Prawn and Pea Risotto

One of those “oh, I really should get round to using up those prawns that I bought when they were reduced and then have been malingering around the freezer ever since” recipes. Tasty. It does require a fair amount of stove-time but you’ll be rewarded, and as there’s not much preparation of ingredients needed – you can chop the onion while the pan is heating up, the garlic while the onion is cooking, and heat the stock while the onion and garlic are softening – it can be ready in about 35 minutes. For wine, I just used the weird Tesco’s wine that comes in a 250ml carton like orange juice. It tastes about as good as the cartons of 100% from concentrate orange juice as well. But for the risotto it was just fine and dandy.

(serves 4)

200-300g prawns, cooked and peeled – at least semi-defrosted
60g butter
1 tsp chilli flakes
1½l fish stock (or vegetable stock with a dash of fish sauce)
1 onion , chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, diced
300g risotto rice (eg arborio)
1 small glass white wine
300g frozen peas
zest and juice 1 lemon / 2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Bring the stock to the boil then keep on a low simmer on one of your stove rings.
2. In a separate pan, melt half the butter over a medium heat. Stir in the onions and soften gently for a few minutes, then stir in the garlic and cook for another 4-5 minutes until soft but not coloured, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir the rice into the onions until completely coated in the butter, then stir continuously until the rice is shiny and the edges of the grain start to look transparent.
4. Pour in the wine and simmer until totally evaporated.
5. Stir in 1/2 tsp chilli flakes and 1 tbsp of lemon juice
6. Add the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring with each addition until absorbed. Continue adding stock a ladleful at a time and stirring the rice over a low heat for 25-30 mins, until the rice is cooked al dente (with a slightly firm, starchy bite in the middle). When you have a couple of ladlefuls still to go, stir through the prawns and peas. The risotto should be creamy and slightly soupy. When you draw a wooden spoon through it, there should be a wake that holds for a few moments but not longer.
7. Stir through the remaining chilli flakes, lemon juice and butter. Let the risotto rest for a few mins, then serve, topped with the lemon zest if using.

(via)

No-churn Honeycomb Ice-cream

I have a theory that condensed milk can do no wrong. Though tablet is, of course, my go-to use for this nectar, anything else in which it is used tastes AMAZING: cookies, butterscotch, in the form of dulce de leche in a cheesecake, and now this. This ice-cream perhaps takes the biscuit. It is SO GOOD. And you don’t need an ice-cream machine, nor does it require hourly whisking. It only lasted a week in my freezer, but that was due to me eating it and not through any fault of its own in becoming inedible. Bear in mind that anything with this great a proportion of condensed milk will be almost unutterably sweet; I make no apologies for my sweet tooth.

To be fair, it tastes just as nice with just one tin per 600ml of double cream, so decide for yourself how sweet you’d like it.

This recipe was given to me by a friend who got it from a restaurant, so the original quantities are far greater. But scaled down, this makes enough to fill one 1-litre tub. Feel free to double if you’ve found a large pot of double cream reduced that wants using up!

1 batch honeycomb

300ml double cream

1 tin condensed milk (or a half)

1. Whip the double cream to soft peaks (only just holds its shape when you lift the whisks up) and gently stir through the condensed milk.
2. When the honeycomb is completely cool, remove from the tray and smash into small pieces.
3. Fold the honeycomb through the cream and then freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.

    

Honeycomb

I had no idea how easy this was to make! But it is actually incredibly simple, and uses really simple ingredients. Just make sure to make it in a large pan as it balloons somewhat once you’ve whisked the bicarbonate of soda into it. Either keep and eat and enjoy (store in an airtight container in the fridge, dip in melted chocolate…), or wait until next week to make it when I shall reveal to you the most amazingly tasty recipe for honeycomb ice-cream.

It was too sunny last week to be in on the computer, hence the gap in posting…

100 grams caster sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1. Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. You mustn’t stir once the pan’s on the heat, though.
2. Place the pan on a medium-hot heat and let the mixture first melt, then turn to goo and then to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup – this will take 3-5 minutes or so.
3. Off the heat, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of reusable baking parchment or greased foil.
4. Leave until set (1-2 hours) and then bash at it, so that it splinters into many glinting pieces.

 

White Chocolate Heart Cheesecake

Turns out there is a benefit to having a dog after all… when it gets sick, you end up with some spare medical syringes, which are just what you need for this project. While not quite  the beauty that does the rounds on the internet, I was quite pleased with how this turned out for a first attempt. Also note: when it says use a fine mesh strainer to get out all the seeds, make sure you do just that and don’t rely on your old sieve, which makes it substantially more seedy than it should be, blocking the syringe at key moments.

(serves 12-16)

250g digestive biscuits

90g butter

2 tbsp cocoa

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1.5 tsp cornflour

90ml cold water

1.5 cups fresh or frozen raspberries / mixed berries

340g cream cheese

70g granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg white

1 tsp vanilla extract

1.5 tsp lemon juice

170g white chocolate, chopped

90ml double or whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 150 oC. Line a 23cm springform circular pan with greaseproof paper – cut out the right size of circle, brush the pan with some melted butter, place the circle on top, then brush with some more butter.
2. Bash or food process the digestives until smooshed. Melt the butter. Stir the butter, digestives, and cocoa together then add to prepared tin. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
3. In a small saucepan, whisk together 1 tbsp granulated sugar and cornstarch until well blended. Stir in cold water and add raspberries. Cook over medium heat whisking frequently, until mixture reaches a boil. Allow mixture to gently boil about 5 minutes whisking constantly and reducing temperature slightly if necessary to reduce splattering, until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and force sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to remove seeds, set aside.
4. Melt white chocolate with cream in a double boiler until melted and smooth, or melt in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave on 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth.
5. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and granulated sugar until fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in egg and egg white. Add vanilla and lemon juice.  Add melted chocolate mixture to cream cheese mixture and blend until smooth..
6. Preheat oven to 165oC (you should already have taken out the base by this point.)
7. Pour 2/3 cup cheesecake mixture into the base and spread evenly over bottom. Drizzle or spoon with 2 tbsp raspberry sauce. Slowly ladle remaining cheesecake mixture over the drizzled raspberry sauce, covering all the raspberry sauce (you don’t want it to show through). Swirl cheesecake with a toothpick or knife (your just swirling that inside layer of sauce for now, be careful not to let the sauce show through). Carefully jiggle the pan to even out the top.
8. Fill a clean medicine syringe with raspberry sauce and begin to pipe small circles in a swirl pattern over cheesecake. Take a toothpick or sharp pointy knife and beginning with the centre circle, run the toothpick through the centre of each heart (don’t lift the toothpick out until you finish the last circle).
9. Bake cheesecake for 40 minutes, then turn oven off and leave cheesecake in the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until fully set about 6 hours.

  

(recipe from Cooking Classy)

Sweet Potato and Almond Curry

I’ve not baked one of Frugal Feeding’s concoctions in a long while but have had this recipe starred in Google Reader (RIP) for an even longer while. The original recipe calls for such things as fresh coriander, a mortar and pestle, and a food processor, which respectively I wouldn’t have used all of if I’d bought, don’t have, and couldn’t be bothered getting out of the cupboard. Even with all the substitutes I made, however, it was very tasty – and I also added some sultanas and coconut, both of which I feel no curry should be without.

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 large / 2 medium cloves of garlic

1 knob of ginger, thumb-sized

1.5 tbsp lime juice / the juice of 1 lime

½ tsp crushed chilli flakes

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp generic curry powder / 6-7 ground cardamom pods

Handful sultanas

150ml single cream

Mushrooms if desired

2 tbsp ground almonds

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

1. Toss the sweet potatoes in some oil and bake at 180oC for 10-15 minutes until slightly browned around the edges and soft in the middle
2. While this is cooking, soften the onion with some oil in a large pan over a low heat
3. While these are both cooking, peel and grate the ginger and garlic using the smaller bit of the grater. Mix in with the lime juice and the spices. Stir in with the onions. Add water if necessary to stop the mix drying up.
4. When the sweet potatoes are ready, add to the pan along with the cream, almonds, coconut, mushrooms, and 300ml of water.
5. Simmer for 5 minutes then serve with rice or chapattis.

Chocolate Wasted Cake

Chocolate cake smothered in chocolate… could you ask for anything better (or more likely to give you diabetes)? Inspired by (where else?) Pinterest, I’ve been wanting to make this sort of thing for ages and had the perfect opportunity to do so when I attended my second hen do in a week (hen dos clearly being like buses… wait 21 years and then two come along almost at the same time!). You can do this with whatever chocolate cake recipe you already have – the one I used is below, but it doesn’t matter – then cover it in chocolate butter frosting, then stud the sides with something else (Milky Way Stars were on offer in Sainsbury’s and were more exciting than chocolate chips), scatter different chocolates over the top (I used Munchies, chocolate curls, and some Maltesers based on various sweets that had been brought round to my flat by guests and then never eaten), and then drizzle more melted chocolate over the top. More extravagant than your run of the mill chocolate cake perhaps, but oh-so-worth it for its looks and chocolatey goodness!

 

(serves 12-16 depending on your slices)

Base:

224g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

400g sugar

100g coarsely chopped dark chocolate

85g butter

8 tbsp cocoa powder

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

500ml water

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda.
2. In a saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water over a medium-high heat.
3. Remove from the heat, add the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter and whisk until smooth.
4. Whisk in the cocoa powder.
5. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the vanilla.
6. Add the flour mixture, whisking until incorporated. It’ll still be a very runny mixture, but don’t worry.
7. Divide the batter between 2 well-greased, 8-inch-round cake pans and bake in the lower third of an oven pre-heated to gas mark 4 / 180oC until the cakes are springy to the touch and have pulled away from the sides of the pans: about 30 minutes.
8. Transfer to racks and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and place on the racks. Let cool completely.

Butter Icing

500g icing sugar, sifted
120g cocoa powder
113g butter/marg, softened to room temperature
1/3-1/2 cup whole milk (start out with 1/3 cup of milk and add more milk to your desired consistency)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift together powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
2. Add the butter, milk and vanilla extract.
3. Using an electric mixer, slowly mix together at a low speed.
4. Once all the ingredients are combined, increase the speed and beat till fluffy.

Chocolate Drizzle

Melt about 250g of chocolate with 50ml double cream and 50g butter so nice and runny. Drizzle over the cake once you’ve pressed the other chocolate decorations in!

Black Bean Fajitas

Not much to say other than tasty tasty tasty. Generic bean mix can be used with tacos, nachos, or tortillas. If the latest, you can make them yourself *really easily and cheaply*. And yes, I acknowledge that tortillas may only be  6 for £1 but look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves! The trick is just to have them all rolled out beforehand, otherwise you could end up with a kitchen full of smoke. I definitely didn’t forget to roll them out beforehand and ended up with a kitchen full of smoke. Absolutely not. No sirr-ee.

(serves 2)

Tortillas

1 cup flour

Pinch salt

1/2 tsp paprika (optional)

1 tbsp oil

1/2 cup water minus 1 tbsp (basically, put the tbsp of oil into the half-cup then fill up to the line with water)

1. Mix together; add a little more flour if necessary until it forms into a ball
2. Divide into 4 or 6 mini-balls and roll out on a floured surface into large, thin circles
3. Heat an ungreased griddle or large frying pan over a high heat and cook each tortilla individually for a couple of minutes on either side.

Filling

1 onion, diced

1 tomato / handful cherry tomatoes, chopped

1 cup black beans

1/2 cup water

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin

Pinch salt

Few turns of a pepper grinder

1 tsp honey, quickly heated in the microwave

1 tsp lime juice

1. Cook the onion in some oil in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Once softened, add the tomatoes, black beans, and water and stir. Cook for 5 mins.
3. Stir together all the spices then add and cook for another 5 minutes
4. Mix the heated honey and lime juice together then stir in.

Serve with avocados, grated cheddar, etc…

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Last week’s chocolate chip cookies had me thinking… what’s even better than chocolate chip? Triple Chocolate, of course! This recipe is admittedly pretty similar, but just playing around with the quantities and adding cocoa powder can have a different and great tasting cookie.

(makes about 32)

150g granulated sugar

160g light brown sugar

227g butter/margarine

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

260g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g milk chocolate chips

100g white chocolate chips

1.  Heat oven to 190oC
2. Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg in a large bowl.
3. Stir in the flour, cocoa, and bicarbonate of soda, then the chocolate chips
4. Use an ice-cream scoop to drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving room for spreading.
5. Bake 8-10 minutes (centres will still be a bit soft). Allow to cool on tray for a few minutes then move to wire racks.

Aubergine and Mushroom Cottage Pie

A lesson in not buying 2kg of mushrooms on a whim because they’re really cheap from a random market you pass, nor an aubergine because Lidl has it on offer that week… or maybe that should be a lesson in buying these sorts of things because they then inspire you to make this, which is very tasty.

Though I’m still rather wary of aubergines; they do seem to gobble up an awful lot of oil.

(serves 3 or double for serves 5)

60ml olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 aubergine, peeled if you want and diced
2 tbsp tomato purée
60ml red wine
100ml vegetable stock
150g mushrooms, halved
2 tomatoes, chopped
For the mashed potato, 2 large mashing potatoes (peeled/scrubbed and cut up) and 50g butter

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and begin boiling the potatoes
2. Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Add the mixed herbs.
3. Add the aubergines and remaining oil and fry for 5-6 minutes. (Take this opportunity to cut the tomatoes and mushrooms)
4. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a further 5-6 minutes.
5. Stir in the wine and stock, bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes. When the potatoes are ready, remove from the heat and mash with the butter.
6. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes and stir until well combined.
7. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top

(via)

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was all set to provide a totally different recipe here when I encountered at church what the cookie is meant to be: crunchy and chewy and oh-so-sweet. Thankfully, their baker shared with me the origins of her recipe. The softer cookies that I baked last week now seem hopelessly outmoded. If you have been searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, look no further.

(makes about 32)

150g granulated sugar

160g light brown sugar

227g butter/margarine

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

290g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g milk chocolate chips

1.  Heat oven to 190oC
2. Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg in a large bowl.
3. Stir in the flour and bicarbonate of soda, then the chocolate chips
4. Use an ice-cream scoop to drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving room for spreading.
5. Bake 8-10 minutes until light brown (centres will still be a bit soft). Allow to cool on tray for a few minutes then move to wire racks.

(from Betty Crocker)