Lemongrass and chilli prawns

it's the barbecue season, and if you're tired of making garlic buttered prawns -  then here's a quick tasty recipe to liven up your tastebuds.

Always remember - fresh prawns give more flavour if you cook them with the shell on
Don't have fresh prawns? No problem - use frozen, but make sure they're cooked through properly by increasing the cooking time
Enjoy with a dry white wine

2 lemongrass stalks
2 kaffir lime leaves
2-3 tsp chilli paste (or sambal oelek)
1 tsp minced ginger
1 peeled shallot
2 Tbsp coriander - finely chopped
grated rind and juice of 2 limes
1 Tbsp fish sauce
500g whole raw prawns (if you have shelled raw prawns, then use 350g)

cut the lemongrass so you're only left with the white bit (remove the tough core)
(the green stems can be used to make tea or a stock)

take out the central vein from the kaffir lime leaves - leaving only the leaf bit

in a pestle and mortar - or a mini food processor - put the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, chilli paste, ginger, shallot, coriander, lime rind and juice and fish sauce. process until you've got a nice paste.

put the prawns into a sealable plastic bag and toss them in the mixture you've just made.
refrigerate for 20 minutes

barbecue or pan fry the prawns for 3 to 5 minutes on each side (total 7-10 minutes)
turn only once until the prawns turn a pinky salmon colour and are cooked through

if you want - drizzle with a LITTLE sesame oil before serving

serve with coriander and mint leaves on a bed of cooked vermicelli or thin Asian noodles

BUTTERMILK RUSKS - recipe and pictures

Sometimes there's nothing nicer  than to dunk a rusk into a good cuppa tea or strong coffee...

Store bought rusks are fine (if you can find them) but why not give this recipe a go. It's active relaxation and you can enjoy the results better than a bought one. 

Just like Ouma used to make

BUTTERMILK RUSKS

(bear with me - final outcome photo still to be processed...)

This is what you need:

1 kg self raising flour

5 ml baking powder (1tsp)

10 ml salt (2 tsp)

2 large eggs

200 ml white sugar

500 ml buttermilk

190 g butter, melted (measure the butter first, then chop into chunks and put in a microwavable jug/bowl. 

For this recipe we gave it three 30 second bursts on high power - stirring after each zap - since we used frozen butter)

This is what to do:

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. 

Beat the eggs, sugar and buttermilk together. 

Cut this mixture into the dry ingredients with a knife. 

Knead the dough lightly - gradually adding the melted butter while kneading. 
This will take only a few minutes until it becomes a good soggy dough.

Pack balls of dough tightly into greased loaf pans. The balls should reach about 2/3rds the height of the pans. 

(we rolled balls of dough - then slightly squashed them to form a tube shape to get more in the loaf pan)

So you're probably thinking, "how big does the dough ball have to be?"...
Well, my first attempt - I rolled dough the size of meatballs. These came out humongous and barely fitted into the teacup! (self raising flour has the unique knack of expanding the dough when it cooks. Funny that - hehe) This batch was slightly smaller than a meatball size - and I still had to slice the baked rusks with a sharp bread knife to get them to that dunk-able size . Next batch - I'll try making a whole lot of small balls (the size of a plum) and put them in a large roasting dish so they can be pulled apart after baking and hopefully not need to be sliced. 
But that's the fun in trying something new (and tasty) 

Bake at 180C for 30 minutes (conventional oven). 

Check whether the rusks are done by tapping the top surface; it should sound hollow. 

Turn out onto a wire rack and break into individual rusks. 

If they look too big to fit into your tea cup or coffee mug - feel free to slice them to the required thickness

Lower the oven temperature to 100C and dry the rusks for about 4 hours, turning them every 30 minutes. 
Since we have a fan oven, the temperature was lowered to 75C with fan on for the same amount of time...

Cool on a wire rack and store in airtight containers. 

Will keep for at least 3 months, but believe me, they won't last that long!

So thanks to my mate Ray who sent this recipe, there are now always home-made rusks in the cake tin



BUTTERMILK RUSKS - recipe and pictures

Pancakes - Lemon and Blueberry

Great for a weekend brunch meal.
This recipe makes up to 8 tantalising pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp baking soda
grated rind of ½ lemon
3 Tbsp melted butter or margarine
1 cup blueberries

Method
Blend all ingredients together (but not the melted butter or blueberries) to form a smooth batter
Once you have a smooth batter, add the melted butter/margarine and the blueberries and mix well
Lightly grease a non-stick frypan and add enough of the mixture to cover the bottom of the pan
Swirl the batter to create an even layer
Cook over a medium heat
When you see bubbles form, turn the pancake over and cook the other side
Serve hot or cold with cream or yoghurt and some extra fresh berries

If you just want plain pancakes - don't add the lemon rind or berries
Either way, they're great

Enjoy

best ever, last minute - easy fruit cake recipe

For a no-fuss - last minute - moist fruit cake, guaranteed to become a favourite - here is the recipe...
You don't have to make it just at Christmas or Easter...

best ever last minute Fruit Cake

Ingredients:
1 kg mixed dried fruit. (If you like a darker looking cake, add prunes to the mix. Everytime we make this, the mixed dried fruit stays the same but we add other fruit to it as well: dried cranberries, crushed pineapple etc )

½ cup liquid. (Use sherry, rum or Earl Grey tea)

200g butter

2 cups flour

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 eggs

½ cup milk

¼ cup honey

Method:

Soak dried fruit in the liquid overnight














then...

Rub butter into flour in a large bowl

Add sugar, baking soda and salt then mix in the soaked dried fruit mix

In a separate bowl, mix eggs with milk and honey

Add to the fruit mixture and mix well with your hands

Put into a lined tin (23cm)

Bake at 160°C for 2½ hours

Enjoy, with or without icing

You know you're serving up something good when everyone who tastes it asks for the recipe
This one is a winner

easy fruit cake recipe

Apricot (fudge) Slice recipe with pictures

Apricot Slice

This no-bake Apricot Slice treat is a variation on a number of different recipes.

Basic Apricot Slice is great but you may as well indulge a sweet-tooth to the max if you're putting in some effort. 

That simply means adding white macadamia chocolate bits to the base and complimenting the whole thing with lemon and coconut icing.

For the base

250g butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 can condensed milk

2 cups dried apricots, chopped

2 packets plain (wine) biscuits, crushed

½ cup white chocolate, roughly chopped

Melt butter, brown sugar and condensed milk. 

You can melt it in a microwave proof dish for 2 minutes, stir and microwave another minute, then another - and another...

or stir in a heavy based saucepan over a low heat until it's a fudgy-brown colour and everything is melted

Chop up dried apricots

view chopping as active relaxation instead of a chore

add chopped apricots to melted butter, sugar and condensed milk mix

then add the crushed wine (plain) biscuits

If you don't have white chocolate bits, feel free to leave this step out

Press the mix you have just made into a tin (20cm x 30cm) - lined with greaseproof paper

I omitted this step of the greaseproof paper and had a difficult time getting the slice out of the tin once it had set. 

For the topping

100g butter

1½ cups Icing Sugar (lemon flavoured)

1-2 Tablespoons hot water

¼ cup coconut

grated lemon zest (to your own preference - or leave out if you don't have lemons handy)

Beat butter until fluffy and pale

Add icing sugar and water until light and fluffy

Spread over the slice

Sprinkle with coconut and (optional) grated lemon zest

put it in the fridge for 2 hours to set

Then cut into squares or slice as is and enjoy with a good cup of tea

Apricot  Fudge  Slice

There you have it - Apricot Fudge Slice... enjoy

30 pieces of Chocolate Rough Slice recipe

For the base
1½ cups plain flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup caster sugar
½ cup coconut
175g melted butter

For the topping
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup coconut
4 tablespoons condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla (choice is yours: essence, paste or extract)

To make the base
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Grease and line a 20x30cm slice tin.
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl, then stir in the sugar and coconut. 
Add the butter and mix to form moist crumbs.
Press the crumb base mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Allow to cool.

To make the topping
Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl and stir in the melted butter, coconut, condensed milk and vanilla.
Mix well.
Spread over the base and refrigerate for 2 hours until firm.
Cut into pieces and enjoy

Lemon and fresh mint - ice slush

With the zingyness of freshly squeezed lemon and invigorating fresh mint - all brought together with smooth shards of blended ice - this non alcoholic drink is the perfect refresher for a hot summer day

Here's what you'll need:
1 large handful of washed, fresh mint leaves (or more - or less - depending on taste. I used more mint than required for the accompanying photos)
juice of 3 lemons 
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon citric acid (this helps preserve the colour and flavour) 
ice cubes


Here's how you make it:
Place all the ingredients in a blender, filling up to the top with ice cubes
- make sure the lid is on -
turn the machine on and watch as the magic unfolds...
the mint should be finely chopped and the ice a mushy slush
serve immediately with a sprig of mint as garnish.

Lemon and fresh mint ice slush

to avoid brain freeze - it's quite ok to use a thick milkshake straw for slurping

there you have it - a nice invigorating summer drink - enjoy



Lemon and fresh mint ice slush

How to make a Vanilla Vodka and Passionfruit cocktail

Here's an interesting cocktail with Vanilla Vodka and Passionfruit Liqueur as the main ingredients 

Passions Perfect in Love cocktail

Vanilla Vodka and Passionfruit cocktail with Parfait Amour and triple sec

What you will need:
* a cocktail shaker  - Used to mix ingredients that stirring will not blend properly. 
* cocktail/Martini glass
* a Tot measure

home-Bar cocktail utensils

* Vanilla vodka - I bought the one that was on special
* Parfait Armour - This is a purple coloured liqueur made from oranges, with vanilla and plant extracts
* Cointreau - a clear liqueur made from oranges - otherwise known as triple sec
* Passionfruit Liqueur - it's important to get a good quality (thick/syrupy) liqueur

Passions Perfect in Love cocktail ingredients

(Pete's note): If you haven't already got all of these ingredients, it can be an expensive 'exercise'. So buy the bottles of booze as you can afford it - then enjoy the anticipation until your lips finally taste the Passion...

Passions Perfect in Love is a Martini style drink - very strong in alcohol content - designed to be sipped - 

So if you're drinking - REMEMBER... drink responsibly

Drink responsibly, don't be a bloody idiot

How to make Passions Perfect in Love:

1) get a Martini/cocktail glass and chill it down by placing ice in it 

2) fill your cobbler shaker with ice (broken ice cubes are fine). You'll notice the outside forming condensation - perfect for chilled cocktails

3) pour over: 60ml Vanilla Vodka

                   20ml Parfait Amour

                   10ml Cointreau

4) give it all a good QUICK shake
This is how you use a Cocktail Shaker:

Once loaded with ice and ingredients, hold top and bottom of shaker, move the wrist and forearm together, shake sharply for a few seconds - about eight sharp shakes

5) empty the ice out of the Martini glass

6) strain what you've just shaken into the Martini glass

7) drizzle 10ml Passionfruit Liqueur down the inside of the glass and let it settle  

Passions Perfect in Love cocktail_side view

and/OR...    place a maraschino cherry in the bottom of the glass as garnish

Don't drink it with a straw. 

chilled

unchilled

Drink it from the top (dry) 

to the bottom (sweet). 

Enjoy

If you've tried it and liked it, please feel free to leave a comment