Prawns with nam jim dressing and crunchy salad

Nam Jim is a traditional Thai dressing is hot sour and tangy, try it over rare seared beef with sesame seeds, absolutely stunning.

 

Ingredients

for the tempura batter and prawns

1 egg

1 cup ice water/cold water

1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

half a dozen large king/tiger prawns, shelled but with tail on

for the nam jim

2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons palm sugar
2-3 red shallots or half a small red onion chopped
3-4 bird’s eye chillies (to taste)
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves or 1 fresh root
Pinch of salt

For the salad

1 carrot

½ small white cabbage

A small handful of sugar snap peas

A small handful of beansprouts

1 sheet of medium egg noodles

2tsp Sesame oil

2tsp Sesame seeds

1tsp honey

2tsp soy sauce

Method

For the nam jim - In a large pestle and mortar, crush the garlic with the salt, add the coriander and chillies and roughly pound. Stir in the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and finely chopped shallots.

For the salad - Cook the egg noodles as per the packet instructions, its usually simmer for 10 minutes until tender.

Cut the carrots into quarters lengthways then using a sharp knife, a food processor attachment or a mandolin slice the carrot as thinly as possible, so you have long thin slivers of carrot. Do the same with the cabbage.

Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

For more flavour gently toast your sesame seeds in a dry pan over a medium heat until they are golden. This releases lots more flavour than adding them un toasted.

For the tempura batter Beat an egg in a bowl. Add ice water in the bowl. Be sure to use very cold water. Add sifted flour in the bowl and mix lightly. Be careful not to overmix the batter. Coat the prawns in flour then into batter and fry in vegetable oil until golden.

 

Lemon and blueberry loaf cake

Make this in advance and take thick slices to your picnic or Easter soiree, serve drizzled with honey! Totally delicious!

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

150mls Greek yogurt

50g lemon curd from a good quality jar

3 eggs

zest and juice of 1 lemon

200g self-raising flour

200g punnet of blueberries

 

Method

Cream the butter and the sugar until pale and creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time adding a tsp of your flour after each egg to keep the mixture smooth.
Add the lemon curd and lemon zest and beat gently until incorporated.
Sieve the remaining flour, toss in the blueberries and set aside.
You want to alternate adding the lemon juice, the yogurt and the flour mix, in stages, so start with adding half the flour, then beat gently.
Then add half the yogurt and beat gently again.
Then half the lemon juice and again beat gently.
Repeat this process mixing slowly, you don’t want to work the gluten in the flour so only beat until the ingredient is incorporated.
Grease a 2lb loaf tin.
Fill the tin with the mix and bake in a pre-heated oven (170º) for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool slightly in the tin then turn out and finish cooling on a wire rack.
if you want to make a drizzle mix the juice of a lemon with enough icing sugar to make a runny drizzle and flick over the loaf once cool.

Stacie Bakes!

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Heres the link http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Stacie%20Stewart&search-alias=books-uk

Best wishes for now.

White chocolate and lemon swirl cheesecake

I'll keep this snappy for two reasons, 1 - cheesecakes are easy and take no baking or real skill and 2 - the dog needs a wee.

Im not spell checking this.  This ones for Darren Caldwell by the way, a twitter pal who challenged me to out do a Tesco cheesecake.

You'll need a deepish 8 inch round tin, at least 2 inches deep so its nice and thick.

Line the bottom of your tin but you dont have to grease it.

Ingredients

For the base:

200g ginger nut biscuits or digestives

65g melted butter

For the filling:

250g full fat cream cheese

250g mascarpone

80g caster sugar

100mls double cream

500g white chocolate melted

Zest of 1 lemon

2tbsp of lemon curd warmed in a pan so its loose and runny

Method

As always with a cheesecake we start with the base, smash the biscuits to a fine gravel using a food processor or in a bag with a rolling pin.  Stir the crumbs into the melted butter and press evenly into your tin.

Put the base in the fridge while you whip up the filing.

Simply add everything to the mixer and beat together except the lemon curd until smooth and thickened, this will take a couple of minutes so persevere.  It needs to be spreadable but not too loose or it might not set properly. The texture of lightly whipped cream is right.

Spoon the filling over the base and smooth out flat.

drizzle on the runny lemon curd and swirl through with a knife. 

After that not so difficult five minutes pop the cheesecake in the fridge to set for two hours.

while your waiting spin this LOUD  its my new purchase, i cant stop playing it. I cant wait to hear it out and give it a dance.

White chocolate and preserved lemon fudge

I knocked this off from a recipe i read ages ago in a book i cant remember. Luckily i changed it, my handwritten scrawl all over the original, i always like to be imspired by what i read and put my own stamp on it, probably because i stupidly always think i can make something better haha!

Right here goes, a magical mystery tour of sweet, sour and salty. Anyone who hasnt made fudge before its dead easy all you need is a saucepan, a massive bowl and a tin to put the fudge in.

Ingredients
100g clotted cream
600g caster sugar
250mls liquid glucose (available from all supermarkets or chemists believe it or not)
450g white chocolate
60g unsalted butter room temperature, cubed
100g of salted/preserved lemons finely chopped (if you cant find these just use zest of 2 lemons and 1tsp of maldon sea salt, its essential its sea salt, you can get this from most supermarkets. Preserved lemons really are awesome though so please try find them, they'll be on the shelves in a jar.

Method
Put the cream, sugar and glucose in a pan, bring to the boil and boil for 4minutes stirring frequently. if you have a sugar thermometer is should be around 140oC
Transfer to a bowl and beat on low adding the finely chopped chocolate slowly so it melts in the heat of the liquid.
After this add the butter and the salted lemons (or the rind and salt)
Pour the mix into a lined tray around 8 inches square.
Pop it in the fridge to set overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
Cut into desired shapes, dip in more white chocolate if you like.

Feta baked with tomato and oregano

I love this side dish, although its substantial enough to eat on a summers night with loads of bread and butter.
I originally started this recipe with loads of fresh tomatoes baked with oregano and a little wine, i added the cheese later when i wanted a side dish for roast chicken that wasnt too "Sunday dinner like"

Ingredients
makes enough for 2

1x 400g of tomatoes
2 large vine tomatoes
1 block of feta cheese around 100g
1 pinch of chilli
1 garlic clove crushed
extra virgin olive oil
1tsp oregano
a little parmesan for the top (optional)

Method
first you need to make a kind of quick tomato sauce.
heat a little veggie oil in a pan and sweat the garlic, that means cook it without colouring or burning it, so nice and gentle.
Add the chilli, oregano and tinned tomatoes, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes to get all the flavours going.
season to taste.
Now to your baking dish, i like a nice 2 person gratin dish but pyrex is also fine and also you can make little individual ones of these if you like.
Crumble the feta into the dish and pour over the tomato sauce.
top with sliced tomatoes and grated parmesan and bake on 200 (gas mark 6) for 20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
Serve with crusty bread for a great side dish for chicken or fish or a great starter on its own.

Gnocchi with squash, goats cheese and pine nuts

This is a great summer supper dish, its more substantial than you might think as gnocchi can be quite heavy, its tatties and flour after all.  I always find its best to use leftover mash which is stone cold, if you make mash especially you have to wait for it to get cold and for the protein to stabilise (sounded canny clever that didnt it) it basically means it wont be sticky and sloppy.

Ingredients
for the gnocchi:
250g cold mashed potato
salt and pepper
100g plain flour

for the rest of the dish:
1 butternut squash
a lick of veggie or olive oil for roasting
salt and pepper
goastcheese 1 standard log from a supermarket is fine
a handful of pine nuts gently toasted in a dry frying pan (this is vital to develop their flavour)
50g of butter melted
a handful of baby spinach

Method
Theres two main sections you need to get cracking with the gnocchi and the squash, probably start with the gnocchi, mix all of the ingredients together with a good whack of salt and pepper to your taste.
take half the mix and roll it out into a thin sausage about the width of your finger, unless you have fingers like Madonna, then roll them a little thinner.
Cut your fingers of dough into 1.5cm pieces and press each piece with the back of a fork to make a slight indentation.  This isnt just for decoration but the grooves help tjhe sauce stick to the gnocchi.
leave your gnocchi to one side covered with a teatowel and start your squash.
Peel and chop into 2cm pieces, roughly, no ones going to measure but the smaller you chop them the quicker they will cook.
Toss them in the oil, season and roast on 200 for 30 minutes or until tender.
To cook the gnocchi get a pan of water boiling, pop some salt in and drop your gnocchi in, they will take around 2-3 minutes to cook and will float to the top once done.
As soon as they are cooked you need to work quickly, drain them and immediately toss with the cooked squash and any oil from the pan.
add the pine nuts, spinach, butter and crumbled goastcheese and toss everything together for a minute.  No need to have any heat under the pan, there will be enough residual heat from the squash and gnocchi.
There we go a nice quick supper.

Once you have the basics of this recipe down you can chop and change, gnocchi with tomatoes, chilli and rocket, or with pesto, or with mushrooms and mascarpone. spring veg, creme fraiche and lemon - loads of options.