nice nibbles

Hi, I'm back! We've had a busy weekend, filled with tasty treats - so I thought I'd share some of the recipes with you.

On friday we went to a friend's house so the girls could swim, and we could sip champagne. I wanted to take some nibblies, but my cupboard was nearly bare. However, scraping around can help devise the most delicious combinations. I did find a chorizo, a tin of chickpeas, a few french eshallots and a lime. So I sauteed the diced eshallots, then added diced chorizo and let it all brown. Next I drained a tin a chickpeas and added that to the pan. I let it all cook through, added salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime.

While this cooked, I threw a few pieces of pita bread onto an oven tray, drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled salt flakes over the top.

I piled the chickpeas and chorizo into a bowl, cut the crispy pita bread into chards and it was rather yummy. In fact, my 10-year-old was its most devoted fan.

Last night I went to a fabulous dinner party and took along red wine and thyme caramelised shallot, goat cheese and walnut tarts. I sliced the shallots thinly {6 largish french shallots} and slowly cooked them in butter and olive oil till transluscent {15 mins...}. Then I poured in some red wine, added a few sprigs of thyme and a spoonful of brown sugar. 10 minutes later it was beautiful.

I bought little tart cases from The Essential Ingredient and placed a dollop of the shallots in the bottom. I topped this with a dollop of goat cheese and then placed a walnut half of top of this {I'd cooked the walnuts in a little butter, some dried thyme and a little salt and sugar}. These little bites were rather nice with Violette Cocktails and champagne...

And your weekend? How was it? Tell me all...