chill in the fridge. It's lovely on foccacia bread.
Tonight I decided to dress it on spinach leaves, as I am also serving tartines.


Goat cheese and honey tartines:

A classic! French people love that combo: we have it on pizza, in salads, tonight we will have it on bread.

What you will need:
Some soft goat cheese, or "buchette" as we call it. Nothing too hard or dry.
Some honey, tonight I am using a Provence honey from the Fauchon brand. Fancy.
Some bread, I am having baguette, but any type will do really.

1: Cut thin slices of bread
2: Put a spinach leave on each slice and top with a 0,50 cm thick slice of goat cheese.
3: Grill the tartines in the oven.
4: Finally, drizzle some honey on your tartine.
5: Et voila!


Simple, quick and tasty. Serve them hot. They also make a lovely main course when served with a mixed salad.


Swedish potato salad:


I watched her do it and it was really simple.
Just boil some new potatoes until they are tender.
Then simply mix the "senapssill" (no bloody idea how to pronunce that).
It's herring mixed with a cold sweet mustard sauce.
I hate herring but I really really loved that salad.

Good one Jess!


Jessica's note:

I made the salad because it is one of my favorite traditional Swedish dishes for big holidays like Christmas and easter.
You can find the herring in mustard sauce at Totally Swedish.

Note from me: I found some in Ikea too.


Australian homemade bread:


(more on this later)




To accompany those small dishes, French people would throw in some olives (here I have been using Sainsburry's ones but if I were in France, I would have picked some fresh ones from a nearby market) and some crips (I have been advised to give those crisps a go).

Pret, feu, munch away!