Garlic Herb Biscuits and Sundried tomatoes

The apéro, like so many parts of the French meal, is sacred. It is the time of the meal when all the guests gather together, drink in hand, to chat and nibble informally before moving to the table. Its friendly, welcoming and definitely tasty.


The apéritif usually refers to the drink (more often than not, alcoholic), but the appetizers served alongside are meant to do just that - whet your appetite! The flavors can be strong, to get you salivating for the meal. And since they are served in very small quantity (a mouthful or two), they can be a little more heavy than the rest of the meal. Its nice to serve a variety, too.




This is my first attempt at making homemade gateaux d'apéritif, a sort of cracker or chip that you can often buy in the store. These are garlic herb, and in my opinion, very good and very easy to make.


See american equivalents in red (until I can figure out how to import an Excel table onto Blogger)

Garlic and herb cheesy biscuits

• 150 g 2/3 cup finely grated cheese (hard variety like parmesan or comté)


• 125 g 4 oz Boursin cheese (garlic and herb spreadable cheese)


• 125 g 1/2 cup softened butter


• 240 g 2 cups sifted flour


• pepper to taste


• finely chopped chives, rosemary, basil, etc
  

With an electric mixer, combine the two cheeses with the softened butter. Add pepper and the herbs to taste. Add flour until you have a pie-dough texture ball of dough. Put in fridgerator for 1 hour (at least). Roll out on floured surface and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place on wax paper on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes at 200°C 390°F until slightly browning on top.

These will keep in the freezer for several weeks. To serve, just take them out and zap in microwave for 30 seconds. Tasty with a glass of rosé and cucumber gaspacho.



I had mixed reviews for these. The raw dough was freaking garlicky! Though it calmed down with baking. For non-garlic fans (the only one I can think of is my mother), I would use a different type of Boursin - either plain or just with herbs or something. Arnaud liked them, but out of the three different amuse-bouches (mouth pleasers!) I served last night, this was his least favorite.




I also needed to use up some over ripening tomatoes that have been in my fruit basket for a week. I am not a fan of raw tomatoes - on a sandwhich, salad, etc. But I love the rich flavor of cooked tomatoes in sauces, tomates à la provençale (halved and grilled with some garlic pwer and herbes de provence) and sundried tomatoes for nearly anything. This recipe is ridiculously easy, they keep forever, and it's much cheaper than buying your own sundried tomatoes (or worse, buying them packed in oil). People with overflowing tomato gardens, this is for you!

Sundried Tomatoes

• tomatoes (any variety, but apparently plum or roma are great)


• salt

Preheat oven to lowest setting 100°C 200°C

Halve the tomatoes, place them open-side up directly on a baking rack (or a cake rack that can go in the oven). Sprinkle with a bit of salt.


Let dry slowly without becoming brittle. They should still be flexible and a deep browny-red when done. This will take anywhere from 6-10 hours. Mine "cooked" for about 8 hours, and got ever so slightly crisp on some edges because my oven is miniature and they were too close to the broiler.

I'm planning to use these chopped up for my risotto tomorrow, but they make a super good and easy apéro if you cut them in chunks and put on toothpicks. Or make mini-kebabs with a bit of tomato, a bit of marinated artichoke heart and a small ball of fresh mozarella. Yum!