NEW INTERESTING RECIPES

 

Here are the recipes of a few dishes and one cake, which I hope you will enjoy  

 

 

 

                                                          PAELLA          

      

Paella can be prepared either with frugal or rich ingredients such as lobster.  But whatever ingredients with which you wish to prepare this seafood risotto it is a delicious Spanish dish. 

 

Olive oil

1 kg (2lb) prawns, shelled, deveined, thoroughly washed and patted dry

6 mussels, scrubbed, strings removed

1 kg (2 lb) chicken, cut into serving pieces

 4 spicy sausages

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

 

Sofrito:

60 g (2 oz) lean bacon, cubed

60 g (2 oz) onions, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 medium-sized red pepper, halved, deseeded, and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 large tomato, peeled, deseeded, and finely chopped

 

750 g (1 ½ lb) long-grained rice

½ tsp saffron

5 cups tasty chicken stock, heated

90 g (3 oz) fresh peas, boiled and strained

 

2 lemons, cut into 6 wedges

 

Prick the sausages with a fork, cover with water and simmer for 5 minutes, drain and slice. Pat the chicken dry, season to taste, and cook in 3 tbsp olive oil, skin side down, browning well all over and transfer to a dish.

 

Add the prawns to the pan and cook for 1 minute on each side, until they turn pink and set aside to drain on kitchen paper, then transfer to a separate plate.  Also, sauté the sausages and place them on kitchen paper to drain.

 

For the sofrito, discard the olive oil from the pan, add the remaining olive oil add the bacon, and sauté quickly over high heat.  Add the onions, garlic, pepper, and tomato and cook briskly, stirring constantly until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture thickens.

 

About half an hour before you wish to serve, preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F), place the sofrito, the rice, a little salt and the saffron in a paella pan.  Pour the hot chicken stock over and stirring occasionally, bring to the boil.  Remove the pan from the heat and arrange the chicken, prawns, mussels on top of the rice, and scatter the peas evenly over.  Place in the oven and cook until the liquid has been absorbed 20-25 minutes.

 

Let it rest for 6-8 minutes and serve garnished with lemon wedges. 

 

 

                                   ROAST VEGETABLES WITH COOSCOOS

2 large courgettes, scraped and thickly sliced

12 mushrooms trimmed and quartered

1 red bell pepper, halved, deseeded and chopped

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups couscous

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

 

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) and place the vegetables on a tin lined with greased baking parchment.   Brush the vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake until tender.

 

Meanwhile bring the water salt, olive oil and couscous to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and let rest for 5 minutes.  Fluff the couscous with a fork and let it cool to room temperature.

 

Place the couscous on a serving dish and top with the roasted vegetables, Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, toss and enjoy. 

 

 

                                  SHRIMPS WITH BRANDY AND SPAGHETTI

500 g (1 lb) spaghetti boiled in sated waster “al dente” and drained

¼ cup olive oil

1 kg (2 lb) shrimp, shelled, deveined, thoroughly washed and patted dry

1 onion, peeled and grated

4 spring onions, trimmed and slied

4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced

¼ cup METAXA brandy

2 large tomatoes, halved, deseeded, grated, skins discarded

125 ml ( ½ cup) white wine

2 tbsp butter

½ cup chopped basil

½ cup grate Parmesan

Salt, if necessary, and freshly ground black pepper to tast

 

Sauté the shrimps in olive oil until they turn pink.  Stir in the onion and spring onions, pour in the brandy, and ignite the brandy.  When the flame dies down, 2 minutes, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes.  Stir in the butter and season with basil and salt and pepper, if necessary.  Stir in the Parmesan.

 

Toss the shrimp sauce with the hot spaghetti until evenly coated.

 

 

                          

 

                                       BANANA AND CHOCOLATE CAKE

 A delicious chocolate cake

175 g (6 oz) sugar

175 g (6 oz) self-rising flour

½ tsp baking soda

4 tbsp coca

100 g (3.5 oz) finely chopped dark chocolate melted with

100 g (3.5 oz) butter

200 g (7 oz) bananas, mashed

3 eggs, separated, whites whipped stiff with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp of the sugar

50 ml (1.7 fl oz) milk

 

 

Heat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and line a round tin with buttered baking parchment.  Mix the dry ingredients well in a bowl and repeat the procedure with the wet ingredients.   Stir the two mixtures well together and gently fold in the whipped egg whites until no traces of white are evident. Bakr for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a tester inserted in the centre of the dcake comes out clean.  Cool in the tin and invert on a serving dish, spread with chocolate ganache and garnish with banana slices.