Creamy Prawn, Garlic & Lime Pasta

Treat your friends to this garlic and lime-infused prawn pasta.

Serves 4 Preparation Time: 15 mins Cooking Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

1 box Knorr Tuna Mate - Lotsa Garlic & Herbs
1 clove garlic, crushed
The zest of 1 lime
800ml hot water
15ml oil
200g prawns, shelled and deveined
1 red onion, chopped
250ml cold milk
Black pepper

Method:

Heat oil in a large, non-stick saucepan
Add onions and garlic and sauté until soft
Stir in sachet of seasoning spice blend, milk and water and mix together well
Add prawns, lime zest and the uncooked pasta and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally
Reduce the heat and allow to simmer uncovered for 15–20 min until the pasta is cooked

Season with black pepper, serve and enjoy

Thai Marinated Mushrooms

Mushrooms can be served with any meal and combined with a sweet chilli sauce taste delicious on beef medallions.

Serves 4 Preparation Time: 40 mins Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
Knorr Sweet Chilli Salad Dressing
500g button mushrooms, halved
10ml chopped coriander
½ red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
2ml crushed fresh garlic
2ml grated ginger

Method:
Place all ingredients in a plastic bag and marinate for 30 min
Place the mushrooms onto a baking tray and grill for 10 min on the one side
Turn over and grill for 5 min on the other
Ensure to baste with the excess marinade while cooking
Serve on a juicy beef medallion

Seafood Chowder

Ingredients:

2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 leeks finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 large potato finely chopped
400g prawns shelled and de-veined (keep heads and shells)
200g skinned Kingklip, cut into chunks
4 cups of milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
½ cup cream
1½ tbsp sherry
1 tbsp snipped chives
Sea salt to taste
A little extra milk to thin down if necessary

Method:

Heat the butter in a saucepan and gently cook the leeks, garlic and potato – don’t brown.
When the potato is soft season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.
Add prawn shells, heads and milk and gently bring to the boil.
Once boiling point is reached remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Place the liquid with the prawn shells into a blender and blitz to break up the shells.
Strain back into a clean saucepan.
Adjust the liquid and add the prawn meat and Kingklip.
Heat gently to just cook the prawns and fish.
Stir in sherry, cream and chives.

Serves 4

Olive and Thyme Risotto Balls

Ingredients:

1 onion finely chopped
30ml olive oil
250g risotto rice
600ml chicken or vegetable stock
125ml black olives, roughly chopped
50ml parmesan cheese
30ml fresh thyme, finely chopped
100g flour
1 XL egg, beaten
250ml breadcrumbs
Oil for deep-frying

Method:

Sauté the onions in the olive oil until translucent.
Add the rice and fry for 2 minutes. It should smell nutty, not burnt.
Add a ladle of stock at a time.

Stir until the liquid is absorbed, then add the next ladle of stock.
Continue until all the stock has been added and the risotto is cooked.
Add the olives, parmesan and fresh thyme.
Stir and allow to cool.

Using wet hands roll the risotto into ping pong size balls.
Rolls the balls in flour.
Dip them in the beaten egg and roll them in the breadcrumbs.
Fry until golden and serve.

Pear and Mango Breakfast Smoothie

I’m on leave at the moment an because I have the time, I like to make myself a smoothie to kick-start my day. This is my favourite smoothie, although you can substitute the fruit for your favourite fruits.

1 mango, peeled and chopped (obviously not the pip)
1 large pear, peeled and chopped (my favourite is a Packham pear, however you can use any pear)
250ml vanilla or strawberry yoghurt
250ml mango or pear fruit juice (you can use any fruit juice)
2 tsp sugar (optional)

Place all of your ingredients into your smoothie maker at the same time and blend until smoothe and creamy.

Serves 2

It's called a what?

A friend of mine, who is just discovering cooking, was the inspiration for this post. We all have specific names for the ingredients that we buy; however, very often a recipe book will have a different name for a specific fruit of vegetable. I’m going to list the names and their alternatives here. This is a very incomplete list, however as I find new ones I’ll add to this.

Brinjal; Eggplant
Zucchini; Marrow; Courgette
Biltong; Jerky
Red, Green or Yellow Pepper; Capsicum

Camembert

I have to take a moment out to mention my favourite cheese… Camembert

This gorgeous, creamy cheese dates back to the 18th century. I found a legend online about this delicious cheese that goes like so…

An inhabitant of Camembert, Marie Harel, invented the cheese which bears the
village's name. She was reportedly given the "secret" of its manufacture by a
priest. During the French Revolution (beginning in 1789), all Roman Catholic
priests in France were required to swear allegiance to the newborn republic.
Those prelates who refused were executed or forced into exile. Some chose to
hide in the countryside while waiting for better days. In 1790, during the month
of October, the Abbé Charles-Jean Bonvoust supposedly sought refuge with Marie
at her farm, Beaumoncel. He came from the Brie, a region near Paris famous for
its cheeses. In return for the shelter she offered him, he gave to Marie the
"secret" of making Camembert cheese.

However it was invented is irrelevant to me, what is relevant is the taste, the texture and the versatility of this beautiful cheese. Camembert is made from pasteurised cow's milk. At the beginning of its ripening, Camembert is crumbly and soft and gets creamier over time (usually 2-3 weeks). Camembert has a delicate salty taste, and its paste should have a clear yellow appearance.

For a fantastic meal toast slices of French bread, then layer with roasted onion rings, camembert slices, baby spinach (washed and dried) and a slice of sun dried tomato that has been soaked in olive oil and is soft. Grill for a few seconds until the cheese starts to turn soft. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and serve.

You can also go for a sweet / savoury option. Add slices of camembert to French bread toasts, then place pieces of fresh figs or strawberries ontop, drizzle with honey and grill for a minute or two until the cheese just starts to soften.

Popovers!

This was one of my grans favourite recipes. She loved Popovers almost as much as I do! These are basically Yorkshire Puddings, but you can cut the tops off and spread jam or syrup on the inside for a tea time treat.

The secret to getting this right is this: The muffin pans that you bake them in have to be boiling hot before you drop the dough into them. If you can do that, you will get perfect popovers.

1 cup of flour (250ml)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of butter or stork baking margarine, melted
1 cup milk (250ml)

Sift the flour and the salt together. Make a well in the flour and break the eggs into the well and then add the melted margarine and milk and stir until smooth. Pour into hot, greased gem pans and put into a preheated, hot oven at 230°C for 30 minutes. Then decrease the heat to 180°C and bake for a further 15 minutes. This should make around 6 Popovers.

For a lovely lunch variation you can fill your Popovers with chicken mayonnaise, and serve with a crunchy Greek or green salad.

Luncheon Rolls

My gran had this recipe book that my uncle, who died many years ago, got ahold of when he was very little. He basically mutilated the poor book, ripping the cover off it and scribbling over some of the pages with a pen. My gran managed to salvage most of the book and to this day it holds a lot of sentimental value for me.

This recipe is technically a type of scone recipe, although the dough is rolled out into hot dog rolls.

Your ingredients are:

4 cups of Snowflake cake flour
1 teaspoon of salt
6 teaspoons of Royal Baking Powder
1 tablespoon of "shortening" (the recipe actually says shortening) Use stork baking margarine, or butter
1½ cups of milk

Sift the dry ingredients together; rub in the margarine (be careful not to over-work it); add the milk and mix to a smooth dough that is easy to handle on a floured board. Knead the dough quickly a few times to impart smoothness, again do not overwork the dough. Divide the dough into small pieces and form each piece by hand into rather thick, tapering rolls. Place on greased pans and allow to stand in a warm place for 15 minutes. Brush with milk and bake in a hot oven at 220°C for about 20 minutes. When they're almost baked, brush with melted butter then bake for 10 minutes more and serve hot!

I love them just the way they are when they come out of the oven, however you can add butter, lettuce, tomato, chicken and any other filling you would like.

For a sweeter alternative, add 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar into the mixture and serve with jam or marmalade.

Baby Spinach, Bacon and Egg Salad

It's summer time, and that means healthy eating, light meals and loads and loads of salads! You can also serve this salad with feta cheese and baby tomatoes if you'd like to add a bit more substance to it.

This serves around 6 people.

2 packets of baby spinach, washed and dried
Bottled Greek or Italian dressing
8 rashers of lean bacon, fried to a crisp
6 hard-boiled eggs peeled and sliced lengthways
5 spring onions chopped into long slices
15ml lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Garlic or regular croutons

Remove any stalks from the baby spinach and arrange on a platter. Season with salt and pepper and pour over enough dressing to coat the leaves. Use your hands to gently fold the leaves in the dressing. The leaves should be glistening, not limp and submerged in dressing. Arrange the chopped egg, and torn rashers of bacon on top. Garnish with the spring onions and garlic croutons. As a final touch, pour the lemon juice onto the salad and serve immediately.