Thursday, March 26, 2009

Cheese and Potato Bread Twists


Ingredients:
1. 225g potatoes, diced
2. 225g strong white bread flour
3. 1 tsp dried yeast
4. 150ml lukewarm water
5. 175g grated cheese
6. 2 tsp olive oil, for greasing
7. salt

Methods:
1. Cook the potatoes in a large pan in plenty of lightly salted boiling water for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain through a colander and return to the pan. Mash the potato until smooth and set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, sift the flour into a large bowl and add the yeast and a good pinch of salt. Stir in the mashed potatoes and rub with your fingers to form a crumb consistency.

3. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in the lukewarm water. Start by bringing the mixture together with your hands. turn out on to a well-floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl. Cover with a damp dishtowel and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

4. Turn the dough out and knock back the air bubbles. Knead again for a few seconds.

5. Divide the dough into 12 even pieces and shape into rounds.

6. Sprinkle the cheese over a baking sheet. take each ball of dough and roll it in the cheese.

7. Roll each cheese-covered on a dry surface to form a long sausage shape. Fold the two ends together and twist the bread. Lay the bread twists on an oiled baking sheet.

8. Cover with a damp cloth and leave the bread to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Preheat the overn to 220 C. Bake the bread for 10-15 minutes.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Seafood Paella



Ingredients

  • 1 red pepper, finely diced
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 400g paella rice
  • 125ml dry white wine
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • Generous pinch of saffron threads
  • 1l hot vegetable stock
  • 4 large prawns
  • 4 prepared squid, approx 170g in total, sliced into rings
  • Handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 lemon cut into wedges
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Steps:

1. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large paella pan or frying pan. Add the onion and cook out briefly.

2. Add the chopped pepper and crush in the garlic. Season with a little salt and pepper and cook until softened.

3. Sprinkle the smoked paprika and saffron into the pan. Follow with the rice and stir well so that each grain of rice is well coated in oil.

4. Add the wine and allow to evaporate before pouring in the hot stock.

5. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer gently for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking.

6. Five minutes before the end of cooking add the prawns and squid to the pan. Stir, and replace the lid to finish cooking.

7. Just before serving, mix through the chopped parsley and garnish with lemon wedges.

Add other seafood if you prefer

Monday, March 16, 2009

Marble Butter Cake



Not enough chocolate powder.

This is the recipe:
Ingredients
250 gm butter
200 gm caster sugar
6 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
300 gm self-raising flour (sifted)
½ to 3/4 cup of evaporated milk

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Beat the butter with the caster sugar until white and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time and mix well. Then add is vanilla essence and evaporated milk and mix well.
3. Replace about 30g of flour with cocoa powder. After the flour is mixed into the butter mixture and mixed well, take out about 1/3 of the batter and add the cocoa powder into it. Place the white batter into tin and drop the chocolate batter into different spots and use a skewer or a chopstick to swirl it to make the marble effect and bake for about an hour.