easy to make gourmet foods
Easy to Make Gourmet Foods
What makes a meal, gourmet? Neither the preparation time nor the arrangement of the dish, but the quality and taste of the ingredients. So it's not necessary to use the most expensive or high-end ingredients to get a gourmet meal. Scroll below to learn some simple but classy gourmet recipes, straight out of a five-star restaurant's menu.
- 2½ pounds asparagus, blanched and drained
- 2 sweet gherkins, chopped finely
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Pepper to taste
- In a small jar, mix the vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar and oils well. Then cover jar and shake well.
- Lay the cooked asparagus in a shallow glass dish.
- Pour the dressing from the jar over the asparagus.
- Place the dish in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Turn the asparagus in the dish itself after half and hour and then at 45 minutes.
- Sprinkle chopped gherkins onto asparagus and serve chilled.
- 16 ounces crab meat, canned or fresh
- 1 egg
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 lemon
- ¼ cup fresh dill
- ⅛ cup fresh parsley
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- Thick hot sauce to season
- Salt and pepper
- In a mixing bowl, add crab meat and egg. Mix well.
- Chop the dill and parsley and add to the bowl.
- Sprinkle some salt and pepper to season the meat.
- Mix the ingredients well and form small cakes from the mixture.
- You should have 8 cakes. Roll cakes in breadcrumbs, coat each cake well.
- With the palm of your hand, flatten the cakes slightly and dust off excess crumbs.
- Heat a skillet at medium-high heat. Add butter and olive oil to the pan.
- Sauté the cakes in the pan on each side for 2 minutes. The cakes should turn light golden brown.
- To make the aioli (garlic mayonnaise), mince the garlic and mix well with mayonnaise, juice from ½ the lemon and Worcestershire sauce, in a bowl.
- Add hot sauce as desired to taste and mix well.
- While serving crab cakes, squeeze a little lemon juice on each cake.
- 12 wonton wrappers
- 3 ounces goat cheese, thawed
- 2 tablespoons walnuts, chopped finely
- 2 tablespoons fig jam
- 1 sprig of thyme
- Preheat an oven to 350°F. In a cupcake pan, fill each cup with a wonton and bake for 7-9 minutes.
- Leave the wonton cups to cool.
- At medium heat, toast the chopped walnuts in a pan, till they are crunchy and warm and leave to cool.
- Once the wonton cups are cool, spoon some fig jam into the bottom of a cup.
- Add some goat cheese to the cup and garnish the cup with some toasted walnuts and a leaf of thyme.
- Do the same for all the wonton wrappers and serve.
- 1½ pounds large shrimp, not peeled and uncooked
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper, dried and crushed finely
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon lemon peel, grated
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup salt
- 1 quart water
- 2 cloves garlic, cut ¼ inch of the top of the clove
- 4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup parsley, chopped
- 1⅔ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons caper, drained
- 2 tablespoons basil, chopped
- Preheat an oven to 375°F. In a baking dish, place garlic heads.
- Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil over the heads and cover dish with foil.
- Roast garlic till it turns tender, for 1 hour. Leave to cool.
- Squeeze out the garlic from its skin and mash flesh with a fork.
- To a food processor, add parsley, anchovy, capers, basil, garlic and lemon peel.
- Start the machine and blend in ⅔ cup olive oil gradually.
- Season paste with salt and pepper.
- Mix brown sugar, salt and water in a bowl and stir till the sugar dissolves.
- Add shrimp to mix and refrigerate bowl for 1-3 hours.
- Wash and rinse the shrimp.
- Cut shrimp shells along the center of their back, all the way down to their tails.
- Then cut shrimp along its full length of the back, remove the vein, pull their legs off and open the shrimp.
- In a medium bowl, whisk olive oil, garlic, parsley, wine and red pepper.
- Add the shrimp and mix well. Let it stand for 30 minutes.
- Prepare grill at medium-high heat and grill the shrimp, 2 minutes per side. Serve shrimp with garlic sauce.
- 1 pound tofu, firm and pressed
- 1 tablespoon ginger root, grated
- 1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil
- ⅛ cup tamari
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- Cut the tofu into small cubes.
- In a bowl, stir the oil, tamari, ginger and some water to form a paste.
- Pour paste over tofu, leave to marinate for 7 hours or overnight.
- In a baking dish, place marinated tofu and sprinkle sesame seeds to garnish.
- Bake tofu in oven at 350°F for 1 hour.
- 4 chicken breast halves, skinned and boneless
- 4 slices cooked ham
- 6 slices Swiss cheese
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a baking dish by spraying non-stick cooking spray in it.
- Pound the chicken breasts, till they are just ¼ inch thick.
- Liberally garnish each breast with salt and pepper on each side.
- Place 1 cheese slice on 1 breast.
- Roll breast in a slice of ham and fasten it with toothpick.
- Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the chicken breasts in baking dish.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, such that the chicken is brown.
- 1 pint strawberries
- 1 pint blueberries
- ½ pint blackberries
- ½ pint raspberries
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ cup water
- Wash and hull strawberries. Slice each into half. Place it in a large bowl.
- Wash blueberries, blackberries and raspberries and add to the bowl.
- In a small saucepan, mix water, sugar and vanilla extract.
- Bring the mixture to simmer at medium heat and let it cook till the sugar dissolves.
- Once cooked, pour this syrup over berries and leave it to cool. Serve immediately.
- 4 large eggs
- 8 oz self-raising flour, sifted
- 8 oz butter, softened
- 8 oz caster sugar
- 6 tablespoons strawberry jam
- 10 fl oz heavy/double cream, whipped lightly
- 1 knob butter
- Icing sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using the knob of butter, grease two 6-7 inch cake tins.
- Line the bottom of the tins with greaseproof paper.
- In a bowl, mix butter and sugar using a whisk or a spoon. The mix should be creamy and white and airy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time. If the mixture curdles, then add a tablespoon of flour.
- Fold in flour, using a metal spoon. Do not over-mix the paste.
- Divide this mixture, between the 2 cake tins.
- Bake cakes for 20 minutes. They should spring back when touched and will be pale golden in color.
- Remove tins from the oven and take out the cakes after 5-10 minutes. Leave them to cool for ½ hour.
- Spread jam on one cake and the whipped cream on the other. Sandwich the 2 cakes together.
- Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve.