Rocket, Strawberry and Peanut Brittle Salad

This is my personal favourite salad at the moment!!!

I tasted it ages ago at my sisters house, and it has been on my mind ever since...
She got this recipe from her sister-in-law, Stacy.

So on the weekend we had a prawn braai,
So I called my sis to get the recipe, and boy, ooooh boy was it a hit!!!
More than the prawns I dare say ;)

So, in the light of summery beautiful things, here is the recipe...

10 Strawberries (quartered)
1 x big peanut brittle
Bag of rocket
Danish Feta
1 x Avo

Dressing:
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Honey

Add the Rocket, strawberries and feta together in a salad bowl.

Just before you are going to eat, add the cubed avo, (broken) peanut brittle and dressing, give it a good mix

It is so yummy!!!

Strawberries with Balsamic Reduction

You just have to try this, its simple and amazingly fabulous.

All you need is:

1 Punnet of Strawberries
80 ml Balsamic Vinegar
160 ml Water
80 ml Honey

Chop 5 strawberries into small pieces
Add strawberries, balsamic and half the water into a small pot, and let it reduce by half.
Add the honey, and further reduce again.
Add this yummy strawberry and balsamic reduction to a blender and blend until smooth.
You will have a vibrant dark pink sauce, allow to cool.

Chop the remaining strawberries into quarters and place in a bowl and add the reduction over strawberries and add a scoop of ice-cream on top.

Enjoy!!!

Brie and Fig Croustades

Ingredients

12 Pastry Shells
Egg
Brie Cheese
Fig preserve

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Place Pastry Shells on a non stick baking tray and brush with egg.
Bake for 15 minutes and allow to cool.

When the pastry shells are cooled, add the brie cheese and put a quartered preserved fig on the top,
Put bake into the oven and bake for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and you just have to eat it...

These are easy to make and will impress guests, if you want a selection, make my Scrumptious Salmon Croustades. 

Meatball Kebabs

Meatball Kebabs

I never know what to do with minced meat, but I buy it.
I also have a new found love of putting things on sticks... so I decided to make meatball kebabs.

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

500 g of lean beef mince
Half an onion
1 egg
Beef spices
Fresh Rosemary

Mix the above ingredients well (I used a food processor, makes life so easy)
Roll into 12 large meatballs

For the kebabs:

12 large Meatballs
4 Wooden kebab sticks
4 Button mushrooms - whole
4 Cherry tomatoes - whole
1 Green Pepper - cut into 3cm squares

Assemble the kebabs in the following order

Green pepper, meatball, mushroom, green pepper, meatball, tomato, green pepper, meatball, green pepper

This is simply delicious good home style food.

Serve with brown rice and a green salad.

Mmmmmm Macaroons

The girls and I went for breakfast at Macaroon Cafe last week, and I tried my very first Macaroon.

(yes, for breakfast)

It was really delish, and I had a good look at this piece of art...

I have wanted to attempt making these babies since I saw them on Master Chef...

Upon my research, of the recipe and the actual Macaroon, I have decided to not make these myself and frequent Macaroon Cafe more often, and just buy them...

But for your reference, I have looked for a recipe just in case you would like to attempt them, and maybe one day I will too!!

 

The Macaroons from Macaroon Cafe

 Vanilla

Chocolate

Champagne

Recipe:    http://simply-delicious.co.za/2011/05/06/white-chocolate-raspberry-macarons-for-mothers-day/

White Chocolate & Raspberry Macaroons

Makes approximately 40 Macaron ‘sandwiches’

I know the measurements are very awkward but believe me, you want to get them right. So I suggest you use a digital scale when making these Macaroons.

 

230g (8.11 ounces) icing sugar
115g (4.06 ounces) ground almonds
144g (5.08 ounces) egg whites (approximately 4 large egg whites)
70g (2.47 ounces) caster sugar
3-4 drops gel food colouring

Filling
200g (7.05 ounces) white chocolate
50-70ml (2.37 fluid ounces) cream
100g (3.53 ounces) raspberries, chopped

1. Pre-heat the oven to 140°c and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Process your ground almonds until fine. (South-African ground almonds tend to be too grainy)
3. Sift the processed ground almonds with the icing sugar. Repeat. (yes, it is necessary to double-sift)
4. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
5. Slowly add the caster sugar and beat for another 4-5 minutes until the mixture forms stiff peaks and it looks glossy.
6. Add all of the almond mixture in and fold in. At first the mixture will look lumpy and strange but just keep folding.
7. Place the mixture in a piping bag and carefully pipe small circles (I make mine about 2cm (0.79 inches)) onto the baking sheet. Don’t pipe them too close to one another as they will spread a little.)
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are just firm to the touch. Allow them to cool completely on the baking tray before carefully lifting them off.
9. To make the filling, melt together the white chocolate and cream until smooth. Place in the fridge to set slightly and when thickened, mix in the raspberries. The mixture should be spreadable / pipeable.
10. Place the mixture into another piping bag and pipe small circle onto the macaroons before gently sandwiching them together.

Jan Ellis Pudding

Now, I am really letting out my secrets, but its so good that I have to share it... real comfort food for winter, or any time...

Ingredients

Dough

1 tsp Baking Powder
375ml of Self Raising Flour (3/4 cup)
125ml of Sugar (1/2 Cup)
Pinch of salt
125ml of Milk
2 eggs
25 ml of soft Butter
30 ml of Apricot Jam

Mix all the above together
Pour mixture into a greased dish
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes until golden brown
While the it is baking make the sauce

Sauce

Add all the below ingredients into a pan and slightly heat...

250 ml of Hot Water
250 ml of Cream
150 ml of Butter
250ml of Sugar
5ml of Vanilla Essence

Pour the sauce over the pudding when it comes out of the oven,
and leave it until the sauce has been absorbed.

Eat and enjoy it... because its amazing!!

White Chocolate Mousse

Be prepared for lots of whipping...This is good for when you have had a really bad day, you get to whip something and eat chocolate... hehehe...

Ingredients:

350 ml Cream
150 gm White Chocolate
4 Egg Whites
2 Tbs of Sugar



Heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils.
Take cream off the heat.
Add chocolate in a medium bowl.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whip until melted and smooth and cool down completely in the refrigerator

When it has cooled, whip it into fluffy, soft peaks. Return to the refrigerator.

Then whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add  2 Tablespoons of sugar and continue whipping until glossy and stiff.

Lastly, you need to combine the two by folding the egg whites into the white chocolate mixture, and then spoon the mixture into glasses, I have used the Martini Glasses again as it looks so nice, I grated some white chocolate over the top aswell