savoury delights

packed vegetables

We are still in the south aka Mediterranean area … now in Northern Spain. So I made an approach to a vegetable casserole filled w/ Mediterranean vegetables – a simple dish you may prepare anytime & everywhere – as I did some years ago for the 1st time. So let’s start … Suppose you need a batch of vegetables for a roast or a BBQ or whatever. How to prepare it w/o too much trouble…

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just pasta savoury delights

it’s summer: lemon pasta … also in the south …

Pasta & summer: it’s an excellent combination because pasta is an easy dish convenient for all these warm summer nights when sitting outside w/ a glass of wine longing for some easy, but substantial food – which wouldn’t keep you in the kitchen for too long. It’s also one of my favourite pasta dishes in the south if Southern France or Northern Spain (where we are now!). The main challenge sometimes seems to be to…

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just pasta savoury delights

approaching one pot pasta – in the south

In the south – we are now in Northern Spain … & when roaming on my blog I found this recipe which I adapted somewhat for a dinner. (I worked w/ tortellini, Spanish bacon, white onions … & it was fine!) However, let’s start w/ a streamlined version of the original recipe! My very 1st encounter w/ one-pot-pasta: my better half & I got a food & wine basket as a present from friends containing…

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salads savoury delights

avocado goes for dressing … in the south

Potato salad is down-to-earth … so down-to-earth … Time to get it dressed to kill by adding an avocado dressing! Potatoes are year-round vegetables & avocados are on their way. What do you think of replacing mayonnaise and/or double cream and/or sour cream by a real heap of mashed avocado? This was my vision when creating this very special potato salad some years ago. We are still in the South aka Mediterranean area … having…

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savoury delights

roasted & creamed aubergine … in southern france

My standard information nowadays … We are still in Southern France resp. Northern Spain … It is hot, really hot … & for dinner it’s most of the days a cold affair: fresh bread, ham, cheese … & some dip (or more than a single dip!). So I remembered my aubergine dip … In the past: Aubergines (aka eggplant) & I – we did never become close friends. I’m fond of beautiful aubergines, but coming…

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just pasta savoury delights

tomato sausages in southern france

We are still in Southern France – and sometimes I reinvent a recipe from my blog. This time … Do you imagine that in Southern France there are lots of types of frying sausages? Honestly, I was surprised at the variety. There are thin sausages, thick sausages, short & longer than a meter … also gentle seasoned as well as really hot – and all spicy variations in between. So we often bought some sausages…

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savoury delights

happy hour shortbread in southern france

Imagining it’s happy hour: chilled white wine (or rosé wine) & smooth red wine are awaiting their destiny, gin tonics & vodka tonics are mixed or whatever else – in the very middle of all the drinks sits a plate w/ crispy crumbly cheesy spicy shortbread cookies … We are still in Southern France enjoying happy hour at times … so I started to make some savoury shortbread to enjoy w/ the wine – instead…

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salads savoury delights

green beans w/ tuna cream in southern france

As I start usually these days … we are still in Southern France. However, we moved from Carcassonne to Sérignan meaning from Languedoc into Hérault approaching also the Mediterranean coast. For statistics: Carcassone is a town of about 47.000 inhabitants while Sérignan has got about 8.000 people i. e. a village. So now we are living in a small townhouse near the centre of the village – and enjoy the daily noisette resp. glass of…

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just pasta savoury delights

one pot pasta tomato in southern france

We are still in Southern France in a tiny & minimalistic kitchen … It’s pasta time: we often enjoy pasta dishes because they are so easy to create. I especially like the one pot pasta approach. It’s quite a long time ago that I posted about one pot pasta tomato, but it’s one of my favourites, although I adjusted the dish a touch. Back then I thought about my approach as the mother of all…

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savoury delights

happy hour salmon in southern france

Happy hour is on the agenda … what about some homemade salmon paté? We are still in Southern France, in Carcassonne … Also in France there is a happy hour & sometimes we enjoy a leisurely happy hour in front of our current home, sitting in the spring sun & having a glass of wine. I found this easy approach to salmon paté in Rachel Allen’s cookbook, worked then with the ingredients available at the…

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savoury delights

shakshuka – for breakfast & dinner

We are in Southern France, living for 4 months in a small house in Carcassonne. As I told you already: the kitchen is small & the kitchen equipment is limited. So cooking is somewhat of a challenge … However, what fits is Shakshuka. … & you may prepare it for breakfast as well as for dinner! (We almost never have lunch here, but of course it’s also a delicious simple lunch!) Some years ago I…

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savoury delights

from avocado to guacamole

Avocados are very popular w/ us. I think we are no exception. Especially since we are in Southern France we like to create some avocado mess & indulge w/ fresh baguette for our dinner. Afterwards we may have some cheese … for the finish. As I already told you there is only a tiny kitchen in our home so preparing excessive meals for lunch or dinner, requiring cooking & frying & preparing a sauce &…

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savoury delights

how to do ham …

Over the years I created several posts about ham … Now we are approaching Xmas season – so I thought that some sort of roundup might be quite a good idea, because a delicious big chunk of ham is appropriate for any winter get-together if before Xmas, during Xmas or after Xmas. In general the process to create a ham dinner is always the same – so I’ll present 2 different results … one is…

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