Crumbed Prawns on a Sweet Veggie Salad

Ahh seafood, a luxury for a student like myself. How is it that something so simple can brighten up my day in an instant? When I scurried into Harbour Fish yesterday, I was shocked to see a whole bag of crumbed prawns for five dollars. Lucky me.

Prawns. Crumbed prawns. What do people have with prawns? Being such a luxury, I had never cooked them before and rarely get the opportunity to eat them. So I searched high and low in my fridge and decided to use what I had. A few desperate vegetables and a lemon. It was going to be one of those experimental meals. I quickly ran to warn my boyfriend of the potential failure that was ahead, and then started chopping like crazy.

This is often the way my kitchen works. I have learnt to be economical and use up as much as I can whenever I cook. People often ask me how I can afford to cook so many meals that often have  expensive ingredients such as prawns, when I am a student. My answer? Honestly I am still learning but I guess I'll start by saying, don’t go to the supermarket with a strict list, buy what is in season and what's on special, and then come up with your meals. Use leftovers, create recipes, and always keep your spice rack full! You might have the odd disaster, but it is all a learning experience. And sometimes you might just have a wonderful outcome, like I did last night.

A simple cauliflower, broccoli, calvo nerco (kale), and date salad with pre-crumbed prawns. Obviously you can opt to crumb your own prawns or even keep them fresh, but like I said, I bought what was on special at the fish store. With a touch of seasoning and some lemon juice, this dish was divine.

Serves two

Ingredients

1 small head cauliflower

1 small head broccoli

Handful of calvo nero (dark kale)

Moroccan seasoning (season to taste)

Salt and pepper

Garlic

1/2 cup dates 

Rice bran oil for frying

1 lemon (zest and juice)

16 prawns (crumbed or fresh)

Grate the broccoli and cauliflower, and finely chop the calvo nero and dates. Fry the calvo nero in the oil until softened. Add the cauliflower, broccoli, dates, Moroccan seasoning, garlic, and lemon juice. Fry together over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the mean time you can either bake or fry the prawns. To bake the prawns, drizzled them in a touch of oil and lemon juice and then bake at 200°C for 10 minutes or until nice and crispy. To fry the prawns, heat some oil in a pan and fry the prawns for a few minutes on each side or until nice and crispy. 

Serve up your veggie salad, place the prawns on top and drizzle with a bit of lemon juice.

This is such a fast and easy meal, enjoy!

-Sophea

Simply Sweet Cinnamon Scrolls

Oh sweet buns, why do you have to look so delicious in the evenings?

Sugar, my guilty pleasure.

Baking has to pretty close to the top of my favourite-things-to-do list. The whole process is so enjoyable for me. It's all about creating something so sweetly satisfying that makes your house smell like a home. However, as unfortunate as it is, eating the baking is even closer to the top of my favourite-things-to-do list. Yes, I love to eat the final result and this is why I don't do a whole lot of baking. It's far too dangerous for me to have muffins, cookies, or loaves lurking in the pantry at night time. I just know I will give in to temptation. 

And this is why I need a bit of a push, an excuse, any excuse to do some baking. Visitors are coming? Great I will make some slice. Someone's birthday? Cake it is. Chocolate was on special? Cookies, I'll see you soon.

So when it was requested to me this week that I do a blog on cinnamon scrolls, I jumped at the opportunity.  Not only did I have a whole day off from study, but my flat mate's new camera equipment arrived this week. Excuses were flying at me from every angle. Why not spend a day researching cinnamon scrolls (seeing as I had never made them before), making and trialing recipes, and taking photos of the final result. The perfect Friday afternoon!

So here we have it, my final result. Sweet Cinnamon Scrolls glazed with icing. I chose to go with a recipe that is simple because as I have discovered, a lot of recipes for sweet scrolls are quite complicated. And honestly, the simpler the better. Not everyone has time to spend hours baking. Even for me this was an odd occasion. So please do give them a go, don't be scared of making the dough, it's easy I promise!

There is only one problem... these beauties taunt me at night time. They are dangerously awesome so make sure you have guests coming over when you make them - they are best eaten on the day!

Ingredients 
Dough:
2 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp dry activated yeast
1/2 cup water
1/4 milk
50 grams butter
1 egg

Filling
60 grams butter melted
2 Tbsp cinnamon
2 heaped Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar

Basic Icing
50 grams butter
1-2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
boiling water as needed

How to
1. Preheat your oven to 100°C. Grease a pie dish with butter and set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and yeast and then set aside.

3. In a sauce pan heat butter, water, and milk over a medium heat until hot (do not boil). Once hot, pour into the flour mixture, add the egg and mix to make a soft dough. The dough should not be sticky but rather soft and elastic. If it is sticky, add a Tbsp of flour at a time till it comes right.
Once you have a soft ball of dough kneed it on a floured surface for 5 minutes and then let it rest for 10 minutes.

4. Roll the dough out to a large rectangle ready to coat with the filling.

5. In a bowl mix the sugars and cinnamon together. Cover the dough in the melted butter and then sprinkle the sugar mixture on the top.

6. Starting from one end, tightly roll the dough into one long scroll. With a serrated knife, cut the dough into about 10 or 11 different pieces.

7. Place the scrolls in your prepared dish and cover with tin foil. Place them in your preheated oven and then turn the oven off! This will help your scrolls rise in the perfect environment. Now leave them there for 1 1/2 hours.

8. Once, risen bake scrolls uncovered for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned.

Icing
For the scrolls I recommend two different types of icing. Just use the basic icing recipe ingredients and then add these yummy extras. You choose! I know this recipe for icing is vague but every time I make icing I do it differently. It really depends how much icing you want and what kind of texture you want.

Brown Sugar Icing
Cream the butter and add 2 Tbsp brown sugar. Whisk until smooth. Add 1-2 cups of icing sugar and vanilla essence then whisk all together. Too thick? Add  tsp of boiling water at a time to thin it out. Too runny? Add 1/2 cup icing sugar at a time to thicken it up.

Coffee Icing
To make this icing instead of adding the brown sugar like above, add a shot of coffee! Dissolve as much coffee as you want (I use 1-2 tsp grounded coffee) in a small (less than 1/4 cup!) amount of boiling water. Coffee icing on cinnamon scrolls is amazing!

Once the icing is made literally drizzle it over the warm sweet buns and you are done. Don't they look beautiful?

I hope you enjoy these as much as my house hold has enjoyed the numerous times I have made them recently. Happy baking everyone, try not to turn into your own personal version of a cinnamon scroll!

-Sophea

Simple Pan-Fried Salmon

Did someone say Salmon? 

Simple pan fried salmon on a bed of mashed kumara and accompanied with baby spinach, garden peas, and balsamic roasted carrot chips. Sounds fancy. 

Yesterday was the most perfect day. Like any other Saturday, I went to the farmers market to get the usual fruit and veg and try whatever food was on offer. Yesterday a lovely lady was serving raw chocolate, walnut and apricot fudge, spring carrot salad cups, and raw chocolate dipping sauce and oh my, it was beautiful. I love the different recipes they have each week and I love how they only use food from other farmers market stools. Decadent jams, stews, cakes, sauces and breads. Feast your hungry little eyes on all their glorious recipes here http://www.otagofarmersmarket.org.nz/pages/18/Recipes

So after trying to make as much conversation as I could in order to keep eating samples I made my way over to the fish stool and saw a lovely salmon fillet for only $10. It was then I decided I was going to have salmon for dinner. Matt, my boy friend and partner in eating food together forever was over the moon. 

I had never cooked a salmon before and I don't have many ingredients at the moment due to being in-between houses, so that is why I call this recipe 'simple salmon'. Matt complimented this dish by saying it was on par with, if not better than any salmon he has had in any restaurant plus, when you cook salmon at home you get a much bigger piece and pay about a fifth of the price! 

Make sure to buy your salmon fresh, a fish supplier shop or any kind of market is usually best. That way you can guarantee freshness. Some supermarkets cannot be trusted. Those sneaky devils put so much crap into food it scares me. So, best to stay clear. 

Want to make a restaurant quality salmon dish at home? Here's how.

You will need

A 350g salmon fillet cut in half. (It really doesn't matter on size and how many pieces you want, this is just what I did)

1 large kumara (sweet potato)

5 small carrots

2tblsp Olive oil

2tblsp balsamic vinegar

Handful of baby spinach

Garden peas

Fresh Italian parsley

Salt and pepper

2tblsp cream

25g butter

Oil to fry salmon in (I used avocado oil infused with lime)

To make the balsamic roasted carrots I whisked the balsamic vinegar and olive oil together with course sea salt and pepper and then poured over the thinly sliced carrot pieces that were on a prepared baking dish. I then roughly chopped some parsley up and sprinkled over top before baking the at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes or until nice and crunchy. 

Once they were on their way to delightful crunchy heaven I chopped and boiled the kumara. While the kumara was boiling I got out a couple of plates, placed some spinach in each, steamed the peas and de-boned the salmon. 

To de-bone a salmon fillet, keep it skin-side down and with one hand underneath to push up, use your other hand to feel for the spiky bones sticking out the top. To remove each bone I use tweasers to grab them and gently wiggle them out. This way they don't break when you try to remove them! When done, season your salmon with sea salt and pepper ready for frying.

When the kumara became soft, I mixed it with butter, cream and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. Once mashed and then whipped with a fork to make light and creamy I put the pot lid back on to keep the kumara mash hot while I fried the salmon. 

Now the fun part! I oiled my non-stick frying pan so it's covered and then placed it on a high heat. Once hot, I fried the salmon skin-side down for about two minutes, until brown and crispy. Then I fried the other side for another two minutes. You know it's cooked once the middle falls apart nicely with a fork. If I buy a fat fillet I like to make sure all sides have been seared slightly. Beautiful and crispy on the outside and so soft on the inside. 

Serve the salmon on the bed of mashed kumara and baby spinach with a side of garden peas and balsamic roasted carrots. Garnish with Italian parsley. Bon-appetite! 

Now pour a glass of wine and enjoy your five star meal at home.

-Fee

Quadruple Chocolate Banana Muffins

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!! I love to bake with chocolate, and to tell you the truth, I love it so much that I always have blocks of chocolate stored up just for baking. By blocks of chocolate I don't mean ‘cooking chocolate’, I mean chocolate such as Cadbury or Whittakers. I vary between the two brands (depending on what is cheapest at the time usually). I prefer to use this good quality chocolate because it gives my baking the quality it deserves.

And so, being the sweet tooth that I am, I just had to choose a sweet recipe to start with. Here is an easy favorite...

For these muffins I used Cadbury's top-deck and old gold chocolate blocks. I only used half of each block for one batch of muffins, saving the rest for another time. I love this combination of chocolate because the bitterness of the dark chocolate counters for the sweetness of the lighter chocolates. Sweet, but not over powering.

I like to bake these muffins with oil instead of butter because this makes the muffins nice and moist. Oil is excellent for making muffins (and cakes) moist because unlike butter, it is a liquid at room temperature. This plays a huge part in keeping baking from becoming dry or tough when cooled back down to room

I have already mentioned how I always have chocolate ready to bake with, another thing I always like to have handy is frozen ripe bananas. As soon as any bananas become too ripe I chuck them in the freezer. It is incredibly easy to grab a frozen banana out of the freezer, put it in the microwave for a minute, peel off the skin, and then add it to any recipe. Once microwaved for a minute or so, I find that the bananas are usually so soft they don’t need much more mashing, therefore they can be added straight into the mixture!

!

(Microwaved frozen bananas are the best!)

This is a really simple recipe to follow, anyone is capable of making these delicious treats!

 Salt you say?! Often people become nervous about adding too much salt to their baking and therefore don’t add enough, or none at all. Don’t be one of these people! Yes, it does say 1/2 a teaspoon (this seems like a lot), but never be afraid to put the whole amount in. Salt is important when it comes to baking, even in the sweet things. Salt helps to bring all of the flavors to life and to balance them all out at the same time. Don't skip any ingredients, they all matter!

 The combination of the banana, egg, and oil shows just how nice and moist these muffins are...

I love chunky pieces of chocolate and so does my man, so I always cut rough pieces (so much better than pathetic chocolate chips you buy in the packets). Whenever I am cutting the chocolate up I can’t stop my self from having a piece, or two… doesn't it look beautiful?

On another note, when the recipe says fold, it means fold. Over mixing can cause muffins to become dense and tough. All you need to do is fold the wet ingredients in until everything is only just combined. The mixture may look like a lumpy mess and not smooth at all but this is good! This helps to keep air in the muffins, keeping them moist but also light! 

One more tip, when making these muffins I always use butter (or margarine) when greasing any sort of baking tins. Butter never sticks. Not only is it non-stick, but it always tastes great. Make sure you fill each muffin tin up to the top rather than only 3 quarters fill. This way you will get ‘large top’ muffins, just the way I like them!

I guarantee that everyone will love these muffins, they are truly delicious. Not the most healthy, but hey, we can treat ourselves every now and then!

Ingredients:- 1 1/2 cups flour
– 1 cup caster sugar
-‘heaped’ 1/4 cup cocoa
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 3-4  medium mashed ripe bananas
– 1.3 cup oil
– 1 egg
– chocolate chopped up (read above)

Method:
Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt. In a separate bowl combine mashed bananas, oil and egg. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until only just combined. Do not over mix. Finally, fold in the chocolate chunks. Spoon the mixture into medium sized greased muffins tins. Fill each tin almost to the top. Bake at 160 degrees on fan bake for 20-25 minutes. They are finished when a skewer comes out clean or the  muffins bounce back up when pushed slightly.

Enjoy 

~Fee