I’m always on the lookout for quick and easy recipes for when I entertain- something healthy and that utilizes much of what I already have on hand is best because sometimes you need to pull something together for surprise guests, and it’s always good to use what you’ve already got on hand, too.
It’s so easy to pull together. Simply chop any type of nuts you have on hand. I like almonds, pistachios and walnuts (mixed together they’re lovely) or just one or two of them.
Simply line a pretty dish with a heaping, generous amount of your choice of cheese, add the nuts, then drizzle a good amount of honey on top. Serve with anything strong enough that can scoop up the ingredients of this dish: rustic bread, hearty grain crackers, or something similar. It also goes well with some fruit on the side like figs, grapes, or cherries. Your guests will love and appreciate something so hearty, rustic, homemade, and tasty.
This is such a tasty, elegant and rather quick recipe to make for a party in any season, really. I’ve made them for Ramadan Iftar parties, Eid gatherings, family night dinners, special occasions, and even when I’ve catered fancy events downtown Chicago. Always use the best salmon you can find and the freshest greens you can find, as well.
The recipe in the video is super quick because it’s simpler in that the cream cheese is plain.
In the recipe below it is a blend of ingredients that is suitable for an elegant party.
It can easily be multiplied depending on how many you’ll serve.
Most guests will eat about 2-3 each on average.
Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Crudites
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
Juice of one large lemon
1/3 cup freshly chopped dill
Sea salt, to taste (about 1/8 teaspoon)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste (about 1/8 teaspoon)
4 ounces smoked salmon (preferably wild)
1/3 cup diced cucumber
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (optional)
Arugula or spring greens leaves
Directions
If you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to break up the cream cheese and mix it together with the sour cream; if not, an electric beater works fine.
Add the lemon juice, fresh dill, salt and pepper. Roughly chop the salmon then gently fold it into the dip. Fold in the cucumber with a spoon or spatula.
Check the consistency and, if desired, add the heavy cream to create the consistency you prefer.
Refrigerate until serving. Keeps fresh for about 3 days in the fridge.
If you’re having a small gathering for New Year’s Eve or Day, I have another tasty suggestion for entertaining with delicious and healthy foods.
Making a table or buffet full of a variety of finger foods, both sweet and savory, is not only delicious but can be so beautiful, too. We do eat with our eyes, after all…
I use the most delicious Halal and healthy deli meats by Deli Halal to form the basis of my platter. The meats are nitrite and nitrite-free, hormone free and come from humanely-raised sources. You can find the meats in stores around the U.S. (see store locator), and online on their website.
The varieties I use for my platter are the Oven-Roasted Turkey Breast, the Beef Pastrami, and the Applewood Smoked Turkey Breast, rolled up or folded because my platter was small. I’ve filled it up so all of the other ingredients are nice and cozy together.
I’ve added pistachios, fresh and creamy mini mozzarella balls, fresh rosemary, pecans, blueberries, naan crackers and tiny blueberries alongside triple cream Cambozola cheese (with microbial rennet and enzymes).
Off to the side, I offer things like olives, basil pesto, tomato pesto, dates, fig jam, and even roasted red peppers and ciabatta bread.
Guests can make their own mini sandwiches or pair crackers with cheese. By the way, cheese + dates are so delicious together, try it some day.
You can purchase the meat packets in bulk and then freeze them. I do this and pull the packet out of the freezer the night or two before I’m’ going to use them.
If you’re having people over on Eid day, chances are you’re wondering what to put on the buffet for guests. In the hot summer weather, no one wants to be in front of a stove or eat heavy foods, either. Even if you’re doing a barbecue outdoors, chances are plenty of people will be inside munching, too. That’s why I suggest making a really abundant antipasto platter where you can let your guests put together their own mini or regular-size sandwiches.
Antipasto Platter | My Halal Kitchen Cookbook Italian Chapter
On a platter like this, I would add things like I have on this try starting from right to left: bread or toast, roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, Kalamata olives, Spanish olives with red pepper, small pickled peppers, large/thin pickled peppers, pickles, soft cheese (feta or other), pickled cherry peppers stuffed with cheese, Parmesan cheese slices and capers. You can also add things like roasted peppers, other types of soft cheeses and other types of deli meats like roasted turkey breast. Just be sure to get the nitrite-free halal deli meats, if you can. The only brand I know that fits both categories at the moment is Deli Halal.
On the side you can serve sauces like mayonnaise, mustard, pesto. Once you set it up, your guests are free to make it all according to their own likes and you can refill once the tray gets low.
I like to group each type of food item together, as it looks neater and easier on the eyes (we tend to eat with our eyes first, right?). Long platters are easy to find at places like Home Goods or TJ Maxx for a good price, too. Also, the bigger the platter, the more generous and abundant it looks when filled and you spend less time refilling it, depending on how many guests you have and how hungry they are!
Antipasto | My Halal Kitchen Cookbook
What are you serving for Eid this year? Or are you on the receiving end and doing absolutely no cooking at all?
This recipe is also in my latest cookbook, My Halal Kitchen: Global Recipes, Cooking Tips, Lifestyle Inspiration, which is available on Amazon.
By the end of Ramadan, most of us fasting Muslims have completely filled our status quo of date consumption for the month, and perhaps much of the year. It’s that fruit with which we most commonly break our fasts all month long, so they’re typically consumed daily, and in more ways than one.
Photo courtesy of Valley Fig Growers
To celebrate the sweet end of the fasting month, however, it would be wise to continue to include all natural fruits in our celebratory meals and desserts- and Valley Fig Growers California Figs, sold under Blue Ribbon Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid brands are the perfect ones to make the cut. Those of you who have followed my work for some time now know that I’m a huge supporter of California produce and how much I love things that come from there. Valley Fig Growers cultivate their figs from Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley in northern California.
They’re also the largest handlers of figs in North America, exporting their products worldwide, and they’re a grower-owned cooperative, which means the folks who grow the figs own the establishment and thus understand what it means to be connected to the land and the importance of product that comes from it- and that is beneficial not only for them, but also for us as consumers.
The Fig in the Holy Qur’an
Photo courtesy of Valley Fig Growers
We know that the fig is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an as well as other religious texts such as the Bible, so it is perceived by worshippers as not just a healthy fruit, but also a divine gift from The Creator, along with other fruits like dates, bananas, pomegranate, and the olive. In Surah (Chapter) at-Tin, Allah (God) says, “I swear by the fig and the olive.” (Quran, 95:1)
Brief Fig History
Photo courtesy of Valley Fig Growers
Ficus carica L., the botanical name for the fig, is said to have originated in northern Asia Minor or Turkey and spread with the Greeks and the Romans throughout the Mediterranean region and were highly revered in both the Greek and Roman empires. They were so prized for their nutritional and medicinal value in the Greek empire that the best varieties of figs were banned from being exported.
With California’s Mediterranean climate, it’s no surprise that figs thrive there, having been brought to southern California by Spanish Franciscan missionaries in 1520, who then cultivated what we now know as the Mission fig.
A fascinating fact is that the fig isn’t actually a fruit but a syconium, which means a portion of its stem expands into a sac containing flowers that grow internally. The common fig contains only female flowers and propagates without pollination.
We all hear about how important it is to add fiber into our diet, but do we really ever feel excited about that? No, because we need delicious ways to do that, without stressing over how it’s going to taste. Healthy doesn’t have to be hard, and figs are the ideal fruit to incorporate healthy fiber into your diet. At two grams of both soluble and insoluble fiber per fig, dried figs have 20% of the daily suggested intake of fiber, giving your body a protective edge against the development of colon cancer.
Figs regulate blood sugar and help to empty the stomach as they accelerate the digestive system and ensure its regular functioning.
Dried figs contain the all-important omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as phytosterol (naturally occurring plant sterols found in plant cell membranes) aiding in proper functioning of the heart, brain and nervous system.
Figs do not naturally contain fat, sodium or cholesterol, so they are ideal for those who are watching their caloric and sodium intake.
Figs have a wonderful amount of calcium in them, second in content to oranges! In fact, a crate of figs contains the same level of calcium as a crate of milk. They also contain 7% of the daily required amount of potassium and 6% of the daily requirement of iron. They’re truly a super food!
Long deemed as a medicinal food, figs are thought to give strength and energy to the human body. They are high in natural sugars (out of 51-74% of all fruits).
Fig tips & recipe suggestions
Now that you know how wonderful and healthy figs are for you, you’ll want to include them in your Eid dishes and beyond. Here are a few suggestions as to how you can do that both quickly and easily.
Create a party platter for guests by adding California Figs, other dried fruits and nuts as a snack or appetizer
Add sliced California Figs to a meaty antipasto tray so that guests can enjoy them with or on a sandwich
Having overnight guests during the Eid holidays? Chop up a few California Figs and serve as a filling addition to cereals and oatmeal and/or prepare ahead with these delicious smoothie packets combinations.
As a midnight snack 1-2 California Figs can be quite satisfying!
Craving something a little ‘meatier’? Add sliced California Figs to toast with cheese. Totally yum!
Diced California Figs can be a wonderful addition to thick and creamy yogurt, which can be served as a snack or a dessert, even on Eid buffet bars.
Use California figs to make a delicious stuffing for whole chicken, which is perfect for a sit-down Eid family dinner.
Slice figs thinly and add to salads to make them both healthy and more beautiful!
For an easy, elegant dessert, slice California Figs in half and plate with the flesh facing upwards. Top with fresh cream, light whipped cream cheese, kaymak, creme fraiche or mascarpone. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts or walnuts.
Valley Fig Growers sells their California Figs through the brands, Blue Ribbon Orchard Choice and Sun-Maid. While fresh fig season is short, their moist, dried California Figs can be enjoyed year-round. Keep the figs in their packaging, close tightly and store for up to one month. If opened, store in the refrigerator. They can keep for up to a year this way. They can be frozen indefinitely, if store in a properly sealed freezer container.
We’re giving away some California Figs over on my Instagram page– check it out and enter over there for your chance to win 2 bags of Blue Ribbon Orchard Choice Mission Figlets and 2 bags of Sun-Maid Calimyrna Figs.
Much of the world has been celebrating Christmas season since the beginning of December, but the really special days for those who celebrate are Christmas Eve (December 24th) and Christmas Day (December 25th). Much of society closes down between the late afternoon of Christmas Eve and all day on the 25th for church services, private family dinners and opening gifts. Christmas Day is usually when most stores, shopping malls and many other amenities are closed saved for gas stations and some restaurants. It’s a quiet and peaceful time, which is lovely in and of itself as an observer, but what about when you’re on the outside looking in and not partaking in any of the ceremonial or celebratory engagements?
Well, you can do all sorts of fun things with your family and friends during that time- in fact, it’s a fabulous opportunity to create special memories with your loved ones by doing something you might not otherwise have time to do over the course of a couple of days.
This year, Christmas falls over a weekend so there’s even more time to make it into an extended holiday! Here are just a few examples of ways to spend it:
Have a potluck dinner for family, friends and neighbors. This is a great way to bond with one another and get to know those you don’t know well enough. Some people who celebrate might be all alone on Christmas and others may not have any plans at all. You never know unless you do the asking, inviting and entertaining. I believe these kinds of occasions make our lives so rich in many, many ways.This Creamy Tortellini with Chicken, Peas and Sun-Dried Tomatoes is one idea for a potluck dish made with Zabiha Halal’s Chicken Breast Strips that is sure to be a hit with everyone. It’s festive, but not fussy, making it an ideal recipe to make for a crowd. I think pasta dishes with chicken are ideal for gatherings because they’re comforting, warming and also filling for a crowd.
Head out to a convention or conference to attend a lecture or visit the grand bazaar to do some shopping. In Toronto, RIS is a very popular one for the whole family. You can do some clothes shopping, browse new products, stock your bookshelf with the latest Islamic publications, pick up beautiful home decor, and meet friends in a fun and exciting atmosphere. And, the bazaar usually has free admission!
Have a family movie night to catch up on all the wonderful documentaries about food, health and wellness and the environment.This is a link to a list of my favorite and most recommended ones. There is so much to learn from these. Get out the homemade popcorn!
Take the family on a fun excursion close to home, or do it at home, if you can (i.e. make it a staycation)! You can go bowling, ice skating, sledding, tobogganing, or cross-country skiing and make it a competitive yet fun time to team up as a family.
Rent a cabin in the snowy, forested woods so everyone can explore and enjoy the outdoors. The best part will be the indoors cooking together, followed by sitting around the fireplace and simply embracing the opportunity to gather.. When I bunker down in a cozy cabin, I’m in the mood for real wintertime comfort food: soups, stews, lasagnas and other types of baked dishes and casseroles like this Cranberry Dijon Chicken Wellington using Zabiha Halal’s Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts and since cranberries are still flavorful and found easily at most markets, this is the perfect seasonal recipe to make that just oozes comfort, homemade food. Be sure to make your own Dijon Mustard, as most store varieties will have wine in it. You can get the recipe to make your own in my recent cookbook, My Halal Kitchen: Global Recipes, Cooking Tips, Lifestyle Inspiration.
At the end of the day, any of these quiet time activities can be used to get closer to those you want to spend time with and to create memories that will last a lifetime….
This post was sponsored byZabiha Halal, a Canadian food company that I’ve come to know and hold in high regard. To follow their updates, you can “like” their Facebook page here and follow them on Twitter here and Instagram here. They also have a lifestyle blog called Living Halal, here. The contents of this post are the sole opinion and expression of Yvonne Maffei of My Halal Kitchen.
