Thursday 29 October 2009

Pumpking Mousse with Pan Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - Halloween



Ingredients: (enough for 4-5 ramekins)
  • 1 thick pumpkin slice (pealed and chopped into little pieces)
  • 1 orange (juice and pulp)
  • 2 soup spoons of sugar
  • 250mls whipping cream (to whip into Chantilly)
  • 1 one heaped tea spoon of icing sugar
  • 1 hand full of pumpkin seeds




Preparation:

Easy, put a frying pan on the stove medium heat, place the seeds of pumpkin inside and keep stirring the frying pan (as if you were doing popcorn), once hot the seeds start to pop when these to stop popping they are ready. Put them on a plate and let them cool.

Meantime in a small pan put the chopped pumpkin plus the sugar and the juice (pulp) of the orange, let it come to boiling point and reduce the heat to minimum leaving it to cook for around 20 minutes stirring occasionally. once the pumpkin is semitransparent, then crush it (for example with a fork. masher) adds two or three tablespoons of water and keep it boiling for a further 10-15 minutes, until being like a moist compote , withdraw of the heat and leave to cool completely.

In a bowl whip the cream and halfway to becoming whipped cream add the powdered sugar in and beat the rest until quite firm, then add the compote of pumpkin and and most of the pumpkin seeds (pre-crushing these with your hands, and reserve a few to decorate the top of the sweets), once done refrigerate for at least 1 hour and eat it with pleasure.

It will have amazing textures and flavours the textures are, the crunchiness of the pumpkin seeds and the puking itself has a stringy but soft texture and the velvety smooth texture of the cream are a perfect combo here, as to the flavours pumpkin and orange what a blast and bursting smooth and zingy taste smoothed out by the cream WoW..you must make these they are great will make 6 ramekins.


Wednesday 21 October 2009

Curried Pumpkin and Chicken Stew - Halloween



Ingredients: (enough for 3 people) “for more add more potatoes”
  • 1 small pumpkin (peeled, cut into pieces)
  • 1 large potato (cut into pieces)
  • 1 can of cooked chickpeas
  • 1 large onion (cut in pieces)
  • 2 garlic cloves (perforated)
  • 4 Cardamoms (just the seeds)
  • 2 Chicken breasts (cut into cubes)
  • 1/2 cup tomato pulp
  • 1 soup spoon of curry powder (not very spicy)
  • 1 flat soup spoon of turmeric
  • 1/2 soup spoon of paprika
  • 6 great mushrooms (or 12 small ones)
  • 1 bunch of coriander (chopped)
  • a little of olive oil and coarse salt.



Preparation:

Put in a pan it a little olive oil to cover the bottom plus pinch sea salt, once hot add the onion, the garlic, the cardamoms seeds, the onion and the pumpkin, always stirring until it goes golden.

When is golden (a little caramelized) then add the chicken, stirring it regularly to seal it all around, then add the tomato pulp, the paprika, the chickpeas, the turmeric, the mushrooms (if they large cut in quarters, if small in halves), the potato and the curry powder. Now it cover the pan with a lid and as soon as it starts boiling, reduce to minimum and leave it to cook for 25 minutes (+or-) adding a little water if it needs.

After is cooked, add the coriander and cook for a further minute and then serve it.

The inspiration for me was the Halloween pumpkin , carved with the flame inside, represented in this dish, the flame heat by the spicy hot kick and its softness pumpkin flesh, this is a dish partly sweet dish and partly spicy, and the textures are soft and at the same time grainy and silky.
Excellent Halloween representation. Yum yum, one that you really need to make.
if you want a greater visual use pumpkin halves as bowls to serve this delish meal in.





Tuesday 6 October 2009

Fresh Cod Fillets with Potatoes Cooked In a Rose Wine Sauce



Recipe Ingredients:(Good for 4 people)
  • 4-6 cod fillets (no bones or skins)
  • 8 medium potatoes (peeled and sliced)
  • 1/2 bottle of rose wine (the bottle being 750ml)
  • 1 large white onion (finely chopped)
  • 3 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 2 heaped soup spoons of fresh coriander (chopped)
  • 1 fish stock cube (knorr or similar)
  • 100mls fresh cream
  • 1 soup spoon of butter
  • 1 soup spoon of plain flour diluted in half a glass of water
  • a little olive oil, rock salt and freshly ground black pepper

A very simple preparation, place a pan with a little olive oil a pinch of rock salt and a pinch o black pepper on the heat, once well heated add there the garlic and the onion, stirring it frequently let it get golden (caramelized a little). Once that happens add the sliced potatoes and the rose whine and on top of those place the fish, adding a little more black pepper and a little salt over each fish fillet, put a lid on and once it starts to boil reduce to minimum allowing it to simmer for around 20miutes, to turn the sauce simply move the pan around with an angle (don't use spoons as to not break the potatoes or fillets).

After the 20 minutes remove the lid and add the butter and fresh cream as well as the flour and water mix (add more water if necessary), but mix the sauce again by swirling the pan do this occasionally until the sauce thickens which then means is time to put in the coriander and a couple of swirls of the pan, put the lid back on let it simmer a further 3 minutes and is ready to serve.

I wanted it this simple, obviously nothing stops you from adding to the cooking some carrot cauliflower broccoli etc... it really is up to you, but I really enjoyed the simplicity of this dish and the superb smooth silky textures and mild tastes it offered.

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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 :)
- If I use other blog recipes will be to pey homenage and I will definitly link it, appreciated if the same is done for mine.

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