3 Meze table ideas

3 vegan meze ideas

3 ideaa Meze-pöytään

This is my second post in collaboration with Olicatessen.  If you didn’t catch my recipe for Orange olive oil cake with candied cardamom oranges, Olicatessen source authentic high quality Greek produce which they ship worldwide.  For this post I decided to showcase some quick and easy ideas for a Meze table using a range of  Olicatessen’s classic ingredients.

First off, a white bean hummus topped with a fiery red pepper paste.  The white beans create a delicious creamy hummus which is infused with Adam Herbs organic rosemary which adds a bittersweet, almost nutty flavour.  Not only is this rosemary handpicked, but it is more fragrant and flavourful than the regular supermarket variety.

Secondly a olive tapenade.  Olicatessen stock a number of high quality greek organic olives, which are only lightly salted and packed without additives to retain their crispness and flavour.   I mixed green olives from Chalkidiki with Kalamon olives to create a delicious tapenade.  Kalamon olives in particular are known as a superior variety of edible olive, which harvested green,  must be handpicked to avoid bruising.

Finally I made a vegan aioli which I served with some dukkah crusted butternut squash wedges (recipe coming soon).  The aioli literally takes seconds to make and like my Orange olive oil cake, uses Agora organic extra virgin olive oil.  Agora’s fruity and slightly peppery flavour adds a real depth to the aioli.  I flavoured mine simply with garlic, but it also works well with a touch of saffron.

So if grazing on a mouth watering Meze table is your thing, head over to http://www.olicatessen.fi for some genuine, exquisitely sourced greek produce.

White bean hummus with a fiery roasted red pepper paste (Voipapuhummus ja tuulinen paahdettu paprikatahna)

3 red peppers, cut into chunks

2 cloves garlic

1 red chilli, cut into chunks and deseeded if you don’t like it too hot

Agora extra virgin olive oil

a splash of balsamic vinegar

2 x 400g tin butter beans/ white beans

1 tbsp tahini

a good squeeze of lemon juice

2 tsp Adam Herbs organic rosemary

2 tbsp Agora extra virgin olive oil

3 red peppers

2 cloves garlic

1 red chilli

a splash of balsamic vinegar

toasted pinenuts to serve

white bean hummus with fiery roasted red pepper paste

Begin by roasting your red peppers.  Preheat your oven to 200 degrees c.  Toss the red peppers, garlic and chilli in a little olive oil.  Season well, before spreading on a baking sheet and roasting in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, until the peppers are tender and beginning to char along the edges.  Allow to cool a little, before squeezing out the roasted garlic from their skins and adding to a food processor along with the roasted peppers, chilli and a splash of balsamic vinegar.  Whizz up into a rough paste and set to one side.

Next add 2 tbsp of olive oil and the rosemary to a small pan.  Warm over a medium heat for around 5 minutes to allow the rosemary to infuse the olive oil.   Meanwhile add the beans, tahini and lemon juice to a food processor.  Finally add the rosemary infused oil, (pour through a sieve to remove the rosemary), before seasoning well and blending the hummus into a smooth paste, adding a little extra oil or lemon juice if necessary.

Top the bean hummus with a big dollop of the rep pepper paste and a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts.

 

Olive tapenade (oliivitapenadi)

1 dl/ 100 ml green olives

1 dl/ 100 ml black olives

1 tbsp capers, drained

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 tbsp Agora extra virgin olive oil

a good squeeze of lemon juice

a generous dried of coarse black pepper

Add all the ingredients in to a food processor and pulse into a smoothish paste.  You don’t want to blend the tapenade too long, it should be a little rough and chunky.  If the mixture is too thick add an extra drizzle of olive oil.

vegan olive tapenade

Vegan Aioli  (vegaaninen aioli)

3 tbsp aqua

1/ 2 tsp djon mustard

1/ 2 tsp salt

1 small garlic clove minced

200 ml/ 2 dl Agora extra virgin olive oil

a good squeeze of lemon juice

1 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar

Simply add all the ingredients into a bowl or jug and whizz up for a few seconds with an immersion blender.  This should result in a delicious creamy aioli.

 

This is a paid collaboration with Olicatessen Oy

 

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