Scallop and Prawn Risotto - affordable luxury for 2

Romantic dinner at home – Scallop and prawn risotto

For busy working couples watching the pennies a romantic dinner at home is nice affordable alternative to a pricy night out or outrageously priced red roses.
This luxurious risotto is quick to make, is special enough for it to feel like an occasion and doesn’t require slaving over a hot stove for hours so you have time to enjoy the meal and company. Just add a salad and some crusty bread and if you budget will allow any then you can wine match with any Bubbly or serve with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, pinot Gris or a chardonnay.   

Serves 2-3
Cost $19.51

2 ½ cups chicken stock – use good quality liquid stock
1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

½ med chilli, seeded and finely chopped

1 cup Arborio rice

½ cup white wine (optional)

12 scallops

8 – 10 prawns – frozen defrosted prawns are fine

Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

Handful of finely chopped Italian parsley
Salt and pepper

In a saucepan heat the stock to boiling then remove from heat and set aside.

In another large pan heat the oil and add the onion, garlic and chilli. Cook gently until soft, taking care not to let them brown.

Pour the rice into the pan and let it toast along with the onion and garlic for around 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the wine if using, and allow it to evaporate - around 1 -2 minutes.

Add the stock a ladleful at a time, the rice will absorb the stock but don’t let it dry out or it will stick. Keep and eye on it and add more as needed until all the stock has all been added. Stir occasionally to ensure it doesn’t stick.
Cover the pan and simmer gently for 15 minutes then add the seafood, cover again and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the prawns are pink and the scallops just cooked.
Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley lemon juice and zest.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cooks tips: if you want you can add a drizzle of cream at the end and stir in before serving.

Valentines Raspberry shortcake ice cream sandwiches

Treat the ones you love this Valentine’s Day without spending a fortune. These Valentine shortcake ice-cream sandwiches are easy to make so you can share the love with the whole household. 

For the Semi Fredo ice cream 

300 ml cream

150 ml berry flavoured yoghurt

1 ½ cups raspberries to make ½ cup raspberry puree – frozen are fine

½ cup caster sugar

2 egg whites beaten to soft peaks                                                                                                                                                  

For the shortcakes: Makes approx 18 - allow 2 per person 

225g butter

125g sugar

350g flour

Pinch of salt

Raspberry jam for spreading

To make the ice-cream

Line a large spring form cake pan or Swiss roll pan with cling film.
Defrost the frozen raspberries then pulse them in a food processer. Pour the purred berries into a sieve set over a bowl and press the raspberry puree through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Whip the cream in a large bowl; fold in the yoghurt, caster sugar and beaten egg whites.

Lastly drizzle in the raspberry puree and ripple it through the mixture using the blade of a knife.

Pour the mixture into the lined pan and freeze.

While the Semi Fredo is freezing make the shortcakes

Preheat the oven to 150°C

Combine the sugar; flour and salt then cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the dry ingredients. Work it well with your hands until it becomes a smooth dough or place all the ingredients into a food processor and process till dough forms, you may still need to work it a little with your hands.

Roll the dough out till it is about 4 ml thick and use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut the shortcakes.  Prick each shortcake with a fork and bake on a greased tray for around 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the tray and cool on a rack.

To assemble

Remove the semi fredo ice cream from the freezer so it can begin to soften. Heat your heart shaped cutter in hot water. Spread some raspberry jam onto one shortcake, cut an ice cream heart and place on top then top with another shortcake.

Fruit Mince

Fruit mince is excellent in Christmas mince pies, and a delicious addition to apple tarts, as stuffing for whole baked apples or mixed into cake and pudding batters for a fruity, spicy variation.

I have read some ridiculous stuff online about fruit mince/mould/food safety etc including steeping fruit in melted fat, cooking it, not using too many apples etc. 

Fruit mince is old fashioned preserve, is uncooked and if made properly looks after itself improving with age. I discussed risks etc with NZ food safety re preserves made in this manner and they have no concerns.And bloke said several colleagues happily eat fruit mince several years old as tastes so much better than freshly made - like wine.
Both sugar and alcohol are natural preservatives, dried fruit is full of sugar (fructose) + extra sugar, and a good slosh of booze. Like jams, the only real risks are mould, which occurs if there is too much water present. The mould isn’t hazardous, and within reason can be scraped off; or fermentation, which in jams ruins the flavour; but as alcohol is already present in fruit mince is likely to enhance it. It should be able to be stored for a year or more provided it hasn’t gone mouldy. 

3 cooking apples – granny smiths are ideal
450 g currants
450 g raisins
450 g sultanas
450 g brown sugar
125 g glace cherries
125 g mixed peel
2 oranges juice and zest
2 lemons juice and zest
250 g shredded suet –see cooks tips
150 g chopped blanched almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp mixed spice
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ a nutmeg freshly grated
¾ cup brandy – extra for sampling when no one is looking

Approx 6-8 jars and lids – Place the jars in the oven and heat them to 120° for 15 minutes then leave them in the oven to cool. Place the lids in a small saucepan of water and simmer them gently for 5 minutes to sterilise them.

Cut the apples into quarters leaving the skins on, remove the cores and chop coarsely. Place the almonds and suet into the processor and pulse, so both are fine crumbs and turn into large bowl.

Place one third of the apple chunks in the processor with the raisins and process until minced, then turn them into the bowl, repeat using one third of the apples with the currants, and again with the sultanas. Then mince the cherries and mixed peel and add them to the bowl with all the other minced fruit. 

Add the brown sugar, zest and juice of the oranges and lemons and the spices. Reserve 3 tbsp of the brandy, and pour in the rest. Stir the mixture well so all the ingredients are well mixed.

With tongs remove one of the jars from the oven, pack it full of fruit mince, and run a long flexible knife down the insides of the jar to release any air pockets. Pack the jar right to the top, don’t leave any head space –as this will allow room for mould to grow.

Spoon a teaspoon or two of the reserved brandy over the top. Use tongs to take a lid from the hot water and screw it in place. Continue with all remaining jars and mixture. Wash and dry the filled jars and store in a cool dark place – the bottom of the pantry is ideal – the mince will be usable after one month but improves with age.

Cooks tips:  Suet is hard beef fat taken from around the kidneys. It’s inclusion in fruit mince is likely a holdover from the original medieval recipes for Mincemeat which included actual meat. The fat enriches the fruit and makes it glossy. 

Shredded suet is sold in supermarkets as Shreddo here in NZ, in a margarine type tub; it is often with the oils. Once opened it should be stored in the fridge. Butter can be substituted and some people make Vegetarian fruit mince using non animal fats or none at all but I have not tested these alternatives.

Just dough it!

dg likes bread enormously, and is most favourite thing to make, as is cheap as dirt but light years tastier than shop bought bread. Also makes house smell sublime.
Males in dg household are not best pleased when offered soup as dinner, however dg discovered years ago that soup + home made rolls = acceptable dinner. Soup + home made rolls + dessert = Happy boys.
Most popular rolls in our house are baps which come from dg's Scottish heritage. They are good "beginner" bread as follow simple bread making trajectory - dry combine dry ingredients, yeast and liquid, knead, rise, form or shape, rise again and bake. Start to finish in a couple of hours.
Made some the other night, but left em to rise in front of fire, funny little balls grew towards
heat like triffids, hence odd shape in Pic below. Yours will look much more sane.

Baps

Baps are a family tradition, from our Scottish heritage they have become part of our Christmas day breakfast tradition and we love them with soup, served warm with Marmalade for breakfast, or filled with salady stuff for a lovely picnic lunch. The dough is soft and tender with a pale floury crust. Mmmm - the ones pictured are uneven as they rose in front of the fire and grew towards the heat. 

1 sachet instant yeast

1 ½ tsp sugar

125 ml cold milk

125 ml Hot water

450 g plain flour

1 tsp salt

50 g butter

In a large bowl combine flour and salt and rub the butter in with your fingertips or pulse in a processor then transfer to a large bowl. Add the yeast and sugar and mix.

Combine the warm water and milk, hold your finger in it and count to 10 - it should feel warm but not hot. If it's not warm, heat it gently, if it's hot allow it to cool for a few minutes then stir it into the dry ingredients. You may need to add more or less liquid as every batch of flour differs from the last in the way it deals with moisture. It is preferable to work with a moist dough - easy to add extra flour if its too sticky, very hard to knead and work with a dry crumbly dough.

Turn onto a well floured board and knead for 3-5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and springy. Sprinkle with extra flour during kneading as required to prevent sticking.
Place dough into a clean greased bowl, cover with cling film and microwave on low power for 1 minute, rest the dough for 10 minutes then repeat. After the second rest the dough should have doubled in size. (Alternatively set aside in a warm place until doubled in size -45-50 minutes).  When dough is doubled- takes about 40 minutes, punch a whole in it to release the air and knead lightly before forming into 12 rolls.

The trick to making a perfect roll is to flatten the ball of dough slightly on a non-floury surface and circle with the palm of the hand. When you can feel that the ball of dough has “grabbed” bench then continue to circle but begin to cup your hand around it. The outer layer of the dough gets pulled smooth and tight around the ball and disappears in a neat little spiral on the base. This technique takes a little practise but makes a nice round wrinkle free roll.

Place the rolls on a floured tray then with a floury index finger press each roll very firmly down the middle making a deep dimple. Sift a light dusting of flour over the baps and set aside to double in size while the oven heats. - this is when mine became deformed.

Bake at 200° for 15 minutes till just barely tinted with colour, and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom.

Lasagne for beginners

I've made lasagne for years in various forms but rarely used a recipe. Sometimes meatless, sometimes with homemade pasta, sometimes ricotta rather than bechamel and sometimes I'd sling in loads of bits and pieces needing to be used up. End result was always enjoyed, so following discussion on FB re lasagne, was motivated to put together a lasagne lesson for those who haven't got to grips with it as is great family food.


Lasagne as we know it comprises of 3 elements that are layered then baked. the layers are:
A red sauce, tomato based, along the lines of a Bolognaise style sauce.
A white sauce, usually bechamel or cheese sauce, sometimes substituted with ricotta or cottage cheese.
Pasta sheets, these can be fresh pasta, or dried, they are usually uncooked as they'll absorb liquid from the sauces and cook when the dish is being baked. if you use the crinkly type dried pasta I think that needs precooking but the flat sheets definitely don't.

Lasagne is always a bit sloppy when it comes out of the oven, it firms up if left to settle or refrigerated overnight. A sloppy dish isn't a fail, it simply needs time to set.

Lasagne Recipe

Red sauce - I am giving two options here, one using meat and one using red lentils. You can mix and match, alter, add roast or grated vegetables to either; but both versions will yield enough for around 3-4 layers in a standard lasagne.

Meat sauce for lasagne

500 g beef mince

Cooking spray

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed

1 can condensed tomato soup
800g or two cans chopped tomatoes

A big pinch of mixed herbs

A bay leaf
A spoonful of pesto - optional

Heat a medium saucepan, spray with cooking spray and add the meat, stirring continuously over the heat until the meat is brown and crumbly. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and continue cooking until soft. Pour in the tomato soup and mix well, then add the herbs and bay leaf and chopped tomatoes, and pesto if using. Simmer for 20 minutes. For a thicker sauce add 1/3 cup cooked red lentils and stir regularly so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Or meatless sauce

For the vegetable sauce
1 cup red lentils
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 cups of left- over cooked vegetables or cooked spinach or a medium aubergine- optional
1 800g can chopped tomatoes
1 ½ tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp mixed herbs
½ tsp oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Place the lentils in a medium saucepan with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for around 10 minutes or until lentils have softened and begun to look fluffy. Drain, rinse and set aside.
While the lentils are cooking heat the oil in a pan and gently cook the onion and garlic until soft then add the, then add the tinned tomatoes, lentils, tomato paste, herbs, salt and sugar and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes. Add the cooked vegetables and set aside.

For the white sauce/cheese sauce

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 ½ cups milk
1 cup grated cheese - use more or less if you prefer
Salt and pepper

Lasagne sheets fresh or dried - sufficient for 2-3 layers in your dish
While your red sauce is simmering make a bechamel or white sauce, the amount of cheese is up to you. Sometimes I use a plain bechamel and only sprinkle cheese on the very top as the boy child doesn't like when things are cheesy.

For the White sauce

Heat the oil or butter and whisk in the flour. Add a dash of the milk and whisk to form a lump free paste, add more of the milk and whisk again. Continue until you can add all the milk without lumps forming, then stir with a wooden spoon until the sauce begins to thicken.
Season with salt and pepper, and when thick enough to coat the back of a spoon add ¾ of the grated cheese.

To assemble: Preheat the oven to 200°

Spread ¼ of the red sauce over the base of your dish, drizzle with ¼ of the cheese sauce and a layer of pasta, continue to layer in this manner finishing with a layer of cheese sauce. Scatter on remaining grated cheese and bake for 35 minutes until golden and bubbling.  Let stand for 10 -15 minutes before serving.

Cooks Tips: Cook extra lentils and freeze, they can be added directly into a simmering sauce, soup or casserole.
You can replace the dried herbs with 1/3 cup homemade pesto.
You can thicken and extend the meat red sauce by adding 1/3 cup red lentils while it is simmering
You can add all manner of cooked or grated vegetables either to the red sauces or as a layer in the dish.
Always put red sauce into the dish first to form a base layer. If you start with bechamel or pasta it will stick horribly and the pasta wont have enough liquid in the bottom to absorb and cook properly.

Preserve yourself

Home preserving is thought by many to be out dated craft. Almost something we don’t admit to, lest people think we have nothing better to do with time than brew strange concoctions from weeds and leaves, or we are secret crazy housecoat wearing nana types, who pinch babies cheeks in supermarket queues and iron everything including undies.

Yummy mummies may buy their chutney’s and preserves from trendy farmers markets but this mummy makes own, Yes, I am preserver! And, no, I don’t wear housecoat or curlers.

Preserving isn’t occupation for filling time while husband hunts for missing crochet hook. Home preserving is simply great cheap way to store seasons’ surplus.
A pantry full of pickles for household that never eats cold meat is waste of effort, but shelf of homemade chutney for folk who enjoy curry, picnics, toasted sandwiches, cheese boards and antipasto is treasure.
Kids love preserved fruit, in yogurt, for baby food, on cereal and porridge and in desserts.

1 ½ kilos of fruit or vegetables is sufficient for 3-4 jars of chutney or jam  and 1 kg stone fruit yields approximately one big jar of bottled fruit for sumptuous crumble, tart or breakfast topping in depths of winter.
Much time involved in preserving is cooking time, not hands on time. So chutney cooks while you read, or listen to the spelling words, or catch up on Coro St.

A big saucepan or stock pot is fine for bottling fruits. A preserving pan is useful but not essential

Preserved or Bottled Peaches - Use the same method to preserve apricots, plums, pears or pineapple.

I prefer a light syrup for preserving fruit, so the fruit flavours are not overpowered by the sugar. I use a ratio of 1 cup of sugar to 3 cups of water.
To fill a standard large preserving jar you will need around 1 kg of fruit. Ideally use ripe un blemished fruit. Fruit that is slightly under-ripe will develop good colour and flavour once cooked, so don’t discount the fruit of an old tree that won’t fully ripen, or a bag of fruit picked for sale too soon.

Sterilize the jars you intend to use by placing them in an oven heated to 120° for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile combine the sugar and water in a large pan and bring to a gentle simmer.

Prepare the seals by pouring boiling water over them and letting them become flexible.
Wash the peaches, peel them and either leave whole or cut into halves, quarters or slices– if you leave them whole the stones can be easily picked out when the fruit is served.
Cook the peaches in the syrup until soft when pricked with the point of a knife. They should be just tender,
Using tongs lift a hot clean jar out of the oven and place it in a heatproof dish. Pack the fruit into the hot jar. Real preserving experts make an art of filling the jar in neat layers stacking sliced fruit in a herringbone pattern up the sides of the jar, the rest of us just pile it in.
When the jar is full to the rim, ladle in some very hot syrup then slip a long flexible knife (a filleting knife is ideal) down the insides of the jar to release air bubbles then quickly top up the syrup again and place on a seal so that when you press the seal down, excess syrup flows down the sides of the jar. Keeping pressure on top of the seal so no air gets in, screw the screw band into place.
Set the jar aside to cool. When completely cool, wash all the sticky syrup off the sides of the jar, add a label with the date and store until required.
As the contents cools a vacuum is formed. The seal will contract and become slightly concave and will give a reassuring pop, confirming the contents are fresh when you come to open the jar.

If using:
Apricots - Wash, cut into halves and remove the stone.
Pineapple - Peel and slice removing tough core or cut into chunks.
Plums: Wash and cut into halves, remove the stone or leave whole.
Pears: Peel, cut into halves or quarters and remove core.
Then cook in the syrup as described above.

Trouble shooting
Make sure every utensil is sterilised and that the jar, seal, fruit and syrup are scalding hot. If your seal does not form a vacuum when cool the filling was not hot enough. Remove seal and reheat in boiling water, place the full jar in the microwave and heat till filling is boiling hot. Pour boiling water into the top of the jar until it overflows (yes over the top of the existing fruit and syrup, you are just topping up and ensuring a good seal).
Replace the seal in the manner described above.

Because you're worth it

I’ve heard it said that self control is its own reward – Bosh!
Reward yourself I say. You’ve resisted temptation for weeks and saved loads of cash, so treat yourself and the ones you love to one of these indulgent and inexpensive treats, they’re perfect for Valentines day sharing with workmates, family members or just for YOU, cos like the saying goes " You're worth it".
 

Chocolate cupcakes with Raspberry swirl frosting

These pretty cup cakes are easy to make and look really special, ideal for sharing on Valentines day.

Makes 30 + mini muffin sized cup cakes or 12-15 regular sized cup cakes

For the cupcakes  

1 ¼ cups self raising flour
½ cup sugar
150 g butter
½ cup cocoa
1/3 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs lightly beaten with a fork

For the Raspberry butter cream frosting

¼ cup Kremelta at room temperature - (Kremelta is vegetable shortening)
¼ cup butter at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar sifted
1 tbsp milk
a few drops Raspberry flavouring
a few drops pink colouring
Sprinkles if desired
Piping bag
large star nozzle

Pre heat the oven to 180°
Line tins with cup cake cases


Mix the cocoa and hot water together to form a paste and set aside to cool.
Place the flour, sugar and butter into the bowl of a processor or mixer, add the cooled cocoa mixture, vanilla and the lightly beaten eggs. Pulse or mix, scraping down the sides until the batter is smooth.

Place heaped teaspoons of batter into the cases, scraping it off the spoon with your finger or the tip of a knife. The cases should be around 2/3 full, resulting in nice plump cakes that don’t over spill.

Bake the cakes for 12 -15 minutes or until risen and springy. Cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting
Beat the Kremelta and butter together until fluffy, don’t skimp at this stage; allow 4 minutes for beating with an electric beater (set the timer if necessary, beating is like listening to a crying baby, it always seems longer than it actually is.)  Add the icing sugar, 1 cup at time, mixing well after each addition, then add the milk and flavouring. I use colourless flavouring and colour the icing separately.
To make the ½ pink ½ white swirls; place ½ the frosting in a separate bowl and add a few drops of colour.
Fit the nozzle into the piping bag then stand the bag in a jar or vase to keep it upright and open. Use a spatula or spoon to place one colour of frosting into one side of the bag and the other colour into the other side. I press the spatula gently against the side of the bag and scrape the frosting off the spatula, to keep it from landing in the middle. Ensure each colour goes all the way down to the nozzle so when you squeeze the bag, both colours intermingle.

To pipe swirls, start in the middle of the cup cake and go around finishing on top of where you started. If your swirls are too big you won’t have enough frosting for the whole batch so try to keep them to once around then pull up to make a point, so you have enough frosting for the whole batch. Add sprinkles or decorations before the frosting begins to harden.