Crisp salmon with lychee, mint and chilli salad

This is a recipe I found in a food magazine it is absolutely delicious and doesn't take too long or too much effort to make.



Serves:4


Ingredients

4 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp caster sugar
4 x 180g salmon fillets, without skin
2 tbsp olive oil

Lychee salad
16 lychees, peeled, stones removed and cut in half
10g coriander, roughly chopped
2 tbsp roughly chopped basil leaves
2 tbsp roughly chopped mint leaves plus extra mint sprigs to garnish
½ red chili, deseeded and sliced into thin strips
½ red onion, sliced-I found this was a bit too much a quarter will suffice.
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar

Method

1. Prepare a marinade for the salmon by combining the fish sauce and sugar. Coat the salmon in the marinade and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the salad. Combine the lychees, coriander, basil, mint, chili and onion. For the dressing, mix together the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar, then pour over the salad and toss to mix.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the salmon and cook for 3 minutes, then turn and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. Serve with the salad and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Savoury pancakes

In answer to your question-

My favorite savoury pancake is if just before the pancake is cooked put some cheese and ham- or spinach if you are vegetarian, let the cheese melt a bit then take off the heat and serve hot. Remember to cook the spinach before hand.

Blaze x

Pancakes

I, like most people love pancakes, to be honest I don't think I know anyone who doesn't love pancakes. So here is a simple recipe for making pancakes so you can make them yourself.

Ingredients

-110g/4oz plain flour, sifted

-pinch of salt

-2 eggs

-200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water

-50g/2oz butter

Preparation  

-Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl. Now make a well in the center of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.

-Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk). When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around the edge into the center, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream. Now melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake.

-Now get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you're using the correct amount of batter. I find 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm/7in pan. It's also helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife (or if your adventurous then you can try flipping it to make it more fun) - the other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate.

-Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted over simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the rest.

-To serve, my favorite topping is lemon and sugar, I also like a rasher of bacon with some maple syrup. But its up to you how you prefer it. 

Enjoy your pancakes

Blaze x

Risotto!

Risotto is my favorite dish to cook and one of my favorite to eat, it is rich and creamy and if put with something with a bit of crunch there is a perfect mix of soft and crunchy.

Ingredients

• approx 1.1 liters/2 pints stock (chicken, fish or vegetable as whatever you prefer)
• 1 knob of butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 400g/14oz risotto rice
• 2 wineglasses of dry white wine
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 70g/2½oz butter
• 115g/4oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions


-Heat the stock. In a separate pan heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions and garlic, and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without coloring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.

-The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring — it will smell AMAZING.

-Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladles of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladle to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice (my favorite bit) Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite, as it will keep cooking even when you turn the gas. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.

-Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for a min or two.

 The way I make it (to make it more interesting) is at the beginning I chop up some potatoes and throw them in with the risotto, also steam some green beans when the risotto is finished throw everything together and serve with pesto. It is absolutely delicious.

Happy cooking

Blaze x

The worlds best brownies

Hey I'm kinda new to this whole blog thing but I have a passion for food and I want to share it with the world. So I decided to start you off with a favorite of my friends, my brownies, I take them in to school and am literally pounced on. So here goes...

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
180g unsalted butter
330g caster sugar
135g plain flour
3 eggs

Instructions

-Preheat the oven to 170C / 325F / GM3

-Put the chocolate an butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave until melted and smooth. My favorite type of chocolate is green and blacks but honestly it doesn't really make a difference, unless you use the galaxy dark- that has too much sugar and not in a nice way.

-Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and stir until well incorporated. Add the flour and stir until well incorporated. Finally, stir in the eggs and mix until thick and smooth.

-Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until flaky on the top but still soft in the center. Test by pricking it with a knife and if nothing comes off on the knife it is done. I would check it after 25 mins if I were you because it tends to burn a little.

-To add the finishing touch sprinkle a little icing sugar, just to make it look a little bit more fancy and impressive.

Hope you guys enjoyed my first post

Blaze x