Seafood Chowder
A hearty soup that warms the cockles at this time of year. Works well with either smoked or fresh fish.
Ingredients
1 large onion finely chopped
1 potato peeled and chopped
1 large carrot peeled and finely chopped
1 large stalk of celery including the leaves finely chopped
½-1 cup of wine
½-1 cup water (or fish stock)
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp paprika
Ground pepper
Approx 1-2 kilos of fish (skinned, deboned and cut into small bite size pieces), scallops, mussels, prawns or any other seafood that appeals
1 can Carnation’s light and creamy condensed milk
1 Tbsp corn flour
Instructions
Gently soften the onion in a little oil
Add the water, wine, potatoes, carrots and celery and simmer until the potatoes are cooked and soft. You may need to add more water as it cooks.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, thyme, paprika, pepper and seafood. Stir through until cooked.
Mix the corn flour with a little of the condensed milk, add with the remaining milk into the seafood mix and stir through, allow to gently simmer.
Serve with thick grainy bread for a filling meal.
Vietnamese summer rolls
These are the fresh version of Vietnamese spring rolls. They are completely adaptable to any veges or meat you may have in the fridge. Quick, easy and a really social type of meal
Ingredients
Rice papers
Tiger prawns – cooked with sweet chilli sauce and ginger
100gm vermicelli – boil for 3-5 minutes till al dente
Lettuce
Cucumber sliced into thin slices into matchsticks
Carrots – peeled and sliced into matchsticks
Spring onions sliced into matchsticks
Fresh mint, Vietnamese mint or coriander
Dipping sauce – Nuoc cham
100ml fish sauce
50ml palm sugar or brown sugar
100ml lime or lemon juice
½ clove garlic finely sliced or chopped
½ – 1 fresh read chilli – deseeded and chopped or sliced into thin rounds
Method
Soak 1-2 rice papers in a large flat dish of room temperature water until soft and pliable – about 1-2 minutes.
Lay the rice paper on a clean tea towel and lay a small amount of each of the above ingredients to one side of the paper.
Roll the rice paper and ingredients up into a tight roll.
Serve with Nuoc cham dipping sauce, sweet chilli dipping sauce or a Satay sauce.
Chocolate brownie – without guilt!
Ingredients
2 mashed bananas
1/3 cup cocoa
¾ cup of flour
¾ tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
¾ cup dark cooking chocolate roughly chopped
¾ cup walnuts, pecans or almonds roughly chopped
2 Tbsp fruit juice
Instructions
Mix all ingredients together. Take care not to over mix, or it will become tough.
Lightly oil or spray a baking dish approx 150×150mm.
Spread the brownie mix into the dish.
Bake for 30 mins at 175˚C.
Allow to cool for 5-10 mins before slicing.
Enjoy – decadence without guilt!
Zucchini Salad
I have a zucchini overload in my garden at the moment and was getting a little tired of them in every dish I made. For a bit of variation I tried them as a salad. Give this one a try for a high speed yummy change.
Ingredients:
2 zucchini grated
1-2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 – 1 clove of garlic
Mix all together. Simple.
Dutch apple cake
Preparation 20 mins; Cooking time 1 ¼ hours; Serves heaps
Ingredients
4 egg whites
125 g sugar
1 Tbsp grated lemon rind
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp canola oil
200ml apple juice
250gm flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
4 large apples peeled and sliced
50g almonds whole, sliced, chopped or slithered
1 ½ Tbsp sugar
1. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Slowly add the first 125 g sugar. Continue beating until stiff and meringue like.
2. Add the lemon juice, lemon rind, oil, juice, flour, baking powder, mixed spice and mix gently until combined.
3. Pour half the batter into a greased spring baking dish approx 9 inch.
4. Layer in half of the apples.
5. Scrape the remaining batter over the apples and top with the remaining apple and almonds. Sprinkle 1 ½ Tbsp sugar over top.
6. Bake for around 1 ¼ hours at 170˚C.
Enjoy!
