Blinis - Another way to serve - Try Prawns

Recently I posted a recipe for Yummy Blinis click here for the recipe
I made a couple of changes
First, defrosted then roasted a bag of Prawns
as below

Just toss the defrosted prawn tails with a slosh of Olive Oil
Some sea salt 
A grind of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Grated zest of a lemon

Into a 200C oven for just 6 mins
Remove from the oven
Squeeze juice of 1 small lemon and mix 
Cool
Take about 8-10 cooked prawns and chop finely 
Make a batch of the blini mixture
add the prawns and 
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Leave to rest in the refrigerator minimum 30 minutes
Then cook and set aside



Meanwhile, prepare some Cream Cheese for the topping
Whip together 1/2 cup cream cheese with a tablespoon of chopped parley
Grind of black pepper
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbs of a good olive oil
Spread over cooked blinis
Top with a cooked prawn and little bit of chopped parsley

Another cream cheese flavouring, try this one
Using bread and butter pickles
They add a crunch and that sweet and sour
Oooh just special

1/2 cup cream cheese
4-5 slices of bread and butter pickles
about a teaspoon of the juice
Zest of half a lemon
2 tablespoons chopped chives Pinch salt and good rind of freshly ground black pepper
Spread on the blinis and pop a prawn on top
Delicious

Below:
Everything packed up ready to take to Granddaughter Sophia's 18th Birthday

Seems like it was months ago she was this beautiful baby

I also provided some Pinwheels with an Italian Flavour, Tomato, Basil and Pecorino Cheese and 

Little mushroom filled bread cases

We just warmed them up

All perfect with drinks

Cauliflower - So Trendy - So Tasty - This Recipe Not Paleo Though

In fact this is from Ottolenghi’s “Plenty More” book
I love his recipes and this is a winner
Cauliflower Cake

When I started to cook this little delight, I realised that I had forgotten to top up my cheddar cheese supply, so instead of running out to the supermarket.
I used the Castello White Cheese that I had in the fridge
It was delicious but was very rich, next time I will use  Cheddar or Parmesan

To serve, I just sautéed some mushrooms, garlic and spinach
Very tasty.

With the leftovers, Popped some beetroot relish on the side. Yum
I reckon served with a  lovely crisp Salad and some French Bread. That would be superb

1 small cauliflower, outer leaves removed, broken into 3cm florets (450g)
1 medium red onion (170g)
75ml olive oil ½ tsp finely chopped rosemary
7 eggs
15g basil, chopped
120g plain flour, sifted
1½ tsp baking powder
⅓ tsp ground turmeric
150g coarsely grated Parmesan, or another mature cheese
melted butter, to line the tin
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC/Gas Mark 4.
Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon of salt.
Cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes, until the florets are quite soft:
they should break when pressed with a spoon.
Strain and set aside in a colander to dry

Cut 4 round slices, each 0.5cm thick, off one end of the onion and set aside.
Coarsely chop the rest of the onion and place this in a small pan, with the oil and rosemary.
Cook gently for 10 minutes on a medium heat, stirring from time to time, until soft.
Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Transfer the cooked onion to a large bowl, add the eggs and basil, whisk well and then
add the flour, baking powder, turmeric, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Whisk until smooth before adding the cauliflower and stirring gently, trying not to break up all the florets.

Line the base and sides of a 24cm springform cake tin with baking parchment.
Brush the sides with melted butter, mix together the sesame and nigella seeds and toss them around the inside of the tin so that they stick to the sides.

Tip in the cauliflower mix and arrange the reserved onion rings on top. 

Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until golden-brown and set:
a knife inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave for at least 20 minutes before serving:
it needs to be served just warm, rather than hot, or at room temperature

Flavours of Morocco - Pinwheels - Perfect to have with drinks

Off to a Family dinner. Theme is Moroccan.
I frequently make my Pastry Pinwheels for pre-food drinks
Always very popular and I have developed many different flavours, so why not Moroccan
Here is my little Cooks treat. Yum

 As luck would have it, in my fridge and pantry, I had enough interesting goodies that would deliver what I was wanting
I haven't put quantities, use as much or as little as you like

In this case, I had some Goat Feta, the crumbly kind
But a soft Goats cheese would be best
Actually that is quite expensive, so I usually use Feta

For some other flavour ideas of these yummy pinwheels… click Here

By the way, I used two products from Local Chef’s and I want to mention them, as I find both excellent

   









 Al Browns Orange and Chili Olive Oil

 Simon Gault's Moroccan Seasoning







Ingredients
Sheets of Frozen Puff Pastry
Goats Feta Cheese
Zest of 1 orange
Slosh of Al Brown’s Orange and Chili Olive oil
Black Olives stoned and chopped
Semi dried tomatoes in oil (I used a tablespoon of this oil as well)

Simon Gault’s Moroccan Seasoning
Beaten egg

Lay out the pastry on the bench
Mix together, the Feta, Orange zest, Orange and Chili Olive Oil
Plus  1 tablespoon Moroccan Seasoning
Beat till you can spread it

Cover bottom 2/3 of the pastry sheet
Sprinkle over the olives and the semi dried tomatoes

Brush the beaten egg over the top third of the sheet
Refrigerate the egg in a container, to finish off the pastries

Roll up,
Press down gently

Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, overnight is fine
Heat oven to 200C

Cut into pinwheels and place on baking sheet covered with baking paper
Brush with reserved beaten egg, sprinkle over with some more seasoning
Bake for about 15 minutes, till golden and crisp

Best served just warm or room temperature to get the best flavour
Delicious

And my word, they went very well with
Helen’s Celery Gimlet, which is divine.

Bloody fantastic, even if I do say so, my self

Red Soup - For The Want of a Better Name

This delicious soup came about by chance, as many great dishes are evolved
It was a bleak day, I was bored, spent the afternoon catching up on some food programmes that I had recorded…Too early for a wine
My oven wasn't working, so it was all stove top cooking in our house
I had some chicken stock left over and thought I should turn it into soup
So into the vegetable bin I dove.
I found  a Red pepper, Red onion. Beetroot. Red chili
Let's put them together
What a fabulous colourful soup that would make, and it did
So good I have made for guests and it got the thumbs up
By the way I did a little cheating the other day and bought cooked  fresh beetroot from the
supermarket. It is more expensive but saved me time.
If you use concentrated chicken stock, dissolve it in the stock produced, by boiling the beetroot

Ingredients
For 4 People
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2 Red Peppers
2 Medium Beetroot, roasted or boiled for about an hour, peeled and chopped
1 Red Onion, chopped
1 Red Chili, chopped
4 cups Chicken stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Optional -  slosh of hot pepper sauce 
Sour cream and dill for garnish

Method
So I cooked the beetroot till tender, that can take about an hour
If boil, don't waste the stock, save it for cooing the soup
You can either roast or boil
Peel and chop

Meanwhile chop the red onion
The red pepper and the chili

Sauté the vege in the olive oil
Season with salt and pepper

Cover with Chicken stock
Bring to boil and simmer about 20 minutes
Add vinegar and hot sauce (optional but I like the kick it gives)

Into the blender.
Taste and adjust if needed

Mix dill with the Creme Fraiche
and dob it on top
This is wonderful
Not only looking fabulous but tasting fabulous as well
A keeper