Tag Archives: prawns

Christmas, almost gone…

29 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in chicken, Christmas, Pork, Prawns, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Walnuts

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I won’t plague you with Christmas recipes, for by now you will have had your fill, literally and figuratively I am sure.   But how wonderful for a few weeks to indulge in recipe hunting, dreaming of the perfect menu, hoping for the perfect day.   I love all of it.   Unfortunately for me, this year I managed to dose myself with food poisoning a week before, so by the time Christmas Day came around, I wasn’t too enamoured with eating, or, (maybe worse) partaking of a bubbles or two.  But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do 🙂

The day’s work fell to Mr MWCED, who to his credit did a lot of prep the day before.  I did glaze the ham, albeit a small one – as the table this year was set for 3.   Still,  for 3 people we did good.

We started with Prawns, with a coriander and chilli sauce, set on a bed of freshly picked rocket.  Mmmmmmm.

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MoetRose
A Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial went well with this, it had light berry flavours, was crisp and reasonably dry.

Following the first course we had a small break and launched into the mains.    There was a deboned and stuffed chicken, sticky glazed roast ham with mustard sauces, new potatoes and roasted asparagus, plus a freshly picked lettuce, rocket and snow pea salad.     Just a perfect combination.

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The chicken had an Italian pork sausage, cranberry and walnut stuffing.  A total favourite combination of flavours.  Mr MWCED used a number of recipes to come up with just the right stuffing mix.

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The ham was from a Jamie Oliver recipe out of the December 2015 Issue 116 Woolworths Fresh magazine (recipe here).   It had ginger, hoisin sauce, soy, five spice, sesame oil, nutmeg and much more.   Our piece of ham was about half the size that the recipe called for,  though I made about the same amount of glaze.   It was Very Delicious.

To complement our lunch, we opened a bottle of Nga Waka Home Block Chardonnay 2014.  I was given some bottles of this local wine as a gift.  Yoweeee,  what a wonderful gift!   It was superb.   (ngawaka)

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Nga Waka Home Block Chardonnay 2014

And then, do you know,  we were so full that the thought of dessert just didn’t tempt us.   So the Raspberry Parfait just had to wait until another day.

Now of course it has been ham sandwiches all the way!  Who can complain though,  wonderful weather,  great people, tasty food and good wine.  Roll on 2016!

A Merry Christmas and Best New Year Wishes to All.

 

Significant Birthday Dinner

08 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by in Duck, Party, Pork, Prawns

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IMG_1577A month has gone by since the very special dinner by Mr MWCED for my birthday treat.  Spoilt by the friends who came great distances to share the day (and week) I was a lucky woman.  Mr MWCED and i spent some time planning the menu, it was a small plates dinner and we had 8 courses planned.  Fortunately the numbers were intimate, there were a lucky 13 of us, so it was manageable – though at some times of the evening my dear son had to work as gatekeeper to the kitchen so Mr MWCED wasn’t overwhelmed with helpers.  It was a mammoth task, everything was made either a day or so before or on the day/night.  Food made with love, what more could one ask?

The menu consisted of:
Prawns with Tamarind on Watermelon

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I was immediately attracted to this when I saw it in a Taste magazine (NZ, December 2009) and thought it would made an ideal start to the dinner.  It definitely had the wow factor, and for a lot of the guests it was an introduction to using watermelon with prawns.   Here is the link to that recipe:

http://nz-recipefinder.ninemsn.com/article.aspx?id=999759

Haloumi, Beetroot and Pomegranate Molasses

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I just loved all these flavours, and the addition of a few pinenuts sealed the deal.  No real recipe,  just a delicious combination of fresh ingredients – rocket from the garden, fresh sour dough from the local bakery, lemon off the tree.  Mmmmmm……….

Pork Dumplings

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OMG, Mr MWCED went all out here.  Making the wrappers and experimenting with the best way to serve, the end result was perfection.  The filling was slightly spicy and oh so more-ish.  These were boiled then pan fried.  Definitely a repeater.   These were made taking inspiration from a number of recipes across the net.   Search for dumplings, pot stickers………

Champagne Sorbet

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The theme of the party was ‘Champagne’, so this was perfect.  Made with Champagne, of course, and stressed Mr MWCED to the max as it just wouldn’t freeze up to his expectations – so was more slushy than sorbet.  Who cared?  Not me!

Oops,  only remembered to take a photo after the sorbet had been out for awhile,  so also looking a little melted here?  Well, we had imbibed a few champagnes by this time….

Duck Terrine with Pistachio 

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Well this dinner was all about me,  so I got to choose one of my favorite meats, duck.  Not a favourite of Mr MWCED’s, so I felt spoilt that he made this for me.  it was simply delicious – and even had homemade flat bread to accompany.  The recipe was another one from December 2009 Taste magazine:

http://nz-recipefinder.ninemsn.com/article.aspx?id=1001950

Fried Ravioli Caprese Stacks
IMG_2890I saw these on domesticfits.com and just knew I wanted them.  A very hard time to convince Mr MWCED that they would work.  I think we got there in the end.  They were definitely different, but not 100% sure I would use again.

Thai Beef Salad 

By this time of the evening it was getting late,  kitchen tensions were high, so the chef made an executive decision not to plate this one up.  Damn,  I was looking forward to it,  but I trusted his choice.

Butterscotch Brulee

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After having a creme brulee on Boxing Day this was top of my list of requests for the dinner.  And it didn’t disappoint.  The salted caramel/butterscotch complemented the creamy brulee perfectly.   Ahh, totally spoilt.

Air New Zealand……Yummm

18 Sunday May 2014

Posted by in Airline Food, Uncategorized

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On a recent flight from Auckland to Perth I managed an upgrade to Business.  Not my usual mode of travel – though wish it was.    The luxury of plenty of leg room, great service and tasty food certainly makes the hours go faster.    On this flight it was the lunch menu, and I enjoyed every morsel. Oh, and just the difference of real cutlery, china plates, thick napkins – makes it all the better.
IMG_0929First up was Prosciutto with preserved figs, bocconcini and green olive salsa.   I didn’t feel like meat, so left the Prosciutto,  but everything else was delicious. The salsa was just the right mix of olive and tang. This was one of two dishes created by Peter Gordon. The other was Beef short rib, but not being a beef kind of woman, I didn’t choose that for the main.

Garlic and Chilli Prawns

Garlic and Chilli Prawns

The two other choices for mains were Roast Chicken with chorizo crushed potatoe and Garlic and chilli prawns. Chicken schmicken, we cook that all the time at home, though prawns are a bit more of a treat. A little wait, time to savour the Vidals Chardonnay (damn, didnt get the details, but it was Very Good). Then onto the Garlic and Chilli Prawns on creamed basil linguine with courgettes, fresh pesto and cherry tomatoes. Totally surprised, in a good way, at the strength of the chilli, it was spicy enough to leave a tingly tang – often food for the masses is just a little short of hot. The basil taste went well with the garlic and chilli – and have to say there was nothing left on the plate.

I was feeling pleasantly full, but just couldn’t turn down the dessert. There was a choice of ice cream, apple cobbler tart or cheese. Well, I know Mr MWCED is a ginger fiend, and I always enjoy delicious ice-cream, so no contest really. The ice-cream was a Gourmet dessert of blackcurrant and blackberry ice cream and gingernut ice cream Oh die and go to heaven, two of my favourite flavours.

Dessert

Dessert

It didn’t disappoint. The spoon was busy, the taste buds were delighted, and I finished feeling very replete. Oh if only every flight was as tasty as this one. Total thumbs up Air New Zealand.

Though, have to say on the domestic flights, we are getting a wee bit tired of cassava chips and chocolate cookies…………