BEST OF 2007 at Maninas: Food Matters

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Zorra of Kochtopf and Sandra of Un tocco di Zenero are hosting a foodblogging event Best of 2007. My first thought was ‘What a fantastic idea’, and the second ‘Gosh, what a difficult choice’!

If I look at the list of my ‘Top posts’, this is the list (of recipes) at the moment:

Top posts:

• Nigella’s Penne alla vodka
• Festive Food from Dalmatia: FRITULE
• Stuffed Peppers OR Punjene paprike
• Smoked Salmon and Lemon Thyme Spaghetti
• Nigella’s Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
• Ajvar – red pepper and aubergine relish
• My mum’s tomato sauce OR Mamin sug od pomidora

These posts are also always very popular:

Croatian Roast Lamb on the Spit, or the village of Gangentine!

Christmas cake recipe!!!

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But what, for me, is the best recipe I blogged this year? This is a very hard choice indeed…. Is it Catalan Chickpeas with Tomatoes and Almonds  or Nigerian Red Kidney Bean Stew with a Peanut Sauce – Itiakiet Stew, both of which had ‘in thrall’ for weeks? Or Kat’s Chicken Curry? The curry has the advantage of being a novelty, and it embodies my huge love for Indian flavours, as well as all I’ve learnt about Indian food this year. All in all, this has been a wonderful few months of blogging, and I made many amazing discoveries in the world of food. I enjoyed all of it thoroughly.

Apart from the discoveries , it has also given me the immense pleasure of being creative with this newfound knowledge. For this reason, I have to choose one of my own recipes which, apart from it’s amazing flavour, summarises what is the best of 2007 for me, and that this year meant to me in terms of food. The title of the post is –  inspired: grilled halloumi with red chili, basil, lime juice and olive oil dressing (pictured below). The key word is: INSPIRED. I was hugely inspired by the combination of flavours and ingredients. This simple recipe has it all: chilies, which I can hardly live without nowadays; basil, which is an amazing herb; lime juice for the sour taste that I’ve become addicted to; and olive oil, which is an old comforting (family) friend, omnipresent in Dalmatian cooking (and used a little excessively by my Dad,  to put it mildly). It also has tomatoes, one of my favourite vegetables, so versatile and so delicious whether cooked or raw; and halloumi, a type of mild Cypriot cheese, which is one of the discoveries I made this year. To summarise, this recipe represents the year 2007 for me because of the following: INSPIRATION, BOLD FLAVOURS, DISCOVERIES, EXPERIMENTATION.

Also, what’s not ‘the best’ about these amazing flavours?

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And what do you think, my dear readers? What is the best recipe on this blog, according to you? I look forward to your answers immensely!

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 jl;j;

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grilled halloumi with red chili, basil, lime juice and olive oil dressing

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