Spring Cake

Recipes

For this Easter Bank Holiday Weekend I thought it would be nice to post a cake recipe. But already I have a bit of a headache (which I think could possibly be attributed to an over consumption of chocolate eggs) so I’ve gone for a light, chocolate-free, fruity number! I made some fresh tropical fruit orb thingys to decorate it, which you can see as Easter eggs or as Spring flowers (or just bits of fruit), and then added some paper Avocets. There’s nothing significant about the use of avocets, I just wanted to draw some black and white birds with long legs to give the cake some height and these wetland birds seemed to fit the bill…(sorry it that a bad joke?).

Spring Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:
150g light soft brown sugar
2 large free-range eggs
100g sunflower oil
200g grated carrot (about 3)
Zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon baking powder
200g wholemeal flour

For the filling:

300g cream cheese
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons icing sugar
170g 0% total Greek Yoghurt

For the icing:

8-10 dessert spoons of icing sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

To decorate (optional):

1 Pineapple
1 Melon
1 Mango
Fresh mint sprigs

You will also need 1 small round cake tin, greased with butter and lined with a circle of grease proof paper

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 190°C
First make the cake: Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy (or in my case until your arm aches because you’ve been making cakes all day and can’t be bothered to wash the electric whisk again)
Whisk in the oil then add the grated carrot and lemon zest.
Fold in the baking powder and flour until fully combined and then tip everything into your prepared tin
Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out cleanly
Turn the cake out onto a rack to cool completely
Mix the filling ingredients together in a bowl then put into the fridge to firm up a little while you slice the cooled cake horizontally through the middle
Sandwich the cake together with the cheesecake filling and pop the cake into the fridge for 10-15 minutes
Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with the juice of 1 lemon until thick and smooth – you want the consistency to be somewhere between double cream and smooth peanut butter, so add the icing sugar bit by bit to the lemon juice and add more or less if needed
Use a melon baller to carve little pastel spheres from a fresh pineapple, mango and melon. Ice the cake and then decorate with the fruit, mint leaves and a gentle snow flurry of icing sugar.

I added some drawings of avocets to mine, which I taped to cocktail sticks, but you can add your own drawings or any other cake decorations you like.

Have a lovely bank holiday. What are you baking this weekend? x

Toad in the Hole

Recipes

National Butchers’ Week starts today! Great British Chefs asked me to cover this for their blog pages so I went to one of my favourite shops in the East Midlands. The full article is here.

I had a great time at John F. Pitchford’s butcher’s shop as you can probably tell so for my favourite blog readers (you!) here are some extra photos from my visit:

Local Football Team Photos

Outside the shop

Southwell Minster

Ray showed me a picture of some prize winning beef

Ray with the beef in the cool room

Yum!

Ray (left) Adrian (right)

Southwell Minster

Whilst in the shop I picked up 6 of their handmade sausages which I made into a big tray of Toad in the Hole for dinner. Why not grab some bangers from your local butcher this week and have a go!

Toad in the Hole

Serves 3 -4

Ingredients

300ml milk
3 eggs
60g self raising flour
60g granary bread flour or other wholemeal variety
6 sausages
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

1) Preheat the oven to 200°c

2) Mix the eggs together with the milk in a jug

3) Put the flours in a bowl and the add the milk and egg mixture, whisking to make a smooth batter, place in the fridge to rest until required.

4) Bake the sausages in the sunflower oil for 20 minutes in the oven,

5) Pour in the rested batter and quickly put back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until well risen and golden brown

6) Serve with steamed veggies

I hope you have fun checking out your local butcher but if you fancy visiting the Pitchford brothers I can highly recommend it. Southwell is great for a lil’ day trip, have a look round the Minster, check out the WI vegetable market on a Saturday and go say hi to the guys in the butcher’s shop.

John F. Pitchford, 1 Market Place, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, NG25 0HE

Valentine’s Day by the River

Recipes

Doing something special and romantic for Valentine’s Day can be a tricky business. Going out for dinner is the obvious choice but restaurants get so busy on the 14th that it’s unlikely to be a very intimate experience. I remember taking telephone bookings when I worked in French Living. The set menus were always carefully developed by the chefs and the waiters would arrange the whole dining area into a sea of tables for two, but I never liked having to tell customers that; yes, they could have a table at 7.30pm but we would need that table back again by 9pm. It seemed so sad to cut their evening short, but the demand was so great there was nothing else to be done.

So, let’s say eating out is off the agenda, what about eating in? It’s cosy, it could be cheaper than a restaurant and the menu can be whatever your imagination and culinary skill will allow! If you do choose to stay in and can’t decide what to make I’ve written a three course Valentine’s Day menu for Great British Chefs so do have a butchers by clicking here.

But, if spending more than 20 minutes in the kitchen fills you with dread or there are simply too many distractions at home, like pets, kids or a half painted living room then there is a third option – Cooking without a Kitchen!

This Valentine’s Day (which for the purposes of my own publishing deadlines actually took place on Sunday the 3rd of February) was spent on the south bank of the River Thames, just round the corner from the Golden Hinde and Southwark Cathedral. We unpacked a small shopping bag of goodies and prepared the meal then and there. We didn’t have a table but the wall worked fine and the views over London were just as good as any fancy restaurant. There was no rush because no one needed the space before or after us and there were hardly any distractions, oh except one guy who tried to sell us pebbles he’d found in the river but that was quite funny.

Mint Tea Couscous with Artichokes & Prosciutto

Ingredients

1 small bag of pea shoots

1 small bag of couscous

1 punnet or jar of chargrilled artichokes in olive oil (from the deli or similar)

4 slices of prosciutto

1 takeaway cup of peppermint tea (buy this from a coffee shop as near to your picnic spot as possible so it stays hot)

Equipment

2 plastic, wooden or paper plates

1 plastic bowl

1 plastic measuring cup (can be any travel cup or mug really)

Mini salt and pepper shaker (optional but nice)

2 plastic spoons, or forks (or sporks!)

Method

1) Using the measuring cup put 1 cup of couscous into the plastic bowl. Measure out about 1 and a half cups of the hot mint tea and pour over the couscous. Cover the bowl with one of the plates and leave to sit for about 5-6 minutes to let the couscous absorb the tea.

2) Sip the rest of the mint tea while you wait.

3) When the couscous is ready, fluff it up by breaking up the clumps of grains with a fork and mix in some of the oil from the artichokes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4) Pile the pea shoots onto each of the plates, then add the couscous. Top with the artichokes and the slices of proscuitto and serve to your loved one.

bridge

Happy Valentine’s Day xxx

I’d love to hear your Valentine’s Day stories or recipes. Do get in touch via the comments box below, say hi on my Facebook page or get tweeting x

Twelfth Night

Events, Recipes

twelfth-night-poster

In case you don’t know my fella is actor Richard Kiess…although this month he’s been out so much I’m finding it difficult to remember what he looks like. By day he’s rehearsing for a show that’s going to Edinburgh this summer and by night he’s performing in Twelfth Night at the Lion & Unicorn. When we do see each other I get to help him with his lines (which is tremendous fun, especially when I get to do silly voices) and he has become an intrepid and knowledgable tester of my recipes…even if it means sitting outside in the freezing cold to eat a plastic plateful of artichokes (sneak peek to next week’s post!).

I know I’m biased but this Made in Chelsea inspired performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is well worth a look (plug plug!) plus it’s great because each time he’s in something I get to meet the cast and go to the after show parties! It’s a very cool job but it’s full-on…this leads me seamlessly into a recipe for cereal bars! Richard assures me cereal is great at any time of day and I was interested to discover that actors consume lots of energy bars and sports drinks – not surprising having seen how physically demanding some roles can be.

Packed full of oats, very dark chocolate, pine nuts and dried cherries I hoped this homemade snack would at least make a change from boost bars & mountain dew.

Twelfth Night Bars

Ingredients

100g of oats

75g dried cherries

50g of pine nuts (toasted in a dry pan)

50g walnuts

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

100g fair trade dark chocolate (70-80% cocoa), roughly chopped

100g golden syrup

10og butter

100g light brown sugar

Method

1) Line a loaf tin with grease-proof paper.

2) Put the oats, cherries, toasted pine nuts, walnuts and cinnamon in a large heat-proof bowl and mix together.

3) In a saucepan heat the golden syrup, butter and sugar over a medium heat until the butter has melted, the sugar has dissolved and it’s starting to simmer.

4) Quickly pour the melted syrup mixture over the oats and nuts etc. and stir well. Throw in the chopped chocolate last and briefly mix it in (don’t stir too long otherwise the chocolate will totally melt and you want a few chunks in the finished bars).

4) Tip everything into the prepared tin and press the mixture down using the back of a metal spoon so that it gets into all the corners and is level on the top.

5) Leave to set for 2 hours or overnight and then slice into bars (makes about 12).

6) Wrap them up in foil and tissue paper and hand them out to hungry actors 🙂

Rich very kindly took a few snaps on his phone of the cast and crew backstage munching on the cereal bars…or posing with them…perhaps a bit of both!

Twelfth Night is on at the Lion & Unicorn until the 23rd of February but tickets are selling out so if you can’t get a seat there then they’re doing some extra nights at Canada Water Culture Space from the 26th of February – 1st of March 2013

Parsnips & Pancakes

Recipes

Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Day) has in recent years, become a bit of a non-event for me. I like the idea of the tradition of using up the rich foods before the fast of Lent, but I don’t think that eggs, milk and flour count as luxury goods anymore and neither do I observe Lent. I tend to only realise that it’s just around the corner when stocks of long-life lemon juice are suddenly piled up in the supermarkets.

Instead of remembering on the day, grabbing the ingredients on the way home to then serve with half a jar of nutella and a banana (I’m hoping it’s not just me who has done this) why not make a bit of a fuss about it this year and throw a pancake party? Christmas was ages ago and January is a depressing heap of crash diets, pricey gym membership and tax returns so I think we all need a lift, even on a week night! Get your most enthusiastic pals round a table, compare notes on the progress of your New Years resolutions (or lack thereof) and share a stack of pancakes.

Pancakes can easily fall into the category of rice, pasta and bread as they go with pretty much anything so can be served as a starter, main or dessert (or all three!) This is my recipe for a main course dish, I think it would be great for an informal dinner party where everyone mucks in, heaping their plates with the filling and spooning over the gooey melted cheese.

Savoury Pancakes with pan-fried Parsnips, Black Onion Seeds and Baked Camembert

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

50g plain flour

50g wholemeal plain flour

30g butter (melted)

300ml of milk

2 eggs

4-5 parsnips, peeled and diced

1 tablespoon of black onion seeds

olive oil

nutmeg

chives

50g walnuts, toasted

1 whole camembert

1 garlic clove, peeled and quartered

vegetable oil

1) Start by making the pancake batter. Place the flours in a mixing bowl and in a large jug mix the eggs, milk and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients onto the flour whisking all the time until smooth. Pour the batter back into the jug and pop in the fridge to rest for 10 minutes or until you’re ready.

2) Next open up the camembert cheese, remove any of the plastic packaging and pop it back in its wooden box (leave the lid off) push the garlic pieces into the cheese and drizzle the top with 1 teaspoon of olive oil.

Camembert before baking

3) Bake in the oven at 200°c for 10 minutes or until the cheese is gooey in the middle. Set aside.

4) In a pan heat a good glug of olive oil and add the parsnips turning only occasionally. You want to get them lovely and golden brown on the outside so it’s a good idea to cook them in batches. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg and the onion seeds. Mix well and cook for another 30-60seconds to warm up the spices. Season with salt and pepper, tip them into an oven proof dish and set aside.

5) Now it’s time to cook the pancakes. Put just about a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a non stick pan over a medium-high heat. Pour in enough batter to create a thin covering over the whole surface of the pan. Allow to cook until the top of the pancake has set and a quick peek using a spatula shows that golden brown patches are forming on the underside. Flip the pancake over and finish cooking the other side. Slide the pancake onto a large tray or oven proof dish and put into the oven at 50°c to keep warm. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

6) Put the camembert and parsnips into the oven with the pancakes to keep warm.

7) Toast a good handful of walnuts in a dry pan ready for the garnish.

8) To put the dish together lay a pancake on each plate, add a spoonful of the parsnips, a few snipped chives and a sprinkling of walnuts. Fold the sides in to make a square and then spoon over some runny camembert cheese and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Serve with your favourite salad leaves dressed with a squeeze of lemon juice and a splash of olive oil.

Happy Pancake Day!

Pancake Day is on Tuesday 12th of February 2013

Totally Tasteful

Events, Recipes

On Tuesday I attended the latest cookery masterclass (courtesy of Total Greek Yoghurt) at the very shiny cookery school L’atelier des Chefs, hosted by Chef Paul Merrett.
Earlier that same day I was at a conference so, (laden with laptop, overnight bag etc.) my plan was to split from the conference early, jump on a train home, dump work stuff, pick up my camera and put a brush through my hair to be back in town for the cookery class at half six! All went swimmingly with my plan, until our lift to Stratford-Upon-Avon station had to make what felt like an action movie style u-turn because the hotel receptionist hadn’t given us the best directions.

My colleague (and fellow conference escapees) made it to our train with moments to spare and swiftly our conversation turned from corporate to cookery. Then I think somewhere between Leamington Spa and Marylebone Raymond Blanc gets on the train and sits behind us. RAYMOND BLANC!!!! The guy next to him boldly blagged a handshake but I remained silently in my seat. I love Raymond Blanc’s cookery shows, they’re always full of wonderful recipes and tonnes of boyish enthusiasm…however, I didn’t think he’d have appreciated me introducing myself in the confined space of the train carriage. Maybe I’m just a wuss but what could I have said? – “hello Raymond Blanc, that’s right I know your full name because I have seen you on TV. I’m Miriam Nice, I hope you have a lovely time cooking things. I cook things too.” – Just awful. I’d die.

Train journey (and major over-thinking) done, bags deposited and camera obtained I arrived at L’atelier des Chefs and was handed a well needed glass of champagne.

Paul kicked off the cookery lesson by showing us how to prep a squid (which I am ashamed to say I had never done before).

I’ve drawn out the key points from memory so do say if you have any top tips:

We then had to get into teams to cook our meal. I was paired with a marvellous trio of bloggers; Phil, Laura and Yuri (pictured above) to make a starter of Squid & Chorizo with Chickpea Puree and Coriander Yoghurt…

…followed by Herb Crusted Lamb with Baba Ganouche & Sweet Potato Salad…

Herb Crusted Lamb with Baba Ganouche & Sweet Potato Salad

and a Rhubarb & Greek Yoghurt Syllabub for dessert:

The meal was Totally delicious (sorry, couldn’t resist) and as one of our team members was vegetarian we not only had enormous portions of lamb but a big slab of frittata too (thanks Phil!). Then, if we weren’t quite full enough, out came the greek yoghurt goodie bags of plain yoghurt and fruity split pots – that sorts breakfast for the rest of the week 🙂

These recipes and hundreds more can be found on Total Greek Yoghurt’s “Total Eating” pages at https://www.totalgreekyoghurt.com/total-eating

p.s The photographer (www.satureyes.com) asked me to pose for this one…

Photo by ‘Satureyes’

Loads more photos from the event can be seen here on Total’s facebook page.

Homemade Burgers

Recipes

In a change to my planned blog post this week about Soup; here are two recipes for Homemade Burgers! This comes in reaction to the news that the DNA from pigs and horses has been found in supermarket beef burgers in the UK and Ireland – eek!

I’m not going to dwell on this too much but the label should tell you what the product contains. I would (and have) tried many different foods but I was always knew what I was eating before hand (except the first time I had calamari, I thought they were onion rings and got a bit of a chewy surprise!).

Moving on; firstly the beef burgers. This recipe is super easy so do have a bash.

beef burger

Beef Burgers

Serves 2

Ingredients

250g of lean steak mince

olive oil

salt & pepper

Method

1) Squish the mince together with your hands and then squash them into either 2 large burgers or 4 small ones.

2) Season the burgers both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper

3) Fry in olive oil over a high heat (turning frequently) until they start to caramelise on the outside.

4) Take the pan off the heat and cover with either a lid or tin foil. Allow them to rest for a good 5 minutes or so.

5) Serve in burger buns, with or without cheese, sauces and salad. We had dijon mustard, cheese, cherry tomatoes and rocket.

If you’re vegetarian or are generally feeling a bit squeamish about the whole thing – try these veggie burgers, which pretty much contain everything except meat!

veggie burger

Veggie Burgers

Serves 4

Ingredients

200g of potatoes

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely grated

1 small turnip, finely grated

40g cheese, grated

1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1 egg

handful of frozen peas

large pinch of chopped fresh parsley

50g breadcrumbs

vegetable oil

salt & pepper

Method

1) Peel the potatoes and boil for 15-20 minutes.

2) While the potatoes are cooking, gently fry the onion in a tablespoon of oil until soft and translucent. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the grated carrot and turnip to soften in the residual heat.

3) Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and mash.

4) Put the onion and vegetable mixture in a large bowl and add the mashed potato, nutmeg, parsley, cheese, egg, and frozen peas then season well with salt and pepper. Mix everything in thoroughly.

5) Tip the breadcrumbs into a shallow bowl or dish. Divide the burger mixture into 4 portions and shape into patties. If the mixture is too wet either add a little flour or drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the bowl of breadcrumbs and turn them in the crumbs to coat them using a spoon. They will be much easier to shape and fry once coated.

6) Shallow fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Serve in buns with trimmings – we had rocket and mustard mayonnaise in ours.

Experiment with different vegetables in these burgers – they’re also great for using up leftover mash and other cooked veggies.

Getting Festive

Recipes

It’s the first weekend in December so I have been given permission to put up the decorations!

I’ve been itching to get the baubles and crepe paper out ever since I spied a thrifty Christmas tree alternative out the window, in the form of a rather enthusiastic shoot on the bay tree in the front garden. It’s the perfect Christmas tree shape (in my eyes anyway) and I thought if we lopped it off our housemates might think we’ve been busy doing some really helpful garden pruning (two birds, one stone – hurrah!) ..and bay smells great, triple win!

I decided that putting up the tree (albeit a few hacked off branches set in a tin filled with plaster of paris) should be celebrated with a festive treat. I often turn to Great British Chefs when I want inspiration for a special meal. Their recipes are easy to follow and their website and apps have some wonderful foodie photography.

For a festive lunch for us hard working streamer-hangers; I whipped this up from their Christmas collection:

Salad of smoked trout with horseradish crème fraîche by Geoffrey Smeddle

Ingredients

8 small smoked trout fillets
4 tbsp of crème fraîche
1 tbsp of horseradish cream
1 lemon, juiced
1 pinch of paprika
200g of mixed salad leaves
1 cooked beetroot, sliced
1 lemon, cut into wedges
olive oil

1. Ensure the trout fillets are trimmed and cleaned
and the skin is removed. Check for small pin
bones, removing them with tweezers

2. Place the fillets on a plate, cover with cling film and refrigerate until later

3. Stir the horseradish cream into the crème fraîche, adding paprika and lemon juice to taste

4. Arrange slices of the beetroot in the middle of the plate

5. Arrange the smoked trout fillets on serving
dishes. Dress the leaves with some olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice

6. Arrange the leaves beside the fish fillets and spoon on a generous dollop of the horseradish crème fraîche, either on the fish itself or just to one side

7. Serve with a wedge of lemon on the side to squeeze over the fish, and eat at once

I’ve tried this recipe with hot smoked salmon and the combination is still fantastic. The crème fraîche with horseradish is wonderful with smoked fish and I stained the lemon juice and olive oil dressing with beetroot to adorn the plate as much as the tree!

Adventures in Canapés

Events, Recipes

I think a good canapé should look and taste delicious but equally your guests need to know they will be able to actually pick the thing up!

You shouldn’t need to use your hand like a claw from a fairground toy-grabbing machine just to avoid the very real danger of the base of the canapé sliding to the floor whilst the topping collides with your eveningwear! Many a lapel has fallen foul of a blob of rogue hollandaise! (true story!)

Canapés are ace when done well (and structurally sound), and I love them because they are a great way to feed people who are going to be moving around a lot! Together with my business partner Bradley Taylor; we are going to be hosting themed pop-up cabaret nights in London. We are very keen to have our events centred around food to help bring together the theme and make everyone feel welcome.

Because canapés are small you can have real fun with the flavours and reinvent classics to fit your theme. Pastry or mini pancakes make great bases so why not try adding additional flavours to the mix. Add fresh dill to blini batter before frying and top with sour cream and salmon or Bradley’s creation of cooked prawns mixed with chilli jam and fresh rocket – delicious!

Canapés don’t just need to be reserved for parties or events; a plate of three of four would make an elegant starter for a special meal and many can be prepared in advance.

Mini Sweet potato & cardamom patties

We’re making sweet potato patties for our first big event so we’ve put mild curry powder into the pastry to give it a subtle spicy flavour and a lovely yellow colour (Makes around 25)

For the Pastry

200g plain flour

100g of butter

2 tablespoons of mild/medium curry powder

1 teaspoon of turmeric

cold water

1 egg beaten

For the filling

1 small sweet potato (around 150-200g)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of ground cardamom

1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder

1 small red onion finely diced

1 red pepper finely diced

100g of sweetcorn

50g of peas

1 teaspoon of honey

Start by making the filling:

1) Peel and chop the sweet potato into large chunks and boil for around 10 minutes or until soft. Drain, mash and set aside.

2) Next, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the cardamom and the chilli powder

3) When the mixture starts to sizzle add the onion and red pepper. Reduce the heat and allow to soften slowly until the onion starts to be come translucent but not brown.

4) Stir in the mashed sweet potatoes, sweetcorn, peas and honey. Keep stirring until everything is thoroughly combined and the honey has melted into the mix.

5) Take the filling off the heat and set aside whilst you make the pastry.

6) Rub the butter, flour and spices together in a bowl until the mixture resembles fresh breadcrumbs

7) Add a pinch of salt then gradually add the water – only add just enough to bring it together to form a firm and smooth dough (so just add it a dessertspoonful at a time and knead gently as you go).

8) Wrap it in cling film and rest the pastry in the fridge for around 30 minutes

9) Once rested roll out to around 1 or 2mm thick and cut into circles with a straight or fluted round pastry cutter.

10) Brush one side of each circle with beaten egg

11) Place ½ teaspoonfuls of the filling mixture onto one half of each pastry circle and then fold the opposite side over to cover it and enclose the filling into half circle shaped patties.

12) Press to seal and then use a fork to make small indentations along one side (this helps secure the seal and looks good too)

13) Repeat until all the pastry is used and brush all the patties with the rest of the egg wash.

14) Bake at 200°C for around 10 minutes.

15) Serve cold on their own or warm with a red pepper sauce or a yoghurt dip.

(If you have any of the filling mixture left – it makes a great side dish with grilled or barbecued chicken)

Grilled pineapple with lime and coriander

Canapés don’t have to be tricky either – this grilled pineapple number is a cinch but has wonderful flavour – if you can grab some of those fancy bamboo skewers they’ll look extra special. (Makes around 50)

1) Mix the juice of 1 lime with a small bunch of fresh coriander which has been finely chopped. Add half a teaspoon of ground black pepper and set aside.

2) Peel, core and cut 1 fresh pineapple into chunks. Place on a baking tray and the pineapple pieces until they start to caramelise at the edges.

3) Take the tray out from under the grill and immediately pour over the lime and coriander mixture and toss the pineapple gently so it gets well coated in the dressing.

Serve warm or cold on sticks or bamboo skewers.

The recipes in this post are taken from the menu at our “A Tropical Storm” event taking place on the 4^th of October at Caipirinha Bar in Highgate – a night of Music, Drama, Comedy and Canapés. Caipirinha is known for it’s great cocktails but we’ll be adding one or two of our own to their menu on the night too, like this Lychee Bellini:

Lychee Bellini

1) Place a whole sprig of fresh mint into a champagne flute.

2) Fill up halfway with Rubicon lychee juice drink

3) Top with prosecco and serve.

It would be wonderful to see you all next Thursday at A Tropical Storm

For more details on our pop-up events venture Taylor & Nice visit our website, come see us on facebook or join in on twitter

xxx

Yoghurt, Smoked Salmon, Prawn & Avocado Parcels

Events, Recipes

If you find yourself here chances are you’re on the Total Greek Yoghurt Treasure Hunt, welcome intrepid explorers! Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt?! Bravely sailing the seven seas for your fortune in gold and jewels, with untold dangers over the crest of every wave! I can almost taste the excitement!

But online treasure hunts are good too…
This recipe is one of 30 being published across the blogosphere! The more you find the more chances you have of winning. The prize is for this is fantastic; ok so it’s not doubloons, but it certainly is the culinary equivalent; £800 worth of kitchen equipment chosen by chef Paul Merrett – I’ve met this guy, I’d totally trust him to pick me out 800 squids worth of cookery kit, I’ve seen him make couscous out of cauliflower; he’s alright.

When Total asked me to select a recipe from their 1000 strong list I picked this recipe, simply because I love smoked salmon, I think I could actually eat it all day everyday and not get sick of it.

My trusty recipe testers; my boyfriend Richard Kieß and the awesomeness that is my friend Helen Piercy were tasked with creating a set on which the finished dish could be photographed. They had about 10 minutes and could only use what they could find in our studio.
Here they are at work:

Yoghurt, Smoked Salmon, Prawn & Avocado Parcels

Ingredients

250g TOTAL Greek Yoghurt

1 avocado, skinned, destoned & mashed
100g cooked prawns, chopped
Squeeze lemon juice
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
4 slices smoked salmon

Method

1. Mix half the avocado and half the yoghurt together and put to one side.
2. Mix the prawns, remaining avocado and yoghurt, lemon juice and parsley together.
3. Overlap two slices of salmon, and fill with half the prawn mix. Wrap into a parcel.
4. Repeat for the second parcel.
5. Serve with the avocado yoghurt dip on the side.

When I made mine I laid the salmon flat on a sheet of clingfilm, placed a spoonful of the prawn mixture in the centre, gathered the salmon over it and then twisted the cling film around it to form a sphere. I let them rest for a few minutes in the fridge before unwrapping them and flinging them on a plate with the avocado dip and some fresh watercress.

Top tips: only use the leaves of the parsley in this recipe; stalks can be a bit hard and woody.
Instead of prawns why not experiment with some poached trout or salmon.

These do taste brilliant, and so simple and quick! They definitely make an impressive, easy starter.
You would be forgiven for mistaking the filling for cream cheese but with a truck-load less calories, plus I think the avocado dip would be brilliant with other things too; spread on toast with some sliced radishes, served alongside some poached fish or used as a dip for fishcakes.

Total Greek yoghurt have pulled out all the stops to come up with 1000 recipes using their product. Total is the only authentic Greek yoghurt on sale in the UK. Because it is made in Greece in the traditional way it is much thicker and more robust than Greek-styled yoghurt, this makes it ridiculously versatile and can easily become a super substitute for many recipes calling for cream, cream cheese, crème fraîche, bechamel sauce, sour cream or natural yoghurt.

A few months ago I produced a dessert designed to celebrate their 1000 recipe collection and their corresponding Facebook app but I am very happy to be taking part in their treasure hunt and wish you loads of luck in finding the other recipes!

We have hidden away 30 TOTAL recipes on 30 different food blogs across the web. Can you find them? If so, you are in with the chance of winning Paul Merrett’s Ultimate Chef’s Kit, worth over £800. On the tab you’ll find clues leading to 10 of the hidden recipes and over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting additional clues on our timeline to help you find the final 20. The more recipes you find, the more times your name goes into the draw and the more chances you have to win! The recipes are part of our brand new recipe collection 1000 Ways to Love your TOTAL

Spring Cake

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Toad in the Hole

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Mint Tea Couscous with Artichokes & Prosciutto

I’d love to hear your Valentine’s Day stories or recipes. Do get in touch via the comments box below, say hi on my Facebook page or get tweeting x

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Twelfth Night Bars

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Savoury Pancakes with pan-fried Parsnips, Black Onion Seeds and Baked Camembert

Pancake Day is on Tuesday 12th of February 2013

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Loads more photos from the event can be seen here on Total’s facebook page.

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Beef Burgers

Veggie Burgers

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Salad of smoked trout with horseradish crème fraîche by Geoffrey Smeddle

Ingredients

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Mini Sweet potato & cardamom patties

Grilled pineapple with lime and coriander

Lychee Bellini

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Yoghurt, Smoked Salmon, Prawn & Avocado Parcels

Ingredients

Method

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