Serve: As required
Batch is approx 487 calories or 2,038kj
INGREDIENTS
150g Barambah Very High Protein Cottage Cheese
100g packet Huon Premium Tasmanian Smoked Salmon
25g Barambah Feta
50g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 medium Red Onion
Hot Chilli Flakes to taste
Cracked Pepper and Rock Salt to taste
5g Baby Capers In Wine Vinegar = approx heaped tsp
Chives or shallots
DIRECTIONS
1. Blend all ingredients except onion, capers and shallots.
2. Finely chop onion and chives and stir into the mix with capers.
3. Chill
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
- Serve with Buckwheat cracker bread
- Spread toasted wholegrain, wholewheat sourdough bread with portion and top with pouched egg/tomato/avocado
- Add a chopped baby gherkin to a serving
- Roll a portion into a lettuce leaf
- Use as a dip for carrot, cucumber and celery sticks
- Substitute canned tuna or salmon for the smoked salmon. Better still use lightly cook fresh tuna.
COMMENTS
If I'm going to make the effort to cook something nice, I prefer to use quality ingredients. The brands listed in the recipe are just my preferences and may not be to everybodies taste or even available in some areas. However I will presume your taste buds have been nuked if, after trying, you tell me you don't like Barambah. Their natural yoghurt has a lovely creamy tart taste. Sparkles pulled a scrunchy face when I gave her a try but she always has sweetened yoghurt. I just shook my head and walked away. No accounting for some peoples taste... The only flavoured yoghurt I have is the one I make myself and I don't add any sugar or honey. I get Barambah products from the Northey St Markets but shops like Flannery's, Wray Organics and Organica at Noosaville also stock it. If they made cream cheese I would buy that as well. Substitute your own brand, just read the label to make sure of what you are buying.
When I feel like a decadent breakfast or brunch I thinly slice a piece of Sol Spelt Megagrain Sourdough (choice of my Naturopath and available at most Brisbane Markets or online), toast until crispy, then top with a pouched egg, avocado and a few slices of cherry tomatoes.
Bread is another thing I love but the more I have the more I want so I try to limit unless I have an absolute crave that won't go away. Eating carbs of any kind has that multiplier effect. Consequently, diet programs like Lite n Easy that include a carb fest at every meal would never work for me. I prefer a bread loaf that feels like a brick and could be used as a weapon if needed, with minimal numbers and additives, not the fluffy kind made from highly processed flour and a few lumps thrown in so they can market it as wholegrain or wholemeal bread. I don't even bother to read the label if I pick up the packet and it's weight compared to the size of the loaf is on the light side. Not to everyones taste but I find the heavier, the more filling. Sol breads have a nice mix of seeds including pumpkin and topped with sesame. Have recommended to a few friends and they are hooked as well.
I also have a weakness for savoury biscuit type things if the dip looks appetising. At parties I try and avoid at all costs. One biscuit and it's pretty much game over, unless of course the dip looked much better than it tasted. Since tryng some of the wholegrain organic crackers available on the market my tastebuds have evolved and Arnott's don't hold the same temptation as before. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how I look at it, they can be pricey. Didn't like them at the time but Mum made buckwheat pancakes when I was growing up. But then, I didn't like avocado, eggplant or coriander either. How hard could it be? Armed with the knowledge of what goes into a basic biscuit recipe I experimented and made my own using buckwheat flour, parmesan cheese, chilli and seeds. Now I'm a convert to the home-made variety and can change the flavour to satisfy my taste buds. Not something I would make everyday but yummy with the dip (see Buckwheat Crackers).
Some days at work all I want to do is EAT. A small amount of dip (about 1/4 of the batch) with carrot sticks, celery and one or two lebanese cucumbers can get rid of the craves. Filling, refreshing and low carb/calorie.