My recipe development project is an interesting and unusual one. While the client came up with the recipe titles, I'm creating the actual recipes. It's a seasonally organized appetizer book and focuses on fresh flavors or classic recipes with a twist. It's a very cool project. I've always said if I could just shop and cook and write about it I would be very happy indeed. Well, be careful what you wish for! The problem is I have lots of other work at the moment which pulls me away from the kitchen.
So with 44 recipes to create, which would you tackle first? Call me lazy or smart, but I'm a big believer in going for the low-hanging fruit. Spending some time with the list of recipes I quickly identified the recipes I felt I could easily master. First up--hummus. But not just ordinary hummus. This recipe had a few twists to it. I did a lot of research and reviewed many recipes I had made before. One of the twists was a garnish of fresh pomegranate seeds. Aren't they gorgeous? They taste wonderful too, as you might imagine they provide bright juicy accents to a rich and creamy dip. It's really a great way to dress up hummus, provided pomegranates are in season of course.
Second up was a recipe for olives with feta and a very unique dressing. The herbs look pretty but after several tries I decided the flavors of the lemon and olives were just too overpowering, obliterating the herbs no matter what I did. That said, it was still delicious!