Angelic pudding

I am preparing for Master Chef. Yes, my dream is to actually get in J I know that this season is already closed (I was too busy with other things) but hopefully next season I will make it.

One of the things that you need for Master Chef are quick but tasty dishes. The judges always throw a surprise challenge your way. You just HAVE to be prepared.

This one is a pudding that, unlike rice pudding, is made with Angle Hair pasta (Vermicelli) and cardamom. Cardamon in Arabic and Hebrew is called הל (Hel – pronounced like Hell just with a long E). It can also mean halo or aurora …. Thus the name

I personally use a light cardamom infusion as I am not the biggest fan of cardamom…

You can eat it both warm or chilled – which makes it great to take with you to work or a pot luck.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes            Ready In: 40 Minutes

Servings: 4

  

1  l milk

5 tbs white sugar

5 cardamom seeds

1 (500gr ) package Angel Hair/vermicelli pasta, broken into small pieces

1 handful of raisins

Mix the milk together with the sugar and the cardamom seeds (slightly crack them if you want a stronger taste) in a saucepan. Bring to a near boil (careful that the milk will not over boil) then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes (make sure that the milk will not burn at the bottom). Stir the pasta and raisins and continue to simmer until pasta is tender and the cream sauce has thickened, about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until warm, about 15 minutes. If the pudding is too thick you can stir in a little bit more milk

Please tell me what you think of it.

All out onion pie

I have started on a 1200-cal diet and finding recipes that fit the bill is sometimes a bit of a struggle. The diet I follow has 3 meals and 3 snacks, where dinner is made up of about 300 cal (give or take…)

This is an onion pie that, including a salad, has about 300 cal. I adapted to meet my dietary requirements and with whatever is available in this country.

My kids LOVED it (they asked for seconds) and so did my husband.

2  large onions – 1 normal and 1 red, cubed or sliced

  2 leeks - white part only, sliced

 8 green onions, chopped

 1 bunch of chopped chives (either the normal one or the garlic ones)

4 tsp. oil

 250 gr 5% white cheese (or cottage)

 2 tablespoons of natural yogurt

 4 eggs

 4 tbs all purpose flour

 1 tsp baking powder

   1 tbs mustard

 3tbs soup granulates

Salt and black pepper to taste (I don't use any salt as I think the soup bouillon is salty enough)

 Preheat the oven to 180 degrees medium heat.

 In a large frying pan, sauté all the onions and the leek in the hot oil for about 10 minutes – stir frequently. Don't put the heat up too high so that it won't burn. Add a little bit of water as needed.

Add the green onions and chives and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the flour, the soup mix, the baking powder and the flour. Turn down the heat completely and gently fry for another 4 minutes.

In a bowl, mix the eggs and cheese together and season to taste.

 Mix the cheese-egg mixture into the onion mix and mix well. Put everything into a baking or pie form and bake for about 45 minutes until golden.

For a 300 cal meal you need a fifth of a pie and a side salad.

No-wait Pizza base

Although Pizza is not something that we eat often as I don't perticular like it, however, my family does so I do have a few recipes kicking around.

Here is a recipe that is real quick, requires no waiting (except for the starter to go foamy and then another 5 minutes rest time) and tastes way better then any pizza base you get in this country - take out or freezer.

Trust me, this recipe is faster start to finish then any take out you can get (over here from the moment I place the call till delivery is 45 minutes and it is usually slightly cold when it gets here).

1 pack yeast (fresh or active dry)
1 tsp sugar
1 cup look warm water (make sure it is not too hot as it will kill the yeast)
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour (plain works fine, I usually use bread flour)
2 tbs good quality olive oil
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to very high (about 230C).
In a bowl disolve the yeast with the sugar in the water. Let in stand until foamy. Depending on the water temperature it can take up to 10 minutes - this step is called "proving the yeast"

Add the flour (start with 2 1/2 cups), oil and salt.

Mix with your hands, adding flour as neccessary, until you get a smooth dough. Let the dough rise for 5 minutes

Put the dough onto a slightly floured surface and roll it into a circle. I often put it on a floured baking sheet, pat and roll it to the desired shape.
Transfer the dough onto a baking tray (or pizza pan if you have one). Spread the toping of your choice.
Bake at 230C for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Enjoy!!

Creamy Tomato-Salmon Gnocci

Went pantry shopping yesterday :) I had smoked salmon in the fridge that I originally wanted to use for Sushi but knew in the deepest of hearts that there is no way I will be making any this week. I also had Gnoccies lying around that I had not used as I wanted (frying them with onions and serving them with a salad and steaks).
The other thing I had was spring onions - I bought some to plant it. I still had some left over after I potted them. And last but not least, there was some cooking cream that needed to be used up or binned soon... Soooo this is what I came up with. It was quick, totally yummi (my kids loved it!!! My DD actually asked for seconds) and will feed four adults.


You will need:

6-8 springs onions, green and white part cut into fine rings
1 tbsp olive oil
2 handfull cherry tomatoes, halfed
200gr smoked salmon, cut into stripes
1 pack cooking cream (15%) - it is about 1 cup. (you can of course use 10% or 35%, I just used what I had at home).
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt to taste
2 packages gnocci

Cook Gnocci according to instructions. When ready drain.

While the Gnoccis are getting readdy, heat the olive oil in a pot. Add spring onions and fry gently for about 2 minutes.
Add the tomoates and fry until they get a little bit wrinkled (about 3 min). Stir frequently.
Add the salmon and fry for another minute.
Add the cream and bring the mixture to a boil. Season with nutmeg and salt. I personally don't need the salt as I find that the salmon is salty enough as it is.
Mix in the Gnocci and serve.

Tip: If you have any leftover, you can heat the whole thing up by adding just a little bit of milk.

Cheesy Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate cream cheese cupcakes, rich and gooey. Takes no time to prepare and is a big hit everytime I make it. Oh, and you can turn it into a cake

Prep Time: 10 Min (maximum)         Yield 24 cupcakes or one large round cake

1 200gr package cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/3 cup white sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon cider vinegar (or any other mild vinegar)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 175C. Line muffin tins with paper cups or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray (or prepare a 26-28 cm backing tin)
2. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in the chocolate chips and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. Stir together until well blended. Fill muffin tins 1/3 full with the batter and top with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture. If you make a cake, slightly swirl in the cheese mixture
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes (or 35-40 minutes if you make a cake) 

Tip: You can use a wooden spoon for mixing

Squares meet lemon

I have been making these for some time now. I cannot even remember where I got the recipe from...  The lemon taste with the crunchines of the crust is just pure yum. Ok, granted, it is not the best recipe for the those watching their cal intake

2 cups flour

½ cup powdered sugar

200gr softened butter

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

Juice and zest of 2 lemons

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1.      Preheat the oven to 350 F

2.      For the crust, combine the first three ingredients in a bowl. Mix together with a fork until you get fine crumbs. Press into a 9x13” pan and bake for 20 minutes.

3.      For the filling, combine the rest of the ingredients and beat well.

4.      Pour into the warm crust and bake an additional 20 minutes, until the top looks like the moon surface (you know, craters and all)

5.      Cool and cut into squares.

6.      If you want to you can dust with more powdered sugar.

Homemade Ice Cream in a blitz

Years ago at a Tupper party the Tupper lady made ice cream using just a few ingredients and this hand mixer/blender. I adapted this for ease to use a food processor.
This recipe will make real nice fruit flavored ice cream in just a few seconds. And the best part: You don’t need an expensive ice cream maker.

2 cups frozen fruit (sliced if necessary)

1/2 cup of sugar (adjusted to taste)

1 cup heavy cream or yoghurt

Put the fruit in your blender or food processor. Add the sugar and a little of the cream and start processing/blending. Keep blending until the fruit is well pureed. Add more cream as needed to get the right consistency. Depending on the fruits you use you may have to put the mixture back in the freezer for a bit.

This recipe works best with berries, peaches, mango or bananas.

French Toast with a nutty filling

In my household we always do Erev Shabat (Sabath Evening). The traditional ceremony involves blessing two Challas (white braided bread. You can get it plain (my hubbys favourit), sweet, which I like or with rasins).  Every week we are left with way too much Challa, which I turn into french toast Saturday morning. However, after eating it week in week out I started to get rather board with it. 

I read on the internet several times about filling french toasts and deep frying it. As I am just a little bit health concious deep frying is just not really what I would call for. So, I plaid around with some ideas and came up with this one. It is very versitile, supper easy to make and you can substitute the nut filling for other self made or  bought fillings. You need about 30 minutes from start to finish for a great breakfast.

16 slices of bread

Nut Mixture

1/4 cup oil OR 1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup packed brown or white sugar

1/2 cup chopped nuts - go wild, mix or just use one type.

Batter

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175°C.

During this time, heat the oil or butter together with the sugar to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in nuts. Set aside.

In a bowl mix the milk, eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla together. Dip 8 slices toast into the batter and place them back on the baking sheet. Spread a heaping tablespoons of the nut mixture onto each. Dip remaining bread slices into batter and place over nut filling to make a sandwich.

Bake for 20 minute or until hot. Serve immediately.

Prepare a baking sheet and place the bread slices on it. Bake for about 5 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside.

Tuna Mini Muffins

This recipe is always a hit. I usualy make a double batch as they are gone as soon as I put them on the table.
Today I didn't have enough eggs for the double batch. Instead of 8 eggs I used 5 plus one egg yolk (left over from the Peanut Muffins that I made) and they came out perfect.

1 can Tuna in brine - drained
50 gr. Tomatoe paste
60gr creme fraiche
4 eggs
90 gr cheese (any type)
Salt and Pepper according to taste
Fresh Parsley (about half a handful)
1 small onion

Heat the oven to 175°C
Put everything in a mixer. Put on high and mix until everything is liquid and no chunks are left. Pour into 20 mini-muffin tins (I use flexible ones so I don't have to prepare them), fill them about 3/4.
Put into oven for 20 minutes or an inserted tooth pick comes out just about clean. Take out of the oven and let them sit in the tin for about 5-10 minutes before turning them out. Let them cool completely.

I serve them this week with a salad.

TIP: These really have to be eaten cold.