Showing posts with label castello cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label castello cheese. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Celebrate the National Smorging Week with Castello Cheese #getsmorging
After long school days, there are many evenings that I hardly want to walk into the kitchen and prepare an elaborate meal. Neither do I want to pick up my phone and order for a takeaway nor a Pizza delivery. All that I do is laser eye scanning inside my fridge, store cupboards, canned food stock ( very rare) if any and quickly plan up for the meal. It could be like a Hummus Sandwich, Vegetable Sandwich, Toastie Sandwich, a pasta stir fry, paratha's or anything .. but something really quick with all the available ingredients just at home.
One of the days, coincidentally when I was sailing on the same boat I received an email about Summertime Smorging with Castello Cheese. A little later after we finished our dinner , I sat alongside my favorite corner on the left hand side on my Leather Couch.On further reading I realised, we are actually Smorging !!
So what does it mean " To Smorg" ?
Based on the Scandinavian Smörgåsbord, Smorging is a relaxed style of eating that allows you to enjoy your favourite cheese with a combination of different tastes and textures.
To learn more about it, I went on with an elaborate search and here is what I found.
Smörgåsbord is a type of Scandinavian meal, originating in Sweden, served buffet-style with multiple hot and cold dishes of various foods on a table.It is typically a celebratory meal and guests can help themselves from a range of dishes laid out for their choice. In a restaurant, the term refers to a buffet-style table laid out with many small dishes from which, for a fixed amount of money, one is allowed to choose as many as one wishes.
Information source - Wikipedia
CASTELLO'S How to Smorg Guide ?
- Grab a selection of bases such as crusty bread, slices of rye bread, crisp breads, crackers, or toast. Plan the rest of your ingredients, or root around and see what you can find to make up your board!
- Try to find a range of tastes to include: salty, sweet, sour, and umami (a savoury taste). And try to include a range of textures too so that there is a balance between crunchy and soft. It is the combinations of tastes and textures that make each and every Smorging session unique!
- Choose your favourite Castello cheeses and get them out of the fridge, along with some butter, to warm up for 30 minutes.
- Present your selection on some kind of platter – a wooden or slate board is perfect, or even just a large plate. Most importantly, remember, you can’t go wrong!
- Have fun with it and make the best of what you’ve got. Don’t be afraid about trying out new combinations and see what happens!
- Grab a selection of bases such as crusty bread, slices of rye bread, crisp breads, crackers, or toast. Plan the rest of your ingredients, or root around and see what you can find to make up your board!
- Try to find a range of tastes to include: salty, sweet, sour, and umami (a savoury taste). And try to include a range of textures too so that there is a balance between crunchy and soft. It is the combinations of tastes and textures that make each and every Smorging session unique!
- Choose your favourite Castello cheeses and get them out of the fridge, along with some butter, to warm up for 30 minutes.
- Present your selection on some kind of platter – a wooden or slate board is perfect, or even just a large plate. Most importantly, remember, you can’t go wrong!
- Have fun with it and make the best of what you’ve got. Don’t be afraid about trying out new combinations and see what happens!
Yesterday was one of the perfect day's to get smorging in real sense.. When I actually dived into my fridge- freezer , all that I had was a selection of cheese, Pesto sauce, some carrots, cucumber, tomato, oven dried tomatoes and some herbs. Taking this as the perfect opportunity, I paired them in combinations.. Here's my take on it !
Pairing - 1
Classic Oven dried tomatoes and Basil
Cheese - Castello Creamy White Cheese
Pairing 2
Basil Pesto with a topping of combination of vegetables - Cucumber, Tomato and garnish with mint. Season with salt and pepper as required.
Pairing 3
Pairing 4
Grated Carrots toppings with chopped green chilly, lemon juice and salt. Garnish with Coriander leaves
Cheese - Castello Creamy White Cheese
Its National Smorging Week between 24th - 31st August'15. So what are we waiting for ? Lets just break the rules and try smorging. If you are interested in participating, send in a list of your favourite thingy's inside the fridge or store cupboards or a clear image of contents of their fridge to @CastelloUK using #getsmorging and Trine Hahnemann ( acclaimed chef and food writer) will create a bespoke smorg pairing. Post on their official Facebookpage @CastelloUK
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Chickpeas Burger with Avocado Sauce & Blue Burger Cheese #bbq #castellouk
When the sun is shining bright, a lot of people go BBQ - crazy! It has kind of become a norm to associate bbq to gorgeous weather , when you invite friends and family over . Plan a selection of meat or vegetables to fit in as appetisers , main course or may b even a side dish to bbq on slow indirect heat over the wood /charcoal… A whole lot of drinks and juices to compliment the bbq day .
Spending hours of the day until late evening, its more like a celebration !
This year Summer has been quite good over all .. But it felt more like a raining season out here in London , rather than end of Summer. With welly’s ,rain coats and umbrella I have been splashing in puddles with kiddo’s .. Its not too bad , I must admit. .Actually a lot of fun ! Last weekend, one of the day’s the temperature shot up to 28 C and it was more like a heatwave . A perfect day to just relax and have a BBQ day. Kiddo’s were super excited about the picnic we were going to have in our garden. The menu was finalised - A Burger , Paneer and Vegetables grilled and some chilled drinks and Ice creams .
As planned we spent one quality time , just in the garden, off the electronic gadgets. Had some water gun fights to chill us down and then filled some water balloons and enjoyed the splash and splosh ! Oh what fun it was !!!
In contrast to the gorgeous sunny weekend last week, we have been having rainy, gloomy, windy long weekend on and off. Whenever the sun decided to show up in intervals, we stepped out and tried to maximise the last weekend before the school officially reopens this Year. Oh where are you Sun ? Please come back ... And Rain Rain go away come again another day... I wish I could sing aloud and Rain God actually hears me and decides to shower somewhere else..
Nevertheless, I decided to recreate the burgers I made the previous weekend yet again but with some Blue Burger Cheese Slice.
Castello had sent across some Blue Burger cheese slices and the deal was to recreate some delicious burgers and top them up with the new cheese slice. Using the opportunity of staying indoor, I made them yet again and it was as delicious as always.
I chose to make an Avocado Dip/Spread to top the burger , instead of Mayonnaise and ketchup as we always do.
Chickpeas Burger with Avocado Sauce and Blue Burger Cheese
INGREDIENTS:
4 Nos Seeded Burger Buns
4 Chickpeas Burger Patty
Avocado Dip
Castello Blue Burger Cheese Slices ( Optional)
Little Gem Lettuce
2 Salad Tomatoes, Sliced horizontally
Finely chopped Onions
Chickpeas Burger Patty
1 Can of 400 g of Chickpeas/Garbanzo
Handful of Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 of Medium Red Onion , finely chopped
1 Carrot, grated
1 Tsp of Cumin Powder
1/4 Tsp Chilli Powder
Salt to taste
A good squeeze of Lemon Juice
Bread crumbs
3 Tsp of Plain flour
Oil
For the outer covering of the patty
2-3 Tsp of Plain Flour
Couple of Tsp's of water
4-5 Tsp's of Bread crumbs
Avocado Sauce
1 Ripe Avocado, deseeded, scraped out in a bowl
Juice of 1/4 Lemon
1/4 Tsp of Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp of Freshly ground Pepper
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS:
How To Make the Chickpeas Burger Patty
Bring together Cooked chickpeas,chopped coriander leaves, grated carrot, spice powders in a large mixing bowl. Using a potato masher, give them a good press. Alternatively if you are using a food processor, bring together everything and give it a good pulse. Make sure it doesn't get too mushy as we need to retain some texture. At this stage, add finely chopped onions, flour and mix them well.
To prepare the patty, dust some flour on the working surface.Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts and shape them into equal sized patties and give it a good dust with flour. Place some water and bread crumbs placed in 2 different plates. Very minimalistic-ally spread some water on the flour coated patty and now roll them in the bread crumbs until its uniformly coated.
Heat your grill pan and add some oil and coat the pan uniformly. Slide the patty into the pan and give it good press with a spatula so that the we get an impression of the pan on the patty. Flip it and do it over again. Once its all crispy and brown , drain them to a kitchen tissue . Repeat the process with the rest of the patty.
How to Make Avocado Dip
Mash the avocado in a bowl . Incorporate the rest of the ingredients and give it a good mix.
Assembling the Burger
Wash the lettuce leaves , pat them dry and prepare them for assembling.
Heat the grill pan.Toast the slider buns if you like.
On the base of the buns, place the Lettuce leaves, then goes 3 Tomato slices, Cheese slice and warm cooked patty.
Spread the avocado Dip over the patty and add some finely chopped onions and finally the burger top. Enjoy them with a drink and more salad if desired.
NOTES:
I made the chickpeas patty of different sizes to fit the ages and appetite at home. You may shape them equally. Using Blue burger cheese slices is optional. If you love Blue cheese then this is it, It is full of body and flavor. I added them for two of the buns and didn't for two. Without the cheese, this burger is completely wholesome and healthy.
NOTES:
I made the chickpeas patty of different sizes to fit the ages and appetite at home. You may shape them equally. Using Blue burger cheese slices is optional. If you love Blue cheese then this is it, It is full of body and flavor. I added them for two of the buns and didn't for two. Without the cheese, this burger is completely wholesome and healthy.
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