Garlic Prawns and Scallops - In the Thermomix

I had been craving prawns and decided to try Tenina's Garlic Prawn Recipe. I made that decision while I was at the shops but wasn't exactly sure what ingredients I had at home. I ended up having most of what I needed but had to improvise a little bit when I didn't have everything.  Also, Rory and I love scallops so I added those!  Here is my modified version.  PS ... this is done entirely in the Thermomix.

 

6 largish cloves of garlic

25g extra virgin olive oil

10 green prawns, shelled and deveined (I can buy them this way at my fish shop!

35g dry sherry

a pinch of pepper

35g cream

lemon juice, to garnish

a few branches of parsley, to garnish

 

Put garlic and olive oil into Thermomix bowl and chop 4 sec/speed 5. Scrape down sides of bowl and saute 5 min/Varoma/speed 1.  Add prawns and cook 5 min/Varoma/Reverse/speed 1 with MC off. Add scallops, sherry, pepper and cream and cook 2 min/Varoma/Reverse/speed 1 with MC off.  While this is happening, chop your parsley.  Stir through when cooking is finished.  I served this over a bed of rice, with a squeeze of lemon.

Pad Thai

i made this again the other night and decided it should be re-posted.
ya'll need to try this !

200g Thai Rice Noodles, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, then drained & rinsed under cold water.
6 Tablespoons oil of your choice, i use olive
2 eggs, scrambled
a bunch of cilantro (coriander leaves)
5 Tablespoons crushed roasted peanuts (i just quickly dry roast them and then crush them)
250g sliced chicken breast
10 peeled, deveined prawns (i buy ones that have been sitting in garlic and parsley)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red chilli, chopped
1/2 bunch chives, cut in 5cm lengths
5 Tablespoons fish sauce
juice of 2 limes (roughly 4 Tablespoons)
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar
250g bean sprouts

Chop everything before you start. Mix together the fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar.

Heat 3 TBLS oil in a wok on high heat. Add chicken, prawns, garlic and red chilli ... stir for 5 minutes (or til chicken is pretty well done) and then set aside.

Heat the other 3 TBLS oil in same wok on same heat. Stir in rice noodles ... keep stirring for 2 minutes. Add scrambled eggs. Add chives, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar and bean sprouts. Stir stir stir ! 3 minutes.

Add chicken/prawns back in.

Garnish with cilantro and peanuts.

my birthday dinner ....

it was my birthday a couple of days ago.

my husband planned the most amazing surprise !

you can read about the whole day over on my simple beauty blog but

i'm just going to cut and paste and share the food bits of the story for you here ...

let's start with ... my neighbors coming over with birthday cocktails

i love having neighbors who are such a bit part of our lives !



when rory gets home, he says

'would you be totally disappointed if i told you i've made a reservation for us at a restaurant ?'

ummmm ... let me think about this for a minute ?!

i still don't have to cook ?

i get to go out ?

yeah ... i'm good !

rory got a phone call just as we were ready to leave, from our friend craig

he said 'we've got a present for bonnie,

would you guys swing by and pick it up on your way to dinner ?'

up until that phone call, i had NO IDEA anything suspicious might be happening

after that ... i wondered if all wasn't as it appeared !

but ... i had NO IDEA of the amazing surprise that lay in wait for me

weeks of planning, international conversations, importing of food

so ... we get to C & J's place to 'pick up the present'

and the house is all decorated

and something smells incredible ... (and very familiar)

and then there were shouts of surprise and the faces of other friends i love

rory hands me an envelope and says

'this is my present to you'

inside the envelope is this menu .........



the foods of my childhood !

and VONGOLE !

(my requested birthday dinner every year since we had lived in Italy !)

now ... this is no easy feat ... because in my little girls mind, the vongole (clams)

HAVE TO BE IN THEIR SHELL

well ... you can't get that here ...

in fact, you can't get clams here at all, unless they are in a can

so Rory IMPORTED them from New Zealand

can you believe that ?!



the food was amazing.

APPARENTLY, they had been cooking all afternoon ... I thought Rory was 'working late' !

Here's the Patatas Alioli and the Champinones Al Ajillo con pan (with bread), of course.



And then came the never ending supply of Gambas Al Ajillo ... OH YUM !!



Master Chefs in action ...



Amazing team work ...



And here's the Traditional Vongole ... with homemade fettucine ...

I'll have to find out what recipe he used for this ... he said it was a Jamie Oliver one.



And the Vongole like my Mom used to make, only with a spicy Casa de Ross twist.

And this recipe too, I'll have to write it down and share it with you ... it's a spicy tomato sauce ...

mmmmmmm !!!



Do you know one thing I loved about this night ?

There were so many things I loved ... but here's just one.

I loved that I was the only known clam lover of the bunch but they still cooked this for me !

And (almost) everyone tried the clams ! Some even liked them !

All of these dishes were new to everyone besides me and Rory, and everyone tried them !

And again ... liked (and even loved) them !

I love the adventurous nature of this group of friends !

And I love that they love to celebrate life.

**

Mom ... Rory insisted that I take this photo for you ....

**

Empty shells !!



Cheesecake.

When we were little, it was tradition in our house that all birthday cakes had to be chocolate.

So ... we have gazillions of birthday pictures of us COVERED IN CHOCOLATE !

BUT, once we were old enough to request our own birthday cake preference ... mine was

ALWAYS cheesecake (with cherries on top) !

My sweet friend Donna recently learned this about me and though she had never made one

before, she baked me the most wonderful birthday cheesecake ! with berries ! oh my !



and Jodie made cupcakes

that I have yet to try

but some came home with us and I will be having one for breakfast !



I was crowned 'birthday queen' and actually wore my 'crown' for a good hour.

Not the mask though ... it was way too hot for that !



Spoiled ? Yeah ... I can't disagree.



I have an amazing, thoughtful, selfless husband,

kind, encouraging and giving children,

enthusiastic, creative and (SNEAKY!!) friends,

an extended family like none other,

friends all over the world (thanks to the Navy and now facebook !) that i love

AND

to top it all off ....



my very own website !!



I cannot wait for you all to see it !

Well ... you can sort of see it here but I've crossed off it's name (which you are going to LOVE)

because I don't want you to go there just yet.

I'll let you know when you can !

Craig and I are going to play with it a bit more first ...

by the way, Craig ... who is a music lover, not a web guru, designed this !

Look out world !

**

All in all ... this has been my best, most favorite birthday ever.

Thanks to everyone who was a part of it !

~ bon ~

Seafood Pizza

I made this ages ago and never posted the recipe.

It was delicious. I'll make it again soon. Very simple recipe !!

All I did was mozzarella and gruyere cheese as the base. sliced red onion, garlic powder, capers, feta cheese and prawns (w/garlic and parsley) that I cooked for a minute in the fry pan before adding to the pizza. Top with a bit more Mozzarella and then into the oven at 200C. I use a thin crust ....

PS ... I made this up.

Mango Prawn Salad {with} Chicken

I found the inspiration for this recipe over at the good mood food blog.
I made a few changes, especially since I'd spent the day cutting up mango and just couldn't resist adding it to this already delectable looking ensemble ! Here's what I did ....

Serves 2 (whopping huge salads ... we had ONLY this for dinner !)

spring onions , chopped
1 garlic clove,peeled and crushed
1 tbsp soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
10 uncooked king prawns, my fish shop has ones marinated in garlic and parsley ... I used those.
1 chicken breast
fresh spinach leaves
fresh rocket
watercress (don't know that I'll worry about the watercress next time !)
1 ripe avocado
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 cup fresh mango, chopped into rather large pieces
Juice of 1 lemon
Handful of fresh basil, torn
olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. I used my big electric fry pan and was able to cook the chicken on one side and then the prawns on the other, only mixing them when they were cooked. Add the spring onions, crushed garlic, soy sauce, black pepper and chicken. Cook til chicken is just about done and then add the prawns. Cook til both chicken and prawns are cooked through. Arrange your salad ingredients on your plates ... I plated them onto two individual plates rather than doing in a big bowl. Top with chicken and prawns. Dress with lemon juice. Serve and enjoy !

Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce {!!} & Chicken & Prawns ...

Ok ... so I found a recipe in a cookbook to make your own sweet chili sauce. I had to modify it a fair bit since it had heaps that we can't use at the moment. Here's what I came up with.

For the Meat ...

2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
As many prawns as you like ... I think we did about 5 each
2 kaffir lime leaves, get rid of the middle 'rib' and chop the leaves small
juice of one lime
2 tablespoon peanut oil

Mix lime juice, oil and kaffir lime leaves. Soak chicken and prawns (I soaked in two separate bowls) while the BBQ heats up. Cook on BBQ.

For the sweet chilli sauce ...

1 TBLS peanut oil
2 coriander roots, washed and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
5 long red chillies ... to taste (seeded and chopped)
a few squirts gold label (or you could use fish sauce)
1/2 cup palm sugar, grated
1.5 TBLS coconut, desicated
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup water

Use stick blender to blend chili, coriander roots and garlic (with 1 TBLS water) into a paste.

Add mixture to saucepan with remaining ingredients. Boil and simmer, til sauce thickens. ( I think it took 10/15 minutes)

Serve on a bed of steamed baby bok choy with BBQ'd chicken and prawns ... drizzled with sweet chilli sauce and a sprinkle of cilantro (fresh coriander leaves) !

Udon Prawn Salad

I got this recipe from
The Matthew Hayden Cookbook 2

It was nice. Refreshing.
The noodles were a bit funny but I think that was our fault -
not the fault of the noodles or the recipe !

500g fresh udon noodles (I used 880g)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 small red onion, finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
500 g cooked prawns, peeled (I only used about 350g)
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 bird's-eye chillies, seeded and finely chopped
lime wedges, to serve

All you do it prepare the noodles as directed on the packet. The recipe said to toast the sesame seeds, but I didn't. I just used them un toasted. Put the noodles in a bowl. Add the oils ... toss to coat. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Serve with the lime quarters.

It says serves 2-3. I added extra noodles and it served the four of us with a small amount left over for lunch tomorrow !