For those moments when you're really not that hungry

Try small bites, with a little bread and a simple salad. This is what my sister Clara and I did recently. We made baba ghanoush, houmous and a simple tomato/feta cheese salad with fresh basil. Bites like these are perfect for long summer nights and best enjoyed in the garden, with some cool white wine and a candle as the evening turns into night.

Grocery list:

- Chick peas from a can, drained

- Parsley

- Juice of 1 lemon

- Quark

- Feta cheese

- Spicy paprika

- Tahin

- Sesame oil

- Two eggplants

- Four cloves of garlic

- Tomatoes

- Fresh basil

Making the Houmous: 
Put the chickpeas, handful of parsley (save some for the baba ghanoush), juice of half a lemon, 4 table spoons of quark, 70 grams of feta cheese, 3 tablespoons of tahin, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and a pinch of paprika in a boil and blend. Season to taste. It's so easy, don't buy houmous at the supermarket again! If you're a little lazy, mash the chick peas with some parsley and lemon juice. Just use a fork. Put it on toasted bread, it's a great idea for lunch. You can soak and cook your own chickpeas, but as we're making quick and easy bites here I'll assume you don't want to go through the hassle of cooking chickpeas for hours. Just make sure you rinse them with a little water, the juice in the can is always way too salt.






















Making the Baba Ghanoush:

Chop up the eggplants and fry with the garlic in a frying pan until soft. Put in a boil with the juice of the other half of the lemon, a bit of parsley, 2 tablespoons of quark and blend. Season to taste.

For the salad, just mix some nice ripe tomatoes with the feta cheese. Add some basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I love having dinner like this. It's low key, you can just put all the bowls on the table and everyone can have whatever he or she likes. Houmous and baba ghanoush are lovely to serve for lunch as well and are great side dishes at a summer barbeque too. I hope you liked it, and if you try, let me know!