Saturday 27 June 2009

Prawn Cakes with Saffron Bulgur and Salad



Recipe Ingredients: (Enough for 4)
  • 200grs large prawns (puréed)
  • 150grs cooked potato (puréed)
  • 300grs Bulgur Wheat (medium)
  • 1 egg (yolk to one side, whipped white to another)
  • 1 Gem Lettuce (well crispy separated into leaves)
  • 1 onion (finely chopped)
  • 1/2 half a red pepper (finely chopped)*reserve a little for decoration*
  • 2 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 1 piece ginger (minced)
  • 1 soup spoon of turmeric + 3 strands saffron
  • 1 pinch chilli powder
  • seasoning (salt and pepper)
  • oil to fry
  • some olive oil


One more easy to prepare recipe, that is tasty wholesome and easy on the waste line. Mix the potato purée and prawn purée with the egg yolk and some seasoning, after well mixed add the whipped egg white, and mix this well too, to form a paste. Place the oil on a pan or fryer, and to form the cakes you use two spoons, and scoop from spoon to spoon which will for the cake which you will then drop into the very hot oil, cooking them on both sides until golden brown (see picture). After they are cooked put them on a plate containing several kitchen towels to remove excess oil.

The accompaniment is bulgur, which is cooked just in boiling water as you would do rice, placing in the water a little oil and some salt, it will cook in around 10-12 minutes, then you drain it and pass through it while draining some boiling water to remove starch. The grains will be well fluffy.

While it's draining, put a wok on the fire (or large frying pan) with a little olive oil, once hot add the onion, pepper, garlic, ginger and seasoning once golden golden add the turmeric and saffron as well as the chilli powder, stir for around 1-2 minutes, then add a little water like 1/3 of a glass,cook a further 1 minute and then add the drained bulgur, turn the heat off and mix it really well so that the whole flavour infuses it.
Then is just a matter of arranging this light meal on a plate, you can do it as it is shown in the picture or use your own ideas. I used some strips of red pepper to decorate the bulgur, and used the larger gem lettuce leaves to bed the prawn cakes, and with the remaining leaves I shredded them added a few bits of tomato & grated carrot, and drizzled them with balsamic vinegar and some olive oil.

Was delicious. hope you enjoy this summer meal.





I was awarde this special token by my dear friend Kim From the blog Ordinary Recipes Made Gourmet she is a great friend, and normally i don't accept tokens as I just don't have the time required to post them and to attribute to deserving blogs.

Also, like her I feel I would be fair to just select a few of my friends foodies as all that visit me I feel deserve tokens like this one, so I am not passing it around as all of you are deserving of it. But I am linking back to the person that gave it to me, as she deserves it. She is fun to talk to, full of energy and helpful, her foods are full of quality even when she makes simple or classic foods. I suppose that is her motto anyway, she tries hard to succeed and I feel she deserves to have success, she has this Amazon Store you should visit.

Saturday 20 June 2009

Orange Cake "Large" for Slicing



Recipe Ingredients: (was enough to cut 70 rectangular slices)
  • 300grs of butter (or baking margarine)
  • 300grs of sugar
  • 4 oranges (2 cut in slices and 2 "whole" blitzed into creamy pulp)
  • 6 eggs
  • 300grs of flour
  • 2 soup spoon of baking powder
  • 2 teas spoons of orange essence
  • a little of dememera sugar



Couldn't be easier... Beat the sugar with the butter, until you obtain a light and whitish cream, once that is done put the eggs (pre-mixed) in, a little at the time keeping the beating of the cream, this way attaining even a more creamy and full of air dough.

Once that is done, add the two oranges in pulp + the orange essence, (mix the pulp in well with a wooden spoon in a folding gentle action to try not to release any of the air contained in the dough), lastly add the flour, a little at the time as well, again folding action and gentle, until all is incorporated in the dough.

Then place the dough in a large tray previously greased and floured, I also used a Teflon baking sheet to avoid the cake sticking to the pan (worked a treat). On top of the dough lay the orange slices and cover the top of each slice with some dememera sugar, to allow them to crystallize and not burn as that would leave a bitter taste, (also if you think the taste of the orange skin may be too strong for you, you can always peals the slicing oranges prior to slicing).

The whole thing goes in a preheated oven at 180ºC for around 20-25 minutes, once done remove the cake from the oven, and let it cool a little before attempting to remove it from the container, this is where the Teflon came in handy as I just picked the four corners of it to remove the cake from the container to a cooling rack.

Optionally at the end, you can also squeeze a further two oranges and boil the juice with some sugar to make a liquid syrup to pour over the cake and get it even more moist, as this is a moist cake already, and very spongy and light. Then let it cool completely and slice it into rectangles.

Friday 19 June 2009

Mini Palmieres Cinnamon | Vanilla



Recipe Ingredients:
  • 2 pkts of ready made puff pastry
  • demerara sugar (sufficient)
  • 1 soup spoon of cinnamon
  • Honey (sufficient)
  • powdered sugar (sufficient)
  • vanilla essence
Sprinkle some flour on a table (surface), lay on the puff pastry block and spread it with the rolling pin until it is just about half a centimetre thick, retaining the rectangular shape. Now spread over it the dememera sugar mixed with the cinnamon, lay it on quite thick layer 2-3mllimetres , then from the smaller with side roll the pastry until about half and do the same from the opposite side, until you have like two rolls in the centre, then with a Sharpe knife cut slices about 1cm thick and lay the slices in a tray either previously buttered and floured, or the easy way with a Teflon baking sheet.

It goes in the oven for around 15 minutes at 180-200 Celsius, until golden, then remove them and place them on a cooling rack.

For the second lot repeat the process, but on this one before rolling I put honey mixed with vanilla essence and a little powdered sugar, and once cooled I sprinkled more powdered sugar.
As the pastry has no sweetness at all this may look like a lot of sweet but I assure you is not and turns out really well balanced. Happy party!!

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Angel Hair Pasta with Salmon and Hake Soup



Recipe Ingredients: (eneugh for 4 people)
  • 4-5 "balls" of Angel Hair Pasta (about 200grs)
  • 150grs hake+ 150grs salmon (other fish can be chosen and use even more varieties) (cut the fish in small cubes)
  • 1 onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 carrot (finely chopped)
  • 1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
  • 1 piece of ginger (finely chopped)
  • 1 bunch of parsley "or coriander" (finely chopped)
  • 1/2 tomato pulp "passata"
  • 1 cube of chicken or fish stock (fish stock is better)
  • Salt, Black Pepper, paprika, chilli powder (a pinch of each)
  • Olive oil and water (sufficient)

I made the sauce in the Wok, putting there a little olive oil, that once it reached hot temp, I added the onion, carrot, garlic & ginger, letting these cook until golden (stirring occasionally), once they reached that stage I added the fish and stir it occasionally only by tossing avoiding using wooden spoon, continued tossing occasionally but letting the fish to cook for around 2-3 minutes, as the fish cooks quickly.

At this point I've added the a pinch of each condiment, salt, b. Pepper, paprika chilli powder as well as the tomato pulp plus 2 glasses of water and the Angel hair pasta which I crushed with my hands to become just small bits of pasta I also added the stock cube. Then I let this cook for around 5-7 minutes, finally I turned the heat off and added the chopped herb (parsley or coriander) also added a few mint leaves that not only improve the visual they improve flavour and help digestion, I also toasted a few bits of bread and made some croutons, for a lovely soup meal. Enjoy!!


Friday 5 June 2009

Blueberry Crepes with Strawberry Mousse Filling



Recipe Ingredients:
  • 1 cup of flour
  • a glass of whipping cream (around 120mls)
  • 2/3 cup of blueberries
  • a little milk (sufficient)
  • 4 soup spoons of oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 soup spoon of sugar
  • 10 strawberries (finely chopped + a soup spoon of powdered sugar if these aren't too sweet)
  • a dash of vanilla essence
  • vanilla flavoured powdered sugar (or normal)



These are two combined desserts. Crepes + strawberry mousse.

To make these, put in a bowl, the flour, make a well in the centre and place the oil + the egg there, start mixing in the centre with a whisk, once it starts getting thick add the blueberries (these ones previously crushed + mixed with the sugar and heated for around 1 minute to release their colour), continue whisking and as it gets thick again start adding the milk, and whisk and add milk and so on until it becomes liquid with the consistency of double cream.

Now soak a little bit of kitchen paper towel with a little oil and rub this on a non stick frying pan, heat the pan and once hot reduce to med-low heat and pour a couple of serving spoons inside swirl the pan so that it covers the whole bottom, let it cook for around 1-2 minutes you'll see it going golden through the crepe, with a spatula lift the corners and them with your fingers peel it of and turn it upside down, again 1-2 minutes and is done, set it aside on a plate. Then repeat process until all the crepe cream is used. You should get around 6-8 crepes.

let the crepes go cool as they become more malleable and elastic. Whip the cream and add a few drops of vanilla essence, once whipped add and fold in the chopped strawberries also a soup spoon of powdered sugar if the strawberries are not very sweet, once done refrigerate this will harden mousse further. Finally format the crepes as you like fill them with the mousse and decorate as you will, I used powdered vanilla sugar, than I refrigerated them further ..delicious with a nice hot cup of coffee or tea. cheers ..enjoy

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Rico - Tried and Tested Recipes

Hi my name is Rico (short for Ricardo) will regularly add more food content to this blog, all my recipes are tried and tested, as I make them and eat them as well as my family, so I wouldn't give you something that is not good.

Recipes published here, will try to conform to the following criteria:

-Easy to create or bake.
-Will be nutritious, wholesome and healthy as well as economical too.
- Will be varied and inventive, mostly created by me.
-Occasionally I will treat you to some indulgent ones. But just as a treat. lol :)
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