Warm salad of prawns, southern golds, shaved fennel & chilli oil

This is for my beautiful and loving Aunty Kathy. You have influenced me more than you can imagine. When I'm older, if I'm half the woman you are I'll be over the moon.

Aunty Kathy saw the cover to one of my favourite cookbooks; e'cco 2, and wanted the recipe, so here it is lovely. I've made this dish before and honestly it's delicious!! Cara this one's for you too, I know how long you've been waiting :)

 Serves 6

4 baby fennel, outer leaves and core removed, finely shaved

1/2 red onion, finely sliced

1 cup picked coriander sprigs, washed and spun

1/2 cup (125ml) good quality mayonnaise

1 tablespoon seeded mustard (preferably Hill Farm Mountain Pepper)

grated zest of 1 lime

1 tablespoon (20ml) lime juice

12 medium southern gold (pink eye) potatoes, steamed and peeled

olive oil

30 medium green prawns, peeled, butterflied with tails attached

salt/freshly ground black pepper

chilli oil

3 limes, halved

Toss fennel, onion and coriander in a bowl, reserving a few coriander sprigs

Combine mayonnaise with mustard, lime zest and lime juice.  Dress salad with mayonnaise to moisten.

Slice each potato in half. Heat a wide, heavy-based pan and fry potatoes cut side-down in a little olive oil until the surface has crisped and potatoes have good colour and are warmed through.

Season prawns and pan-fry, char-grill or barbecue until just cooked.

To serve, place 4 potato halves in the centre of each plate and top with 3 prawns. Arrange salad on top of prawns. Place remaining prawns on top. Drizzle a little chilli oil over and around. Top with reserved coriander and serve with lime halves.

Pumpkin and Ricotta Ravioli

Mmmm mmmm I made a delicious Donna Hay recipe for dinner tonight: Pumpkin and Ricotta Ravioli with burnt butter sauce. It was scrumptious and went perfect with my Yarra Valley Riesling. The dish was extremely easy to make. Why not give it a go yourself....

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Chop 500g of pumpkin and place on baking tray and cook in oven for approximately 20 minutes. Meanwhile put 250g of ricotta into a bowl with 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese, fresh oregano, sea salt and black pepper.

Spoon 2 teaspoons of the ricotta mix on to a wonton wrapper and top with 1 piece of pumpkin. Wet the 4 edges with your fingertip and place another wonton wrapper on top, sealing the edges.

On low heat put 50g of butter into a pan, add fresh oregano and cook until browned. Cook the ravioli in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Lay ravioli onto a plate and scatter remaining pumpkin over and around. Drizzle with burnt butter and sprinkle with fresh parmesan... Bona-petite!

Easy Tuesday Dinner - Lebanese Meatball Pockets

I made one of my favourite and easiest dinners last night; Lebanese Meatball Pockets.

I have been enjoying these since I was a rugrat living in

Darwin's Northern Territory.

As a family we used to go down to the cliffs at Nightcliff Beach with lots of friends to have dinner and watch the sun go down. Mum would make the Lebanese Meatballs and condiments to take down for our dinner. After e

xperiencing not-so-good Lebanese suvlaki from the local, Mum

decided to make up her own, s

he improved the taste by using lamb mince.

As Spring has arrived I feel this dish is great for either a mid week dinner or picnic.

Ingredients:

Lebanese Pita Bread

Lebanese Meatballs

500g Lamb mince

2 eggs

Bunch of fresh mint finely chopped

4 tbs of Cornflake crumbs or bread crumbs

2-3 garlic cloves (yes lots of garlic, so maybe not a date picnic lol)

Salt and Pepper

Tomato Condiment

2-3 tomatoes or punnet of cherry or roma tomatoes, diced

2 spring onions finely sliced

Salt and Pepper

Yogurt and Cucumber Condiment

4 tbls Greek Yogurt

1 garlic clove finely chopped

Small bunch fresh mint finely chopped

Fresh salad leaves opt.

Mixing it all up

For the meatballs, simply put all the ingredients into a bowl and get your clean hands in there and mix it all up thoroughly .

Then it's simply a matter of rolling the mixture up into small little balls, about 1 tbls size. *TIP* Damp hands make them so much easier to roll up.

I like to cook mine under the grill, it's a much healthier option. You could fry or even bbq them. What ever's easiest for you really.

For the condiments simply mix the ingredients together and pop into individual serving dishes.

To serve

Simply lay all the food out on display.

Slightly warm the Pita Bread just before you serve them. Cut them in half so you have 2 pockets. Stuff the pockets with a couple of broken up meatballs, layer the top with cucumber yogurt, tomatoes and some lettuce leaves.

Enjoy :)

Ed & Meg's Engagement Party Canape's

You know you're growing up when all your friends are getting married and having babies. The 21st parties are over, now its 30th's, engagements, weddings and baby showers.

Two of my closest friends; Megan and Ed, are tying the knot and their engagement party was on Saturday. They hosted the special event at their house on Brisbane's North side. Megan had been working hard all week preparing tasty canapes and tapas morsels. I offered to bring along a couple of tasty treats to help feed the 70+ guests that attended.

My mission on Saturday was to prepare Chicken Rice Paper Rolls. I'm a huge fan of Vietnamese food and I've searched for a tasty rice paper roll recipe that actually tasted good. I found this one on foodiewanderings.blogspot.com. and flavour is plentiful. Next was Tomato, Bocconcini and Basil Tartlets with Balsamic dressing. I made these a few years ago for a picnic, they are so easy and so delicious! Last but by no means least are Small Prawn Toasts. These tasty little toasts from heaven have been a party favourite for years. My dear Auntie Kathy would often bring them to family events and they would be gobbled down in minutes. I finally got the recipe and have been making them ever since!

Chicken Rice Paper Rolls:

1 pack of rice paper wrappers
100g vermicelli rice noodles
1 red chilli (deseeded & chopped)
1/2 to 3/4 cup spring onions, sliced thinly length ways into long matchsticks
1/2 red capsicum, sliced into thin, long matchsticks
1 grated carrot
1/2 continental cucumber, unpeeled, washed, deseeded & sliced into long matchsticks
Knob of fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic, minced or finely chopped
Meat from a cooked, bbq deli chicken
Bunch of fresh mint; a couple will be used for presentation per roll
Bunch of fresh coriander
1 teaspoon of lime zest
1 tablespoon of lime juice
1 tsp Sesame oil
3 tbls Soy Sauce
Ketcap Manis or substitute 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar & extra tablespoon of ordinary soy sauce
1 tsp Fish sauce
3 tbls Sweet chilli sauce
Paper towels to dry each wrapper as it gets removed from the soaking water
Roasted, lightly salted crushed peanuts... about 1/3 cup

Prepare all of your fillings and put on a large plate or platter; shred chicken, slice vegies, mince garlic, grate ginger, zest your lime, get your sauce bottles out.

Have a dish of water big enough to soak rice paper wrappers. They only take a minute to soak, so don't soak your first one until all of your filling ingredients are ready.

Soak your vermicelli rice noodles by soaking in cold water for 15 minutes & cut into smaller lengths; just use scissors.

After soaking noodles, put into a pot of boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes & drain immediately & rinse with cold water. Briefly drain noodles in colander to squeeze out excess moisture.

While noodles are still draining, sprinkle a few drops of sesame oil over them and a splash of soy and about a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce. Mix through so noodles don't stick together.

Have a clean, dry work surface ready in front of you.

In a bowl add shredded chicken meat and semi-seasoned noodles.

Prepare final step of noodle seasoning:

In a small saucepan saute the ginger, garlic, chilli & lime zest in some hot oil for about 30 seconds.

Pour hot seasoning mix over noodles and chicken and stir through well.

Assembling

Work with one rice paper wrapper at a time.

Soak wrapper, completely submerged in water for a minute.

Remove from water, drain and place on a clean, dry work surface.

When you've removed a wrapper, place another one into your water to soak.

Along one edge of prepared sheet of rice paper place 2 mint leaves.

Add vegie matchsticks, being capsicum, carrot and cucumber being careful not to overstuff.

Keep a centimeter or two at the top and bottom of your wrapper free because you'll need to fold down the top and bottom later when rolling.

Top vegie matchsticks with some chicken/noodle mixture (about 2 tablespoons).

Top chicken/noodle mixture with a generous amount of fresh coriander leaves, around 2 tablespoons.

Sprinkle with crushed peanuts (around half to one teaspoon per roll).

Fold down top and bottom part of your wrapper over mixture, then each side, start rolling mixture into a thick cigar shape. No need to moisten edges because once rolled up, the edges will stick together.

Repeat process until you there’s nothing left in the bowl!

Keep rolls covered and cool in fridge if not eating immediately.

Tomato, Bocconcini and Basil Tartlets with Balsamic dressing:

4 Sheets frozen puff pastry

Punnet of cherry tomatoes or roma

Bocconcini

1/3 cup cream

2 eggs

salt and pepper

sliced basil leaves

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Cut each sheet of pasty into rounds about 5cm larger that the base of individual tartlet tins.

Brush or spray tins lightly with oil. Ease pasty into tin, folding neatly into a free form edge.

Arrange some sliced basil and balanced amounts of tomato and cheese. Place on a baking tray.

Whisk together cream, eggs and seasonings. Pour equal amounts into each pastry case.

Bake in moderate oven (180 degrees) for 25-30 minutes or until pastry is crisp and filling is set.

Serve warm on a bed or rocket leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Aunty Kathy's Small Prawn Toast

250g good quality butter

2 tbls each of dried, basil and parsley

A bunch of fresh dill

Small fresh prawns (the sweeter the better)

Lemon segments (inc. skin)

Caviar

Mix the butter and dried herbs and fresh dill, reserving a few tips for garnish.

Spread a small amount of butter on each piece of toast. Top with a piece of fresh prawn, lemon segment, caviar and a dill sprig.

Sadly there are no photo's of these, they were gobbled up before I got my camera out. I will make them again soon I'm sure and will post a photo then.

I didn't manage to take any photos of the tapas and canapés at the party either; as soon as I got there it was party time and the hours got away from me. I need to lift my game next time I think.

Oh well it's been fun so far, and it's only going to get better :)